OF all the subjects treated of in the New Testament, not one possesses a deeper interest for the Christian than the millennium. From the earliest ages of the church to the present, it has been a subject of interested thought, and at times the subject of the most excited thought. None will say that it has received an attention disproportionate to its importance. Whether the interest it has excited has, at all times, been kept within due bounds, or whether it has always been discussed with sufficient moderation, are questions which, I believe, may be fairly decided in the negative. Still it does not follow from this that the subject should be ignored; nor that we may not now legitimately and, it may be, even profitably prosecute an inquiry into it. Feeling that the interest of the subject is constantly increasing as the moment draws near in which the great event is to flash upon the world, we offer the present piece in hope that it shall be the commencement of an end, which shall more than repay the reader for the attention we shall have to crave at his hand while prosecuting the investigation.

On no subject of Christianity can authorities be consulted with less satisfaction than on the millennium. Where men have written on it at all, their views are both confused and contradictory. They write as though they had little confidence themselves in what they say, and hence, very naturally, they inspire little confidence in others; rather they write as if in quest of something to say than as saying something. We have been enabled to derive no aid whatever from authorities. Hence in what herein follows, the Word of God is our sole guide. In following this and this only can we be safe. Whether we do this or not; in other words, whether or not we interpret correctly Holy Writ in its teachings on the millennium, is a question we shall leave to the decision of our readers. We beg that the views here expressed shall not be inconsiderately rejected; we have no fear that they will be hastily adopted. They are intended to wear no air of dogmatism, yet is it hoped that they will rise something above mere feeble conjectures. I am anxious that the earnest attention of the brotherhood /2/ shall be turned to the subject; for with us, as yet, it may be truly said to be a closed question. There is not among us, as far as I know, a single elaborate article in print on the subject; and I have never heard a discourse on it, nor even so much as heard of one being attempted. This silence, I believe, we may well afford to break; and when once broken, I have strong hope that good will result.

On one point, and that, too, the very point on which the reader is almost certain to feel most the want of light, I have no theory to advance; namely, the time when the millennium is to commence. In this our views will be felt to be decidedly defective. We do not know that it is proper to regret the circumstance; hence, we shall not do it. That time we believe to be indeterminate, especially to any high degree of certainty, and mere conjectures would be of no value. This much, however, we may add, that the world is living in the expectation that some momentous religious event will transpire between the present date and the year 1870. But this expectation is looking specifically to the overthrow of the "Man of Sin;" and we are free to say, we can not see how, according to dates found in the Word of God, that tremendous crash can be postponed much longer. Our prayer is, that the day may be at hand. Now, of one thing we feel somewhat assured, that soon after the catastrophe of the "lawless one" will begin to happen that series of events which is immediately precedent to the millennium. Of some of these events we shall have occasion to speak soon. How long it may take to complete that series we have no means of knowing. Our persuasion is, that the time will be short. Should such be the case, then it falls not beyond the limit of probability, that there are those now living who shall never see death, but who shall live to see the gorgeous day of the millennium ushered in. If such be thy will, O Lord, count us among that number! But from these hints let no one accuse us of attempting, except contingently, to determine even proximately the time when the millennium is to begin. We have a feeling, we call it not a faith, but a feeling; and of that feeling we can give no account, except that we are as distinctly conscious of it as we are of the love of life - we repeat, we have a feeling that the day in question may be nearer at hand than the world in its drowsy mood is dreaming of. This feeling itself is somewhat distinct, the enormous object which excites it is less so; but how near to us, or how far from us, that object may be, we have no more means of determining than we have of measuring the distance between us and the spectre which strides across our path when shrouded in the fallacious mists of the sea. Of this we are sure, that the object itself is real; only it approaches us in an atmosphere so hazy as to impart incertitude to our faith, and, it may be, to disappoint our expectations. Still, in patience and in hope we shall await the disclosures of the future.

/3/ Without, then, making any effort to fix the time when the millennium is to begin, we shall now proceed to speak: 1. Of the events which, in our opinion, are immediately to precede it. 2. Of the millennium itself proper. 3. Of the events which are to follow it.

I. - As inaugurating, then, the first part of our task, we transcribe the following sections from the Book of Revelation, as translated by Tregelles, chap. xix.:

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but himself. And he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood; and his name has been called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.

"And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and be gathered together to the great supper of God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of those that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived those that had received the mark of the beast, and those that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceedeth out of his mouth; and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."

In regard to this and the following sections of the same book, upon which we are about to comment, we have a few things to say generally, before proceeding to notice them in detail. That they contain a comprehensive and, in some places, even a minute account of the closing scenes of man's present state, and of those which are immediately to follow it, we hold to be simply certain. So sure are we that this is correct, that we shall not stop here to argue it, but shall allow the proof to arise as the subject is gradually unfolded. Further, these scenes all stand together as component parts of one great whole. They occur either concurrently or consecutively. One happens with another or immediately after it, and grows out of it. They come into /4/ view, or succeed one another, much as one object does another in a landscape, that is, as conjunct parts of the same whole and not as parts of different wholes. True, in many instances they stand wide, very wide, apart; yet are they all bound up together, and as a chain, a series, or a view, they are one.

