& fpears into ploughfhares and pruninghooks, to culti vate the earth and trees,that there may be food for man and beast.

The prophet Micah has left his teftemony of this peace which fhall be peculiar to the kingdom of Chrift on earth. Micah iv. 1, 2, 3, 4, "But in the last days it fhall come to pafs that the mountain of the house of the LORD fhall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people fhall flow unto it. And he fhall judge among many people, and rebuke ftrong nations afar off; and they fhall beat their fwords into ploufhares, and their spears into pruning hooks, nation fhall not lift up a fword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they fhall fet every man under his vine, and under his figtree; and none fhall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.".

O what a glorious day will that be when man fhall no longer confider man his foe, when all nations fhall confider each other brethren, under the first born of many brethren! When harmony, love and peace fhall reign throughout this habitable globe, and, "All nations call Jefus bleffed.

5. Another thing peculiar to the thousand years of Chrift's reign on the earth will be the harmony and peace among the the beafts. Some may think this hardly worth noticing but those who know what terrible havoc the beafts have

made among mankind, will confider it a great thing to have the evil beasts destroyed out of the land, or be tame that there will be no more to fear from the lion than from the lamb. The fcriptures furnish us with a melancholy history of what men, women and children have fuffered by lions, bears, wolves and other ravenous beasts.

The Lord has promised in the new covenant, that the people shall be delivered from evil beafts, fo that they may at that time fleep in the woods without fear. Eze kiel xxxiv. 25, "And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will caufe the evil beafts to 'ceafe out of the land; and they fhall dwell fafely in the wildernefs, and fleep in the woods." Hofea fpeaks of the fame

thing, in the covenant with the Jews. Hofea ii. 18, And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beafts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will break the bow, and the fword, and the battle, out of the earth, and I will make them to lie down fafely."

Hofea has fpoken more upon this fubject; he mentions the beafts, fowls, and creeping things of the earth, that men will be delivered from all of them at that time, and at the fame time he fays that the bow, the fword, and battle will be no more in the earth.

Ifaiah tells us how the beafts will be, when all nations know the LORD. Ifaiah xi. 6, 7, 8, 9, "The wolf alfo thall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child fhall lead them. And the cow and the bear fhall feed; their youngones fhall lie down together; and the lion fhall eat straw like the ox; and the fucking child fhall play on the hole of the afp, and the weaned child fhall put his hand on the cockatrice's den; they fhall not hurt nor deftroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth fhall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the fea."

Many people undertake to fpiritualize this prophecy ; but what reference has this to the converfion of finners to God? None at all.

Mention is made here of the harmony which fhall fubfit between a wolf, a lamb, a leopárd, a kid, a calf, a lion, a fatling, a little child, a cow, a bear, their young ones, a lion, an ox, a fucking child, an afp, a weaned child and a cockatrice. All these are to be in harmony, at the time when the earth fhall be full of the knowledge of the LORD: this time has never been; it is at hand. In chapter lxv. 25, the fame thing is mentioned d; "The wolf and the lamb fhall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and duft fhall be the ferpent's

meat,

Many think this harmony between man and beafts, can never take place; but James fays, chapter ii. 7, " For every kind of beaft, and of birds, and of ferpents, and of

things in the fea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind." Adam had dominion over the fowls, fishes, and beafts; Genefis i. 28, "And have dominion over the fish of the fea, and over the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." It is not likely that Adam had any fear of the beafts, while he had the dominion over them. I have not a doubt but that the fecond Adam will have as great a command over the beafts as the first had. The lions were entirely peaceable with Daniel in the den, and as God has faid that in the days of the reign of the ftem of Jeffe on the earth, there i fhall be no danger from the beafts, I fully believe it. 03 the glory of that day! Language fails in the description.

6. Another thing peculiar to the thousand years reign of Chrift, as to outward blessings, will be the remarkable fruitful? nefs of the earth to what it is now.

