Jan. 1, 1868. first beams of the rising Sun of righteousness; and whence the humble hoping soul is enabled to peer into the dawning beauty of the not far off horizon, and to behold the primal flashings of the everlasting glory of the coming Lord of All. WILLIAM W. SKEMP. Patricroft, Manchester. SOME SAMUEL WESLEY ON THE MILLENNIUM. OME time ago, whilst turning over the pages of that strange, amusing, and, let me add, by no means uninstructive literary medley, ycleped the Athenian Oracle, my attention was arrested by an article of some length in the first volume, being an answer to the question, "What think you of the Millennium? And whether do you believe 'tis yet to come, or already past?" In this article I was so much interested that a strong desire was awakened in my mind, if possible to ascertain its authorship. I was, of course, acquainted with the fact that the Athenian Oracle was a republication of "all the valuable questions and answers " contained in the Athenian Mercury, or, as it was at first entitled, the Athenian Gazette, the first number of which erudite periodical appeared on March 17, 1691, and the last on June 14, 1697, its projector and chief editor being the celebrated John Dunton. Accordingly I at once sought for some possible information in the "Life and Errors' " of that eccentric personage. From this source I discovered that "while the plan of this work originated in his own prolific brain, in a short time he entered into a sort of partnership in the publication with his brother-in-law, the Rev. Samuel Wesley, and Mr. Richard Sault, and was also occasionally assisted by Dr. Norris." Now as Samuel Wesley (who I need hardly remind the reader was the father of John and Charles Wesley,) was the only divine in this "Athenian Society," it might be very fairly presumed that he answered all, or nearly all, the questions relating to theology and ecclesiastical history, and as the indices of the Athenian Oracle include a list of some 2,800 questions, of which about 900 belong to those departments, it is not unreasonable to suppose that one-third of these Athenian questions were answered by Wesley; and as regards the particular article in question, that too, as of a strictly theological character, might with some safety be attributed to him. Still, the matter might admit of some doubt, inasmuch as sundry other eminent persons-among others, Daniel Defoe, Dean Swift, Sir William Temple, and Mrs. Rowe-were occasional contributors. It was, therefore, with great satisfaction that I found the question set at rest by Mr. Tyerman, in his "Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley." Mr. Tyerman says:-"It is a remarkable fact, not generally known that Samuel Wesley was a millenarian. The Rev. William Lindsay Alexander, in an elaborate article in the Encyclopædia Britannica,' gives the following as the chief tenets of the millenarian creed : London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 1866. Jan. 1, 1868. 'That Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, the temple to be restored, and sacrifice again offered on the altar; that this city is to form the residence of Christ, who is to reign there in glory with all his saints for a thousand years; that for this purpose there shall be a resurrection of all the pious dead, that none of the Saviour's followers may be absent during his triumph; that, at the close of the thousand years, they shall all return to heaven, and the world be left to Satan and his followers for a season; and that then the general resurrection and last judgment shall take place, and the history of the world be brought to a close.'* In Vol. IV. of the Athenian Gazette, the No. for October 17, 1691, is entirely occupied by a millenarian article, which had been specially advertised on the Tuesday previous, and the following extract will show substantially the opinions held by Samuel Wesley. After quoting the first paragraph of the article which is here reprinted from the Athenian Oracle, Mr. Tyerman adds :-" After this statement of his belief, follows an able article on the same subject, but it is scarce within the province which we have prescribed for ourselves, to attempt either to refute or to establish the truth of it."t The article, though perhaps not quite accurate on some points of detail, is certainly an able one; it quite serves to justify the testimony of Pope, when, writing to Dean Swift, he says of Samuel Wesley, "I call him what he is, a learned man." Indeed I venture to think that the reader will agree with me in regarding it, when the date of its original publication is considered, as a very remarkable testimony in favour of the great doctrine of the pre-millennial advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. One circumstance, let me add, which invests the fact, established by this article, of Samuel Wesley's millenarianism, with a peculiar interest is this though neither of his more eminent sons accorded to the second advent that place in their theological system which we might have wished, it is nevertheless pretty clear that both John and Charles Wesley had some sympathy with millenarian views. The hymns of the latter establish this beyond controversy, ‡ and as regards his illus It is certainly amusing at this time of day to find a writer of Mr. Tyerman's