Sept. 1, 1868.

them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” In the days of harvest or in the end of the evil age, the tares, after long toleration, are assembled together before they are cast into the fire. During the millennium it is not so. Individual cases of sin will doubtless occur, but they are not tolerated. They are not then allowed to grow, lest the wheat should be plucked up with them. A new principle-that of justice-renders to each at once according to his works. Every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge." (Jer. xxxi. 30.) Nor will angels be the rulers of that day; nor so far as we know, will there be the casting into a furnace of fire for the living offenders among men.

66

But may not this be the final destruction of Satan's host of Gog and Magog after the millennium? No, for angels do not then interfere and bind the evil together. Nor are they cast into the furnace of fire, nor are there any stumblingblocks then to burn. But fire descends out of heaven from God, and burns them up. (Rev. xx. 9.) And then earth is not cleared in order to be the Saviour's kingdom, but is burnt up, and passes away altogether. (xx. 11.)

There is no reference to the wicked dead. In Zephaniah, whence the reference to the stumblingblocks is taken, the Lord is speaking of the living. "I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord, I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land (earth), saith the Lord." (Zeph. i. 2, 3.)

There can be no tares during the millennium. For there will be no wheat; and the tares are a counterfeit wheat, which subsist in security on earth because of their resemblance to wheat. But the end of the age clears the wheat-field: the tares are borne away to the fire; the wheat to the garner. The field is wholly cleared, and never sown again either by Christ or by Satan. After once the tares are swept off by the angels, they cannot be sown again; for Satan is a prisoner in the bottomless pit, in chains, and his door of escape sealed above him, that the purpose of God concerning him may not be changed. Nor are the Lord's rulers men asleep, and unable to detect and smite evil.

At present, and while the gospel lasts, the Christian is to be patient with evil. If the millennium were only the gospel-day restored to its pristine brightness, this would be the case then also; but the millennium is the day when the saint is to reign with Christ, breaking in pieces, as potters' ware with iron rod, the doers of evil, as Christ himself will do. (Rev. ii. 26, 27.) Will it be said that these words can apply to the new heavens and earth in which righteousness alone shall dwell? I guess it will not.

The harvest and vintage under the law preceded the feast of tabernacles, which represents the millennium. Even so, here, and in the Apocalypse, judgment on the wicked and recompense of the saints precede the millennial reign; and the history of the Old Testament, which is typical of those days, joins to confirm this view. The sword of Joshua swept off the Canaanites ere the land was divided among God's people.

Is the millennium before or after the harvest? If before the harvest, the wheat would not be ripe for glory, nor the tares for wrath; if before, it could be but a continuation of "this present evil age." But the millennium

Sept. 1, 1868.

;

is the future better age-age of the new covenant with Israel and Judah age of the good things to come. (Heb. viii.) 'Tis the day which the Lord hath made-day of rejoicing of the righteous; of the exaltation of the rejected Stone (Ps. cxviii. 14-26.); and of his coming in person, owned by Israel. If the millennium be before the harvest, the saints will not have received their reward; but the seventh trumpet, which precedes the millennium, brings in the time of reward. (Rev. xi. 15-18.) If the millennium be after the harvest, it cannot be confounded with, or be like the gospel. It is the day of judgment; of the Lord's coming; of the righteous risen from the dead shining as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. For the preaching of men you have the arrest of angels; for the tidings of mercy the grasp of judgment; for the constant flow of natural events the sudden inroad of visible power.

Before the great crisis of the harvest there is no reward; after it, no wheat or tares. The wheat are then become the righteous, "shining as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." The tares are the false Christians cast into the furnace of fire.

To Mr. Young's eye, and that of many others, the millennium is merely a restored gospel, flourishing, as we should like to see it, by means of the operations and societies now at work. It must be an improved gospel in some respects-no miraculous power as at first, and no persecution from the world; the great separation of old broken down, and Christians wielding the power of the earth in justice and vengeance on evil, instead of patient suffering.

Now, here lies the great mistake. Let us see how, in the view of God, the millennium is wholly different from the gospel, both in God's arrangements of the world's great features, and in the internal principle of the two systems; so that the two cannot exist together.

The great features of gospel times may be stated generally as being1. JESUS unseen, away in heaven, priest and intercessor.

2. THE CHURCH, in conflict and in armour amidst her enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil; working for Christ and waiting for him with patience, suffering persecution, and not requiting it.