In order that we may proceed the more understandingly, it is proper here to say, that the scenes of which we are now speaking - the millennium, with its closely antecedent and closely subsequent events, were all scenes shown in vision to the Apostle John in Patmos. He there saw them in the form of a grand panorama. To him they were mere luminous types, but types of real events then lying deep in the distant future. What he then saw by the Spirit of inspiration he has jotted down. We are now engaged in an effort to read his handwriting or interpret his hieroglyphics. Such is the work before us.

As to the sense in which we expect to take these sections, a few words are thought necessary. The disposition, so long and so widely prevalent, to convert difficult or disagreeable Scriptures into mere figures of speech, and to make them mean any thing or nothing, as may happen to suit the whim of the writer, has been the source of incalculable mischief and error. No book has suffered more from this disposition than the Book of Revelation. In it, men have found ample room for the wildest gambols of fancy, and most wildly has fancy gamboled therein. If this could be set down simply to a desire to understand the book, it could well be viewed as comparatively innocent; but when it is adopted as a method of interpretation, it is difficult to censure it too sharply. By this we do not mean that the Book of Revelation contains no difficult passages. We know of no book which contains more. Neither do we mean to say that it contains no passages which are to be interpreted figuratively. Certainly no book of the New Testament contains so many. Its language is for the most part confessedly figurative, its conceptions are highly wrought, while the drapery of its scenes is gorgeous even up to the hight of sublimity. We simply mean to express the belief that a more literal method of interpretation than the one in general use is both applicable to the Book of Revelation, and necessary in order to elicit its true meaning. We shall hence adopt it. Accordingly, in the sections of which we are about to treat, we shall assume that the main thread of thought is literally expressed; in other words, that it lies out upon the surface in the most obvious meaning of the language used; and that it is not to be sought in some enigmatical or fancied sense thereof. But it is necessary that I shall express myself still more fully. When, then, I use the word literal, I do not mean by it the tame literalism of inornate narrative, but the absence of a purely symbolic style. As an illustration, I mean that the sections to be treated of will be construed as we interpret the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. To interpret /5/ this chapter very literally would certainly not be allowable; to interpret it very far otherwise, as certainly not right. To avoid these extremes is about all I aim it. With these preliminaries, we now proceed to notice in detail the several items of the sections already cited.

That these sections contain the description of a grand battle scene, we hold to be indisputable. In any other general view, they seem to be without significance. The hostile array of parties, the terms used to describe them, their movements, the plot, the issue - all go to prove this. Accordingly, when heaven is opened to John, Christ is seen sitting on a white horse, accompanied and panoplied as a great general-in-chief prepared for the onset. Now, we are distinctly told the objects for which he makes his appearance in the scene. "In righteousness he doth judge and make war." These objects, therefore, are two: 1. To make war. 2. To judge. We arrange them in order in the which they occur, not in the order in which they stand in the narrative. These two objects, so conspicuously stated, can not be too strongly emphasized, nor too constantly borne in mind. They are the guiding objects with reference to which the whole subsequent narrative, down to the 7th verse of the 21st chapter, is to be interpreted. From this remark a single intermediate event, which I shall not here more particularly describe, is to be excepted. We shall speak first of the war.

That Christ should appear to act a part in the character of a warrior is certainly something new, and something felt to be at variance with our accustomed views of that gracious person. Still, so it is; and it may be well for us at once to grow familiar with the fact. At first he was introduced to us as an Almighty Creator, without whom "was not any thing made that was made." Next he becomes the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. To-day he is sitting at the right hand of the Father to complete reconciliation. But this work ended, he is then to act a new part in a new character. We say this work ended, but is it to end? and if so, when? The latter question we can not answer, to the former we reply yes. In two of these characters Christ has already acted; in the third he is acting now; in the fourth he is to act hereafter. When his present work is done, immediately his war beings; and his war once begun, thenceforward let no unransomed soul of man expect salvation. It will be too late. The instant Christ steps from the mediatorial throne, the work of remission ceases. The last act of pardon will have taken place; mercy's door will be shut; and he who is then left out is lost forever. That what is here said is true in part, no Bible student will deny. The work of salvation is certainly to come to an end: the question is, when? We place the event just before the commencement of Christ's great war. To us this seems the most appropriate time. We can hardly suppose /6/ that he will act, at the same time, in two characters so contradictory as those of saviour and warrior. It appears, therefore, more natural to conclude that the work of salvation will cease before the war begins. Should any one cavil at this, and say it is without proof, we beg to remind him that we are inditing a theory - nothing more.

But here a most important question arises; namely, Against whom will Christ wage his war? We confidently reply, "the nations of the earth," or the wicked of the human family. He wages it not against demons, not against abstract wickedness, certainly not against the redeemed; but against the finally disobedient or ungodly. These he will "smite with a sharp sword" at the time when he "treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty." Should what is here said be true, it will suggest the answer to another curious question; to wit, What will become of the wicked before the millennium commences? For certain it is, that during that glorious period there will not one be left on earth. We again repeat, what will become of them? To this question, it seems to me, but three answers can be given:

1. They will die as men now die, and thus all pass away. We see not how this can be. Wicked men have been on the increase from Adam to the present. They are rapidly increasing now. And not only so, they increase in a more rapid ratio than the righteous. Hence, should the world stand ten thousand years longer, we see no probability that the wicked will disappear from it in this way.

