ing to the epithets which the inspired writers apply to it. Such a kingdom may well be said to be an everlasting kingdom, and to endure for ever. And with reference to this kingdom, if such be its duration, the triumph of the wicked, though continuing for ages, is justly termed short, a little while.

Whether a thousand years, when applied to the reign of Messiah, means precisely three hundred and sixty thousand years, or some vast, though indefinite period, I will not here attempt to determine. But, however this phrase is interpreted, to me it appears evident, that the scope of prophecy requires that it be so interpreted as to give to his reign a duration, in comparison with which, all preceding reigns will appear transitory and unimportant.

It is not improbable that the constitution of this world, and the laws by which it is governed, were originally adapted to its final destination, and that instead of being arrested in the beginning of its course, and destroyed in the midst of its glory, it will be spared till the one is finished, and the other departed.

What reason intimates, revelation renders certain. Says David, "Of old thou hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt ep

dure; yea all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed."*

Says Isaiah, "Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment."

Says Paul," And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands, they shall perish, but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed."

The similitude so often repeated in these passages is drawn from a very familiar object, and, concerning the idea which the repetition of it suggests, there can be no doubt. How a garment waxes old, is worn out, and becomes unfit for use, you all know. As doth a garment, so God declares heaven and earth shall wax old. And till they have so waxen old they cannot be destroyed. They must first, be despoiled of their beauty, marked with the lines, and palsied by the influence of age.

That the present system is not to be eternal, philosophy as well as revelation asserts. Deep in its nature are implanted principles of decay, and the laws which govern it are hastening on its end. The

sun is burning out its splendors-subterranean fires are consuming the bowels of the earth; the planets are known, by an examination of ancient eclipses, to be converging; and the sage perceives distinctly in the movements of nature, a constant and solemn advance towards that dreadful catastrophe, of which revelation pre-admonishes the saint.

But though these concessions are made, and tho' it is also conceded, as Peter asserts, that great changes have already taken place, it does not appear that those heavens and this earth, which, after the lapse of six thousand years, still display so much magnificence, and shine in so much glory, will, in little more than a thousand years, have grown old as doth a garment, and become unfit for use. Till this, however, shall be the case, this earth will continue the residence of the righteous, who, according to divine promise, are to dwell in it, in peace, for ever to all generations, even as long as the sun and moon endureth.

What ideas does this article give us of the designs of Deity in creation and redemption! How august appears the character, how complete the victory of Jesus! Where once stood his cross now stands his throne. And the same world which once saw the transitory triumph of his adversary, now sees his own abiding triumph, and pays to his divinity a perpetual homage. This glorious period the death of Christ principally respects. All previous conquests are unimportant. Those sub

dued by his grace during six thousand years, will be few compared with the number who shall crown his final triumph. How great that number will be I dare not even conjecture. But, though I dare not, I love to agitate the question-to recount the hundred and forty and four thousand-to contemplate, and to become absorbed, in that great multitude of the redeemed, from among all nations, a multitude which no man can number.

True; misery will continue, and abiding examples of the consequences of apostacy will for ever furnish to the universe an awful memento. But these examples will be comparatively few, and this misery will be comparatively small; and infinitely more than counterbalanced by the superabounding happiness of myriads of myriads without number, and without end, who, entering on a blessed immortality, shall throng the courts, and fill the house of God.

You see, Christians, the extent and the perpetuity of the Messiah's reign-a reign which is to be introduced

BY HUMAN EXERTIONS.

As in the natural, so in the moral world, visible and intermediate agents effectuate the designs of the unseen first cause. The piety, and the prayers of Asa produced in Israel a memorable reformation. Jehoshaphat, inspired by the example of a venerable father, extended and perpetuated the heaven approved work. And when under a suc

cession of guilty princes Judah became corrupted, Jehoiada, the priest, espousing the cause of expir

ing virtue, rescued from perdition that apostate tribe.

From the Jewish turn your attention to the Christian church, the era of whose commencement was emphatically the era of miracles. Ere an age had elapsed, the reign of Messiah was extended from India to Ethiopia, from Sythia to Britain. And how was it extended? Apostles were ordained, evangelists commissioned, and sent forth the advocates of the cross, conquering, and to conquer. The facts they attested were believed; the opinions they inculcated were adopted, and thousands, in every country, and of every age, recognized the promised Messiah, and paid a willing homage to the son of God.

From this bright period, pass on to that dark and dismal epoch, when authority prevailed against reason, and superstition triumphed over virtue. A glorious reformation is again to be effected: and again illustrious advocates of righteousness are raised up, by whose efforts the kingdom of error is shaken, and by whose light the city of God is made glad. In one word, wherever Christianity hath been extended-in Europe-in Asia-in Africa-it hath been extended through the intervention of human agency.

Late indeed, and with a feeble, sound, has the gospel jubilee been published to the wandering