SAYER RUDD, M.D. (d. 1757), was in 1716 assistant in a Baptist church in London, and was ordained in 1725, securing a living at Turner’s Hall, London. In 1733 he traveled in Europe, visiting Paris, and then obtained his M.D. at Leyden. The Baptist Board accused him of heresy. Though he defended himself in a series of tracts (1734-1736), he was disowned by the board. In 1738 he conformed to the Established Church, and received a living at Walmer. Rudd wrote a number of works, the best known of which is An Essay Towards a New Explication of the Doc trines of the Resurrection, Millennium, and Judgment (1734)—the substance of several discourses on Revelation 20. Rudd confutes the theory of Whitby with the searching question, Where are Christ and the raised saints to reside during the thousand years? PFF2 681.3
In his Introduction Dr. Rudd goes to considerable pains to explain his view of the daily sacrifice. Here are his precise words: PFF2 681.4
“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. By the daily sacrifice here (as it alludes to the Jewish state) I understand, the pure worship of God under the gospel; and by its being taken away, the suppression or corruption of that worship, by the antichristian tyranny taking place on the rise of the papal apostacy. This, I suppose, may be intended in the next words, which seem to me in a great measure explanatory of the last, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up. Abomination in scripture frequently signifies idols, and so here aptly represents the idolatry of the Romish church, by which a desolation is made in the pure doctrine and discipline of the gospel.” 51Sayer Rudd, An Essay Towards a new Explication of the Doctrines of the Resurrection, Millennium, and Judgment, p. 14. PFF2 681.5
On the millennium Rudd concludes, after an extensive discussion, that “Satan has not yet been bound, and consequently that the Millennium is not commenced.” Answering the question, “When do they [the thousand years] begin?” he gives a twofold reply: (1) after the destruction of the Turk and the Pope; and (2) upon the second coming of Christ. 52Ibid., pp. 196, 197. This involves the first resurrection, Dr. Whitby to the contrary notwithstanding. Here are Rudd’s words on that: PFF2 682.1
“And having likewise endeavoured to remove all that Dr. Whitby has advanced against this doctrine in his celebrated treatise of the Millennium; I hope, none of my readers will think much, if I lay claim to his own words, with a very small alteration, and conclude the argument with saying: THUS WILL TRUTH PREVAIL AT LAST, BUT TO THE RUIN OF THIS FIGURATIVE RESURRECTION.” 53Ibid., p. 273. PFF2 682.2