Is. xxx. 23, 24. "Then shall he give the rain of thy seed that thou shalt sow the ground withal; (rain to water the seed sown;) and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear (till or plough) the ground shall eat clean provender which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan," &c. See Hos. ii. 21, 22. Joel ii. 21-27. Zech. viii. 12. Mal. iii. 10-12.

14. This glorious state of the church shall last a long time. But we refer this part of the subject to the third general division. We have now carefully examined a number of prophecies, and we have honestly taken a prophetic view of the Millennium, and a glorious time it will be indeed. How greatly different from the present state of things, and from the state in which the church has ever been! We rejoice greatly at such a glorious prospect, and joyfully anticipate the happiness which awaits the Zion of our Lord and Redeemer. The description which the prophets have given us of this exalted state is so great that our poor low conceptions can hardly reach even to the threshold of the Millennial glory; and we are obliged to acknowledge with Paul, (1 Cor. ii. 9.) "As it is written, (Is. lxiv. 4.) Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them who love him." But the prophets have given us a revelation, and a prophetic description of these glorious scenes, by the Spirit of God. (ver, 10.)

After taking such a pleasing view of the future glory of the church, and seeing it is so nigh at hand, I feel like Moses, standing on the brink of Jordan, greatly desiring, if it were permitted, to pass over into the promised land. And when the declension of my years, according to my time of life, evidently seems to forbid; yet I often climb to the the top of pisgah (the promises of the gospel) and take a view of the happy landscape, and then I rest contented like Daniel, and go my way, hoping to stand in my lot at the end of the days. Dan. xii. 13,

INQUIRY H,

WHEN WILL THE MILLENNIUM BEGIN?

Divines have widely differed in their calculations as to the time when the Pope began to reign, and when the commencement of the thousand years will take place. The public is already in possession of my ideas on this subject; and as I have published a pamphlet, entitled, The Millennium; and having also in the first volume of my Lectures on the New Testament, page 224-228, given the same calculation, with very little variation, I will not trouble the reader with a repetition of what I have already given to the public. It is, however, necessary to state, that I am still in the full belief, that my calculation from Daniel is correct; and therefore I expect the Millennium to commence about the year 1847 or 1848. We are more thoroughly convinced of the correctness of this calculation from facts stated by church history. We are informed that Pelagius II. Bishop of Rome, assumed the title of UNINERSAL BISHOP, in the year 588, which coincides with the statement of the prophet Daniel, according to our calculation. The Bishop of Rome assuming this high title, and claiming universal authority over the churches, and holding and maintaining this authority even to this day, is, we think, a very good proof that this was the very time of the commencement of Popery; then by adding 1260 years to this date, we have the exact time when the man of sin will be destroyed, and when the Millennium will commence, to wit, in the year 1848, which will be twenty-one years from the present date (1827.)

Some critics argue that Popery began in the year 606, as Mahomet began his imposture on that same year, and because Boniface III. at that time, by large bribes, prevailed on Phocas, the Emperor of the East, to proclaim him universal bishop, by which edict the Roman Bishop was constituted Bishop of the Eastern, as well as of the Western churches. This would make the downfall of the Pope to be eighteen years later than it will be according to our calculation. But it is evident that this decree of the Emperor only confirmed, and enlarged the authority of the Bishop of Rome, which he had assumed

eighteen years before. And we must also consider, that the Pope of Rome never could maintain his authority over the Eastern churches, but soon lost it, and never could regain it unto this day. But his authority over the Western churches, which he had assumed eighteen years before this time, he has effectually maintained to the present time, which is undoubtedly a strong circumstance, demonstrating the correctness of our calculation from Daniel's prophecy.

Others again reckon the commencement of Popery from the year 755, because on that year the Pope became a temporal prince, and began to reign, as king, over that territory which king Pippin of France gave him, as St. Peter's patrimony, to wit, Ravenna, Pentapolis, and the territory belonging to the City Rome. But this date can never be reconciled, either with the prophecy of Daniel, or with facts. It would be 167 years after the date of Daniel, and it would be many years after the Bishop of Rome had on him a number of the flagrant marks of Popery, and had been evidently lording it over the church of Christ. All these things make it satisfactorily evident that our calculation from Daniel's prophecy fixes the true date of the commencement of Popery; and therefore we may look for the downfall of the papal kingdom about the year of our Lord 1848, when the Millennium will commence.

