Christian, and to maintain order and discipline in the church. We call upon them to do all that lies in their power to diffuse religious instruction and intelligence around them, and to excite an interest in them. If they faithfully act up to duty in these respects, they may humbly hope, that God will bless them; that he will grant the desire of their hearts, that he will open the windows of heaven, and pour them out a blessing, that there shall scarcely be room enough to receive it.We would, also, in an affectionate and persuasive manner, call upon those who have no hope, to yield themselves to God; to touch the sceptre of his grace and live. They must touch it or die. Such is Heaven's irreversible decree. O ihen, "Be wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer, Next day the fatal precedent will plead; The vast concerns of an eternal scene." Let them be entreated, then, by the thunders of Sinai and the persuasions of Calvary, to make their peace with God, that they may not die, but live-live eternally.* * Appendix P. DISSERTATION XVII. MILLENNIUM. The present is a day of religious wonders. "While the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him." While infidelity and delusion are assuming a more tangible form, and a bolder front, Christ is on his way, for the conquest of the world, converts to righteousness multiply, truth triumphs, and the cause of God makes rapid progress through the earth. Christendom has awaked from the slumber of ages, and arisen to holier and higher faith, purpose, and action. Various religious societies are established, having in view specifically, different objects, but the same great end-the glory of God and the salvation of men. These announce the latter-day glory of the church to be at hand; these are precursers of that blissful state and period of the world. True, they are but small things, compared with the mighty efforts and achievements which are to follow. They are the morning stars which will usher in a better and brighter day. In view of them we feel constrained to adopt the language of the Prophet; "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it." "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and 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." Isaiah has frequently been styled the evangelical Prophet, from the fact, that he dwelt so much upon the rise, progress, and triumph of the Redeemer's cause. With what copiousness, what beauty, what magnificence, what bursts of eloquence, does he speak of the gospel state, from the advent of the Messiah to that glorious period, when "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." The passage of the Prophet above quoted, is, undoubtedly, a prediction of the universal establishment, peace, and happiness of the church, in the last ages of the world. In this dissertation it is proposed, I. To show that there will be a time in which the church of God in this world, will be in a state of far greater prosperity and happiness, than it ever yet has been. And, II. To consider some of the principal characteristics of this felicitous state and period of the church. I. It is proposed to show, that there will be a time, in which the Church of God in this world will be in a state of far greater prosperity and happiness than it ever yet has been. The first promise made to man after his apostacy, is a prediction which looks forward from that time to the most glorious state of the church on earth. "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." The meaning of this passage is, Christ, who is the seed of the woman, shall completely triumph over the great adversary of souls, and bring all men to bow to his sceptre of grace. "He was manifested," says the Apostle John, "that he might destroy the works of the devil.” The same promise in effect was made to Abraham, two thousand, one hundred, and thirty-three years afterwards. God said to him, having tried his faith by the command to offer up his son, Isaac, "in thy seed shall all the nations" (in other places it is said, "all the kindreds and families") "of the earth be blessed." The promise here made to the nations through Christ, is absolute. In the second Psalm it is said, "Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Here we have a prediction and promise, that Christ shall inherit and pos sess all nations to the ends of the earth; that is, all people shall become his willing and obedient subjects. A great part of the prophecy of Isaiah relates to the flourishing and happy state of the church in "the last days." Speaking of this glorious state and time, he says, "the wolf 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 lead them. And the cow and the bear shåll feed; 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 shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt, nor destroy in all my holy mountain." Dr. Scott thus comments on this passage: "Persons of the most dissimilar dispositions and pursuits, and addicted to the various kinds of wickedness, would be so changed by the grace of the gospel, that they would become of one heart, and of one way. The selfish, the penurious, the rapacious, the contentious, the ambitious, the savage, the subtle, and the malicious, would lose their peculiar base dispositions, and become. harmless, sincere, peaceable, benevolent, and affectionate. They would live together in harmony, hearken to instruction, and be guided by gentle persuasion and entreaties. So that the change would be as evident and surprising as if the wolf, the tiger, the lion, the bear, and other fierce carniverous animals should learn to be as gentle, and harmless as the lamb, the kid, the calf, or cow, to associate for them, to graze the pastures as they do, or to feed on raw or hay; and should be so tractable, that a little child could lead them. Or, as if the asp, or the. cockatrice should no longer be disposed to bite with envenomed teeth, or should be so inoffensive, that infants might safely play · by their holes, for there would be no more a disposition. in the inhabitants of Zion, the true church, to hurt or destroy." And why? The reason is assignet. "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." This is a striking prediction of the most glorious and happy state of the church on earth. It is full and explicit.-Whatever Isaiah has said concerning the future prosperity of Zion, Jerusalem, Judah, and Israel, he has said concerning the church; for they were types of it, and names by which it is called. Now has there ever been such.a state of prosperity and happiness of the church as is here. described? Have all people bowed to the sceptre of Jesus, and acknowledged the truth? Have all the nations of the earth been blessed in full, in the seed of Abraham ? Have all people, to the ends of the earth, become the ⚫ |