has hitherto been upon the ground for the rebellion of man will be in a great measure removed.

There will also, doubtless, be great improvement and advances made in all those mechanic arts, by which the earth will be subdued and cultivated, and all the necessary and convenient articles of life, such as all utensils, clothing, buildings, etc., will be formed and made in a better manner, and with much less labor than they now are. There may be inventions and arts of this kind which are beyond our present conception. And if they could be now known by any one, and he could tell what they will be, they would be thought by most to be utterly incredible and impossible, as those inventions and arts, which are now known and familiar to us, would have appeared to those who lived before they were found out and took place. It is not impossible, but very probable, that ways will yet be found out by men to cut rocks and stones into any shape they please, and to remove them from place to place with as little labor as that with which they now cut and remove the softest and lightest wood, in order to build houses, fences, bridges, paving roads, etc.; and those huge rocks and stones, which now appear to be useless, and even a nuisance, may then be found to be made and reserved, by Him who is infinitely wise and good, for great usefulness and important purposes. Perhaps there is good reason not to doubt of this. And can he doubt of it who considers what inventions and arts have taken place in latter ages, which are as much an advance beyond what was known or thought of in ages before as such an art would be beyond what is now known and practised? The art by which they removed great stones, and raised them to a vast height, by which they built the pyramids in Egypt, and that by which huge stones were cut and put into the temple of Jerusalem, is now lost, and it cannot be conceived how this was done. This art may be revived in the millennium; and there may be other inventions and arts to us inconceivably greater and more useful than that. Then, in a literal sense, the valleys shall be filled, and the mountains and hills shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth, to render travelling more convenient and easy, and the earth more productive and fertile.

When all these things are considered which have now been suggested, and others which will naturally occur to them who attend to this subject, it will appear evident that in the days of the millennium there will be a fulness and plenty of all the necessaries and conveniences of life to render all much more easy and comfortable in their worldly circumstances and enjoy

ments than ever before, and with much less labor and toil, and that it will not be then necessary for any men or women to spend all or the greatest part of their time in labor in order to procure a living, and enjoy all the comforts and desirable conveniences of life. It will not be necessary for each one to labor more than two or three hours in a day, and not more than will conduce to the health and vigor of the body; and the rest of their time they will be disposed to spend in reading and conversation, and in all those exercises which are necessary and proper in order to improve their minds and make progress in knowledge, especially in the knowledge of divinity, and in studying the Scriptures, and in private and social and public worship, and attending on public instruction, etc. When the earth shall be all subdued and prepared in the best manner for cultivation, and houses and enclosures and other necessary and convenient buildings shall be erected and completely finished, consisting of the most durable materials, the labor will not be hard, and will require but a small portion of their time, in order to supply every one with all the necessaries and conveniences of life; and the rest of their time will not be spent in dissipation or idleness, but in business more entertaining and important, which has been now mentioned.

And there will be then such benevolence and fervent charity in every heart, that if any one shall be reduced to a state of want by some casualty, or by inability to provide for himself, he will have all the relief and assistance that he could desire, and there will be such a mutual care and assistance of each other, that all worldly things will be in a great degree and in the best manner common, so as not to be withheld from any who may want them; and they will take great delight in ministering to others and serving them, whenever and in whatever ways there shall be opportunity to do it.

2. In that day, mankind will greatly multiply and increase in number till the earth shall be filled with them.

When God first made mankind, he said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish (or fill) the earth, and subdue it." (Gen. i. 28.) And he renewed this command to Noah and his sons, after the flood, and in them to mankind in general. "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." (Gen. ix. 1.) This command has never yet been obeyed by mankind; they have yet done but little, compared with what they ought to have done, in subduing and filling the earth. Instead of this, they have spent great part of their time and strength in subduing and destroying each other, and in that impiety, intemperance, folly, and wickedness, which have

brought the divine judgments upon them; and they have been reduced and destroyed in all ages by famine, pestilence, and poverty, and innumerable calamities and evil occurrents; so that by far the greatest part of the earth remains yet unsubdued, and lies waste without inhabitants; and where it has been most subdued and cultivated and populous it has been, and still is, far from being filled with inhabitants, so that it could support no more, except in a very few instances, if in any. An exact calculation cannot be made; but it is presumed that every man who considers the things which have been mentioned above will be sensible that this earth may be made capable of sustaining thousands to one of mankind who now inhabit it; so that if each one were multiplied to many thousands, the earth would not be more than filled, and all might have ample provision for their sustenance, convenience, and comfort. This will not take place so long as the world of mankind continue to exercise so much selfishness, unrighteousness, and impiety as they do now and always have done; but there is reason to think they will be greatly diminished, by their destroying themselves and one another, and by remarkable divine judgments, which will be particularly considered in a following section.

