jected the counsel of God, persecuted the Apostles, and forbad them to preach either to Jews or Gentiles, that they might be saved. On these accounts Jehovah sent the Roman armies to be the executioners of his vengeance. They came, and spread desolation through the land; they destroyed the holy city and the more holy temple; they slew an immense number of God's once chosen, but now abandoned people, with the edge of the sword; they carried the rest into captivity, or scattered them among the nations over the face of the earth. Since that time, now nearly eighteen centuries ago, they have been vagabonds without a country, without a ruler, without a temple, without the most solemn ordinances of their religion. Every where, according to the threatened predictions of their own prophets, they have become a reproach and a proverb, a hissing, a taunt, and a curse. But will they ever continue in this state? Most certainly not. Will they remain so much longer? Assuredly, no. Their punishment is drawing to its termination; and before the predicted period of the millennium arrives, they will be called from their present state of unbelief to the faith of Christ, and become members of the Christian church; and the great body of them, who have not previously been mixed with Christians, by individual conversion, or who have not apostatized to Mahomedism or any other false religion, will be restored to their own land. The predictions of these events are numerous both in the Old and New Testament. The God of truth has declared, that, if they return unto him and obey his voice, he will then turn their captivity, and have compassion upon them, and will return and gather them from the nations whither they have been scattered."Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and de"clare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scat"tered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a "shepherd doth his flock."-" Thus saith the Lord, "If my covenant be not with day and night, and "if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven "and earth, then will I cast away the seed of Jacob " and David my servant, so that I will not take any "of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, "Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity "to return, and have mercy on them."-"I will "bring you unto the people and gather you out of "the countries whither you were scattered, with a "mighty hand."-" I will take you from among the "heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and "will bring you into your own land. Then will "I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be "clean; from all your filthiness and from all your "idols will I cleanse you."-"Sing and rejoice, O ❝ daughter of Zion; for lo, I come, and I will dwell "in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And the "Lord shall inherit Judah, his portion in the holy "land, and shall choose Jerusalem again."-" For I "would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of "this mystery (lest you should be wise in your "own conceit), that blindness in part is happened to "Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. "Then all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, "There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and "shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." These are only a few of the predictions which foretell the conversion and restoration of the Jews. Should any one inquire why the subject is not specifically introduced in the Book of Revelation, it may be replied, that every one of the sacred writers has his peculiar province assigned him. Apostate Christianity, or * Jer. xxxi. 10; xxxiii. 25, 26. Ezek. xx. 34; xxxvi. 24, 25. Zech. ii. 10-12. Rom. xi. 25, 26. See also Deut. xxx. 1—10. Isa. ii. 1-3; xxvii. 6, 12, 13; xi. 11, 12. Jer. xxx. passim; xxxi. passim. Ezek. xxiv. 22-31; xxxvi. and xxxvii. passim. Hosea, i. 10, 11; iii. 4, 5. Joel, iii. passim. Amos, ix. 14, 15. Micah, ii. 12, 13; v. passim. Zech. x. 6-9; xii. 6-10; xiv. passim. Luke, xxi. 24. 2 Cor. iii. 15, 16. Rom. xi. passim. the papal Antichrist, was the principal subject which the Apostle John was appointed to exhibit in the prophetic history of the Church from the period in which he wrote to the introduction of the millennium. In the glory that is to follow this apostacy, he describes the Church as embracing all nations, and languages, and kindreds, and tongues. It is evident that he does not here specify or distinguish Jews from Gentiles; but he considers the whole human race as gathered into the Church in one general mass. In this mass the posterity of Abraham is comprehended, as well as the other tribes of Adam's family. There shall be one fold under one shepherd, even under Him who came to be a "light "to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his "people Israel." Such is a brief outline of the millennial glory of Christ, or of his reign upon the earth with his saints for a thousand years. His presence will be evidently spiritual and not personal. The millennium is Christianity operating in all its vigour, under the abundant influences of the Spirit of God. Men will be universally converted to the faith of the Gospel; but their faith will not be dead or inoperative: it will purify their hearts and sanctify their lives. Superior degrees of knowledge and of holiness will evidence the character of Christians during this blessed era. Satan will be bound; and Messiah will reign with his people, who will be all holy; and in proportion to their holiness will be their felicity. May this glorious epoch speedily arrive, and the divine oath receive its accomplishment: " As I live, saith the "Lord, the whole earth shall be filled with my "glory!" SECTION V. At the Termination of the Millennium Satan is again loosed. He deceiveth the Nations; and is cast into the burning Lake. Chap. xx. 7-10. AND when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8. 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. 9. 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 from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. It is painful to reflect, that after such a long season of grace, in which the Church will have existed in a state of eminent purity, felicity, and glory, Satan will again recover his influence in the world; and that the number of his adherents will be "as the "sand of the sea." But the same Scripture of truth which predicts the binding and confinement of Satan during the millennium, asserts, that at its termination his restraint will again be removed, for reasons well known to God, but concealed from us. fact, however, will evidently demonstrate, whatever other reasons may be assigned for its taking place, that the long-continued happy state of the world was not the effect of any melioration of human nature, considered in itself; but that its felicity and glory arose from the restraint of Satan, and from the divine influence of the Holy Spirit upon men's minds. There is nothing in real spiritual religion suited to The The the state and disposition of mind with which men are born into the world. If they are holy, they become so not by birth but by regeneration of the Spirit. When, therefore, at the conclusion of the millennium, the influences of the Holy Spirit shall be in measure withdrawn, and Satan shall be loosed from his prison, this great deceiver will again exert himself, and successfully use his temptations, so as effectually to seduce men into apostacy, idolatry, heresy, infidelity, and vice. This new rebellion against God and his Christ will be of formidable extent. four quarters of the earth will be affected by it. The old generation of believers dying, the succeeding race, in the different nations of the earth, will again be deceived by Satan, and many, having departed from the faith, will be instigated to hate and persecute such as adhere to it. Thus the spirit of Antichrist will again arise, not in the superstitions of Popery, nor in the impostures of Mahomed; but, perhaps, in the form of infidelity. In what way the agents and instruments of Satan may exercise their opposition to Christ and his church, is not clearly revealed. It appears, nevertheless, that it will be in a spirit of bitter hostility. Perhaps these enemies of Christ and his cause will be so far deceived by the wicked one as to imagine themselves capable of extirpating Christianity from the earth. It is supposed, with great probability, that religious wars will again be undertaken; and that, at length, the whole multitude of the apostate nations, even Gog and Magog risen again, will join in confederacy against the Church, and come to fight against her with armies innumerable "as the sand of the sea." It is in vain to inquire who Gog and Magog will be, or whence they will come. This description must assuredly be understood figuratively, to denote enemies fierce and powerful as Gog and Magog had been before the millennium; and it is expressly said, that they were "the nations in the four quarters of D D |