2. They will all be converted and become absorbed by the church. Of the truth of this there is neither evidence nor probability. I know it is a favorite theory of some, either that the power of Satan will, in some way, be restrained, and thus the Gospel will be enabled to override all opposition, and so all will become Christians; or that the power of the Gospel will be sufficiently increased, by some mystic Spiritual influence, and thus the same end will be achieved. But on what ground this theory is held I know not. The experience of the past does not warrant it, nor do facts of the present; and it has no countenance from the Word of God. We hence reject it.

3. They will continue as now, unchanged. But this can not be; for during the millennium Satan will be bound, temptation will cease, and with it, sin - there will be, in a word, neither wickedness nor wicked men. The truth of what is here merely asserted will appear further on.

Putting, then, the two questions together, whom will Christ wage war against? and what will become of the wicked? and we make out, as something fearfully probably, that all the wicked will perish in that terrible conflict. But the point rests not on mere inference. It is actually asserted. "The remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse." Now the word "remnant" here does not mean, /7/ as is obvious from the context, a remnant of the human family, implying that a part only were slain and the rest escaped, but all that remained after the capture of the beast and the false prophet, that is, the whole of the adverse army or all the wicked. This is clearly the import of the term.

From all of which I conclude that, in the end of the present state, Christ will make war on the entire wicked portion of the human family, and that in the conflict they will all die. By the term die I mean ordinary or natural death. Such will be the end of the finally impenitent.

But how long is this war likely to continue - one or one hundred years? The answer to this question, which at best is only conjectural, is implied, not expressed. How long, let me inquire, as approaching the answer, do wars generally last? Not longer, certainly, than is necessary to enable one party to conquer the other, or to enable both to discover that neither can conquer the other, when an armistice and terms of peace usually ensue. Now we have no ground to conclude that the war of Christ will be an exception to this rule. And since he has the power absolutely to terminate it the moment in which it begins, we have no reason to conclude that it will last one instant longer. To protract it beyond the initial blow would subserve no end that we can see. We are hence strongly persuaded it will not be done. As proof of this let us notice the only instrument introduced into the deadly affray. "The remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth." Here, then, is no actual conflict, no tug of war, no clash of steel, no death shriek, no streaming blood; but, on the one hand, all earth's wicked hosts unsuspectingly eating, drinking, planting, building, marrying, as in the days of the Flood; and on the other, Christ with his countless ranks all "clothed in fine linen, white and clean." He simply speaks, and all his enemies instantly fall. A mere "be it so" is said, and the work of death is complete. If now all perish the moment the fatal signal is uttered, then the war ends at once. It lasts not a day, not even an hour. This conclusion seems to be necessarily implied in the fact that the wicked all die by a word, which being instantly spoken instantly does its work.

In further proof of this, let us now notice the facts contained in the 17th and 18th verses. John saw an angel standing in the sun and heard him say with a loud voice to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come, and be gathered together to the great supper of God." This, as previously stated, was to John a vision, a view, a picture, but a picture of what? What is its counterpart or what answers to it? We can not have a picture without its being a picture of something. What now is the thing or scene of which we here have the picture or representation? Does the sun in John's vision stand for /8/ the real sun, the angel for a real angel, the fowls for the real fowls of earth, the supper for a real supper which they are literally to eat? If not, then John saw not the picture of a corresponding reality, but the picture of a non-corresponding reality, and what can this be? Again, is it safer to interpret his vision as having its counterpart in a real angel, real fowls, and a real supper, or as having no reference whatever to these realities? I confess I feel tied down here to uncertainty. The great difficulty in interpreting the Book of Revelation is not in understanding the things which John saw. These he causes us to see very plainly. In other words, he describes to us his pictures well; but the difficulty lies in our inability to determine what the various parts of his pictures represent. Where he explains, of course we have no difficulty; we have it only where he does not explain. In the verses in hand it must be confessed we have no explanation. In the absence of any, then, in what sense shall we take them? As involving, perhaps, the least risk, I shall take them as containing pictures of corresponding realities; that is, I shall understand the picture of fowls as representing real fowls, and the picture of a supper as representing real eating.

Just before the millennium, then, all the wicked will die, and die instantly. And not only so, but, as dishonoring them, God intends that they shall lie unburied, and that the fowls of the air shall eat their flesh. Their dying together and being eaten together, that is, at the same time, would seem to warrant the conclusion that the catastrophe is sudden. And why should it be otherwise? Christ can certainly thus end it if he see fit; and what in this case he can do, we see no reason to conclude he will not do.

That the wicked are to die suddenly, as here indicated, seems fully confirmed by the following passage, which certainly refers to them, as also to the close of the present state. "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write to you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them." (1 Thess., v., 1-3.) And that the wicked are to lie without sepulture seems more than probably from the following strong language: "And all the fowls were filled with their flesh." It is difficult to reconcile this with the notion of a decent burial, such as we give the dead in the present day.

