against his Christ. If he be not bound, all the success against the other will signify but little; for he will not be at a loss how to deceive the world, and to engage them anew in some antichristian enterprise.

But who is able to bind him? The hand of man cannot take him. Lo," an angel comes down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and lays hold on him and binds him a thousand years The apprehension and imprisonment of this enemy will complete the victory.

There can be no doubt who this angel is, for we know whe hath the "keys of hell and of death." To him it appertaineth, after having been manifested to destroy his works, to arrest him in his course, and to set bounds to his operations. The hand of man could not take him; but the hand of Christ can lay fast hold of him. The dragon being cast into the bottomless pit, and shut up, and a seal set upon him to prevent his deceiving the nations for a thousand years, the kingdom of Christ shall now be established over the whole earth.

Various questions have arisen concerning this Millennial state; both as to its nature and duration. With respect to the latter the "thousand years" require, I think, in this instance to be taken literally; for if understood of so many years as there are days in this period, the duration of the world would greatly exceed what we are elsewhere given to expect. The apostles seem to have considered themselves as having passed the meridian of time, and as drawing on towards the close of it. Such appears to be the import of the following passages :-God hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son.-But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice himself—" The end of all things is at hand-The coming of the Lord draweth nigh-Behold, the judge standeth before the door-He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly!" Heb. i. 1. ix. 26. 1 Pet. iv. 7. James v. 8, 9. Rev. xxii. 20. But if the thousand years were reckoned a day for a year, we are at present but upon the threshold of time the last judgment must in this case be at a distance of hundreds of thousands of years.

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A question of more importance is that which respects the nature of this Millennial reign of Christ, whether it be spiritual or personal.* Those who favour the first, consider it as a time in which the gospel will be spread over the whole earth, and cordially embraced both by Jews and Gentiles; when those prophecies will be fulfilled which speak of the cessation of wars; of the stone cut out without hands becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth; of the little leaven leavening the whole lump; of the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth as the waters cover the sea; of the first dominion coming to Zion; and of the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, being given to the people of the saints of the Most High.

Those, on the other hand, who plead for a personal reign of Christ upon earth, consider the Millennium as a state of immortality, a state subsequent to the general conflagration, wherein the righteous, being raised from their graves, shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years; after which the wicked dead being raised, the general judgment shall follow.

Whatever respect I feel for some who have maintained the latter hypothesis, I find insurmountable objections to the hypothesis itself.

First, The idea of a personal reign appears to me nearly to exclude that of a spiritual one, by leaving little or no place for it. It is clear that the pouring out of the seven vials is principally for the purpose of destroying the antichristian system, and that when this is accomplished, the Millennium follows. No sooner are the beast and the false prophet taken under the sixth vial, and the world (like the temple after being polluted by Antiochus) purified from its abominations by the seventh, than the dragon is bound

* I say nothing of a third class, which might be denominated political, and which in the delirium that prevailed a few years since, made the dragon to be "monarchy in general,” the Millennial thrones (Chap. xx. 4.) seats of magisterial authority to which the people were exalted, and the new heavens and the new earth the results of the American and French Revolutions! Such are the effects of interpreting prophecy with the view of establishing a political hypothesis.

for a thousand years. If then this thousand years reign be personal, the second coming of Christ must immediately succeed the ruin of antichrist. But if so, how, or when are all those prophecies to be fulfilled which describe the prosperity of the church in the latter days? How are wars to cease in the earth, and peace succeed to it, when as soon as the troubles of the earth are destroyed, the world will be at an end? On this principle antichrist will reign till the heavens are no more. The end of the 1260 years will be the end of time, and the church will have no existence upon the present earth but "in the wilderness." Instead of the stone, after breaking in pieces the image," becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth," no sooner is the image broken to pieces, than the earth itself shall be burnt up. And on the destruction of the little horn, (Dan. vii. 26, 27.) instead of "the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven being given to the people of the saints of the Most High," no sooner shall that horn be broken than the whole earth will be destroyed with it!

Secondly, The idea of a personal reign represents Christ's second coming at a thousand years distance from the last judgment; whereas the scripture speaks of the one as immediately following the other, and as being the grand object of it. "The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; WHEN HE SHALL COME TO BE glorified in HIS SAINTS, and to be admired in all them that believe IN THAT DAY." 2 Thes. i. 7-10. "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all, &c." Jude 14. "I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom." 2 Tim. iv. 1.

Thirdly, The idea of a personal reign represents believers as raised to a state of immortality a thousand years before the close of Christ's mediatorial kingdom; whereas the scripture represents the one as immediately succeeding the other. Speaking of the

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resurrection, the apostle says "Christ the first fruits, and afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. THEN cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power; for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Cor. xv. 23-28. Now the resurrection of the saints will itself be the resurrection of death. If therefore the end then cometh, there is no place for a personal reign of a thousand years between them. Besides, if death be the last enemy, and this enemy be destroyed in the resurrection, how can there be a Gog and Magog army to be destroyed a thousand years after it?

Fourthly, Those who consider the Millennial reign as personal, confine the last resurrection and the final judgment, as described in the latter part of the chapter, to the wicked: but there is nothing in that account of the resurrection which requires it to be limited to them. The sea is said to give up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (or the grave) to give up the dead which were in them; which language equally applies to the righteous and the wicked and as to the last judgment, which immediately follows, had it been confined to the wicked, it would not have been said, "Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire," since on this principle they could one of them be found written in it.

If the last judgment, as described in Chap. xx. 11–15., do not include that of the righteous as well as the wicked, there is no proof from this account of their being judged at all. The scriptures, however, are very express, that "we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, and give account of the deeds done in the body ;" and that "God will bring every work into judgment, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

Fifthly, The account of Satan's being loosed after a thousand years' restraint, and going forth to deceive the nations, and to gather together the armies of Gog and Magog, does not comport with a state of immortality, or with the condition of men after their resurrection. Wicked men may rise, indeed, with the same

enmity against God and religion as they possessed at death: but as to their being able to collect together, and to encompass the church of God in hope of destroying it, the idea is gross and inadmissible. The sea and the grave will give up their dead, not to become followers of Satan in a new enterprise, but to be judged every man according to his work. Ver. 13.

Finally, To represent the Millennium, which precedes the last judgment, as a state of immortality, is to confound it with the New Jerusalem which follows it. The latter is indeed a state of immortality for "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away :" but this language itself implies that till after the final judgment it shall not be so.

For these reasons, as well as from the figurative language of almost the whole of the prophecy, I cannot think that the Millennium is to be understood of a personal reign of Christ, in a state of immortality; but of that glorious rest which the church will enjoy after the destruction of her antichristian enemies. Under this view, therefore, I shall now attend to the description given of it.

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

These thrones correspond with the account in Dan. vii. where after the power of the little horn is broken, it follows, "And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, was given to the people of the saints of the Most High." Stations of importance both in the world and in the church, will be filled by righteous men. Righteousness therefore * Chap. xxi. 4.