XX. 12 496 All mankind shall be judged according to their works. SECT. in which were registered the names of all those life; and the dead xxiii. happy persons, who, according to the tenor of were judged out of those things which the Divine declarations to men, should be the were written in the Rev. inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem, and live books, according to with God for ever, in the enjoyment of felicity their works. and glory. And the dead were all impartially judged out of the things written in the books, and in a manner agreeable to the tenor of them, according to their works, as they had been agreeable or disagreeable to the discoveries which God had made to them of his will for the rule which were in it; 13 of their actions. And, that none might be 13 And the sea exempt from coming into judgment, I per- gave up the dead ceived that the resurrection extended also to and death and hell the sea, which gave up the dead that were in it; delivered up the and death, and the unseen world, and separate dead which were in state, in all their extensive domains, gave up them: and they were the dead that were in them, all that death had judged every man according to their swallowed up, and Hades received; and they works. were judged, as I said before, every one accord14 ing to their works. And I saw, in the vision, 14 And death and emblematical persons, who seemed to preside the lake of fire: over the regions of death and Hades, or the sep- This is the second arate state; and, to signify that human souls death. should be no more separated from the bodies, to which they were now united, these persons, as it appeared, were cast into the lake of fire, which I have before described,and of which I said, that hell were cast into life, was cast in the 15 this is the second death.1 And as the register, 15 And whosoever which God, in pursuance of his counsels of was not found writ everlasting love, had kept of those, whom it ten in the book of was his gracious purpose, agreeable to the tenor lake of fire. of his gospel, to save, was complete, I saw, that if any one were not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire: so that this was the awful end of the whole human race, to be plunged into that flaming and Death and hades were cast into the lake of fire] It is no wonder a man of Mr. Hobbes's disposition and principles should be ready to catch at any argument, to prove the annihilation of the wicked. But, that which he insinuates from the passage, (see his Leviathan, p. 335,) seems to be very precarious. For, as Archbishop Dawes observes, (see his Serm. No. 7, p. 100,) to talk of hell being cast into a part of itself, is downright nonsense. The plain meaning is, there shall be no more separate state. And this, I think, clearly overthrows that hypothesis, which supposes this last fire will kill those that are thrown into it, and that their separate spirits will for ever remain in that misery, which must be the consequence of having lost happiness and hope, while they retain their thinking powers; a doctrine, which Dr Whitby has strangely taught in his Append. to 2 Thess. chap. i. Reflections on the future judgment. 497 eternal ruin, or to be received into those sECT. Rev. xx. 15 IMPROVEMENT. 11, 12 We have here a most affecting view before us, of that import- verse ant event, in which we are all so intimately concerned. Whatever the first resurrection may import, or that glorious reign of 5 a thousand years, (which probably intimates a signal revival of the Christian cause in the world, and a display of its influence 4 beyond what hath yet been known,) I say, whatever these events may particularly intend, the illustrious day, in which heaven and 11 earth is to pass away, demands the attention of all mankind. For the dead, both small and great, whether buried in the earth or the sea, must then stand before God: Therefore let all the living, both small and great, seriously weigh the solemnity and importance of that appearance. Let them often look forward to the awfu! period when the glorious throne shall be set, the important volumes opened, which contain the record of our lives and actions, and of God's gracious and merciful transactions with us. We must be judged according to our works; that God, before whom all our ways are, and who searches all our hearts, will bring every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Let us judge ourselves impartially, that we be not condemned of the Lord; and conscious how unable we should be to stand in that judgment, if God were rigorous to lay justice to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, let us humbly apply to the throne of mercy, to the blood of his Son, to the grace of his gospel covenant. So shall we find mercy of the Lord in that day, and be the priests of God, and of Christ, and reign with him, not a thousand years alone, but for everlasting ages. In the mean time, let those who have no reverence for his majesty, who have no esteem for his gospel, who have never taken this awful alarm, who have never fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them, tremble