wonder, in such circumstances, at the ease with which the author writes, "at this our millennarian friend was silent;" or, "at this our millennarian friend looked grave!" With regard to the work of Mr. Jefferson, we would say that because it makes the whole question of the pre-millennial advent, the first resurrection, and the personal reign of the Son of David, according to the flesh, to depend upon a single passage in the Revelations; we shall endeavour to shew not merely the entire wrongness of the interpretation of that passage, but also to present, at least, a brief outline of the testimony of Scripture on this glorious and momentous subject.

It is no cause of sorrow to us, but the contrary, that the coming of the Son of God in the clouds of heaven is daily becoming a subject of increasing interest and enquiry to the church of God; and that, at length, Christians amongst the Dissenters are beginning to enquire into the matter. But our spirits are grieved at the thought of men of piety being opposed to the truth of God, and through the blinding and warping influence of systems of divinity, and the power of traditionary comments, becoming the means of casting stumbling-blocks in the way of more simple and unsophisticated enquirers after truth. But the word of Jesus is faithful and true: "If any man is willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine." "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself."

We have not the least value for theories in connexion with God's revealed truth; and we believe that any theory concerning the personal reign of Christ, may be just as pernicious in its character and contrary to the mind of God, as the theory of “the Millennium being a spiritual state, and not a personal reign."*

Our only value is for the testimony of God; as the only sure standing of faith is the position of the Apostle: "Let God be true and every man a liar."

If, therefore, in the statement of this question, our observations should be more diffuse and elementary than comports with the knowledge and attainment of those who have made the prophetic scriptures the subject of their prayerful study; they may not be too simple for the assistance of minds less instructed and searching after truth. And the works before us are quite a sufficient proof that, while zeal and argument may be employed in upholding or refuting the theories of men on questions that are purely matters of revelation, the words in which God has been pleased to convey his mind-which alone are of the least value-may be most grievously overlooked, and their import utterly neglected.

The question of the second coming of the Lord, and all its connected circumstances, so far as they are revealed, is to be determined upon exactly the same grounds as those on which our faith rests with regard to the "Word being made flesh, and dwelling amongst us." There is no difference in the testimony on which we believe that "Jesus died and rose again," after He had "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," and that on which we are called to look for His return, as "the Son of Man, coming in the clouds of heaven." The scriptures testify, and testify with equal plainness, to these two great facts, that, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him, shall he appear a second time, without sin unto salvation."

* We would not have Mr. Jefferson, or our readers, stumble at our calling his book a "theory," since the first man, probably, who ever composed a formal treatise, designed to supersede the simple and plain testimony of scripture-("the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth")-upon this blessed subject, (and in the wake of whose reasonings all subsequent writers on his side of the question appear pretty much to have followed) plainly calls his work, "A Discourse of the Millennium, framed according to this NEW HYPOTHESIS." And just to show the author's design in this work, and his estimate of the amount of his labour in it, we will transcribe his entire preface. 'Scaliger was pleased to say, Calvinus sapuit quia non scripsit in Apocalypsin, Calvin was wise because he did not write upon the Revelations. I confess I do it not for want of wisdom; that is, because I neither have sufficient reading nor judgment, to discern the true intendment of the prophecies contained in that work. But yet conceiving that I have either found out the true sense of those words, (Rev. xx. 4) which usually are alleged as the foundation of the supposed Millennium, or resurrection of the martyrs to reign with Christ a thousand years, or at least have said what is suffi cient to shew it is not necessary to understand them in a PROPER sense: I have comprised my sentiments of that controversy in the ensuing treatise: which I submit to the judgment of the reader."-Dr. Whitby on the Millennium.

