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kings* It is added, moreover, in the same place, that the Lord shall come to be glorified among his saints, and admired of all be lievers in that day;" wherein it is evident that there is a distinction made between the saints and the believers. Although those epithets in general have the same application, yet here it would seem that the saints are there who accompany him from heaven as his glory, which is implied by the words "glorified among them;" and the believers are those who have long waited on earth for the appearing of the glory of their God and Saviour," and now at last, viewing him and his glory as they come, are said to admire he is "admired among all believers in that day." A countless multitude of texts might be adduced illustrative of this fact, and which can be illustrated only on the supposition of its truth, from which I argue, that as those multitudes of sanctified souls are to accompany and surround the Redeemer when he comes again from heaven, those same multitudes must necessarily have been previously raised up to that heaven and therefore my assertion is proven, that there is a resurrection of the souls of some saints to heaven before the second advent, dt 11

But who, it will be asked, are those saints thus highly favoured and privileged beyond the rest of the dead? To which I answer,s that they are those saints who were martyred for Jesus' sake; for so St. Paul determines in a text cited by J. K. for another purpose, saying," them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." The proposition dia, which is here rendered in, should be rendered for or for the sake of, or on account of, as it is rendered elsewhere in our translation ;t and then the Scripture will run thus-them that sleep for the sake of Jesus shall God bring with him; meaning thereby, that those who will accompany him in his coming again are those who were put to death for Jesus' sake, and who, like the proto martyr Stephen, are said to " fall asleep" for Jesus. They are the i martyrs, and they are consequently identified with those souls men-z tioned in Rev, vi. 9. "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for (dua) the word of God, and for (dea) the testimony which they hold ;" and who are afterwards mentioned in Rom. xx. 4, as the subjects of the first resurrection" I saw the souls of them that were slain for (dia) the witness of Jesus, and for (dia) the word of God." Therefore I argue, and let all oppugners of this exposition apply themselves to this point, that as certain martyred saints are thus proved by Scripture to accompany the Lord Jesus as a glory when he comes revealed from heaven" the second time, those same martyred saints must necessarily be previously,

* In 2 Pet. ii. 10, it is said," they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.” The word is doƐaç, which signifies glories, or those persons of rank who, as a glory, surround the throne of a prince. A similar use of the word is in Jude 8. they despise government, and speak evil of glories," where the word is plainly applied to those who surround an earthly king, as the same word is ap plied by St. Paul to those chosen spirits who form the presence and the glory of the King of kings.

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† 2 Cor. iv. 5. “ Ourselves your servants (dta) for Jesus' sake.
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They are beloved (ta) for the fathers' sakes.""

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raised up to that heaven, so as to be enabled to come with him” from heaven. Thus it is clear that there must be a resurrection of certain saints to heaven before the general resurrection, which therefore may not be unaptly called "the first resurrection;" and with this evident truth before us, we have a very probable solution of Rev. xx. 4. where St. John speaks of beholding, in a heavenly vision, those same martyrs raised up to that heaven, so as to sit and reign there with that Jesus for whom they were slain; and then adds, this exaltation of the martyred saints to heaven, this raising up of certain privileged souls before the general raising of the universal dead, "this is the first resurrection."

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The main point to be proved to establish this exposition is, determining the time when this event is to take place; for if this raising of the martyrs to heaven is found to synchronise with what is called "the first resurrection," we have a very powerful proof that this raising of the martyrs and the first resurrection are one and the same event; and that they do so synchronise precisely, and are consequently the same, can be proved by Scripture, independent of the text in dispute, and proved too by that St. John, who must be the best expounder of his own writings,

