yea, even those of the dark ages of the Christian Church, had been more highly privileged than himself. This separation from the personal presence of Christ, as the case might be, instead of his entrance into it, also would depend on the apparently accidental circumstance of his dying after, instead of before, the commencement of the Millennary era. COMPOSITION OF THE POST-MILLENNIAL POPULATION OF THE EARTH. THIRD CONFERENCE. "God hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." "The earth hath he given to the children of men." OUR INQUIRER said, before commencing their present Conference, he would read his list of the constituents of the earth's post-millennial population, as collected, or deduced, from the declarations or concessions of Millennarian writers. 1. Heaven-descended Saints. 2. "Changed" Saints. 3. Saints in natural bodies. 4. The raised pre-millennial wicked dead. Our INQUIRER then observed, that, considering the auspicious character of the Millennary era, in reference to the longevity of the human inhabitants of the world, it might reasonably be expected, that the saints in natural bodies, whose numbers before its close will have swelled to innumerable multitudes, on the supposition of our Lord's return with his glorified saints to heaven, will not only have, at that extraordinary epoch, to deplore their departure, and to experience the spiritual losses and privations which may be supposed consequent on such a change in their circumstances; but will also (on the Millennary hypothesis, which assumes that the bodies of the resurrection will be adapted to a residence in this world, and suited to personal intercourse with men in natural bodies), be exposed to the most appalling and tremendous catastrophe which it is possible for the human imagination to conceive; viz. the resurrection of the "rest of the dead;" that is, of all the dead who were not raised at the time of the pre-millennial resurrection; in other words, all the wicked who shall have lived upon the earth from the beginning of the world, to the beginning of the Millennium, and who shall have died before the latter epoch; consisting, of course, of innumerable fiend-like creatures. Our Inquirer said, he called them fiend-like creatures, as it naturally occurred to him, that as to the greater number of them, their association, for several thousands of years, with wicked angels, will have greatly increased their malignity and subtlety, and better fitted them than ever for the work of temptation; nor could he contemplate so appalling and terrible an irruption, without experiencing sensations of mingled astonishment and horror. Pursuing his reflections, our Inquirer observed, that it was to be considered, that these innumerable myriads of wicked and malignant spirits, cased in the bodies of the resurrection, will not make their terrible irruption into a world filled with wicked inhabitants; i. e. possessing the same general character as themselves, and under the dominion and influence of the same master; but into a world crowded with the yet surviving saints of the Millennium. Such an irruption into the world, whatever the character of its inhabitants might be, he thought was sufficiently incredible, but far more so was it, that it should take place just at the termination of the Millennium; when the earth will be covered with the fruits of that happy era; when its inhabitants generally will be still, to a great extent, powerfully imbued with its signally holy spirit; and while, as yet, it is probable, wickedness, though now under less restraint, will have but partially re-extended itself in the earth. His MILLENNARIAN FRIEND here said, that he could not wonder at the feelings of astonishment and horror which the contemplation of such a dreadful catastrophe as had been just described, was calculated to inspire; but still, he said, our Inquirer ought to recollect, that, according to his own anti-millennarian views, a similar irruption, and consisting of far greater numbers of wicked dead, will occur at the day of final judgment; when those bearing this character, of all preceding generations, from the beginning of the world, will be simultaneously raised from their graves. Our INQUIRER agreed with his Millennarian Friend, that the resurrection of the wicked dead would, prior to the final judgment, be fully as terrible as that which he had described, viz. the postmillennial resurrection of "the rest of the dead;" but he must, nevertheless, be allowed to say, that the substance of his objection still remained; seeing it is evident, that previously to the resurrection of the wicked dead, at the final judgment of the world, all the saints will have ascended to meet their Lord in the air, and so be for ever with the Lord; and, consequently, for ever out of the reach of all evil. Our Inquirer next observed, that the expectation of a release of the wicked dead from the place of torment for such a period, viz. from the termination of the Millennium until the end of the world, |