but some of these reverend doctors would surely have spared their unhallowed levity, had they known that it was recorded by Papias as a discourse of our Lord, handed down by John the Evangelist." The elders who had seen John, the disciple of our Lord, remembered that they had heard from him what our Lord taught concerning those times (the Millennium), and said, The days shall come in which the vine shall bring forth abundantly.....and corn in like manner.....and all other fruits and seeds and herbs, after their several kinds: and all animals using those kinds of food which spring from the earth, shall become peaceful and harmonious one with another, being perfectly obedient to man. But these things are credible only to those who have faith. Then Judas the betrayer, not believing, and asking how such fertility should be brought about by the Lord; that our Lord said, "They shall see who come to those times.' And of these very times Isaiah prophesying saith, and the wolf shall dwell with the lamb."" (xi. 6.)

Grabe, in reference to the Millennium, observes, "As to the fact, it is certain that all the orthodox Christians of the first ages expected new heavens and a new earth, according to the sayings of the Apostles and the promises of the Prophets, at the second coming of Messiah, to restore them to that state of felicity in which they had flourished before Adam's fall. And the greater part placed this felicity not only in spiritual blessings, but in temporal also, persuaded that then only the earth would be delivered from the curse inflicted upon it on account of Adam's sin, and would bring forth an abundance of every good thing without the labour of man. Which was also the opinion of the early Jewish writers, as appears from the sayings of the Rabbies quoted, Raymond Martin, Pug. Fid. p. iii. dist. iii. cap. 15: and Galatinus, lib. x. cap. 4. To which I add the words of Rab. Dav. Kimchi on Hos. xiv. 7, They shall revive as the corn,' that there shall be a change of nature in the wheat, when the Redeemer (Messiah) comes. He understands the change as if it shall not be necessary in that time to sow corn, because it shall produce spontaneously, like the vine, &c. And this opinion concerning the fertility of the earth, and the change throughout the whole of nature, beyond all doubt Papias also and those elders favoured, who transmitted to posterity the words cited by Irenæus as uttered by our Saviour."

To these words of Grabe we may add the observations of the venerable head of Magdalen (Routh's Reliquiæ Sacræ): "As to the source of this opinion concerning the renovation of the earth, which formerly spread far and wide, and even now continues among many theologians, Grabe has shewn that it was held formerly by the early Jews. Moreover, Mosheim has shewn (Sæc. iii. § 38, p. 721), that the Chiliasts existed among

Christians before the time of Papias, and that Eusebius is unworthy of credit where he says that the hope of a Millennium had been derived from the Bishop of Hierapolis by the succeeding Fathers. For since Papias was not the first who broached this opinion, but had himself received it from others, which Eusebius himself does not conceal in this very place, it is manifest, says Mosheim, that some Christians had imbibed the opinion, from whom their successors might have learned it. To this he adds, that Irenæus commends not Papias as the author of this opinion, but only defends himself by the testimony of Papias." Again, it is important to observe, that as Papias was probably the earliest of our writers who committed any thing of this kind to writing, or expounded the Apocalypse of John in this way, he therefore might seem in some sort the leader and author to others of this cherished opinion concerning the kingdom of Christ."

