31 JULY 1830, Page 15

LITERARY SPECTATOR.

THE MILLENNIUM.*

Tars is a very able work, on subjects of great interest to Chris- tians. In noticing it, we shall invert the order of its subjects, and notice first what Dr. RUSSELL treats of last.

In his -proofs of the Apostolical Institution of Episcopacy, we do not think he has been so apparently successful as in the other ar- guments on which he enters ; nor do we consider it of so much importance. It would he of small consequence to existing esta- blishments to show that there were Bishops in the days of the Apostles, unless we could at the same time show that the duties and the remuneration of modern Bishops were similar. To those who object to his Grace of Armagh enjoying the revenue of a princi- pality, it is a poor answer to say that in Greek the offices of the modern millionaire and of the grandson of Lois are expressed by the same word. Episcopacy is to be defended on the fitness of its application to the object of its institution. The Church may now require a different machinery from what it did in Timothy's days, or it may require a similar machinery ; and in either case he will proceed most safely, who argues for its adoption from the cha- racter of the work it has to perform. To the ordination of Bishops Dr. Russell, adverts but slightly. Presbyters, strictly so called, did not, lie observes, in any ancient church, exercise the right of ordination ; and what does this fact prove for any modern church ? Was not the Church of Scotland, or the Church of England at its institution, as capable of making rules for its own guidance as the Church of Jerusalem ?

Leaving this sermon, we come, by our backward route, to one of more value—that on Justification by Faith. Dr. RUSSELL does not seem quite correct in his definition of the term justification. It is, as he observes, borrowed from courts of law ; but we doubt whether it be properly restricted to " those who have been de- clared innocent, and to those for whom the penalty, from some consideration, has not been exacted." To justify, in law, we un- derstand to apply to those who pay the penalty, mediately or im- mediately, and to them only. The innocent are acquitted. If the penalty of the divine law were temporal and finite, the sinner who suffered would be as much justified as the believer for whom another had suffered.* This is, however, a minor consideration— the question is, how far the doctrine of the Calvinists, or as COWPER would have had them called, the Paulistsi'—that men are justified by faith—is founded on Scripture. Dr. RUSSELL shows, not unsuccessfully, that the .deeds of the law, mentioned by St. Paul, can mean only the deeds of the Ceremonial Law ; that in addressing Christians, the Apostle always speaks of their justification as something passed ; and that the term jus- tification, as he uses it, expresses a quality or condition of the whole church. We think that these points may be con- ceded, and still the doctrine may remain. Those who hold that the Christian is justified by faith alone, have never dreamed of denying the efficacy of a life of religion and morality, as an evidence of faith. What they contend for is this—that while a sinner underlies the penalty of the Moral Law, his deeds, how righteous-seeming soever, are all tainted, more or less, and ask forgiveness rather than acceptance—that he is in the con- dition of a debtor, against whom an overwhelming balance has already been accumulated, and who is ever adding to it by reason of his incapacity to pay in full for what his daily wants require. Before he can rank as a Christian at all, they maintain that the original debt must be satisfied, and the constantly recurring defi- ciencies be supplied by faith in the atonement. The applica'ion of that faith is justification. It is without the deeds of the Moral Law, because in order of time it precedes them ; it is past in re- ference to any point of the Christian's progress, because it forms the goal from which he starts. That St. Paul, or any one else who addresses the Church in the sense in which he addresses it, as the " beloved of God," may by justification mean to express a condition or quality of the whole, may, we think, be freely granted by the most strenuous advocate for its applicability to the individuals of which the whole is made up. On the doctrine of Election, the argument of Dr. RUSSELL is of the same kind,—the term is not used in Scripture in the sense in which it is used by the Calvinistic divines. The doctrine of election, and the doctrine of reprobation which is involved in it, are philosophical rather than Christian; and if we admit of a First Cause at all, it is not easy to get rid of them. Nor can we see how the fact of their not being expressed by any one word in the writings of the.Apostles and Evangelists should shake our belief in the doctrines. It has been argued that they are opposed to the attributes of the Divine being •, but who is to limit or define those attributes ? When we speak of goodness in man, we have knowledge of the language we employ; but what is meant bygoodness in God ? Perhaps there are no attributes that we can properly ascribe to Deitybut intelligence and power. Is the existence of a being omni- scient and omnipotent compatible with that contingency for which the opponents of the doctrine of election contend ? Contingency is something not foreseen ; or, if foreseen, not provided for. How far the philosophical doctrine of election tends to fatalism, * Discourses on the Millennium, the Doctrineof Election, Justification by Faith, and on the.Historical Evidence for the Apostolical Institution of Episcopacy. By the Rev. Michael Russell, LL.D. author of "A Connection of Sacred and Profane History." &c. Edinburgh, 1830. * So true is this of the legal term, that to justify. in old law language, means to execute criminally.