Besides the end of the wicked, of which we have now spoken, two other events here deserve a brief notice: 1. The capture of the beast and the false prophet, and the casting away of both these alive into the burning lake. Of the beast and the false prophet, I am candid to say, I can speak with no sort of confidence. Of the various theories which have been published respecting them, I have seen none which has given my own mind any degree of satisfaction. I wish it were in /9/ my power to gratify the intense desire for information on this point, which I know the reader must feel; but it is not. This paper will be deemed speculative enough, without inserting any respecting the beast and the false prophet. If any of our intelligent brethren feel that they can shed any light on these two mysterious characters, we shall have pleasure in affording them room to speak. 2. The capture and imprisonment of Satan, spoken of in the following section:

"And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: after that he must be loosed a little season." (xx., 1-4.)

About the character here spoken of we can have no doubt, and the disposition made of him is clear. Satan is mingling with the wicked up to their very last moment. He never deserts them, but to the last is present urging them on to crime by his deceptions. He is never satisfied till their ruin is sealed. The last of earth's poor, wicked children now sleeps his last sleep; and the moment is come when a check is to be imposed upon the great enemy who deceived them. Accordingly he is bound and imprisoned for the exact period of a thousand years. This time is most definite, and most important. During it Satan's power is wholly unfelt by man. He deceives no human being, and no human being commits a sin. The whole earth now rests, and praises the Lord.

II. - But the time is now come to speak of the millennium proper: and first as to the meaning of the word. The term, as many of our readers well know, is derived from the Latin, mille, a thousand, and annus, a year. It hence means a thousand years. And although it is not found in the New Testament, yet the expression "a thousand years" is, and this expression and the term are used to denote the same thing. These thousand years, however, are not a thousand ordinary years, but a thousand glorious years to which Christians, from the earliest ages of the church, have been looking forward with the deepest solicitude. These thousand years of sinless and painless bliss, constitute the millennium. Such is the meaning of the term, and such the period it denotes.

The millennium will commence in the precise instant in which Satan is bound and locked up in prison. The battle in which all the wicked die, will end. Immediately thereafter, Satan will be seized, and bound for a thousand years. This binding will consist in divesting him completely of all power over the human family. At the moment when he falls, the moment when his great bad power is wrested from him, at that moment the millennium will be inaugurated. /10/ From that time it will stretch forward and include, in our opinion, a period of a thousand years precisely. It will not consist of an indefinite number of years, or be merely a long time; but of a thousand years, neither more nor less. Of the events which are further to characterize its commencement we shall now speak more particularly.

1. All the living saints will be changed. The Saviour says, in speaking of the church, "the gates of the unseen shall not prevail against it." This language we understand to mean that all Christians shall not die, but that a part of them shall live on through all time, up to its last moment. But the question very naturally arise: What will then become of them? I answer as above, they will all be changed. "Behold, I show you a mystery," says Paul, "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." This is the change which is to take place at the commencement of the millennium. It will consist in putting off these mortal bodies, and in putting on these glorious spiritual bodies which await the finally faithful. By it the Christian will be rendered perfect, as perfect as he will ever be throughout eternity. After this he will be the subject of no further change, except such as may consist of a continual increase of knowledge.

2. The sleeping saints will all be raised. Of the truth of this all who have written and spoken on the millennium seem not satisfied; for some have taken the ground that only a part of the just will be raised. The martyrs only, say they, will be raised at the beginning of the millennium; and all the rest of the pious will remain in their graves till the end of the thousand years, and then be raised. In proof of this they cite the following passages:

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them: and I saw the souls of those that were beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the Word of God, and such as had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received the mark upon their foreheads and on their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. And the rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (Chap. xx., 4-6.)

Had we no facts or circumstances besides those contained in this passage to shed any light on the first resurrection, then might be conclude that it will be only partial. But, even in that case, I believe /11/ the conclusion would be only probably, and that in a low degree. Now, I submit the following translation of the passage as not a whit inferior to that of Tregelles, except, possibly, in the matter of the supplement in the first clause; and some supplement is certainly necessary to enable the verse to make sense: And I saw thrones and [the saints] sat upon them, and judgment was given to them: and I saw the souls of those that were beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the Word of God; and I saw those that had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received the mark upon their foreheads and on their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. According to this rendering, of those who lived and reigned with Christ the thousand years, John saw two classes marked by very different characteristics: 1. "Those who were beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the Word of God." This class clearly includes the martyrs, but excludes all others. 2. "Those that had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received the mark upon their foreheads, and on their hands." This class just as clearly excludes the martyrs, but as certainly includes all others. Therefore, the two classes include all the saints, whether martyrs or not. And this we think to be the truth; that is, that all who sleep in Jesus will rise at the commencement of the millennium.