And the certainty of the premillennial coming of our Lord, and of His personal reign on (or over) the earth, is to be established against every form of objection, by the very same means which are alone employed with success in the defence of the doctrine of the atonement; and the facts and miracles of both the Old and the New Testament, against the objections of Socinians and Infidels. And what are these means? They are, in sum, simply these:-1. Either assuming or proving, that the Old and New Testament are the word of God. 2. That the language of the word of God is to be taken in its plain and simple, or grammatical import; and 3. That the Scripture cannot be broken. The question of "the second coming," is just a question of Scriptural interpretation; and it is not what men say about it (not even learned men) that is true or to be depended on; but what God says about it: and what men say on either side is to be judged by the word of God. If, therefore, there are Christians who are looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, and who say they know not how soon he may be here; it is just what the Spirit of God says they ought to be doing; and it is just the position in which Jesus himself desires his followers should be found. He says, "Take ye heed, watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work; and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all,-Watch (Mark xiii. 33-37). Again: "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men who wait for their Lord" (Luke xii. 35, 36). And again, when the Spirit of God describes the position of the Thessalonian church, he says, "Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven." They were waiting for God's Son from heaven. It was the same also with Paul and the Philippian Christians; for speaking by the Spirit of Christ, he says, "Our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." And if any Christians are looking forward to the gathering together of the saints to Jesus, and to their reigning with him, as the true hope of the Church, instead of dying and being with him (however blessed), it is because the word of God says, "It is a faithful saying: for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him; and because the definite promise of Jesus is, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." And who it is that shall thus reign, and where the sphere of their regal dignity will be, we learn from the song which the saints were singing before the throne; "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God, Kings and Priests, and we shall reign on the earth."

And if there are Christians, who believe that the world, instead of growing better, will reach its highest point of apostasy previous to its being judged in the day of the Lord, it is because the word of God speaks of the mystery of iniquity already working in the days of his apostles, as that which would produce a falling away, and the revelation of the man of Sin, who continues until destroyed by the brightness of the coming of the Son of man; and that, "as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded : but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" (Luke xvii. 26-30). And if there are Christians who believe that after the church" is caught up to meet the Lord in the air," and to find their home in the heavenly Jerusalem, a remnant of the Jews having been restored to their own land, will inherit in it "the sure mercies of David," and be the source of blessing to those nations which lie beyond the limits of Christendom, or "the vine of the earth," which is to be reaped and cast into the winepress of God's wrath; or at least beyond the limits of the prophetic earth, or the four great empires, within which it appears there will be utter destruction; it is because the testimony of the Lord upon this point is most clear, declaring "how God at the first did visit the Gentiles,

to take out of them, a people for his name." And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, after this (after he had visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name), I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things" (Acts xv. 14—17). And again, by the Prophet," the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass which tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men." Now, if these things generally are believed by many enquiring Christians in the present day, they are believed on the true testimony of the word of God: and if the children of God, generally, can be persuaded to take the Scriptures, and quietly, and prayerfully, and patiently, to examine into what God has certainly revealed concerning the future expectations of the church and the world, it will be found that they are called to yield their assent, not to vague, and incoherent, and conflicting declarations; much less to rest upon a forced and fanciful interpretation of the word of God, which none would even think of, but the imaginative, or the learned; but to a simple, clear, comprehensive, and harmonious presentation of the truth, running through the prophecies of both the Old and the New Testament, and variously confirmed by the peculiar character of the present dispensation.

The examination of unfulfilled prophecy has been much declined by Christians, on the ground of its being a speculative and profitless exercise. But this is manifestly an error; and it is practically declared to be an error, every time a preacher or a writer speaks of the resurrection of the body, or of a judgment to come. Whatever may be his statements upon these subjects, they must have been drawn from the study of unfulfilled prophecy, or they must be the pictures of his own, or of others' fancy. Whatever therefore our views may be with regard to the future prospects of the world, or whatever anticipations we may cherish, concerning the Jews, or Gentiles, or church of God, they must rest upon our knowledge of unfulfilled prophecy, or they must be the offspring of speculation. There is no other source. Whether, therefore, we are acting in the confident expectation of the gradual improvement of the world, by the diffusion of knowledge, and the prevalence of the gospel; or whether we are looking for the speedy closing in of the present dispensation in hopeless apostasy, and the coming of the Lord to judgment ;* we are doing so upon the testimony of unfulfilled prophecy, or we are acting under the guidance of mere imagination and speculation. We cannot look forward by a single day, nor find one ray of light practically to guide our hopes and anticipations of the future, but by an attention to "the more sure word of prophecy; whereunto we do well that we take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place." Thus we see there is no alternative for the Christian, or for the church of God, but to regulate their hopes and expectations, and of course to direct their efforts, by the knowledge of unfulfilled prophecy, or to surrender themselves to the guidance of human speculation. The record of the past of what Christ has done, presents the sure foundation of individual salvation. The record of the future-of what Christ will do—is the only basis of Christian hope and expectation. But before Jesus Christ came in the flesh, even the grounds of salvation were contained in the testimony of unfulfilled prophecy. And because the Jews were ignorant of these prophecies, they fulfilled them in crucifying the Lord of glory.

