[The Millennium Probably To Dawn in America]
'Tis not unlikely that this work of God's Spirit, that is so extraordinary and wonderful, is the dawning, or at least a prelude, of that glorious work of God, so often foretold in Scripture, which in the progress and issue of it, shall renew the world of mankind.
If we consider how long since the things foretold, as what should precede this great event, have been accomplished; and how long this event has been expected by the church of God, and thought to be nigh by the most eminent men of God in the church; and withal consider what the state of things now is, and has for a considerable time been, in the church of God and world of mankind, we can't reasonably think otherwise, than that the beginning of this great work of God must be near.
And there are many things that make it probable that this work will begin in America.
'Tis signified that it shall begin in some very remote part of the world, that the rest of the world have no communication with but by navigation, in Isaiah 60:9, "Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring my sons from far."
It is exceeding manifest that this chapter is a prophecy of the prosperity of the church, in its most glorious state on earth in the latter days; and I can't think that anything else can be here intended but America by "the isles that are far off," [see Isa. 66:19] from whence the firstborn sons of that glorious day shall be brought.
Indeed, by "the isles," in prophecies of Gospel times, is very often meant Europe: it is so in prophecies of that great spreading of the Gospel that should be soon after Christ's time, because it was far separated from that part of the world where the church of God had till then been, by the sea. But this prophecy can't have respect to the conversion of Europe, in the time of that great work of God, in the primitive ages of the Christian church; for it was not fulfilled then. The isles and ships of Tarshish, thus understood, did not wait for God first; that glorious work did not begin in Europe, but in Jerusalem, and had for a considerable time, been very wonderfully carried on in Asia, before it reached Europe.
And as it is not that work of God that is chiefly intended in this chapter, but that more glorious work that should be in the latter ages of the Christian church, therefore some other part of the world is here intended by
the isles, that should be as Europe then was, far separated from that part of the world where the church had before been, by the sea, and with which it can have no communication but by the ships of Tarshish. And what is chiefly intended is not the British Isles, nor any isles near the other continent; for they are spoken of as at a great distance from that part of the world where the church had till then been. This prophecy therefore seems plainly to point out America, as the first fruits of that glorious day.
God has made as it were two worlds here below, the old and the new (according to the names they are now called by), two great habitable continents, far separated one from the other. The latter is but newly discovered; it was formerly wholly unknown, from age to age, and is as it were now but newly created: it has been till of late wholly the possession of Satan, the church of God having never been in it, as it has been in the other continent, from the beginning of the world.
This new world is probably now discovered, that the new and most glorious state of God's church on earth might commence there; that God might in it begin a new world in a spiritual respect, when he creates the new heavens and new earth.
God has already put that honor upon the other continent, that Christ was born there literally, and there made the purchase of redemption: so, as providence observes a kind of equal distribution of things, 'tis not unlikely that the great spiritual birth of Christ, and the most glorious application of redemption is to begin in this: as the elder sister [Leah] brought forth Judah, of whom came Christ, and so she was the mother of Christ; but the younger sister [Rachel], after long barrenness, brought forth Joseph and Benjamin, the beloved children [Genesis 29, Genesis 30, Genesis 35]. Joseph, that had the most glorious apparel, the coat of many colors, who was separated from his brethren, and was exalted to such glory out of a dark dungeon, and fed and saved the world when [it was] ready to perish with famine, and was as a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches ran over the wall, and was blessed with all manner of blessings and precious things, of heaven and earth, through the good will of him that dwelt in the bush; and was, as by the horns of a unicorn, to push the people together, to the ends of the earth, i.e. conquer the world. See Genesis 49:22, etc. and Deuteronomy 33:13, etc. [sic, et seq.]. And Benjamin, whose mess was five times so great as that of any of his brethren [Genesis 43:34], and to whom Joseph, that type of Christ, gave wealth and raiment far beyond all the rest; Genesis 45:22.
The other continent hath slain Christ, and has from age to age shed the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, and has often been as it were deluged with the church's blood: God has therefore probably reserved the honor of building the glorious temple to the daughter, that has not shed so much blood, when those times of the peace and prosperity and glory of the church shall commence, that were typified by the reign of Solomon [1 Chronicles 22:7–10].
The Gentiles first received the true religion from the Jews; God's church of ancient times had been among them, and Christ was of them: but that there might be a kind of equality in the dispensations of providence, God has so ordered it, that when the Jews come to be admitted to the benefits of the evangelical dispensation, and to receive their highest privileges of all, they should receive the Gospel from the Gentiles.
Though Christ was of them, yet they have been guilty of crucifying him; it is therefore the will of God that that people should not have the honor of communicating the blessings of the kingdom of God in its most glorious state to the Gentiles, but on the contrary they shall receive the Gospel in the beginning of that glorious day, from the Gentiles [Romans 11:11–32].
