of his sin and danger, than this? Consider it seriously—“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my Spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." What a tremendous sentence! Still, however, presenting a door of hope to the guilty, upon the destruction of his fleshly lusts; that so the body of sin being destroyed, he might not henceforth serve sin. Rom. vi. 6. And what poor sinner, that has any feeling left, but must be awfully affected with the above sentence? And, of course, powerfully excited to avail himself of the only means of escape; that is, the crucifying of the flesh with the affections and lusts-the mortifying of the deeds of the body. Now this is the very thing that the Apostle proposes as the end of the above process;-as the effect of the united procedure of the church, and himself, by the authority, and with the POWER (dunamei) of the Lord Jesus Christ;-and not by the power, or agency of Satan, or any such influence whatever,-except the fear of a participation in his infernal torments, or, in other words, the fear of hell, might alarm and terrify. In the mean time, however, I agree with you in rejecting A. Clark's paraphrase, and also with the reasus assigned for so doing. But cannot so easily coincide with your seemingly wishful application of the term "Satan" to the "powers that be ordained of God for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise and protection of them that do well;" and this for two reasons,-first, because the scripture styles them gods; "I said ye are gods." Second, because it would make the Magistrate a kind of church officer-an executor of its censures; and would thus be a direct appeal to physical force-the ultima ratio regum-and dernier resort of Popery. Yours, dear brother, very respectfully, THOMAS CAMPBELL. Prophetic Department. PROPHECIES-No. XIV. STRICTURES ON THE LAYMAN'S LAST EFFORT. Mr. Editor-I HAVE long been convinced, that the impatience of this age is wholly incompatible with proficiency in the study of prophecy: indeed, I apprehend that it precludes the possibility of any real progress in this deeply interesting science. Daniel, the Prophet, informs us, that it was in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, the Mede, that he understood, by books, "the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the Prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem;" and that he "set his face to the Lord God, to seek, by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes," until he received the light which he desired. One who reads the 25th chapter of Jeremiah, may think it strange that Daniel had not discovered, by books, sooner than the first year of Darius, the period of the Captivity; especially such a genius as the Layman, who is ever travailing in pain to be delivered of the same idea. The American family,-and, indeed, the European family of the present century-are deeply imbued with the go a-head policy of this era. The celerity and despatch of travelling by land and water, have infused into the public mind a locomotive spirit, which disdains the tardy move ments of the sloth, so essential to the analysis and investigation of the recondite and curiously wrapt up truths of prophecy. Scarcely one in a thousand of the graduates of this generation, can command patience enough to read through Newton's Principia; and, of our theologians and laymen, not one in a myriad can abstract and devote himself to that patient consideration of history and symbolics, essential to any discovery in the unfulfilled periods of New Testament prophecy.— Hence, since the beginning of the present century, we have not had one new idea on the whole subject. Indeed, I could name some two or three writers, who lived almost two centuries since, who seem to have furnished all the oil that has been burned, not only, sir, by your editorial corps, but by all their contemporaries and predecessors, down to your friend Bush, of New York; who affirms that the Millennium is past, and has overthrown the hope of some. Your brother Evangelists and Advocates, together with my dear brother M'Corkle; and their great leaders, Elias Smith and Elhanon Winchester, are but mere dilutors and retailers of imported spirits, manufactured by the Moors, and Medes, and Newtons, from the materials of the second, third, and twelfth centuries of Christian chronology. And the still greater misfortune is, that before they have travelled through the pages of even one of these, they have brought forth children-an untimely offspring, of much more expense than profit to the Christian household. These luminaries, Mr. Editor, affect to disparage my slow marches; neither understanding my object, which is already more than half gained in merely retarding their airy flight, and in bringing them down from the clouds and darkness with which they were clothing themselves as with a garment, under the apprehension that they were encircling themselves in the robes of light. My plan has been-first, to examine the fulfilled prophecies for data to interpret the unfulfilled: in the second place, to fix the dates of all the prophecies, that we might know what the immediate future after their delivery was; and then to examine the history of Christianity, from its birth till now, to see how much of it interprets the prophecies concerning it! When these three points would have been fully considered, we should then be only ready to commence an attempt to ascertain the order of events which are now rising to the horizon, or immediately to appear. But, sir, before I had finished my first chapter, the zeal of our lay brother was boiling over; and, unable to repress or suppress its fury, he broke silence, and again reiterated a new edition, neither much enlarged