ness of the church in the latter days. Then, in the full sense of the words, Rev. xi. 15, Shall the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. According to tradition*, these thousand years of the reign of Christ and the saints, will be the seventh Millenary of the world: for as God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh; so the world, it is argued, will continue six thousand years, and the seventh thousand will be the great Sabbatism, or holy rest to the people of God. One day (2 Pet. iii. 8,). being with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. According to tradition too, these thousand years of the reign of Christ and the saints, are the great day of judgment, in the morning or beginning whereof, shall be the coming of Christ in flaming fire, and the particular judgment of Antichrist and the first resurrection; and in the evening or conclusion whereof, shall be the GENERAL RESURRECTION of the dead, small and great; and they shall be judged every man according to their works."

*See Burnet's Theory.

+ Mr. Winchester, in his Lectures on the Prophecies, freely indulges his imagination on this curious subject. He suggests, that the large rivers in America are all on the eastern side, that the Jews may waft themselves the more easily down to the Atlantic, and then across that vast ocean to the Holy Land; that

This is a just representation of the Millennium, according to the common opinion entertained of it, that CHRIST will reign personally on earth during the period of one thousand years! But Dr. Whitby, in a Dissertation on the subject; Dr. Priestley, in his Institutes of Religion, and the Author of the Illustrations of Prophecy, contend against the literal interpretation of the Millennium, both as to its nature and its duration. On such a topic, however, we cannot suggest our opinions with too great a degree of modesty.

Dr. Priestley (entertaining an exalted idea of the advantages to which our nature may be destined) treats the limitation of the duration of the world to seven thousand years as a Rabbinical fable; and intimates that the thousand years may be interpreted prophetically: then every day would signify a year, and the Millennium would last for three hundred and sixty-five thousand years! Again he supposes that there will be no resurrection of any individuals till the general resurrection; and that the Millennium implies only the revival of religion. This opinion is indeed

Christ will appear at the equinoxes (either March or September) when the days and nights are equal all over the globe; and finally, that the body of Christ will be luminous, and being suspended in the air over the equator for twenty-four hours, will be seen with circumstances of peculiar glory, from pole to pole, by all the inhabitants of the world!

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to be found in his Institutes, published many years ago; but latterly he has inclined to the personal reign of Christ. See his Farewell Sermon, preached at Hackney, previous to his emigration to America. The same conjecture as to its duration is thrown out by the Author of the Illustrations of Prophecy; but he contends, that in the period commonly called the Millennium, a melioration of the human race will gradually take place, by natural means, throughout the world. For his reasons, we refer to the work itself, where will be found an animated sketch of that period, when an end shall be put to many of the crimes and calamities now prevalent on the globe!

The Rev. Mr. Bicheno, of Newbury, likewise, has in his publications' thrown out some curious particulars respecting the Millennium; and though the reader may not agree with him in many things, yet he will applaud his ingenuity. We will just add, that the late Mr. Nathaniel Scarlett, at the time of his decease, was preparing for the press a piece on the Millennium, entitled the Millennial Age; which was to contain all the passages of Scripture relative to the subject, accompanied with several admirably executed plates, by way of illustration. But his death prevented its publication.

This final article of the MFLLENNIUM shall be

closed with one observation.

However the Mil

lenarians may differ among themselves respect. ing the nature of this great event, it is agreed on all hands, that such a revolution will be effected in the latter days, by which vice and its attendant misery shall be banished from the earth; thus completely forgetting all those dissensions and animosities by which the religious world has been agitated, and terminating the grand drama of Providence with UNIVERSAL FELICITY*.

*The professors of Christianity have instituted Societies for the advancement of Religion. There are four which deserve to be mentioned: 1. The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, which erects charity schools in England and Wales, and distributes Bibles, Common Prayer-Books, and religious tracts; 2. The Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Paris, which takes care that the West India islands, and the British colonies in North America, are provided with episcopal clergymen and schoolmasters; 3. A Society in Scotland for propagating Christian Knowledge, de igned to banish ignorance and profaneness from the Highlands and Western Islands; and, 4. A Society established in Ireland, called The Incorporated Society in Dublin for promoting English Protestant Working Schools.

Mr. Daniel Neal, about 60 years ago, estimated the number of Dissenters in England at one hundred and fifty thousand families; but since that period it is believed that they have declined. At present the proportion of Nonconformists to the Members of the Church of England is supposed to be as one to five ; and it is singular that the same proportion holds between the Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in Ireland. Mr. Bogue, of Gosport, and Mr. Kingsbury, of Southampten, have announced their intention of giving a History of the Protestant Dissenters from the revolution to the present time.

THESE are the divisions of human opinions, which characterize the more popular departments of the religious world. I have endeavoured to delineate them with accuracy and brevity. Each system boasts of admirers, and professes to have its peculiar arguments and tendencies. To a thoughtful mind they exhibit a melancholy picture of the human understanding, misguided through passion, and warped with prejudice. In drawing out the motley catalogue, several cursory reflections arose in my mind. A few only, such as may operate as a persuasive to religious Moderation, and tend also to the improvement of other Christian graces, shall be submitted to the reader's attention.