In some analogy to this, I apprehend God's dealings will be with the two continents. America has received the true religion of the old continent; the church of ancient times has been there, and Christ is from thence: but that there may be an equality, and inasmuch as that continent has crucified Christ, they shall not have the honor of communicating religion in its most glorious state to us, but we to them.
The old continent has been the source and original of mankind, in several respects. The first parents of mankind dwelt there; and there dwelt Noah and his sons; and there the second Adam was born, and was crucified and rose again: and 'tis probable that, in some measure to balance these things, the most glorious renovation of the world shall originate from the new continent, and the church of God in that respect be from hence.
And so 'tis probable that that will come to pass in spirituals, that has in temporals, with respect to America; that whereas, till of late, the world was supplied with its silver and gold and earthly treasures from the old continent, now it's supplied chiefly from the new, so the course of things in spiritual respects will be in like manner turned.
And 'tis worthy to be noted that America was discovered about the time of the Reformation, or but little before: which Reformation was the first thing that God did towards the glorious renovation of
the world, after it had sunk into the depths of darkness and ruin under the great antichristian apostasy. So that as soon as this new world is (as it were) created, and stands forth in view, God presently goes about doing some great thing to make way for the introduction of the church's latter-day glory, that is to have its first seat in, and is to take its rise from that new world.
It is agreeable to God's manner of working, when he accomplishes any glorious work in the world, to introduce a new and more excellent state of his church, to begin his work where his church had not been till then, and where was no foundation already laid, that the power of God might be the more conspicuous; that the work might appear to be entirely God's, and be more manifestly a creation out of nothing; agreeable to Hosea 1:10, "And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God."
When God is about to turn the earth into a paradise, he don't begin his work where there is some good growth already, but in a wilderness, where nothing grows, and nothing is to be seen but dry sand and barren rocks; that the light may shine out of darkness, and the world be replenished from emptiness, and the earth watered by springs from a droughty desert; agreeable to many prophecies of Scripture, as Isaiah 32:15, "Until the Spirit be poured [upon us] from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field." And chap. Isaiah 41:18–19, "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water: I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together"; and chap. Isaiah 43:20, "I will give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen." And many other parallel Scriptures might be mentioned.
I observed before, that when God is about to do some great work for his church, his manner is to begin at the lower end; so when he is about to renew the whole habitable earth, 'tis probable that he will begin in this utmost, meanest, youngest and weakest part of it, where the church of God has been planted last of all; and so the first shall be last, and the last first; and that will be fulfilled in an eminent manner in Isaiah 24:16, "From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous."
There are several things that seem to me to argue that when the
"Sun of righteousness," the Sun of the new heavens and new earth, comes to rise, and comes forth as the Bridegroom of his church, "rejoicing as a strong man to run his race," having his going forth "from the end of heaven, and his circuit to the end of it, that nothing may be hid from the light and heat of it." 2
That the sun shall rise in the West [is] contrary to the course of this world, or the course of things in the old heavens and earth. The course of God's providence shall in that day be so wonderfully altered in many respects, that God will as it were change the course of nature, in answer to the prayers of his church; as God changed the course of nature, and caused the sun to go from the West to the East when Hezekiah was healed, and God promised to do such great things for his church, to deliver it out of the hand of the king of Assyria, by that mighty slaughter by the angel; which is often used by the prophet Isaiah as a type of the glorious deliverance of the church from her enemies in the latter days: the resurrection of Hezekiah, the king and captain of the church (as he is called, 2 Kings 20:5), as it were from the dead, is given as an earnest of the church's resurrection and salvation, Isaiah 38:6, and is a type of the resurrection of Christ.
At the same time there is a resurrection of the sun, or coming back and rising again from the West, whither it had gone down; which is also a type of the Sun of righteousness. The sun was brought back ten degrees; which probably brought it to the meridian. The Sun of righteousness has long been going down from East to West; and probably when the time comes of the church's deliverance from her enemies, so often typified by the Assyrians, the light will rise in the West, till it shines through the world, like the sun in its meridian brightness.3
The same seems also to be represented by the course of the waters of the sanctuary, Ezekiel 47, which was from West to East; which waters undoubtedly represent the Holy Spirit, in the progress of his saving influences, in the latter ages of the world: for 'tis manifest that the
whole of those last chapters of Ezekiel are concerning the glorious state of the church that shall then be.
And if we may suppose that this glorious work of God shall begin in any part of America, I think, if we consider the circumstances of the settlement of New England, it must needs appear the most likely of all American colonies, to be the place whence this work shall principally take its rise.
And if these things are so, it gives us more abundant reasons to hope that what is now seen in America, and especially in New England, may prove the dawn of that glorious day: and the very uncommon and wonderful circumstances and events of this work, seem to me strongly to argue that God intends it as the beginning or forerunner of something vastly great.
I have thus long insisted on this point, because if these things are so, it greatly manifests how much it behooves us to encourage and promote this work, and how dangerous it will be to forbear so to do.
1808 Collected Works of President Edwards
Kindle at 19983
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