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Those who oppose the doctrines of a Millennium have generally made Papias the principal object of their attack. Eusebius was one of the earliest of our opponents; and, when combating the orthodox opinion of the reign of Christ, he speaks of Papias as a man of slender parts and shallow judgment, cap. 33. But when he has no such feeling of hostility in his mind, and may therefore be supposed to express his real unprejudiced sentiments, he speaks of the same Papias in the highest terms. After naming Polycarp, the companion of the Apostles, he says, In whose time Papias, bishop of the church in Hierapolis, enjoyed great fame and celebrity; a man most eloquent in all things, and skilful in the Scriptures.' (Eccl. Hist. iii. 30.) This may surely negative the insinuation, cap. 33, that he seems to have been a man of slender genius, and leave us impressed with the same reverence for Papias which his surviving contemporaries and their immediate successors entertained. These all expected the reign of Christ upon earth. Lactantius lived at the end of the third century, and treats expressly on the Millennium, saying, "This is the doctrine of the holy Prophets, which the Christians follow: this is our wisdom.' Shortly after, A. D. 325, the Nicene Council met, and, in fixing and defining all the other articles of faith, thus decide on the Millennium: "Wherefore we expect new heavens and a new earth, according to the holy Scriptures: at the appearance and kingdom of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. And then, as Daniel says, vii. 18, the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom. And the earth shall be pure, holy; the land of the living, not of the dead." Here, then, the Millennium rests on the same authority as the Nicene Creed, and we cannot understand on what principle those who receive the one can dare to reject the other. Jerome lived towards the end of the

fourth century; but though, for reasons which we shall immediately give, he wished to discountenance a Millennium, yet, reverencing the multitude of holy men who held it, he durst not condemn the doctrine: "Which opinions, though we follow them not, yet condemn them we cannot, because many of our churchmen and martyrs have affirmed such things. Soon after Jerome, men arose who were as strongly prejudiced against the doctrine as himself, and who had none of his reverence for antiquity to restrain them; which, combined with other circumstances, to which we shall soon advert, threw a cloud over this and every pure Apostolic doctrine for nearly eight hundred years of ignorance. But when the Reformation dawned, and the church was roused from the long slumber of the dark ages, she again turned to the Prophetic page for instruction and for warning; she again saw the necessity for coming out of Babylon, and thundered forth the scriptural denunciations against the "mother of abominations:" and thus shaking herself loose from present attachments, she looked forward with eager interest to the manifestation of " the city of the living God, the New Jerusalem which cometh down from heaven: " and these expectations were recorded in the Catechism of Edward VI. 1553. Treating on prayer, it is said, "There followeth the first part of the Lord's Prayer, wherein we require, that not only we, but also all other whosoever, may in holiness honour, reverence, and worship his name.... In the second part,we require that his kingdom come. For we see not yet all things in subjection to Christ: we see not the Stone hewed off from the mountain without work of man, which also bruised and brought to nought the image which Daniel describeth, that the only Rock, Christ, may obtain and possess the dominion of the whole world, granted him of his Father. Antichrist is not yet slain. For this cause do we long for and pray that it may at length come to pass and be fulfilled, that Christ may reign with his saints, according to God's promises that he may live and be Lord in the world, according to the decrees of the holy Gospel; not after the traditions and laws of men, nor pleasure of worldly tyrants. Master: God grant that his kingdom may come, and that speedily."-What the framers of this catechism understood by "his kingdom," is clearly set forth in a preceding part: "The end of the world, holy Scripture calleth the fulfilling and performance of the kingdom and mystery of Christ, and the renewing of all things. For, saith the Apostle Peter, in his Second Epistle, chap. iii.,' we look for a new heaven, and a new earth, according to the promise of God, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' And it seemeth reason that corruption, unstedfast change, and sin, whereunto the whole world is subject, should at length have an end....according to the witness of the same Apostle, 'The heavens shall pass

away like a storm; the elements shall melt away; the earth and all the works therein shall be consumed with fire:' as though he should say, As gold is wont to be fined, so shall the whole world be purified with fire, and be brought to his full perfection. The lesser world, which is man, following the same, shall likewise be delivered from corruption and change. And so for man this greater world, which for his sake was first created, shall at length be renewed; and be clad with another hue, much more pleasant and beautiful."

