even of professors, have true religion? All this would certainly be making too free with the word of God. We therefore think it evident, that these prophecies which we have quoted, although they do not prove any definite time to be the duration of the Millennium, yet they do afford a very strong presumption that St. John's thousand years are to be understood in a mystical, and not in a literal sense. And if we are to construe this number mystically, as every circumstance seems to oblige us to do, then we are first to reduce the years to days as we have to do in the other prophetic numbers, and count each day for a year. On this plan of construction, which seems to be the only proper plan, we are favored in St. John's statement with a definite account as to the exact duration of the Millennium, to wit, 360 thousand years.

We e are next to consider the prophetic style and language of the scriptures relative to times which were to take place previous to the Millennium, so that, by way of contrast, we may better understand the grand representations given in the prophecies of the long duration of the millennial glory. In Rev. xii. we have a description of an extraordinary war in heaven, between Michael and the Dragon; the Dragon was overcome and cast out. This prophecy related to the time of Constantine, who put down paganism, and exalted the church to honor and dignity. Heaven means the church and the earth, and the sea means the wicked world, under the dominion of Satan. In verse 12, the church and all the members of it are called upon to rejoice. "Therefore rejoice ye heavens, and ye who dwell in them;" because Satan was cast out of the church, and the worship of idols was put down. But "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, and the sea, for the devil is come down unto you." The power of Satan was confined to those parts of the country where paganism and idolatry still continued "having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

The time of the Millennium is never said to be a short time, but very long; the words and phrases used in prophecy to represent the duration of this time, as we have seen, are such as these, "forever, even forever and ever, forevermore, as long as the sun and moon endureth, from generation to generation, for many generations, the days of a tree," &c. These are strong emphatical words indeed. But in this prophecy of Satan's reign on earth, it

is said that the time is short. A little before this, in the reign of Diocletian, (Rev. vi. 9-11,) the souls of the martyrs under the altar, are represented as crying to God for vengeance on their bloody persecutors, "And it was said unto them, that they shoulest yet a little season, until their fellow servants-that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

Here, in these two passages, we have two statements of the same time with very little fference. In the one statement, it is called a short time; in the other it is called a little season. But this short time lasted from the days of Constantine the Great, from the year 323 to the commencement of the Millennium, say 1848, which will be, on the shortest calculation, one thousand five hundred and twenty-five years. The little season will be about twenty or thirty years longer from the time of Diocletian. Yet this short time, this little season, is more than five hundred years longer than the time commonly stated by divines for the Millennium.

See also that admirable prophecy relative to the Gentiles, Is. liv. The church is represented as a married woman, but barren, like Sarah, till at last she becomes very fruitful, and her greatest progeny will be the accession of the Gentiles. This was fulfilled in a small degree on the day of Pentecost, and in the days of the apostles; in a still greater degree in the time of Constantine; but it is to be fulfilled ultimately and gloriously during the time of the Millennium. During the long space of time from the fall of Adam to the fall of the Pope of Rome, the church is represented as a wife forsaken of her husband; left disconsolate, and to bear shame and reproach, and endure a kind of widowhood. (ver. 4, 6.) God, who is stated to be her husband, and the God of the whole earth, (ver. 5,) is offended with her on account of her shameful backslidings, although he did not forsake her utterly; but he promised finally to wipe away her shame, and with everlasting kindness to have mercy on her, and to gather her together in great mercy. For this purpose (ver. 2, 3,) he directs her to enlarge her tent, and stretch the curtains of her habitation; to lengthen the cords of her tent cloths, and make strong and lasty stakes to bind her cords fast. so that she might have room for her numerous offspring. Because. "For a small moment," says he, "I have forsaken thee, and

in a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee." (ver. 7, 8.) Now this small moment, and this little wrath for a moment lasted, counting from the fall to Christ, at least four thousand years. If then, four thousand years of desertion and widowhood is but a little moment, query, how long is the time of everlasting kindness? If a short time and a little season means 1500 years, and if a little moment means 4000 years, we must surely count everlasting, forever and ever, from generation to generation, while the sun and moon endure, to mean a very long duration indeed. These prophetic statements certainly justify us in reducing St. John's thousand years into days, and counting a year for every day; and I know not how we can do otherwise, consistent with truth. Can we with any consistency compute the Millennium to last but one thousand years, when it is stated to last forever, even forever and ever, and from generation to generation, and when the age of men will be like the age of trees, and the glory of the church to endure while the sun and moon endure? and when a short time and a little season is five hundred years longer than a thousand years? and when a little moment is four thousand years, and four times as long as the Millennium would be?

