in his word has ever given us a description of heaven. He has told us about it, but perhaps to describe it would be both improper and impossible. It is more than we are able to do, to comprehend the glorious descriptions of the church in her glory upon earth, let alone heaven, which is an infinitely more exalted state. 2. We see plainly from the scope of the whole 65th chapter of Isaiah that he is speaking not of heaven above, but of the happy state of the church in the last days. This is admitted by commentators, and it is also admitted, and it is evident that Peter alludes to this very promise; consequently he must of course mean the very same thing; to wit, that before the day of judgment comes, we expect new heavens and a new earth according as God has promised. 3. Peter's Greek, I humbly conceive, reads this very way. Nevertheless, PROSDOKOMEN; the verb, DOKAO, or, DOKADZO itself means, to look for, or expect, but Peter joins the preposition PRO with the verb, which signifies, before, or, before hand; so that the compound verb means to look for beforehand. I know the compound verb is frequently used to signify, simply to expect, but the strict etymological sense of the word is as I have stated, and we are constrained to give it this meaning in this place, because Peter must have meant so, to agree with the text in Isaiah, which he quotes nearly verbatim. So that, although the day of judgment will come, nevertheless we expect that God will fulfil his promise to his church according to the sense of the prophecy. We might also observe that St. John's new heavens and his new Jerusalem coming down from God means the same thing. He had given a view of the Millennium and of the day of judgment, and after he had finished his series of prophecy, he closed his account by giving us a beautiful description of the millennary state of the church, under the figure of a grand capacious city adorned with every thing that is beautiful, costly and excellent, emblematical of the peace, comfort and happiness of the kingdom of Christ during the thousand years. See Micah iv. 3, 4. I will only quote one passage more descriptive of the peace and tranquillity of this happy state of the church. Is. xi. 6-9. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall feed them. And the cow and the bear shall feed,

and their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child put her hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

9. The blessed inhabitants of this new state of the church will be all holy and righteous. The prophet says, (Zech. xiv. 20, 21.) Holiness to the Lord shall be upon the bells of the horses, and on all the pots of Jerusalem and Judah. This shows a most happy state of religion; the implements and utensils made use of in common life, are represented as holy, in consequence of the prevalence of religion, and the holy principles on which mankind will follow their common occupations. Is. lx. 21. "Thy people shall be all righteous." Chap. lxii. 12. "And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord." See Ezek. xliii. 12. Jer. xxxi. 31-34. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah-This shall be the covenant that I shall make-After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, saith the Lord." Thus it appears that true and genuine holiness shall not only be inscribed on their outward conduct, but the laws of God will be written in their very hearts and minds; and it appears that the true knowledge of God, as the only true God, will be so universal, that there will be no need, after the Millennium is come to its full glory, for any one neighboring nation to send missionaries to another, to turn them from idols to the knowledge of the true God, for the knowledge of God shall be universal over the whole world. The duty and labor of teachers will not be so much to teach, especially those who are come to years of knowledge, and maturity, and to vindicate the doctrines of religion, and guard against error, as to nourish and edify the people of God, and build up the church in faith and holiness. Also, the influences of the Spirit will be so powerful, that the ministers of the gospel will

be considered as only means, so entirely nothing in themselves, that the divine instruction will appear to come from God himself, through the mere means of his appointment. The truth, upon the whole, is, true holiness and vital religion shall be universal all over the earth, so that the whole kingdom of Christ shall be delivered from all its enemies (as Zecharias said, Luke i. 74, 75) and "serve him without fear, in holiness, and righteousness before him all the days of their lives."

