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Christian eschatology, a major branch of study within Christian theology, deals with "last things". Such eschatology – the word derives from two Greek roots meaning "last" (ἔσχατος) and "study" (-λογία) – involves the study of "end things", whether of the end of an individual life, of the end of the age, of the end of the world, or of the nature of the Kingdom of God. Broadly speaking, Christian eschatology focuses on the ultimate destiny of individual souls and of the entire created order, based primarily upon biblical texts within the Old and New Testaments.
The Fifth Monarchists or Fifth Monarchy Men were an extreme Puritan sect and advocate of Millennialist views, active during the 1649 to 1660 Commonwealth. Named after a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that Four Monarchies would precede the Fifth or establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, the group was one of a number of Nonconformist sects that emerged during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Perhaps its best known member was Major-General Thomas Harrison, executed in October 1660 as a regicide, while Oliver Cromwell was a sympathiser until 1653.
Millennialism or chiliasm is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future eternal state of the "World to Come".
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. Puritanism played a significant role in English history, especially during the Protectorate.
Preterism, a Christian eschatological view, interprets some or all prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened. This school of thought interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events that happened from the 7th century BC until the first century AD, while seeing the prophecies of the Book of Revelation as events that happened in the first century AD. Preterism holds that Ancient Israel finds its continuation or fulfillment in the Christian church at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
Praise-God Barebone was an English leather-seller, preacher and Fifth Monarchist. He is best known for giving his name to the Barebone's Parliament of the English Commonwealth of 1653.
Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1–6 in the New Testament, which describes Jesus's reign in a period of a thousand years.
English Dissenters or English Separatists were Protestant Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries.
John Goodwin (1594–1665) was an English preacher, theologian and prolific author of significant books.
VavasorPowell was a Welsh Nonconformist Puritan preacher, evangelist, church leader and writer, who was imprisoned for his role in a plot to depose King Charles II.
John Trapp, was an English Anglican Bible commentator. His large five-volume commentary is still read today and is known for its pithy statements and quotable prose; his volumes are quoted frequently by other religious writers.
The Seven Seals of God from the Bible's Book of Revelation are the seven symbolic seals that secure the book or scroll that John of Patmos saw in an apocalyptic vision. The opening of the seals of the document occurs in Rev Ch 5–8 and marks the Second Coming of the Christ and the beginning of The Apocalypse/Revelation. Upon the Lamb of God/Lion of Judah opening a seal on the cover of the book/scroll, a judgment is released or an apocalyptic event occurs. The opening of the first four Seals releases the Four Horsemen, each with his own specific mission. The opening of the fifth Seal releases the cries of martyrs for the "Word/Wrath of God". The sixth Seal prompts plagues, storms and other cataclysmic events. The seventh Seal cues seven angelic trumpeters who in turn cue the seven bowl judgments and more cataclysmic events.
The four kingdoms of Daniel are four kingdoms which, according to the Book of Daniel, precede the "end-times" and the "Kingdom of God".
Joseph Mede was an English scholar with a wide range of interests. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow from 1613. He is now remembered as a biblical scholar. He was also a naturalist and Egyptologist. He was a Hebraist, and became Lecturer of Greek.
Henry Jessey or Jacie was one of many English Dissenters. He was a founding member of the Puritan religious sect, the Jacobites. Jessey was considered a Hebrew and a rabbinical scholar. His active philosemitism has led him to be described as "among Israel's greatest seventeenth-century benefactors."
Peter Sterry was an English independent theologian, associated with the Cambridge Platonists prominent during the English Civil War era. He was chaplain to Parliamentarian general Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke and then Oliver Cromwell, a member of the Westminster Assembly, and a leading radical Puritan preacher attached to the English Council of State. He was made fun of in Hudibras.
From 1649 to 1660, Puritans in the Commonwealth of England were allied to the state power held by the military regime, headed by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell until his death in 1658. They broke into numerous sects, of which the Presbyterian group comprised most of the clergy, but was deficient in political power since Cromwell's sympathies were with the Independents. During this period the term "Puritan" becomes largely moot, therefore, in British terms, though the situation in New England was very different. After the English Restoration the Savoy Conference and Uniformity Act 1662 and Great Ejection drove most of the Puritan ministers from the Church of England, and the outlines of the Puritan movement changed over a few decades into the collections of Presbyterian and Congregational churches, operating as they could as Dissenters under changing regimes.
John Aucher D.D., (1619–1700) was an English clergyman and royalist supporter during the Commonwealth of Britain.
Many Christians believe in a widespread conversion of the Jews to Christianity, which they often consider as an end-time event. Some Christian denominations consider the conversion of the Jews imperative and pressing, and as a result they make it their mission to proselytize among them.
Mary Cary Rand was an English writer, prophetess and pamphleteer supporting the Fifth Monarchists during the English Civil War.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Brady, David (1983). The Contribution of British Writers Between 1560 and 1830 to the Interpretation of Revelation 13.16-18. Mohr Siebeck. pp. 182–183. ISBN 9783161444975.
- 1 2 Howson, Barry H. (2001). Erroneous and Schismatical Opinions: The Question of Orthodoxy Regarding the Theology of Hanserd Knollys (c.1599-1691). Brill. p. 285. ISBN 9004119973.
- ↑ John Archer (Preacher at Allhallows, Lombard Street.) (1642). The Personall Reign of Christ upon Earth. In a treatise, wherin is fully and largely laid open and proved, that Jesus Christ, together with the saints, shall visibly possesse a monarchicall state and kingdome in this world. Benjamin Allen.
- 1 2 Cummins, Juliet (2003). Milton and the Ends of Time. Cambridge University Press. p. 117. ISBN 9780521816656.
- ↑ "It is likely, that Christs comming [sic] from heaven, and raising the dead and beginning his Kingdom, and the thousand yeeres will be about the yeere of our Lord 1700." Henry Archer, The Personall Reigne of Christ Upon Earth. Cited in Hsing-hao Chao, "Milton and Millenarianism during the English Revolution" in Milton and Seventeenth-Century English Millenarianism. Dissertation, National Chengchi University, 2008.
- ↑ Hermes, Katherine (2006). "Fifth Monarchists". Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America. ABC-CLIO. p. 398. ISBN 9781576076781.
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