There is no doubt in my mind, but the curfe brought on the ground for the fake of the first Adam, (who loftTM his dominion, by tranfgreffion,) will be removed for the fake of the fecond Adam, the Lord from heaven, when he comes to take the kingdom, and fend fhowers of blef fings on the earth. It is evident that the barrenness of many places, is on account of the wickedness of the ind habitants. Mofes told the Jews that if they tranfgreffed, their land would be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Deut. xxix. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, "So the gen eratiou to come of your children that shall rife up after you, and the stranger that fhall come from a far land, fhall fay, when they fee the plagues of that land, and the fickness which the LORD hath laid upon it; and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and falt, and burning, that it is not fown, nor beareth, nor any grafs groweth therein,like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Ad-" mah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his an ger, and in his wrath; even all nations shall fay, wherefore hath the Lord done this unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men fhall fay, becaufe they have forfaken the covenant of the LORD GOD

of their fathers, which he made with them, when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt."

This fame thing is mentinned as the caufe of barren land; Pfalm cvii. 33, 34, "He turneth rivers into wildernefs, and the water fprings into dry ground; a fruits ful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." We all know that the ground was curfed for man's fake, and that on this account it now bares thorns and briars, and that many times when it is tilled it does not bring forth; but in the day when Jefus fhall reign on the earth, every part will be fruitful, yielding abundance for man and beast.

Several of the prophets have spoken of this; I fhall mention only a few of the many teftimonies of this glorious state of the earth for one thousand years. Ifaiah fays, chap. xxx. 1, 2, 7, "The wildernefs and the folitary place fhall be glad for them; and the defert fhall rejoice and bloffom as the rofe, it fhall bloffom abundantly. And the parched ground fhall become a pool, and the thirsty land fprings of water; in the habitation of dragons where each lay; fhall be grafs with reads and rufhes." How many have undertaken to spiritualize this text; that is, make it mean fomething different from what it fays; but it will at that time have a litteral accomplishment. In Ifaiah xliii. 19, 20, the fame thing is mentioned again; "Behold I will do a new thing; now it fhall fpring forth; fhall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the defert; the beafts of the field fhall honor me; the dragons and the owls; because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the defert, to give drink to my chofen." The design of all this is mentioned to give drink to my chofen, to the faints. In another place Ifaiah fays there fhall be rivers opened in high places, and that the cedar, myrtle, oil tree, fir, pine, and box tree, fhall grow in places which will remarkably fhew the hand of Ifrael's God.

Ifaiah xli. 18, 19, 20, "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midft of valleys; and I will make the wilderness a pool of water; and the dry land,

fprings of water. I will plant in the wilderness the ce dar, the fhittah tree, and the myrtle tree, and the oil tree; I will fet in the defert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together. That they may fee, and know, and confider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this; and the holy one of Israel hath created it." This never was done, it remains yet to be performed by the Lord of hofts.

In another place, Ifaiah lv. 13, it is faid, "Inflead of the thorn, fhall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar, fhall come up the myrtle tree, and it fhall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting fign that fhall not be cut off." Such a great change as this will stand a conftant fign of the faithfulnefs of God to the Jews and the world at large.

In the time of the reign of Chrift on the earth, the now barren land of Canaan will be fo fruitful, that people will fay that it is like the ancient fruitful garden of Eden, fo that there will be no famine in the land. Ezekiel xxxvi. 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, “I will alfo fave you from all your uncleanneffes; and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye fhall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. And the defolate land fhall be till. ed, whereas it lay defolate in the fight of all that passed by; and they fhall fay; this land that was defolate, is become like the garden of Eden; and the wafte, and desolate, and ruined cities, are become fenced, and inhabited." What can be plainer than this?

7. In the thousand years the voice of health will be generally heard through the world among those who are not of the raifed or changed faints.

From one place in Ifaiah, it appears to me that women will bring forth children without that forrow which was promised to Eve, or that danger which is now common among women, and that children will not die in infancy, as they do now.

All these things are mentioned in Ifaiah lxv. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, "And I will rejoice in Jerufalem, and joy