the Pharisees a doctrine of transmigration. In the Book of Daniel (xii, 2) it is declared that both the righteous and wicked will be raised from the grave, although it is not certain whether the sacred writer at the moment has in mind the whole human race or only Israel. The New Testament teaches us that both the righteous and the wicked will be raised from the dead (John v, 28, 29 ; Acts xxiv, 15; Eev. xx, 11-15). The passages on this topic in the writings of Paid pertain chiefly to the con- sequences of redemption, and hence relate to the resur- rection of believers. The idea of a resurrection of the saints, and of their participation in a temporal, millen- nial reign of Christ, was early adopted, especially by Jewish Christians. In the Epistle of Barnabas (cir. 100) we find the rest of the seventh day (Gen. ii, 2, 3) symbolically interpreted, with the aid of Psa. xc, 4, and made to prefigure a rest of Christ and his saints, to con- tinue for a thousand years (ch. xv). The millennial theory was embraced in a sensuous form by Cerinthus (Eusebius, Ilist. Eccl. iii, 28 ; vii, 25). It is found in apocryphal books by Jews and Jewish Christians in the first age of the Gospel— in the Book of Enoch, in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, and in the Sibyl- line Books. It penetrated into the Gentile branch of the Church, and spread extensively. Papias, who is supposed to have been a contemporary of John the Apostle, is mentioned by Irenieus and Eusebius as an adherent of this doctrine. The colossal grapes which Papias supposed that the millennial days would provide suggest the idea which he entertained of this happy period. It is true that the Chiliastic doctrine wears a Judaic stamp, and arose, in some degree, from Judaic influences; but, as Dorner has observed, there is one marked distinction between the millenarian views of Christians and all Jewish theories of the Messianic kingdom. Christian millenarians unanimously consid- ered the earthly kingdom as limited in its duration, and as introductory to a spiritual and eternal state of being. The triumph of the Gospel through the agency of a present Redeemer was to be attended with the renova- tion of the earth, and to be succeeded by the everlasting, heavenly blessedness of the righteous, the proper sequel of the last judgment. Tracing down the history of the doctrine, we find that Justin Martyr (cir. 150) received it. In the dialogue with Trypho (c. 80), he says that he himself and " many others" hold that Jerusalem will be built again as a residence for Christ, with the patri- archs and saints. He says that there are " many of a pure and devout Christian mind who are not of the same opinion ;" but he adds, " I, and all other Christians whose belief is in every respect correct, know that there will be buth a resurrection of the flesh and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be rebuilt, adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, and others de- clare." Justin quotes in support of his opinion Isa. Ixv, 17 sq. ; Gen. ii, 2, in connection with Psa. xc, 3 ; Rev. XX, 4-6, and other passages. Irenasus is likewise a mil- lenarian. He speaks {Adv. Hmr. V, xxxiii, 2) of " the times of the kingdom," when the "righteous shall bear rule upon their rising from the dead ; when also the cre- ation, having been renovated and set free, shall fructify with an abundance of all kinds of food, from the dew of heaven and from the fertility of the earth." Here fol- lows the citation from Papias in regard to the colossal fruit of the vine. TertuUian advocated the same doc- trine. Notwithstanding the extensive spreading of the millenarian tenet, it would be a rash inference to assume that it was universal, or accepted as the creed of the Church. On this point Neander has good observations {Ch. Hist., Torrey's transl., i, 651). The first decided opponent of whom we have a knowledge was Cains, the Roman presbyter, about the year 200. The crass form in which Chdiasm entered into the heresy of Montanism contributed materially to the strengthening of the an- tagonism to millenarian views. The Alexandrian school opposed them with energy, particularly Origen, with wliose peculiar opinions it was inconsistent. Nepos, an
Egj'ptian 6ishop, about the middle of the 3d century, wrote, in defence of the doctrine, a work entitled A Confutation of the Alkgorists, by which name were des- ignated such as explained allegorically the passages on which the opinion of a millennium rested. This work, which acquired much reputation, was refuted with equal zeal and candor by Dionysius of Alexandria. It was still common, however, in the time of Jerome, who him- self was one of its opponents. But gradually the tenet which had so widely prevailed became obnoxious and proscribed. One great reason of this remarkable change of sentiment is to be found in the altered condition and prospects of the Church. Christians at first yearned for the reappearance of the Lord. Moreover, it was im- possible for them to raise their faith and hopes so high as to expect the conquest of the Roman empire by the moral power of the cross, independently of the personal and supernatural interposition of Christ. But as the Gospel made progress, the possibility and probability of a peacefid victory of the Christian cause over all its ad- versaries, by the might of truth and of the Spirit, gained a lodgment in the convictions of good men. It is be- lieved that Origen (b. 180, d. 254) is the first of the an- cient ecclesiastical writers to aflirm the practicableness of such a triumph of the Gospel through its own inher- ent efficacy. The Judaic and Judaizing associations of the millenarian opinion were not without a strong influ- ence in rendering it suspected and unpopular. Augus- tine's treatment of the subject marks an epoch. He says (Z>e Civitate Dei, xx, 7) that he had once held to a millenarian Sabbath ; nor does he consider the doc- trine objectionable, provided the joys of the righteous are figured as spiritual. But, proceeding to discuss the subject, he advocates the proposition that the earthly