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In leading to this point it must be observed, that J. K. has ruled that the souls of the departed saints do not go immediately to heaven, but are retained in some temporary abode, called paradise, Abraham's bosom, &c. a matter which I am not disposed to contravert in all its points, provided J. K. admits, as indeed he must admit, that it is an abode wherein the Christian soul is " forted," for so determines our Redeemer in reference to the soul of Lazarus, so that it would seem that although the souls of departed believers are not in the enjoyment of the fulness of the blessedness of heaven, yet they enjoy a state of at least comparative happiness. It is variously called "peace," and "rest," and "blessedness," and our Lord calls it "comfort;" so that it may be safely said they enjoy a comparative happiness. No one doubts that Abraham is in heaven, and therefore Abraham's bosom must imply something of the happiness of heaven; the same may be said of ...paradise, which is expressly stated to be heaven, (2 Cor. xii, compare verse 2 with verse 4.) Bearing upon this is a remarkable passage in Rev. vi. 9. where St. John speaks of the state of the souls of the martyrs I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they hold and they called with a loud voice, How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" This altar is described as in heaven, and "before the throne, Rev. viii. 3. Now, while it is impossible to ascertain with precision what the altar signifies, yet the souls of the martyrs being said to be under the altar which is in heaven, and their calling upon God, seems to imply, what has been already argued, that, although in heaven, yet they are in a state not of full

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* Marsh, in his Millennial production, styled “A few Plain Thoughts on Prophecy," admits and argues this point at some length.mol on ei dorads

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and heavenly blessedness, but in a state of concealment, as it were, as if the sight of God was veiled from their eyes by the altar a kind of comparative happiness. In reply to their prayers, it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren who should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled;" which evidently implies that they were to continue for some time longer in that state, and that they would be raised from it, raised from "under the altar," and en-abled to stand in the presence of God, even “before the throne,” as soon as the number of their fellow-martyrs was completed. Here, then, is a promise to those souls of raising them up, a promise of exalting the souls of the called, and chosen, and faithful," who had "resisted unto blood," and “ who loved not their lives unto death;" a promise of exalting them beyond "the rest of the dead,” by raising them to the presence of God, even before the throne, where, as already said, they are to form a glory. But when will this mighty event take place, for the time is our present inquiry? It will be when their fellow-servants also, and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." But when will that be? There is no difficulty in answering this inquiry; for there can be no martyrs when there is no persecution, and therefore the number will be fulfilled when persecution is at an end when "by the conversion of Romanism, and Paganism, and Judaism to the Gospel-those three gigantic powers of persecution shall be at an end, and the blood of the martyrs will be avenged on those powers in the manner in which, of all others, those pious martyrs would most wish to be avenged; and from this moment there is no more persecution, and of course the number of the martyrs is fulfilled! Then is the time in which the souls of the martyrs are left no longer in a state of comparative happiness, but raised from among the rest of the dead;" they enjoy the glorious presence of God's circle around his throne. This raising of those martyred souls *thus takes place ut the conversion of the three powers of persecution, or, in other words, at the opening of the millennium! How accurately this resurrection of the souls of martyrs to heaven synchronises with the first resurrection" of St. John! And does not this synchronism demonstrate them to be one and the same event Pro

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We are now come to the text in dispute, Rev. xx. 4:we have Jalready seen how certain saints are to be raised to heaven before the general resurrection, so as to accompany our Lord in his coming again we have seen also how those privileged saints are the martyrs whose blood has been shed in testimony to the gospel, and who thus obtain the promise, "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life:" we have seen likewise that this raising up of these happy saints to heaven, (not to earth) takes place precisely at the opening of the millennium; and all these several steps have been proved independently of the text we are now to examine. After St. John had in the previous chapters, foretold the entire destruction of the enemies of the gospel, he proceeds to describe a vision, which he had, of the happy epoch which was to follow the church is no longer exposed to temptation; for the great tempter

