by Ezekiel-The Identity of the Gog and Magog described bythe two Prophets maintained-An extended Exposition of Ezekiel, Ch. xxxviii-Gog and Magog shown to be a prophetical denomination of the Turks-Consequently the same Power with the Euphratèan horsemen of the sixth Trumpet, and to be referred to the same Period-As certain, therefore, that the Millennium is past, as that the events of the sixth Trumpet have transpired-Destruction of Gog and Magog by Fire from Heaven explained-Objections answered 148

CHAPTER VI.

CONCLUSION.

Correct Views of the Millennium attainable only from a right Interpretation of the Prophetic Symbols-Whatever Difficulties attend the Theory broached in the present Treatise, the common Doctrine embarrassed by equal or greater-Some of them statedHints respecting the predicted Conflagration of the Heavens and the Earth-True Character of the Prophetic Intimations of the future Prospects of the Church and the World 191

THE MILLENNIUM.

CHAPTER I.

ANCIENT OPINIONS, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN, ON THE SUBJECT OF A MILLENNIUM.

THE etymological import of the word Millennium is, as is well known, the space of a thousand years. The term, considered by itself, does not point to any particular period of that extent, but may be applied indifferently to any one of the five millenniums which have elapsed since the creation, to the sixth now verging towards its close, or to the seventh, which is yet to come. But long-established usage has given the word a restricted application, and where it occurs without specification it is universally understood to refer to the period mentioned by the prophet of Patmos, Rev. 20: 1-7. "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 fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season. 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. 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. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.

This, it is to be observed, is the only express passage in the whole compass of the Scriptures, in which mention is made of the period of a thousand years in connexion with the prospective lot of the church; consequently that which is emphatically styled the doctrine of the Millennium rests wholly and entirely upon the interpretation given of this portion of the Apocalypse. This period, the reader is aware, is considered by the mass of modern commentators and divines to be yet future. The degree of its proximity to our own times is variously estimated according to the peculiar hypotheses of different expositors in regard to the plan and structure of the book, and their several arrangements of its chronological eras. Mr. Faber, with a large class of readers, fixes its commencement to the year 1866; the school of Messrs. Irving, Drummond, Begg, and others, are in daily expectation of the glorious personal epiphany of our Lord and Saviour coming in the clouds of heaven to put an end, by desolating judgments, to the present degenerate order of things within the bounds of Christendom, and to usher in the full splendor of the Millennial reign.* Others again, forming a very respectable class of expositors, defer the commencing epoch of the Millennium to the year 2000, or thereabouts, that the period may coincide with the seventh thousand years from the creation, constituting

*This was written in 1832.

what may be termed the Great Sabbatism of the world. The following extracts from the writings of two distinguished advocates of this latter opinion may be considered as representing the sentiments of their class.

"Without taking upon me to name the precise year of the commencement of Antichrist's reign, shall I suppose it will have ceased and the Millennium commence about the two thousandth year of the Christian era? Should I say there appears a greater probability that the longed-for event will take place at that time than at the second period (1866) which has been mentioned, and the seventh thousand years of the world's existence prove a glorious sabbatic day of rest and peace and joy?-perhaps it would disappoint the ardent hope of its earlier approach which some fondly entertain; and I think I can perceive the disappointment expressed in your sorrowful looks. But if you view the subject with attention, there will be no cause either for disappointment or for grief, but infinitely much for gladness and rejoicing. You have not even the shadow of a reason for ceasing from your benevolent exertions in despondency, but the best and most forcible of reasons for proceeding in your endeavors to hasten on the glory of the latter days. Let it be granted that nearly two hundred years must yet revolve before the Millennium begin, immense is the mass of labor which must, during that whole space, without intermission, be employed to bring it into existence. Eighteen centuries have already elapsed since the coming of the Saviour into the world, but in the two that are yet to come, more remains to be done than in all the eighteen which are past. The religion of Jesus in its purity is not yet even professed by a twentieth part of the inhabitants of the earth. Judge then what à Herculean labor it must be, in the space of two hundred years, to convert the other nineteen parts to the faith of Christ. Were we to be told, that for a long course of time, four millions of souls were annually brought to the knowledge of the truth, what a wonderful as well as what a delightful event we should conceive it to be! But on an average for near two centuries to come, more than this number must be converted every year, before the whole world can be brought into subjection to the Redeemer."-Bogue's Disc. on the Mill. p. 608, 8vo. ed.