Great eagerness, and not a little ingenuity have been exhibited by many persons in fixing a _date_ for the commencement of the millennium. The celebrated theologian, Johann Albrecht Bengel, who, in the eighteenth century, revived an earnest interest in the subject amongst orthodox Protestants, asserted from a study of the prophecies that the millennium would begin in 1836. This date was long popular. Swedenborg held that the last judgment _took place_ in 1757, and that the new church, or "_Church of the New Jerusalem_," as his followers designate themselves--in other words, the millennial era--_then began_. In America, considerable agitation was excited by the preaching of one William Miller, who fixed the second advent of Christ Jesus about 1843. Of late years, the most noted English millenarian was Dr. John Cumming, who placed the end of the _present dispensation_ in 1866 or 1867; but as that time passed without any millennial symptoms, he modified his original views considerably, before he died, and conjectured that the beginning of the millennium would not differ so much after all from the years immediately preceding it, as people commonly suppose. FOOTNOTES: [233:1] We say "is made to teach it," for the probability is that Paul never wrote this passage. The authority of _both_ the Letters to the _Thessalonians_, attributed to Paul, is undoubtedly spurious. (See The Bible of To-Day, pp. 211, 212.) [233:2] I. Thessalonians, iv. 14-17. [233:3] Ibid. v. 22, 23. [233:4] We say "James," but, it is probable that we have, in this epistle of James, another pseudonymous writing which appeared after the time that James must have lived. (See The Bible of To-Day, p. 225.) [233:5] James, v. 7, 8. [233:6] I. Peter, iv. 7. [233:7] I. Peter, v. 7. This Epistle is not authentic. (See The Bible of To-Day, pp. 226, 227, 228.) [234:1] I. John, ii. 26. This epistle is not authentic. (See Ibid. p. 231.) [234:2] I. John, v. 2. [234:3] Acts, i. 10, 11. [234:4] Rev. xxii. 20. [234:5] Matt. xvi. 27, 28. [234:6] Ibid. xxiv. 3. [234:7] Ibid. xxiv. 34-36. [235:1] Towards the close of the second century. (See Bible of To-Day.) [235:2] II. Peter, iii. 4. [235:3] II. Peter, iii. 8-10. [235:4] See Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 188. [236:1] Chapters xx. and xxi. in particular. [236:2] The _Christian Saviour_, as well as the _Hindoo Saviour_, will appear "in the latter days" among mortals "in the form of an armed warrior, riding a _white horse_." St. John sees this in his _vision_, and prophecies it in his "Revelation" thus: "And I saw, and behold a _white horse_: and he that sat on him had a _bow_; and a _crown_ was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." (Rev. vi. 2.) [237:1] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 75. Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. pp. 497-503. See also, Williams: Hinduism, p. 108. [237:2] Prog. Relig. Ideas, i. 247, and Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 48. [237:3] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 209.