whole world.

It seems as though in this last great opposition
which shall be made against the church to defend
the kingdom of Satan, that all the forces of anti-
christ, mahometanism and heathenism, \\i\\ be
united ; all the power of Satan's visible kingdom
throughout the world. Therefore it is said, that

* spirits of devils shall go forth unto the kings of
the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them
together to the battle of the great day of God Al-
mighty.' And these spirits are said to come out of
the mouth of the dragon, and out of the month of
the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet ;
that is, there shall be the spirit of popery, and the
spirit of mahometanism, and the spirit of heathenism,
all united. By the beast is meant antichrist ; by the
dragon, in this book, is commonly meant the devil,
as he reigns over his heathen kingdom ; by the false
prophet, is sometimes meant the pope and his clergy.
But here an eye seems to be had to Mahomet, whom
his followers call the great prophet of God. This
will be as it were the dying struggle of the old ser-
pent, a battle wherein he will fight as one that is
desperate.

We know not particularly in what manner this
opposition will be made. It is represented as a bat-
tle ; it is called ' the battle of the great day of God
Almighty.' There will be some way or other a
mighty struggle between Satan's kingdom and the
church, and probably in all manner of ways ; and
doubtless great opposition will be made by external
force. The princes of the world, who are on the
devil's side, shall join hand in hand ; for it is said,

* The kings of the earth are gathered together to
battle,' Rev. xix. 19. Probably also there will be
great opposition of subtle disputers and carnal rea-
soning ; great persecution in many places, and
virulent reproaches. Doubtl ss the devil will now

2 X



338 lUSTORV OF llEDEMPTION.

ply Ilis skill, as well as his strength to the ritmost.
The allies and subjects who belong to his kingdom,
will every where be stirred up, and engaged to make
a united and violent opposition against this holy
religion, which they see prevailing so mightily in
the world. — But,

(5) Christ and his church shall in this battle ob-
tain a complete victory over their enemies. They
shall be totally routed and overthrown in this their
last effort. When the powers of hell and earth are
thus gathered together against Christ, and his armies
shall come forth against them by his word and Spirit
to light with them, in how august and glorious a
manner is this described. Rev. xix. 11 — 16. ' And
I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and
he that sat upon him is called faithful and true,' &c.
And to represent to us how great the victory will be
which they shall obtain, and how mighty the over-
throw of their enemies, it is said ver. 17, 18, that
* all the fowls of heaven are called together, to eat
the great supper given them, of the flesh of kings,
and captains, and mighty men ; ' and in the follow-
ing verses we have an account of the victory and
final overthrow.

In this victory the seventh phial shall be poured
out. Of the great army that should be collected
together against Christ, it is said, ' He gathered
them together into a place called in the Hebrew
tongue, Armageddon ; ' and then ' the seventh angel
poured out his phial into the air ; and there came a
great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the
throne, saying, It is done.' Rev. xvi. 16. Now the
business is done for Satan and his adherents. When
this victory is obtained, all is iii effect done. Satan's
last and greatest opposition is conquered, all his
measures are defeated, the pillars of his kingdom
broken, and will fall of course. The devil is utterly
baffled and confounded, and knows not what else to
do. He DOW sees his antichristian, mahoraetan, and
heathenish kingdoms throughout the world, all
tumbling about his ears. He and his most power-



TO THE FALL OJ' ANl 1 C II llLS'i'. 339

fill instruments are taken captive. Now that is in
eftect done which the church of God had been so
long waiting- and hoping for, and so earnestly crying
to God for, saying, ' How long, oh Lord, holy and
true?' Now the time is come.

The angel that gel his right foot on the sea, and
his left foot on the earth, lift up his hand to heaven,
and sware by him that liveth lor ever and ever, who
created heaven, and all things that are therein, and
the earth, and the things that are therein, and the
sea, and the things which are therein, that when the
seventh angel should come to sound, ' the time
should be no longer.' Rev. x. 5—7. And now the
time is come ; now the seventh trumpet sounds, and
the seventh vial is poured out, both together ; inti-
mating, that now all is finished as to the overthrow
of Satan's visible kingdom on earth. This victory
shall be by far the greatest that ever was obtained
over Satan and his adherents. By this blow, with
which the stone cut out of the mountain without
hands shall strike the image of gold, and silver, and
brass, and iron, and clay, it shall be all broken to
pieces. This will be a finishing blow to the image,
so that it shall become as the chaff of the summer
threshing floor. Dan. ii. 35.

