APPENDIX.

(A.)

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It was an ancient opinion among Christian theologians, that at the time of the first resurrection, there shall none arise from the dead, but such as had actually suffered a violent death as witnesses for the gospel of Christ, and is called the resurrection of the martyrs.

This opinion is founded on Rev. xx. 4; "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."

But it appears from examination, that this verse does not justify the opinion, because every description of saints are as clearly spoken of, as those who suffer a violent death on account of the true religion. We will review the verse according to its own order. First, And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. Here in the first clause of the verse, is an account of the final glorification of all saints, both before, and after, the Christian dispensation was made known., The thrones upon which the evangelist saw them sitting, signifies the excess of glory and happiness to which the saints shall be exalted in heaven, and is also expressive of their final victory over all their enemies, death, sin, and the devil. This is implied in the following words: and judgment was given unto them; i. e. judgment was given in their favour, but against their enemies. After this first general remark, which relates to all saints, the Revelator proceeds to particularize them according to the several characters or parts which they had sustained, while probationers in a state of suffering. Second, And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God. The word "beheaded," should be understood as expressive, or as

implying all kinds, of violent deaths which the martyrs suffered, because no other kind of suffering is here spoken of. In this part of the verse, all are included who had suffered, either as witnesses for Jesus, after his advent, or for the word of God, before his incarnation; for many, from the martyrdom of Abel, the son of Adam, till the time of Christ, had suffered death for the word of God. The Revelator is very clear in stating, that he saw the souls of such as had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, seated upon thrones; consequently, such saints as had lived before the time of the beast alluded to, as well as after, are included; for what Christian since the time of Christ, or worshipper of the true God before Christ, ever received those marks? Wherefore, all saints, in every age of the world, till the time of the general judgment, are included among the saints seated upon thrones, as spoken of by St. John. From which we learn, that not only those saints who are martyrs, in the violent sense of the word, are to be privileged in the first resurrection, but all others also, except such as shall be alive when the event arrives, and such as shall be born during the time of the Millennium, who will not fall away in the time of Gog and Magog. But even those saints are also included in the Revelator's view, among those seated on the thrones, because neither had these received the abominable mark.

But if any still incline to imagine that the Christian martyrs only are meant in the verse, they would do well to recollect, that all saints, in all ages, are truly martyrs, inasmuch as they partake of the spirit of the martyrs, and would as certainly have sealed their testimony with their blood, if called to it, as those who did.

The words of Christ favour this opinion, when he said, "they who will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution;" and are consequently martyrs: if not in the violent sense of the term, they are in spirit, and must therefore have part in the first resurrection, except those before excepted. Although these are spoken of as reigning, seated upon thrones, a thousand years only, yet when that time expires, we may not suppose that they are then to come down from them, but shall still be privileged with them, together with all those other saints who had not died at the

time of the first resurrection, and all such as shall not fall away in the time of Gog and Magog. On these accounts, therefore, I cannot receive the opinion, that so partial a resurrection as that of the martyrs who died violent deaths, is only embraced in the 4th verse of the 20th chapter of Revelations. [Referred from page 251.]

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Upon the most prominent subject of this extraordinary chapter. (Rev. xx.) SCEPTICISM, from a quarter least to have been suspected, seems to treat the subject, namely, that of understanding the thousand years there spoken of in a literal sense, as uncertain. This scepticism consists in the supposition, that the thousand years there spoken of so frequently, should be understood as prophetic years, instead of natural. Consequently, have imagined that those years, which, together with other Scriptures, are the foundation of the doctrine of a Millennium, should be multiplied by the number 360, as that is the number which comprehends a Jewish year and have therefore multiplied the thousand years of that chapter by the above number, which produces a three hundred and sixty thousand years' Millennium, instead of the simple one thousand. But I do not know of any passage in the Holy Scriptures, upon which to seize as a precedent to justify such an opinion: I do not recollect any portion of holy writ in any of the prophets, nor in the New Testament, where years are spoken of, which will bear such an interpretation: and it would be singular indeed, if the years so frequently mentioned in that chapter, are alone, in all the book of God, to bear such an expli

cation.

