oil with their lamps, and so dead as not to be saved. He is to find scoffers also in the world, ridiculing the idea of his coming. Now if this be the state of the world when Christ comes; and a terrene millennium be allowed-this state of wickedness in the world must be preceded by the reign of Christ and the saints for a thousand years only, instead of forever and ever, as the Bible declares that reign to be. And it ought to be remembered that the world and the church fall into this state of apostacy—a fall, on the part of the church, so great that half of her members are dead; and, on the part of the world, so great that it is filled with scoffers, Sodomites, men loving pleasure more than God; in a word, a world ripe for destruction-I say that it should be remembered that all this is brought to pass without the agency of the devil, who has been shut up, and sealed in prison. But, I ask, can Christ reign in such a state of the world any more than he reigned in Sodom, or before the flood, or than he now does? If not, it follows demonstrably, that he reigns but a thousand years. But such a reign contradicts the Bible. For, in a most exalted sense, the universal song is struck, He shall reign forever and ever!

The reader will allow me to press this objection. It is not ideal. It is full of weight. And it is fatal to a terrene millennium. For no criticism can make the words forever and

ever mean less than ETERNAL. Recollect, gentle reader, also, that this is not an isolated circumstance, nor passage. When the saints take the kingdom, as is represented by Daniel, they hold it forever-even forever and ever. Can words be more express? Can language be more certain? And as to the extent of the kingdom, it is under the whole heaven; they have the greatness of it:-it is perpetual also, without interruption; and eternal, having no end.

5. And this brings me to another objection, viz., The KINGDOM of CHRIST is not given to him till after the destruction of the papal power; and then the kingdom "STANDS FOREVER;" (See Daniel vii. 13, 14, 21, 22;) after which it is not to be given to another people. Nor is it given to Christ, as it appears to me, till the stone has smitten and consumed all other kingdoms. (See Daniel ii. 35, 44, 45.) Then a kingdom was given him that all languages and nations should serve and obey him. Now, then, if the kingdom is not given till the destruction of the papal powers, and all other kingdoms adverse to his, then the kingdom spoken of in Daniel and Revelation cannot be what divines have usually called his mediatorial kingdom, which is confessedly yielded up when all enemies are under his feet. The mediatorial kingdom commenced properly with the slaying of the Lamb, at the foundation of the world; and Christ was inaugurated publicly as a "Priest

upon his throne" of mercy, at the banks of Jordan, when he was baptized. Kings, brother Whedon will recollect, were not baptized; priests were. And when the kingdom is begun--the kingdom of the mountain, that fills the whole earth--it never ends. It stands forever. So that it is reduced to an absolute certainty, that no apostacy can take place after its establishment; and inasmuch as the Savior is to find the world in the state it was when destroyed by the flood-when Sodom was overthrown-when the church is fallen -when scoffers abound in the world; it is reduced to all the certainty that can be given to the argument, that no earthly millennium can ever be realized, as no such state can take place after his reign commences.

There is another thought I will throw in under this head; and with it, for the present, close my general objections. And that is this: a general promise given to the faithful is, that they shall sit down with Christ upon His throne, even as he has overcome, and is set down with his Father upon his throne. Now Christ is to have two thrones. He is a Priest upon his Father's throne; but King, in a true sense, upon his own throne; and on that throne the saint is to sit. He reigns properly enough upon both. Upon the first he remains till his enemies be made his footstool; upon his own he reigns forever, even forever and ever. When that event takes place, God shall be all and in all; that is,

the entire Godhead shall then be exhibited in Christ. He shall then appear in the GLORY of the FATHER. While a Priest, mercy was predominant; but in that world all the Godhead will appear in Christ; every attribute, justice, power, love, and mercy. What else does the psalmist, and the apostle in his epistle to the Hebrews, mean in those remarkable words, [kisaca Elohim olam vaad,] "Thy throne, O God, to the Son he saith, is over both worlds. Thy throne is forever, and to eternity." Certainly there must be a sense in which CHRIST will reign forever; and in which, as the angel announced at his birth, to "His kingdom there shall be NO END." And as his mediatorial kingdom terminates Iwith the subjugation of his enemies, there must be another throne and kingdom, on which he and his saints shall sit, and in which they shall rejoice forever and ever; and this is the one promised in all the above Scriptures. This view, I believe, harmonizes the Scriptures upon this subject: but that view which limits his reign and kingdom to time cannot, while the Bible declares that Christ has a throne-a kingdom-and a people, to serve and obey him forever and EVER. G. F. COX.

Portland, Feb. 22, 1842.

[No. X.]

THE MILLENNIUM-THE UNANSWERABLE ARGU

MENT.

As, in my general objections to an earthly millennium, one of my arguments was stated less clearly than it might have been, you will allow me to repeat it, slightly varied in its form.

I think the two following passages of Scripture render it as certain as the "lip of truth" itself can make it, that there can be no earthly millennium-none upon the "old unchanged earth." They follow:

"But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even FOREVER and EVER." (Dan. vii. 18.)

"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign FOREVER and EVER.' (Rev. xi. 15.)

The argument rests upon the two facts, that these passages point out the hope of the church usually termed the millennium; and the fact, that the terms employed can be applied to nothing but eternity—immortality-in the most absolute sense. They never can be applied to a world that is doomed to