MIL 
M I L 
fore is to be confidered as the full effeCt of the Chriftian 
principles in the hearts of men, and over the whole 
world ; and the divines who have treated of this fubjeCt 
endeavour to prove, that this is to be expedited from the 
faCls which have already exifted, and from the importance 
of the Chriftian Doftrine. 
The opinion of St. Papms, in the fecond century, to 
whom Eufebius afcribes the origin of this notion of a 
millennium, fays M. Launoy, touching the new kingdom 
of Jefus Chrilt on earth, after the refurreCtion, was held 
for near three centuries, before it was charged as errone¬ 
ous ; as appears from ecclefiaftical hiftory. It was allow¬ 
ed of, and followed, under various interpretations, by fe- 
veral of (he greateft men among the primitive fathers, as 
Irenasus, Juftin Martyr, Laftantius, Tertullian, &c. Pa- 
pias, to whom this opinion is afcribed, is reprefented by 
Eufebius himfelf as a very credulous perfon ; and it is cer¬ 
tain his authority deferves no implicit confidence. From 
the Second Dialogue of Juftin Martyr with Trypho, we 
have evidence that the doCtrine of the millennium had 
not in his time the univerfal reception which Mr. Gibbon 
the hiftorian, with a view of ferving his own purpofe, has 
fuppol'ed. Many Chriftians of pure and pious principles 
rejected it. 
Towards the clofe of the fecond century, the credit of 
this opinion began to decline, principally through the in¬ 
fluence and authority of Origen, who oppofed it with the 
greateft warmth, becaufe it was incompatible with fome 
of his favourite fentiments. Nepos, an Egyptian bifhop, 
endeavoured to reftorethis opinion to its former credit, in 
a book written “ againft the Allegorifts,” for fo he called, 
by way of contempt, the adveriaries of the millenarian fyf- 
tem. But Dionyfius of Alexandria, a difciple of Origen, 
flopped the growing prog-refs of this doctrine by his private 
difcourfes, and alfo by two learned and judicious difl'erta- 
tions concerning the “ divine promifes.” Jerome is alfo 
laid to have oppofed this millenary reign of Chrift ; and 
Dr. Whitby has clearly proved, that the opinion of the 
millenium was never generally received in the Chriftian 
church, and that there is no juft ground to think it was 
derived from the apoftles. Indeed, if we examine their 
writings critically and candidly, we fhall find that they 
never predicted this event to others, nor cherifhed the 
expectation of it in themfelves. The paffages which feem 
to countenance this opinion are contradicted by others, 
which are altogether inconfiftent with it; fo that the 
apoftles never entertained the delightful hope of feeing 
their mafter coming again into the world. It is evident 
that St. John, who furvived all the other apoftles, could 
not have had any fuch expectation ; fince, in the book of 
the Revelation, the future events of the Chriftian church, 
which were not to take place, many of them, till a long 
period of years after his death, (and fome of which have 
not yet been accomplifned,) are there minutely defcribed. 
St. Peter likewife itrongly intimates, that the day of the 
Lord might be laid to be at hand, though it was at the 
diftance of a thouland years, or more. St. Paul, in his 
Second Epiftle to the Theffalonians, labours to remove 
the erroneous opinion that had been adopted by fome, 
who expeCted the ipeedy coming of Chrift; he befcribes a 
great corruption of the Chriftian church, which was to 
happen before the day of the Lord, and this appears by 
the exprels language of his prophecy to comprehend cir- 
cumltances which did not occur till-many ages after they 
were predicted. But allowing, fays bifhop Watfon, that 
the apoftles did expeCl that Chrift would come in their 
own time, their miftake in this refpeCt ought not in any 
wife to diminifh their authority as preachers of the Gof- 
pel. They might be proper witneffes of the life and re- 
furreCtion of Chrift, though they were not acquainted 
with every thing which might have been known, though, 
in particular, they were ignorant of the precife time when 
our Lord would come to judge the world. It can be no 
impeachment, either of their integrity as men, or their 
ability as hiftorians, or their honefty as preachers of the 
391 
Gofpel, that they were unacquainted with what had never 
been revealed to them ; that they followed their own un- 
derftandings, where they had no better light to guide 
them; fpeaking from conjecture, when they could not 
fpeak from certainty, of themfelves, whdn they had no 
commandment of the Lord. There is therefore no ground 
for the reflections of Mr. Gibbon, tending to invalidate 
the truth of Chriftianity and the doCtrine of a future flate, 
and founded on what he conceives to have been the opi¬ 
nion of the apoftles and of ancient Chriftian writers con¬ 
cerning the millenium. Watfon's Apology for Chriftianity. 
