judgments attendant on the Lord's coming, and the 35th a state of millennial blessedness. But as the latter succeeds the former, the millennium must succeed the advent.

2. Dan. vii. Here we have a connected vision reaching from the time of the prophet to the day when the saints obtain the kingdom. But the rise of a persecuting power is foretold, who was to "make war upon the saints and prevail against them, until the Ancient of Days came;" ver. 21, 22. How, then, can the saints have any millennium of rest before the advent?

3. Zechariah xiv. We have here a clear description of the day of the Lord' and the personal advent of Christ. His feet are represented as again standing on the Mount of Olives, from whence the disciples saw him ascend into heaven, there to remain until he should again "come in like manner as they had seen Him go into heaven." But it is after the great 'day' that the glorious events take place of which we read in the subsequent verses, and which can only refer to the millennial age.

4. Matt. xxiv. In this chapter we have a continuous prophecy, extending from our Lord's day to the closing scenes of the present dispensation. Yet not a word is said of any season of blessedness that was to occur before his second coming.

But

5. Luke xii. 31-46. The duty of watching for the Lord's return is here strongly insisted on. how could this be possible if at least a thousand years of blessedness were to intervene before the advent?

6. Luke xvii. 26-30. The state of the world before the coming of the Lord is here likened to the state of the world in the days of Noah, "before the flood came and destroyed them all." But such a state of abounding iniquity utterly excludes the idea of any general conversion of the world, or any season of repose before the return of the Lord.

7. Luke xix. 11-24. The testimony of this parable is decisive against any season of holiness or repose before the Lord's return. The servants of a certain nobleman are left in charge of his goods for a protracted period. But they hate him, and rebel against his authority, until he returns to take open possession of his kingdom.

8. The testimony of the other parables is equally clear. The wheat and tares 'grow together' until the harvest, "which is the end of the age."* (Matt. xiii. 30.) In like manner, good and bad fishes are mingled together in the Gospel net, until a separation is made at the coming of the Son of man. (Matt. xiii. 47.) In either case, the idea of any millennium to precede the advent is entirely excluded. †

9. Acts iii. 19-21. The "times of refreshing" and of "the restitution of all things" are here dis

*alov, age or dispensation, not kooμos, or the physical universe. It is unfortunate that these two most distinct words should alike be rendered world' by our English translators. To this source may in a great measure be attributed the confusion of ideas on the subject of the second advent, that exists in so many minds.

It is interesting to know that Mr. Greswell was driven to admit the pre-millennial advent, through the impossibility of explaining some of the parables on any other hypothesis. (See his learned work on the Parables. London, 1834.)

tinctly connected with the presence (apovoia) or personal coming of Christ. Until the latter has taken place, the former cannot begin.

10. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians. In this Epistle, no fewer than twelve passages occur, in which the coming of the Lord is set before the Church as the object of her constant expectation; but there is not the slightest allusion to any millennial rest before the coming itself.

11. 2 Thess. ii. 1-8. In this passage, the same apostacy that Daniel foretold is again announced, and its destruction again connected with the coming (παρουσία) of Christ. It was already working in the Apostle's day, and is to continue working till the Lord's return; where then can we interpose a

millennium?

12. Rom. xi. 26. In this verse, as in divers other parts of Scripture, the national conversion of Israel is obviously connected with the coming of the Lord. But while Israel remains in an unconverted state, the reign of righteousness cannot of course begin.

13. Rom. viii. 22, 23. The "whole creation," is represented as "groaning together," and "waiting for the redemption of the body," but as the time of this redemption is also the time of the second advent, the earth cannot be reclaimed from the primeval curse at any period antecedent to the Saviour's return.

14. The Apocalypse, however, supplies the most conclusive evidence in favour of the premillennial view. Here the whole course of this world's history, from the æra of the vision to the close of the millennium, is exhibited in an unbroken series of prophetic

pictures, the most august of which is appropriated to the second advent. In what position, then, is the latter placed? Immediately before the description of Christ's millennial reign. (Ch. xix., xx.) This alone might decide the entire controversy, and although other weighty arguments in favour of the same view might be deduced from the Apocalyptic visions, it is scarcely necessary to state them here.*

I have now presented, though briefly and imperfectly, a portion of the evidence from both the Old and New Testaments, that seems to bear directly on this momentous question. As Mr. Birks most truly

observes :

"From first to last the concert and harmony is unbroken. There is not one single passage that implies a long period of rest and triumph before the Lord's return; there are many, very many, which exclude it, and prove it to be impossible. The distinct and full prophecies of the Apocalypse confirm and ratify the conclusion drawn from the more general statements of Holy Scripture. There is no balance, no division of evidence on this point; it lies entirely, and without exception, on one side."-Four Prophetic Empires, p. 345.

But however full and decisive the evidence may appear to those who have espoused the pre-millennial view, difficulties will still occur, and objections still be urged against it. To state and answer these, would swell this Lecture beyond all reasonable bounds; I can, therefore, only refer you to the nu

* The reader desirous of entering deeply into the present controversy will find most of the above arguments, (and many others on the same side), unfolded more at large in Bonar's "Prophetical Landmarks;" and Birks' "Four Prophetic Empires and Kingdom of Messiah." (London, 1845. Seeleys.)

merous works in which they are ably and calmly discussed.* For myself, I may perhaps be permitted to observe, that although brought up with a strong prepossession against the pre-millennial advent, my 'objections' speedily melted away when brought to the test of Scripture; and I doubt not that if your own be submitted to the same ordeal, they will rapidly share the same fate. You have but to divest your minds of early predilections and prejudices, and then, if you search diligently for the truth, you will assuredly not have long to search in vain.

To such a search I now invite you. Should you arrive at conclusions opposite to those that I have sought to advocate, you will still proceed with all your wonted zeal in the great and glorious field of missionary labour. If, on the other hand, the views in question should approve themselves as true, one motive more will urge you forward in the righteous cause. Again, if you think that by the circulation of the Bible, or by the faithful preaching of the cross of Christ, you are destined to convert the world, you will neither weary nor pause, in spite of the discouragements that sin or Satan may cast in your way. But if, on the alternative view, you are convinced that the full triumph is reserved for the Lord himself, and that only the task of preparation is committed to His servants in this dispensation, you will strive with increasing energy to finish the work He has given you to do.

Our Lord himself emphatically declared that the

* See the works of Ogilvie, Bonar, Elliott, Birks, &c., referred to in the previous notes.