WE lately lighted upon a treatise on the millenium, published in the year 1794. The author is Samuel Hopkins, D.D., a New England divine, pastor of the Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island. He is evidently a well-instructed scribe of the Kingdom of Heaven, and he writes in a solid, gracious strain, with great command of Scripture and breadth of view in his interpretation of prophecy. He is not a premillenarian, as he finds a way to explain the scriptures which speak of Christ’s future glory in this world, without resort to this extreme literalism. He affirms indeed that the Great Head of the Church is more glorious and more accessible where he is in the Heaven of Heavens, than if He were bodily present in Jerusalem. His words to this effect are: “As it seems to be contrary to the above mentioned scriptures, to suppose that Christ will appear on earth, and reign a thousand years in His human nature; so it appears contrary to all reason. Jesus Christ is now on the throne of the universe, having all power in heaven and earth given to Him as Godman, and Redeemer, being made head over all things to the Church. He is in the most proper, agreeable, and convenient situation to govern the world, and take care of His Church. It does not appear agreeable to His station and office, as king and head over all things, for Him to descend in the human nature, and erect a throne on earth; which, so far as can be conceived, would be no advantage to His person, design, and work, but very much to the contrary. He is gone to heaven in the human nature, that He might reign there till His enemies are made His footstool, and all things shall be subdued under Him. And His Church on earth will enjoy Him to as great a degree, and as much advantage, as if He were personally on earth in the human nature, and more; and will have as great enjoyment of His presence. He is now in the best situation to be adored and worshipped by His Church on earth. Though they now do not see Him, yet, believing and loving Him, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And it would not tend to increase this faith, love and joy, to have Him come from Heaven, and live in some place on earth, in His human nature; but the contrary: For but few, compared with the whole inhabitants of the world, could have access to Him, or see Him more than they now do. And when the human nature is in heaven, all may equally have access to Him, love and worship Him.”
He also combats the views of them who make the first resurrection, described in the twentieth chapter of Revelations, to be a literal resurrection of departed martyrs and confessors. The millenium will consist in a glorious world-wide resurrection of their cause, and the testimony for which they suffered. “The most easy and probable meaning,” says our author, “is, that the souls of the martyrs, and all the faithful followers of Christ, who have lived in the world, and have died before the millenium shall commence, shall revive and live again in their successors, who shall rise up in the same spirit, and in the same character, in which they lived and died; and in the revival and flourishing of that cause which they espoused, and spent their lives in promoting it, which cause shall appear to be almost lost and dead, previous to the introduction of that glorious day. This is therefore a spiritual resurrection, by which all the inhabitants of the world will be made spiritually alive, where spiritual death before had reigned; and they shall appear in the spirit and power of those martyrs and holy men, who had before lived in the world, and who shall live again in these their successors, and in the revival of their cause, and in the resurrection of the Church, from the very low state in which it had been before the millenium, to a state of great prosperity and glory. This is agreeable to the way of representing things in Scripture in other instances. John the Baptist was Elijah, because he rose in the spirit of Elijah, and promoted the same cause in which Elijah lived and died; and Elijah revived and lived in John the Baptist, because he went before Christ, in the spirit and power of Elijah. Therefore Christ says of John, “This is Elijah who was to come.”