nor improved, of his literal figurative expositions. You, sir, intimated that should I and the Layman again enter into the arena, we should select some one point, and settle it on its own evidence, before we attempted a second; and, if I remember right, the point suggested was that on which our brother M'Corkle has, in the August number, introduced and argued. I am not sure that a discussion, such as you suggest, is either necessary or expedient: for it appears from the Layman's communication before us, that he has exhausted himself on the subject, not having a new idea in his last seven pages; and in confining the attention of the reader to his views, we should not greatly increase his stock of prophetic knowledge. It would seem better to go on with the plan I have proposed; provided only, your patience and that of your readers, were equal to the demands of the subject on hand-of which, I confess, I have some doubt. Meanwhile, however, I shall examine the last production of the Layman, and wait to hear from you before I proceed with my essay. But, sir, I will demand time if I am permitted to go on with the subject. Newton said that he spent thirty years in the study of chronology, and wrote his own system off sixteen times, with his own hand, before he was pleased with it. This impatient age, sir, can never produce a Newton on any subject. Who of us could spend thirty years in any study, or write an essay sixteen times over! A majority of our young-old men,-of our Editors and Preachers,-anticipate the proof, and publish their conclusions a year or two before they have examined the premises. Some of them indeed, proclaim the first half of a new idea, in eager expectancy that the other half will appear during the next moon. But not so our brother, the Layman; for he is fully ripe on the prophecies, and therefore only his dogmatic confidence-not his knowledge-has increased during the last year. But the point before us is, Does the prophecy in 2 Peter iii. import a true, proper, literal, and complete destruction of this globe by fire; or only of the population, or of a part of the population of the earth? I say, It does: the Layman says, It does not import a dissolution of the present system of nature. He insinuates that I have misrepresented him. Certainly not intending it: but I cannot see wherein he is misrepresented. He says he as truly believes in a deluge of fire as I do. I do not insinuate the contrary. But he says we differ not in the fact, but in the mission, or end of this deluge of fire. Well, be it so. What then? Is he mispresented? No: for he makes the people, the earth, to be dissolved and destroyed in this deluge, just as in the deluge of water the people, and not the earth, was destroyed. Perhaps he might go still farther, and admit "the cloud-capp'd towers, The gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples,"-"but not] But one thing is certain.-he admits not the dissolution of nature, or of the present heavens and earth; but laughs at the idea of "world-burning as intimated by Peter, and makes Isaiah a commentator on Peter, the Apostle. He asks, Was the earth or the people destroyed by the deluge of water? and thereby intimates that the people, and not the earth, will be destroyed by the deluge of fire. One thing is, however, gained, if not for the first time, certainly more clearly in his last essay than in any I recollect to have seen from his pen,-he admits a literal fire-a deluge of fire; but it is only to destroy the gee, meaning the people. He spends much of the article under review in exposing an effort to show, on philosophic principles, the possibility of such an event We had thought from his former speculation, that he denied the possibility of the event, and laughed at the idea of burning the ocean! I am pleased to find that he now laughs at an attempt to prove the impossibility of it. What a change for the better! Still he sceptically asks for a thus saith the Lord. Well, we give him a thus saith the Lord in the 3d chapter of 2d Peter: The Lord says by Peter, that "the world," (kosmos-people, not GEE,) that was in Noah's time, "being overflowed with water, perished"that is, the people perished; and that the heavens and the earth which are now, (ouranoi kai ke gee—not kosmos,but gee-not the people,but the earth which con tains them)-the present heavens and earth that were when Peter wrote, (not the people of any age)-"by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." The day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, and the burning of the heavens and the earth which are now, are contemporary, but not identical events. If this be denied, the Bible is, indeed, an uninteiligible record. But this is not all: it is still farther explained in the 10th verse. "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise," (is this the government over the people, or the literal and visible skies-atmos phere.!) and the elements sball melt with fervent heat." Is not this a dissolution of nature! In the Greek gibberish, at which the Layman scowls, it is dissolution-The elements shall be dissolved with intense heat-The earth also-(not kosmos, the world— but GEE)-the arth also, and the works that are upon it, shall be burned up, or rather burned down. The burning down has for its subject both the earth and the works of man upon it. Can any language be plainer? I verily believe human speech never was more definite than in this passage. The Apostle immediately adds, Seeing, then, that nature shall be dissolved-yes, "Seeing, then, that all these things"-(the heavens, the earth, and all the works of man)-"shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought Christians to be!" Not content with this, he repeats it again, verse 