MILLER MILLIN. 



819 



liberty, and security, which the millennium was 

 expected to bring, being now actually enjoyed by 

 the Christians. The belief of the resurrection of the 

 body, however, which could not be dispensed with in 

 the pleasures which the Millenanrians promised them- 

 selves, passed from them into the dogmas of the 

 church, though the fathers of a later period supported 

 it on different grounds from the Millennarians. Je- 

 rome and Augustine zealously opposed the gross 

 ideas of the few enthusiasts, who, in the fifth cen- 

 tury, were still expecting this period. Since that 

 time, the church has rejected the dogma of the 

 millennium, together with other Jewish notions. The 

 expectation of the last day in A. D. 1000, gave it 

 some weight for a short time only, and similar hopes 

 excited by the crusades were soon disappointed by 

 the event. At the time of the reformation, the doc- 

 trine of a millennium was in some degree revived, by 

 its application to the overthrow of the papal.dominion. 

 But it was only some sects of fanatics, such as the 

 Anabaptists, and some mystical enthusiasts, in whom 

 the seventeenth century was rich, that adhered to 

 these notions. During the religious and civil wars 

 in France and Britain, the persecuted sought con- 

 solation in the dreams of a millennial kingdom : the 

 raptures of the Mystics and Quietists among the 

 Catholics led to a similar result, and the most learned 

 and zealous friends of Chiliasm rose among the 

 Lutherans during and after the thirty years' war. 

 The disciples of Weigel and the adherents to the 

 religious principles of Petersen, went the farthest ; 

 yet even many moderate and sober theologians, mis- 

 led by idle speculations on the prophetic books of 

 the Bible, particularly on the book of Revelation, 

 which, up to the middle of the eighteenth century, 

 formed a favourite occupation among a certain class 

 of divines, indulged themselves in the ideas of a mil- 

 lennium. As the philosophical vindication of this 

 doctrine, which was attempted in England by Thomas 

 Burnet and Whiston, could not satisfy the orthodox 

 Christians on account of the scepticism of its authors, 

 several apocalyptics, among whom Bengel (q. v.) 

 formed a separate school, exhausted their efforts in 

 endeavouring to calculate, at least, the time in which 

 the kingdom of Christ should commence. Bengel is 

 of opinion, that this period will begin in the year 

 1836, and last 2000 years. While his disciples were 

 flattering themselves with very sensual descriptions 

 of the kingdom of Christ, Lavater and Jung Stilling, 

 who possessed more imagination, but even less cool- 

 ness and learning, indulged similar visions and pre- 

 dictions, with which they entertained their adherents 

 tip to the nineteenth century. Of all the vagaries of 

 a disordered fancy, the doctrine of a millennium is one 

 of the most useless, and, at the same time, one of the 

 most dangerous. Aversion to all that exists, hatred 

 of contemporaries, indolence and spiritual arrogance 

 these are its fruits ; and the exercises of penitence, 

 to which it leads, are nothing but the effects of ter- 

 ror, and without moral worth. Quite lately a sect 

 (if this name can be given to the Mormonites) has 

 sprung up in the United States, believing, as far as 

 we are informed, in the near approach of the mil- 

 lennium, whose enjoyments are to lie of a sensual and 

 worldly character. 



MILLER, EDWARD, M.D., an eminent physician 

 and professor at New York, was born at Dover, in 

 the state of Delaware, May 9, 1760. In 1778, he 

 undertook the study of medicine. He began practice 

 in Delaware, but made himself advantageously known 

 in other states, by a disquisition on the Origin of the 

 Yellow Fever, one of the earliest and ablest publica- 

 tions in support of the doctrine of domestic origin. 

 In 1796, doctor Miller removed to the city of New 

 York. Within a few weeks nfter, he formed, in con- 



cert with doctor S. Mitchell and doctor E. H. Smith 

 the plan of a periodical work, to lie devoted to medi- 

 cine. The fir*t number was issued in 1797, under the 

 title of the Medical Repository. No work of a simi- 

 lar kind had appeared in America. It excited medi- 

 cal inquiries, and recorded their results. It occa- 

 sioned the establishment of similar journals in other 

 parts of the United States. Doctor Miller lived to 

 see its fifteenth volume brought nearly to a close. 

 In 1803, he was appointed resident physician for the 

 city of New York. He witnessed, as such, several 

 pestilential seasons. The fruits of his observation 

 and reflection he imbodied in a Report on the Rise, 

 Progress, and Termination of the Yellow Fever, to 

 which a high degree of merit is ascribed. In 1807, 

 he was elected professor of the practice of physic in 

 the university of New York. In 1809, he became 

 clinical lecturer in the New York hospital. Not- 

 withstanding the laborious duties of those offices, 

 and the calls of an extensive practice, he kept up an 

 active correspondence with many distinguished phy- 

 sicians and men of letters in the principal parts of 

 Europe and America. Professional honours were 

 conferred upon him from all quarters. He died of 

 typhus fever, March 17, 1812, in the fifty-second 

 year of his age. His printed works have been col- 

 lected and published in one large volume. 



MILLER, JOHN. See Millar. 



MILLER, JOSEPH, a witty actor, whose name has 

 become proverbial in the English language, was born 

 in 1684, it is supposed in London, and was a favour- 

 ite low comedian about the time that Congreve's 

 comedies were fashionable, to the success of which, 

 it is said, his humour much contributed. In these he 

 performed Sir Joseph Wittol, in the Old Bachelor, 

 and Ben, in Love for Love. Another of his favourite 

 characters was Teague, in the Committee. He died 

 in 1738. The jests which have immortalized his 

 name, were collected by John Mottley, author of the 

 ^3 of Peter the Great, and other works. Joe Mil- 

 ler's Jests had run through eleven editions in 1751. 

 A copy of the original edition was lately valued at 

 ten guineas, in the catalogue of an eminent booksel- 

 ler. 



MILLET is a coarse, strong grass (holcus sorgum), 

 bearing heads of a fine round seed, a little larger than 

 mustard seed. The plant, although coarse, makes 

 good food for horses and cattle, and the seed is equally 

 good for them ; it is excellent for fattening poultry, 

 and is sometimes made into bread. It is also used 

 for making puddings, for which purpose it is by some 

 preferred to rice. 



MILLIARD (French); one thousand millions. 



MILLIN, AUBIN Louis ; professor of antiquities 

 at Paris, member of the academy of inscriptions and 

 of the legion of honour, and, after the death of Bar- 

 thelemy, conservateur of the imperial (royal) cabinet 

 of medals and antiques. Millin was born in Paris, 

 in 1759, and at first devoted himself to the study of 

 natural history, but afterwards to that of philology, 

 and finally to archaeology. In his earlier writings he 

 appeared as a partisan of republican principles ; 

 among these are his Almanac Eepublicain, and other 

 works, which he did not include in the later cata- 

 logues of his publications. In the reign of Napoleon, 

 he made two antiquarian excursions in France and 

 Italy, where he discovered several remains which had 

 been overlooked by the Italians. He was one of 

 the most learned archaeologists that France has pro- 

 duced. He edited the Magazin Encyclopfdique nearly 

 twenty years. Among his principal works are hi? 

 Dictionnaire des Beaux Arts ; Momtmens Antiques 

 inedits ; Galerie Mythologique ; Peinture des fr'ases 

 Antiques ; Voyage dans les Ddpartements du Mir/t 

 de la France; Histoire Metatliij'M de la Revolu- 

 3 F 2 



