A great deal is said about the antiquity of the doctrine of the Millennium. It indeed appears from some of the early writers, that views on this subject, similar to those which are now contended for by some, were held and propagated. But it is by no means evident, that this was the common or general belief of the first ages. On the contrary, the Millennarians are SO commonly referred to as a sect or party, that it cannot be reasonably doubted, that their views were rather the exception than the rule. This is no evidence, that they were wrong, but it is at least proof that their sentiments were not universally entertained.* In regard to the nature of the Millennium, they were far from agreeing, some of them holding it in the general way in which it is now usually held, merely as a long period of great spiritual prosperity to the church, and others contending for all the literality of a personal reign, and all the gratifications of sensual appetite. At length the Reformation, at once the subject of prophecy, and the occasion of reviving attention to it, came. In itself the most extraordinary event in the church's history for a thousand years, brought about by means which distinctly evinced the finger of God, and accompanied by a long train of brilliant and most important consequences, we cannot wonder that the attention of all thinking men should be directed to find it recorded in the page of prophecy. The grand object of Luther and all the Reformers, was to show that the Pope and his system were the Antichrist of Scripture, doomed to perdition, and whom all the people of God were bound to hate and to abandon. To accomplish this was not so easy a task as we might suppose. Luther The views entertained on this, himself had advanced consideror indeed on any subject of a re- ably in his opposition to Rome, ligious nature, during the long before he arrived at the convicperiod of the church's apostacy, tion that the Pope was Antichrist; need not greatly trouble us. All and as this was not the common things were then in a chaos- belief before the Reformation, it true religion was without form and obtained possession of the public void, and darkness brooded over mind after it, in a very gradual the whole face of the church and manner, and after a most deterthe world. Occasional coruscamined struggle. tions shot across the gloom, and The reader may find their sentiments quoted by Dr. Burnet in his Theory of the Earth, Vol. 2. Book iv. chap. iv. On the other side, let him consult Whitby's Treatise on the Millennium, chap. i. A Catholic's estimate of them he will find in Ben Ezra, vol. 1. p. 59--80. On this subject he will also do well to consult Dr. Hamilton's late work on Modern Millennarianism, in the ninth chapter of which he notices this subject. The excitement produced by the extraordinary events of that age was very great. Opposition roused the heroism of the German Reformer, and of the noble band which rallied around him for the support and defence of the Gospel. Danger only produced intrepidity, and threatening only called forth increased boldness and resolution. Success excited gratitude and wonder, and en couraged to fresh enterprise and new aggression on spiritual op. pression and tyranny. The visible interpositions of heaven on be half of the church, and of the men who rose in defence of her rights and liberties; the loss of influence and territory sustained by the Church of Rome; the circulation of the Scriptures, and the marked effects of their doctrines on the lives of men, all contributed to produce a general impression that a new era had arrived, that the day of God's deliverance was at hand, and that the Redeemer's kingdom would soon appear in greater glory than it had ever done. In the mind of Luther himself, and his more immediate coadjutors, these feelings and expectations were balanced by just views of human nature, providence, and the word of God. They knew that it was their duty to persevere in the use of lawful means, and to leave the events of futurity to God. They were much more assured that the path of duty was to preach the Gospel, and to translate and multiply the Scriptures, than that they understood the meaning of the prophecies respecting the time of the end, and the means by which it was to be brought about. On weaker and more enthusiastic minds the principles and events of the Reformation produced a different effect. The study of the exciting language of the prophecies, impatience of the slow progress of truth, and of ordinary means, and a full persuasion that the glorious kingdom of Christ was at hand, produced the vision aries, and led to some of the excesses, that occurred at an early period of the Reformation. Those are altogether unacquainted with the history of these things, who suppose that all who make a figure as fanatics in the church histories of the Reformation, were ignorant, profligate men. Many of them, according to Mosheim, who is far from partial to their memory, "were men of upright intentions, and sincere piety, who were seduced into this mystery of fanaticism and iniquity by their ignorance and simplicity on the one hand, and by a laudable desire of reforming the corrupt state of religion on the other.""They imagined," says the same historian, "that the time was now come in which God himself was to dwell with his servants in an extraordinary manner, by celestial succours, and to establish upon earth a kingdom truly spiritual and divine. As they expected that this kingdom was to be exempted from every kind of vice and imperfection, they were not satisfied with the plan of reformation proposed by