were present with us personally, they would add nothing to what has already been placed on record by them, as the foundation of union among Christians, unless so commanded by the Lord. The Book of Revelation was not in existence during the first sixty years of the history of the church, when Christianity spread with such rapidity among the nations of the world. This book was no bond of union to the early disciples, nor was it intended to form such basis in later times. The churches had departed from the truth, and some of her members had connived at, if not apologized for, this wilful disobedience to the commands of the Lord, and thereby endangered their own salvation, and destroyed their individual and collective usefulness in the world. The Book of Revelation was given to the churches to remind them of the past, to describe the then existing state of things, and to portray, in symbolic terms, what should hereafter take place in the church and the world to the end of time. An outline of these events, in sublime imagery, was presented to the mind of the Apostle John. It was a development of the Divine purposes regarding the future, and conveyed the information, that the Lord Jesus would not, as many of his disciples anticipated, return immediately from heaven to raise the dead, close the scenery of human life, judge the world in righteousness, and commence the reign of universal peace. All that is written in the books of Moses, in the Psalms, and in the Prophets, respecting the church, has to be fulfilled in the body. The bride is to make herself ready on earth, and whether the marriage supper of the Lamb is to be celebrated in the air, as Brother G. M. supposes, or on the earth in the midst of enemies, or in heaven amidst the angelic host, we shall not pause to inquire. That it will be accomplished, we may rest satisfied. Is it not the duty of every disciple of Christ, to do all in his power to bring into active operation in the church, that fulness of primitive union and love that will constrain myriads to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the only Saviour of the guilty. Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one, that the world might believe that he is indeed the very Christ. The union of disciples and the conversion of sinners, were inseparably connected in the mind of the Saviour. Should not the same sentiment be cherished by the members of his body? The answer is self-evident. We cannot follow isolated selections of texts from the Book of Revelation; and lest, therefore, by our notice of them, we should darken counsel by words without knowledge, we allow them to stand without comment. Our fer the following expository notes and readers will permit us, however, to of remarks, from the pen of one whose Word of God, and mature judgment long and patient study of the prophetic and candid manner of communcicating entitle them to a place in the pages of his thoughts for consideration by others, the Harbinger. We are not responsible for the opinions of Brother G. M. nor for those of the writer, who finished his earthly career in the year 1815, but who, being dead, yet speaketh. EXPOSITORY REMARKS ON REV. XX. 1-6. We have seen, in the preceding chapters, the taking of the beast and the false prophet, and in that the fall of Babylon: but the principal mover in the confederacy is the dragon, and of him no mention was made in the battle before described. Hence, though he had not been expressly called "that old serpent, the devil and Satan," we might have presumed that he was not of an order of beings to be crushed by the hand of man. His being in one place described as "a great red dragon, with the seven heads and ten horns of the Roman beast (chap. xii. 3,) can therefore only respect the form under which he at that time acted out his mischievous designs. This great red dragon that had for we are at present but upon the threshold of time: the last judgment must in this case, be at a distance of hundreds of thousands of years. merly been cast out of heaven is supposed to be yet on earth, and after the taking of his agents, the beast and the false prophet, is about to rally his scattered forces, and to engage in new schemes against the Lord and against his Christ. If he be not bound, all the success against the other will signify but little; for he will not be at a loss how to deceive the world, and to engage them anew in some antichristian enter-earth, and cordially embraced both by prise. But who is able to bind him? The hand of man cannot take him. Lo, "an angel comes down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and lays hold on him and binds him for a thousand years!" The apprehension and imprisonment of this enemy will complete the victory. There can be no doubt who this angel is; for we know who hath the "keys of hell and of death." To him it appertaineth, after having been manifested to destroy his works, to arrest him in his course, and to set bounds to his operations. The hand of man could not take him; but the hand of Christ can lay fast hold of him. The dragon being cast into the bottomless pit, and shut up, and a seal set upon him to prevent his deceiving the nations for a thousand years, the kingdom of Christ shall now be established over the whole earth. Various questions have arisen concerning this millennial state, both as to its nature and duration. With respect to the latter, the "thousand years" require, I think, in this instance to be taken literally; for, if understood of so many years as there are days in this period, the duration of the world would greatly exceed what we are elsewhere given to expect. The apostles seem to have considered themselves as having passed the meridian of time, and as drawing on towards the close of it. Such appears to be the import of the following passages:-"God hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son." "But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by sacrifice of himself." "The end of all things is at hand." "The coming of the Lord draweth nigh." "Behold the judge standeth before the door." "He that testifieth these things, saith, Surely come quickly!" But, if the thousand years were reckoned a day for a year, A question of more importance is that which respects the nature of this millennial reign of Christ, whether it be spiritual or visible.