time to time stood forth as its interpreters. But in both cases, eventually, "Wisdom will be justified of all her children." Those prejudices and misconceptions, however, to which we have referred, form serious obstacles to the reception of truth, and one may be readily pardoned for wishing to be so fortunate as not to come into collision or contact with them. This, however, is more than can be rightly expected; but it may serve to bespeak a candid hearing for what will be found propounded in these pages, if it be also found that neither human tradition nor human fancy has been consulted or followed, and that the evidence afforded by Revelation has alone been relied on.

As to the Millennium, I may say in a word, that I believe, in the first place, that it will undoubtedly take place after the Second Advent; and, in the next place, that it will be a literal reign upon earth of Christ and His saints. I would, however, observe, that it must be remembered, the Millennium, properly so called, that is, a period of a thousand years, is found expressly mentioned in only one place of Scripture (Rev. xx.), and that, too, in a part in which some amount of symbol would certainly seem to be

used, and which therefore must be distinguished from other portions in which no symbol appears. There may be, and I am persuaded there are, many other portions of the Bible which refer to the same period as Rev. xx.; and it becomes an important duty to endeavour carefully to trace the connection between them; but still the difference in the character of the writing in the two cases, must not be forgotten, and the identification of their subjects must not be too readily assumed. A reign of Christ upon earth will be found clearly and expressly foretold in numerous places of the Word of God; but whether some particular passage in which this is the case, and which may be under our consideration, refer to exactly the same period of this reign as Rev. xx. is clearly another question. The identity is frequently affirmed in a way which only shows the rashness of those who make it. One consequence of this mode of proceeding-the confounding together the different periods of the Messiah's reign, namely—has been, that the millennium has been made to assume undue and exaggerated proportions. It has been so magnified as to hide the eternal kingdom which lies beyond it. It may be a glorious fact, but assuming it to be so, it will

yet endure but for a thousand years. What, we may ask, is this to eternity? Yet many of its zealous advocates have had their minds entirely absorbed by it. Their whole attention has been confined to it, just as if there were nothing beyond it, and as if it were the great and crowning object of hope to the church of God. They forget, that "even that which may be made glorious, hath no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which will be done away is glorious, much more that which will remain is glorious. (2 Cor. iii. 10, 11.)

The course which I propose to adopt in reference to the evidence by which I hope to support the doctrine laid down is, first to produce a certain amount of direct or positive evidence in favour of it, and then to apply the doctrine, when so discovered, to the elucidation of certain other passages in which it will be found necessarily involved or implied, and which cannot be satisfactorily explained on any other theory. The first process may be styled analytic or inductive; the second synthetic, or deductive1;

1 These two processes will be found admirably expressed in the extracts given in APPENDIX A.

and taken together, they must, I conceive, be admitted to be conclusive, assuming, of course, that the evidence produced be of a satisfactory nature. The direct evidence need not be lengthy, and for this

reason because it is direct. All we have to do is

to be assured that it is this, and we shall then feel that the question must be regarded as decided, though it will add to our satisfaction and give strength to our conviction to follow it out by another process, and to find that the result is the same.

It will readily be supposed that the first passage likely to be cited is the following,-" Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." (2 Pet. iii. 13.) On all hands these words are admitted to refer to the eternal state, and they constitute, therefore, the most complete testimony upon the subject under discussion that we could desire, because they determine for us both the time and also the locality. That they unquestionably decide the latter as well as the former, will be seen, it is hoped, when we have carefully examined the chapter in which they are found; and, seeing what a very important bearing this portion of Scripture has upon our subject, it

will be highly desirable to give it as full an investigation as our space will allow.

All of course depends upon whether the words be taken literally or figuratively-literally of the material earth and heavens, or figuratively of some moral condition of mankind. These are the two alternatives before us. It must be admitted that they differ very widely from each other. There will, however, be but little difficulty in deciding between them. For how stands the case? The subject is introduced by the Apostle's noticing (ver. 3) the unbelieving taunts of certain scoffers who, it seems, will ask in reference to the second advent of the Redeemer, "Where is the promise of His coming?" and who will affirm, that "since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." The phraseology of this passage, together with its context, clearly shows that the scoff is directed against the probability of any change in the physical or material world, which they will have heard is to take place at the second advent of the Messiah, as well as against the advent itself. This is shown by the Apostle's reply. To meet their assertion that no such change had ever taken place in past days, he refers