In this victory there will be a most glorious dis-
play of divine power. Christ shall appear in the
character of ' King of kings, and Lord of lords,' and
shall dash his enemies, even the strongest and proud-
est of them, in pieces ; as a potter's vessel shall they
be broken to shivers. Then shall strength be shown
out of weakness, and Christ shall cause his church
as it were to thresh the mountains, Isai. xli. 15.
' Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing-
instrument, having teeth ; thou shalt thresh the
mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make
the hills as chaff.' See also Isai. xliii. 13 — 15.

(6) Consequent on this victory, Satan's visible
kingdom on earth shall be destroyed. When Satan
is conquered in this last battle, the church of Christ
will have easy work of it ; as when Joshua and the



340 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.

children of Israel had obtained that great victory
over the five kings of the Amorites, when the sun
stood still, and God sent great hailstones upon their
enemies. After that they vs^ent from one city to
another, and burnt them with fire : they had easy
work of subduing the cities and country to which
they belonged. So it was also after that other great
battle that Joshua had with that great multitude at
the waters of Merom. Josh. xi. 5—9. So after this
glorious victory of Christ and his church over their
enemies, the chief powers of Satan's kingdom, they
shall destroy that kingdom in all those cities and
countries to which they belong. Then the word of
God shall have a swift progress through the earth ;
as it is said, that on the pouring out of the seventh
phial, * the cities of the nations fell, and every island
fled away, and the mountains were not found.' Rev.
xvi. 19, 20. When once the stone cut out of the
mountain without hands had broken the image in
pieces, it was easy to abolish all remains of it. The
very wind will carry it away as the chafi" of the
summer threshing-floor. Because Satan's visible
kingdom on earth shall now be destroyed, therefore
it is said, that the seventh phial by which this shall
be done, shall be poured out into the air ; which is
represented in scripture as the special seat of his
kingdom ; for he is called ' the prince of the power
of the air.' Ephes. ii. 2. Now is come the time for
punishing Leviathan, that piercing serpent, of which
we read in Isai. xxvii. 1. 'In that day the Lord
with his sore and great and strong sword, shall
punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Levia-
than, that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the
dragon that is in the sea.'

Concerning this overthrow of Satan's visible king-
dom on earth, I would show wherein it will chiefly
consist, and the extent and universality of this over-
throw.

[1] Observe wherein the overthrow of Satan's
kingdom will chiefly consist. I shall mention the
f)rincipal things in which it will consist, without



TO THE FALL OF AXTICHKIST. 341

pretending to determine in what order they shall
come to pass, or which shall be accomplished first,
or whether they shall be accomplished together.

Heresies, infidelity, and superstition, among those
who have been brought up under the light of the
gospel, w^ill then be abolished. Then there will be
an end to Socinianism, Arianism, Quakerism, and
Arminianism. Deism, which is now so bold and
confident in infidelity, shall then^ be crushed to
nothing; and all shall agree in the same great and
important doctrines of the gospel, agreeable to that
promise, Zech. xiv. 9. ' And the Lord shall be king
over all the earth : in that day shall there be one
Lord, and his name one.' Then shall all supersti-
tion be abolished, and all shall agree in worshipping
God in his own ways. ' I will give them one heart,
and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the
good of them, and of their children after them.' Jer.
xxxii. 39.