It being then a simple truth, not at all to be disputed, that the only knowledge of the future, and consequently the only ground of expectation to the Church of God, is derived from the testimony of unfulfilled prophecy, it becomes a most important question as to what principle is to be employed in its interpretation. This question is most happily set at rest by the recorded fulfilment of the prophecies that are past. The Scriptures present but one unvarying mode in which the prophecies of the past have been fulfilled, and thus teach us the mode of fulfilment to be expected in future. For example:-The Messiah was to be the seed of the woman (Gen. iii. 15). “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it

*The judgment of the quick, or the living; which the church of God seems much to have forgotten. But the word of God declares, that Christ shall be the judge of the living, as well as the judge of the dead; as there will also be a resurrection both of the just, and of the unjust: but not at the same time.

shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The seed of Abraham (Gen. xii. 3): "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Of the tribe of Judah, of the family of David (2 Sam. vii. 13-16); "He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever: I will be his father, and he shall be my son. ......... And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee; thy throne shall be established for ever" (compare Heb. i. 5). And to be born of a virgin (Isa. vii. 14); “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel," &c. There was also foretold his birth-place (Micah v. 2); "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little amongst the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." His flight into Egypt (Hosea xi. 1); "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." His mean appearance and poverty (Isa. liii, 2, 3); "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him; he is despised and rejected of men." The scene of his ministry (Isa. ix. 1, 2); "Zabulon and the land of Naphtali beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light (Compare Matt. iv. 13-16). His parabolic language (Psalm lxxviii. 2); "I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old (compare Matt xiii. 3-13). His miracles (Isa. liii. 3); "Surely he hath borne our griefs and hath carried our sorrows (compare Matt. viii. 17). His quiet deportment (Isa. xlii. 2); "He shall not cry nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street' (compare Matt. xii. 17-19). His entrance into Jerusalem on the ass's colt (Zech. ix. 9); "Rejoice greatly, Ó daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy king cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass (compare Matt. xxi. 4). All these prophecies have been LITERALLY fulfilled. All these things, and many others which God hath showed by the mouths of his holy prophets, He hath so fulfilled—i. e. LITERALLY fulfilled" (Acts iii. 8).

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But let us for a moment imagine these prophecies to be presented to us as unfulfilled, is it not plain that in attempting to interpret them, on what is called the spiritual principle, we should utterly set aside the greater part of them by figurative explanations? Should we not say that his being born of a virgin indicated the purity of his descent; that Egypt meant the Egypt of sin; and that Zechariah's prophecy respecting the ass was a beautiful figurative description of the lowliness of Messiah's character? yet the fulfilment, in every instance, was minutely literal; and the same may be said of every recorded instance. "The prophecy may have been symbolical, as in the former part of Daniel vii.; or figurative, as in Isaiah liii. 2; or simple, as in Isaiah liii. 6; still the event predicted has been always literally fulfilled."

