Ch. XXI. millennian ftate of the church and of the world in the first fix verses of chap. 20. Is it ever to be fuppofed, that this most glorious and happy state of the church and of the world, the fabbatical millennary, fhall not be as fully described, at least, as any of thefe other events? This is the great and glorious æra, to which all these events lead. Shall they be fully defcribed, and fhall it be difmiffed with a fhort hint? As we fhall proceed, it will appear that ftriking intimations of this glorious æra run through the whole of the Old and New Teftament fcriptures, and are closely interwoven with the language of fcripture... Is it not, therefore, highly reafonable to expect a full description of it before the canon of fcripture should be clofed? Having premised, thefe neceffary obfervations let us now proceed to confider the description itfelf.

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At this period John faw "a new heaven and a new earth.". It was early fhewn, that heaven is the fymbol for the church of Chrift, and the earth that for the kingdoms of the earth, particularly for the Roman empire. By the new heaven it is predicted that, at the commencement of the millennium, the church of Chrift fhall affume a new appearance; and, by the new earth, that the civil kingdoms of the world fhall alfo affume a new appearance at that time,

He affigns two reafons for this change. The, firft

is,

is, that the “firft heaven and the first earth were

paffed away." The perfecuted wilderness ftate of the church shall then be at an end. The Chriftian church which formerly confifted of scattered individuals, in this or that external church, fhall then be no more. And the Roman empire, in the fall of its feventh and laft head, fhall be totally diffolved, and the few kingdoms of the world, who shall adhere to it to the laft, fhall be buried in its ruins.

And fecond, "That there was no more fea." Sea is the fymbol for a troubled, diffolved, fluctuating and tumultuous ftate of civil fociety. During the millennium, there fhall be none of that fluctuating and tumultuous ftate of civil fociety, in which revolutions are generated; which at once proceed from, and are accomplished by, the diforder of both church and state.

On what account the church of Chrift and the kingdoms of the world fhall then be denominated new, may be feen from the following paffages of fcripture: Ifa. lxv. 17,-25. (the reader is defired. to confult that paffage). 2 Pet. iii. 13. "Never“theless we, according to his promise, look for a "new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth "righteousness."Rom. xiv. 17. "For the

kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but " righteousness and peace, and joy in the holy "Ghoft;" and Matth. vi. 10. "Thy kingdom come, thy

"thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven;" and also from comparing the defcription of the wilderness state of the church in chapters xi. and xii. with that of her triumphant ftate in this chapter, and the account given of the kings of the earth in chap. xiii. 5,-7. with that given of them, in this chap. verfes 24th, 26th.

All these paffages have a plain reference to one another, and to the words now under our view. From them, it is evident that the church of Chrift fhall then be justly called new on the following accounts. Because it shall be strictly modelled, in doctrine, worship, obedience, and discipline, on the word of God contained in the facred scriptures. -It fhall no longer be confined to narrow bounds; but shall extend over the greatest part of the world.-There shall no longer be any oppofi tion between Jew and Christian; but both shall be united in one church, believing in Mofes as the fervant, and in Christ as the Son of God.-It fhall no longer confift of pure individuals fcattered among corrupt churches of various denominations; but of one univerfal pure church-It shall no longer be perfecuted; but shall enjoy uninterrupted peace, profperity, and triumph.-The kingdom of Chrift, which is not meats and drinks, but righteousness, peace, and joy, fhall then come; and therefore the will of God fhall be done on earth, as it is in heaven: Nothing but righteousness and joy shall dwell

in the Christian church. And especially because, in the full extent of the prediction of Jeremiah, chap. xxxi. 31,—34. "the days fhall be come,

"when the Lord will make a new covenant with "the house of Ifrael, and with the house of Judah, "—when he will put his law in their inward parts "and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they fhall be his people, and they "fhall all know him from the leaft of them unto "the greatest of them."

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It is thus that all the members of the new heaven, shall be new creatures. And the civil kingdoms of this world fhall be ftiled new, because, though civil governments and governors shall be continued for the right regulation of men as focial creatures, yet both the fubjects and fovereigns fhall be fo much regulated by that religion, which is truth, righteousness, peace, and joy, that righteoufness and peace only fhall dwell in thefe kingdoms;a facred regard fhall be paid by every o to the rights of every one ;-private contentions, and public wars fhall, therefore, cease to the ends of the earth, and univerfal peace fhall prevail for a thousand years;-kings, inftead of perfecuting the church of Christ, shall be nurfing fathers, and queens fhall be nurfing mothers unto her, and the kings of the earth fhall bring their glory and honour unto the church of Chrift.

Verfe 2d, And I John faw the holy city, new Jerufalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Antient Jerufalem was called the holy city, because the temple confecrated to the worship of God was built in it, and the tribes of Ifrael went up to worship God in that city, at all the three great annual feafts. Hence, as a symbol, it fignifies the church of Chrift, especially when the epithet new is prefixed to it.

By comparing the fymbol for the church of Christ in its perfecuted ftate, under Papal Rome, for 1243 years, as it is drawn in chap. xi. 1, 2. with the fymbol ufed in this place, it will be perfectly clear that" new Jerufalem, the holy city," is the fymbol for the triumphant millennian ftate of the Chriftian church, which fhall commence immediately upon the final overthrow of Papal Rome.

In chap. xi. 1, 2. it is faid, "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod and the angel ftood, faying, Rife and measure the temple of God, "and the altar, and them that worship therein. "But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not for it is given unto the

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Gentiles, and the holy city fhall they tread under "foot