the problem, some other hypothesis seemed necessary than that afforded by the advocates of a spiritual, future millennium limited to a thousand years duration, and such an hypothesis Dr. Wordsworth has enounced and supported.

The passage on which the notions both of a literal and spiritual millennium, yet future, are grounded, namely Apос. xx. 1-4, is carefully examined in the work before us, and we now proceed to give a summary of the results. The angel spoken of by St. John is confessedly the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of God's presence, the Angel of the covenant. He has the key of hell and of death, the key of the bottomless pit. He has a great chain in his hand, and with it he binds Satan. "For this cause the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil." Not only in his own person did he exercise this dominion over Satan, he gave it also to his Apostles and Disciples. "The seventy return. ed with joy, saying, Lord, even the Devils are subject to us through thy name." "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you." "He that is begotten of God, keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." In other signal ways Christ at his coming chained Satan, who had chained the nations. The Idols whose altars had reeked with human blood were cast to the moles and to the bats. The oracles are dumb. Pagan Temples become Christian Cathedrals. The cross once the scandal of the world floats on the banners of armies, and is set on the diadems of kings.

Then it is to be noticed that St. John speaks of the souls, not of the bodies of Saints: of a spiritual not a bodily resurrection: of living and reigning with Christ, not of living again. Christ is "the Prince of life" who "quickens" those "dead in trespasses and sins." "Buried with him in Baptism we are raised with him." Such is the first resurrection.

"The erroneous application of the present passage of the Apocalypse to a mere bodily resurrection, instead of to the spiritual regeneration which is effected by our incorporation into "the mystical body of Christ, which is the blessed company of all faithful people;" and the consequent supposition that the saints of Christ will be raised in person, in order to reign with Christ for a thousand years on earth, and that other men will not be raised till this period has expired, is ascribable to low and inadequate notions of our baptismal privileges and obligations, and of the sacred duties and inestimable blessings of Church-membership and Church-unity: and wherever unworthy notions are entertained on these momentous points, there the doctrine of a Millennium may be expected to prevail.

Let us now pass on to observe, that our spiritual adoption into the mystical Body of Christ is only the beginning of our Christian life; it is the

new birth, that is, it is the entrance into the new life. Baptism is the door, by which we enter into Christ's Church. But the door is not the house. There must not merely he new birth, but a new life. There must be not only the mark of Christ imprinted on the forehead, but there must be the spirit of Christ moving in the heart, and bringing forth the work of Christ in the hand. This is the first Resurrection. We rose with Christ, to live with Christ, and Christ assists us in this work by manifold gifts and graces. In the Holy Communion of the body and blood of Christ, the Christian soul receives spiritual strength from Him, and is knit more closely to Him. There we dwell in Christ, and Christ with us. We are one with Christ, and Christ with us. Thus the soul, which was born again in Christ, lives with Christ. It is dead to sin, and is ready to suffer for Christ, and knows no other object of worship than Christ. I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and which had not worshipped the Beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark in their hands, that is, who had not broken their oath of allegiance to Christ either in word or deed ;-and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." - pp. 56-58.

The thrones and judgment given to the saints are exemplified in the holiness and steadfastness of the faithful: their " strength is made perfect in weakness;" " they are made more than conquerors through him that loved them:" they judge Satan and his host of rebel angels by shewing that their fall was the effect of their own sin: they judge the world, by condemning it of infatuation and ingratitude.

"Again; in another sense, the Church of Christ now judges the world. She has received from Christ the power of the keys; the power of binding and loosing; and whatever she does on earth, orderly and rightly, in the ministry of remitting or retaining sins, is ratified by CHRIST in heaven. Thus, even now, the Saints of God sit upon thrones, and to them judgment is given.

Yet more; in another manner the Saints of God are even now seated upon Thrones, and judge the world.

