~ Ohriat. 8. It is equally clear that the millenninm will not be a period of uittnixed good, nor will it be a time when the sait,ta can dit1pense with the W'QfHt4JoAI,. Compared with things as they are now, the earth will be still and at rest; there will; be a eabbatic calm, bnt it will not be heaven. Evil will be subdued, but far from extinct. The po88ibility of an outbreak will exist still. 4. There will also still be death in the world. 'l'he deathless state enters not in till the new heavens and the new earth appear, and Paradise is rt'gainud. Not till then will there be "no more eane." 5. The Church will still have to he prepared for Wl\r. Obviously, if the state of things on earth during the millennium were one of universal righteousness, there would be no nations to be deceived. Still less can we suppose that, after the resurrec- tion from the dead, the glorified saints are to go about, sword in han,l, to the holy war. It is a trial to our faith to read of an inrnsh of evil after a prolonged period of com- parative calm. Scripture puts no such strain upon us; however, as that which ·is mtolved in the pre-millennial theory, viz. that, even after Paradise is regained, Satan will rush in and lead on in rr- the hosts of evil to a final attaok.1 II~ WHAT DO WB GATHER FBO:11 Solm-rUBB CONCERNING '!'BIB ONSET OJI' ILL AFTK!f 'l'liR IULLiiNNIUM? 1. U is necessary. There is a little word in the third verse of chiai chapter of which we are too apt to lose si6ht. It i11 the word "must." "After dt&t, he mmt be looaed • little season." MW't I Why? We are not told. · But • ought to take note of the word "must" for all that. Whal· this hidden necessity in the gover11ment of God may be for the permission of suoh a di~ast-er, is all dark to- l1ll. But we believe it, because the mouth of ·the Lord bath spoken it. 2. It will lJt, a fierce onset. It will ,be after the old kind, by ••deception'' (ver. 8). What wiU be the speeial form of deceit he will use we are not told, and conjecture is useless. But it will be so successful that, with a strange unanimity,a great host will band together, and' attack the saints of God. Wtl do not dream of a tnaterial struggle, but one resembling last which we are wagi1og every day with principalities, with powers, with the world- rult'?I! of this ,'\arkness. 3. rt will he a re,<trict.ed struggle. Satan will be bouud by time even when luoseo a11 to space. The sameH.-,ud that bouud retains its power even when the evil one is loosed. · Not even At the worst of times is the world given over to tlu, devil. Nol nor ever will be. Even when the water.floods 11re at their height, and the billows are ,rngry, Jehovah rides upon the 11torm, 4. It wil\ be for a littk Bell.SOD, Not onty restricted, but within Tery narrow limi~ The conflict may be sharp, bnt it will be short. 5. It will be suicidal. Satan will overshoot the mark, and fall into his own snare. He aims at deceiving the nations, and succeeds in leading ihem on to a guilty war ; and lo l when engaged therein, we read that " fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them." 6. The str~gle will be even serviceable to the Church ; for nut only will it nweal more and more the majesty of God in defending his own cause, but it will end in the hurling of Satan to a lower depth than before. In eh. xii. it -we read that the devil was east down to earth. In oh. xx. a be l11 oaat into the abyss. Bttt in v1:r. 10 he is· cast into the lake of fire. This would 8881D to mean extinction, if such a conclusion were not forbidden .by the closing phrase of the tenth verse. What it means we dare not presume to &'\y, except that it certainly conveys the impression that his power for. evil over mankind is brought to an end. Hence: 7. 'l'he struggle will be-the last. If the reader has followed the ~an of the book and our exposition of it, he will have noted how one after another M the foes of God and man are destroyed. There were four. (1) The drflgon- &tan. (2) The beast. (3) The false prophet. (4.) Babylon the great. We have noted the fall of the fourth, the third, the second. Only the first was left, and now he la thrown into the lake of fire. After this, no foe is seen outside .of man. Only men have now to be dealt with, and these have, whether they be good or ba,i, " So let all thine enemies perish,() Lord; but_ let them that love thee be as the sun when he cometh forth in his might I" '· 11[. WHAT ABB THE BELATED TRUTHS TO WHICH THIS PASSAGE POINTS Ufl? 1, .Jn the light of the viewH of the millennium and of what ia to follow, two sFts qf apparsntly ·oonfticting passag1111/all into place. There is one set which indicares rhat, as the result of the first coming of Christ, all the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord; 1 Bee 11ome of the extraordinary phaaes of pre-millennial theories in Jameson'• •<Jom.
~to.ry' OIL ::a:; 1--15.) THE REVELATION OF ST. JOH.N ".l'HE i>IVINE. 4~