* Those who favor the former, consider it as a time in which the gospel will be spread over the whole Jews and Gentiles; when those prophecies will be fulfilled which speak of the cessation of wars-of the stone cut out without hands becoming a great mountain and filling the whole earthof the little leaven leavening the whole lump-of the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth as the waters cover the sea-of the first dominion coming to Zion-and of the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, being given to the people of the saints of the Most High. Those, on the other hand, who plead for a personal reign of Christ upon earth, consider the Millennium as a state of immortality, a state subsequent to the general conflagration, wherein the righteous, being raised from their graves, shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years; after which, the wicked dead being raised, the general judgment shall follow. Whatever respect I feel for some who have maintained the latter hypothesis, I find insurmountable objections to the hypothesis itself. I shall mention six particularly. First. The idea of a personal reign appears to me nearly to exclude that of a spiritual one, by leaving little or no place for it. It is clear that the pouring out of the seven vials is principally for the purpose of destroying the anti-Christian system, and that when this is accomplished the Millennium follows. No sooner are the beast and the false prophet taken under the sixth vial, and the the one as immediately succeeding the other. Speaking of the resurrection, the apostle says, "Christ the first fruits, and afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. THEN cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power; for he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Now the resurrection of the saints will itself be the destruction of death. If, therefore, the end then cometh, there is no place for a personal reign of a thousand years between them. Besides, if death be the last enemy, and this enemy be destroy would (like the temple after being polluted by Antiochus) purified from its abominations by the seventh, than the dragon is bound for a thousand years. If, then, this thousand years' reign be personal, the second coming of Christ must immediately succeed the ruin of Antichrist But, if so, how or when are all those prophecies to be fulfilled which describe the prosperity of the church in the latter days? How is war to cease in the earth, and peace succeed to it, when, as soon as the troubles of the earth are destroyed, the world will be at an end? On this principle Antichrist will reign till the heavens are no more. The end of the 1260 years will be the end of time, and the church will have no existence upon the presented in the resurrection, how can there earth but" in the wilderness." Instead of the stone, after breaking in pieces the image," becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth," no sooner is the image broken to pieces than the earth itself shall be burnt up. And on the destruction of the little horn (Dan. vii. 26-27,) instead of "the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, being given to the people of the saints of the Most High," no sooner shall that horn be broken than the whole earth will be destroyed with it! Secondly. The idea of a personal reign represents Christ's second coming at a thousand years' distance from the last judgment; whereas the Scripture speaks of the one as immediately follow ing the other, and as being the grand object of it. "The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; WHEN HE SHALL COME TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS, and to be admired in all them that believe IN THAT DAY." - "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all,' &c.—“I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and kingdom." Thirdly. The idea of a personal reign represents believers as raised to a state of immortality a thousand years before the close of Christ's mediatorial kingdom; whereas the Scripture represents F be a Gog and Magog army to be destroyed a thousand years after it? Fourthly. Those who consider the millennial reign as personal, confine the last resurrection and the final judgment, as described in the latter part of the chapter, to the wicked; but there is nothing in that account of the resurrection which requires it to be limited to them. The sea is said to give up the dead which were in it, and death and hell (or the grave) to give up the dead which were in them; which language equally applies to the righteous and the wicked. And as to the last judgment, which immediately follows, had it been confined to the wicked, it would not have been said, "Whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire;" since on this principle they could none of them be found written in it. If the last judgment, as described in chap. xx. 11-15, do not include that of the righteous as well as the wicked, there is no proof from this account of their being judged at all. The Scriptures, however, are very express, that 66 we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and give account of deeds done in the body;" and that “God will bring every work into judgment, whether it be good or whether it be evil." Fifthly. The account of Satan's being loosed after a thousand years' restraint, and going forth to deceive the nations, and to gather together the armies of God and Magog, does not comport with a state of immortality, or with the condition of men after their resurrection. Wicked men may rise, indeed, with the same enmity against God and religion as they possessed at death; but as to their being able to collect together, and to encompass the church with the hope of destroying it, the idea is gross and inadmissible. The sea and the grave will give up their dead—not to become followers of Satan in any new enterprise, but to be judge every man accord ing to his works (ver. 13.) Finally. To represent the Millennium, which precedes the last judgment, as a state of immortality, is to confound it with the New Jerusalem, which follows it. The latter is, indeed, a state of immortality, for "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away" (xxi. 4.) But this language itself implies that till after the final judgment it shall not be so. For these reasons, as well as from the figurative language of almost the whole of the prophecy, I cannot think that the Millennium is to be understood of a personal reign of Christ, in a state of immortality; but of that glorious rest which the church will enjoy after the destruction of her anti-Christian enemies. Under this view, therefore, I shall now attend to the description given of it. be the meaning in chap. xi. 18 and xviii. 