"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John iii. 5. "Wherefore we, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." Heb. xii. 28. PARTICULAR GRACES EXCITED. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Matt. vii. 21. Obedience to Parents, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and thy mother; (for this is the first commandment with promise;) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." Ephes. vi. 1—3. Humility, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 3. "Hearken, my beloved brethren; Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor." James ii. 5, 6. Meekness, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. v. 5. Patience, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 10. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly, that they seek a country." (rapida.) Heb. xi. 13, 14. "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come." Heb. xiii. 12, 14. "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Luke xii. 32. Perseverance, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. Rev. xxi. 7. Diligence, "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." 2 Pet. iii. 13, 14. General Holy Walking, "Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promse, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."-"Grieve not [therefore] the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Ephes. i. 13, 14; and iv. 30. "Walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory. 1 Thess. ii. 12. Thankfulness, "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Col. i. 12, 13. Prayer. "And he said unto them, when ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." Luke xi. 2. NOTE, that almost the whole of these texts, by making the kingdom and inheritance the subjects of promise, do likewise expressly make them future. ESSAY V. The Participation of the Saints. THOUGH much of the evidence brought to bear on the points which have now been considered, must already have led to the conclusion, that the saints in general will participate in the glorious state of things to be revealed in the Millennium; yet I consider it to be a matter of so much importance and interest to the Church, that I have reserved many Scripture testimonies for the purpose of proving it more distinctly; which testimonies will likewise further corroborate the view I have taken of the Kingdom of the Son of Man. I proceed therefore to shew, that the promises of this glory belong equally to the saints of the Old and New Testaments, and of every age of the Church. I. This point is the more necessary to be insisted on, because there are many, who, whilst they admit Millennium of glory on earth, confine it nevertheless to a portion only of the Church of God. Some, for instance, limit it to the Jews; some to those only who have suffered martyrdom for Christ; and some to that generation only, who shall be living at the commencement of the Millennium, excluding all the departed saints, and the Lord Jesus himself, from any visible participation. I conclude, however, that the whole of the saints, from the days of the first Adam up to the period of the glorious advent of the second Adam, will together enjoy their resurrection glory at the beginning of the Millennium; and that their glory is altogether distinct from the condition of that portion of Israel, who will then be redeemed in the flesh; and also from the spiritual state of those gentile nations, who shall then likewise still be in the flesh. I have only to request of the reader, if difficulties and objections present themselves to his mind on the perusal of this statement, that he will at least suspend them, until I have gone through the whole series of Essays in which I am now engaged; in the course of which it is probable, that some of those difficulties may be removed. I trust it is not necessary to dwell long upon the antediluvian saints: these may be all included in one verse of Jude's Epistle;-"Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied to these, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with myriads of his saints, to execute judgment, &c." This was therefore the expectation of the Church in Enoch's time. And as respects the saints from the time of Noah to Abraham, we may clearly infer their expectation from the eleventh chapter of Hebrews: Noah being instanced, at the seventh verse, as one of those of whom, in the thirty-ninth and following verses, it is said, that they obtained a good report through faith, but received not the promise; God having designed, that they without us should not be perfected. In regard to the promises to Abraham and to his seed, I have already proved that Christ is "the seed" principally intended, and, by a necessary consequence, all those who are his members. This is further evident from the Epistle to the Romans. The Millennarian will not I think deny, that the glory to which the Apostle frequently alludes in this Epistle, is that which is to be revealed at the manifestation of the sons of God, treated. of in chapter viii.; and of course the promise spoken of has reference to that glory. Yet in chap. iv. the apostle contends, "that the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, (which has especial respect to the Gentile dispensation,) but through the righteousness of faith. That it is of faith, that it might be by grace; 3 ν. 14. προεφητευσε τότες. to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed: not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all." And again in the ninth chapter he argues, even as respects the seed of Abraham according to the flesh; "that they are not all Israel who are of Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called: that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." And afterwards he goes on in the same chapter to argue, that the purpose of God was "to make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,-even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." So also in Galatians: "Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham."b And again, "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, &c. there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus: and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." When the Church afterwards assumed a still more distinct and separate form in the Israelitish nation, to whom all the promises then appear to be more immediately addressed, I grant that a greater degree of obscurity is thrown over this circumstance. Nor do I mean to deny, (though we are now enabled clearly to infer the facts above stated,) that in the previous periods the mystery of the fulness of the Gentiles was in great measure hidden: for the Apostle plainly tells us, "that in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel." And thus St. Peter, alluding to the period when the Jews only were the recognised people of God, says to the "strangers" to whom he writes, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, &c. which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God." And though some have concluded from certain passages, that strangers and foreigners were not to partake of the same promises with Israel; yet I apprehend, as far as the resurrection Church is concerned, that these passages do always apply to aliens from the commonwealth of Israel in their unnaturalized and unproselyted state. This is indeed evident from what is said about the institution of the Passover, one of the most sacred of their ordinances.-"And the Lord said unto b Gal. iii. 7. • Gal. iii. 26-29. a Ephes. iii. 5, 6. e 1 Peter ii. 9, 10. Moses and Aaron, this is the ordinance of the Passover: there shall no stranger eat thereof," &c. Exod. xii. 43. After which, at verses 48, 49, it is written: "And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one born in the land: but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof." In due time, however, the Lord sent forth his Apostles to call those other sheep, which were not of the Israelitish fold; but who were to be made one fold under one Shepherd. Then we find it openly declared, "that in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but the new creature, and faith which worketh by love; and that those who thus walk are the Israel of God." And the Apostle bids us "Remember, that though we are Gentiles in the flesh, who are called UNCIRCUMCISION by the Jews; being, when without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise; we are now by the blood of Christ made nigh, he having broken down the middle wall of partition, and made of twain one new man, thus making us no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God." Thus, as Abraham is called "the father of us all," so "Jerusalem which is above"-that Jerusalem "which shall descend from God out of heaven"-is also called "the mother of us all."i The next point for consideration is, whether that generation only, which shall be living at the commencement of the Millennium, shall partake of it; or whether the departed saints will equally share in it. The latter view I shall prove to be the correct one, by an argument which will equally disprove the notion of a Millennium separate from a resurrection. It is by a comparison of two passages (the one in Hebrews, the other in Thessalonians) which mutually reflect on each other. Let us suppose (as some do) that the Lord and his saints are now in the enjoyment of the kingdom promised, and that every believer enters into it at death: in this case it is plain, that the saints on earth are for the present excluded from it. But the Apostle, to prevent such an imagination, tells us, "These all," (including Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, &c. who are instanced,) "having obtained a good report [or, rather, having borne witness*] through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us 8 Gal. v. 6; vi. 15, 16. h Ephes. ii. 11-22. i Rom. iv. 16 and Gal. iv. 26. f John x. 16. * μxρTuρndevτes, agreeing with vepos apropav, the "cloud of witnesses," in the first verse of the next chapter. |