MILLENARIANS (MILLENNIUM, ante), in a general sense all who believe that Christianity will attain in the future a marked degree of prevalence through the world. Their faith in this rests on many prophetic descriptions and promises. But that the tri umph will be for a limited period is founded on a declaration in the Apocalypse that Satan will be confined in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, and that during the same period the souls of the martyrs and others will live and reign with Christ. Some inter pret this period literally; others think that the definite period is put for one indefinitely long; and a third class suppose that a day stands for a year, and consequently that an exceedingly long period is marked out. But while these differences of opinion are found among the general class, a more radical difference divides modern millenarians into two great classes: the one affirming that the period of a thousand years will be introduced by and follow the second visible cominn. of Thrist; the other declaring that the second coming will be after the millennium, mid will introduce the end of the world. The first are called strictly premillenarians but in popular usage the title millenarians is almost entirely restricted to them. They hold that the second coming of Christ will be in order to reign visibly ou the earth to subdue the obstacles that now restrict the exten sion of his kingdom, and to destroy the personal enemies of it and of himself. And simultaneously with his coming they believe there is to be a resurnetion of a part or of the whole of those who have died in Christ, but that the resurrection of the remainder of mankind will not take place until the end of the world. This point is of vifal importance to their whole system. If it be true, much that they teach with it must be admitted; if it be false, the whole system falls to the ground. Their belief in the first partial resurrection rests on three passages of Scripture. The first is: 1. Thess. iv. 16, " The dead in Christ shall rise first. Here, they argue, the distinction drawn is between the dead who are Christians and those who are not; and it is declared that the Chris tians shall rise first. But to this those who bold the contrary opinion reply that the dis tinction which the apostle draws is between two classes of Christians--those who have died or will die before the coming of the Lord, and those who then will be living on the earth. The latter, he affirms, shall not prevent (shall not have any priority or advan tage over) their brethren who are dead; but that at the coming of the Lord first the dead in Christ will rise, and afterwards those who remain alive shall ton'ether with them be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. In this passage, therefore, thbose who are not pre millenarians find no intimation that one portion of the dead will rise before other por tions. The second passage, supposed by some to teach that the resurrection of Christians will precede that of other men, is 1. Cor. xv. 22-24, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cornett) the end, when he shall. have delivered up the kingdom to God." Here, premillenarians say, it is taught that the resurrection takes place in the following order: (1) That of Christ. (2) That of his people. (3) That of other men. And, as between the resurrection of Christ and that of his people a long interval is placed, so there may be a period of less or greater extent between the resurrection of believers and that of unbelievers. To this the other side reply that Paul speaks throughout the passage only of the resurrection of believers. This some among the Corinthians denied, and this, therefore, he undertook to prove, making no reference to the resurrection of other men, knoWing that the OL1C sufficiently involved the other. And the " end " of which he speaks, refers, they say, not to the resurrection, but to the completion of the work of redemption, when Christ shall have put down all opposing rule, authority, and power. But the passage which apparently favors the pre-millenarian view most strongly, and without which the others probably would not be supposed to have much force, is Rev. xx. 4-6: " I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished, This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is lie that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." Premillenarians, interpreting this passage literally, regard it as teach ing that a thousand years before the end of the world, when Christ shall come to reign visibly on the earth, there will' be a resurrection of Christians from their graves to dwell here, and share with Christ the glories of his reign. To this those on the other side
reply that the passage is to be understood not literally, but as a symbolic representation of the actual event. At the beginning of the book it is said that God signified the revelation to his servant John; that is, represented it by signs or symbols. Accord ingly, the book contains a succession of symbols in which the actual meaning is set forth with striking impressiveness. There are 7 stars, 7 golden lamps, 4 horses and their riders; and so on through the book. Some of them are interpreted, e.g., the stars, the lamps, and the golden censer; others the reader is left to study out for himself. At the beginning of chap. xx. there are two principal symbols ernployed. 1. The binding of Satan in which the bottomless pit, the key, the chain, are symbols of the suppression of Satan's power over the souls of men. 2. John says that lie saw certain classes of souls, that he describes, and that they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. That which he saw was—as those who arg-ue against a literal re,surrection think—a symbol of the actual event intended to be foretold, viz. the zeal for Christ that his disciples would display. This would be so remarkable that the souls of martyrs would be an appro priate symbol of it; a symbol worthy to be ranked among those employed in this book of revelation. Tried even by this high standard, what symbol, it is asked, could be more significant of devoted zeal than that here employed? How could the piety of a man be more highly commended than to stay he has the soul of a martyr? What could be said more expressive of power in a chureh than that all its members manifest the spirit of those who had forfeited their lives for the testimony of Jesus? How could irresistible power in Christendom be more strikingly expressed than by saying that no where or by no person is any other spirit manifested than the spirit of martyrs. Yet, according to this interpretation, John says this will be the case in the millennium. "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were fulfilled." There will be none like them in all that time. The souls of the wicked, of the worldly, of double minded, half-hearted, or timid Christians, are not an appropriate symbol of Christians in millennium times. And these devoted ones, it is added, shall reign with Christ during the thousand years. They shall not only be devoted to him, but also happy with him. The martyr's zeal will be united with the prosperity of triumphant times. The symbol having been given, the interpretation is added: " This is the first resurrection." That is, the new life of the soul which comes with faith in Christ. This is experienced before the resurrection of the body, and is therefore called the first resurrection. The Savior foretold both together, and placed this first. " The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall bear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." This describes the resurrection of the soul which was even then taking place. Aft,er that comes the description of the general resurrection—even of all that are in the graves. And All through the epistles this resurrection of the soul is affirmed, and its importance is magnified as by the power of Christ, the source of all tbe life of Christianity in the church. This, therefore, is actually " the first resurrection," separated from the gen eral resurrection by the whole period between the first preaching of the gospel and the last day. And besides this, those who are not premillenarians say there is nothing else foretold in Scripture to which the name, first resurrection, is to be applied. It is proba ble that neither of these interpretations is found satisfactory in every point by the great -mass of the nominal adherents to either view. On each side a few leaders are enthusi astically sure; but the common Christian feeling is that in each view there is some strength and much weakneSs; that while the strict premillennial 'view from a fiat literal interpretation of a few texts, tends to an externalism and a gross materialism in the handling of noble spiritual facts, the opposite and more usual view tends to dissolve all spiritual facts in a vast sea of symbolism, and this on a principle of interpretation by which any words in Scripture may be turned to almost any meaning. The usual expedient of seeking a view carefully liniited between the two extremes and antagonizing both, seems scarcely feasible in this case. This is not the place to say more than that the truth will probably be found not between, but combining both—not so much reject ing either, as solvent and comprehensive of both in some higher range of thought.