3. ISRAEL cast off of God-"not my people"-refusing Jesus in unbelief; exiles from the land; the temple destroyed.

4. THE GENTILES, called by thousands, believing by tens; deceived by the devil in masses; hating and persecuting the people of God.

5. SATAN at large, deceiving the nations, hindering and troubling the Church, accusing it in heaven before God. (Rev. xii.)

Now, in the millennium all these great features are altered.

1. ISRAEL repents, and desires to see the Messiah, owning him the Son of God. (Zech. xii. 10; Matt. xxiii. 39; xxiv. 30; Rom. xi. 23—27 ; Acts iii. 19-21.)

2. But the same passages which have been cited above prove that no sooner does Israel repent, than JESUS appears to their eyes; and then the gospel, as the dispensation of faith, not of sight, is ended.

3. But the watchful CHURCH, before Jesus appears, is gathered to his presence, and is seen coming with him in glory. (Col. iii.) Her labour, patience, and waiting cease with Jesus' coming. (James v. 7; 2 Thess. ii. 1; 1 John ii. 28; 1 Thess. iv. 15.) Jesus' presence is the era of the first resurrection. (1 Cor. xv. 23.) (Presence is used in these passages.)

4. And evil in THE WORLD ceases not till Christ appears. In Paul's day lawlessness was working in secret, under some control from hindrance which God had set; but when these were removed, open rejection of Christ would ensue; and then the long-threatened Man of sin would arise, professing to be the only God, supported by all Satan's force, and by God's just decree deceiving all those who cast off the religion of the true Christ. This awful usurper would reign in person on earth, till Jesus, in person, on high, flashes forth from the secret of his presence, and his great foe is struck dumb and powerless. (2 Thess. ii. 1-3; Rev. xix.)

5. And then SATAN'S time of imprisonment is come. The power over the Gentiles, which he wields with increasing force up to that day, ceases; and authority over the nations is given to Christ, and to his risen servants. (Rev. xx. 4--6.)

Thus, then, God's arrangments in the two dispensations are wholly different. But the internal principle of the two economies is different. The gospel is God in mercy not remembering the world's offences, "the day of salvation," "the accepted time." (2 Cor. v. 18—21; vi. 1, 2.) The millennium is the day oF JUSTICE. (Rev. ii. 26, 27; Psa. ii.)

The wheat and tares answer the interesting question, "How will the present scene of confusion, arising out of the co-existence of false and true Christianity, be put an end to?" Must not the true-hearted servants of Christ among men do the work? And the answer is, No! they are to be quiet all this day of grace; discrimination and retribution belong to another age, and will be executed by another class of servants-even angels; on which we may argue thus: Is the millennium a day of retribution to eaca according to his works? If it be not, it may occur during the gospel period. But no; the millennium of justice cannot be a day in which God is treating the wheat and the tares alike, and the good suffer. If it be a time of reward, it cannot come till after the harvest, when the recompense is dealt to both foes and friends; and there the parable places it. We do not read of "the kingdom," in the Saviour's explanation till after the clearing of the wheat-field, and then it is spoken of in its two divisions— the earthly, or the field cleared of the tares; and the heavenly, or the place of the risen, and the kingdom of the Father. (41–43.)

Or thus the gospel is present confusion; faith and unbelief found side by side. The millennium is the ceasing of confusion, the evil rectified. But Jesus assures us that the men of the gospel and its mercy are not to remedy the confusion. A new era and new servants are demanded for that; and that is the day of judgment, when angels will remove the evil and the good to their respective destinies. But when reward is given, either to friend or foe, in that day, it must be by Jesus in person. (Rev. xix.; xx; xxii. 12; 2 Thess. i. 4—10.)

The gospel is the day of sparing enemies, and plying them with the ministry of reconciliation. The millennium is the cutting off of Messiah's enemies and of Israel's in masses. (Ps. xxi. 8-10; xcii. 9; xevii. 3; Isa. lxv. 6-14; Jer. xlvi. 10; Mic. v. 9; Jer. xxx. 16; Isa. xi. 13.)

The gospel day is "the accepted time," in which we now live. But the harvest and its period are the day of wrath, "DREADFUL," "GREAT AND VERY TERRIBLE.' (Joel ii. 11, 31; Mal. iv. 5; Ps. lxvi. 3-5).

If these points be true, it is clear that the millennium cannot occur during the gospel dispensation, and our cause is won.

Sept. 1, 1868.

THE MILLENNIUM-THE KING OF THE JEWS.*

"And on his head were many crowns."-Rev. xix. 12.