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of souls, and author of sin, is restrained from wandering through the regions of air; he is, as it were, bound by the power of God, and chained in the bottomless pit, so that he cannot injure or oppress the church; which, being now freed from the mighty enemy, flourishes in blessedness and peace. This restrainment of Satan, and consequent happiness of the church, are said to continue for a thousand years; that is, for some very long lapse of years, usually called the millennium. After St. John had thus declared the vision which he saw of the exaltation and happiness of the church below, he proceeds to describe another vision, which he next saw, of the exaltation and happiness of the church above; from which we may learn how the church in heaven, and the church on earth rejoice together: this he does by informing us in all the glowing language of eastern imagery, that the martyrs were raised up from the receptacle of the dead, and lived and reigned with Christ who is in heaven; and then he calls this raising up of those souls to heaven at the commencement of the millennium, "the first resurrection," as being long previous to the resurrection of "the rest of the dead:" and then the whole place may be thus paraphrased ;* “I saw the souls of them that in the persecutions of the church, were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and are, therefore, styled martyrs; and along with them were some souls of saints who had not worshipped the beast of Popery, neither had paid any obedience to the rules of that ecclesiastical system which is his image; neither had received his mark of damnation upon their foreheads, by which they could countenance-nor on their hands, by which they could take part in, its abominations: I saw these souls, which had been under the altar waiting till their number was completed, now released and raised from the rest of the dead: they circle around the throne of God, and they there lived and reigned with Christ in heaven during the thousand years of happiness to the church on earth-this raising of those saints to heaven being previous to the general resurrection of the last day, is called the first resurrection—as it is a glorious privilege to be thus raised to heaven at this early period. He is and must be blessed and holy who will be so highly honored as that he hath part in this first resurrection-they must be such that the second death which is the casting of the ungodly into hell, hath no power on them, but they shall be always employed in blessing and praising God, as if they were priests of God and of Christ, and shall gather around his throne in heaven, and thus be said to reign with him a thousand years; but as for the rest of the dead who had not been so highly blessed by God, they remained as hitherto in the common receptacles of the dead, and of course lived not again like the souls of the martyrs in the full glory of heaven until the thousand years were fulfilled." There is no need of continuing the paraphrase farther, as there is little difference as to the import of what follows. When the millennium is ended, error again spreads abroad, and the church is

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It will be observed, that the words of St. John ́are in italics, while the paraphrase is in the common letter.

assailed by the children of sin; then the Lord Jesus descends from heaven with all his angels, and glorified saints, and sits in judgment on the world;-the last hour is come-hell or heaven is the portion of all-and time and this world are no more!

Having thus given a feasable, and certainly a Scriptural exposition of this difficult text-a text presenting difficulties to the millenarian hypothesis, as numerous and as strong as to any other, I may concisely notice the only two tangible arguments adduced by J.K. on this immediate subject, viz.-the first resurrection, premising that the exposition now given has the peculiar feature of meeting all the arguments usually adduced by millenarians, it enlists them all in its service, and is, at the same time, free from the innumerable difficulties that envelope that romantic system-for example:-the first argument of J.K. is an effort at proving that the first resurrection spoken of by St. John, must be a literal resurrection, by which he appears to mean that it is an actual resurrection of souls or bodies, or both united, from death and the grave: he seems anxious to enforce this in order to combat the common exposition which makes it a figurative resurrection or revival of godliness, like that implied by St. Paul in the phrase "life from the dead." as applied to the effects of the conversion of Israel: this appears to be his object, but whatever force it may seem to have against that common exposition, it certainly has no force whatever against the exposition contained in this paper, for the resurrection of the martyrs in heaven is to the fullest extent as literal a resurrection as his resurrection of the saints on earth; so that this his first argument is altogether useless his second argument is in the same predicament-it is an effort at proving that there is at the commencement of the millennium a resurrection from among the dead, or from out of the dead, by which he means, a resurrection of some privileged saints from among or from out of the rest of the dead: several texts are cited by him to prove this; and while I deny altogether the conclusion as deducible from these texts-and while I look on the silly criticisms in which some millenarians have indulged on this point, as the very drivelling of criticism, I must observe, that even if I grant the whole of what they dream of proving, it yet has no force whatever against the exposition contained in this paper, for the resurrection of martyrs in heaven is to the fullest extent a resurrection from among or from out of the rest of the dead, as is his resurrection of the saints on earth-so that nothing he has advanced on this subject will be of any assistance in building up the common millennial hypothesis.

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But while he has thus spent his time in endeavouring to prove, what, even if proved, is nothing to the purpose, he has altogether pretermitted the consideration of that which is the very point at issue, namely, whether this first resurrection is a resurrection in the body and on earth. I hold that it is a resurrection of the soul, which I prove from Rev. vi. 9: multitudes of other texts might and would be quoted, but owing to the length of this paper they must be deferred. flere I shall only observe that where millenarian writers have been so particular in describing the character of the millennium-the occupations of the risen saints-have actually supplied us with maps and plans of the new Jerusalem, and various other curious particu

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