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Church of Christ.* And within the past week we have received the delightful intelligence that the poor degraded Druses of Mount Lebanon have sent ar earnest petition to the Church of England to furnish them with Christian schools and Christian missionaries.

These blessed tokens of triumph over the powers of darkness have led some to believe that the Mille, nium is nearly past; others, that we are now bask. ing in the splendid rays of its meridian ; and others

l again, that we behold its early dawn. But we cannot persuade ourselves to believe that any state of things which the Church has beheld, or does now behold, exhibits any striking resemblance to the glory and splendor—the purity and joy which the Scriptures speak of as characteristic of the holy, universal kingdom of the Messiah. No. The scenes described in terms of sublimity and rapture, as pertaining to that Millenial reign—which we shall soon proceed to consider—are widely different from that variegated, mixed, and apparently contradictory state of things which marks the present condition of the Church, and of the world. We do not believe that, under the influence of the means now in progress, the whole world is to be converted, but simply, as the Scripture expresses it, that “the Gospel must first

be preached as a witness to all nations:” and then cometh the End. We look upon the Church as now performing that office in reference to the second coming of Christ which John the Baptist performed in reference to his first coming. In the success of the Gospel, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the consequent conversion of souls, at the present period,--we behold the first fruits' of that mighty harvest which is to be gathered when a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, shall stand before the throne, and before the Lamb,' as a people for the Lord, prepared to welcome him at his coming.

Now is there any thing in this view to discourage Christian effort, or to lessen the importance of the Missionary work! What! because the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, shall his servants, therefore, slumber and sleep! Should it not, rather, be the most powerful incentive to faith and benevolenceto activity and prayer? “The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Behold, Christian ! thy Lord cometh, to separate the tares from the wheat-the goats from the sheep -the wicked from the just! What thou doest, do quickly! There are millions of your fellow creatures who are unprepared for his coming. O! hasten to send to them the messengers of life! hasten to re

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claim them from their idolatries, and to convert them from their sins, before that great and terrible day of the Lord shall come!

Ah! Friends and Brethren, let us realise our deep, personal, individual interest in this fearful theme. We are every one of us ripening, for a harvest of glory, or for a harvest of wrath. Every day we are advancing to maturity either in holiness or in sin. Every hour we are sowing the seeds of blessedness or of perdition. “Be not deceived-God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap: he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.” Soon—God only knows how soon-the commmand will be given, “ Thrust ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!”

Do we flatter ourselves that, because we are nominal Christians, baptized into the faith—and enjoying the outward privileges of the Church,-we have nothing to apprehend at the coming of our Lord ? Ah, wretched delusion! For the Son of man will then come “to gather out of his kingdom” or Church, 6 all that offend, and them that do iniquity,” and to assign them their portion with unbelievers. The kingdom of heaven, or the Gospel dispensation, is like a net cast into the sea, which, when dragged to the shore, contained fishes good and bad: the good were carefully preserved, but the bad were cast

away. The Church is like a field in which the tares and the wheat are growing together until the harvest: then the wheat shall be gathered into the garner, but the tares shall be thrown into the fire. The wise virgins who took oil in their vessels, and whose lamps were trimmed and burning, went into the marriage feast; but the foolish virgins were left in outer darkness. The Lord's fan will be in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor; and will gather the grain into his garner, but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

0! what will be our doom in that day? This question is only to be answered by another : What are our characters now ? If we be humble, renewed, devoted followers of Christ, we may—even amidst the terrors of the last day-lift up our heads with joy, knowing that our redemption is at hand. But, if we remain impenitent and unconverted, where can we hide our guilty heads? In all the agony of remediless despair, we shall cry to the rocks, Fall on us ! and to the mountains, Cover us! and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand ?'

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REVELATION, Xx CHAPTER, 1-6 VERSES. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be ful'filled; and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they that 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. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 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."

In our day much is said of the Millenium. It is a common theme in the pulpit and on the platform.