Luther," &c. &c. After passing through various stages of a high mental fever, produced by these false impressions and overwrought feelings, they proceeded to the utmost length of extravagance and madness. From confidently interpreting unfulfilled prophecy, they became prophets themselves; and when tired of their own spiritual fancies, and of waiting for Christ, they at last took the sword of vengeance and deliverance into their own hands, and perished by it. It is not very difficult to account for this process. None of the individuals referred to, probably contemplated, at the outset, arriving at such a consummation. It is, perhaps, impossible to look in fixed and admiring contemplation on the glowing visions of the Apocalypse, without catching something of the wrapt spirit in which they were first beheld. As the mind dwells upon them, and endeavours to realize their existence, it forgets whether it is in the body or out of the body. What we ardently wish to see, we persuade ourselves may be near; striking coincidences encourage confidence; prayer appears to be followed by fresh discoveries; others join in the same enterprise, and the combination of many increases the warmth and the passion of each. Prophecy comes to be regarded as a rule of duty, and what shall take place according to the will of God, it may be the will of God that we should effect. Thus, from looking too intensely on the sublime scenery of prophecy, men have transformed themselves into actors in the prophetic drama. Several persons in our own country, both in early and later periods of its history, have distinguished themselves by their attention to the prophecies. To some of them we are much indebted, and by the example of others we may receive salutary warning. One of the first of these was Thomas Brightman, a very excellent, and in many respects, an enlightened man, a puritan of the sixteenth century. He published a Commentary on Daniel and the Apocalypse; the last of which he denominated the Revelation Revealed. In these writings he puts in a claim to a more than usual portion of the divine spirit. He maintains that the angel having power over the fire, was Archbishop Cranmer; that the angel with the sharp sickle, was Thomas, Lord Cromwell; that the angel of the waters was the Lord Treasurer Cecil; and that Queen Elizabeth and Martin Chemnitz were the representatives of two other angels. He foretels the destruction of Antichrist as then not far distant. He commences the date of Daniel's 1290 years with Julian's attempt to restore the temple of Jerusalem, which would accordingly expire in 1650. This being the end of the 1290 years, the 1335 would necessarily terminate in 1695, " when all the saints shall be blessed, who shall have a glorious resurrection, and be raised out of the dust of destruction, and every one of them, shining like the firmament and stars, shall see New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven, and themselves enrolled citizens thereof."* It is needless to say how much he miscalculated; yet did his works make a considerable impression at the time, and long afterwards. Lord Napier, the Baron of Merchiston, and the well known inventor of the logarithms, was another of the early speculators on the prophecies. He was a man of learning, a profound mathematician, and formed with all the prudent and cautious dispositions which characterise his profession and his country. His "Plaine Discovery of the whole Revelation of St. John," published in 1593, which passed through a number of editions in English, and was translated into most of the European languages, is a book of very considerable merit and research. The learned Baron evidently devoted much attention to his subject, and left no means untried to arrive at a knowledge of the text and its interpretation. It is not our object to go into the details of his system, but to notice some of his conclusions. "Therefore," he says, 66 from the year of Christ 365, [Julian's attempt to rebuild the temple,] we are commanded to reckon 1335 * Brightman on Dan. xii. 11, 12. years, which falleth in anno 1700. And then, saith Daniel, shall be the end of all wonders, even the wondrous and great day of the Lord."* 66 Fourthly," he says, "it is reasoned in the former proposition, that every thundering angel of three, contained forty-nine years, and then cometh the great day of the Lord; and by the twelfth proposition, the first thundering angel began in anno Christi, 1541; to which add thrice 49 years, which is 147 years; and so the latter day will fall in 1688. Wherefore appearingly, betwixt this 1688 years, according to the Revelation, and the 1700 years according to Daniel, the said latter day should fall." + By various other processes does this excellent man endeavour to prove that the world was not likely to outlive, at the latest, the year 1700. "Not that I mean," he says, "that that age, or yet the world, shall continue so long, because it is said, 'that for the elect's sake, the time shall be shortened; but I mean that if the world were to endure, the seventh age should continue until the year of Christ 1686."I The era of the Commonwealth was distinguished for the attention which men devoted to prophecy, and for the prevalence of excited feeling on that subject, as well as some others. Nor can we be surprised that it was so. Men then first began to breathe the air of freedom, and to enjoy something of that liberty with which Christ was pleased to make his people free. The subversion of despotic authority; the enlargement of the civil and religious privileges of the country; the remarkable interferences