eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. God our Saviour will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Who gave himself a ransom for all. He tasted death for every man. Who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who believe." The apostle John says that "Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. That the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil, and that God sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world, and that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and that he shall reign forever and ever."

These remarkable passages of scripture with many others do not prove the universal salvation of every son and daughter of Adam; for that would contradict the plain and pointed testimony of the bible, to the contrary; for it is evident that the generality of mankind who are, and have been, as yet, in the world, will be lost, except only a little flock as Christ has said, and a few who enter in at the strait gate, and find the narrow way. But they undoubtedly, and evidently contradict the idea that but few of mankind at large will be saved, and that Christ's people will always be a little flok. The scriptures often speak on general principles, and like all general rules, admit of some exceptions. But it is impossible to understand such texts as these, which speak of the vast extent of the kingdom of Christ, unless we admit the idea that the great majority of the human race will be saved, with comparatively very few exceptions. The little flock of Christ is now an exception to John's general rule That the whole world lieth in wickedness." So the present state of the world lying in wickedness, will eventually be but a mere trifling exception to Christ's general rule "That he came into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world, and that he came not to destroy men's lives but to save them, and that all the families and nations of the earth shall be blessed in him."

Thus we clearly see that when Christ spoke of his little flock, and said that few would be saved, he alluded primarily to the stubborn Jews, and also to the state of the church during the dark reign of Satan; and that this statement of things is by no means applicable to the church in her Millennary glory. The great object of

Christ was to excite sinners to use every possible exertion, during the dreary and persecuted state of the church, to obtain salvation; knowing that, during this unhappy state, his elect would have to risk every thing, to profess his na ne; anl to stand fast to the cause of religion. But when the time of Zion's glory shall come, then all shall come to know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.

SECTION III.

Having stated what I conceive to be the duration of the Millennium, according to the style of St. John's prophecy; and having, I hope, sufficiently removed all objections to this calculation which might arise in the minds of any, from what Christ has said relative to the smallness of the number who are saved during the dark time of the reign of Satan; I now proceed to take a view of some of those predictions which have a special bearing on this very important subject. It must be remembered that if we are constrained by the prophecies to consider John's thousand years as a mystical number, then we will be obliged to reduce them to days and reckon a year for every day, which will make 360 thousand years.

In Is. Ix. 15, God says, "Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations." This language is quite too strong to mean only one thousand years. An eternal excellence must mean a great length of time. There appears in this text an evident allusion to the time in which the land of Israel and Judah lay desolated. The ten tribes were carried away captives by the Assyrians about seven hundred years before Christ; they have consequently been deprived of their possessions, now at least 2500 years. The Jews have been in a state of desertion now nearly eighteen hundred years. It therefore can never, with justice, be supposed that the strong language in this text engages to the dispersed Israelites, a less time than the time of their dissolution. On the contrary, it insures them an eternal excellence, and joy for many generations. It therefore has a very strong bearing on this question. See chap. lxi. 7.

Is. Ixv. 17-25. "For behold I create new heavens and a new earth-Be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create-There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man who hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old-As the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their bands." Here is a promise of long life; a man dying a hundred years old, will be counted a child, and the general life of man will be equal to that of a tree, many of which are said to live a thousand years. There cannot be the least probability, from such prophecies as these, that the Millennium will last but one thousand years, even the age of one generation. We are sure from the first text quoted that it will last for many generations. See also Is. lxvi. 22. and Dan. ii. 44. Psalm xlv. 16, 17.

Dan. vii. 18, 27. "But the saints of the most high shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." This is a description of the duration of the Millennium; and the language does not relate to eternity in heaven, but to the dominion of Christ in his church on earth, and who can venture to affirm or even suppose that the strong, and very expressive language in this text, forever, even forever and ever, can only mean a thousand years.

