countenanced--as we have seen--by the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew, and by the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. Erasmus (one of the most vigorous promoters of the Reformation) removes the difficulty by the help of _allegory_ and _metaphor_; and the learned Grotius (a learned theologian of the 16th century) ventures to insinuate, that, for wise purposes, _the pious deception was permitted to take place_. _The ancient and popular doctrine of the millennium_ was intimately connected with the second coming of Christ Jesus. As the works of the creation had been fixed in _six days_, their duration in the present state, according to a tradition which was attributed to the prophet Elijah, was fixed to _six thousand years_.[240:2] By the same analogy it was inferred, that this long period of labor and contention, which had now almost elapsed, would be succeeded by a joyful Sabbath of a _thousand years_, and that Christ Jesus, with the triumphant band of the saints and the elect who had escaped death, or who had been miraculously revived, would reign upon earth until the time appointed for the last and general resurrection. So pleasing was this hope to the mind of the believers, that the "New Jerusalem," the seat of this blissful kingdom, was quickly adorned with all the gayest colors of the imagination. A felicity consisting only of pure and spiritual pleasure would have been too refined for its inhabitants, who were still supposed to possess their human nature and senses. A "Garden of Eden," with the amusements of the pastoral life, was no longer suited to the advanced state of society which prevailed under the Roman empire. A city was therefore erected of gold and precious stones, and a supernatural plenty of corn and wine was bestowed on the adjacent territory; in the free enjoyment of whose spontaneous productions, the happy and benevolent people were never to be restrained by any jealous laws of exclusive property. Most of these pictures were borrowed from a misrepresentation of Isaiah, Daniel, and the Apocalypse. One of the grossest images may be found in Irenæus (l. v.) the disciple of Papias, who had seen the Apostle St. John. Though it might not be universally received, it appears to have been the reigning sentiment of the orthodox believers; and it seems so well adapted to the desires and apprehensions of mankind, that it must have contributed in a very considerable degree to the progress of the Christian faith. But when the edifice of the church was almost completed, the temporary support was laid aside. The doctrine of Christ Jesus' reign upon earth was at first treated as a profound _allegory_, was considered by degrees as a _doubtful_ and _useless_ opinion, and was at length rejected as the absurd invention of heresy and fanaticism. But although this doctrine had been "laid aside," and "rejected," it was again resurrected, and is alive and rife at the present day, even among