return to glory, there had still been a heavy cloud over all the doings and destinies of God's creatures. The years since Adam came forth seemed to be only years of mutual destruction for his race, just as the ages before seemed to be periods of mutual destruction for the inferior races. Now, when the Head of the Universe had gone through its conflict and misery, a light was thrown back upon all the past. His Life was seen to be stronger than all the powers of death which had been working in God's universe.

And so, again, the battle of that age throws a light onwards into all the battles of subsequent generations. It is hard and sickening to read of Christian men, sons of God, giving their brethren to be food to the fowls of the air; it is fearful to think for what ends the kings of the earth and the great captains have slain each other. But, doubt it not, in every one of these fights, some beastly power, some lie which has deceived the world, has been thrown down and cast into the lake of fire. Amidst all our reasons for mourning, the spirits of heaven, and those of our brethren who have fought the fight and joined them, have seen reasons for thanksgiving and triumph. Something has been done for the purification of the earth, for the fuller manifestation of the sons of God; new conquerors come from the anguish of earth,

to take part in the righteous government of it; new guests come from the horrible supper of death to sit down at the marriage-supper of the Lamb; one more step is gained in the triumph of the Perfect Will over rebellious wills; one step more towards that restitution of all things which God, who cannot lie, has promised by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

LECTURE XX.

THE MILLENNIUM.

REV. XX.

:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is He that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that

sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away: and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

THE word "Millennium" raises unpleasant recollections in the minds of many cultivated persons. Some think of the fifth monarchy men, in our civil wars. Others are reminded of speculations which they have heard in their own days-speculations which seemed to them a curious mixture of history and fiction, supported by arguments at once ingenious and incoherent. These persons will approach this chapter, where the doctrine of a Millennium is announced, with listlessness or impatience. 6 Surely,' they will be inclined to say, 'the 'few words that have given rise to such dreams may be 'passed over as the obiter dicta of a book which is, in 'itself, rather unintelligible. We are practical men; we 'want the Bible for practical lessons; if there are any 'people amongst us who have nothing to do, let them 'busy themselves in such matters.'

By all means, let us remember that we are practical men, and that the Bible is a practical book. But I cannot

think that this method of setting aside passages which, for good or evil, have affected and are affecting the most earnest men and women, is practical at all. Contempt is never practical; it is the offspring of laziness; it involves in the end much unnecessary trouble. Questions which have been denounced as beneath our notice prove that they possess a power of which we must take heed. Opinions which we have despised in others, in their rebound strike against ourselves; probably overthrow us, just because we had paid no regard to them. I am satisfied that this belief in a Millennium has been a practical belief in numbers of devout thinkers; that if it is, as is alleged, encompassed with fancies, maintained on insufficient grounds, that is a reason for inquiring whence it derives the strength which it certainly cannot owe to what is essentially feeble. Suppose there had been no such tradition in Christendom, no such thought hovering about the minds of men in one age and another, all of us would have been the sufferers. There would not have been less of fanaticismthat would have taken other forms; there would have been far less of hope, far less of confidence in God's promises; more of a dreary suspicion that the earth is given up to those who care only to rob and spoil it. All art, all poetry, all politics, would have been lower and more grovelling if this conception had not been haunt