"I am one of those old-fashioned people who believe the doctrine of the Millennium; and that there will be two distinct resurrections of the dead; first, of the just, secondly, of the unjust; which last resurrection of the reprobate will not commence till a thousand years after the resurrection of the elect. In this glorious interval of one thousand years, Christ, I apprehend, will reign in person over the kingdom of the just."-TOPLADY, Works, vol. iii. p. 470. "The Revelation teaches (agreeing perfectly with the statements of our Lord and the Apostles) that a period will come in which the Spirit of Jesus Christ should not only prevail in secret, but should also gain the victory externally, and found a kingdom of peace and righteousness upon earth. With the arrival of the reign of peace there will be connected, on the one hand, the appearance of Jesus Christ and a resurrection of many saints; and, on the other, a previous mighty struggle on the part of evil. The principal idea is the perfect return of the supremacy of good, the restoration of the lost Paradise to an earth which has been laid waste by sin."-OLSHAUSEN on the Gospels, vol. i., p. cviii. |