If this will eventually prove to be the true time of the downfall of Popery, as I expect it will, we may rely on it that there will be a great deal to be done in the short space of twenty-one years. According to the nature of things, and the circumstances of the world at present, even to admit of miracles, it seems impossible for the gospel to spread all over the face of the earth, and for the Jews to be brought in, before the Millennium will commence. Although miracles are things performed contrary to the con non principles of nature, such as raising the dead, turning water into wine, or feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, yet a miracle never did nor can do what is a natural impossibility. It might be possible for God to send his gospel all over the world in twenty one years, by a miraculous work; although I strongly suspect that he would either have to employ angels to preach it, or give wings to men, and enable them to fly over lands and seas; but it would be a natural im

possibility, and consequently beyond the power of miracles for him to do it, and yet keep his church in the wilderness, and his ministers clothed in sackcloth all the time. But if he would release his church from her place in the wilderness, and take the sackcloth off the witnesses before the 1260 years are expired, and before the Popc fall, he would contradict his word and give the lie to the prophecies. This would be such a miracle, as God never has performed; and we know that he never will; and upon the whole we conclude that the gospel will not, and upon the truth of the scriptures, we know it cannot le spread over the world before the commencement of the Millennium. We do not argue this merely on the shortness of the time of twenty-one years, (yet even that is an argument,) but from the thing itself being contradictory to the truth of God's word. These arguments were as true a thousand years ago as they are now, for the woman has to stay in the wilderness, and the witnesses to prophesy in sackcloth, all the time during the reign of Popery. Therefore the gospel never can spread over the world until the 1260 days are finished. Add to this, that if the gospel were to spread over the world, then Jews, Mahometans, and Papists, must all become christians; this would destroy the papal power of course, and it would turn the prophecies exactly wrong end foremost; for they say that the Pope will kill the witnesses; but this would be for the witnesses to kill the Pope, instead of the Pope killing them. We therefore are sure that it is an idle thing to talk of the world being christianized before the Millennium commences.

But still there is a great deal to do in the course of these twenty-one years. The witnesses are to be slain; they are to lie dead three years and a half, the third woe is to take place, the Pope is to be destroyed, the seventh trumpet is to be sounded, and the witnesses are to rise, These are great works to be done, and in a short time too, if our calculations be correct. Christ, comparatively speaking, has done little or nothing yet; he has been mostly giving the Devil his swing, and will do so yet a little while, but before many years he will make bare his arm, as the prophet says, and overturn his enemies and set up his standard among the nations of the earth. Then Satan will be bound, and shut up in the bottomless pit, and the glorious Captain of our salvation will begin to reign,

not as he has done heretofore, over a few people, oppressed and ashamed under ten thousand reproaches, and suffering persecutions and deaths in every imaginable form, but the "Kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." Dan. vii. 27. And the stone that was cut out of the mountain (Dan. ii. 35,) shall become a great mountain, and shall fill the whole earth.

INQUIRY III.

HOW LONG WILL THE MILLENNIUM LAST? SECTION I.

Commentators generally think that the thousand years stated by St. John, as the duration of the Millennium, are to be understood in a literal sense. Dr. Whitby is the only exception that I know of, and with him I agree, that these thousand years are to be calculated according to the prophetic style of this whole book, and of several other prophetic passages in the scriptures. According to this prophetic mode of calculation, we have to reduce the years to days, and then count a year for every day. This will make the duration of the Millennium to be three hundred and sixty thousand years. The Millennium will probably commence, as we have stated, about the year 1848, which, according to common chronology, will be in the year of the world 5848; and this will lack 152 years of 6000 from the creation. But we may suppose that 152 years may be taken up in the time in which Satan will be loosed after the Millennium is over. Therefore by this calculation Satan will be permitted to reign 6000 years in all; 5848 now, and 152 years at the latter end of the world. Therefore, if we calculate St. John's thousand years for the reign of Christ, as literal years, then the reign of Satan will be six times as long as the reign of Christ; and as to extent and numbers, the