. t Bayley's Life. we shall not inquire. We would only ask, of it or any tither, is it true ? The consequences of truth can never be injurious. With respect to its confirmation by Scripture, we may observe, that if it cannot be shown that it is contradicted there, all that a Chris- tian can well require is yielded. There are many truths that the human intellect may attain to by its own natural energy ; and such truths are not the proper subjects of revelation, which is meant to teach a higher wisdom than that to which man can of himself rise to. The doctrine of election, it is contended by Dr. RUSSELL, leads in belief to Socinianism, in practice to careless- ness and vice. The first objection is new, the second very old.. As we have just observed, if the doctrine be true, no consequences ought to prevent our embracing it. Are they fairly stated by Dr. RUSSELL ? Geneva is now a Socinian church—exclusively so ; perhaps many of the lineal descendants of the Puritans are So- cinians ; many, we doubt not, are Romanists ; some, it may be, are Mahometans. Is Geneva Socinian because it was Calvinistic? If some have fallen off from Calvinism, have not others joined it? Of the the Church of England, about one-sixth is Calvinistic, or, as it is termed, Evangelical ; all the Whitfield Methodists are so, and a very large portion of the other Dissenters. Of the Church of Scotland, one half is Calvinistic ; the Scottish Dissenters are so almost without exception. The Evangelical doctrines are indeed so agreeable to the people of Scotland, that, as Dr. RUSSELL mast know, a popular means a Calvinistic divine.* To the objection, that a belief in election must make a man set down with folded arms, because no act of his can render his justification more complete, or make him rush into all manner of vice because no short coming can be so great that the merits of Christ cannot supply it, may be opposed the simple fact that the belief in the doctrine does no such thing. No class nor denomi- nation of Christians are more uniformly marked by the outward signs and tokens of their high calling, than those who are termed Calvinistic ; and so far are they from sluggishness or unconcern in the performance of religious duties, th:.t almost all the societies for the propagation of the Gospel and the diffusion of the Scrip- tures have been instituted under their auspices, and are mainly supported by their contributions.

We have now arrived at the largest and most curious discourse in the volume—that in which Dr. RUSSELL discusses the question of the Millennium. On this subject we shall allow him to speak in his own elegant and forcible language.

" In most cases, the history of an opinion affords the best explanation of its import, as well as of the authority on which it has been received ,by successive generations. With respect to the Millennium, indeed-, it must be acknowledged that the doctrine concerning it stretches back into an antiquity so remote and obscure, that it is impossible to fix its origin or to define the grounds upon which it first became an article of belief or of speculation. The tradition, that the earth as well as the moral and religious state of its inhabitants were to undergo a great change at the end of six thousand years, has been detected in the writings of Pagans, Jews, and Christians. It is found in the most ancient of those commen- taries on the Old Testament which we owe to the learning of the Rab- binical school ; and, although the arguments by which it is recommended to our belief will not make a deep impression upon any intelligent reader, they nevertheless leave no room for doubt that the notion of a Millen- nium preceded by several centuries the introduction of the Christian Faith.

" For example, because in the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which, when used as a numeral, denotes a thousand, happens to occur six times, it was inferred by the Cabalists, that this portion of the visible universe was to terminate, or at least to suffer a complete change, when six millennial periods should have performed their revolution. Again, because six days were em- ployed by Almighty God in the creation of this globe, after which he rested on the seventh ; and as with Him one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day ; it was concluded by the same class of divines, that the world was to continue only six thousand years, and that, upon the completion of this period, there would succeed a Sabbath of corresponding length,—a Millennium of rest and peace, and of unin- terrupted enjoyment.

