Millennial expectation, the literal thousand-year reign after the first resurrection, is the frontier air the archive’s endpoint breathes. A rebuilt Jerusalem and a returning Christ are the pattern the Restorationist and early Mormon movements drew on, and Adams gives the doctrine its ancient pedigree.
In Hannah Adams
In Adams’s own words, from the 1817 Dictionary. Each passage is quoted verbatim under its own entry.
MILLENNARIANS, or Chiliasts, a name given to all who believe that the saints will literally reign on earth with Christ a thousand years after the first resurrection, before the end of the world. The former appellation is of Latin original, the latter of Greek, and both are of the same import. The ancient Millcnnarians held that, after the coming of antichrist, and the destruction which will follow, there shall be a first resurrection of the just alone—that all who shall be found upon earth, both good and bad, shall continue alive; —that Jesus Christ will then descend from heaven in his glory—that the city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt, in the manner described. Rev. xxi. and Ezek. xxxvi. Here they suppose the Lord Jesus will fix the seat of his empire, and reign a thousand years with the saints, patriarchs, and prophets, who will enjoy perfect and uninterrupted felicity, in a second paradise, more glorious than that of Eden. This opinion is adopted in the epistle of Barnabas, by Papias, Irenseus, Justin Martyr, and many more of the ancient fathers; and is illustrated and confirmed by many learned moderns, from whom we shall subjoin an abstract of their opinions. Dr. Thomas Burnet and Mr. Wkiston concur in asserting that the earth will not be entirely consumed; but that the matter of which it consists will be purified, by the action of fire; from these materials, as from a second chaos, there will, by the will of God, arise a new creation: « new heavens and a new earth.” The earth, and the atmosphere, will then be so restored as to resemble what they were in the paradisaical state; and consequently, to render it a most delightful abode for man. In proof of this hypothesis they urge the following texts:—Matt, xiii.41—43. Luke xvii. 29, 30. Acts iii. 21. Heb.i.11,12. They suppose that the earth, thus beautiful and improved, shall be inhabited by those who inherit the first resurrection, and who shall here enjoy a very considerable degree of happiness, though not equal to 18U MIL that which is to succeed the general judgment, which shall open when the thousand years, mentioned in Rev. xx. 4—6. shall be expired.
Though Mr. Fleming does not entirely agree with the above, he interprets Rev. xx. 6. as referring to a proper resurrection, of which, he supposes, the event recorded in Matt, xxvii. 52, was a pledge. He conjectures that the most eminent saints of the old testament times then arose, and ascended with Christ to heaven; agreeably to this, he apprehends that the saints who are to be subjects of the first resurrection, after appearing to some of the inhabitants of this earth, which may be the mean of reviving religion among them, will ascend to heaven in triumph. To this peculiar privilege of the martyrs, and some other eminent saints, St. Paul is supposed to refer, Phil. iii. Mr. Ray agrees that there will be a renovation of the earth; and though he does not suppose that the same animals shall be raised again, yet he thinks that other animals, as well as vegetables, will be produced in higher degrees of beauty and perfection than ever before.
Dr. Cotton Mather supposed that the conflagration will take place at Christ’s second personal coming; that after this great event God will create ‘ new heavens, and a new earth.* The raised saints will inhabit the new heavens, attending on our Saviour there, and receiving immense rewards for their services and sufferings for his sake. The new earth will be a paradise, and inhabited by those who shall be caught up to meet the Lord, and be with him in safety, while they see the earth flaming under them. They shall then return to the new earth, possess it, and people it with an offspring who shall be sinless and immortal. The risen saints who shall inhabit the new heavens, and “neither marry nor be given in marriage,” will be sent down from time to time to the new earth, to be teachers and rulers, and have power over nations; and “ the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This dispensation will continue for one thousand years. There will also be a translation from the new earth to the new heavens, either successively during the thousand years, or all at once, after the termination of that period.
