2. To the great degree of benevolence, virtue and wisdom, which all will then have and exercise, with respect to the affairs of this world. There will then be no war to impoverish, lay waste and destroy. This has been a vast expense and scourge to mankind in all ages, by which poverty and distress have been spread among all nations; and the fruits of the earth, produced and stored by the hard labour of man, have been devoured, and worse than lost. Then there will be no unrighteous persons, who shall be disposed to invade the rights and property of others, or deprive them of what justly belongs to them; but every one shall securely sit under his own vine, and fig tree; and there shall be none to make him afraid. Then there will be no lawsuits, which now, in civilized nations, are so vexatious and very expensive of time and money. Then, by the temperance in all things, which will be practised, and the prudent and wise care of the body, and by the smiles of Heaven, there will be no expensive, distressing, desolating pestilence and sickness; but general health will be enjoyed; by which much expense of time and money will be prevented.

The intemperance, excess, extravagance and waste, in food and raiment, and the use of the things of life, which were before practised, will be discarded and cease in that day. By these, a great part of the productions of the earth, which are for the comfort and convenience of man, are now wasted and worse than lost, as they are, in innumerable instances, the cause of debility of body, sickness and death. But every thing of this kind will be used with great prudence and economy; and in that way, measure and degree, which will best answer the ends of food, drink and clothing, and all other furniture, so as to be most comfortable, decent and convenient, and in the best manner furnish persons for their proper business and duty. Nothing will be sought or used to gratify pride, inordinate, sensual appetite or lust: So that there will be no waste of the things of life: Nothing will be lost.

And at that time, the art of husbandry will be greatly advanced, and men will have skill to cultivate and manure the earth, in a much better and more easy way, than ever before; so that the same land will then produce much more than it does now, twenty, thirty, sixty, and perhaps an hundred fold more. And that which is now esteemed barren, and not capable of producing any thing, by cultivation, will then yield much more, for the sustenance of man and beast, than that which is most productive now : So that a very little spot will then produce more of the necessaries and comforts of life, than large tracts of land do now. And in this way, the curse which has hitherto been upon the ground, for the rebellion of man, will be in a great measure removed.

There will also doubtless, be great improvement and advances made in all those mechanic arts, by which the earth will be subdued and cultivated, and all the necessary and convenient articles of life, such as all utensils, clothing, buildings, &c. will be formed

and made, in a better manner, and with much less labour, than they now are. There may be inventions and arts of this kind, which are beyond our present conception. And if they could be now known by any one, and he could tell what they will be, they would be thought by most, to be utterly incredible and impossible; as those inventions and arts, which are now known and familiar to us, would have appeared to those who lived before they were found out and took place.

It is not impossible, but very probable, that ways will yet be found out by men, to cut rocks and stones into any shape they please; and to remove them from place to place, with as little labour, as that with which they now cut and remove the softest and lightest wood, in order to build houses, fences, bridges, paving roads, &c. And those huge rocks and stones, which now appear to be useless, and even a nuisance, may then be found to be made, and reserved by him who is infinitely wise and good, for great usefulness, and important purposes. Perhaps there is good reason not to doubt of this. And can he doubt of it, who considers what inventions and arts have taken place in latter ages, which are as much an advance beyond what was known or thought of in ages before, as such an art would be, beyond what is now known and practised? The art by which they removed great stones, and raised them to a vast height, by which they built the pyramids in Egypt; and that by which huge stones were cut and put into the temple of Jerusalem, is now lost, and it cannot be conceived how this was done. This art may be revived in the Millennium; and there may be other inventions and arts, to us, inconceivably greater and more useful than that. Then in a literal sense, The vallies shall be filled, and the mountains and hills shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth, to render travelling more convenient and easy, and the earth more productive and fertile.

When all these things are considered, which have now been suggested, and others which will naturally occur to them who at tend to this subject, it will appear evident, that in the days of the Millennium, there will be a fulness and plenty of all the necessaries and conveniences of life, to render all much more easy and comfortable, in their worldly circumstances and enjoyments, than ever before, and with much less labour and toil: And that it will not be then necessary for any men or women to spend all, or the greatest part of their time in labour, in order to procure a living, and enjoy all the comforts and desirable conveniencies of life. It will not be necessary for each one, to labour more than two or three hours in a day, and not more than will conduce to the health and vigour of the body. And the rest of their time they will be disposed to spend in reading and conversation, and in all those exercises which are necessary and proper, in order to improve their minds, and make progress in knowledge; especially in the knowledge of divinity: And in studying the scriptures, and in private and social and public worship, and attending on

public instruction, &c. When the earth shall be all subdued, and prepared in the best manner for cultivation, and houses and inclosures, and other necessary and convenient buildings shall be erected, and completely finished, consisting of the most durable materials, the labour will not be hard, and will require but a small portion of their time, in order to supply every one with all the necessaries and conveniences of life: And the rest of their time will not be spent in dissipation or idleness, but in business, more entertaining and important, which has been now mentioned.

And there will be then such benevolence and fervent charity in every heart, that if any one shall be reduced to a state of want by some casualty, or by inability to provide for himself, he will have all the relief and assistance that he could desire; and there will be such a mutual care and assistance of each other, that all worldly things will be in a great degree, and in the best manner common; so as not to be withheld from any who may want them; and they will take great delight in ministering to others and serving them, whenever, and in whatever ways, there shall be opportunity to do it.