" It is not a little remarkable, that a belief of this singular notion has been traced in the Sibylline Oracles, in the poems of Hesiod, in the work ascribed to Darius Hystaspes the king of the Medes, and in the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, the celebrated founder of Egyptian learning and science. Plato quotes from Orpheus the same mystical doctrine ;. thus handing down to more recent times the conviction of the earlier ge- nerations of human race, that the earth which had been given to them for a habitation was to continue in its present form during only six

millennial ages, and was doomed in the seventh to be dissolved, or at

least purified by fire, and thereby rendered fit for the residence of a more refined order of beings. The Great Year of the ancient philosophers seems to have had a reference to the same mysterious event. The orb which we inhabit was regarded by them as a thing which would grow old, and which might stand in need of renovation. Even to the eye of science there appeared certain indications of an established order in phy- sical events, which, in due course, would restore the pristine vigour of the elements, and bring back to Nature the harmony, which, it was generally imagined, had been lost or interrupted. The number seven was associated in the minds of ancient sages with ideas of a sacred and em- blematical character ; and on this ground it was expected, that, when six thousand years of toil and disorder should have passed away, the seventh millennium would usher in a happier series of events, re-establish the equilibrium of the heavenly bodies, invest our earth with a more genial atmosphere, renew in its soil the original powers of fertility, and cover its surface with scenes of imperishable beauty and delight.

" It is no part of my undertaking to determine how far the wise men * An old and excellent friend of ours, now no more, used to tell a laughable anecdote on this head. He had been suspected of a leaning to Arminianism, or of being a Rationalist ; and much anxiety in consequence was felt by the flock be was called on to superintend. He put their fears to flight, for he was a sound divine as welt as a worthy man. On the Monday after his first sermon had been deli- vered, he was accosted in his walks by a decent old mam.who, after thanking bins tor bis able discourse, went on—"Oh, Sir the story geed that you were a Ra- tional preacher ; but glad mn I, and a' the pariah, to find that you are no' a Ea-

tialgikreacbes." . - - •

The further history of the doctrine of a Millenium is traced with great clearness down to the fifth century ; from which period it seems to have lost much of its interest, until the Reformation, bringing forth things new and old, led to its revival. The object of Dr. RUSSELL is to show-first, that the notion of a Millennium had its origin among the Jews and Pagans, long previous to the introduction of Christianity ; and secondly, that it was always ac- companied with the persuasion that the world in its present state was to continue only six thousand years. He has made out both these points very satisfactorily ; but we rather fear the Millen- narians will say he has gone by the question, not to it. The ques- tion which modern divines attempt to settle has no reference to the notions of Jews or of Pagans, or of the early Fathers. It is not whether a period of general rest, physical or moral, or both, was rightly anticipated before Christ, or after him, by commenta- tors on the Old and New Testament, or by poets and philosophers, who knew of neither ; nor does it respect the advent of that period after six thousand or sixty thousand years. The plain question to be determined is—does the Scripture authorise the notion of a Mil- lennium ? There are two things, we conceive, required in respect to revealed truths—first, we are called on by the rules of evidence to ascertain what is revelation ; secondly, we are called on by the rules of sound interpretation to ascertain the meaning of what has been proved to be so. Admitting that the New Testament, as it comes to our hands, is inspired, and that on every principle of fair and candid criticism, it announces a certain tact, we are not entitled to question that fact, because the same or something analogous had been believed by Jews or Pagans, or because it had been mixed up with certain other facts whose truth may be questionable. This would be an inversion of all sound interpretation—a correction of divine by natural knowledge; We might as reasonably attempt to settle the position of the pole-star by the aberrations of the needle. Is the Millennium announced in Scripture ? We speak witivdif- fidence, but if the 20th chapter of Revelations point not to some- thing very like it, what does it point to ? Dr. RUSSELL .observes that the inspiration of the Scripture writers did not extend to mere matters of human knowledge ; that their philosophical mistakes in no respect invalidate their testimony ; that the illustrations they employ are to be distinguished from the truths they seek to illus- trate. To all this we agree ; nor do we much object to the rule he lays down respecting the Apostle Paul in particular; who, borrowing many of his arguments from Rabbinical literature, is, he contends, to he interpreted with corresponding latitude. In all points, lite- rary or rhetorical, we are, we presume, to read the Scriptures as we would read any other volume, with a proper distinction between the scaffolding and the edifice which is meant to be erected by its aid. There is one rule, however, laid down by the Doctor as paramount to every other, which we do not wholly understand—" never to give countenance to any con- clusion which is clearly inconsistent with the revealed attributes of the Almighty." What is meant by a conclusion from revelation, which is inconsistent with revelation ? What part of Scripture is it that possesses such a pre-eminence as to constitute it into a stand- ard by which to try the purity of the rest ? " In all your sermons and discourses," says Jeremy TAY Lori, as quoted by Dr. RUSSELL, " speak nothing of God but what is honourable and glorious ; and impute not to him such things the consequents of which a wise and good man will not own." Certainly not—but what has this admonition to do with the interpretation of Scripture ? How can that which is revealed of God be other than honourable and glo- rious ? It is our duty to deduce our conclusions from Scripture justly, and with a full knowledge of our premises ; there is and there can be no other rule. But neither the ignorance of many nor the learning of some of the inspired writers, nor any of the /Ides of interpretation which he lays down, have any concern with St. John's announcement, to which we have already alluded ; and therefore, unless Dr. RUSSELL is prepared to reject the book of Revelations altogether, we cannot see how this doctrine is to be set aside. Nor can we look on the strange interpretations of St. John's text, in which many have indulged, and the ignorant pre- Sumption with which they have proceeded to calculate the period of the great event that he foretells, as in the slightest degree af- fecting the general question. The end of the world has been the subject of as many calculations as the commencement of the Mil- lennium; but Dr. RUSSELL will not maintain, because these have hitherto proved false, that the world will never end, any more than he will maintain that the announcements in Scripture of a final judgment are unworthy of a reception, because it is a notion that has been entertained by Jews and Gentiles as well as Chriatiani, and is no more peculiar to the Bible than that of a Millennium. Dr: RUSSELL presents his readers with some very curious ex- tracts of the singular speculations indulged in by men not un7 who flourished in the Pagan nations of the ancient world borrowed from the Jews of their own age, or whether they drew all their materials from the streams of a tradition still nearer the original fountain of knowledge. It is sufficient to have stated, upon grounds which no competent judge will call in question, the opinion which prevailed long before the birth of Christ, relative to a momentous change which was supposed to await the -earth after the lapse of a determined period, not exceeding six thousand years. We find this expectation expressed by Chaldeans, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, by orators, by poets, and by philo- sophers; and the only difficulty we experience in this examination of -records, collected from the literature of ages and of nations at once so remote and unconnected, is to account for so great a unanimity of sentiment where we cannot discover any common source of informa- tion, nor any authority which so many different writers would consent to acknowledge in a conclusion of such extreme importance." learned in the latter question. We must find room for a couple of the shortest.

