In France, from whence they were expelled in 1394, and where only a few for centuries were known at Metz and Bordeaux, their situation since the revolution has been very gratifying. In 1791, all who would take the civic oath were admitted to the rank of citizens. This act first gave them a country in Europe. The emperor Napoleon convened an assembly of them in Paris, May 30, 1806, that he might learn their principles, and the next year the grand Sanhedrim composed, according to the ancient custom, of seventy members, for the establishment of a civil and religious polity. A synagogue and a consistory were established in every department.

In Paris the Jews had, in 1812, a consistory and three grand rabbies, and are improving in literature and agriculture.

In the Ottoman empire the Jews are still numerous, but less affluent and more ignorant than in Europe. For a heavy tax to the porte they have the liberty of their own worship. They all wear beards, and are distinguished by their dress. Their priests are much respected. "In Jerusalem, their ancient city, they are, as a people, the objects of universal contempt; who suffer the most wanton outrages without a murmur; who endure wounds and blows without a sigh; who, when the sacrifice of their life is demanded, unhesitatingly stretch forth their necks to the sabre. If a member of the community, thus cruelly proscribed and abused, happens to die, his companions bury him clandestinely, during the night, in the valley of Jehoshaphat, within Enter their the purlieus of the temple of Solomon.

habitation, and you find them in the most abject, squalid misery, and for the most part occupied in reading a mysterious book to their children, with whom again it becomes a manual for the instruction of future generations. The legitimate masters of Judea, should be seen as they are in their own land, slaves and strangers-awaiting, under the most cruel and oppressive of all despotisms, a king who is to work their deliverance."

In China the Jews have existed for many centuries in considerable numbers. They have their synagogues, but so far conform to the Chinese customs and worship, and are so peaceable, as to meet with but little persecution.

Dr. Buchanan,

In India the Jews are numerous. who visited that country in 1806 and 8, found their residence about a mile distant from Cochin, called Jewstown. They were divided into two classes, the Jerusalem or white Jews, and the ancient or black Jews. The former came into India soon after the destruction of Jerusalem. The latter have a tradition that their ancestors came thither soon after the Babylonish captivity. Their complexion differs much from the white Jews, and they are viewed by them as an inferior race. From these Dr. B. obtained a manuscript copy of the Pentateuch, handed down from their ancestors, which differs but little from the European copies.

104. MILLEnnium.

THIS time is yet to come. Millennium is a term generally used to denote the time when, according to prophecy, a great moral change in our world will be effected by the universal prevalence of Christianity. "By this change the ruins of the fall, to a great extent, will be repaired: the power and influence of the Messiah's reign will be felt and acknowledged by all nations, producing universal peace and willing obedience to the law of the Creator; and the earth, with its inhabitants, in a manner and degree beyond our anticipations, will return to the happy state of perfection, innocence, and peace in which they were originally formed."*

We have many prophecies in the Bible respecting this time the prophet declares that "The knowledge

* Dr. Morse.

of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea," and "all shall know the Lord, from the least unto the greatest."

This world, which has been the theatre of so much sin and misery, war and bloodshed, shall be changed, for in this time "swords shall be beat into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." "There shall be nothing to hurt or of fend in all the holy mountain," for "the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them."

The following is from Buck's Theological Dictionary:

"MILLENNIUM, a thousand years;' generally em. ployed to denote the thousand years during which, according to an ancient tradition in the church, grounded on some doubtful texts in the Apocalypse and other Scriptures, our blessed Saviour shall reign with the faithful upon earth after the first resurrection, before the final completion of beatitude.

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Though there has been no age of the church in which the millennium was not admitted by individual divines of the first eminence, it is yet evident from the writings of Eusebius, Irenæus, Origen, and others among the ancients, as well as from the histories of Dupin, Mosheim, and all the moderns, that it was never adopted by the whole church or made an article of the established creed in any nation.

“About the middle of the fourth century the Millennarians held the following tenets:

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"Ist, That the city of Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and that the land of Judea should be the habitation of those who were to reign on the earth a thousand years. 2dly, That the first resurrection was not to be confined to the martyrs, but that after the fall of Antichrist all the just were to rise, and all that were on the earth were to continue for that space of time.

“3dly. That Christ shall then come down from heaven, and be seen on earth, and reign there with his ser

vants.

“4thly. That the saints, during this period, shall enjoy all the delights of a terrestrial paradise.”

These opinions were founded upon several passages in Scripture, which the Millennarians among the fathers understood in no other than a literal sense; but which the moderns who hold that opinion consider as partly literal and partly metaphorical. Of these passages, that upon which the greatest stress has been laid we believe to be the following:-" 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, nor in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." Rev. xx. 1-6. This passage all the ancient Millennarians took in a sense grossly literal, and taught that during the Millennium, the saints on earth were to enjoy every bodily delight. The moderns, on the other hand, consider the power and pleasures of this kingdom as wholly spiritual; and they represent them as not to commence till after the conflagration of the present earth. But that this last supposition is a mistake the very next verse but one assures us; for we are there told that "when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quar

ters of the earth;" and we have no reason to believe that he will have such power or such liberty in "the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." We may observe, however, the following things respecting it: 1. That the Scriptures afford us ground to believe that the church will arrive to a state of prosperity which it never has yet enjoyed, Rev. xx. 4. 7. Psal. lxxii. 11. Is. ii. 2, 4; xi. 9; xlix. 23; lx. Dan. vii. 27. 2. That this will continue at least a

thousand years, or a considerable space of time, in which the work of salvation may be fully accomplished in the utmost extent and glory of it. In this time, in which the world will soon be filled with real Christians, and continue full by constant propagation, to supply the place of those who leave the word, there will be many thousands born and live on the earth, to each one that has been born and lived in the preceding six thousand years so that if they who shall be born in that thousand years shall be all, or most of them saved (as they will be), there will, on the whole, be many thousands of mankind saved to one that shall be lost. 3. This will be a state of great happiness and glory. Some think that Christ will reign personally on earth, and that there will be a literal resurrection of the saints, Rev. xx. 4, 7; but I rather suppose that the reign of Christ and resurrection of saints alluded to in that passage is only figurative; and that nothing more is meant than that before the general judgment, the Jews shall be converted, genuine Christianity be diffused through all nations, and that Christ shall reign by his spiritual presence in a glorious manner. It will, however, be a time of eminent holiness, clear light, and knowledge, love, peace, and friendship, agreement in doctrine and worship. Human life, perhaps, will rarely be endangered by the poisons of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. Beasts of prey, perhaps, will be extirpated or tamed by the power of man. The inhabitants of every place will rest secure from fear of robbery and murder. War shall be entirely ended. Capital crimes and punishments be heard of no more. Go

*