But even taking the common version of the passage, and all it indisputably warrants is, that the martyrs will certainly be raised; and, besides this, that they will be distinguished above the other saints by the reception of peculiar honors. It by no means implies that no others besides the martyrs will be raised. When the Saviour said to the apostles: "Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel," he certainly did not mean that no others shall sit on thrones and share in the judgment. So neither does the passage in hand teach that none but the martyrs will be raised. What a passage asserts of one class of saints, without asserting exclusively, we can not deny of a different class, especially when other passages lie against the denial.

But in further proof of a partial resurrection of the just, this passage is cited: "And the rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years were finished." But the "rest of the dead" here named are not a part of the righteous dead. They are the wicked dead. The idea is this: All the righteous dead will be raised at the commencement of the millennium, but the rest of the dead, who are the wicked dead, will not be raised until the end thereof.

Again: when the apostle says, "the dead in Christ shall rise first," the expression "the dead in Christ" is incapable of being made to include only the martyrs. It clearly includes all the righteous dead. And further, while the expression "shall rise first" means that the /12/ righteous dead shall first rise, and that then immediately the righteous living shall be changed; it also implies that all who rise will rise at the same time. I hence conclude that whenever one of the dead in Christ rises, all the rest will rise at the same instant.

As further proof of this conclusion I quote the following: "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; but every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." In this passage a particular event happens, those that are Christ's are to rise from the dead. Now, it seems clear that the expression "they that are Christ's" includes all who are his, and not merely a part, as the martyrs. Indeed, we feel confident that this is its meaning.

But it is most evident that others besides the martyrs are to share the honors of the millennium. Certainly those of the saints who remain alive to that time and are then changed will share them. Now, if these, who of course are not martyrs, share the honors of the millennium with the martyrs, then why not all who are not martyrs? And this would include all the pious dead. We can see but one answer to this question. To put a strong case: let us suppose two men, precisely equal in a moral point of view, and precisely equal in the estimation of our Heavenly Father. These men live on up into the last day before the commencement of the millennium. In the morning of that day one of them sickens and dies. He is no martyr; hence he sleeps on through the millennium to its end. The other lives on through the day to the moment when the millennium begins; he is then changed, and reigns with Christ a thousand years. Is there reason in or reason for the difference? I confess I can not see it; hence I do not only believe that all the saints who are alive at the coming of Christ will then be changed, but also that all who sleep, not one excepted, will then be raised and also changed. So that all the ransomed children of God shall meet, in time now coming, on the margin of the empty tomb and there greet each other. Proud day! It makes me wild to think of it. My kin lie sleeping, sleeping in the ground. My brethren sleep there, brethren loved as life itself is loved. The forest tree stands over them, and night lies dark on their bed. The grave worm is in their flesh, and no voice of friendship is heard to cheer them in that silent world. They have been, many of them, long absent; yet how oft in the restless night, when the spirit is troubled, and dreams troop through the brain, do they return. The maternal face looks on us again, sisterly voices send a strange sweet thrill through the soul, such, it may be, as the disembodied spirit alone knows truly. If such be the feeling which the mere phantom excites, what must be the joy which the reality shall induce? But we /13/ shall not be undutiful and fret for that day, except as it is the Father's will to hasten it.

The event of which we are now speaking, the resurrection of the just, is called by way of distinction "the first resurrection." It is not so called, however, because it is a first resurrection of the just. It is so called simply because it is the first, in contradistinction to the second resurrection. In the first resurrection all the righteous will be raised and not one of the wicked; in the second resurrection all the wicked will be raised and not one of the righteous; and these two resurrections will stand a thousand years apart, the first occurring at the beginning of the millennium, the second at its end. The popular notion, therefore, that all the dead, both the righteous and the wicked, will rise at the same time and be indiscriminately mingled together is an error. Each one rises in his "own order,' rank, or division - the righteous with the righteous at one time, the wicked with the wicked at a different time.

3. The actual personal and literal reappearance of the Saviour. We confidently expect this event to take place in the commencement moment of the millennium. That Christ is to revisit the earth one day, as literally as he left it, is what we think no Bible student can deny without, in the act, avowing a principle, which, if sound, at once extinguishes the truth of Christianity. The only question which is at all debatable is, When will he come? And even on this we think little doubt can arise, except as doubt arises as to when the millennium will begin. It is expressly declared, as already quoted, that those who are Christ's will be made alive "at his coming." No language can be clearer than this, and of itself it ought to be decisive of the question. Now, if those who are Christ's will be made alive at the commencement of the millennium, and this we shall now assume, then, at that time will Christ personally reappear. The time when his disciples are changed determines the time of his coming. The two events are simultaneous. To the same effect is the following: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say to you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them who are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thess., iv., 13-17.) Here the descent of the Lord is described in language as unfigurative as that /14/ in which the resurrection of the dead is described. If we take the one event literally, so also must we take the other. The whole piece of information was communicated to comfort the disciples; besides, it is upon a subject of great intricacy to them. It is hardly natural, therefore, to suppose that it has been expressed in other than in very plain language. Certain of the disciples are represented as being alive, as remaining to the coming of the Lord; then the dead arise, the living are changed, and all are caught up together with the Lord in the air. This does not sound like any thing else than a strictly literal detail of facts. Accordingly, I can not look upon it in any other light. I hence conclude that Christ will literally come in person at the commencement of the millennium, and literally remain here on earth during the entire thousand years.