20. The vengeance that will be poured upon the anti-Christian party is, in the former of these passages, called judging the dead, because it vindicates them and the cause in which they suffered, and avenges them on their adversaries. Thus it will be during the Millennium. The cause in which martyrs have suffered will then triumph, and while the names of their persecutors will rot in execration, their labors will be in request, and their characters embalmed in the memory of mankind. It is thus, I conceive, that the martyrs will "live and reign with Christ a thousand years.' The anti-Christian party, on the other hand-called "the rest of the dead," or the "remnant" that escaped from the battle in which "the beast and the false prophet were taken were slain with the sword of him that sat on the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth." In other words, they will become as dead men during the whole of the millennial period. They would die as a body in that they had no successors to stand up in their place, and as individuals, if any remained, would be unable to impede the progress of the gospel. After this their leader being let loose, and permitted to make one more desperate effort, they will then "live again," though it will be but for a short season. "This," adds the sacred writer, "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 Ver. 4-6. These thrones correspond with the account in Dan. vii. where, after the power of the little horn is broken, it follows, "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, was given to the people of the saints of the Most High." Stations of importance, both in the world and in the church, will be filled by righteous men. Right-reign with him a thousand years." eousness, therefore, will flow as a river, and corruption and violence will recede before it. The public mind will favor this course of things. Thus it is that wars and oppressions, and all other disorders, will, in a great measure, subside. Every thing being done on Christian principles, Christ will reign. "God's ways will be known upon earth, and his saving health among all nations. The peoples shall be glad and sing for joy, for the Lord will judge them righteousły” (Psalm lxvii.) The "judgment given unto them, and to the souls that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus," denotes that God will now vindicate their characters and avenge their wrongs. This appears to A Those who consider the reign of Christ surrection of the wicked that they are said to rise first, but of the change of the living saints: for it follows, "then we who are alive, and remain, shall be caught up," &c. The context says nothing of the wicked, or of their resurrection. The resurrection of the righteous being mentioned alone, or without that of the wicked, does not prove that the one will be prior to the other. If it prove any thing concerning the wicked, it would seem to be that there will be no resurrection of them: but, knowing from other Scriptures that there will be a resurrection "both of the just and the unjust," we do not draw this inference; nor have we any ground for drawing the other. The first resurrection" appears to me to be no other than the Millennium itself, to which all that is said of it will apply. During this glorious period, the church will have its Pauls, and Peters, and Johns over again. Men will be raised up who will go forth in the spirit and power of these worthies, as much as John the Baptist did in the spirit and power of Elias. Thus the apostles and martyrs will, as it were, be raised from their graves and live again upon the earth. The blessedness pronounced upon him that hath a part in it is expressive of the happiness of those times. The idea is the same as that in chap. xix. 9. "Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb" and that in Dan. xii. 12, "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred, and five-andthirty days!" Each of these passages refers to the same period. If a blessing was pronounced on those who saw the early part of the gospel times, much more on those who shall enjoy the latter. It were not enough, however, to exist in those times: to be blessed we must have "a part" in all that is going on, and in order to this we must be "holy." Otherwise, God might work a work in our days which we might not believe, but despise it, and wonder, and perish! The first resurrection supposes a second, and which seems to be that of the just and the unjust. In this the wicked shall be raised to die a second death, but over the followers of Christ the second death shall have no power. As a pledge of their victory, they are already made priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign in spiritual prosperity from generation to generation, for the space of a thousand years. A. F. NOTES OF AN ADDRESS ON THE NEW YEAR. BELOVED BRETHREN AND SISTERS,Having, through God's providential care over us, been preserved to see the opening of another year-and that also under such merciful circumstances our thoughts naturally revert to the flight of time, and the flight of our mortal lives along with it, so that we cannot, perhaps, more profitably employ a few of its passing moments, than in pausing to reflect on the position we now occupy, and the privileges and duties connected therewith. elicited volumes of important thoughts calculated to arouse the attention of men's slumbering minds, as all who are familiar with the Night Thoughts of Young, the Meditations of Hervey, and a host of other authors, will well remember. As the observations we may make will be of a general character, (not having studied any particular aspect of the subject) we may read, as a foundation of our few remarks, the words of the Preacher, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven" (Eccl. iii. 1.) No subject, perhaps, has more engaged the pen of the moralist and poet than that of Time. Its brevity, rapidity, uncertainty, irrecoverableness, &c. have But as the sacred penmen have not neglected to touch on this theme, and as their instructions and admonitions come to us with more than human authority, we shall endeavour to speak in harmony with their teaching. Time is generally defined, we believe, as the measure of motion or durationi. e. of the motion of the planetary system, of which our globe forms a part, and whose revolutions are accomplished in certain definite periods-called years, months, and days which are artificially sub-divided into hours, minutes, &c. It is the largest of these measures of duration, which, by its repetition, strikes us the most forcibly, seeing that it requires so few years to mete out our |