We have only to add, that Mr. Whifton, in feverai of 
his writings, has endeavoured to fupport the notion of a 
millennium. According to his computation it was to 
have commenced about the year 1720. 
MIL'LEpED, f. [mille and pcs, Lat. Seldom ufed in 
the Angular.] The Onifcus afellus, or wood-loufe, fo 
called from its numerous feet.—Ifpheafants and partridges 
are ftck, give them millepedes and earwigs, which will cure 
them. Mortimer's Hufbandry. 
MILLEF'ORA, f [from mille, Lat. a thoufand, and 
Trogo;, Gr. a pore.] In natural hiftory, a genus of vermes 
zoophyta, or plant-like worms, and one of thofe genera 
commonly called white coral, not that they are abfo- 
lutely white, but as diftinguiflied from the red and black 
coral. Generic characters—Animal a hydra or polype; 
coral moftly branched, and covered with cylindrical tur¬ 
binate pores. There are thirty-four fpecies, fome of which 
are very beautiful, of various tints, and of a fine polilh, 
appearing- as if richly varnifhed, fome with a filver var- 
niih, others with pale yellow or blue-grey. They in¬ 
habit the Indian and American leas, the Weft Indies, 
Mediterranean and European leas, generally adhering to 
rocks, or other firm fubftances. The caufe of their va¬ 
rious and piCturefque forms is this: The animal which 
forms and inhabits the coral occupies the fubftance. The 
milleporae grow upon one another; the little animals pro¬ 
duce their fipawn, which, attaching itfelf either to the ex¬ 
tremity of the body already formed, or underneath it, 
gives a different form to this production. Hence the va¬ 
rious fhapes of the millepora, which is compofed of an 
infinite number of -the qells of thole little infeCts, which 
all together exhibit different figures, though every parti¬ 
cular cellula has its effential form, and the fame dimen- 
lions, according to its own fpecies. 
1. Millepora truncata, or truncated millepore : dicho¬ 
tomous, erect, with truncate divaricate branches. It is 
blue, greyilh within, and very brittle. Inhabits the Me¬ 
diterranean and North Seas. This, as a fpecimen of the 
genus, is farther defcribed under the article Helmin¬ 
thology, vol. ix. p. 358. and delineated on Plate V. at 
%• 3 - 
2. Millepora alcicornis,orelkVhorn millepore : branch¬ 
ed, compreffed, ftraight; with fcattered, minute, diftant, 
hardly-vifible, pores. Though the pores of this millepore, 
as it is generally brought to us, are fcarcely vifible; when 
they come from the Weft Indies, preferved in fpirits, they 
are very diltinguilhable, each appearing funk in a little 
cavity : in the dried lpecimens they appear level with the 
furface, and of two fixes, larger and fmaller. This is one 
of the commoner!: of the corals in the Weft Indies, and is 
ufed principally for burning into lime. It is found in a 
variety of forms, fome with round irregular branches, 
others palmated, which end in taper figures, like fingers; 
as thefe branches grow up, they frequently unite toge¬ 
ther, forming new palmated branches that end in (lender 
digitated forms. This coral is often found inverting the 
dead Items of the Gorgonias, where it appears like fo many 
beads of a necklace. Sir Hans Sloane, in his Hiftory of 
Jamaica, has given a figure of a bottle that was taken out 
of the fea incrulted with it. This is now to be feen among 
his curious collection of corals in the Britifh Mufeum. 
3. Millepora casrulea, or blue millepore: flat, rough, 
and divided into thick plates, bending different ways j 
the tops fometimes lobated, and both lides furniihed with 
cylindrical 