E are now fairly arrived at the glorious kingdom of the "Son of Man;" for whose advent we supplicate the Father every time we offer up that petition of the Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come;" and which for brevity and convenience' sake is called "The millennium," because its duration will be for “a thousand years,” as the word signifies.

All the various steps which lead to the establishment of that kingdom have passed under our review. Antichrist and his confederate hosts have received their final doom. The " powers of the heavens" have been "shaken" from their seats, and along with their dread master have been imprisoned in the abyss; for it is not for a moment to be imagined that Satan himself should be confined, and his angels left at large.

The Prince of the power of the air," and all his hosts, who for six thousand years have tainted earth's atmosphere with their accursed presence, and from that vantage ground have showered down, as often as permitted, pestilence-moral, spiritual, and corporeal―upon the sons of men, are cast down into the lowest depths of Hades. The "air," after their final expulsion therefrom, is purified as by a thunder-storm; the earth smiles a joyful welcome to her King; and now at length, after so many centuries of misrule, he has come whose right it is to claim his blood-bought inheritance.

The Lord Jesus is "the nobleman "spoken of in one of his own parables, who "went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return." He did go into a "far country," even a heavenly; he did receive the kingdom and now he has returned, according to his promise. All noxious influences have fled from before his face; and his "enemies" have been made his "footstool." He has brought with him his rejoicing bride; and lo, the earth has "cast out the dead (Isa. xxvi. 19), to meet him at his coming. The resurrection of those who are to "live and reign with him a thousand years" has taken place; and all things are fully prepared for the inauguration of his kingdom. Nothing now remains but that he should ascend the throne so long occupied by the usurper; and upon this assumption of his throne we have now to speak.

Our text says that " upon his head were many crowns." Now one of these "many crowns," and the one we have, for the present, exclusively to consider, he wears as "THE KING OF THE JEWS." St. John relates, that, when Jesus was crucified, Pilate wrote a title and put it upon the cross: "JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS;" and in order that all who passed by might read and understand, "it was written," we are told "in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin." No doubt Pilate intended this as a bitter mockery of the Jews; for he well knew that by their law all who suffered death by the cross were infamous and accursed. But though designed in mockery, it was no less a glorious truth. He who then hung

Extracted from "Discourses on the Prophecies of the Last Days." By the Rev. W. Ker, A. M. Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.

Sept. 1, 1868.

in weakness and agony upon the "accursed tree," was the lawful inheritor of David's throne; and the set time has now come 'for him to assert his right.

Isaiah, foretelling his birth eight hundred years before it took place, after enumerating his various titles, as " Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," adds: "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom." And the angel Gabriel, in his salutation of the Virgin Mary, lays special emphasis on the same fact: "And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever.”

Let us now exercise a little common sense, and we shall see that the ordinary explanation of this promise, viz., as being of a kingdom purely spiritual, to be exercised only in the hearts of his people, is altogether untenable. The "throne of David" and his kingdom cannot, surely, mean any other throne or kingdom than what David himself actually and personally enjoyed; and if so, then Pilate's title was true. Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, "The King of the Jews;" and ever will be, because the angel expressly says, and with the angel agree all the Scriptures of the holy prophets, that "He shall reign over the house of Jacob FOR EVER.” A Jew himself as to his human nature; and on the side of his virgin mother as well as of his reputed father, descending from the royal house of David, he has now come to reign over the Jews, that is, over the whole re-united twelve tribes of Israel; or, to use the words of the angel Gabriel, over "the house of Jacob."

We must, however, most carefully remember that it is not over the Jews as they had been hitherto and evermore, stiff-necked and rebellious, he has now come to reign; but it is over them as they shall be when refined in the fiery furnace of "the great tribulation." For thus we read in the prophet Malachi, "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." And it is added: "Then (that is, after that purifying process, but not till then) shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord.”

To the same purport is the testimony of Jeremiah, a prediction which is quoted word for word by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews, and which unquestionably relates to the same period. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 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 neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord." (Jer. xxxi. 31-34.)

These words are commonly applied to the Gentile Church, as it is supposed will be its condition during the millennium. But a greater perversion of Scripture it is difficult to imagine. The "covenant" is not made with the Gentiles, but with "the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah;" neither are the Gentiles mentioned, or so much as ever alluded to, directly or indirectly, throughout the whole of the prophecy. There is therefore no excuse, or shadow of excuse, for this departure from the plain