But as in the first ages Cerinthus and the heretics disgraced the true doctrine by their gross inventions, so at the Reformation, and subsequently among the Anabaptists and Fifth-monarchymen, false notions were blended with the Scriptural doctrines by wild and wicked men. All the errors, not only in this but in every other doctrine, proceed from the desire to bend Scripture to our corrupt inclinations, instead of conforming our inclinations to the declarations of Scripture. A corrupt heart will bias the judgment; a man must do the will of God, if he would know of the doctrine. The early heretics were sensual, and they perverted the Millennium to sensuality: the Anabaptists and Fifthmonarchy-men were turbulent, ambitious spirits, and vainly imagined that their prowess could establish the kingdom of the Most High. We may think ourselves safe from delusions like these; but let us not be too secure: we have still the same corrupt affections to mislead us, and the same subtle adversary to beguile us with a semblance of truth; and we may be sure, that in proportion as he perceives the belief of an approaching Millennium increase, so will he endeavour to defeat it, by setting up unscriptural vagaries agiteable to the natural man, and, as far as they are indulged in, so far subversive of the truth. Against these let the true believe be most vigilantly jealous: let him ever bear in mind, thah one shall partake of the glorious kingdom of Christ but shout holiness no man shall see the as have the kingdom of God within them now; that W Lord;" that the " pura in hea meek who inherit the earth; might, nor by power, but by

rt alone see God;" that it is "the at this kingdom cometh “not by my Spirit, saith the Lord;" and

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that, therefore, all those to reign with Christ hereafter, must be united to him by true and lively faith now, and that our strength is to sit still, to "wait upon the Lord for they that wait upon him shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." (Isa. xl. 31.)

In treating of the circumstances which led good men like Jerome to deny the scriptural doctrine of a Millennium, it is necessary to notice the perversions and falsehoods introduced by wicked men, which were subsequently made use of as argu

ments for rejecting the doctrine altogether. That wicked men have abused a doctrine, is a most insufficient reason for rejecting it: no sound doctrine of Scripture would be retained by those who follow this line of argument; for there is not one of the articles of our faith which has not been at some time or other abused. But these men, who perverted the doctrines of the Millennium, have always been denounced as heretics, and shunned and detested by the scriptural Millenarians, as much as by our opponents. The earliest of these heretics was Cerinthus, who lived in the first century, and debased the glorious doctrine of the kingdom into a mere sensual Mohammedan paradise. But there was scarcely any one article of the Christian faith which he did not in like manner debase: the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, and the sacraments, were all corrupted by him. In these we should think it folly to reject the truth because he had debased it: let us, then, extend the same equal measure to the Millennium, and retain that part of it which is scriptural, though Cerinthus laboured to disgrace it by his gross additions. It is recorded by Irenæus, that Cerinthus was once in a bath when the Apostle John entered the house; who, finding the heretic there, retreated with the utmost precipitation, lest the roof should fall and crush him also: yet to this man, absurd as it may seem, some have attributed the Apocalypse! (Euseb. Hist. vii. 20.) Ebion, Marcion, and the Alogi, propagated other heretical opinions; but Irenæus and the orthodox fathers did not therefore reject the reign of Christ: they were impelled the more diligently to inculcate it according to the manner in which Scripture describes it; and a Millennium of blessedness to the saints, on a purged and regenerated earth, was the general belief of the orthodox church down to the time of Constantine's profession of Chris rnity. But at that period a change of doctrine began, which eainly to be attributed to the change in the religion of the pire. With the reign of Christ other great events are co

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paring for or accompanying its jnected in Scripture, as pre

nent of these are, the destruction ntroduction: the most promiof the Jews. For the first three of Babylon and the restoration church applied the Babylon the ocalypse to Rome, and I centuries, the whole Christian rejoiced in the prospect of the downfal of their persecutors. Papias, according to Jerome, explaining 1 Pet. v. 13, "The church that is at Babylon saluteth you," says that Babylon meant Rome. Jerome begins the preface to his translation of Didymus thus: "When I dwelt in Babylon, and was a guest of the purple harlot, and lived after the manner of Romans," &c. On Isa. xlvii. he says, "The daughter of Babylon, some interpret not of Babylon itself, but of Rome; which, in the Apocalypse of John, and in the Epistle of Peter, is specially called