plainly shows a succession of children taking the place of their parents. And how often is the duration of this state described by many generations, and by children, and children's chil ren. So also the peace and happiness of this state is most elegantly described in Is. xi. 69, by the little child's leading the wolf, the leopard, the calf, the lamb, and the young lion, and by the sucking child playing on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child sporting on the den of the cockatrice or adder. All these things plainly show that the people who will inhabit the earth in the days of the Millennium, will not be as the angels of God; but that they will be a mortal race, like we are now, and that one generation will succeed another. Therefore, it is abundantly evident, that the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem, the new heavens, and the new earth, or the millenary state, will not be martyrs and saints raised literally from the dead; but men and women and children, like we are, only made glorious in religion. And it is also evident that Gog and Magog will not be the wicked raised literally from their graves; but men, who, by the deceitful wiles of Satan, will be deluded, and turned in opposition to Christ and the cause of the gospel, and who will possess the spirit of the old papal persecutors, and fight against the saints and the church of Christ.

The second thing necessary to the close of the Millennium is, that the greater part of the generation then living must be of the non-elect number. In order to begin, and continue the Millennium, it will be necessary, as we have stated, not only that Satan be shut up in prison, but also that the generality, if not all, of the race of men then on earth, be of the elect number. So also the close of this happy state will commence with a numerous generation of the non-elect. Then, in the third place, the Lord Jesus Christ will withhold the influences of his spirit from the non-elect, and leave them to the baleful influences of the wicked one. These three things coming to pass, Satan let loose among the multitude of the non-elect, who are deserted of God, and left, or given up, to temptations, will soon produce all the horrid consequences described in the prophecy of St. John.

Gog and Magog are mystical names, borrowed from Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix. which was an ancient prophecy, the fulfilment of which is probably yet in fu

ture, and it may be that it relates to this very circum stance; Magog was the son of Japheth, the oldest son of Noah; and it is supposed that the ancient Scythians, now called the Tartars, or Turks, are the descendants of Magog. But to inquire who they will be, would be spending time for nothing. The Scythians, Tartars, or Turks, were very numerous, and were great enemies to the church, and to the civilized parts of the world; and whoever may be meant by the armies of Gog and Magog, these mystical people will be the last enemies which the church will have to contend with; and this is all we can or need say about Gog and Magog.

This last unhappy generation of mankind will be deceived by Satan, and will be induced to turn wicked opposers of true religion. Old christians will gradually die away, and the church will consequently become weak, and adulterated with errors, mingled with hypocrites, formalists, and sinners; and of course persecutions will arise, and Satan will appear to regain his empire over the greater part of the world. This in all probability will be the dismal and unhappy end of the glorious Millennium. It appears from the prophecy, that the church will very shortly be brought to a very low ebb, and the wicked will rise up in arms against her, and threaten her total destruction. This has not been a new thing to the church in days past; but it will be a new thing to them after having enjoyed such a long scene of peace, joy and prosperity. It will also be very unexpected, except they reckon well from the prophecy of St. John. But Christ will bring his purposes to pass, according to his plan and according as he has stated by his prophets.

When the church, the holy city, the new Jerusalem, shall be environed by enemies on every hand, and reduced to imminent danger, and to appearance almost ready to be overwhelmned, God will appear for her deliverance; and in some extraordinary manner, and by a sudden and unexpected stroke of his vengeance, he will destroy the enemies of his people, and rescue his fallen. church from impending ruin. The prophecy says that "fire shall come down from God out of heaven, and devour his enemies." The scene will undoubtedly exhibit an awful display of the indignation of heaven against the armies of Satan. Perhaps this scene may be the commencement of the last judgment; at any rate the last

judgment will shortly commence, and Christ will appear descending from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall first rise, then they who are alive shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and believers shall be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thess. iv. 16, 17, and 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.)