In the precepts of the Law, in the revelations of Prophets, in the melody of Psalms, in the instruction of Proverbs, in the Old Testament, the Twenty-four Books of which were believed to be represented by the twenty-four Elders sitting enthroned in heaven; and in the four Gospels typified by the four living Cherubim on which the Throne of God is set; and in the Royal Law of the Letters of the Apostles, whom God has made Princes in all lands; -which books, be it remembered, have been placed on Thrones in the great Council-Halls of Christendom, and have been delivered as a Law to anointed Kings at their solemn enthronization; yes, taken from that very altar, and placed in the hands of the most august Monarchs of the world, in this national Temple, at their Coronation; and whose sanctity is proclaimed by solemn adjurations in Courts of Justice; and which are delivered to Bishops and Priests at their Ordination, as the Royal Code of their Teaching, and the Divine Charter of their Ministry; and which sound forth daily from Pulpits and the steps of Altars-as it were, from Christian Thrones and Tribunals-in every part of the world: thus, I say, they whom God has employed to declare His Will to men, are now, seen by the eye of Faith sitting upon Thrones; and to them Judgment is given.

In this manner we see that the souls of the Saints, by virtue of their spiritual incorporation and indwelling in Christ, have risen from the dead with Christ; that in Christ they live; that they ascend with Him, and sit with Him in heavenly places; that they are Priests of God and Christ ; that they reign together with Him; and that with Him they judge the world. Therefore, - Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection."-pp. 61-63.

With regard to the period of the thousand years, and the evidence adduced to shew the designed indefiniteness of this period, we have nothing to add to the following remarks :

"First; Most of those who interpret the thousand years literally, appear to be inconsistent with themselves. In all other places of the Apocalypse, when a number of days is mentioned, they understand these days to mean years; and they understand a time, which they say is a year, to signify not three hundred and sixty days, but three hundred and sixty years. And therefore, according to their own theory, St. John should have described the Millennium as a thousand days.

Secondly; Some learned modern expositors suppose that the thousand years are passed; and they would bring various arguments in support of this supposition.

And, Thirdly, we affirm that the thousand years are not to be regarded as indicating a fixed period. Indeed, the whole teaching of Scripture forbids such an interpretation. It is very certain that the future is uncertain. Prophecy is not an almanack. No one can calculate the world's eclipse. The Great Day will come; but no one can say, when that Coming will be.

To interpret the thousand years so as to make them indicate a fixed period, is, we repeat, repugnant to the whole teaching of Scripture. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is. The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. Behold, I come as a thief (says our Lord in the Apocalypse.) Blessed is he that watcheth. As lightning cometh out of the East, and shineth even unto the West ; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the Angels of heaven, but My Father only.

Now, if the thousand years in the Apocalypse were a fixed time, these sayings concerning the suddenness of Christ's Second Coming, to judge the quick and dead, would not be true. But they are the sayings of Him Who is the Truth; and therefore they are true, as God Himself is true.

Hence we infer that the word thousand is here a general one; and by a thousand years, in the text, the Holy Spirit does not limit a specific sum any more than when He says, Man cannot answer God one of a thousand; or, If there be an interpreter, one of a thousand;-that is, one among all men.

Similarly, we read in the Apocalypse itself, that twelve times twelve thousand were sealed, severally, from twelve tribes. Here it cannot be imagined, nor has it been supposed by any interpreter, that there are in each tribe twelve thousand elect, neither more nor less (for, according to this mode of interpretation, there would be none saved from two tribes, which are omitted, Dan and Ephraim); but by this perfect number it is meant that God will one day accomplish the number of His elect.

۱

Again, it is written, God keepeth His covenant to a thousand generations. He commanded His word to a thousand generations; that is, to all men. Therefore, we conclude that He, to whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years, meant, as the best ancient expositors have said, by this perfect number, the whole day of the world's life, till the dim twilight and dark eventide of the last and fiercest persecution. In that sad vesper-time of gloom, Satan will be loosed; though he will be restrained from hurting Christ's elect. The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light; that is, the light of the pure heaven of the Church will be dimmed with thick mists. The Gospel will be overclouded with the gloom of Impiety; Love will wax cold; Iniquity will abound; Faith will be hard to find. It will be a time of rebuke and blasphemy. The earth will be full of darkness and cruel habitations.

