be restored before, or after, the coming of Christ. The kingdom to be restored, will be a holy kingdom, and none but holy persons will be subjects of it. All readers of the Bible should carefully distinguish between the conditional promises made to the natural, and the unconditional promises made to the spiritual Israel. For want of this distinction, many have erred, and persist in their error.

The destruction, and not the conversion of the wicked of the world, will be preparatory to that reign. This must follow as a certain consequence from a personal coming of Christ. That coming is everywhere represented, in the Scripture, as intended to close probation, and seal the fate of the world. It will be a judicial, and not a merciful coming—a coming as a Judge, and not as a Saviour—a coming in robes of vengeance, and not in those of salvation—a coming to destroy, and not to save the wicked. This is the uniform representation of Scripture. But we have express and multiplied declarations on the inspired pages, that, as preparatory to the reign of Christ, the wicked shall be destroyed. We can cite but few of these. "There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city."

Soon after, it is added by the prophet,"Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!" Numbers xxiv. 17, 19, 23. "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." [This God says he will do, though the heathen and people, with their kings and rulers, conspire together to prevent it.] "Ask of me, and I' shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" [all that oppose his reign.] "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Ps. ii. 6, 8, 9. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." Isaiah xxiv. 21—23. Christ says, when he returns with the kingdom, he will thus command respecting the opposers of his reign,— But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me." Luke xix. 27. At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when the reign of Christ is introduced, it is exclaimed by the elders in heaven,— And the nations were angry, and ྃ་་

thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, *** and that thou shouldest destroy them that destroy the earth." These texts, though a few of many touching this point, prove beyond all doubt that the overthrow and destruction of the enemies of God will be preparatory to the reign of Christ. I am aware that multitudes of good and benevolent Christians are hoping better things for the world; are hoping. that the promised reign will be preceded by the conversion, and not the destruction of the world. This is a good hope in itself, but, what is its foundation? What promise, what prophecy, what signs, what prospects justify it? Has God so spoken?—do the tendencies of things favor it?—do his providences indicate it? Look at the world at this ad-, vanced period—in this age of moral and religious enterprise—of high zeal and glowing hope of success—this age of light and truth, and great moral and religious tendencies; and what is there to encourage? What advances upon Satan's territory are made? What conquests achieved? Is it not a mournful fact, that, with all these advantages, the church does not keep pace, in her progress, with the increase of the world's population? No wonder that a minister of this city, in a recent missionary discourse, was constrained to say, "that, at this rate, it would take ages on ages to convert the world."⁕ But

what prospect of a better rate? God has not promised it, but predicted the reverse. The world will wax worse and worse till Christ come to reign. He will find it as it was in the days of Noah and Lot. Then those shall be destroyed that destroy the earth.

Another event will be, the resurrection of all who have died in faith, from the beginning of time. This event, also, as all must allow, is, in Scripture, connected with the personal coming. See 1 Cor. xv. 22, 23. 1 Thess. iv. 14—17. And in prophecy it is connected with Christ's reign. In Ezekiel xxxvii. 12, 13, it is said,—"Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves." It is added, verses 24, 27, "And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall have one Shepherd: they also shall walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes and do them. My tabernacle shall also be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." This cannot take place before Christ comes; for, 1. There is to be no restoration until that time. 2. By David, here, all understand Christ to be intended. 3. The tabernacle of God is not to be with men, until the new earth is created. See Rev. xxi. 3. The language, then, must

denote a literal resurrection. When Michael (who is Christ) stands up to reign, according to Daniel xii. 1, 2, the resurrection is to occur. "And many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Here, as in many cases in prophecy, two events, though to occur at different periods, are grouped together as though really connected. Subsequent revelations show their order as to time. Though this may be disputed, one thing must be clear, and that is all that is material in this case, that when Christ stands up to reign, the resurrection will take place. This the prophecy so declares. One other quotation must close the proof of this point. "And I saw thrones, and they 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 upon 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." Rev. xx. 4—6. No lan