and the great change which at that time will doubtless be effected in the constitutions and longevity of the saints, who shall then be alive on the earth, who had not died. The verse is as follows: And when ye shall see this your heart shall rejoice, and your boncs shall flourish like an herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known towards his servants, and his indignation towards his enemies. Isaiah 66, 14. The manner, therefore, in which God will destroy the wicked from the earth, if we are correct in supposing that his former destructions of them are to be relied on as precedents, will also be chiefly by supernatural means, at that day, carried into effect by the agency of angels commissioned to destroy, who will slay with an invisible sword: such as king David saw in the hand of an angel, who stood between the heavens and the earth, just over the threshing floor of Ornon the Jebusite-which angel had slain at that time of the Jews, for a great sin they had committed, seventy thousand men. 2 Samuel 24,

15.

The pestilence God may employ as a vengeful minister of his wrath among them, and in divers places great earthquakes, and at sea by terrible tornadoes, the waves roaring, and men's hearts failing them, for fear of the things that are now coming upon the earth.' These things will come suddenly upon the wicked, in a day and an hour when they think not, in the midst of buying and selling, feasting and mirth, marrying and giving in marriage-when in the midst of pursuits of honour and ambitious designs, and oppressions of the poor--when in the height of impious glorying in their

shame, saying, Where is the promise of his coming, for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 2 Peter 3, 4. Such is the language of infidelity in all ages, and in all countries. But here, at this stage of the argument, I shall introduce what I conccive to be a decision, that mankind will not by slow degrees, as is supposed by many, become conformed to holiness, so that religion shall have no opposition in the earth, and in that way finally introduce the Millennium, but shall show the contrary will be the fact; though, as I have said elsewhere in this work, the gospel will spread over the whole earth, (Italy excepted) and that very speedily, because the exertions of the times strongly denote it. Yet this is no argument by which to prove all souls will become its recipients, for in our own country, where the gospel is universally known and respected in the general sense, how many are not saved by it! That the Millennium shall not be introduced in such a way, I prove by the remarks of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, 5th chapter, 1st, 2d and 3d verses. "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape."

This day of the Lord which is to come, cannot be understood of the final judgment, because in the 4th chapter of the same letter to the Thessalonians, the chapter preceding the one from which I have made the

quotation of the above three verses, it is announced by. the Apostle, that that day of the Lord is the day in which he will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and that then the dead in Christ shall arise which cannot, therefore, allude to the general judgment, but to the first resurrection only. In order, therefore, to prove, that at the commencement of the Millennium, there will be many wicked on the earth, we have only to notice the third verse of the fifth of Thessalonians, which declares the fact by saying, For when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, &c. It is, therefore, clear, that as destruction cometh not upon the righteous at that day, that it is upon the sinner, who shall then be cut off. This view I think corroborates all the other passages which I have quoted, to prove a general destruction of the wicked at the time of the first resurrection, when the Millennium will commence.

From the account St. Paul gives of the first resurrection, in his fourth and fifth chapters to the Thessalonians, it is certain there shall be a universal ruin of all sinners; and it is as certain, that a first resurrection implies a second, and the lapse of time between will as certainly consist of one thousand natural years, for thus it is stated by St. John, Rev. 20, 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. But when the time shall have nearly arrived for the glorious Millennium to commence, suddenly there shall be felt a trembling, for God will shake terribly the earth, till the wicked are shaken out of it.

A dismal sound shall go forth, such as will wither the soul with terrors, such as once chased the Assyrian army, who had closely besieged the city of Samaria in the days of the prophet Elisha. 2 Kings 7, 6. For now the globe shall be encompassed by the destroying angels, such as were seen by king David standing between the earth and the heaven, over the place of the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. 1 Chron. 21, 16. But while this trembling is felt, and this heart withering sound is heard, the wicked on all hands shall be suddenly seen falling to the ground, smote with the pestilence and by the destroying ministers, so that perhaps in one short day the work shall be done by earthquakes, by volcanoes, by storms at sea, by pestilence, and the invisible sword.

In this place, I cannot refrain from doing myself the pleasure, and also the reader, of introducing an extract from the Rev. DAVID SIMPSON's Plea for Religion, upon the subject of the destruction of Rome, (though partially introduced before on page 36) at the end of Daniel's time, times, and a half time, which he makes to consist of 1260 years. His method of arriving at such a result is, that a time is a prophetic year, a Jewish year consisting of 360 days only; and that times signify two of those prophetic days, amounting to 720 natural days or years-a time to 360 natural days or years, and a half time to 180 natural days or years———— amounting in all to 1260 days or years, at the end of which Rome papal shall be literally destroyed, which he supposes will not be far from the year A. D. 2000..

This highly esteemed author, after having examined the prophecies relative to Christ, declares that the evidence is sufficient to establish Him the predicted Messiah. He then by a fair, and, indeed, irresistible, conclusion, infers, that if the prophets have pointed out Christ so definitely, that they have therefore as definitely pointed out what shall befal the church, and also the great man of sin in the latter ages. He then notices the visions of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, which point out kingdoms, monarchies, and empires, which were to arise in the earth, and traces their rise and fall along the downward stream of time till the uprising of the little horn, which should so exalt itself against the Jews, and in after years against the Christian church, and makes them apply to the papal powers, which is the fact. He then observes, in reference to his destruction, that not only shall Antichrist be overthrown, but even Rome itself the place and city where he hath carried on his abominations for so many ages, shall be everlastingly destroyed. "The language of Scripture is extremely strong, and is sufficiently clear and precise. Thus Daniel: I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake. I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. Thus, too, St. Paul, where he is probably speaking of Antichrist: The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and