intelligence thinking it needful to enlighten his readers by a quotation from the "Encyclopædia Britannica," as to the nature of that queer theological animal, ‘a millenarian.' But it is rather to be regretted that while he was about it he did not go to some better source of information. For Dr. Alexander to represent millenarians as holding that the earthly Jerusalem, rebuilt, is "to form the residence of Christ with all his saints," is simply to reduce their whole system to an absurdity. Where, again, he can have met with such an idea as that "at the close of the thousand years, Christ and his saints shall all return to heaven, and the world be left to Satan and his followers for a season," I am at a loss to conceive; but certain I am that he would find it difficult to meet with any intelligent student of prophecy who accepted it. + Tyerman's "Life and Times of Samuel Wesley," p. 146. Take for example the following verses, extracted from his "Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures": "Expecting me on earth to reign, My people shall not wait in vain; And share mine everlasting throne.”—Vol. i. p. 358. Jan. 1, 1868. trious brother, the fact, adverted to by Dr. Seiss, in his Last Times, that he "endorsed" the views contained in Thomas Hartley's "Paradise Restored"-a thoroughly millenarian little book-may be considered sufficient evidence. But whence did John and Charles Wesley derive their millenarian views? it may be asked. I answer by another question, was it not from their venerated father, the author of the following article? W. MAUDE. WE believe, as all the Christians of the purest ages did, that the saints shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years; that this reign shall be immediately before the general resurrection, and after the calling of the Jews, the fulness of the Gentiles, and the destruction of Antichrist, whom the Saviour shall destroy by the brightness of his coming and appearance, in heaven; that at the beginning of this thousand years shall be the first resurrection, wherein martyrs and holy men shall rise and reign here in spiritual delights in the New Jerusalem, nay, in a new heaven and new earth, foretold by all the holy prophets. For which opinion of ours we hope to show no inconsiderable arguments; which, if they can be answered, we'll willingly forsake it. And (1) we think we have no less for it than the universal tradition of the Jews, the ancient Church of God; (2) the unanswerable testimony of almost all the books in the Holy Bible, and (3) the constant faith and doctrine of the first and purest ages of Christianity. I. For the Jews, the Antichiliasts are so far from denying them to us on the point, that one of their great arguments against the opinion, and indeed the only one that makes any sound, is, that 'tis Judaism. But because the Jews held it, must it therefore be necessarily false? They also held the creation of the world, and the resurrection from the dead. However, that part of it, and those Jewish errors annexed to it by heretics or weak men, of carnal delights, &c., may be rejected, and yet the foundation still be firm; for that the first Christians held it in a more sober sense, we shall presently prove. But we have the authority of such Jews, for this truth, as were before our Saviour's time, and their nation's refusing the Christian religion; nay, that which makes against themselves, for it affirms that their law should cease. "That place where once I walked below, On Olivet I will appear; My bleeding feet to Israel show, While those who pierced behold me near. Again I will forsake my throne, And to my footstool earth descend; And fill the earth with peace unknown, With glorious joy that ne'er shall end."- Vol. i. p. 378. "Mightier joys ordained to know, When thou com'st to reign below, We shall at Thy side sit down, Partners of Thy great white throne; Kings a thousand years with Thee, Kings through all eternity."-Vol. ii. p. 425. More might be quoted did space allow, but these may suffice to prove the truth of my assertion. Jan. 1, 1868. For instance, in the famous tradition which they term Domus Eliæ, which Elias lived under the second temple, before our Saviour's birth: “Duo millia inane, duo millia lex, duo millia dies Messia. (Two thousand years void; two thousand years the law; two thousand years the days of Messiah.) Again, Justi quos resuscitabit Deus, &c. "The righteous whom God shall raise to life again-that is at the first resurrection shall not any more be turned to dust." He goes on discoursing the manner of their escape in the thousand years, when God shall renew the world. But should this authority be questioned, we are yet more certain that this was the opinion of the ancient Jews, by several passages in the Apocrypha, particularly that in the 3rd of Wisdom, from the 1st to the 8th verse. "The souls of the righteous which are departed, shall shine in the time of their visitation. They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people." So 2 Mac. vii. 15, one of the seven brethren, "When he was ready to die, said (to Antiochus), It is good being put to death by men, to look for hope from God to be raised up again by him (namely, in the first resurrection), but as for thee, thou shalt have no resurrection to life." Accordingly Rabbi