" Irenmus, for example, informs us, that some Elders who had seen John, the disciple of the Lord, relate, that they had heard from him that our Lord, speaking of these times—the times of the Millennium—said, the day shall come in which a single grain of wheat shall produce ten thou- sand ears, and each ear shall yield ten thousand grains, and each grain shall yield ten pounds of pure white flour ; and the other fruits, seeds, and plants, shall possess a corresponding productiveness.' "The day shall come,' says the same Father, in which vine shall grow, each having ten thousand branches, and each of these branches shall have ten thou- sand smaller branches, and each of these branches shall have ten thou sand twigs, and each of these twigs shall have ten thousand clusters of grapes, and each of these grapes being pressed, shall give twenty-five measures of wine. And when any of the Saints shall take hold of one of these clusters, another will cry out, I am a better duster, take me, and by me bless the Lord.' " President EDWARDS, the ingenious author of the treatise on Free Will, establishes the locale of the Universal Sabbath in Ame- rica. His reasons are curious :— " ' There are many things,' says he, that make it probable that this work will begin in America. It is signified that it shall begin in some very remote part of the world with which other parts have no communi- cation but by naviaation. " Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring my sons from far." It is exceeding manifest that this chapter is a prophecy of the prosperity of the Church in its most glorious state on earth in the latter days ; and I cannot think that any- thing else can be here intended but America by the isles that are afar off, from whence the first-born sons of that glorious day shall be brought— What is chiefly intended is not the British isles, nor any isles near the other continent ; this prophecy therefore seems plainly to point out America. God has already put that honour upon the other continent that Christ was born there literally, and there made the purchase of redemption. So, as Providence observes a kind of equal distribution of things, it is not unlikely that the great spiritual birth of Christ and the most glorious application of redemption is to begin in this." There are several which seem to me to argue that the sun of righteousness, the sun of the new heavens and the new earth, when he rises, shall rise in the west, contrary to the course of things in the old heavens and earth. And if we may suppose that this glorious work of God shall begin in any part of America, I think, if we consider the circumstances of the settlement of New England, it must needs appear the most likely of all the American colonies to be the place where this work shall principally take its rise.' " On the whole, we have been pleased, if not convinced, by Dr. RUSSELL'S book ; which does great honour to the literary talents of the Reverend author, and to the community of which lie is a respected member. Our observations will, we hope, be received with the allowance due to laymen, not much conversant with the deep questions which the Doctor agitates ; we have expressed them with the diffidence which becomes laymen when treading on sacred ground.