believers and addressed to their faith. And, if we farther believe these to be men who in life were superlatively wicked, it will tend to throw light on some passages of Scripture otherwise obscure. There are few characters more decidedly reprobated in the Sacred Writings than that of Balaam. Although an acknowledged “prophet,” he “loved the wages of unrighteousness.” (2 Pet. ii. 15, 16.) He fervently sought to be allowed to curse the children of Israel, that he might receive reward from their enemies. But “it pleased the Lord to bless Israel;” and Balaam being chosen the unwilling instrument of Jehovah's purpose, “The Spirit of God came upon him,” and repeatedly was he constrained to deliver the unwelcome message from the Lord. His renewed efforts to procure a reversion of the blessing, only occasioned the enlargement of its specifications, and his concluding words to Balak the King of Moab confirm the opinion we are now secking to illustrate :-"And now, behold, I go unto my people; come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. And he took up this parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said ; he hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: } shall see Him, but not now ; I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, [or, “smite through the princes of Moab, marg.] and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. And when looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations, [.. that warred against Israel, marg.] but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever. And he looked on the Kenites; and he took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy R

nest in a rock: Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Ashur shall carry thee away captive. And he took up his parable and said, Alas! who shall live when God doeth this?" Num. xxiv. 14—23. These verses thus contain evidence both of the Saviour's premillennial advent, and of Balaam's resurrection at that time. There is little reason to doubt that Christ is the " Star" and the "Sceptre" whom Balaam was to see. He refers not to the vision he then obtained, for it was to be "not now,"—"not nigh'' but—"in the latter days." Now this Star is to " smite through the princes of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly," This appears plainly to refer to those times immediately before the Millennium, when, as we have already shown, (p, 42,) the Israelites are to spoil Edom and Moab and the children of Ammon; and to the awful destruction by which the world shall then be overtaken Balaam appears to refer, when he says, "Alas! who shall live when God doeth this?" ver. 23. Some have indeed supposed David or Solomon to be the Star spoken of, because of their having subdued the countries here mentioned. But this Star, Balaam is to "see," and it is not the subjugation, but the destruction of these nations which is predicted, thus corresponding with other prophecies concerning " the latter days." But as Balaam will not be found among the righteous, his beholding1 the Saviour at this time is a proof of the premillennial resurrection of some of the wicked—and the finger of Inspiration points to his sin as peculiarly aggravated; it is that of a monster.

There are other passages which countenance the idea that some whose guilt has been awfully aggravated, will be also raised at the commencement of the Millennium, as monuments of God's wrath. In a passage already quoted, (Is. xxvi.) this idea is distinctly brought before us. "Thy dead men shall live; my dead men shall they arise: awake and sing,ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs." This resurrection of the righteous is here contrasted, in its

happy nature, with what immediately follows. For while they are said tranquilly to arise, and are called to "awake and sing" in holy joy, it is added," And [or, 'but'] the earth shall cast out her Giants :"—for so it appears the word here translated "dead" ought to have been rendered.—Our translators in this, as in some other cases, not perceiving the idea of the text, but certain that the Rephaim must be dead, since the earth is called to cast them out, made that substitution which doubtless must have appeared to them most distinct, but which does not convey the precise idea of the Original. In almost every other instance, this word has been translated giants, (as in Deut. ii. 20. Josh. xii. 4. 1 Chron. xx. 4, 6, 8;) and appears always to signify men either tall in stature or great in crime. When therefore they are to be "cast out" of the earth at the period of the Millennium, in contrast to those who shall "awake and sing," it may be viewed as confirmatory of the opinion that the " some" who shall awake to shame and contempt are the giants in crime—the pre-eminently wicked. We meet these Rephaim or Giants, in another prediction by Isaiah, of the overthrow of the King of Babylon: "Hell from beneath," says the prophet," is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming. It stirreth up the Giants for thee, even the chief ones of the earth." Is. xiv. 9. Although the prophet, in some parts of the prediction, seems to connect it with the fate of ancient Babylon, there are many circumstances which determine its general application to the last Antichrist. In the third verse, we are expressly told that it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give the house of Israel rest from their sorrow and fear, and from the hard bondage they are made to serve. At the destruction of this power "the whole earth is at rest and is quiet, they break forth into singing." ver. 7. His pride and blasphemy are also just what is predicted of Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots: "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ... .1 will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." ver. 13, 14. And as in

the passage already noticed, the giants are " cast out" of the earth at the Millennium, so it is remarkable that here not only does hell stir up the giants for this wicked king, but a similar fate is predicted for himself: "All the kings of the nations," continues the prophet, "even all of them lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave., like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of them that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden under foot. Thou shall not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people." ver. 18—20. In referring to the war of the Antichristian nations, immediately before the Millennium, (Rev. xix. 20.) we have already seen that "the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles [or wonders] before him.... these both were cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." And although the binding of Satan, and casting him into the bottomless pit during the Millennium, does not seem to include his condemnation to this place of misery, yet the same portion awaits him after it; and when the nations which go up on the breadth of the earth, and compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, have been devoured by fire from heaven,"the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are" during that happy time. Rev. xx. 10. But if this king of Babylon, spoken of by Isaiah, be indeed the same Antichrist who is, in John's vision," cast into a lake of fire," while those who will be his associates in the last great conflict are slain, and " all the fowls of heaven are filled with their flesh," then it appears this place of torment is to be on the earth, and within the view of men, for the prophet says, "Yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; thatmadethe world as a -wilderness?" ver. 15—17. So, also, in the close of this prophecy, Isaiah gives a similar but more distinct prediction of of this place of punishment, in connexion with the Millennium; “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain, And it shall come to pass, from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. . And they shall go forth and look upon the CARGAses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” Is. lxvi. 22–24. Thus will be displayed the divine indignation against sin, in the visible punishment of those so raised to shame and contempt: For Tophet is ordained of old; yeafor the king it is prepared; He hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it,” Is. xxx. 33. Nor will this view of those pre-eminently wicked “the giants” in depravity, being raised to shame and contempt, at the commencement of the Millennium, appear inconsistent with the more general statements of the holy character and happy state of those who shall enjoy the First Resurrection, when we attend to instances of a similar kind in Scripture. Thus, in Eccles. iii. 20, it is said, “All go unto one place. All are of the dust, and ALL turn to dust again. But this cannot be understood as including absolutely the whole human family. For, besides the translated two who went direct from earth to heaven, we know that “we shall not all sleep,” but that some shall be “alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,” who, being changed, shall be rendered incorruptible and immortal. But these exceptions do not affect the great truth uttered by the Preacher, that all die, and being buried moulder in the dust. Another similar instance occurs in the statement by the apostle Paul of the order of the resurrection, in which he overlooks altogether that of certain saints immediately after Christ had arisen: “And the earth did quake, and the rocks rent,” narrates the evangelist Matthew, in his account of Christ's crucifixion,