12th-Anticipating, and anxiously desiring the coming of that day, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall dissolve with intense heat!" Language fails to prove any thing, if this does not teach the Layman that he rashly and inconsiderately laughs at the idea of "world burning"-at the dissolution of nature. After this, Peter says, come new heavens and a new earth; not, indeed, the figurative new heavens and new earth of Isaiah, but the new heavens and the new earth of Him who in the Apocalypse says, "Behold I create all things new." John, in the Apocalypse, saw new heavens and a new earth, but no sea after the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Thus, Peter and John harmonize in their statements concerning the fiery deluge, the final judgment, and the new creation: see chapters xx. and xxi. of the vision and prophecy. Isalah speaks of new heavens and a new earth, In the 17th verse of the 65th chapter of his prophecy, and also in the 22d verse of the 66th chapter. But there is a figurative heaven and earth, and figurative new heavens and earth as well as literal. It is an assumption perfectly gratuitous, to represent Isaiah and Peter as speaking of the same thing. As well might any one say that the kingdom of heaven, in the lips of Jesus, always means his kingdom on earth, or his future and eternal kingdom. He uses the phrase "kingdom of heaven" both in respect to his church below and his church above. For example: At one time he says, "Not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven." This evidently means the future state of felicity. And again, he often says, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," meaning the new institution. This being clear and indisputable, why assume that Peter and Isaiah speak of the same operations and works, because they use some part of the same style! One thing we have proved, as we imagine,—that Peter speaks of the final dissolution of nature at the final judgment of the world and perdition of ungodly men, and not of some new dispensation of limited duration; nor of some state that is to give place to another. We are constrained to regard this prophecy of Peter as respecting a dissolution of nature, and not of a dispensation in the Layman's sense of the word. It is true, a dispensation must close when the constitution of our planet is dissolved; but this prophecy terminates on the dissolution of nature, and not on the finale of a special dispensation. This will be the end of the human family-the ultimate destiny of the progeny of Eve-the last day of time. No change will ever take place in the new heavens and new earth. They shall remain for ever. Righteous men shall dwell in them. God will make his abode with them. They shall be ever with the Lord. There will be no Millennium after the accomplishment of this prophecy-no thousand years; but an eternity of bliss. The fortunes of Christianity will have been completed before the new heavens and the new earth are created. If, then, the Layman cannot find a new dispensation between the present and the 3d chapter of 2d Peter, he will never find one after it, but the eternal age of ages. And on this I shall repose for the present, or until I hear from you, Mr. Editor. A REFORMED CLERGYMAN. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. EVERY thing in the condition of mankind pronounces the approach of some great crisis for which nothing can prepare us but the diffusion of knowledge, probity, and the fear of the Lord. While the world is impelled with such violence in opposite directions-while a spirit of giddiness and revolt is shed upon the nations, and the seeds of imitation are thickly sown, the improvement of the mass of the people will be our grand security; in the neglect of which, the politeness, the refinement, and the knowledge accumulated in the higher orders, weak and unprotected, will be exposed to most imminent danger, and perish like a garland in the grasp of popular fury.- Robert Hall. THE MILLENNIAL HARBINGER, NEW SERIES. VOLUME II. -NUMBER XII. BETHANY, VA. DECEMBER, 1838. ADDRESS, DELIVERED TO THE STUDENTS OF FLORENCE ACADEMY, WASHINGTON COUNTY, PA-AT THEIR REQUEST. THE RANK AND DIGNITY OF MAN. In there be any common ground on which philanthropists can meet, deliberate, and co-operate, despite of all the political and religious creeds, feuds, and parties, which the corrupt selfishness of the human heart has devised, matured, and perfected, that sacred and ever-verdant spot is the necessity and excellency of education. On the nature, extent, means, and modes of education, as on all other subjects, we may have different thoughts and theories; but on the necessity and utility of the thing itself, but one opinion obtains in all civilized society. That the human mind, on its first awakening into life, is, as respects knowledge, or the ideas of which it is composed, a perfect cart blanche, is now a well established article in the catholic faith of all mental and moral philosophers. That it is also one of the most suscipient, ductile, and pliant subjects in universal being, is almost, if not altogether, universally admitted; and that in early youth it may, by the plastic hand of rational education, be shaped and modelled after any dialect of thought, speech, or action, is fast rising into equal credit amongst the most profound thinkers in both the Old World and the New. Still, while we lend a very ready assent to those canonized and catholic opinions and theories of the formative influence of education and early associations, called circumstances, we contend that there is, distinct from this education, something to be educated-something to be formed and trained; and that man, intellectual and moral, is neither the sport of nature, nor the |