far from occurring immediately before the com-
mencement of the Millennium, will not occur until
after the full termination of the Millennium:
though, how long after, is known to God alone.
p. 454.

(1.) A statement of the true translation and import of

the text contained in Acts iii. 19-21. p. 454.

(2.) An account of the complete misapprehension

and perversion of the text, by Mr. Mede and

by those who have followed him in expecting

the literal second advent of Christ imme-

diately before the commencement of the Mil-

lennium. p. 457.

7. The very prophecy of St. John, which announces the

manifestation of Christ and his saints mounted on

white horses to overthrow the confederacy of the

Roman beast and the false prophet, when scruti-

nized, according to the fixed principles of symboli-

cal language, is fatal to the theory of Mr. Mede

and the literalists. p. 461.

8. God's enemies, in the battle of Armageddon, are

declared in prophecy to be destroyed through the

agency of human second causes. p. 462.

9. Yet, though the notion of a literal advent in the

day of Armageddon is altogether untenable, some

expressions in prophecy may perhaps warrant the

expectation of an ultimate miraculous interference:

that is to say, an interference, preternatural in

regard to the specific time and object of its occur-

rence, natural in regard to the means by which it

is effected. p. 463.

10. The establishment of a canon of prophetic exposi-

tion, in regard to the frequent scriptural annun-

ciations of a coming of the Lord and of the occur-

rence of a judgment-day, by which we may deter-

mine, when those annunciations ought to be under-

stood figuratively, and when literally. p. 466.

CHAPTER IX.

Respecting the predicted Millennium with its concomitants and

subsequences. p. 467.

Under the general topic of the Millennium, may be arranged

various matters, either attendant upon it, or consecutive to

it. p. 467.

I. The figurative binding of Satan. p. 468.

II. The first and second resurrections, at the commencement,

and at the end, of the thousand years. p. 468.

1. These two resurrections are clearly and confessedly

homogeneous. But the second resurrection, at the

end of the thousand years, may be proved to be

figurative. Therefore, on the principle of homo-

geneity, the first resurrection, at the commence-

ment of the thousand years, must be figurative also.

p. 469.

2. This argument is employed by Mr. Mede to bring

out a directly opposite result: and, doubtless, his

conclusion would have been just, had his premises

been well founded. p. 471.

3. As the two resurrections are alike figurative, the next

point to be considered is the sense, in which they

ought equally and similarly to be interpreted. p.

472.

(1.) The

sense, in which the second resurrection

ought to be interpreted. p. 472.

(2.) The sense, in which, homogeneously, the first

resurrection ought to be interpreted. p. 474.

III. The Millennium. p. 474.

1. From the positions already established, it will obvi-

ously follow, that no literal reign of Christ per-

sonally, with his resuscitated saints personally, is

to be expected during the term of the predicted

thousand years of blessedness. p. 474.

2. The utmost, that can be supposed consistently with

the general tenor of prophecy, is the presence of

the divine glory or the fiery Shechinah in the ady-

tum of the restored temple at Jerusalem, as of old

it was present under the two former dispensations

Patriarchal and Levitical. Certain predictions may

perhaps seem to indicate some such occurrence :

but the occurrence itself cannot be antecedently

demonstrated. p. 475.

3. The spiritual nature of millennian blessedness may

be illustrated and exemplified by the effects of the

partial effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Primi-

tive Church. p. 476.

IV. The liberation of Satan, and the formation and overthrow
of the confederacy of Gog and Magog. p. 478.

V. The third or literal resurrection from the sea and from the

state of death and from the invisible world: the literal

second advent of Christ to judge both the quick and

the dead the literal day of universal judgment,

when the lot of each individual is finally and irrevo-

cably determined. p. 479.

VI. The literal final day of judgment can only be succeeded

by the felicity of heaven: a state, in which, accord-

ingly, it is said, that there shall be no more death;

death, which had reigned through the Millennium,

having at length been annihilated (as the Apostle

teaches us) at, and not before, the literal day of uni-

versal judgment. p. 481.

APPENDIX.

THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE

SACRED

CALENDAR OF PRO-

PHECY. p. 487.

BOOK V.

AN EXPOSITION OF THE LITTLE OR OPEN BOOK

OF THE APOCALYPSE.

VOL. III.

B