The kingdom of antichrist shall be utterly over-
thrown. His kingdom and dominion has been much
brought down already, by the phial poured out on
his throne at the Reformation ; but then it shall be
utterly destroyed. Then shall be proclaimed, * Baby- •
Ion is fallen, is fallen.' When the seventh angel
sounds, ' the time, times and half, shall be out, and
the time shall be no longer.' Then shall be accom-
plished concerning antichrist the things which are
written, relative to the spiritual Babylon, that has
for so many ages been the great enemy of the chris-
tian church, first under heathenism, then under
popery. That proud city which lifted herself up to
heaven, and above God himself in her pride and
haughtiness ; that cruel, bloody city, shall come
down to the ground. Then shall be fulfilled that
saying, ' He bringeth down them that dwell on high,
the lofty city he layeth it low, he layeth it low, even
to the ground, he bringeth it even to the dust. She
shall be thrown down with violence, like a great
milstone cast into the sea, and shall be found no
more at all ; but shall become a habitation of devils,



344 HISTOllY OF REDEMPTlOiV.

been rejected much longer than Ju-clah, be brought
in with their brethren. The prophecies of Hosea
especially seem to hold this forth, that in the future^
glorious times of the church, both Judah and^
Ephraim, or Judah and the ten tribes, shall be
brought in together, and shall be united as one peo-
ple, as they formerly were under David and Solo-
mon. ' Then shall the children of Judah and the
children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint
themselves one head,' Hosea i. 11 ; and so in the last
chapter, and other parts of this prophecy. Though
we do not know the time in which this conversion
of the nation of Israel will come to pass ; yet thus
much we may determine by scripture, that it will be
before the glory of the Gentile part of the church
shall be fully accomplished ; because it is said, that
their coming in shall ' be life from the dead to the
Gentiles.' Rom. xi. 12 — 15.

Then also shall Satan's pagan kingdom be over-
thrown. Gross heathenism still possesses a great
part of the earth, and there are supposed to be more
heathens now in the world, than of all other profes-
sions taken together, Jews, Mahometans, and Chris-
tians. But then the heathen nations shall be en-
lightened with the glorious gospel. There will be
a wonderful spirit of pity towards them, and multi-
tudes will manifest a zeal for their instruction and
conversion. Many shall go forth, and carry to them
the gospel ; then shall the joyful sound be heard
among them, and the Sun of righteousness shall
arise with his glorious light shining on those many
vast regions of the earth that have been covered
with heathen darkness for some thousands of years.
Many of them doubtless, ever since the time of
Moses and Abraham, have lain thus long. in a miser-
able condition, under the cruel tyranny of the devil,
who has all this while blinded and made a prey
of them from g-eneration to generation. Now the
glad tidings of the gospel shall sound there, and
they shall be brought out of darkness into marvel-
lous light.



TO THE FALL OF ANTICHRIST. 345

It is promised in many places, that heathenism
shall thus be destroyed. Thus it is said, that ' the
gods which have not made these heavens and this
earth, shall perish from the earth, and from under
these heavens, Jer. x. 11 ; and that he will utterly
abolish idols.' Isai. ii. 18. Then the nations of
Africa, and other heathens who chiefly fill that quar-
ter of the world, who now seem to be in a state but
little above the beasts, and in some respects below
them, shall be enlightened with glorious light, and
delivered from all their darkness, and shall become
a civilized, intelligent, and holy people. Then shall
the vast continent of America, so great a part of
which is covered with barbarous ignorance and
cruelty, be every where blessed with glorious gos-
pel light and christian love ; and instead of wor-
shipping the devil, as now they do, they shall serve
God, and praises shall be sung every where to the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. So
we may expect it will be in that great and popu-
lous part of the world, the East Indies, which are
now mostly inhabited by the worshippers of Satan ;
and so throughout the vast country of Great Tarta-
ry. Then the kingdom of Christ will be established
in those continents which have been more lately
discovered towards the north and south poles, where
now men difter very little from wild beasts, except-
ing that they worship the devil, and beasts do not.
The same will be the case with those countries which
have never yet been discovered. Thus will be glo-
riously fulfilled that promise : ' The wilderness and
the solitary place shall be glad for them : and the
desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.' Isai.
xxxv. 1 — 7.

