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witness of God , &c. and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand 
years. 
Again, says Jesus to his disciples, Verily I say unto you s that ye which 
have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son or Man shall sit upon 
the throne of his glory, yejhall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel. 
That by sitting on the throne of his glory we are to understand the 
triumphant splendour of Christ m the kingdom of Heaven, the preceding 
verses evince, wherein our Saviour, after having represented the kingdom of 
Heaven as not easily attainable by those who are rich, tells his disciples, that 
an enjoyment of some distinguished blessings and honours therein shall be 
the happy portion of themselves and others, who had forsaken all and 
followed him. 
And how exactly does this state of glory, promised to his disciples upon 
the abovementioned occasion, answer to that which is ascribed by St. John 
to the partakers of th q first resurrection ? They shall be priests of God and 
of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And I John saw 
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from Heaven, &c. And I heard 
a great voice out of Heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with 
men, and he will dwell with them; and they shall be his people, and God 
himself shall be with them, and be their God. He that overcometh shall 
inherit all these things.* 
It being then, I think, sufficiently proved that the kingdom of Heaven, 
which the gospel teaches the good and righteous to expect in an hereafter, 
is that state of glory and honour which the Evangelist ascribes to the 
* If it be urged that the first resurrection, here mentioned, is not to be understood in a literal, 
but in an allegorical or mystical sense, signifying only a resurrection from sin to a spiritual life (as 
we are said to be dead in sin, and to be risen with Christ by faith and regeneration), and that this 
manner of speech which St. Paul does sometimes use, as in Ephes. ii. 6, 14, and in Coloss. iii. l. I 
ask how that can be applied to the present case? Were the martyrs dead in sin? 'Tis they that 
are raised from the dead; or after they were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, naturally dead and 
laid in their graves, were they the regenerate by faith? Besides, why should they be said to be 
regenerate a thousand years before the day of judgment ? or to reign with Christ after this spiritual 
resurrection for a limited time—a thousand years? Why not to eternity? For in this allegorical 
sense of rising and reigning they will reign with him for ever. Then, after the thousand years, must 
all the wicked be regenerate and rise into spiritual life ? 'Tis said here, the rest of the dead lived not 
again until the thousand years were finished. That implies, that, at the end of these thousand years, 
the rest of the dead did live again, and supposes, agreeably to the imagined allegory, that after a 
thousand years all the wicked will be regenerate and raised into a spiritual life: a conclusion which 
the abettors of an allegorical sense will not, X apprehend, be easily inclined to admit.—See Dr. 
Burnet's Theory. 
