We preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul. This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven. Acts 1: 11. THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF THE MILLENNIUM. A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BAPTIST MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE IN BRANTFORD, ONT., OCTOBER 15th, 1878. Perhaps no other Biblical subject has been the occasion of greater variety of opinion, or has given scope to more fanciful interpretations, and wing to wilder speculations than this one. Early in my religious experience in old Scotland I learned from the erroneous theories into which not a few good men had wandered to be specially cautious in this department of Theology, and, since my acquaintance with religious society and literature on this side of the Atlantic, I have become still more cautious in the adoption of theories and in the expression of opinions. Indeed, I have avoided making the "Second Advent" a specialty of study, and have therefore no well defined Millennial Theory-no scheme of events and dates corresponding with prophetic figures and predictions to offer. For twenty-five years I have read the Bible through, bit by bit, a good many times, and have, I believe, learned there that the Messiah and His saints shall reign on this earth; and no simple mind can, I think, read the Bible carefully without fairly arriving at the same conclusion from numerous passages. 1. WHAT THE OLD TESTAMENT SAYS ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM. I. Ancient prophecy and type plainly and repeatedly announce that the Messiah is to be a king as well as a sacrifice, a ruler as well as a sufferer. If the prophecies describing Christ's sacrifice contained in the xxii. Psalm and liii. chapter of Isaiah were fulfilled on earth, why should not these contained in Psalms ii., lxxii. and lxxxix., describing His royal authority? If the typical sacrifices of the brazen altar were followed by their real antitype on Calvary, why should not the typical royalty of David and Solomon's throne be also followed by its appropriate antitype on earth? My learned brethren are aware that the ancient Jewish rabbis, finding the prophets speak in terms equally strong of the Messiah's exaltation and humiliation, taught that there were two different Messiahs promised in prophetic Scripture; one a sufferer who should appear in the event of Israel's persistence in rebellion against God's law, the other a king and a conqueror in the event of Israel's obedience and piety. Now, if we are not prepared to |