of providence, both in the way of judg In ment and of mercy, roused the attention of all thinking men. dividuals of a warm and poetical temperament, on whose minds the glowing language of prophecy operated, together with the momentous events of the times, began to fancy that the reign of righteousness and peace was just going to commence. They lived amidst volcanoes and earthquakes; they were conversant with convulsions and throes, which seemed to indicate that a new creation was about to spring into being. The sun of their political and religious firmament was turned into darkness, and its moon into blood; can we blame them for supposing that the great and terrible day of the Lord was at hand? It was natural for men, in such circumstances, to dream dreams, and to see visions. Accordingly they did so, and he that had a dream, thought himself bound to tell his dream, and he that discovered the word of the Lord, was constrained to deliver it faithfully. Those who regard the persons of whom we are now speaking as mere crazy fanatics, who could give no account of the reasons of their faith and expectation, totally misconceive the characters of the men. They were men of ardent minds-intensely heated-a few of whom became at last wild and ungovernable; but many of them were learned, intelligent men, well acquainted with the Scriptures, and capable of giving a very plausible view of their sentiments, and of the grounds on which they rested. We will venture to say, that we could select from the millenarians, or fifth monarchy men of the Commonwealth, persons equal in learning, in talents, in scriptural research, to any of the individuals, who, in our own times, have devoted their attention to the study of prophecy. Canne, the "So then, iu brief, my opinion is this; as the Antichristian state shall be de stroyed before, or by the year 1660, and all that fulfilled which is set down, Rev. xviii. 10; not beyond the year 1666, shall the Antichristians themselves, and worshippers of the beast, escape the vengeance of the Lord, and of his temple. But either by repentance from dead works, come in, and put themselves under the glorious sceptre of Jesus Christ; or cast into the great wine press of the wrath of God, and so that fulfilled, Rev. xix. And here the Lord will put an end and period to all the troubles of the Gentile churches, not to go beyond, or further than the year 1666. After that time they shall be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and sing allelujah, salvation, and glory, and honour, and power unto the Lord God: Allelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." --p. 24. Speaking on Dan. xii. 12, after noticing the contest which shall go on between the restored Jews and the Turks, and which he contends is to last forty-five years, extending from 1655 to 1700, he says, "These years being expired, about the year 1700, Michael the great prince will stand up for his people. Behold he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, &c. This is the set time in which the Lord will arise, and have mercy upon Sion. His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east, and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And he will plead with them there for his people, and for his heritage Israel. The Turk now totally, and finally, shall be de stroyed. His army, probably, beside the sea of Gennezerat, otherwise called the Lake of Tiberias, and the Turk himself at, or near Jerusalem. Upon this shall follow a speedy and sudden conversion of the Jews; in one day, and at once, as And after this, the prophet speaks. they shall dwell in their own land in safety, inhabit all the parts of it as before; their country shall be more fertile and populous than ever it was, a most flourishing state of church and commonwealth. There shall be, after this victory once obtained, no separation any more of the ten tribes from the other two, but both shall make one entire kingdom. All nations shall come in to them, and honour them, and willingly or perforce submit unto the government of Jesus Christ."-- p. 29. He was quite confident that the year 1655 would bring about extraordinary events. The following passage shows how far a well-meaning and otherwise intelligent individual, may be mistaken in interpreting unfulfilled prophecy. "But know this, in the year 1655, the vial shall be so full, poured out so fast, and lie so close and hot upon the persecuting powers of the world, as they shall then see and be ashamed, begin to take notice that it is the wrath of the Lamb which follows after them. It is reported of moles, that a short time before they die, they see a little, but never before. So the blind Pope, and his creatures, and the kings of the earth as blind as he, a little before the final extirpation of their state, something they will see, as of Gon fighting from heaven against them, though they repent not to give him glory. "At this time, great changes and revolutions will be in respect both of persons and things; for howsoever I am assured, that every change amongst us shall be for good unto the nation, and this present government, and what follows, a great deal better than the former yet I question whether the Lord will thoroughly purge his floor, in sweeping out all corrupt and selfish men, until that time; but some will still creep in unawares, not serving the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. Nevertheless this I would have the reader observe, that about the year 1665, the righteous alone shall flourish and be exalted. A two-edged sword is in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the |