Psalm lxxii. "They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endureth, throughout all generations. (5.) In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. (7.) His name shall endure forever; his name shall be continued as long as the sun." (17.) This psalm is a prophetic prayer, and can be fulfilled only in the reign of Christ over his church. And it points out the kingdom of the Messiah to be very extensive, even over all the kings and nations of the earth; (11.) and that he shall reign while the sun and moon endureth, and his name, that is, his glory, shall endure forever, and be continued as long as the sun. To give to Christ only one thousand years, especially to compare this time to Satan's reign, would never justify such bold figurative language as we find in this exalted description of the glorious reign of the Messiah. See also Psalm lxxxix. 4, 29, 36, 37.

Ezek. xxxvii. 24-28. "And David my servant shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd

ever.

And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant-and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children forever, and my servant David shall be their prince forMoreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore." Can all these forevers mean only a thousand years? David reigning over them forever, the covenant being everlasting, they, and their children, and their children's children, forever, the sanctuary being in the midst of them forevermore, does all this pompous description mean only a thousand years? We think not; these strong emphatical words, and phrases, must mean a very long duration. If forever, and everlasting, and from generation to generation, they, their children, and their children's children forever, mean no longer time than a thousand years, the Pope of Rome and the pagan and the Assyrian empires have had much longer forevers and generations, than Christ's kingdom will have in all its glory on earth. See Micah iv. 5, 7.

Joel iii. 19, 20. "Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness;-But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation." The kingdom of Egypt existed upwards of two thousand years, and the Edomites, with the exception of some years servitude, had been a nation for at least seventeen end; the

hundred years, yet they at length came to an Seventeen

Egyptians are under the dominion of the Turks; and the Edomites are totally lost, among the Jews and Arabians. "But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation." This prophecy speaks of the days of the Millennium. Although Judah and Israel have gone into captivity long since, and Jerusalem is burned to ashes, yet Judah, either in a literal, or in a spiritual sense, will dwell forever, and Jerusalem shall dwell, or abide, from generation to generation. If this bold language does not mean a far longer time than a thousand years, the duration of Christ's kingdom ou earth will not be as glorious as that of Egypt or Edom.

It would be very easy to multiply quotations; but from *he view of the prophecies which we have given, we must,

1

I think, be clearly convinced that it would be very inconclusive for us to determine the time of the Millennium to be but one thousand years, when there is such strong language used in the prophetic scriptures, to convince us to the contrary. It is true we do not pretend to show from the Old Testament prophecies, the precise number of years which will be the duration of this happy time, but certainly the words and phrases used in these prophecies are enough to satisfy any honest inquiring mind that a great deal more is meant than the diminutive duration of a thousand years. When we speak of the glory of Christ, we are not to confine our ideas to the excellence of the gospel, the display of the divine perfections, or the great salvation conferred on guilty ruined sinners. Christ in his kingdom is indeed infinitely glorious in those points of view. But the scriptures are so far from confining the glory of Christ to these things, however important they are, that it is very evident from the texts, to which we have directed the attention of our readers, and from many other collateral scriptures, that the oracles of God have turned our special attention to the number of converts in the kingdom of Christ, and to the extent of his kingdom, and also to the length or duration of his government. If Christ is glorious in exhibiting the perfections of the Deity, and in saving lost and miserable. sinners; let us not limit that glory to a few sinners; to a few countries; or to a few years; especially when the scriptures speak of nations being born in a day, of Abraham's spiritual seed being as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the sea shore, and of the converts of Christ as the drops of dew in the womb of the morning. When the kingdom of Christ is spoken of as being forever, even forevermore, and from generation to generation, and enduring like the sun and moon, and is stated to be everlasting, and without end, shall we presume to limit his glory to a less duration than the dominion of the Pope, the Dragon, or than many of the empires of the world? or shall we presume to make the reign of Christ even shorter by five thousand years than the reign of Satan himself? And when the scriptures speak of the extent of the gospel as covering the whole earth, and of the ends of the earth seeing the salvation of God, shall we limit the gospel even to one sixth part of the globe and be obliged to acknowledge that not one twentieth part