2. In that day, mankind will greatly multiply and increase in number, till the earth shall be filled with them.

When God first made mankind, he said to them," Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish, (or fill) the earth, and subdue it."* And he renewed this command to Noah and his sons, after the flood, and in them to mankind in general. "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.Ӡ This command has never yet been obeyed by mankind; they have yet done but little, compared with what they ought to have done, in subduing and filling the earth. Instead of this, they have spent great part of their time and strength in subduing and destroying each other; and in that impiety, intemperance, folly and wickedness, which have brought the divine judgments upon them; and they have been reduced and destroyed in all ages by famine, pestilence and poverty, and innumerable calamities and evil occurrents; so that by far the greatest part of the earth remains yet unsubdued, and lies waste without inhabitants. And where it has been most subdued and cultivated and populous, it has been, and still is, far from being filled with inhabitants, so that it could support no more, except in a very few instances, if in any. An exact calculation cannot be made; but it is presumed that every man, who considers the things which have been mentioned above, will be sensible that this earth may be made capable of sustaining thousands to one of mankind who now inhabit it; so that if each one were multiplied to many thousands, the earth would not be more than filled, and all might have ample provision for their sustenance, convenience 60

VOL. II.

and comfort. This will not take place, so long as the world of mankind continue to exercise so much selfishness, unrighteousness and impiety as they do now, and always have done: But there is reason to think they will be greatly diminished, by their destroying themselves, and one another, and by remarkable divine judgments, which will be particularly considered in a following section.

But when the Millennium shall begin, the inhabitants which shall then be on the earth, will be disposed to obey the divine command, to subdue the earth, and multiply, until they have filled it; and they will have skill, and be under all desirable advantages to do it; and the earth will be soon replenished with inhabitants, and be brought to a state of high cultivation and improvement, in every part of it, and will bring forth abundantly for the full supply of all; and there will be many thousand times more people than ever existed before at once in the world. Then the following prophecy, which relates to that day, shall be fulfilled: "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I the Lord will hasten it in his time."'* And there is reason to think the earth will be then, in some degree, enlarged in more ways than can now be mentioned, or thought of. In many thousands, hundred of thousands, yea, millions of instances, large tracts now covered with water, coves and arms of the sea, may be drained, or the water shut out by banks and walls; so that hundreds of millions of persons may live on those places, and be sustained by the produce of them, which are now overflowed with water. Who can doubt of this, who recollects how many millions of people now inhabit Holland and the Low Counties, the greatest part of which was once covered with the sea, or thought not to be capable of improvement? Other instances might be mentioned.

Though there will be so many millions of millions of people on the earth at the same time, this will not be the least inconve nience to any, but the contrary; for each one will be fully supplied with all he wants, and they will all be united in love, as brethren of one family, and will be mutual helps and blessings to each other. They will die, or rather fall asleep, and pass into the invisible world; and others will come on the stage in their room. But death then will not be attended with the same calamitous and terrible circumstances as it has been, and is now; and will not be considered as an evil. It will not be brought on with long and painful sickness, or be accompanied with any great distress of body or mind. They will be in all respects ready for it, and welcome it with the greatest comfort and joy. Every one will die at the time, and in the manner which will be best for him and all with whom he is connected: And death will not bring distress on surviving relatives and friends; and they will rather reioice than mourn, while they have a lively sense of the wisdom

• Isai. Ix. 22.

and goodness of the will of God, and of the greater happiness of the invisible world, to which their beloved friends are gone ; and where they expect soon to arrive. So that in that day, death will in a great measure lose his sting, and have the appearance of a friend, and be welcomed by all as such.

S. In the Millennium, all will probably speak one language: So that one language shall be known and understood all over the world, when it shall be filled with inhabitants innumerable.

The whole earth was once, and originally of one language, and of one speech.* And the folly and rebellion of men was the occasion of their being confounded in speaking and understanding this one language, and the introduction of a variety of languages. This was considered as in itself a great calamity, and was ordered as such and it can be considered in no other light. Had men been disposed to improve the advantages of all speaking and understanding one language, to wise and good purposes, this diversity never would have taken place. And when men shall become universally pious, virtuous and benevolent, and be disposed to use such an advantage and blessing, as having one speech and language will be, for the glory of God and the general good, it will doubtless be restored to them again. This may easily and soon be done, without a miracle, when mankind and the state of the world shall be ripe for it. When they shall all become as one family in affection, and discerning and wisdom shall preside and govern in all their affairs, they will soon be sensible of the great disadvantage of being divided into so many different tongues, which will greatly impede that universal free intercourse which will be very desirable; and of the advantage of all speaking and using one language. And God may so order things in his providence that it will then be easy for the most learned and wise to determine which is the best language to be adopted, to be universally taught and spoken-And when this shall be once determined, and published through the world, by those who are acknowledged to be the wisest men, and best able to fix upon a language that shall be universal, and have a right to do it, all will freely consent to the proposal. And that language will be taught in all schools, and used in public writings, and books that shall be printed; and in a few years will become the common language, understood and spoken by all; and all or most of the different languages now in the world will be forgotten and lost. All the learning and knowledge of former ages, contained in books, in different languages, worth preserving, will be introduced and published in the universal language, and communicated to all. This will, in a great measure, supersede and render useless the great expense of time, toil and money, which is now bestowed on teaching and studying what are called the learned languages. Many thousands, if not millions of youths are now consuming years in learning these languages, at great expense of money?

* Gen. xi. 1, 6: