times of the apostles to the Nicene council, for then it could have made no scisms in the church, as Dionyssus, of Alexandria, said it did, declaring how fully he confuted it, and reconciled the brethren that were contending about it, and prevailed upon Coracius, the author and ringleader of the doctrine, to own he was convinced of his error, and promised he would no more embrace, or discourse of it to the people." Accordingly, Origen says: "They who deny the millenium, are they who interpret the sayings of the prophets by a trope and they who assert it, are styled disciples of the letter of the Scripture only; the first assert, the passages which they produce from Scripture ought to be figuratively understood; the other, understand the Scripture after the manner of the Jews." Ephiphanius, speaking of the millennium, asserted by Apollinarius, says: "there is, indeed, a millennium mentioned by St. John; but the most, and those pious men, look upon those words as true, indeed, but to be taken in a spiritual sense." Justin Martyr says, speaking of this personal reign of Christ upon the earth, in reply to a question by Trypho: "I have before confessed that I and many others are of this mind, that these things shall happen. But then, again, I have intimated to you, that many Christians of a pure and pious judgment do not own this."-" This doctrine," says Eusebius, "had its rise from Papias, a man of slender judgment. But the antiquity of the man prevailed with many of the ecclesiastics to be of that opinion, particularly with Irenæus, and if there were any other of the same judgment with him." Origin declares that "There were only some that held this doctrine, and that they were only the simpler sort of Christians." This doctrine, then, of a personal reign of Christ on the earth, is but the revival of an old exploded heresy. If, then, these Scripture testimonies, and the authority of these fathers are insisted upon to prove the personal reign of Christ upon the earth with his saints, our second advent friends must admit the consequences which so naturally flow from these scriptures, as understood and explained by these fathers; and what man can be found, in this age, who is prepared to do this? I am aware that a large proportion of the advocates of the second advent doctrine will be shocked at these views, for the very reason that they have very limited views of the doctrine they are promulgating, and the consequences which legitimately flow from the passages quoted to prove it.

IV. This doctrine of the personal coming of Christ, in 1843, to reign on the earth with all the righteous raised from the dead, is inconsistent with many things which are clearly taught in the Scriptures.

1. This doctrine, in the first place, is inconsistent with the happy state of departed souls, as taught in the Holy Scriptures. For can it be reasonably supposed, that those "spirits of just men made perfect," and, "being absent from the body, are present with the Lord," should leave those blessed mansions to live on earth again;

that they who have already "entered into rest," and who enjoy all the pleasures and delights which heaven itself affords, should quit those mansions to enjoy peace and plenty upon the earth? Can any man expect to be more righteous and holy, or to have more divine and heavenly contemplations, or better companions, or a more full fruition of our Lord and Master on earth, than we can enjoy in heaven? If not, who can imagine that God should degrade us after so long enjoyment of those celestial regions, or that we should voluntarily quit those mansions for any temporal enjoyments of the body, any meat and drink, or earthly gratifications which we had formerly denied ourselves, and were even dead to them whilst we were living here upon the earth. The primitive saints, while they held converse here upon the earth, "confessed themselves to be pilgrims and strangers," and were continually loooking for a better country," that is, "an heavenly untry," and not for an earthly paradise. Now, if this change is inconsistent with the state of happy souls in general, much less will it comport with those high prerogatives and exalted privileges which the fathers supposed belonged to the souls of the martyrs. They conceived that the souls of the martyrs were received immediately into heaven, and there crowned with glory, and were admitted to a fuller vision, and a more intimate enjoyment of the God of heaven; so that the higher they are advanced, the greater must be their degradation, when they return again to live upon the earth. So that this doctrine appears not only inconsistent with the present happy state and condition of the martyrs, but also with the present felicities of all the departed spirits of the righteous.

2. In the second place, St. John assures us again and again, that the righteous are not to be raised from the dead till the last day; John vi., 39, 40, 44, 54; how then can it be supposed that St. John is here speaking of a literal resurrection, when he assures us that this resurrection is to take place at least a thousand years before the last day; Can it be supposed that St. John would thus flatly contradict himself? Or must we resort to some mystical interpretation to reconcile these different statements? This might be justifiable, if the doctrine supposed to be taught by St. John, was clearly revealed by the other apostles; but as it is not, and as the passage under consideration is highly figurative, and may be understood in a metaphorical sense, there seems to be no necessity to resort to any such interpretation. Besides, it is absurd in the extreme to build an important doctrine on one single passage, and that a highly figurative one, and especially when such a doctrine is flatly contradicted by many plain passages.

3. Again, this doctrine of an earthly paradice which is maintained by these second advent friends, is inconsistent with the admirable instructions of our Lord in his sermon upon the mount. "Lay not up," says he, "for yourselves treasures upon earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven; for where your

