midst of the throne," and "

worshipped him that liveth for ever," the profpect of this kingdom appears to have formed a part of their triumphant, grateful fong, "Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for thou waft flain, and haft redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and haft made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth b❞

But though the inhabitants of " the holy city," the people of God," are to be peculiarly, they are not to be exclusively, favoured. The reign of the faints is to be of univerfal benefit to the world. The many fupernatural circumstances attending it must excite general attention, and, united with the active zeal of "the men of the city," will gradually produce general conviction among the nations. Peace, after a long feries of the most dreadful wars, fhall come to abide upon the earth"The fwords fhall be beat into plough-fhares, and the spears into pruning hooks; for nation fhall no more rife against nation." The plagues, which have punished the earth during the reign of Antichrift, fhall cease-the general.

prevalence of the Christian Religion will purify the morals and preserve the lives of men ; and the temporal bleffings enjoyed by the Elect of God will be an additional incentive to virtue. "I will take fickness from the land in that day, faith the Lord." In Jerufalem, "there fhall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child fhall die an hundred years old, but the finner being an hundred years old, fhall

be accurfed;" it fhall be a mark of Divine displeasure, for a man to die at fuch an early period of this lengthened life. "And they fhall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them; they fhall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect fhall long enjoy the work of their hands. They fhall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the feed of the bleffed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.-The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat ftraw like the bullock, and duft fhall be the ferpent's meat. They fhall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, faith the

Ifaiah lxv. 20.

Lord."

Lord " "And the Lord fhall be king over all the earth; in that day fhall there be one Lord, and his name one;" for "I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall see my glory."

The advantages that must naturally refult to the world in general from the lengthened life of good men, extending their researches: into the various ftorehouses of nature, according to their various talents, and directing all the acquirements of knowledge, and the treafures of experience, to the improvement and happiness of men, and the glory of God, under the guidance of pure religious principles, it is far beyond our power to eftimate. But the confideration of thefe advantages, combined with our ideas of the ftriking, or, as we are tempted to fay, irresistible effects of the miraculous appearances attending the glorious state of the church during the Millennium, leads us directly to the greatest difficulty belonging to the opinion. How is it poffible to conceive (it is afked) that Satan fhould be permitted to disturb the peace of the world thus purged from fin and misery ?—Or, fuppofing this to be a figurative expreffion, how can we

4 Ifaiah lav. 21-25.

believe,

believe, that after they have been fo long ac customed to the habits and rewards of virtue, and convinced by fupernatural evidence of the truths of religion, men fhould relapse into a state of vice and mifery ?" To thofe who imagine the Millennium to be a state of universal purity and happiness, the objection must, I think, appear infurmountable; though were this proved to be the Scripture doctrine, we fhould be nevertheless bound to believe it. But this difficulty will be greatly diminished, if we adopt the system which I have endeavoured to fhow is founded upon exprefs Revelation. We shall then perceive, that this world will continue to be a state of probation to all but those who, having well paffed through their trial, fhall arife from the dead, fanctified wholly through the merits of their Redeemer, to enjoy a life of never-ending and increasing happiness and glory, in the presence of God and of Chrift. Admitted within the veil which fin has drawn between man and the throne of his Creator, many of "the hidden things of God will be made manifeft" to thefe "bleffed and holy" beings. The wisdom of his counfels, the wonders of his works, the kindness of his providence, and the justice of his judgments, will be displayed in the effulgence of this glorious light: and we may suppose the

world

world at large will be enlightened by the communication which thefe "inftructors" will be empowered to make, for the gracious purpose of more extenfive converfion, and more diffufive happiness. But if our first parents fell from innocence, when in Paradife allowed an intercourfe with Heaven, what marvel can there be, that their polluted children fhould refufe to liften to inftruction, and "choose evil for good?" When we remember the natural corruption of the human heartreflect upon the ftubborn blindness of the Jews, and the indifference of the Gentile nations to the series of miracles difplayed for a courfe of ages in the land given to this chofen people, and obferve the general indifference of Chriftians themselves to the truths, the laws, and the promises of their Religion; and confider farther, that during the Millennium the business and pleasures of life-the traffic of nations--the employments and amusements of fociety-will probably continue to attract and intereft the attention of the world, as well as the ftupendous miracles connected with a peculiar class of people; we fhall fcarcely hesitate to allow it poffible at least, that fome part of mankind may refift the force of even these combined advantages, and following the devices of their own hearts,