stand the watchmen shall see eye to eye; and the spirit of grace and of glory shall be upon all, for the very thing which Moses so vehemently desired, viz. that all the Lord's people were prophets, shall then be universally accomplished; for the fire of the Lord shall be upon them, to fill them with the spirit of power, to give him glory. Such joy, and much more abundant and lasting, will fall upon them than fell upon the Israelites, when they saw the nimble glances of the holy celestial fire kindling upon the sacrifice, which laid upon the altar; for when Moses and Aaron had blessed the people, the glory of the Lord appeared. And there came out a fire from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering, which, when the people saw, they shouted and fell apon their faces. Levit. 9, 24. "This celestial fire was carefully preserved amongst the Israelites, till the time of Solomon, when it was renewed and continued amongst them till the Babylonish captivity." Dr. Clark

So, doubtless, the glory of the Supreme Being will often be seen among the saints in the Millennium, in whatever ways shall please him. Sometimes as the meek and sociable God, such as he appeared to Abraham under the oak tree in the plains of Mamre. Gen. 18, 1. Sometimes as a pillar of fire shrouded round with thick darkness, through which his glory may be seen flashing terrible brightness, such as he appeared to the camp of Israel in the wilderness. Exod. 16, 10. At other times such as he appeared to Moses and Aaron, and the seventy elders, who saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet, as it were, a paved work

of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness. Exod. 24, 10.

twain he covered And one cried to the Lord of hosts, Isa. 6, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Isaiah also saw him in a vision, sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with his feet, and with twain he did fly. another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the whole earth is full of his glory. St. John had a view of heaven's glorious king when he in spirit saw him, having heard behind him a great voice as of a trumpet; and being turned, he saw one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. Rev. 1, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15. St. John saw him again, after another manner, in the same vision. Behold a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. Rev. 4, 2, 3.

From what I have quoted from the sacred text, I feel Justified in believing, that God having both in the old and New Testament times, suffered holy men to see his glory, both in vision and open sight, and also the literal appearance of angelic beings at various times and places, that he will much more abundantly rejoice the

souls of his saints in the days of the Millennium, with sights of heaven's glory and heaven's inhabitants. The Millennium will be God's great Sabbath, when he will be with his saints, and his glory will fill this temple, the earth, so that no evil thing shall in no wise enter to stain the lovely whiteness of the garments of the saints. No doubt the songs of angels will be often heard in the surrounding heaven. Bright flashes of glory will often streak the skies-glorious sights, such as Elisha saw on the mountains of Jerusalem, will then be often

seen.

There can be no doubt but at the present time there are myriads of spiritual beings hovering all round, to whose view we are ever exposed, both when we sleep and when we wake; but in the Millennium our eyes shall be purged from this dimness of vision, which sin has caused, when there shall exist unnumbered and unknown resources of extatic joys, of which this sinful estate cannot admit.

A second idea of this division is, to ascertain the reason why Satan shall be loosed from his prison a little season after the thousand years of his confinement shall have passed by. That he will be loosed again after his imprisonment is evident from Rev. 20, 7, 8 ; where it is stated, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison; and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. But what can Satan have to do on the earth at that period of time, after having been banished a thousand

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years? His business undoubtedly will be of the same nature it was before man fell, which was to tempt man to sin, and to destroy him. We are informed that God suffered the loyalty of Adam to be tested by the temptation of the devil, for the purpose of his trial, but not for his ruin; for if we say his ruin was intended, then trial on the part of man is out of the question. Because an agent, possessing mental rational ability, is always supposed possessed, of power to obey or disobey. If this is not so, then man was never an agent, only as the several elements are agents, entirely unconscious of what they are propelled to do.

But I consider free agency the very qualification of man's rational nature, and that it is morally impossible for him to be possessed of the one without the other; therefore, if he were not rational, he could not be an accountable free agent; and if he were not a free agent, he could not be liable, and therefore could not have fallen; for he, instead of being a rational accountable man, must necessarily have been a dumb beast. Rational free agency, therefore, is that degree of being which exalts man to a capability of distinguishing between good and evil, whether before his fall or since, in a restored state, and also makes him liable. Liability, therefore, to fall, or power to stand, is man's original character, or he would have been but a mere animal.

But since it is the way of heaven to try the fealty of all intelligent agents, both of men and angels, we may not question its propriety, but rather rejoice, that out of inert matter, God has raised up man to a consciousness

of rationable being, endowed with a capacity of giving testimony of consent to his government. But those who are accounted worthy to bear the insignia of saints, when the Millennium commences, having had their trial. Satan, therefore, to these can have no further temptations to offer, because they have passed the ordeal of heaven, and are for ever safe. What purpose, then, is to be effected by his being loosed a little season? This question we shall defer answering till we have examined two positions, which have not unfrequently occupied the thoughts of the wise and the learned, in reference to who those can be whom Satan will gather together, called Gog and Magog, to make war upon the saints. Some have supposed that this great army, called Gog and Magog, will be composed of devils or spirits, who are subordinate to Satan, the prince of devils, who, being released at the same time when Satan shall be loosed, will pour forth upon the earth from their place, by millions, and at once attempt an attack of the saints. But this canthe upon camp not be true, because we find Satan deceiving the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth. The thing, therefore, is plain, that they whom he will then deceive are human beings, and dwelling on the earth. No man will suppose that Satan can deceive devils. An army of devils, therefore, it cannot be who shall make this literal attack upon the camp of the saints. Neither should it be supposed, that it will consist of persons who, during the Millennium, were all that time sinners; but on the account of religion being exceeding popular in the earth at that time, choose to