Such are a few of the great events which are to mark the commencement of the millennium. We feel overwhelmed with their significance and importance. So marvelous are they, and so deeply do they involve our happiness, that we are shy to believe them. Our very fear that they may not be true increases our incredulity and causes us to distrust them. We hesitate to commit ourselves even to our own faith, lest in the end we should be made sick at heart by disappointment. Yet, if the Word of God assert these things, then we shall not be disappointed. Does it then teach them? This question settled, and we may wait in confidence.

It does not appear, from the record before us, that any change will take place in the earth itself at the commencement of the millennium. It seems that it is to remain in all respects as it now is till the end of that time. Then, and not till then, will the new heavens and the new earth appear. Here, at least, the narrative seems to locate that great change. Now this jars not a little on our feelings. We are so accustomed to associate the resurrection of the just and the new earth together, that we find it difficult to separate them. Not only so, but we have half learned to feel that the new earth is necessary to the new body, and that we can not be happy in this, without that. The shortest thought, however, should satisfy us that this feeling is ill- founded. That the new earth will be, in some way, necessary to the perfection of our happiness, we may correctly infer from the fact that God is going to provide it. We must, however, think it necessary rather on the score that he is going to provide sumptuously and even gorgeously for our happiness, than on the ground that no measure thereof can exist without it. This earth at present may not be a very desirable home, and we are not in a condition to affirm that it is. Still, where does the defect lie? Not so much in the earth surely as in us. When we are changed we shall the less need a change in the earth. We have a fancy, it is but a fancy, that it will then be a pretty respectable home. When our bodies cease to be what they now are, /15/ we shall not so much need the earth to be what it is not now. Its heat can not affect us injuriously then, neither can its cold. These do not, that we know of, affect angels' bodies, if they have any, when visiting the earth. As little will they affect those spiritual bodies for which we look. From the influence of poisonous miasmus we shall be wholly free. We can not sicken, nor otherwise suffer. With sin, with death, with the infirmities of the body, all that makes this world bitter will pass away. When such is the case, we can well afford to be content with the present earth till the time comes to change it. As long as the wicked dead lie in it, it seems not to be the purpose of our Heavenly Father to disturb it. Not until they arise will it be touched. The dust of the dead, though they be the wicked dead, must not be disquieted to provide a home even for the millennial saints. The bed of God's unransomed children is sacred in his sight. For those degenerate ashes he has a mournful regard. Their deep and awful repose he will not break till the thousand years are past. Thus long, then, must those who shall be accounted worthy of a part in the first resurrection wait before they enter into the full measure of their honors.

We have now spoken of the great events which are to mark the millennial dawn. In treating them we have aimed to follow pretty much the order of the sacred narrative. These we have made no effort to embellish. Their own sublime significance forbids it. Should they turn out to be true, no flight of fancy can exaggerate their importance. The most fertile imagination is too poor to do them justice; and although we have touched them with a diffident, nay, even a doubting hand, still we feel that they are just sufficiently probably to cause us to tremble over them while we think.

This seems the proper place to say a few things of the joys and honors of the millennial state. Of these the Scriptures speak but briefly and only in general terms. The following is about as full as any thing we have: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." We learn also that the saints have a "camp" and a "beloved city;" but beyond this we know but little. All else is inferential and implied.

Among the high spiritual pleasures of that long tranquil Sabbath, surely the chief will be to see the Saviour himself in person. Of all the events of the future, I look forward to this with the profoundest emotion. As I write by a little dark window, a bridge lies north of me half a mile. I try to realize what the sensations of my soul would be, if it were announced that the Saviour is coming to-day. I can see the excited crowd rushing by shouting, He comes! he comes! But /16/ let me dream that I hear it said, Now he is on the bridge; and in an instant more, that from ten thousand bursting hearts the loud glad cry goes up, Yonder he is! yonder he is! Oh, ye sorrowing children of earth with bitter spirits, lift high your heads, and check your tears, for a better day than even this awaits you. How exquisitely sweet, rather how ecstatic, will it be to stand in the presence of the Redeemer and gaze on that glorious form. I want to get close beside him, and note his hight and the color of his hair; I want to look him in the face and in the eye, that deep calm sweet eye; I want to see his lips move, and hear him talk; I want to strike my hand in his, and feel its grip; to ask for the nail- scar therein, and look on it; and if it meet his approof, I will thank him if he will lift that hand and gently lay it on my poor head, and say, Well done, good and faithful servant, your sorrows are ended now! What then will be all the bygone griefs of earth amid the entrancing excitement of that proud moment? As the black cloud serves as a fitting ground on which to paint the rainbow's "lovely form," so these griefs will be but the dark remembered shadows of the present life, which shall serve to set out in more resplendent outline the pleasures of that state.