treasure is, there will your heart be also;" Matt. vi., 19, 21. And again, "Provide for yourselves bags that wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that fadeth not;" Luke xii., 33, 34. St. Paul exhorts all who are risen with Christ, to "Set their hearts and their affections, not on things on the earth, but on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God," and that because they are dead with Christ unto these earthly things, "and their life is hid with Christ in God," so that when "Christ who is their life, shall appear, they shall appear with him in glory." Now if Jesus Christ, in this very sermon, as the advocates for the personal reign of Christ on the earth suppose, encouraged his disciples to suffer with patience and meekness upon the consideration that they should inherit the earth, and had pronounced them blessed upon this account, surely they might have sufferred upon this very prospect of laying up for themselves treasures upon the earth in this personal reign of Christ, and might have had their hearts and affections placed upon them; since they are directed to lay up treasures in heaven, and to set their affections on things above, because these are the blessings promised as the reward of Christian piety and patience? If, then, these blessings are to be enjoyed on the earth, after the resurrection, and are to be the rewards which God has promised to the piety and patience of the Christian, what reason can be given why he should not seek, and set his heart upon them also? If it be so great a privilege to have a part in the first resurrection, to enjoy this plenty, peace, and indolence upon the earth, that St. John styles them blessed who have part in it, should they not seek and set their affections upon the very things in which their happiness is to consist? And yet the consolation which our Lord and his apostles present to the minds of Christians to console them under sufferings, is only this, that "great is their reward in heaven;" that "when they are tried, they shall receive a crown of glory" and that they "have in heaven a better, and more endearing substance;" which places the reward and comfort of Christ's suffering members not on the earth, but in heaven, and so gives us just reasons to conclude that our Lord and his apostles knew nothing of this personal reign of Christ on the earth with his saints, or thought it no great matter of consolation. It was this which induced some of the ancients to say, "If the inheritance of martys be in heaven, their reign on earth can be no better than a fable."

4. Once more, this doctrine of an earthly paradice is inconsistent with the spirit and teachings of the New Testament. The New Testament writers represent the Christian as one who is entirely dead to the world, and to the things of the world; one who is not to love it, nor the things of it, who is to use it as if he used it not; as one "whose conversation is in heaven;" and on the other hand, they make the character of one who is the enemy of the cross of Christ, that he minds "earthly things;" whereas if this be the sum of the gospel promises made to Christians for their

consolation and encouragement under the troubles of this present world, that they shall, after this life is ended, live again on the earth, and enjoy a life of plenty, peace, and indolence; if this be the principal reward which God has promised to those who suffer for his name, surely, it becomes them to have their minds and their affections set upon it, to live in expectation of it, and to desire to enjoy these goods of fortune, this peace and plenty upon the earth; hence, it would be the character of those who bear the cross, in the prospect of this blessing, to mind earthly things. It is this consideration, says St. Paul, which makes the sufferings of this present life so easy to Christians, that they "look not at things which are seen, but which are not seen," not at things "temporal" but "eternal," even at "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." But if to reign with Christ personally upon the earth include the great and precious promises of the gospel, and made for the encouragement of Christians to suffer for Christ's sake, then they must look at the things which are seen, and not at the things which are not seen; and for an earthly house, and not for one eternal in the heavens.

5. Finally, this doctrine of an earthly paradice cannot be reconciled with the approved conduct of the patriarchs. It is maintained by all the advocates of the doctrine of the second advent, in 1843, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs and prophets, are to be sharers with the righteous in this reign on the earth, and that then will the promised Caanan be made good to them; whereas, the apostle plainly tells us, that they expected no reward on earth, nor did they mind that Caanan where they dwelt, but waited for an heavenly country: "They confessed," says the apostle," that they were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth," that "They were not mindful of that country whence they came out, but sought a better country, that is, an heavenly;" Heb. xi., 13, 16. Since, then, these holy patriarchs, and choice friends of God, disdained any inheritance on earth, but sought an inheritance in a heavenly country, and seeing that this was the only inheritance that God, as their God, provided for them, this then must be the inheretance which they will possess at the resurrection. Surely, then, in vain must Christians hope for any reign on the earth with them, who, pofessing themselves to be strangers and pilgrims in it, declared that they were not mindful of such a habitation in the land of Caanan, and who are at the resurrection to be made like the angels, and to enjoy not an earthly, but that heavenly country, which God has graciously prepared for them. Such an earthly paradice as our second advent friends proclaim, where we are to enjoy the goods of fortune, and live in a state of indolence and peace, is too mean, too much beneath the sublime spirit of Christianity, to constitute the substance of her great and precious prom

ises.

ARTICLE IV.

On the Conversion of the Jews.

It is asserted by those who maintain the second coming of Christ, in eighteen hundred and forty three, that the Jews will never be converted to the Christian faith, and that all expectation of this event is false and founded in error. But it should be recollected, that they are necessarily driven to assume this position, in order to maintain a favorite hypothesis; and that no class of men are more liable to be misguided by error, than those who are blinded by a favorite dogma. It would be well, then, to examine this subject in the light of truth, and ascertain what the Scriptures teach concerning it. We, therefore, propose, to enter upon the discussions of this subject, and inquire what the prophets and apostles have said respecting it; and we hope to do this with a mind free from the prejudices of party, and also free from the controling influence of any favorite dogma. We desire to be guided in our inquriry by the light of truth, and to come to such results as are clearly stated by the Holy Scriptures.

1. In the covenant which God made with Abraham, was laid the foundation of all the promises which God made to the Jewish nation. These covenant transactions which God had with Abraham, the father of the Israelites, are recorded by Moses in the following passages; Gen. xii., 1-3, 14—16; xv., 1-7, 18; xvii., 1—8; xviii., 10—-18. According to the exposition of this covenant, which St. Paul has given in his Epistles, it had both a literal and mystical meaning. Abraham was to be a father in a double sense; he was to be the natural father of a numerous offspring; and he was, also, to be the constituted head and father of a spiritual race; he was, consequently, to be the father of a double seed, a natural and spiritual seed. His natural seed was to be his legiti mate offspring, descending down through Isaac and Jacob, to the exclusion of Ishmael and Esaw. "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." His spiritual seed, of whom he was to be the constituted head and father, was to be all true believers in every age and among all nations. "They who are of faith," says St. Paul," are blessed with believing Abraham." And "if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Here the two seeds are particularly mentioned.

One of the promises contained in this covenant, is expressed in the following words: "I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant. And I will be their God;" Gen. xvii., 7. This promise, though expressed in the most simple language, is exceedingly comprehensive. It consists of two parts; the first is contained in these words: "I will establish my covenant between me