may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me!”

Now mark the time that prayer was offered-the same night He was betrayed-when the hour of His agony and death was drawing nigh!

Mark the object, chosen to illustrate the union of all His people in one-even the perfect union of harmony and love, subsisting, between the Father and Himself. Mark, too, the result He anticipates from the exhibition of this union, as evidencing the divine original of His religion-" that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me!"

When you combine all these together, can you, for one moment, doubt what place the cherishing and exhibition of brotherly love, and Christian unity, among the members of His mystical body, holds in the Redeemer's estimation?

Can you wonder when you survey the history of the church of Christ in every age, or look at its picture in our own, that from the want or weakness of an evidence for its divine original, to whose full display, He looked for such glorious results, His religion should, as yet, have made, comparatively, so little progress upon earth?

And must you not feel convinced, that it must deeply displease the Saviour, to see the question of His second advent made an occasion or pretext for defacing the impression of that image, which He has selected, as the mark by which his disciples should be known; breaking the bonds of that union, which He has shadowed out by such an illustration; and impeding the advancement of that object, for which He pleaded, with such peculiar earnestness, at such an affecting time.

Seeing, then, that this divine principle of holy love is thus exhibited, as the living soul of the whole system of divine truth, (for as the body without the spirit

is dead, so is orthodoxy of doctrine, without Christian love, dead also;) seeing that it is set forth as. the fulfilling of the law-the glory of the gospel-the fruit of the Spirit the foretaste of Heaven-the evidence of adoption-the badge of discipleship-the essence of the divine nature-the stamp of the divine image-the inseparable attendant of God's dwelling in us, and the indispensable qualification for our dwelling in Godthe object of the most earnest apostolical exhortations and appeals and the burthen of the prayer, that burst from the Redeemer's heart, not many hours before its blood was poured out for our redemption-Oh! how intense should be the desire, how fervent the supplication, how unwearied the efforts, of all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth, and pre-eminently of all His faithful ministers, to promote an object, which we have seen to be so precious in His sight, and from whose full accomplishment He anticipated such glorious triumphs for His gospel. And when engaged in the discussion of the nature of the millennial reign, how earnestly should His people pray to be enabled to carry it on, in such a spirit, as can alone be acceptable to Him, whose reign (to be conformed to the character of its King,) must pre-eminently be a reign of universal harmony, peace, and overflowing love.

19

CHAPTER XIII.

ADDRESS TO ANTI-MILLENNARIANS.

I WOULD now address myself to those beloved fellow-Christians, whose views are opposed to what is usually designated the millennarian scheme-and who regard the Redeemer's predicted reign, during the thousand years, as exclusively spiritual; interpret the first resurrection of the saints, spoken of in Rev. xx. 4, as a revival of the spirit of martyrs, and faithful witnesses for Jesus, which shall distinguish the millennial dispensation; and do not expect the Saviour's second advent, till after that dispensation, and the succeeding short interval of Satan's revived influence upon earth, shall have closed; when they believe that the general resurrection, both of the righteous and the wicked, and the final and universal judgment, shall take place; and all God's dispensations towards the children of men, connected with this earth, shall terminate in the gathering together of all the Redeemer's ransomed flock into His heavenly fold, to abide there, for ever, with their Almighty Shepherd, rejoicing before Him with joy unspeakable, and full of glory— and the everlasting exclusion of all the impenitent from the presence of the Lord, and shutting them up, in the prison-house of hell, with the devil and his an

gels, to be there tormented, in the lake of unquenchable fire, for ever and ever!

It would be superfluous to repeat to you, my beloved friends in Christ, the observations which, in all Christian faithfulness and love, I have addressed to my dear millennarian friends, so far as the spirit of those observations is equally applicable to you, as to them.

The only additional caution I would desire to subjoin, is, never to forget, that though millennarian views have very frequently been embraced by individuals of heretical opinions, or enthusiastic imaginations, there is no necessary connection between such views, and either the errors of heresy, or the extravagancies of enthusiasm. So far from this, they have been embraced and advocated, in our own day, by several Christians, eminently distinguished for the soundness of their doctrinal creed, and the soberness of their scriptural piety, no less than their fervent zeal for the Saviour's glory, and the entire devotedness of their time, and talents, their hearts and lives, to the advancement of His cause.

Need I do more, in confirmation of the truth of this assertion, than glance at the names of Bickersteth, and Haldane Stewart, of Noel, and M'Neile?

Do not, then, allow millennarianism, (in the sense in which such men hold it,) to be identified in your mind, with heresy, enthusiasm, or indifference towards our scriptural church. I do not believe she has more attached friends, or warmer advocates, as she certainly has not more devoted ministers, in her communion, than these faithful, pious, and zealous servants of God!

Shrink, therefore, from all prejudiced feelings against views, which such men have embraced—and never so think, much less speak or write, concerning opinions which such men advocate, as if they were op

posed to all sound and sober-minded interpretation of Scripture, and were only to be regarded, as the dreams of a heated imagination, dazzled and bewildered by the splendour of prophetical visions, and the mystic obscurity of the language, in which they are conveyed!

Whenever you approach the investigation of this subject, let the names of such men shield the system which the Holy Spirit has led or permitted them to embrace, from either censure or contempt.

Weigh its pretensions, dispassionately, in the balance of an impartial judgment, regulated by the force of scriptural testimony, and removed equally from partiality or prejudice, which alike pervert the faculties of the mind, present every object through a distorted medium, and so prevent the inquirer from arriving at a fair and honest interpretation of the statements of the word of God!

And even when firmly convinced, after such an examination, that the balance of scriptural testimony preponderates in favor of the views you have so long cherished, never lose sight of the fact—the undeniable fact that the opposite system may be eventually proved, by the result, to be the scriptural one; and therefore scrupulously abstain from any such expressions, with regard either to the system, or its advocates, as would fill your heart with deep sorrow, in the retrospect, should the result prove that what you have in pardonable ignorance and error opposed, was agreeable to the oracles of divine truth, and exhibited the mind of the Spirit, and the purposes of God!

There is indeed another perverting influence, against which you must especially watch and pray, if you really desire to form an honest conclusion, in this momentous matter-I mean the bias of undue prepossession in favor of the system, to which, from your earliest years, you have been attached-which has been incorporated with the whole body of your religious