There are accounts in the sacred volume, of days, of weeks, and of months, which may be understood as prophetic. For instance, in the book of Daniel's prophecy, (see chap. 8, verse 14,; where it is stated, that after two thousand three hundred days, the sanctuary should be cleansed. Those days, beyond all doubt, signify as many natural years, which is agreed to by all who bestow any attention upon the subject. In the same propliet, there, is an account of a certain number of weeks, which are also prophetic, and signify as many years as there are amount of days i!!

the number of weeks mentioned. See Daniel ix. 24. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, &c. These weeks are clearly prophetic, and related to the coming of the Messiah; and embraced in their meaning as many years as there are days in seventy natural weeks, reckoning as the Jews do-30 days to a month, and 360 days to a year. These prophetic weeks amount, consequently, to four hundred and ninety years, and extend from the time of the vision of Daniel, to the advent of Christ. This is also agreed to on all hands.

We have also an account of prophetic months. See Rev. ix. 5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but they should be tormented five months; which, according to the rule of prophecy, amount to as many years as there are days in five months, and therefore signify one hundred and fifty natural vears. The tormentors here alluded to, were, doubtless, the Mahommedan soldiers, who were permitted to continue their ravages, for the establishment of their religion and empire, one hundred and fifty years. This is an historical fact; and comprehends the time of the Saracen incursions, to which, no doubt, the Revelator prophetically alluded.

Other instances from the Scriptures, of prophetic days, weeks, and months, might be enumerated; but we find no account of years, which signify a prophetical multiplication after the same manner, or that bear any resemblance to such a calculation.Consequently there exists no data in scripture, to justify any such interpretation of the thousand years spoken of in the 20th of Revelations and how this chimera ever possessed the mind of any person, is to me quite unaccountable. The thousand years, therefore, so frequently and plainly stated in that chapter, which relate to the binding of Satan, and to the reigning of those who shall be counted saints at the time of the first resurrection, should be understood in the literal sense. But if any are still disposed to consider those passages which relate to the thousand years, in a prophetic sense, perhaps the following method of interpreting scripture, according to such a rule, will convince them. For I consider it equally warrantable, to make the application of the same mode of reasoning to any other account of YEARS mentioned in the Scriptures, as to that.

Our first instance shall be the case of Abraham, when God

said to him, (see Gen. xv. 13,) "Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a strange land, that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them FOUR HUNDRED YEARS." Now if the one thousand years spoken of in Rev. xx. are to be understood as prophetical, and therefore signify, instead of 1000 natural years, three hundred and sixty thousand; then by the unerring rule of arithmetical calculations, the four hundred years, mentioned by the God of Abraham, which foretold the Egyptian bondage of his seed, the Jews, must mean one hundred and forty-four thousand years, instead of four hundred; because according to the rule with which we are finding fault, we are to multiply the 400 years by 360, which are the number of days in a Jewish year. Again, Methuselah is said to have lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, (see Gen. v. 27,) now multiply these according to the rule which we oppose, and we have the amazing product of 348,840, instead of the simple nine hundred and sixty-nine natural years. Again, St. Paul states, (see 2d Cor. xii. 2,) that he had known a man " in Christ about fourteen years ago," caught up to the third heaven," and doubtless, meant himself. Now if this rule be applied, to interpret this account of St. Pauls, it will follow, that instead of fourteen natural years, we shall have to believe that it was five thousand and forty years, which would carry us back from the time in which Paul made this statement, beyond the time in which the world was made, in the beginning. Perhaps these three instances are sufficient to show the absurdity of such a calculation, or manner of interpreting the term, years, when mentioned in the sacred writings, whatever they may relate to, or whenever they may occur; for from a course like this, the whole book of God is thrown into obscurity, darkness, confusion and falsehood the most palpable. Let us therefore receive St. John's account as it is, respecting the thousand years, and not undertake to add to them without some data, and authority from the scriptures. Notwithstanding St. John spoke as a prophet, when he foretold the binding of Satan, and the reign of the saints, that the term should be a thousand years, yet that eircumstance by no means justifies the idea that a thousand years signifying a longer time than is simply expressed in the text, any more than the years mentioned to Abraham respecting the slavery of his seed

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