Next to meeting the Saviour, and hardly inferior to it in its effect on our feelings, will be the joy of meeting the children of God. This will be no brief meeting to be broken again by death, amid the falling of tears and the parting of heart- strings. It will be forever. Nevermore shall it be interrupted for so much as an instant. To all its other joys may be added this, as no mean one, that it will never end. Met, and met forever, will be mingled in all the salutations of the blest. No sad farewell shall ever there tremble on the lip. Adieus will be memories of life past, but no part of life present. They make up much of our daily dialect now, they shall be obsolete then. We shall be happy to let them fall into complete disuse.

How the redeemed shall employ their time we know not; but some things which they will not do we know well. They shall never gather about the bed to wipe the death-drop from the brow of dying kin and neighbors. The winding-sheet shall nevermore be wrapped about pulseless forms; nor the hard board be brought in as the last bed for the sleeper; nor watchers sit the live-long night looking on silent bodies. Fond old songs shall no more be sung by breaking hearts at the request of departing friends; nor sobbing prayers be offered amid the bent forms of weeping wives and helpless little ones. Those leave-takings shall never happen more when the father collects his flock about him, whispers his benediction on all his children round, drops a few words of weighty affectionate counsel to mother, gazes on all for the last time with those strange tearless eyes, and then goes hence. These scenes shall never happen there; and, Almighty Father, let me pause here to thank thee that they never shall. No /17/ pick shall be bought nor spade lifted to open a gate into the unseen, that the hence-bound may enter therein. No; all these things will lie far in the shadowy background of the present life.

When all the past is revived in memory, and nothing learned can be forgotten; when, what is far better, the heart shall be free from every stain of sin and from every evil passion; when selfishness and covetousness shall be known only as belonging to the regretted past, how lofty and how pure must then be our intercourse. What grand poems shall be conceived and uttered; what lofty melodies chanted; what polished, luminous, and gorgeous eloquence shall adorn every theme; and how varied and how deep shall knowledge be. When the old human harp shall again be strung to pour forth the praises of God its maker, lofty and grand will be its peals. Then shall the worship of the Most High be a perpetual feast of the soul; all shall join therein, and bless his holy name forever.

We may be sure the saints will not be idle during those thousand years. It seems that they are to be employed in building them a glorious city. Certain it is that they are to have one, and we know not who else is to build it. Whether the camp and the city are to be the same, we know not. But here the ransomed shall be ever together, praising the Lord, with the Saviour in their midst. Thus shall the millennium pass away, but not like a splendid dream. It will serve as a prelude to the yet more enrapturing future, and prepare for the new heavens and new earth, of which we must speak soon.

III. - Having now spoken of the events which are to precede the millennium, and briefly of the millennium itself proper, we come next to speak of the events which are to succeed it. This will bring us to the close of all earthly scenes, as well as to that of the present article.

At the end of the millennium, then, as already quoted, Satan is to be loosed a "little season." We trust it will be a brief one indeed. He will again go out to his ancient work of deceiving the nations, and stirring up war. The following paragraph gives us the close of his grand bad career:

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, from God, and devoured them. And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and the false prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever."

An important question, and not free from difficulty according to some, here presents itself. Who are the nations, whence do they /18/ come, and where are they, whom Satan goes out to deceive and to gather together to battle? We think it easy to find the answer to this question. It will be remembered that "the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Now the "rest of the dead" here spoken of are the wicked dead. At the precise instant, therefore, in which Satan is loosed out of prison, all these will be raised. Every one comes up in his own rank; and this is the rank of the wicked. This, moreover, is the second resurrection. In the first, the righteous only were raised; in the second, only the wicked. That takes place at the beginning of the millennium, this at its end. As that embraces all the righteous, so this embraces all the wicked. Hence, those whom Satan goes out to deceive are the wicked nations who rise in the second resurrection. These are the true Gog and the Magog, about which so much has been needlessly said. These nations are those who have given Satan the service of their lives. They are his old subjects, the dupes of his tricks, whom now, perhaps, from a habit grown easy, he will find it not hard to deceive.

In what the deception will consist can not with certainty be affirmed. Most likely, we think, in promising the wicked a victory over the saints and the beloved city. This we infer from the fact, that consequent on the deception they collect together in countless numbers to invest the city, which doubtless they would not do without some hope of taking it.

From what has now been quoted and said, it will be seen that there are to be two great battles in the future, with Christ and the wicked as the opposing parties. The first occurs just before the millennium commences. In this only a part of the wicked will be present - those who are alive at the time. The second happens at the end of the millennium. In this every wicked human being of earth will be present. Not one will be absent. In the wisdom and providence of God, all the wicked must be crushed by the power of his Son. They have all carried a high and rebellious hand against righteousness, truth, and holiness. For this they shall be made the "footstool" of the Prince of peace. As victims they must bow their backs to the burden, and own that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Such is the bitter fate to which they are reserved.