[2] Having thus shown wherein this overthrow
of Satan's kingdom will consist, I come now to
observe its universal extent. The visible kingdom
of Satan shall be overthrown, and the kingdom of
Christ set up on the ruins of it, every where
throughout the habitable globe. Now shall the
promise made to Abraham be fulfilled, that ' in him
2 Y



346 HISTORY OF REDEMPITON.

and in his seed all the families of the earth shall be
blessed ; ' and Christ sliall become ' the desire of all
nations.' Now the kingdom of Christ, in the most
strict and literal sense, shall be extended to all na-
tions, and throughout the earth. There are many-
passages of scripture that can be understood in no
other sense. What can be more universal than
this : * The earth shall be full of the knowledge of
the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.' Isai. xi. 9.
As there is no channel or cavity of the sea any
where, but what is covered with water ; so there
shall be no part of the habitable world, but vvhat
shall be covered with the knowledge of God. So it
is foretold in Isai. xlv. 22, that all the ends of the
earth shall look to Christ, and be saved. And to
show that the words are to be understood in the
most universal sense, it is said in the next verse,
* I have sworn by myself; the word is gone out of
my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return ;
that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue
shall swear.' So the prophet Daniel, chap. vii. 27.
' And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness
of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be
given to the people of the saints of the Most High.'
When the devil was cast out of the Roman empire,
that being the principal part of the world, and the
other nations being mean in comparison of that vast
empire, it was represented as Satan's being cast out
of heaven to the earth. Rev. xii. 9. But it is re-
presented that he shall be cast out of the earth too,
and shut up in hell. Rev. xx. 1—3. This is the
greatest revolution by far that ever came to pass :
therefore it is said, that on pouring out the seventh
phial there was a great earthquake, such as was not
since men were upon earth, so mighty an earthquake
and so great. Rev. xvi. 17, 18.

(7) This is the third great dispensation of provi-
dence, which in scripture is compared to Christ's
coming to judgment. So it is said, after the sixth
phial, and alter the devil's armies were gathered to-
gether to their great battle, and just before Christ's



TO THE TALL OF ANTICHRIST 347

glorious victory over them, ' Behold, I come quickly ;
blessed is he that watcheth, and kcej^eth his gar-
ments.' Rev. xvi. 15. So when speaking of anti-
christ, it is said, ' Then shall that wicked be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his
coming.' 2 Thess. ii. 8. Christ's coming to set up
his kingdom on earth, and to destroy antichrist, is
called his coming with the clouds of heaven, Dan. vii.
13, 14. And this is more like Christ's last coming
to judgment, than any of the preceding dispensations
which are so called.

[1] Because this dispensation is greater and more
universal, and so more like the day of judgment,
which respects the whole world.

[2] On account of the spiritual resurrection which
will accompany it, resembling the general resurrec-
tion at the end of the world. Rev. xx. 4.

[3] Because of the terrible judgments and fearful
destruction wdiich shall now be executed on God's
enemies. There will doubtless be at the introduc-
tion of this dispensation a visilile and awful hand of
God against blasphemers, and obstinate enemies of
Christ ; and especially antichrist himself, which is
compared to the casting of antichrist into the burning
flame, and to casting him alive into the lake that
burns with fire and brimstone. Dan. vii. 11. Rev.
xix. 20. Then shall the cruel church of Rome suiFer
those judgments from God, which shall be far more
dreadful than her crudest persecutions of the saints.
Rev. xviii. 6, 7. The judgments which God shall
execute on the enemies of the church are so great,
that they are compared to God's sending great hail-
stones from heaven upon them. Rev. xvi. 21. ' And
there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every
stone about the weight of a talent : and men blas-
phemed God, because of the plague of the hail, for
the plague thereof was exceeding great.' And now
shall be the treading of the winepress of the wrath
of God. Rev. xiv. 19, 20.

[4] This shall put an end to the church's suffering



348 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.

state, and shall be attended with their glorious and
joyful praises. Indeed, after this, near the end of
the world, the church shall be greatly threatened ;
but it shall be only for a little season, for as the
times of the church's rest are but short, before the
long day of her afflictions are at an end, so whatever
affliction she may suffer after this, it will be very
short : otherwise the day of the church's affliction
and persecution shall now come to a final end. Rev.
XX. 3. The scriptures, in many places, speak of this
time as the end of the suffering state of the church.
Isai. li. 22. God says to his church, with respect
to time, ' Behold, I have taken out of thine hand
the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of
my fury ; thou shalt no more drink it again.' Chap,
xl. 1, 2. ' Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith
your God. Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned ; for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.' Ver. 20 :
' The Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the
days of thy mourning shall be ended.' Zeph. iii. 15.
' The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath
cast out thine enemy : the King of Israel, even the
Lord, is in the midst of thee : thou shalt not see
evil any more.' See also Isai. liv. 8, 9.

