(P. p. 317.)

Revivals of Religion.

Revivals of religion to a greater or less extent have at times prevailed ever since the church has existed. Many and signal instances of them are recorded in the Old and New Testaments. God at times remarkably displayed his power and grace in building up Zion. This was the case in the days of David and Solomon, Asa and Hezekiah, Josiah and Ezra. In the time of John, the harbinger of Christ, the Spirit was poured out in copious effusions. On the day of Pentecost, by the preaching of the Apostles, attended by the special influences of the Holy Ghost, three thousand were added to the church. Multitudes were converted in Samaria. There were various seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord in the first centuries of the Christian church. The Gospel had free course and was glorified. This also was the case in succeeding ages. In the sixteenth century, there were unusual effusions of the Spirit which attended the labors of the Reformers in Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Holland. A revival took place in France, about 1550, in the time of those distinguished divines Farrel and Viret. There was an extraordinary revival of religion, in 1625, in Scotland. Such was the revival, in 1628, in Ireland. In the time of the plague in London, in 1665, multitudes were brought to renounce their enmity to the cross and bow to the sceptre of Jesus. In 1732, and 1733, God was pleased to pour out his Spirit on the people of Saltzburg in Germany. More than twenty thousand were converted from Popish darkness to the pure gospel of Christ, and very many hopefully became the subjects of the grace of God. About this time there were extensive revivals in England, Wales, Scotland and the British Provinces in North America. There was a most powerful revival of religion in the United States, more especially in New England, in the days of Whitfield, the Tennents, Edwards, Brainerd, Wheelock and Bellamy. During this period twentyfive thousand persons were probably added to the churches. This revival of religion is attested as being a glorious work of the Spirit of God, by one hundred and eleven ministers of the gospel, most of whom were assembled at Boston, in 1743. About the commencement of the nineteenth century, revivals of religion prevailed in the Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and New England, especially Connecticut. More than one hundred towns in that State were visited with the effusions of the Holy Ghost. For the last twenty years, there has been

a series of revivals throughout the land. During the years 1831 and 1832, probably as many as one hundred thousand souls were converted to Christ. Between three hundred and fifty and four hundred young men in our public institutions of learning were hopefully brought to rejoice in the Saviour of sinners. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. It is not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts. The glorious victories of our King should call forth the devout aspirations of our souls. These should be declared abroad as memorials of divine grace. The trumpet of praise should sound when the King of Zion cometh in triumph having salvation. It is grace-grace. To God be all the glory.

See Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scriptures;" "Gillies' Historical Collections;" "Calamy's Life of Baxter;" "Prince's Christian History ;" "Dwight's Life of Brainerd," and "President Edwards's Narrative of Revivals."

(Q. p. 334.)

Millennium.

The word Millennium, in its etymological import, means a thousand years. It is expressly applied to that time when, according to prediction, the church will be in a far greater state of prosperity and happiness than it ever yet has been. The word is based upon the repeated use of the phrase, a "thousand years," in the first six verses of the twentieth chapter of Revelation. "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark in their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the

second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."

"This passage all the ancient Millennarians took in a sense grossly literal, and taught that, during the Millennium, the saints on earth were to enjoy every bodily delight. The moderns, on the other hand, consider the powers and pleasures of this kingdom as wholly spiritual; and they represent them as not to commence till after the conflagration of the present earth." The Millennarians, or Chilianists, believe the saints will reign on earth with Christ a thousand years. These views are not embraced by Christians generally in the present day. Most of them believe, that the Millennium is that time in which "there will be far more eminent measures of divine knowledge; of holiness of heart and life; and of spiritual consolation and joy, in the souls of the disciples of Christ, than the world has yet seen: and these will not be the attainments of a few Christians, but of the general mass. This delightful internal state of the church will be accompanied with such a portion of external prosperity and peace, and abundance of all temporal blessings, as men never knew before. The boundaries of the kingdom of Christ will be extended from the rising to the going down of the sun; and Anti-christianism, Deism, Mohammedanism, Paganism, and Judaism, shall all be destroyed, and give place to the Redeemer's throne. By the preaching of the gospel, the reading of the Bible, and the zeal of Christians in every station; by the judgments of heaven on the children of men for their iniquities; above all, by the mighty efficacy of the Holy Ghost, will the glory of the latter days be brought about. Religion will then be the grand business of mankind. The generality will be truly pious; and those who are not, will be inconsiderable in number, and most probably be anxious to conceal their real character; and their sentiments and practice have no real weight or influence on the public mind."

That there will be such a state and period of the church as is here described by Dr. Bogue, is certain from prophecy. Whether this time is intended in the passage of Scripture quoted above, is not material to the present notice of this subject, and will not, therefore, be considered. Suffice it to say, that Millennium is the appellation given to the happiest state of the church on earth. And this is the light in which it is here used.