It appears that as soon as these wicked spring into life, as soon as they are brought from their dishonored graves, they turn their eyes toward the beloved city, and set their hearts on mischief. For the last time they raise the fiendish shout of battle, On, warriors, on! and they rush to the deadly melee. Satan knows that his time is short, and with the grand port of his great nature, with restless eye, with quick step, with hellish hate, he moved amid those long lines and deep ranks of haggard human wrecks, and urges to the affray. On the breadth of the earth they come up, and beleaguer the camp of the /19/ saints and the beloved city. And now their end is come. The last sand has dropped from the glass which measures their crimeful career. Fire comes down from heaven, from God, and devours them. Is not this the event to which Paul alludes when he says: "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?" The question is worthy of thought, and the possible coincidence in the teachings of the two passages striking. Earth's last battle has now been fought, and its strife brought to a close; and we have but to sum up the results.

Satan is taken and cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, there to be tormented day and night, forever and ever. My soul, let us pause on the brink of that pit, whither we have gone to watch his last leap, and look back over the track of that dreadful spirit. From the garden of Eden all along what desolation and ruin glare on us! Count, ye unfallen spirits above, count, if ye can, the wars he has excited, the human beings he has murdered, the human forms he has mangled, the sins he has tempted to, the tears he has caused, the hearts he has crushed, the ties he has sundered, the hopes he has blighted, the spirits he has damned - count them, and then we shall but know in part the work of that dread being. But his long bad work, all thanks to the victorious Saviour, is now done, forever done.

In what the devouring of those wicked will consist, or what will be its precise nature, we can not say. In annihilation certainly it will not consist; for immediately these same wicked appear in judgment. Beyond this all is conjecture.

In the first part of this article special attention was called to the fact that the Saviour has two objects to accomplish in making his appearance in the last time; namely, to make war, and to judge. How and by what means he will attain the first object we have now seen. It remains, therefore, only to speak of the second. The sum, or nearly so, of what we know in regard to the judgment is contained in the following passage:

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hades gave up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the /20/ lake of fire. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

On this passage but little need be said. It contains a brief account of the final judgment, together with a reiteration of some things already elsewhere told in different language. For instance, the sea is represented as giving up the dead which were in it. Now, of course, all the dead, whether in the sea or not, are raised either in the first or in the second resurrection. When, therefore, they are, on another occasion, as above, represented as being given up, this must be regarded as a reiteration. Two more points yet merit notice:

1. The second death. This, as will readily be perceived, is not a literal death. It consists in casting away the wicked, after judgment, into the lake of fire and brimstone. It is more awful, therefore, than any literal death we can possibly imagine. Death is a term full of horrors, and is hence used to describe the event. We hardly, however, suppose we go too far when we express the opinion that it still falls far short of giving us a complete view of the dreadful scene.

2. The baptism in fire. On this much has been written, and much spoken; and very much of both to little effect. Now we request the reader to place himself on the margin of that lake of fire just after the judgment. Watch the countless thousands of the wicked as they approach its brink, and fling themselves into it and disappear. If this be not the baptism in fire, then are we ready to admit that we can not even imagine what it is. It may be objected, that this takes too literal a view of the subject, that, in other words, it unjustifiably materializes the punishment of the wicked. In reply to this we have nothing to say, except that we distrust those exegeses which convert such language as we are now considering into mere figures of speech or rhetorical flourishes.

We are brought, in the history of the marvelous events attendant on the millennium, to the point where the new heavens and the new earth come into view. On this subject we have the following:

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.

"And he that sitteth upon the throne said, Behold, I make all /21/ things new. And he said, Write: for these words are faithful and true. And he said to me, They are done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end."

It appears, then, that no change will take place in the earth at the commencement of the millennium; nor any at its end, until that last great battle is fought, and the judgment ended, and the wicked cast away. Then no one will be left sleeping in the earth, nor the dust of any lying in it. Every grave will be empty. This, therefore, seems a fitting time to renew both earth and heaven. Where the saints shall be during this event we can not say. Caught up, it may be, to meet the Lord in the air, as he now descends from the throne of judgment, to dwell with his people forever. Be this, however, as it may, they are safe; and the moment has come when the old earth, like the old body, must be changed, and the last stain of sin be blotted out forever.

In an instant, then, as we conceive, consuming no more space than it takes to produce the spiritual body - in an instant, we say, like the explosion of a vast magazine, will the earth be wrapped in a sheet of flame; and in an instant more, all will pass away. The new earth now lies beneath the smiles of God, decked in light and loveliness such as the unfallen only know. Over it hangs the bright, glorious, outspreading heavens resplendent as the throne of the Eternal. And now to this earth, thus refitted up, the saints return to dwell forever and forever. This is to be their eternal home, their everlasting habitation. Then will be realized the truth of the Saviour's beatitude: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." This will be a promise till that moment, then a sublime fact in the fruition of God's children. The saints have never owned the earth, and never will, till then.

The notion, so very prevalent, that the Christian's future home lies away in some immeasurably distant region, is only a vulgar error. No foundation whatever exists for it. God built this earth for man, and he does not intend to be defeated in his purpose. Nothing can be weaker than to suppose that the Saviour will rebuild, out of the old material, a new earth, and then leave it to float in space without an occupant. Such will not be the case. The earth in its renewed form will be man's everlasting dwelling-place. On it will stand the New Jerusalem, the true city of the Great King, and the home of God's ransomed children. Here amid the splendors of that grand fane shall they spend the cycles of eternity.