The time previous to this, hath been the church's
sowing time, wherein she sowed in tears and in
blood ; but now is her harvest, wherein she will
come again rejoicing, bringing her sheaves with her.
Now the time of the travail of the woman clothed
with the sun is at an end ; now she hath brought
forth her son ; for* this glorious setting up of the
kingdom of Christ throughout the world, is what the
church had been in travail for, with such terrible
pangs, for so many ages. Isai. xxvi. 17. ' Like as a
woman with child, that draweth near the time of
der delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs :
so have we been in thy sight, oh Lord.' See chap.
Ix. 20. Ixi. 10, 11. And now the church shall for-
get her sorrow, since a man-child is born into the



TO THE FALL OF ANTICHRIST. 349

world : now succeed her joyful praise and triumph.
Her praises shall then go up to God from all parts
of the earth, Isai. xlii. 10 — 12 ; and praise shall not
only fill the earth, but also heaven. The church on
earth, and the church in heaven, shall both gloriously
rejoice and praise God, as with one heart, on that
occasion. Without doubt it will be a time of very-
distinguished joy and praise among the holy pro-
phets and apostles, and other saints in heaven. Rev.
xxiii. 20. • Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye
holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged
you on her.' Isai. xliv. 23. * Sing, oh ye heavens,
for the Lord hath done it ; shout, ye lower parts of
the earth ; break forth into singing, ye mountains ;
oh forest, and every tree therein : for the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.'
See what joyful praises are sung to God on this oc-
casion by the universal church in heaven and earth.
Rev. xix. 1 — 7. ' Allelujah, salvation and honour and
power unto the Lord our God.'

[5] This dispensation is above all preceding ones,
like Christ's coming to judgment, in that it puts an
end to the former state of the world, and introduces
his everlasting kingdom. Now Satan's visible king-
dom shall be overthrown, after it has stood ever
since the building of Babel ; and the old heavens
and the old earth shall pass away, and the new
heavens and new earth be set up in a far more glo-
rious manner than ever before.

Thus I have shown how the success of Christ's
purchase has been carried on through the times of
the afflicted state of the christian church, from
Christ's resurrection, until antichrist is fallen, and
Satan's visible kingdom on earth is overthrown.

IV. The success of Christ's Redemption carried
on in a prosperous state.

I COME now to show how the success of redemp-
tion will be carried on through that space wherein
the christian church shall for the most part be in a



350 HISTORY OF IlEDEMPTIOK.

state of peace and prosperity. And in order to this,
I would speak, first, of the prosperous state of the
church through the greater part of this period ; and
secondly, of the great apostasy there shall be towards
the close of it.

First, Consider the prosperous state of the church
throughout the greater part of this period. And
here observe,

1. That this is most properly the time of the king-
dom of heaven upon earth. Though the kingdom
of heaven was in a degree set up soon after Christ's
resurrection, and in a farther degree in the time of
Constantine ; and though the christian church in all
ages of it is called the kingdom of heaven ; yet this
is most eminently the kingdom of heaven upon
earth, the time principally intended by the prophe-
cies of Daniel, which speak of the kingdom of hea-
ven, whence the Jews took the expression. Dan.
ii. 44.

2. That this is the grand period for the fulfilment
of all the prophecies of the Old Testament, which
speak of the glorious times of the gospel in the latter
days. Though there has been a blessed fulfilment
of those prophecies already, in the times of the apos-
tles, and of Constantine ; yet the expressions are
too high to suit any other time entirely, but that
which is to succeed the fall of antichrist. This is
most properly the glorious day of the gospel. Other
times are only forerunners and preparatories to this ;
other times were the seedtime, but this is the har-
vest. More particularly,

(1) It will be a time of great light and knowledge.
The present days are days of darkness, in compari-
son of those days. The light of that glorious time
shall be so great, that it is represented as though
there should then be no night, but only day, neither
evening nor darkness. Zech. xiv. 6, 7. ' It shall
come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be
Cienr, nor dark. But it shall be one day, which