heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.... Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”*

*Rev. xviii. 4, 5, 8.

LECTURE XII.

REV. xx. 6.

"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."

AMONG the objections to which revelation has been exposed, from the corruption and scepticism of its oppugners, not the least plausible have been deduced from the limited effect which has attended its promulgation. Notwithstanding the evidence with which it has been proposed to our faith, and the sanctions with which it commends itself to our obedience; it is not to be denied, that its extent and influence are greatly disproportionate to the splendid results which it promises to realize.

For the causes, however, of this temporary failure, we have not far to look; as they are readily discovered in the evil passions and pro

pensities, which it is designed to correct and eradicate, and which seek their palliation in the apparent objections to its divine pretensions. It is a sufficient reply to any remaining difficulties with which it is beset, that a wise and adequate provision was made for the attainment of the most ample success; and that its partial inefficacy is conformable to what had been foreseen and predicted. While in many passages of scripture, which give us an insight into the future, and speak a language as explicit as the text, we are assured, that the divine purposes, however deferred for wise and merciful reasons, will, in the fulness of God's good time and pleasure, be indefectibly accomplished. In the gracious assurances, which are given with the view to animate our hope and strengthen our resolutions, we are taught, that a period will come, which will be not less distinguished by the universal diffusion of truth, than by the total suppression of evil; and that desired consummation will arrive which is the object and end of the prophetic vision, when "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of God and of Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." *

To this blessed period, the arrival of which the prophet describes as hailed by the accla

Rev. xi. 15.

mation of angels, the allusion is obvious in the text; where the term of its commencement is prescribed, and fixed at " one thousand years."

The picture which prophecy has drawn of this happy state, when the world relieved from the usurpation of Antichrist, shall yield submission to Christ, is arrayed in the most glowing images and colors. It encourages us to hope, that the mild sway, which will succeed to the corruption and violence that have oppressed humanity, will be boundless and everlasting. In the repose which will diffuse itself over the earth, no longer racked by storms, nor rent by internal convulsions; the ills which are the melancholy inheritance of fallen man will cease for ever: the troubled elements by which it is vexed being then lulled to rest, as the natural are controlled, and the moral and social tranquillized. The flames of war being thenceforth extinguished throughout the world, the scourge of pestilence and famine will no more smite it: but the air breathe freshness, life and health, as the earth teems with the bounty of nature: until, in the perennial peace and sunshine which are diffused over its bosom, the paradise which was destined for man in innocence, will be restored in primitive loveliness and felicity.

I. As these prophetic descriptions are liable to be variously understood, according to the vividness of conception with which they are regarded:

very different opinions are maintained on the nature of this "rest which remaineth to the people of God;"* into an examination of which it would exceed my limits to enter at present. It will suffice to observe, that of those who adopt the most opposite conclusions, in regarding it either as a spiritual, or a temporal state, all are agreed, that it will be consecrated to rest and holiness. This is not only implied, in its nature, as "a rest" or sabbatism, and in the title of "priests of God and of Christ," by which the subjects of the heavenly kingdom are distinguished in the text: it is obvious in the causes, specified in the context, of that reign of purity and peace, by which corruption and violence will be superseded: as " that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan shall be bound a thousand years."†

On the precise length of this period, which however variously identified or computed, it cannot be disputed is simultaneous with that specified in the text, some doubt has been entertained. I shall not, however, engage in a formal refutation of those, who conceive it put for an indefinite though extended term of years; and on the assumption found the inference, that the prediction of the text has been long accomplished. The division of the entire course of

* Heb. iv. 9.

+ Rev, xx. 2.