We are therefore under the necessity, according to the scripture rule of reckoning prophetic time, to number the days in a thousand years, and so calculate 360 thousand years for the time of the millennial state. Otherwise we must counteract the scripture reckoning and take the lowest count to mean the longest time, and the longest count to mean the shortest time. Thus the Millennium, which by the prophecy is represented by the bold idea of forever and ever, &c. must mean a little time; and the reign of Satan, which is represented by the diminutive idea of a little moment, and a short time, must mean a long duration. But nothing could be more contradictory to reason and common sense, than such a mode of calculation, and nothing could more directly contradict the design of the word of God.

We will only add further, that if we reckon the thousand years literally, we must of necessity give the preference, in point of duration, to the wicked one. We know that Satan has reigned over the greater part of the world for nearly six thousand years, and we are obliged

to begin the glorious reign of Christ after Satan is bound, Then by giving Satan six thousand, and Christ but one, we give to Satan six times as much glory as we give to Christ; and although Christ is not to be joined in comparison with Satan, yet the scriptures oblige us to compare the duration of Christ's reign with that of Satan; and although we cannot bear the thought of Satan's being superior to our Lord, in any thing whatever, yet this literal calculation of the thousand years compels us in point of numbers, and duration, to give six years to the old Serpent for every one we give to Christ our adorable Redeemer. As for me, while ever the prophecies give me the clue they do for the mystical mode of calculating, and while ever I love the honor and glory of my precious Saviour, I will give to the reign of Satan six thousand years; but I will give to the reign of Christ three hundred and sixty thousand years, which will be sixty for one in favor of the church of Christ.

INQUIRY IV.

HOW WILL THE MILLENNIUM END?

Three hundred and sixty, or sixty-five, thousand years, according to our calculation, will close the Millennium. The commencement will be gradual, and no doubt the conclusion will be gradual also, yet both will be very rapid. First, Satan will be loosed out of his prison, after having been bound during the long reign of Christ. He will now, for a short time, be set at liberty, and will be permitted to go out into all the earth, to deceive the nations. By his diabolical influence he will succeed in drawing a great number of mankind off from the church of Christ, and engaging them in bloody scenes of persecution. Thus the second resurrection will commence, (Rev. xx. 5.) "But the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand years are expired." That is to say, when the thousand years are expired the rest of the dead shall rise and live again. Not the bodies, but the souls of the rest of the dead. John, in vision, first saw the souls of the martyrs rise, in the commencement of the Millennium. Now, when the thousand years are expired,

the souls of the persecutors, who had killed the martyrs, and who had been killed by the sword of Christ, rose again. This resurrection means, that the spirit of persecution will arise; the same old wicked, persecuting disposition of paganism and popery will be stirred up, and Satan will instigate the wicked part of mankind to persecute the church. This second resurrection is a decisive proof of the glaring absurdity of the notion that the dead bodies of the saints will be raised, to live and reign with Christ on earth for a thousand years. They who are of this opinion, say that this second resurrection is that of the wicked, at the close of the Millennium; and that when the wicked will be raised from the dead they will again persecute the church of Christ. This theory involves an insurmountable difficulty. It supposes that when the saints are raised from the dead, they will be as liable to all the consequences of temptations from Satan, and to all the trials and dangers from persecu tion, as good men are exposed to in this life. This is a thing I never can believe till I see it. The scripture does not tell us so, and therefore we have no right either to say it, or believe it. Christ said to the Sadducees, (Luke xx. 35, 36.) “They who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die any more, for they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." This undoubtedly proves that after the resurrection, they who are raised to life (for Christ is speaking of the resurrection of the righteous) are as the angels of God; they are raised to enjoy an angelic state.

But it is a mistake that the saints in the Millennium cannot die, consequently it is a mistake that they are raised from the dead. The millennial inhabitants will enjoy a long life, it is true, but still they will die. See Is. lxv. 20, and Zech. viii. 4, 5. The man who will die a hundred years old will be accounted but a child. Old men there will be, but they will fill or finish their days. They may live till their days are as the days of a tree, yet still they will die. The circumstance of old men and old women walking the streets, each with a staff in his hand for very age, or for multitude of days (as it is in the original,) shows decrepitude and a state of hovering over the grave; and the streets full of boys and girls,