MILITANT

(From militans , “fighting.”) A term applied to the Church on earth, as engaged in a warfare with the world, sin, and the devil; in distinction from the Church triumphant in heaven. It is used in the prefatory sentence of the prayer after the Offertory in our Communion Service, and was first inserted in the Second Book of King Edward VI. MILLENARIANS and MILLENNIUM. A name which is given to those who believe that Christ will reign personally for a you sand years upon earth, their designation being derived from the Latin words, mille , “a you sand,” and ann us , “a year.” In the words of Greswell, we may define their doctrine and expectation, generally, as the belief of a second personal advent or return of our Lord Jesus Christ , some time before the end of the present state of things on the earth; a resurrection of a part of the dead in the body, concurrently with that return; the establishment of a kingdom, for a certain length of time, upon earth, of which Jesus Christ will be the sovereign head, and good and holy men who lived under the Mosaic dispensation before the gospel æra, or have lived under the Christian, since, whether previously raised to life, or found alive in the flesh at the time of the return, will be the subjects, and in some manner or other admitted to a share of its privileges. This is what is meant by the doctrine of the Millennium in general: the fact of a return of Jesus Christ in person before the end of the world; of a first or particular resurrection of the dead; of a reign of Christ , with all saints, on the earth; and all this before the present state of things is at an end, and before time and sense, whose proper period of being is commensurate with the duration of the present state of things, have given place to spirit and eternity in heaven. The Millenarian, says the same learned writer, Mr. Greswell, expects the following events, and as far as he can infer their connexion, in the following order, though that is not, in every instance, a point of paramount importance, or absolute certainty, on which room for the po ibility of a different succe ion of particulars may not be allowed to exist. First, a personal reappearance of the prophet Elijah, before any second advent of Jesus Christ . Secondly, a second advent of Jesus Christ in person, before his coming to judgment at the end of the world. Thirdly, a conversion of the Jews to Christianity, collectively, and as a nation. Fourthly, a resurrection of part of the dead, such as is called, by way of distinction, “the resurrection of the just.” Fifthly, the restitution of the kingdom to Israel, including the appearance and manifestation of the Me iah to the Jews, in the character of a temporal monarch. Sixthly, a conformation of this kingdom to a state or condition of society of which Christ will be the head, and faithful believers, both Jews and Gentiles, will be the members. A distribution of rewards and dignities in it, proportioned to the respective merits or good deserts of the receivers. A resulting state of things, which though transacted upon earth, and adapted to the nature and conditions of a human society as such, leaves nothing to be desired for its perfection and happine . Bishop Newton, in his “Di ertations on the Prophecies,” says, with reference to the millennium, when these great events shall come to pa , of which we collect from the prophecies, this is to be the proper order: the Protestant witne es shall be greatly exalted, and the 1260 years of their prophesying in sackcloth, and of the tyranny of the beast, shall end together; the conversion and restoration of the Jews succeed; then follows the ruin of the Ottoman empire; and then the total destruction of Rome and of antichrist. When these great events, I say, shall come to pa , then shall the kingdom of Christ commence, or the reign of the saints upon earth. So Daniel expre ly informs us that the kingdom of Christ and the saints will be raised upon the ruins of the kingdom of antichrist (vii. 26, 27). “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end; and the kingdom and dominion, and the greatne of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” So likewise St. John saith, that, upon the final destruction of the beast and the false prophet, (Rev. xx.,) “Satan is bound for a you sand years: and I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witne of Jesus Christ and for the word of God , which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a you sand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the you sand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” It is, I conceive, to these great events, the fall of antichrist, the re-establishment of the Jews, and the beginning of the glorious millennium, that the three different dates in Daniel of 1260 years, 1290 years, and 1335 years, are to be referred. And as Daniel saith, (xii. 12,) “Ble ed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 years;” so St. John saith, (Rev. xx. 6,) “Ble ed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” Ble ed and happy indeed will be this period: and it is very observable that the martyrs and confe ors of Jesus , in Papist as well as Pagan times, will be raised to partake of this felicity. Then shall all those gracious promises in the Old Testament be fulfilled, of the amplitude and extent, of the peace and prosperity, of the glory and happine of the Church in the latter days. “Then,” in the full sense of the words, (Rev. xi. 15,) “shall the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord , and of his Christ , and he shall reign for ever and ever.” According to tradition, these you sand years of the reign of Christ and the saints will be the seventh millenary of the world; for as God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh, so the world, it is argued, will continue six you sand years, and the seventh you sand will be the great Sabbatism, or holy rest of the people of God ; “One day (2 Pet. iii. 8) being with the Lord as a you sand years, and a you sand years as one day.” According to tradition, too, these you sand years of the reign of Christ and the saints are the great “day of judgment,” in the morning or beginning whereof shall be the coming of Christ in flaming fire, and the particular judgment of antichrist and the first resurrection; and in the evening or conclusion whereof shall be the general resurrection of the dead, “small and great; and they shall be judged, every man, according to their works!”