Mr. Kett, in a late publication, entitled, History the Interpreter of Prophecy, has advanced a new plan, of which the following is an imperfect sketch. He supposes, that the antichrist (or the many antichrists) spoken of in the new testament, means a power, a person, or a succession of persons, who were to arise in the world, and either deceitfully arrogate to themselves the place and office of Christ, or exercise a direct enmity to him and his religion: —that there appear to be three great forms of antichrist; viz. Popery, Mohammedanism, and Infidelity, which were to prevail a certain time for the trial and punishment of the corrupted church of Christ—that at the present period, the Infidel form of antichrist is begun, and will continue to prevail while the Papal and Mohammedan decline—that the rise, progress, and establishment of the Infidel power is predicted by the little horn of the beast in the visions of Daniel, and the second beast and his image in the revelation of St. John.—Mr. Kett supposes, that when the Infidel power shall have reached its summit of dominion; when the Jews are collected into their own land; when the church, purified by tribulation, shall be made ready to receive her Lord, Christ shall personally appear, and finish the reign of antichrist in all its various forms: the just shall be raised from the dead, and a new kingdom of peace and everlasting happiness be established under the immediate government of the Redeemer, agreeably to the description in Dan. ii. 35. Rev. xx. 4—6. and other passages. When this glorious period of the millennium shall commence, the New Jerusalem will be separated from the world as the garden of Eden, but the gates of entrance shall stand open: the world will continue a state of probation to all but those who arose from the dead; it will, however, be enlightened by the communication of those blessed instructors. At the expiration of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed, to deceive the nations without the city: but as soon as he shall attempt to disturb the peace of the saints, fire will descend out of heaven, and devour the incorrigible sinners. The final judgment, the resurrection of the wicked, the destruction of the world, the everlasting punishment of Satan and his followers, and the admission of the saints into eternal felicity in the heavens, will immediately succeed.
Dr. Gill, bishop Newton, and many other eminent divines, adopt the literal interpretation of the prophecies: but others of equal learning and piety, incline to a figurative interpretation of these scriptures, as will be seen in the following instances: Dr. Whitbtj supposes the millennium to refer entirely to the prosperous state of the Christian church after the fall of antichrist, and the conversion of the Jews—that then shall begin a glorious and undisturbed reign of Christ over the Jew and Gentile, to continue a thousand years—and as John the Baptist was Elias, because he came in the spirit and power of Elias; so shall this be the church of the martyrs, and those, “ who have not received the mark of the beast,” because the spirit and purity of the times of the primitive martyrs shall return. He argues, that it would be a degradation to the glorified saints to dwell upon earth; and that it is contrary to the genius of the Christian religion to suppose it built on temporal promises.
Mr. Worthington* s scheme is, that the gospel, being intended to restore the ruins of the fall, will gradually meliorate the world, till, by a train of natural consequences, under the influence of divine providence and grace, it is restored to a paradisaical state. He supposes that this plan is already advanced through some important stages, among which he reckons (with Dr. Sherlock) the amendment of the earth’s natural state at the deluge to have been a considerable one. He considers all improvements in learning and arts, as well as tbe propagation of the gospel among the heathen nations, as the process of this scheme: but he apprehends much greater advances are to be made about the year of Christ 2,000, when the millennium will commence; which shall be, according to him, such a glorious state as Dr. Whitby supposes; but with this additional circumstance, that, after some interruption from the last effects of wickedness by Gog and Magog, this shall terminate in the still nobler state of the new heaven and the new earth spoken of in Rev. xxi. and xxii. when he supposes that all natural and moral evil, and death itself, shall be banished from the earth: but good men shall continue in the highest state of rectitude, and in the greatest imaginable degree of terrestrial felicity, till the final coming of Christ and universal judgment close this delightful sceue, perhaps several thousand years afterwards. Indeed, he seems to apprehend that the consummation of all things will not happen till about the year of the world 25,920, the end of the great year, as the Platonics called it, when the equinoxes shall have revolved. Mr. Lowman agrees with Dr. Whitby in supposing the scripture description of the inillennium to be figurative, representing the happy state of the church on its deliverance from the persecution and corruption of the third period. He supposed the book of the Revelation, after the fifth chapter, to be a prophetic representation of the most remarkable events which were to befal the christian church from that time to the end. He divides the remainder into seven periods; the first, represented by the seals, shows the state of the church under the heathen Roman emperours from the year 95 to 323; —the second, that of the trumpets, relates to what was to happen in the christian church, from 337 to 750, when the Mohammedan conquests ceased in the West:—the third represents the state of the church and world in the time of the last head of the Roman government, i. e. under the popes, for 1,260 years; viz. from 756 to 2,016: each of the vials which are poured out, he reckons to denote some great judgment upon the papal kingdom; the sixth and seventh vials he supposes are yet to come, and that the seventh will complete the final destruction of Rome—the fourth is that of a thousand years, or the millennium, in which the church will be in a most prosperous state, a. p. 2,000 to 8,000; so that the seventh chiliad is to be a kind of sabbath—the fifth is the renewed invasion of the enemies of the church for a-short time not defined, but which is to end in their final extirpation and ruin, (chap. xx. 7—10.)—the sixth is the general resurrection and final judgment; (chap. xx. 11—15.) these terminate in the seventh grand period, in which the saints are represented as fixed in a state of everlasting triumph and happiness in the heavenly world. chap. xxi. 1—5.
