lain statement
of the millennial reign of Christ on the earth with his risen
martyrs.

Fourthly, at the termination of the period just referred to, the
author of the Apocalypse thought all the dead would be raised and
the tribunal of the general judgment held. As Lactantius says,
"All souls are detained in custody in the under world until the
last day; then the just shall rise and reign; afterwards there
will be another resurrection of the wicked."42 "The time of the
dead is come, that they should be judged." "And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the
books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and the under world delivered up the
dead which were in them, and they were judged, every man according
to his works." "Blessed and holy is he 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 reign with him a
thousand years." This text, with its dark and tacit reference by
contrast to those who have no lot in the millennial kingdom,
brings us to the next step in our exposition.

For, fifthly, after the general resurrection and judgment at the
close of the thousand years, the sentence of a hopeless doom to
hell is to be executed on the condemned. "Whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." "The
fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone;
which is the second death." The "second death" is a term used by
Onkelos in his Targum,43 and sometimes in the Talmud, and by the
Rabbins generally. It denotes, as employed by them, the return of
the wicked into hell after their summons thence for judgment.44 In
the Apocalypse, its relative meaning is this. The martyrs, who
were slain for their allegiance to the gospel, died once, and
descended into the under world, the common realm of death. At the
coming of Christ they were to rise and join him, and to die no
more. This was the first resurrection. At the close of the
millennium, all the rest of the dead were to rise and be judged,
and the rejected portion of them were to be thrust back again
below. This was a second death for them, a fate from which the
righteou