The apostle saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them. He also saw the dead universally, small and great, without the exception of one, standing before God the Judge, who will be Jesus Christ, and he saw the books opened, and the dead judged according to their works. The devil was cast into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet, and whosoever was not found written in the book. of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Here then is a third resurrection, to wit, the general resurrection of the bodies of all, both saints and sinners, at the last day. The first resurrection will be the souls of the martyrs, and saints rising, or the spirit of the witnesses of Jesus animating the church at the commencement of the Millennium. The second will be the resurrection of the souls of the rest of the dead, to wit, the temper and spirit of the persecutors of the church; which will take place at the end of the Millennium, when Satan will stir up the persecuting spirit of Gog and Magog, to encompass the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. These two are both mystical resurrections. The third and last, is a literal resurrection of the bodies, both of saints and sinners, at the last day. This will be one of the grandest displays of Almighty power and glorious majesty, that ever was exhibited in the world. This will close the whole plan of the gospel. It will be the end of time, the end of the world, and the solemn and awful commencement of a never ending eternity, and blessed are they whose names shall be found written in the Lamb's book of life.

Conclusion.

I have now gone through what I proposed. I have, like Elihu, shown my opinion; (Job xxxii. 17.) according to which the Millennium will be a glorious day of salvation to the poor unhappy race of Adam; and Christ will get himself honor in fulfilling hs promises, in overthrowing the kingdom of Satan, bruising the Serpent's head, and in saving innumerable multitudes of sinners. This glorious time will commence immediately after the downfall of popery, which, according to our calculation, will take place about the year of our Lord 1848, which will be twenty-one years from the present time, (1827.) According to our mode of reckoning, Saint John's prophetic years, reducing the years to days, and counting a year for every day, the Millennium will last three hundred and sixty thousand years; and this, I conceive, is the only way of calculating, for which we have any scriptural authority; and there can be no dependence on any other mode of reckoning, according to the style of the book of Revelations. And in the last place, the Millennium will end with a rapid gradation from good to bad, in consequence of the greater part of the children born in this little season being of the non-elect number, or of the seed of the Serpent. Satan will be let loose among them, and will deceive them, and lead vast multitudes into every kind of wickedness. Also, Christ will withdraw his divine influences from his church; the old standards of the church will die, and but few to take their place, as it is at this day, and persecution will eventually arise, and the enemies of God will environ the camp of the saints, (the church.) Bat God will appear in flaming fire in the last judgment, and raise the dead, and call the whole world before hin. This will close the scene, and Christ will give up the kingdom to the Father, and God will be all in all. Amen and Amen. We will now take the liberty of making a few observations, and so conclude,

1. What majestic grandeur and dignity appear in the plan of God! His works are like himself, incomprehensible and glorious. The scheme of redemption is by far the noblest and most exalted of all the works of God. In his word, by a statement of facts, and by prophecies,

he has given a draft of his whole plan; and it is the duty, and the serious interest of the church to look into it and try to understand what God intends to do in the world. It is not to be expected that we can be able to know precisely all the particular circumstances of future events; but surely if God has been pleased to reveal his purposes to us, we can and we ought to know the general course he intends to pursue. Sobriety and modesty become us when we pretend to look into futurity, and we ought to have good prophetic ground for every opinion we adopt. Great injury has been done, especially on the subject of the Millennium, by men indulging their own whimsical fancies, and giving vent to a fruitful imagination. The church may rely on it as a truth, that future things cannot be known by idle dreams, and the dictates of human oracles; but only by a sedate and accurate attention to the true meaning of what the prophets of God have predicted. Therefore, by an humble and honest attention to the prophetic parts of God's word, and comparing one part with another, we may arrive to a competent knowledge of what God will do for his church. God's word is truth, and may be relied on with the firmest confidence; if we only understand it rightly, and if we can come to the knowledge of what God has revealed, and think and act accordingly, our opinions, and our practice will be honorable to God and the gospel. But if we take the notions of men, or the inventions of our own hearts, or the sallies of our own imagination for our guide, we will soon run into theories of our own, which will injure ourselves, and may injure the church, and wound the cause of the gospel.

2. The prophecies of the scriptures are of great consequence to mankind. They convince us of the being and perfections of God; of the truth of the holy scriptures, and of the reality of future things. We know and believe that no being can tell future events, but a being possessed of infinite knowledge, and of course must be infinite; and if infinite at all, he must be infinite in all things; such a being we call Gop. Here we find a being who has foretold thousands of future events, which have come to pass, and things which are coming to pass daily have been foretold a thousand years ago. This proves that there is, and must he, a God of perfect knowledge, with whom all futurity is present. These