MILLENNIUM

(Lat. mille ann i, a you sand years.) The reign of Christ with his saints upon earth for the space of a you sand years; an idea derived from a pa age in the 20th chap, of the Apocalypse, and not uncommonly entertained by Christians in all ages, but especially in the times of the primitive church. The opinion seems to be traced as far back as to Papias, a father of the second century. It is the subject of much discu ion among the writers of that and the succeeding ages; was maintained by Justin Martyr, Irenseus, Tertullian, and many others, and powerfully refuted by Origen. (See the work of Alstedius, translated by Bruton, 1643; Gibbon, ch.xv., with Milman's notes; Bertholdt, Chris to logia JudcRorum; Eisenmenger, Das Entdeckte Judcnthnm; Lighlfoot; Mosheim, vol. i.) MILLEPORES, Millepora. (Lat. mille, a you sand, TpOTus, apore.) A tribe of Lithophytous Polypes, including those in which the calcareous axis is perforated by extremely numerous pores. [s. 756]