at these awakening views. Let them all, of every condition, both small and great, say in their hearts, Who shall dwell with devouring flames, and lie down in everlasting burnings, even in this lake of fire, into which every one who is not found written in the book of life, shall be cast, and where the wretched victims of Divine justice shall be tormented for ever and ever? How melancholy does the face of our earth appear, when we reflect on the reign of satan on it, on the influence of the 13 6 15 498 The vision of a new heaven and a new earth SECT. dragon, and the beast, and the false prophet! O Lord, cut short xxiii. their power; send down the angel that has the key of the bottomless pit, to bind this destroyer; yea, when he shall be loosed for verse a season, moderate his rage; support thy saints under the ter 1, 2, 3 7,8 ror of every assault, till thou appear to the last confusion of their enemies, till thou appear to close this perplexing scene, by the wise and glorious catastrophe of all things; when it shall be 4, 5 seen, that the souls of them who were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, were not lost, and that it was wisdom strenuously to refuse the mark of the beast, and the homage so generally paid to his image, though men might neither buy nor sell, nor enjoy their liberty, nor their lives, without making an entire submission to it. SECT. SECT. XXIV. The solemn introduction to the glorious vision of the new heaven and the new earth: with a declaration of the blessing to attend the faithful and courageous conqueror, and the misery to be inflicted on impious and wicked offenders. Rev. XXI. 1—8. xxiv. AND Rev. REVELATION XXI. 1. REV. XXI. 1. and a new earth: ND when this scene of things was passed AND I saw a away, another most glorious and delightful new heaven, one opened upon me; for I saw a new heaven, for the first heaven xxi. 1 and a new earth, wherein I knew righteousness and the first earth was ever to dwell, for the former heaven, and were passed away; the former earth was passed away, as I said more sea. before; and the sea was no more, the whole ter and there was no a The sea was no more.] The conse and durable period of prosperity, which quence which Dr. Thomas Burnet hath shall be enjoyed upon this earth, after the drawn from hence, in his theory, to prove millennium; and when the paradisaital there was no sea, in the paradisaical state, state shall be yet more fully restored, by is so manifestly absurd, that I need urge the more abundant progressive influence nothing against it. For it is certain, were of the gospel. But, on weighing the God to cover the whole sea with dry land, whole matter, I must declare myself of the earth must quickly perish, as well as the opinion of those divines, who undermuch of its commerce be destroyed. But stand it as an emblematica! description of a world more populous, than this can be, the happiness which the saints are to enwhile the sea takes up so large a part of joy in heaven after the resurrection, and its surface, might well be expressed by to enjoy for ever; when, according to the such a figurative vision. As for this ac- preceding descriptions, the dead shall be count of the new heaven and the earth in gen. eral, commentators have been divided. Some have thought it represents the happy state of the church upon earth, during the millennium. A very ingenious writer, I mean, Mr. Worthington, in his Treatise of the Extent and Progress of Redemption, endeavours to prove that it is intended to represent a yet more perfect judged according to their works, when this heaven and earth shall have passed away with a great noise, and the elements shall have melted with fervent heat, as St. John and St. Peter concur to describe it; and when death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire, with all that are not written in the book of life: phrases, which, I think, cannot be explained properly of any event, and of the New Jerusalem, coming down from God. down from God out 499 xxiv. 2 Rev. raqueous globe was changed for another SECT. kind of world, wherein every thing was incomparably more beautiful and excellent than the face of nature had ever been, and room was xxi. 1 made for a vastly greater number of inhabit2 And I John saw ants: And as an emblem of the eminent hothe holy city, New liness and felicity which should there reign, I Jerusalem, coming fohn saw the holy city, that is, the New Jeruof heaven, prepared salem, descending from God out of heaven and as a bride adorned it was prepared with all imaginable ornaments for her husband. and decorations, like a bride adorned for her husband, and preparing to meet him with all her charms set out to the greatest advantage. 