to rife or live again, as we fee with great Plainnefs, is demonftrated in the latter Part of this Chapter.

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Well then, the End for which Satan is to be let loofe, it is, that he and all the Devils, together with the reft of the Dead, or all the wicked, might be brought unto the Judgment. Moft certain, this is the End of his coming out of Prifon, and the reft of the Dead rifing or living again. For what can we fuppofe that there is to be done when the thousand Years are expired? But the last Judg ment immediately to follow. Though indeed God feeth it meet in his infinite Wifdom, and according to his eternal Counfels, to admit of fuch a fhort Space of time, between Satan's loofing, the reft of the Dead rifing, and the laft Judgment, as to be called a little Seafon; which may be admitted as a further Trial, for to fee, and make manifeft what is in their Nature: And therefore Satan is no fooner let out of his: Prifon, but we read, that he quickly begins his old Trade, in going about to deceive, and defperately to delude the Gog and Magog Army. From hence we may obferve, that the inveterate Enmity, and hatred of Devils doth fill appear, and continue in them.

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The time of their long Confinement in the bottomlefs Pit during the thoufaud Years, we fee has made no Change in the Nature of theDevils; Devils they were before, and Devils they fill continue to be And therefores marches, with all Expedition, into the four quarters of the Earth, to fee who he can find to join with him in fo bold an Attempt, as to compass in Battle Array theCamp of the Saints, about the beloved City; which brings me to the Confidération of the eighth and ninth Verfes.

Verse 8. And fhall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to Battel; the Number of whom is as the Sand of the Sea. And they went up on the breadth of the Earth, and compass'd the Camp of the Saints about, and the beloved City; and Fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them. v. 9.

. This to me feems to be the knottieft Text throughout the whole Bible, in relation to this. glorious time, which I have been treating about; how fuch a great Army at this is faid to be, fhould be gathered together out of the four quarters of the Earth, at the End of the thousand Years: I therefore defire in this, as in all other difficult Points, to speak with all Humility and Modefty, and not peremptorily affert what is my Judgment. I am not ignorant of the various Thoughts that there is, and hath been in good Men, concerning this Gog and Magog; moft of which I muft confefs I am of a different thought and Apprehenfion about. Some there be, who believe that the Kingdom of Chrift, which is yet to come, will be wholly and altogether fpiritual; when the Spirit of God fhall in a wonderful manner, be poured down upon all Flesh, which will be a great time of Converfion and a Subjection of all Nations unto the Saints, when the Power of Rule or Government fhall be put into their Hands, and they shall reign over their Oppreffors: And that then, when the thoufand Years are ended, and Satan let loofe, he will go out to deceive the Multitude of thefer Na

tions, to join with him in this Attempt, and fo will make up this Gog and Magog Army. But this cannot be fo, because the fpiritual Glory of the Church, in which there is to be fuch a wonderful Converfion, upon the Spirit's pouring down, will be in the firft Branch of Chrift's Kingdom, before bis perfonal coming, and therefore before the thoufand Tears begin, Whereas the Gog and Magog is not to appear upon the Stage until the thoufand Years are ended.

Secondly, Others do think, that in the Kingdom of the thousand Years, part of the Saints, (fuch as fhall be raised and changed when Chrift comes) fhall be with him, or where he is, in a perfect glorified State: the reft of the Saints, left in a mortal, imperfect, unglorified Condition, tho' abundantly more glorious than ever they were be→ fore, and that amongst these latter will be preach ing of the Gospel, and Converfion-work go forward, out of which they fuppofe the Gog and Magog will arife at the end of the thousand Tears. But I have before given feveral Reafons,' and opened many Texts, that these things cannot be fo, af ter the Lord Jefus Chrift fhall perfonally defcend from Heaven....

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Again thirdly, others, as Dr. Holmes, with fome more, do hold, (that in the Kingdom of Chrift, or the thousand Years Glory) fome of the Saints ofhall not be in a perfect, fome in an imperfect, but all in a perfect glorified State, and that at this time, fome who are not in the Covenant of Grace, (as, all the Ele& are) but in the Covenant of Nature only, will be preferved from the great Conflagration, or burning of the World, at G gg

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the Beginning of the thousand Years, and restored unto an Adamitical State of Innocence, as Adam was in before the Fall: Which will continue in that State of Obedience, having no Devil to tempt them during the thousand Years: And at the End thereof, the Devil being let loofe, will go out to deceive them, they not being kept by the Grace of thenew Covenant, will fall by his Temptations, as our firft Parents did: Which fay they will make up the Army of Gog and Magog, who will compafs the Camp of the Saints, and the beloved City. Burby what means, or how thefe will be cleanfed (if not in the Covenant of Grace) from that original Pollution, which the whole Pofterity of Adam is polluted with, I am at a lofs to know.

Fourthly, I rather think that God (who works all things after the Council of his own Will, and does not always give us a Reafon for what he doth) will referve fome of the Wicked alive, after this great Conflagration of the World, who fhall be left as a Seed to multiply in fome of the outfide Parts of or Borders of the Earth, far enough from feeing or beholding the Glory of Chrift and the Saints, during the Time of that glorious Reign. To which those Words in Ifaiah xxiv. 21. feem to agree, where we read how the Lord will punish the Hoft of the high ones as well as others (who are not intereffed inChrift) the Kings of the Earth upon the Earth. And they shall be gathered together as Prifoners are gathered in the Pit, and fhall be fut up in the Prifon, and after many Days fhall they be vifited. This Chapter holds forth the difmal State of the Wicked and Ungodly, as it will appear in that Day, many thousands of which will be deftroyed upon the Beginning of this Time,

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others who shall escape with their Lives, will be fo punished, as to be like Prifoners gathered and fhut up in their Pit or Prifon. This is not the bottomless Pit which the Devil is to be fhut into; be caufe they are to be punished upon the Earth. So that this Pit or Prison, where the Wicked are to be gathered, is to fhew the clofe Confinement which they are to be in; which they will not be able to break through, nor exceed the Bounds that God hath limited unto them, any more than Prisoners can break through their ftrong Prifon houses, And after many Days fhall they be visited: After many Days, or at the End of the thousand Years, the Devil (as a further Addition to their Punishment, and a great one too) will vifit them, and fo deceive them by his Temptation, as to draw them to join with him in that horrible Attempt to compafs the Camp of the Saints in a way of Battel: Out of thefe it may be thought that theGog and Magog Army will arife. It is certain that this Chapter háth a peculiar relation to the Kingdom of Chrift, from what followeth Then (at this time) the Moon fhall be confounded, and the Sun afhamed, when the Lord of Hofts fhall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerufalem, and before his Ancients gloriously. v.23.

Again, that Place in Daniel, vii. 12. may have fome look this way, as concerning the rest of the Beafts (befides thofe that are deftroyed, expreffed in the foregoing Verfe, upon the Entrance of the Kingdom of Chrift) (here is fome hall have their Lives continued) they had their Dominion taken away (that is they fhall have no Power of Rule) yet their Lives were prolonged for a Seafon and Time. This is not a little Seafon that is allotted to Satan at the

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