"rulers of the earth. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, " and so ye perish from the right way, if his wrath be "kindled but a little:" (Ps. ii.) Those who hold power should remember that they hold it but as surrogates and deputies until the time of HIS coming, who alone has a title to all power on earth-who (as that same prophecy says) alone has a title to the inheritance, as having redeemed and purchased it-to whom is given "the heathen for his inheritance," and "the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession."

It is added, that "the armies which were in heaven "followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine "linen, white and clean" (ver. 14); by which, their attire, we are enabled to identify the persons who form these "armies:"-that they are not the angels (who are elsewhere said also to accompany Christ at His coming) but his saints-those who were before seen in heaven, and distinct from the angels, in the vision of chap. vii. 9; the "great multitude which no man could "number, out of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, "and tongues, who stood before the throne, and before "the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their "hands;" and of whom it is said "they came out of the great tribulation:" identified also by the same circumstance with the martyrs under the fifth Seal, and seen likewise in heaven (chap. vi.); of whom it is said, "white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a "little season until their fellow-servants also and bre"thren, that should be killed as they were, should be

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"fulfilled."

That time has now arrived and-according to the promise to those who should "overcome," chap. ii. 26, 27-they now come with Christ to share his victory and triumph, and, as we shall presently see in the next vision, to reign with him.

The chapter concludes with an awful image and picture of the vengeance which the Lord will execute upon the anti-Christian confederacy already alluded to. These judgments are in one sense fearful to the Christian to dwell on, and yet in another sense they present a cheering prospect. They present an awful view of the end that infallibly awaits the enemies of Christ; but at the same time it is cheering to the Christian to know that the power which has so long withstood the progress of the truth shall have an end, and that the Saviour who is still, as at his first coming, " despised and rejected of men," shall at a time that is coming take to himself his right; when he who is now precious to the few who believe, will reign over the whole extent of the earth—will possess the kingdoms of the whole world-and be proclaimed and acknowledged by his suitable titles of "THE WORD OF GOD”—“ THE King of kings, anD LORD OF LORDS."

LECTURE TWENTY-SECOND.

THE MILLENNIUM AND LAST JUDGMENT.

REVELATION, Chap. xx.—" And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. 2. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. 3. 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. 4. 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. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6. 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. 7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. 8. 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. 9. 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. 10. And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the Beast and False Prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

11. 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. 12. 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. 13. 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 tire. This is the second death. 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

THE prospect opened to us in this chapter presents a delightful contrast to the subject of the chapter last considered, namely, the reign of Christ, and the triumph of Christianity on earth; a consummation which in one view or other of it has been ever looked forward to with earnest desire by the universal Church of Christ. While, however, a Millennium has been expected in all ages of the Church as the time of the triumph of Christianity, when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea," considerable difference of opinion exists among Christians as to how this consummation shall be brought about. Some suppose it will be a spiritual reign of Christ, when Christianity, by such means as those now in use, shall be diffused over the earth, to take place before the second coming of Christ: while others believe that this consummation will not take place till the Lord comes, when he

will reign a thousand years on the earth, not only in a spiritual sense, but in person. The distinction, though at first view it may seem immaterial, is one of no little importance; and though the decision of the question has been already, in part, anticipated, the chapter now read, when examined, will, as it were to be expected, be found to afford additional and still more conclusive evidence as to it.

There are, then, four particulars to be here noticedthe time of the millennial reign of Christ-the object of it-its duration-and the persons reigning. On all which, having stated what I believe to be the doctrine of Scripture in my Lectures on the Second Advent, before referred to, I may be allowed again to refer to them for the detail of proof, &c., and shall here only give a summary of the result there arrived at.

I. First-The time is fixed by the action preparatory, mentioned in verses 1-3: "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

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more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and "after that he must be loosed a little season." This binding of Satan preparatory to the reign of Christ is, I say, material in deciding whether the reign of Christ is before or after his coming: for, as until Satan is bound and his power restrained the reign of Christ does not