But when the millennium shall begin, the inhabitants which shall then be on the earth will be disposed to obey the divine command to subdue the earth, and multiply until they have filled it; and they will have skill, and be under all desirable advantages to do it, and the earth will be soon replenished with inhabitants, and be brought to a state of high cultivation and improvement in every part of it, and will bring forth abundantly for the full supply of all; and there will be many thousand times more people than ever existed before at once in the world. Then the following prophecy, which relates to that day, shall be fulfilled: "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I the Lord will hasten it in his time." (Isa. lx. 22.) And there is reason to think the earth will be then, in some degree, enlarged in more ways than can now be mentioned or thought of. In many thousands, hundred of thousands, yea, millions of instances, large tracts now covered with water, coves, and arms of the sea, may be drained, or the water shut out by banks and walls, so that hundreds of millions of persons may live on those places and be sustained by the produce of them, which are now overflowed with water. Who can doubt of this, who recollects how many millions of people now inhabit Holland and the Low Countries, the greatest part of which was once covered with the sea, or thought not to be capable of improvement? Other instances might be mentioned.

Though there will be so many millions of millions of people on the earth at the same time, this will not be the least inconvenience to any, but the contrary; for each one will be fully supplied with all he wants, and they will all be united in love, as brethren of one family, and will be mutual helps and blessings to each other. They will die, or, rather, fall asleep, and pass into the invisible world, and others will come on the stage in their room. But death then will not be attended with the same calamitous and terrible circumstances as it has been and is now, and will not be considered as an evil. It will not be brought on with long and painful sickness, or be accompanied with any great distress of body or mind. They will be in all respects ready for it, and welcome it with the greatest comfort and joy. Every one will die at the time and in the manner which will be best for him and all with whom he is connected; and death will not bring distress on surviving relatives and friends; and they will rather rejoice than mourn, while they have a lively sense of the wisdom and goodness of the will of God, and of the greater happiness of the invisible world to which their beloved friends are gone, and where they expect soon to arrive. So that, in that day, death will in a great measure lose his sting, and have the appearance of a friend, and be welcomed by all as such.

3. In the millennium, all will probably speak one language; so that one language shall be known and understood all over the world, when it shall be filled with inhabitants innumerable.

The whole earth was once and originally of one language, and of one speech. (Gen. xi. 1, 6.) And the folly and rebellion of men was the occasion of their being confounded in speaking and understanding this one language, and the introduction of a variety of languages. This was considered as in itself a great calamity, and was ordered as such, and it can be considered in no other light. Had men been disposed to improve the advantages of all speaking and understanding one language to wise and good purposes, this diversity never would have taken place; and when men shall become universally pious, virtuous, and benevolent, and be disposed to use such an advantage and blessing, as having one speech and language will be for the glory of God and the general good, it will doubtless be restored to them again. This may easily and soon be done, without a miracle, when mankind and the state of the world shall be ripe for it. When they shall all become as one family in affection, and discerning and wisdom shall preside and govern in all their affairs, they will soon be sensible of the great disadvantage of being divided into so many different tongues, which will greatly impede that uni

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versal free intercourse which will be very desirable, and of the advantage of all speaking and using one language. And God may so order things in his providence that it will then be easy for the most learned and wise to determine which is the best language to be adopted to be universally taught and spoken; and when this shall be once determined, and published through the world by those who are acknowledged to be the wisest men, and best able to fix upon a language that shall be universal, and have a right to do it, all will freely consent to the proposal; and that language will be taught in all schools, and used in public writings and books that shall be printed, and, in a few years, will become the common language, understood and spoken by all, and all or most of the different languages now in the world will be forgotten and lost. All the learning and knowledge of former ages contained in books in different languages worth preserving will be introduced and published in the universal language, and communicated to all. This will, in a great measure, supersede and render useless the great expense of time, toil, and money which is now be stowed on teaching and studying what are called the learned languages. Many thousands, if not millions, of youths are now consuming years in learning these languages, at great expense of money, and thousands of teachers are spending their lives in attending to them. It is thought by many now that this is a useless and imprudent waste of time and money, in most instances, at least; it will appear to be much more so when there shall be one universal language, which shall be understood and spoken by all, and when the books written in that language shall contain all the useful learning and knowl edge in the world, and all further improvements will be communicated to the world in that language.

And when this language shall be established and become universal, all the learning and wisdom in the world will tend and serve to improve it, and render it more and more perfect; and there can be no doubt that such improvements will be made that persons will be able to communicate their ideas with more ease and precision, and with less ambiguity and danger of being misunderstood, than could be done before.

And ways will be invented to learn children to read this language with propriety, and to spell and write it with correctness, with more ease, and in much less time than it is now done, and with little labor and cost. And ways may be invented, perhaps something like the short hands which are now used by many, by which they will be able to communicate their ideas, and hold intercourse and correspondence with each other who live in different parts of the world, with much