Images de page
PDF
ePub

be any new exhibition of hieroglyphic emblems, fince things were to continue as they were before reprefented to the apoftle,) it conveys information, not only of the firft importance, but altogether differing from the past experience of mankind. Hitherto the church of Christ, ever fince its foundation, has been expofed to fluctua tions and to calamities. Hitherto the progrefs of fociety has been often obftru&ted: has been fometimes retrograde. Hitherto no period of time has been exempt from the fhock of revolutions and the profecution of hof tilities.

The words, which clofe the prophetic defcription that was last cited, are these (vii. 17), and God fhall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and this very expreffion occurs in ch. xxi, where St. John has given a striking representation of the millennium, a prefumption that both the descriptions are defigned for the fame period.

With respect, however, to the latter of the two de. scriptions it may be noted, previously to the allegation of the three principal verses, that it corresponds not in all respects to the introductory stage of that period, but to the state of things, which will, after a confiderable period has elapfed, be established. The new fymbolic heaven and new fymbolic earth the prophet announces in the first verse of ch. xxi, and the paffage has been already produced. The 3d, 4th, and 5th verses are thus expreffed And I heard a great voice out of heaven, faying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. And God himfelf fhall be with them, and be their God. And God fhall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there fhall be no more death, neither forrow, nor crying, neither fhall there be any more pain: for the former things

60 I will dwell among you, not otherwise than if I had fixed my ta 'bernacle in the midst of you.' Crellius in loc.

[blocks in formation]

are paffed away. And he that fat upon the throne faid, behold, I make all things new. And he faid unto me, write: for thefe words are true and faithful 1.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Because of this felicity,' fays Peganius, all former troubles will be forgotten. There will be no more 'plagues, nor fhall the Chriftians die an untimely death; but, after a long life, by a gentle change be translated into the life to come.' By the expreffion, there fhall be no more death, is fignified, fays Crellius, that there will be no more violent deaths; for those few, which fhall happen, will not be worthy of being included in the general account.In the Millennium,' fays Daubuz on this verfe, they fhall enjoy long the happy fruits of their holinefs, and exchange, as it were infenfibly, and without forrow, their mortal flesh with a fpeedy hope and affurance to receive for it an immortal ftate of life 2; and there fhall be no anticipated deaths be⚫fore the ufual courfe of nature.'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

62

[ocr errors]

Of the caufes, which, it may be expected, will, at a future diftant period, contribute to prevent a fudden and premature diffolution, it is not difficult to anticipate fome of the principal.

Human life will rarely be endangered by the poisons of the mineral, vegetable, or animal kingdoms; malignity will not adminifter them; accident will feldom stumble upon them; and, when they do touch the skin,

61 Of this verfe the former part implies, that this will be a ftate of things on earth, which was once in a far different condition; the latter, that it will affuredly arrive.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

62 In v. 7 it is declared, he that overcometh fhall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he fhall be my fun. On this verfe Peganius writes, the combat with flesh and blood, it is true, fhall not ceafe, but the victory to those, who are in earnest, shall not be painful.' Temptations there will be; but he who conquers them will enjoy not merely the happinefs, which this world can impart, but that richer and more permanent inheritance, referved for him in a higher sphere of action.

[merged small][ocr errors]

or enter the stomach, their fatal effects will generally be counteracted by the application of antidotes, which time. has difcovered to be little lefs than infallible. Beafts of prey will be extirpated; or they will be awed by the neighbourhood and by the power of man. The inhabitants of every city will fleep, unapprehenfive of the dagger of the affaffin; fuch as travel the public, and such as pursue the most private, road, will alike be fecure from the lawless affault of the robber; and thofe, who traverse the tracklefs ocean, will navigate their fhips, and conduct their traffic, without recurring to any measures of defence against the defperate enterprizes of the pirate. Capital punishments will be annulled. Maxims of false honour will no longer give birth to duelling, nor despair to fuicide. Men will not be facrificed, as obftinate heritics, or as expiatory victims, at the suggestion of the bigot or the fanatic. From fucceffive improvements in the ftructure and the management of fhips; from a more complete and accurate knowledge of feas, and rocks, and winds; from the practical precautions fuggefted by the great advances, which will doubtlefs be made in electricity; as well as from the ideas, which will generally prevail of the high value to be fet on human life, and the criminality of a wanton expofure of it to the hazard of deftruction; a hope may not irrationally be entertained, that the fury of the tempeft will be disarmed of half its force, that the lightning will lofe much of its terrors, and that, in confequence, the relics of fhip-wrecked veffels will fcarcely ever be caft even upon the most dangerous or the most commercial fhores. The torch of civil diffenfion and of domeftic treafon will be extinguished; and, the causes of the hoftility of nations being annihilated, or their interfering interefts being adjusted by mutual conceffion and amicable negotiation, no longer will thousands of the human race be collected to

gether

[ocr errors]

gether to flaughter each other, upon the field of battle,
or upon the bofom of the deep. Nor will a pacific be-
haviour be confined to thofe nations alone, which are
entitled civilized. The various tribes of favages, that in-
habit the lefs frequented climes, having undergone a
revolution in their manners and their fituation, will relin-
quifh the use of the arrow and the spear, the battle-ax
and the fcalping-knife. In the treatment of diseases, and
in the cure of wounds, ignorance and inexperience will
cease to be a fruitful fource of the deftruction of life;
and no longer will men be swept away in crowds by
those contagious diforders, which care and fkill are ca-
pable of remedying. Nor will they prematurely destroy
themselves by a courfe of debauchery, or by habits of

intoxication.

Sorrow and pain, alfo, in comparifon of the afcendant
they formerly had upon the globe, may be faid to be ex-
cluded from it; for with the former things, which are
passed away, with Bad Government and Falfe Religion,
not only war, difcord, and peftilence will, in a great
degree, be banished from the world; but alfo those
other evils which naturally flow from the fame fources,
floth and ignorance, hypocrify and perfecution, fuper
ftition and infidelity, exceffive poverty and intemperate
labour.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PrécédentContinuer »