Now if there has been one, and but one, unvarying mode in which accomplished prophecy has been fulfilled, and that mode has been the exact and minute accordance of events, with the terms of the prediction in which they were foretold, who is to assure us that beyond this point all prophecy is to be viewed as having a mystical character; and that in its interpretation an entirely new and opposite principle is to be introduced? We have no instance in the Scriptures of such a fulfilment of prophecy. Upon whose authority then, let us inquire, are we to adopt this novel principle? Upon what ground is the infidel challenged, as to the truth of the prophecies of the word of God regarding Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, Jerusalem, and the like? Is it not on the ground of their literal and exact fulfilment ? On what ground is the Jew held to be inexcusable in his refusal to recognise Jesus Christ as the true Messiah? Is it not because the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the humiliation, and sufferings, and death, and resurrection, of the Messiah, were all literally accomplished in his person?

There is not a recorded instance of accomplished prophecy, that does not present a literal fulfilment; and there is not an instance that can be appealed to as the accomplishment of a prophecy, since the Scriptures were written, that is not also literal in its character. No other kind of fulfilment can ever carry conviction to the mind. Nothing but the literal and exact accordance of the event with the predic

tion, can ever be received as a certain fulfilment at all. Therefore the only way in which unaccomplished prophecy can be read with certainty, is to read it as God's anticipated history. Thus, and thus only, can the truth of the Spirit's declaration concerning it, by the Apostle Peter, be experienced-“We have a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.”†

But evidently, this "more sure word of prophecy" becomes the reverse of " light shining in a dark place,” when subjected to the doubtful and subtilising process of a mystical interpretation.

When we read such prophecies as these: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His Father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever: and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke i. 32); and when we connect this with Daniel vii. where it is said, "I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of Man came in the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before him, and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed;" and when we still further connect with this the declaration of our Lord in the presence of the High Priest (Matt. xxvi. 64), “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven;" we are at no loss to understand, taking the language simply, what events are here foretold. They are briefly these, that though Jesus was rejected by the Jews, God will certainly give Him on earth a kingdom; that His throne shall be in Jerusalem; and that all the nations of the earth shall serve Him. We know certainly that David had a throne; and we know as certainly that his throne was in Jerusalem, and that he reigned there over the house of Jacob. But we know also that Jesus, when on earth, was crucified for claiming to be the Son of God, and the King of the Jews; and that now He is not sitting on the throne of David, but on the throne of His Father; and that he is not now ruling over the house of Jacob, because the house of Jacob is at this moment in a state of rejection and dispersion, on account of their sins in crucifying Him, who came to be their Saviour. So that we see distinctly these events are yet future; for “the Scriptures cannot be broken." Simeon declared that Jesus should be “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel." And the apostle Peter tells us that the purposes of God have not been defeated by the rejection and crucifixion of His Son. For though the Jews had said, "This is the heir; come let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours," yet God, who had raised him from the dead, would not fail to perform his oath to David, to give unto Jesus, so raised as the Son of David, the throne which he had promised. The words of the apostle are, “ Men and brethren, let me freely speak to

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It is on this principle that every interpretation of the book of Revelation, which has professed to find the fulfilment of its predictions in any past events has entirely failed. And in this universal failure, and contradiction, and confusion of interpreters, the conviction is strengthened, that as to its prophetic parts it is a book of judgments, to be brought out in the closing scenes of the present dispensation. "And the time is at hand."

†“A more sure word of prophecy." A more abiding testimony, and a more full expression of the mind of God, concerning the coming kingdom of his Son, and of the glory that is to be revealed," than was contained in that bright, but miniature, exhibition of "His glory and Majesty," which had been granted to the apostle when he was with Jesus "in the Holy Mount."

We use the term "mystical," because it is the proper antithesis to "literal;" and, because carnal is the true antithesis to spiritual. The not observing this distinction has often proved a stumbling-block to enquiring minds. But surely it is not enough to object that the reign of Christ will be spiritual, to disprove the fact of that reign being personal. It will be a spiritual reign-most spiritual :-just as his walk on earth, when sojourning amongst men in his humiliation, was spiritual. And just, also, as the literal facts of our Lord's history, his sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension, were all spiritual: having not the least stain or spot upon them of that which is carnal. And, beyond this, Jesus is now, in his human nature, in his glorified body, personally, in "the presence of God (blessed thought!) for us"-seated upon His Father's throne, and amidst all the spiritualities of

heaven.