He proceeds more particularly to define the features of that golden age of the world, and first he affirms as a thing most probable “that every individual person who will then live will be a real Christian, and all will doubtless be members of the Church in that day.” It is, we think, likely that the worthy author is here mistaken. If such universalism of regenerating grace will be realised during the millenium we cannot see what significance certain prominent Scriptures will have, such as “Enter ye in at the strait gate, for strait is the gate that leads to life, and few there be that find it.” If every millennial inhabitant will be a true saint, then there will no longer be any “world,” and that Scripture of the Apostle John will lose its meaning and use for Christians, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,” etc. There are indeed considerable difficulties in the way of believing a millenium of universal conversion. But it is not necessary to hold this view. Considering the efficacy of a very few real Christians planted in a city or district to bring about a marvellous social change, the beauty and blessedness of the millennial time can well be realised without such a complete reversal of earthly conditions as this. When the number of true saints is multiplied exceedingly, and when all the places of power and trust are in the hands of the godly party, there will be a complete disappearance of the grosser forms of evil, and a diffusion of peace, prosperity, and order that will fulfil the seventy-second Psalm to the letter. Dr. Hopkins states five or six features of the millennial time which we may briefly note. 1. It will be a time of universal holiness. “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses holiness unto the Lord—yea, every pot in Judah and Jerusalem shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts,” 2. It will be a time of a great increase of light and knowledge. The Bible will be much better understood than ever before. The conversation of friends and neighbours when they meet will be full of instruction, and they will assist each other in their inquiries after the truth and in pursuit of knowledge. 3. It will be a time of universal peace, love, and general and cordial friendship. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places.” 4. It will be a time of the extinction of sects and denominations. “As there is but ‘one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,’ so in that day men will be united in the belief and profession of this one faith, in the system of doctrines revealed in the Bible, which then will appear plain, and with the clearest evidence to all. And they will have one common Lord, will understand and obey all the commands of Christ, and they will know what are the institutions and ordinances which Christ has appointed, which are all implied in baptism. They will understand what is the import of this, and implied in it, and be united in sentiments and practice, so as to form a beautiful, happy union and harmony, which will put an end to the variety and opposition of opinions and practices which now divide professing Christians into so many sects, parties and denominations.” 5. The millenium will be a time of great and universal joy. Inward and outward happiness will supplant the long programme of hunger and thirst, of vanity and vexation of spirit that had hitherto run through human history. “Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. And they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.” In that day mankind will greatly multiply and increase in number till the earth be filled with them. And the arts of agriculture and peace will then be brought to an unprecedented perfection. “There shall be a handful of corn in the earth on the top of mountains, the fruit whereof shall shake like Lebanon.” “There is reason to think the earth will be then, in some degree, enlarged in more ways than can now be mentioned or thought of. Large tracts now covered with water, coves and arms of the sea, may be drained, or the water shut out by banks and walls, so that hundreds of millions of persons may live on those places, and be sustained by the produce of them, which are now overflowed with water. Who can doubt this who recollects how many millions of people now inhabit Holland and the Low Countries, the greatest part of which was once covered with the sea, or thought not to be capable of improvement? Other instances might be mentioned.”
Various other remarks our author makes enlarging his description of the millennial time, but we pass to report briefly his significant statement of the series of events which will usher in the millenium. In brief, he thinks the close of this twentieth century will usher in the glorious time, and that the final overthrow of Romanism and Mohammedism will be with world-wide wars and upheavals. In these calamities he thinks the godless populations of the world will be much wasted and reduced in numbers, and that one predisposing cause of the changed views of men will be the salutary effect upon the survivors of the dreadful spectacle of the Lord’s vengeance against His impenitent enemies. He thinks this present era is that in which the three unclean spirits like frogs are proceeding from the mouth of the beast and the dragon and the false prophet, the upshot of whose working will be to gather the whole world to the battle of that great day of God Almighty (Rev. xvi. 14), and that therefore we are in the time when the warning voice should be heeded, “Behold I come as a thief.” These unclean spirits are the powers of infidelity, worldliness, and superstition, and if these be not the very master forces of our age our judgment is much at fault. He also asserts that the decay of Popery which is to take place previous to its final overthrow shall not be by the operation of the Spirit of God in a true revival, but by the lapsing of nations into infidelity. And this is the very thing that is being accomplished before our eyes. Popery is gaining ground among the Protestant Anglo-Saxon nations, but it is losing sway in France, Italy, and elsewhere, not by the supplanting power of real Christianity, but by infidelity and anarchism. The author treats these things with much spiritual insight and mastery of Scripture, and we have been interested in his discourse on this notable theme. J. M’N.