shall come, and all the SAINTS with thee," refers the coming of the saints to the coming of Christ, that is, his first coming, to "bring life and immortality to light by the gospel," and corresponds with that of the Psalmist"the Lord gave the word, great was the comFany of those that published it." Ps. lxviii. 11. It was embraced by multitudes of sincere converts with a zeal and eagerness suitable to the gift, the gracious author of it, and their own keen sensibility to the nakedness and poverty of their souls. The first disciples and primitive christians, therefore, were the saints alluded to; and there is no mention of any kingdom of these primitive saints on earth, except that figurative one, the dispensation of the gospel.

Of the same nature is that of St. Jude, (xiv.) "the Lord cometh, with ten thousand of bis saints," which is an obscure traditional prophecy of Enoch to the antideluvians, of the approaching judgment by a deluge, and which is here applied in a general way to the destruction of sinners at the last day.

In answer then to the quere and inference proposed by Mr. Sharp-" Who are these SAINTS to whom the kingdom is promised? surely they are the same whom the little horn persecuted unto death; so that to enjoy this privilege, they must needs rise with their bodies, as Christ the first fruits has done before them." I have endeavoured to prove first, that Christ is not proposed to us by St. Paul as the first fruits of a partial resurrection, but of the general one at the last day, the only resurrection mentioned in, or which can be drawn by fair inference from the doctrinal writers of Scripture. And secondly, that the saints, the heirs of this promised kingdom on earth, are not the martyrs raised from the dead. The awkward transition from an earthly grave to an earthly throne, is of itself a sufficient reason to suspect that other saints are meant, whose resurrection by faith from a death of unbelief will not outrage the laws of nature, and whose figurative reign can consist with the system of the gospel, and the known oeconomy of God. Who these saints are, the Psalmist has fully testified, and the other

prophets do no where contradict his evidence, but add the strongest confirmation to it. "In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that balteth, (that is, by her unbelief,) and will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted, (Isaiah lxv. 23, 24,) and I will make her that halted, a remnant, (the peculiar title of the church of Israel in the last days,) and her that was cast far off a STRONG NATION: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion, from henceforth, even for ever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, EVEN THE FIRST DOMINION, the KINGDOM SHALL COME TO THE DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM. Micah iv. 6, 7, 8. (340)

(340) The long afflicted people of Israel are here promised comfort. They are to be acknowleged,-gathered,-made a strong nation,-be put in possession, of a kingdom,—even the first dominion on earth, and to have Christ reigning over them as the king of (perhaps) their revived theocracy in mount Zion, or the New Jerusalem for ever more. But if the Jews are to have the first dominion, and Christ for their king, the raised saints can have only a secondary dominion, and a deputy king.

If then we vote with Mr Sharp, Bishop Newton, Mr Mead, &c. for St. John and the resurrectionary kingdom, we must

give up David and all the prophets, for they all hold together in one story, The most probable decision of this knotty point seems to be, that which interprets Rev. xx. 4. as a figure, in consistency with the whole book,

The New Jerusalem a retrospect of the first resur rection,-is prior in time to the end of the world, though here placed after it.-This manner of writing proleptically is much used in this book.-The order of the millennium.-The two mortal enemies of the church subdued, then Satan bound.ZWOTTOMσIS OF LIVING AGAIN, a metaphor very common in scripture,-applied by the prophets to Israel's restoration,-God the HUSBAND of the church on earth peculiarly.-God's dwelling with mcn refers to a state on earth,-and is applied expressly to Jerusalem restored.-New heavens and earth a common figure.-No sea, a peculiar allusion to the Jews restored.-Proofs from reason and the internal evidence of this prophecy, that the jewish city and people, and not raised

saints are meant.

In a preceding Section I have remarked that it is the customary manner of St. John, in this difficult and mystical book of the apocalypse, to bring the same subject more than once before