contemplated what he must still continue to regard as the superior felicity and glory of the celestial world, from which they are, on the Millennary hypothesis, to be excluded, or the spectacles of sin and misery exhibited, which they will be again called to witness in this world, he found it almost equally difficult to divest his mind of the painful impression he had described.

As to the latter view of the subject, our Inquirer said, it cannot reasonably be supposed that those glorified saints, whether heaven-descended

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or

changed," who shall have unconverted relatives living on the earth during the Millennium, will be able to behold without the most painful feelings any of those relatives in a state of open rebellion against God, or even in one of simple alienation from him. His MILLENNARIAN FRIEND here said, that, perhaps, the sufferings of the glorified saints, under the supposed circumstances, would be prevented in some such manner as that by which the saints in glory, according to the anti-millennarians, are preserved from pain, as a consequence of not meeting their relatives or friends in heaven. INQUIRER, in reference to this suggestion, observed, without entering into further speculations on this subject, that the cases did not appear to him to be parallel, since it is probable that the transcendent glories and felicity, not to say services of the

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celestial state, will absorb, in the minds of the saints, all ideas as to the absent and the past; just as in the present life a person may be so entirely engrossed by delightful scenes, pleasant society, or the charms of music, as, for the time, to be almost, if not wholly, freed from the influence of existing causes of grief or anxiety. Whereas, he said, in regard to the case in question, the awful spectacles which the argument presupposes as the occasions of suffering to the glorified saints on the earth, will be present and immediate. Our Inquirer

added, that in proportion as the nature of the glorified saints shall approximate to that of the saints who are still in the flesh, will be the difficulty of conceiving that those, among the former, who shall have been parents, should behold, without pain, any of their offspring living in a course of transgression against God. Our Inquirer further observed, that he felt considerable difficulty in conceiving how the heaven-descended saints will be able to maintain, without suffering, personal intercourse even with the saints in natural bodies, since the latter will, of course, fall so far below the celestial standard of truth and holiness. appeared to him that they would be constantly exposed to sensations of pain and sorrow, arising from the numerous deviations from that high standard, as to both, which they could not avoid

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witnessing in their not yet perfectly sanctified brethren, however exalted they may be in personal piety.

Our Inquirer further observed, that it was reasonable to suppose the great majority of the adult saints, in human bodies, residing on the earth at the commencement of the Millennium, will have families; and that, in consequence of the extraordinary and sudden transformation which, according to the Millennary theory, the former will then undergo, some portion, at least, of each family, will be inevitably exposed to a variety of most painful disasters and privations. He said he thought it reasonable to suppose, that one of the principal effects of this change would be to attach them, in a great degree, if not altogether, to their heaven-descended brethren, as possessing natures congenial with their own, and to detach them, in the same proportion, from their respective families and connexions; particularly from the unconverted portion of them; and he thought it impossible to suppose that, under these new circumstances of social existence, the most painful consequences should not follow. So great a personal change; so sudden a disruption of all the ties and habits of human life and social intercourse; such a total cessation of all former attentions and efforts, on the part of the parents, in relation to the

support and training of their offspring, could not fail, he thought, to involve all such families in inextricable distress and confusion. It was so easy to imagine a thousand disasters and inconveniences, both personal and social, as resulting to members of families from such an anomalous state of things, that he would refrain from entering into particulars, further than to observe that the transformation of the pious children and other domestic and relative connexions of each family, would contribute greatly to increase the disastrous consequences of such preternatural change. Duly to appreciate these consequences, it was, of course, necessary to keep in view the great diversity of physical natures, which, according to the hypothesis, in question, will characterize the Millennial population.

Here he was reminded by his MILLENNARIAN FRIEND that similar disasters and privations were, at present, of daily occurrence, and he, therefore, thought such events could not fairly be adduced in opposition to the Millennary theory. In reply to which our INQUIRER said, it was obvious that such occurrences now happened only occasionally, not simultaneously and universally; so that help is usually at hand, and, if not, is in general soon furnished; thus the breaches are made up; the

wound is soon closed, and, comparatively speaking, few irremediable disasters take place. On the contrary, the disasters of the Millennium will all happen at the same time-no suitable persons will be at hand to repair the breach, to supply the deficiency, to make up the loss. Besides, it should not be forgotten that we are taught to expect, in that period, a scene of unprecedented harmony and order, not a state of confusion and distress; a large increase of temporal felicity, not a diminution of it.

His MILLENNARIAN FRIEND said he thought our Inquirer gave far too much scope to his imagination, and that, supposing the expectations of Millennarians to be eventually realized, the consequences he had anticipated might not actually happen. It was surely quite as easy to imagine that the Almighty would arrange and adjust all the circumstances of the millennary state in a manner worthy of his infinite perfections, so as to secure the happiness of families and communities, as well as that of individuals. Our INQUIRER said, he did not in the least doubt, that whatever was ordained of God, in regard to that happy period of the world, would be in all respects worthy of God, but it appeared to him that this was not the question. What he,