I cannot venture to say that every individual on earth, in the time of the Millennium, will be saved; possibly it may be so; neither do we say, that christians will be perfect in holiness. But it is evident from the declarations, and descriptions given us by the prophets, that true holiness and piety will have the ascendancy over every thing else. If there will be any unconverted sinners, they will be so few, and so kept under, that they will not be known; and the remains of corrupt nature will be so overpowered by the resplendent light of the gospel, and the conquering energy of divine grace, that every improper feeling will be suppressed, and kept in subordination, by the power of true religion. This will be a long, glorious and happy time indeed. All nature will put on a new appearance; old things will be done away, behold all things will become new; a new church (heaven) and a new world, in which dwelleth righteousness. There will be no devils in it, no papists, no pagans, idolaters, Mahometans, atheists, or deists, no wickedness, no thefts, lying, deception, debauchery of any kind; no swearers, drunkards, murderers, robbers, cheats, swindlers, nor any thing that is contrary to the pure principles of the gospel or the laws of God. But on the other hand, godliness, brotherly love, benevolence, universal charity, virtue and goodness, and every grace of the gospel will prevail and abound all over the face of the earth. Then the gospel will be glorious, Satan's kingdom destroyed, his head bruised, and the kingdom of Christ and his mediatorial glory will be known, seen, felt, and displayed, from north to south and from the rising to the setting sun. See Rev. xx. 3, 6, and xxi. 1-5, 10-27, and xxii. 1-6, and xi. 15.

10. There will be no more wars, persecutions, or disturbances in any part of the world. The prophet Isaiah (chap. ii. 4.) and the prophet Micah, say, "In the last

day it shall come to pass (v. 1.) that they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it." See Is. liv. 11-14, compared with chap. xi. 6—9.

11. The human race will multiply greatly, mankind will be very fruitful, and the world will become innumerably populous. The most cordial, chaste and endearing friendship and love will prevail among people of every description, age, and sex; which will naturally produce early connexions, and marriages will of course be encouraged, and universally prevail, and females will be very prolific, and many sons and daughters will naturally as well as spiritually be born to the Lord; for they will be all of the elect number, and will be saved. Let not the female part of my readers think hard of this circumstance, for the curse of sorrow and travail in conception and childbearing (Gen. iii. 16,) will be done away; there will be no sorrow, pain, death, nor weeping, during those happy times, (Rev. xxi. 4,) and all the trouble, distress, anxiety, and labor of bearing, nursing and raising children will be turned into pleasure, joy, and comfort; for there will be no sickness, untimely deaths, or any thing to hurt the tender feelings of parents, with regard to their young and tender offspring. Not only so, but there being no wars, to carry off thousands in a day, and to depopulate cities and nations; nor plagues, pestilences, consumptions, fevers, nor debaucheries to carry off mankind; all will live to mature age, and increase, as fast as good health of body, a vigorous constitution, and a happy, cheerful, and comfortable state of mind will go towards the increase of the numbers of the human race.

Psal. cxxviii. 3,. 6. "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, by the sides of thy house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel." In Song vi. 6, the church is compared to a flock of sheep, even shorn, coming up from the washing, "Whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them." Zech. viii. 5. "And the streets of the city (Jerusalem) shall be full of boys and girls, playing in the

streets thereof." Jer. xxx. 19. "And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will glorify them, and they shall not be small," Is. xliv. 3, 4. "I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring; and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses." See Is. lxv. 23.

12. It appears that the human race will enjoy long life as well as prosperity in the time of the Millennium. See Zech. viii, 4. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. " Is. lxv. 17-25, "There shall be no more, thence, (from the time that God will create new heavens and a new earth, ver. 17,) an infant of days (that is, no child shall die in childhood,) nor an old man who hath not filled his days, (generally speaking,) for the child shall die an hundred years old; (any one who may die a hundred years old will be counted but a child;) but the sinner, an hundred years old, shall be accursed. (The word, accursed, often in scripture means excommunicated; this sentence seems to intimate that there may be some chance unbelievers in this happy state of the church; but they will be execrated by the church, and cast out, as well as accursed of God, and that in the early part of his life; for a man a hundred years old, will be accounted a comparative child.) For as the days of a tree, are the days of my people; and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." The oak is said to live a thousand years; and if a man's age will be generally as the age of the oaks of the forest, the antedeluvian age will return again.

13. The inhabitants of the new Jerusalem, or the new heavens and earth, shall live by labor; they will build, plant, and cultivate the ground, and the blessing of God will render the ground very fruitful; and there will be no droughts, scarcity, rust, mildew, smuts, noxious worms, caterpillars, hessian flies, blasted ears or grain, &c. Is. Ixv. 17, 21, 23. "Behold I create new heavens and a new earth-And they shall build new houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit, they shall not plant and another eat-They shall not labor in vain nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them."