bitants; there shall be no more death, neither forrow, nor crying, neither fhall there be any more pain; and there shall be no more curfe, for there fhall in no wife enter into it any thing that defileth; for the throne of God and of the Lamb fhall be in it, and his fervants shall fee his face, and his name fhall be in their foreheads; and there fhall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the fun; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they fhall reign for ever and ever "”—shall fuffer no difturbance in their kingdom, while the world endures-" And there fhall be no more fea." As the Ifraelites, feparated by God from all other nations, needed no King, for the Lord God was their King, so shall these holy people be tinder the immediate government of God and Christ. But the Ifraelites forfeited this fpecial bleffing by their rebellion's; under this “ new heaven" there fhall be no more fea, nothing fimilar to the rebellions, and tumults, and popular commotions, which will mark with peculiar violence the times immediately preceding this wonderful change in the Syftem of the World, shall disturb their "bleffed tranquillity *." Virtue, holiness,

* Rev. xxi. 4, 22. and xxii. 3-5.

* See vol. i. p. 246.

Y 4

and

and piety, divine love, perfect harmony, angelic purity, and conftant happiness will reign and flourish in this Kingdom, for "death and fin will be fwallowed up in victory"-at leaft their power over "the faints in the camp," or community of "juft men made perfect." Then will the communication between earth and heaven be restored at the conclufion as it exifted at the beginning of the world. Then will Then will the kingdom and dominion, and the greatnefs of the kingdom under the whole heaven, be given to the people of the faints of the Moft High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him "." "And the nations of them which are faved fhall walk in the light of this city-enlightened by the glory of God, and of the Lamb-and the kings of the earth fhall bring their glory and honour to it, and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there, and they fhall bring the glory and honour of nations into it

It requires a greater ftretch of imagination than feems to be confiftent with the fober rules, of interpretation, to fpiritualize these descrip

y Dan. vii. 27.

2 Rev. xxi. 24, 25.

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tions into the beatific joys of heaven. Nor will the fimilar defcriptions of the more antient Prophets be more cafily brought to the fame height of Myfticifm. In fact the doctrine of the Millennium fteers clear of two extremes. While fome imagine that the defcription of the Meffiah's kingdom is to be understood as merely the introduction of the Chriftian Religion, painted in the lofty ftyle and luxuriant imagery of the Eaft; others imagine, that the inconceivable joys of heaven are thus reprefented, in accommodation to our feeble faculties. Whereas the truth appears to be, that the introduction of the Chriftian Religion into the world, and the marvellous work of Redemption by the death of Chrift, form the primary fubjects of the Prophetic writings; and the train of glorious confequences to follow upon this our earth, their fecondary fignification. FOR PROPHECY REACHES BUT TO THE GATES OF HEAVEN. If I tell you earthly things, and ye believe not, how fhall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly?" was faid by our Lord, to check enquiries into what must remain fo far above our finite comprehenfion. "No man hath feen or can fee, neither can the heart of man conceive, what God has prepared for them that love him" in the eternal manfions of heavenly glory; for "it doth not

yet

yet appear what we shall be" in that remotely diftant ftate of our exiftence. But we are ex

pressly told, that "in the fame manner as Chrift arofe from the dead," and appeared with "flesh and bones" as a human being, " not as a fpirit," even fo fhall we rise also ;” "he fhall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." "This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible put on incorruption; for there are bodies terreftrial, and bodies celeftial, differing in degrees of glory as the stars of heaven "." And the angels declared to the

Apostles, when" they stood gazing up to heaven," after our Lord's afcenfion, "that in the fame manner as he afcended up into heaven, he would again return to the earth ; which agrees with our Lord's words to the Jewish people, "Ye fhall not fee me again till ye fhall fay, Bleffed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord." But how is this confiftent with the affurance, that " he will come with power and great glory in all the majesty of heaven, with ten thousands of his faints and holy angels, to judge both the quick and the dead at the last day, when the earth shall be burnt with fire, and the final doom of ever

lafting blifs or woe fhall be pronounced upon every foul according to his works"-if we do not suppose that the man Chrift Jesus”—

the feed of David," who" is now glorified and exalted at the right hand of God, above all principalities and powers," whose "name is, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords," our

great High Prieft and Interceffor," "the Meffiah of the Jews," the Saviour of the world," "the Son of God"-fhall come again to conquer all his enemies by some signal marks of Divine vengeance, and to establish "the kingdom of the mountain" "with power and great glory," which shall at length command the worship of " every creature which is in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and fuch as are in the fea, and all that are in them," to be paid unto " "him which fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."

We should obferve that this kingdom of the mountain is mentioned as to fucceed the four great kingdoms of the earth, which the stone was to break in pieces a kingdom given to the Son of Man, that all people, and nations, and languages should ferve him." And when the bleffed fpirits waiting in the prefence of God " fell down before the Lamb which is in the