Phillip Medhurst

As in the case of Abraham, faith – in a promise of immortality as yet visibly unfulfilled – is superior to obedience to the Law. While access to the Commandments was through the procreative line of Israel, faith involved a renunciation of all rights proceeding from membership of that procreative line – as in Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac and his faith in an implied promise of resurrection. The New Israel of the 144,000 sealed in Revelation are described symbolically as virgins undefiled by women. That is, they have renounced salvation by means of the procreative line. It is these who will reign with Christ on earth for 1000 years – that is, for a time equivalent to the post-lapsarian life-span of Adam, thereby putting right his flawed dominion.

Robert Bowyer (d.1834) expanded his copy of the Macklin Bible by inserting over 6200 prints. The Bowyer Bible is housed in Bolton Museum. For the prints, see https://archive.org/details/bowyer-bible For Phillip Medhurst’s interpretation of the Revelation, see https://archive.org/details/The_Apocalypse_Revealed