Solomon interprets Isa. xxvi. 19, "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise," of the martyrs (Isaiah was one of that number), and takes it as an antithesis of what went before, verse 14, "They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise." "Rephaim non resurgent;" which Rephaim he understands to be the wicked; for the wicked, he says, shall not arise in seculo futuro-that is, shall not live again till the thousand years are over, as the very Scriptures express it; and Prov. xxi. 16, seems plainly to intimate as much: "The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead." This for the opinion of the ancient Jews, which, that it was none of their vain traditions, but exactly agreeing with God's word, seems so plain to us, that we believe it is impossible for the Antichiliasts to overthrow our opinion, unless they deny all the Scriptures, as they already have a good part of them, because so directly against them, of which more anon. II. We turn then to the Scriptures. And here we might begin with the promises to Abraham and the patriarchs, but because we shall meet with them again, urged by a better hand, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we will till then dismiss them. But we can bring other proofs almost as high (in antiquity), namely, from the book of Job, (xix. 25, 26.) "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." That this 'latter day' or 'last day,' is used in the Holy Scriptures for the time of the resurrection, every one knows; at which time, Job says, he shall see his Redeemer upon earth, and in his flesh or body, renewed again after the worms had destroyed it. But if this be not granted to reach any further than the general resurrection, let us go to the Psalms, where we shall find much clearer authorities. Not then to insist on that in the 90th Psalm, "Thou turnest man to destruction; again thou sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday." Not to insist upon this, though from this place Irenæus, Jan. 1, 1868. "Thou Justin Martyr, nay, perhaps the Apostle Peter himself, in his second Epistle, infer the millennium; there is a text in the 104th Psalm which appears very fair for this renovation. The Psalmist has been speaking before of man, and the rest of God's creation, and he goes on, hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust;" yet see after this the next verse, "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth." And verse 32, "He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the hills and they smoke." And verse 35, "Let the sinners (or, they shall) be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more." What can be a plainer description of the άTоKATάσTaσis, the renovation and restitution of the creature, of the new heaven and new carth, the day of judgment and perdition, of ungodly men? And in this very sense we find it interpreted by Methodius, bishop of Tyre, in a fragment of his preserved by Epiphanius: "But we are to expect that the creature shall be troubled, and that it shall die in the great conflagration, that it may be restored again, but not that it shall be totally extinct; that we ourselves also being renewed, may dwell in this new world free from grief or sorrow, according to that text, 'Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created, thou renewest the face of the earth." The book of Isaiah, beside what has already been urged, is full of plain prophecies to this purpose; nor can we ever make the Jews, or hardly ourselves, believe, that all these august promises of peace, tranquillity, and glory to the Church, nay, in many places to the Jews, distinguished from the Gentiles, are already fulfilled. If any affirm the contrary, we desire no more to convince them than Isa. lxv. 17, and lxvi. 22: "For, behold I create new heavens and a new earth; . . . I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy, . . . . the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. . . . For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind. . . . . . The new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord." It hence appears that new heavens, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem shall be created; and it appears this is not yet past, because that is not yet accomplished, "The voice of weeping, shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying." Besides, the glorious appearance of the Lord in flaming fire to judge the world and render vengeance on his enemies, is here described. But 'tis yet plainer that all this is to be taken, not of the state of Christ's kingdom as it is now under the Gospel, but as it will be at the restitution of all things; for thus St. Peter himself interprets it, "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth. (2 Pet. iii. 13). And where was this promise, but in the very words before quoted? And when was it to be made good? After" the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements (σTOXELOV, or heavenly bodies), shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up." This for Isaiah. But we have the infallible authority of the same St: Peter, that this restitution of all things was prophesied, not only by him, but by "all the holy prophets since the world began," in his sermon to the Jews, recorded in Acts iii. |