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MILLAR MILLENNIUM. 



ing axis, which give to its lower part, or feeder, a 

 vibrating motion. The lower stone is slightly con- 

 YCX, and the upper one somewhat more concave, so 

 that the com, which enters at the middle of the stone, 

 passes outward for a short distance before it begins to 

 beground. After being reduced to powder, it is dis- 

 charged at the circumference, its escape being fa- 

 voured by the centrifugal force, and by the convexity 

 of the lower stone. The surface of the stones is cut 

 into grooves, in order to make them act more readily 

 and effectually on the corn ; and these grooves are 

 cut obliquely, that they may assist the escape of the 

 meal by throwing it outward. The operation of 

 boiling, by which the flour is separated from the bran, 

 or coarser particles, is performed by a cylindrical 

 sieve placed in an inclined position and turned by 

 machinery. The fineness of flour is said to be great- 

 est when the bran has not been too much subdivided, 

 so that it may be more readily separated by bolting. 

 This takes place when the grinding has been per- 

 formed more by the action of the particles upon each 

 other, than by the grit of the stone. For this sort of 

 grinding, the buhrstone is peculiarly suited. The 

 patent improvements of Evans consist of a series of 

 machines calculated to save hand-labour, by perform- 

 ing every movement of the grain and meal from one 

 part of the mill to another, or from one machine to 

 another, by the force of the water. 



MILLAR, JOHN, professor of law in the university 

 of Glasgow, was born in the parish of Shotts, Lanark- 

 shire, 1736, and after being educated for the bar, was 

 called to the vacant chair of civil law in Glasgow col- 

 lege, in 1761. This situation he filled with great suc- 

 cess for forty years; and under him, many who have 

 since distinguished themselves in public life lord 

 Brougham, lord Jeffrey, lord Commissioner Adams, 

 the earl of Lauderdale, and others received their first 

 lessons in political science. He died in 1801. The 

 interest which his lectures on jurisprudence excited, 

 particularly those which referred to the government 

 of nations, induced him, in 1771, to publish a short 

 treatise on the subject, which was favourably receiv- 

 ed. This led him, some years afterwards, to the 

 composition of a more elaborate work, which appear- 

 ed in 1787, under the title of" Historical View ofthe 

 English Government, from the settlement of the 

 Saxons in Britain to the accession of the House of 

 Stuart." This history he intended to bring down to 

 his own time, but he only completed it to the Revolu- 

 tion, and a new and posthumous edition in 1803, four 

 vols. 8vo, comprised that period. A fourth edition, 

 with a memoir of his life by his nephew, Mr John 

 Craig, was published in 1808. The work is written 

 with great force and distinctness, and is highly 

 esteemed, as one of the few standard English works 

 which we have on political science. 



MILLENNIUM (a thousand years) ; generally 

 taken for the thousand years in which some Chris- 

 tian sects expected, and sqme still expect, the Messiah 

 to found a kingdom on earth, full of splendour and 

 happiness. This opinion originated from the expec- 

 tations of the Jews, in regard to a Messiah. Excited 

 and nourished by their prophets, endeared to them 

 by their sufferings, during and after the Babylonish 

 captivity, and by the national pride, which their 

 misery served to increase, those expectations took a 

 more and more decidedly sensual turn in the time of 

 Jesus, particularly under the oppression of the Ro- 

 man government. (See Messiah.) Jesus declared him- 

 self to be the expected Messiah, announcing his new 

 religion as the fulfilment of the promises given by the 

 prophets of the Old Testament. Notwithstanding 

 his express declaration, that it was not his intention 

 to establish a worldly kingdom, but a spiritual king- 

 dom of truth and virtue, and notwithstanding the 



doctrine of his apostles, that a lasting happiness 

 could only be expected in a better world, the new 

 Christians could not refrain from expecting the 

 glorious return of Jesus, as described by the apostles, 

 on earth, and from interpreting the expressions of 

 Jesus, which seem to favour such a hope, according 

 to their wishes, bent on worldly happiness. These 

 expectations, entertained by the converts from Juda- 

 ism to Christianity, were blended with the images of 

 a golden age, which had been imbibed by the con- 

 verts from paganism, who still cherished the fictions 

 of heathen mythology. Besides, it was natural, that 

 the situation of the first Christians, groaning under 

 the oppression of their heathen masters, should con- 

 tribute to increase their desire for a new state of 

 things. Chiliasm, or the expectation of the blessed 

 millennium, became, therefore, a universal belief 

 among the Christians of the first centuries, which 

 was strengthened by the prophecies contained in the 

 Revelation (chap. xx. xxi.) of the signs which are to 

 precede and indicate the happy times of the millen- 

 nium. This belief was clothed in still more lively 

 colours by the descriptions of such a state in some 

 pseudo-prophetical writings, forged towards the close 

 of the first, and the beginning of the second century, 

 under the names of personages of the Old Testament 

 and apostles (as the Testament of the twelve Patri- 

 archs, the 4th book of Ezra, the Revelation of Peter, 

 &c.), and in the Sibylline books of the Christians, 

 the Epistle of Barnabas, the Pastor of the Pseudo- 

 Hermas, and in the Talmud. How eagerly such 

 descriptions were received, is shown by the unani- 

 mity with which the doctrine of the millennium was 

 adopted and promulgated by the Christian teachers 

 of the first centuries. Not only the heretic Cerin- 

 thus, who had imbibed this doctrine from Judaism, 

 but also orthodox teachers, as Papias of Hieropolis, 

 Irenaeus, Justin the Martyr, &c., delighted in the 

 dreams ofthe glory and happiness of the millennium. 

 Before it began, human misery, according to theii* 

 opinion, was to rise to the highest degree ; then the 

 overthrow of the Roman empire would follow, and 

 from its ruins would proceed a new state of things, in 

 which the faithful who had risen from the dead, with 

 those still living, would enjoy ineffable happiness. 

 At that blissful period, every ear would produce 

 10,000 grains, and every grain ten pounds of wheat 

 flour, every vine would yield millions on millions of 

 measures of wine, the innocence of paradise would be 

 united to every intellectual and sensual pleasure, the. 

 victory of the faithful over the unbelievers be com- 

 plete, and the blessed reside in the heavenly Jerusa- 

 lem, which would descend from heaven in extraor- 

 dinary splendour and grandeur, to receive them in its 

 magnificent habitations. The Millennarians founded 

 their belief on the Mosaic history of the creation. 

 Considering this history as a prototype of the fate of 

 the world, and concluding from Psalm xc. that 1000 

 years make with God one day, they beheld in the six 

 days of creation, 6000 years of terrestrial labours and 

 sufferings, and in the seventh, the day of rest, a 

 period of 1000 years, in which the reign of Christ 

 should be established. The Gnostics, despising 

 matter, were adversaries to the dogma of the mil- 

 lennium, and the more zealously it was defended by 

 the Montanists (for instance, Tertullian), the more 

 suspicious did it gradually become to the orthodox 

 also. The philosophic school at Alexandria, parti- 

 cularly Origen, opposed it in the third century, by 

 arguments, which were soon adopted by all the 

 fathers. Lactantius was the last distinguished 

 teacher of the primitive church who adhered to the 

 idea of a millennium. When Christianity became the 

 predominant religion of the Roman empire, the doc- 

 trine lost its interest for the multitude ; the victory, 