In confirmation of this interpretation, let me remind you that this exposition, which regards the thousand years-not as a fixed period, but as the measure of the whole time, whatever that may be, from the coming of Christ to the loosing of Satan-is not an interpretation propounded first after the expiration of a thousand years from the Incarnation. No, it is the deliberate judgment of the most celebrated early Christian interpreters both of the Eastern and Western Churches. They did not imagine that the time of Satan's loosing was or could be defined: they taught that the thousand years signified the whole period which would intervene between the first Advent of Christ and the full Revelation of Antichrist."pp. 67-71.

Objections against this interpretation may of course be expected, they have been foreseen and met by Dr. Wordsworth: we have not however the means of giving an entire view of this subject, and can only caution our readers against rejecting the above explanation because of some imagined difficulties, until at least they have had an opportunity of examining their solution by our author.

We now proceed to sketch as briefly as may be Dr. Wordsworth's views on the general structure of the Apocalypse, and the significance of those symbols which are employed in the opening vision. The Apocalypse is not to be regarded as a progressive prophecy developing events in the exact chronological order of narration, but as a series of detached pictures, each exhibiting some peculiar interest of the universal church, and each frequently extending its disclosures from the origin to the consummation of Christianity. The evangelist now traces a rapid sketch of events dating from his own era, and carried on to the consummation of all things. Anon he returns to some topic which he had before barely indicated, in order to exhibit it more fully: expanding what he had before contracted, and filling up what he had before given in outline. Then again he will turn aside into some digression, from which he reverts to the line of original direction. Thus he several times proceeds from the same initial point and travels downward in devious paths, all

VOL. III.

B

leading however towards the scene of the final catastrophe. Consistently with this view, the opening of the twentieth chapter is regarded as a final effort on the part of the Evangelist to give a succinct account of the church's privileges during her militant state on earth; a brief summary of what Christ has done for his church.

"He shews that Christ came from heaven in order to bind Satan; that He did bind him, and gave men power to overcome him; that He made them partners of His victory, and inheritors of His glory. And thus the inspired writer obviates any objections which might otherwise have been raised from the calamities which he himself had revealed in the Apocalypse. He vindicates Christ, and shows that all the sufferings of the world are due to its own wickedness; that after repeated warnings they are sent by God as chastisements for sin, and as calls to repentance.

For example, he teaches us that the Decian and Diocletian persecutions were permitted by God to try the faith and to correct the worldliness of the Church; that the incursions of Goths and Vandals into Europe and Africa were instruments in His hands for punishing heresies and schisms; that heresies themselves were chastisements for sin; that the Mahometan woe was a scourge for idolatry. Thus he justifies the ways of God to man. He also shows that nothing can harm those who are sealed with the seal of God; for they are united for ever with Christ; they are enthroned in heaven with Him. And having thus given the Christian moral of the whole Apocalypse, he then, at length, takes a step which he had not taken before. He crosses the gulf which separates Time from Eternity. He displays the last Judgment. He mounts from the Earthly Church to the Heavenly City. He unfolds the glories of the New Jerusalem. And thus he exhibits the immensity of God's love; and excites the courage and invigorates the faith of Christians in every age with a view of eternal joy."-p. 168.

The vision with which the prophetical part of the Apocalypse opens reveals the glory of the Godhead in his covenant relation to the church. In the rainbow which surmounts the throne is the emblem of justice mingled with mercy. It tells of the just judgment which once brought the flood upon a guilty world, and it tells of the bright sunshine of promised peace. The chrystal sea symbolizes the water of Christian Baptism through which we enter into the presence of a God in covenant with man. The sea is like chrystal: indicating the purity of that Christian life, into the surface of which we enter when born of water and the Holy Ghost. The seven lamps are seen in the vision: they indicate the seven-fold graces of the divine spirit communicated to fit the soul for the divine presence. There are voices, and thunderings and lightning: these are the law of God, his promises and his judgments. The four living creatures present a figure of the four Gospels; whereon divine grace and mercy sit enthroned.