reign of the old Serpent will be infinitely more glorious than the reign of our blessed Redeemer. Query: Would this be bruising the Serpent's head or his heel? Or would it be bruising Christ's heel or his head? Christ's kingdom heretofore, as we have already seen, compared with Satan's kingdom, is not worthy of being brought into the count. Christ has never yet acted on the offensive, but on the passive or defensive plan, and he has never yet pretended any thing more than to keep a flying camp, and a few castles here and there where he keeps his stores deposited for future use. It is true he reigns in the hearts of his people, and over his church; but he has never yet reigned over the world; his kingdom, in this view of it, is yet to begin; and if we have to calculate the duration of his reign literally, it will be but one seventh part of the age of the world, while Satan will have six sevenths. What a shame it is to allege such dishonorable things against the kingdom of our Lord and Redeemer; and so evidently give a vast superiority to the kingdom of the Devil!

The Assyrian empire stood 1600 years; the government of Greece in one form or another stood 2154; Rome in all its different forms of government has stood now 2293 years, and more if we add the time of the christian emperors, and the Gothic kings. But if we count the time of Christ's kingdom in a literal manner, Christ's reign will be far shorter than any of them, and Satan will outgo them all by far, and nearly equal the whole of them put together. Can we suppose that the scriptures pay no higher a compliment to the kingdom of Christ than this? And is it safe, or honest, for divines and commentators to deny Christ the honor that is due to him from his word? But it is said by some, that although there be but few who will be saved, yet Christ will be glorified in the condemnation and destruction of his enemies, who would not submit to his government.

It is true God has done so, and he will no doubt do so again. He destroyed the old world; he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; he almost destroyed Egypt; he destroyed Babylon, and he destroyed Jerusalem; and he will destroy Rome. By this Christ glorifies his justice, his power and his sovereignty; but it is not his character, nor his glory, as a Mediator, to destroy, but to save sinners. Christ, although he is a Redeemer, can and will

destroy the non-elect, but he cannot destroy his elect. These enemies who were destroyed were not his genuine covenanted people, whom he corrects and saves; but they were the Serpent's seed, whom he is under no obligations to save, and who must be punished for their sin. But excepting this small remnant of Adam's race, he is under covenant engagements to his Father, and under promise to his church, to save the world, to be a blessing, not to a few families, but to all the families of the earth, and to draw them to him, and not to destroy them. Christ's mediatorial glory does not consist in destroying the nonelect, but in redeeming the world.

History abounds with the great achievements of the conquerors of the earth; but would we venture to compare the glory of Christ, the great Saviour of mankind, with the honor of those who were the very butchers of mankind? What kind of glory was acquired by Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, Hannibal, Scipio, Cæsar, the Pope, and Napoleon, and all the great generals of Persia, Macedonia, Greece and Rome? They had the honor of desolating cities and countries; of strewing fields of battle with thousands slain, and filling the air with the groans of the wounded; of making thousands of widows and orphans in an hour. How an Indian chief rejoices, and counts it his glory to decorate his wigwam with the hairy scalps of his enemies. His scalping knife and his tomahawk are his ensigns of honor, and the groans of the aged, the screams of helpless females, and the cries of sucking infants are his joy and triumph. But away with such honors; they are the ensigns of Satan and his bloody butchers of mankind. But Jesus is our benevolent Redeemer, our merciful Saviour; he came into the world, not to condemn the world but to save the world, not to destroy men's lives but to save them. Satan's glory is to destroy; but the glory of Christ is to save sinners; he came to seek and to save that which was lost; he died, not to glorify himself in punishing the children of men, but to save them from destruction, and that all the ends of the earth may partake of his salvation. Although he will destroy his incorrigible enemies, yet he has the hearts of all flesh in his hand, and he has engaged to save the greatest part of the race of Adam. Surely there is a glorious time coming when Christ our great Redeemer will extend his dominion over the world,

and myriads of myriads of the fallen race shall be glorious diamonds in his mediatorial crown. Converts shall flock to him as doves to their windows, and be as numerous as the drops of dew in the dawn of the morning.