3 And I heard a And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying 3 great voice out of aloud, Behold the tabernacle of the living God heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle [is] now with men: and he shall pitch his tent of God is with men, among them, in token of his favour and friendand he will dwell ship, and they shall be owned by him as his with them, and they shall be his people, people, and God himself shall be with and among and God himself shall them as their God, their Protector and Friend, be with them, and be their Guardian and Father, their supreme Good and final Portion. And God shall, with 4 wipe away all tears parental tenderness, wipe away their tears from from their eyes; and their eyes; though here their tears have plentithere shall be no fully flowed, not one shall now be left on any of their faces. And death shall be no more; sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there he shall be for ever banished those blissful rebe any more pain: gions, and with him all his melancholy train, for the former things nor shall there be grief, nor crying, nor shall are passed away. there be any more pain, or labour; for all the former things are passed away, all the mournful scenes which were on earth so familiar to upon the throne, their eyes. And he that sate upon the throne© 5 their God. 4 And God shall more death, neither 5 And he that sate but those of the day of universal judgment. And it is certain, that if we do not go into this interpretation of them, there is no view given us of the final catastrophe of things on this earth of ours, in this comprehensive prophecy, though intended to represent the triumph of Christianity; which seems in theory a very improbable supposition. Descending from God out of heaven.] I apprehend he saw in the vision an appearance of a city, which seemed, like the sheet which Peter saw, to be let down from heaven, and appeared pendent, as it were, in the air, in such a view, that the foundations were visibly distinguishable from the superstructure; and this he considered, not VOL. 6. 64 as actually the abode of the blessed, but as a figurative representation of the holiness and felicity in which they were to dwell; so that it was a type of what the church itself should be. To interpret it therefore, as if there were now such a city made in heaven, and by angelic power to be brought down to earth, and settled upon some spot of it, is so wild, and romantic a thought, that one would wonder anyone person of learning and understanding should ever have embraced it. Compare Hallett's Notes and Discourses, Vol. I. p. 200 See Isa. liv. 11, 12. 500 Rev. He that overcomes, shall inherit all things. he said unto me, for these SECT. then spake himself, and said with his own aw- said, Behold, I make xxiv. ful and gracious voice, which through the all things new. And whole vision I had not before heard, Behold, I write: xxi. 5 make all things new. I exert my power in words are true and producing a new creation, whence every trace faithful. of seeming imperfection and irregularity shall be banished. And he then condescended to take notice of me; and singling me out by his eye, and directing his voice to me, he said unto me, while all my soul was awed into reverence and attention, Write what thou hearest, for these are true and faithful words; and as their contents are important, so they are beyond all 6 controversy certain. And he said unto me, Wonderful as the prediction is, doubt not of to me, It is done. I its accomplishment; It is done, it is, as it were, ga, the Beginning am Alpha and Omealready present with me; I am the Alpha, and and the End: I will the Omega, the Beginning, and the End; too give unto him that is great and excellent to need to use any artifice athirst, of the founwith my creatures; and far above the tempta- life freely. tion of raising in them any false hopes and expectations, I will give to him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely; I open the springs, and they shall flow in abundance; and let every humble soul that desires it, freely 6 And he said un. tain of the water of 7 come and quench his thirst. I have already 7 He that overmade many gracious promises to him who cometh shall inherit overcometh; and I will now comprise them all things; and I will be his God, and he all in one; the conqueror shall inherit all things; shall be my son. the whole new creation shall be his, he shall possess its blessings to the utmost of his most enlarged desires. And I will be to him a God, a source of complete and everlasting blessedness; and he shall be my son, and as my son, inherit my kingdom, and dwell with me in it 8 through eternal ages. But as for the fearful 8 But the fearful and unbelieving, who dare not face the difficulties and unbelieving, and which a courageous profession of my religion the abominable, and requires; and the abominable, who have devoted whore mongers, and themselves to sensual affections and pursuits; and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, the whole book, and, as the Lamb is mentioned here as the Spouse of the church, I am ready to understand the Father as the Person here spoken of. But I will not absolutely insist upon this, because in chap. xx. 11, 12, it seems to be Christ murderers, and who is represented as sitting upon the throne; since we know it is he who is to appear as universal Judge, under which character the Person who sate upon the throne is there spoken of. |