Dr. Bellamy supposes that the millennium will be a glorious scene of Christ’s spiritual reign on earth, when universal peace shall prevail; wars, famines, and all desolating judgments be at an end; industry shall flourish, and all luxury, intemperance, and extravagance, be banished. ‘Then this lobe will be able to sustain with food and raiment a number of inhabitants immensely greater than ever dwelt upon it at one time: and if all those shall, as the scripture asserts, “know the Lord, from the least to the greatest,” for one thousand years together, it will naturally come to pass, that there will be more saved in that thousand years, than ever before dwelt upon the face of the earth, from the foundation of the world. Some understand the thousand years in the Revelation, (agreeably to other prophetical numbers in that book,) a day for a year, which would extend the period of the millennium, (as the scripture year contains 360 days) to 360,000 years; in which there might possibly be millions saved to one which has been lost.
All the above systems respecting the millennium admit the eternity of future punishment. The plan of the late Mr. Winchester terminates in the universal restoration of all intelligent creatures.
This author supposes that, as an introduction to the millennium, the power and empire of the Turks shall be weakened, to make way for the return of the Jews to their own land, which event is expressly foretold in Ezek. xxxix. £5—£8 ; and many other passages; that after their return, their enemies shall come against them in vast numbers, called by the names Gog and Magog, Ezek. xxxvii. 1—7.—that they shall take and plunder the city of Jerusalem, and bring the Jews to the brink of destruction—that at the height of their triumph, Christ, the manifested Jehovah, shall appear in the clouds of heaven, according to Zech. xiv. 14.—• that his appearance shall effect the conversion of the Jews, who shall receive him as the true Messiah; They shall look on him whom they have pierced. Zech. xiiJlO ; Rev. i. 7. The dead saints shall then be raised, the living saints changed, and both caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and descend with him to reign on earth, when the glorious millennium shall commence. In that period the Jews shall be again acknowledged as the people of God; the twelve tribes settled in their own land, under the government of the Saviour, and be a holy and happy people; Jerusalem shall be rebuilt in greater splendour than ever; all nations shall yearly repair to this city to worship the Lord. (Zee. xiv. 16—£0.) There shall be a glorious temple erected, (Ez. xl. 41, 4£.) in which the Lord Jesus shall hold his court: from thence he shall send liis saints through the whole earth, to instruct and bless mankind. At this blessed period satan shall be bound; the curse shall be removed from the earth; the obstructions which hinder the success of the gospel removed; all be united in one religion; wars, famines, earthquakes, tempests, and pestilence shall cease; the inhabitants of the world be more numerous than ever, and all kinds of spiritual and temporal blessings be the portion of mankind. At the end of the millennium, Satan shall be loosed to deceive the nations of the earth; a mighty army, with this great apostate at their head, shall march in a hostile manner against the camp of the saints; but fire shall immediately descend from heaven to devour them. This army is described by the Gog and Magog of St. John, which our author supposes different from the Gog and Magog mentioned by Ezekiel. This destruction will be immediately followed by the resurrection of all the dead, and the day of judgment. After this the Lord, with all the redeemed, shall ascend to heaven; and the conflagration shall take place, by which the earth shall be reduced to a globe of fire, and be the final stage of punishment; where the wicked shall endure the pangs of the second death, and be tormented for ages of ages after the day of judgment. At length the renovation of the heavens and earth shall take place, according to various prophetic passages, particularly Isaiah lxv. 17. £ Pet. iii. 13; Rev. xxi. 1, £. After the new heavens and earth are prepared, as a new stage for the wonders of God’s redeeming love, the holy city, or New Jerusalem, shall descend as the residence of the saints, during those ages, in which the great work of redeeming lost sinners is carried on. The saints shall reign with Christ, and be kings and priests, till all fallen intelligences are restored, sin and misery cease, and holiness and happiness be absolutely universal and complete, as is expressed in Rev. xxi. 1.* See Univcrsalists.
Hannah Adams, A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations, 4th ed. (Boston: Cummings and Hilliard, 1817), entry “Millennarians” (pp. 179–185).