But to come more closely to the point: It is our duty to try to know by what rule we are to calculate this number; and it is evident that we are not to determine by the opinions of men, but by the dictates of the word of God. I have examined closely, and cannot find any other number in the book of Revelations that relate to any future period, but what is to be understood in a mystical sense; if so, then we can have no scriptural authority to calculate this number any other way, unless the passage, itself, by some special circumstance directs us to do so. The ten days in Chap. ii, 10, means the ten years persecution under Domitian, by which the apostle John himself was banished to the isle of Patmos. The five months in Chap. ix. 5, 10, have to be reduced to days to make 150 years of the ravages of the Locusts, or the Mahometans. The hour, the day, the month, and the year, are to be reduced to days to make up the 391 years and fifteen days, for the conquests of the Ottoman Turks, or Othmans. The forty two months in Chap. xi. 2, are to be reduced to days to make the 1260 years of the reign of the Pope. In ver. 3, the thousand two hundred and three score days are to be counted a day for a year, for the time of the prophesying of the witnesses, clothed in sackcloth. The three days and a half in ver. 9 and 11, are three years and a half for the witnesses to lie dead. The thousand two hundred and three score days in Chap. xiii. are 1260 years, in which the woman is to be in the wilderness during the reign of Popery; and in ver. 14, we have the same length of time stated in different terms, to wit, a time, which is one year, and times, which are two years, and half a time, which are six months. This makes three years and a half, which multiplied by 360, the days in a Jewish year, make 1260 as before, see Dan. vii. 25, and xii. 7. Again, the time forty two months in Chap. xiii. 5, is still the same account of the duration of Popery as before.

These are all the numbers which we find in the Revelations relating to time or duration, (excepting only the thousand years of the Millennium,) and they are every one to be understood in a mystical sense. When there

fore, every other such number in this book is to be understood as prophetic, and months and years have to be reduced to days, and every day counted for a year, where can we find any authority for calculating this one solitary number differently from the others? and can we possibly be justifiable in so doing? I think not. Why then should we say a thousand years in this insulated passage, and refuse to give it the well known style of the prophecy of this book? If we confine this number to the liberal number of one thousand, let us not make it a solitary number; but count all the other numbers on the same plan; let us say, to be consistent, that the Pope was only to reign forty-two literal months, and that the woman would only be three years and a half in the wilderness; that the Saracens would only ravage the country for five literal months, and also that the Turks would conquer only for the space of a year, a month, a day, and an hour. But were we to calculate in this manner, facts would rise up and contradict us; history has told us how long the ravages of Mahomet and the Turks lasted, and we know that the Pope has already occupied the chair of St. Peter for upwards of a thousand years, &c. We therefore find that where these numbers are actually fulfilled, we are obliged to give them a mystical calculation, by reducing months and years to days and counting every day for a year, or we will make facts contradict the prophecies. How then, in the name of common sense, can we venture to construe the thousand years in a literal manner? It must be evident that it was not the design of St. John, or rather of the Holy Ghost, that we should limit the duration of the Millennium to a literal thousand years; but that we should calculate these years on the same scale as the other numbers are calculated. We must therefore reduce the years to days by multiplying a thousand by 360, which will make three hundred and sixty thousand days, and then count a day for a year; and then we will, according to the genuine sense of the prophecy, have the full time of the Millennium.

Let us give to Christ, the Pope, and the devil their due, as John did; and not pretend to alter the times and season which the Father has put in his own power. Forty two months appear trifling when compared to a thousand years; but count the thousand years literally, and reduce the forty two months to days, and they will

overgo the years by two hundred and sixty, and by this fatal mode of reckoning we make the reign of the Pope of Rome, 260 years longer than the reign of Christ. A thousand years seem a long time, but to count it literally, it is a mere trifle compared to the duration of Satan's kingdom; for if we give only a thousand to Christ, his reign will not be as long as the Pop's by 260, nor as long as Satan's by 5000 years. Does this wear the face of truth honor, or respectability? Surely not. carries the palm, by a long count, the son of perdition comes next, and Christ is far in the rear of all.

Satan

But, blessed be God, that the style of St. John gives the honor to Christ, and let not the calculations of poor blinded mortals take it from him. Three hundred and sixty thousand years seem such a long stretch of time that our imagination can hardly reach it, and it seems as if the world could hardly stand so long, and as if eternity could hardly spare such a long duration of time; and we are ready to ask, How will heaven find room, in her spacious mansions, for such numbers of people as will be born in so long a time? But that is not our look out, our business is to count fairly and honestly if we wish to know the truth, and not suffer our minds to be governed by mere opinion, instead of the standard of God's word.

This scriptural mode of reckoning completely turns the scale. Compared to 360,000 years, the long and tedious years of the beast's reign, dwindles away to nothing, and even the long reign of Satan is only a bruise on the heel, and not worth complaining about, and I am not sure but we ought to count three hundred and sixty five days to the year, according to our own mode of reckoning time; if so, it will add five thousand years more to the time, and make 365,000 years be the duration of the Millennium. However, either way, it makes the reign of Christ great and glorious, worthy of God, and worthy of the gospel. Our hearts are glad, and rejoice at the prospect; it looks like doing business; and Satan, the old serpent, now may try to take care of his head; he begins, already on the prospect to look like a fool; and all the sons and daughters of Adam who have been lost, or who ever will be lost, will hardly be missed compared with the inconceivable numbers who will be saved. Satan will be bound and shut up in prison for