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the only instance in the New Testament in which the noun here translated "Restitution" occurs, but the verb from which it is derived is used frequently, and always in the sense of restoration; as when Jesus said unto the man with the withered hand," Stretch forth thine hand, And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole like as the other." Matt. xii. 13. And when the apostles "were come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Acts i. 6. And that these "times" are no other than those of the Millennium is farther obvious from the fact, that there are no other "Times of Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began," than those exhibited in the preceding passages, of the times now called the Millennium. Christ, in his divine nature, is everywhere present, and therefore as really here now as he will be then; but in his human nature he left the earth in presence of his disciples, being taken up in a cloud, and shall return "in like manner,' as announced by the angel. He has sate down on His Father's throne, and shall continue to sit at his right hand “until His enemies be made his footstool." But when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, and the times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, He shall send unto his ancient people-not the Spirit, who is already with us, and who has been to the Church the Comforter in His absence, but-the Redeemer, "Jesus Christ." That the "times of Refreshing," anticipated by the holy apostle, are not merely times of consolation enjoyed by individuals in a state of grace, but of their national conversion, is manifest. He expressly declares, that. when these times of Refreshing have come, the Lord will then send Jesus Christ unto them, while yet he affirms that the heavens must receive Him till the times of Restitution of all things; the times of refreshing referred to, must therefore be the Millennium, as well as those of restitution. As a nation, the Jews consummated their wickedness by the crucifixion of the Lord of glory. With this enormity the apostle charged them, not as individuals, but as a people, saying, "Ye

denied the Holy One and the Just," and "killed the Prince of Life." For this dreadful wickedness, national punishment has been awfully inflicted, and is still in store. But they are not altogether cast off. When they shall see their iniquity in all its extent, and mourn in bitterness on account of it; when, in the language of the apostle, their sins shall be "blotted out,"--when the blood of Jesus they wantonly shed, and the curse of which with awful infatuation they invoked upon themselves and their children, shall be upon them in a blessed sense, and "the times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord," He will then send unto them that Jesus whom they formerly despised, and refused to acknowledge as the Anointed One.*

The Lord seems to allude to his rejection by backsliding Israel, his return to heaven for a time, and his coming again at the period of their conversion, when

By connecting them with the period when "all nations shall serve and obey" the Lord, Dr. Hamilton seems to admit (p. 136,) that "the times of Refreshing" are those of the Millennium, but afterwards introduces (p. 161,) a long quotation from Mr. Faber, in which, by an elaborate but unavailing criticism on the word "Restitution," he endeavours to evade the force of the passage. If Mr. Faber had attended to the fact, that" when the times of Refreshing shall come," Jesus is to be sent, it might have prevented his embarking in the hopeless enterprize of explaining away the meaning of the Greek word translated Restitution, the derivation of which secures its signi fication. If he admits-which it is scarcely possible he should deny-that "the times of Refreshing" refer to the future restoration of Israel to the favour of God at the Millennium, there is no escaping from the conclusion that then is the time of Christ's return. if his trivial objection to Mede's construction were just, which is not admitted, it may at once be obviated by substituting the word "announced" for "spoken," which the original fully admits. See Parkhurst.

Even

The rendering of this passage, in the authorized version, is most ably vindicated in Mr. Cunninghame's "Critical Examination of some of Mr. Faber's Fundamental Principles of Prophetic Interpretation," and in Mr. Drummond's Letter to Dr. Hamilton. Mr. Mason does justice to our translation, and says, (Gentiles' Fulness, p. 201.) "the word in the Greek is literally and most properly rendered" Restitution. But, in quoting the passage, he stops short at the "restitution of all things," and applies this to "the time of the last judgment" and "the end of all things." But the mere quotation of the remainder of the sentence is sufficient to exclude this idea, and to prove that the apostle referred to the Millennium--that being the only "Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

he says by the mouth of the prophet Hosea, "They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God, for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord; and the pride of Israel doth testify to his face; therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them....I will go and RETURN to my place TILL they acknowledge their offence and seek my face." Hos. v. 4, 5, 6, 15. "Repent ye therefore and be converted," says the apostle, "that your sins may be blotted out when the times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you."

The apostle Paul writing to the saints in Rome, and treating expressly of the conversion of Israel, says, "I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (lest ye should be wise in your own conceits,) that blindness, in part, is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." Rom. xi. 25-27. As, in the gospel by Luke, our Lord in predicting his return, declared that Jerusalem should first be "trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," so the apostle here intimates that the blindness of Israel will continue till "the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,"--when "the Deliverer shall come out of Zion." He quotes from the prophecy of Isaiah, " And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." Is. lix. 20. Here the promise is, that He will come to Zion, and unto them that do turn from transgression; but Paul, quoting from the Greek Translation of the Old Testament, (then in common use,) has made an accommodation of the passage. Both the prophet and the apostle, however, explicitly announce the coming of the Redeemer at the period of Israel's conversion; and while the one

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predicts His coming to the earthly Zion, the other assures us of His return from the heavenly Zion, under the pledge of God's covenant with them.*

The long desolate state of Israel, without a prince among them, is predicted by the prophet Ezekiel, while he also points to its termination: "And thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end; Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until HE COME whose right it is; and I will give it Him." Ezek. xxi. 25—27. "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously." Is xxiv. 23.

*Mr. Mason supposes that because the apostle says, (using the language of the Greek translation by the Seventy,) the Deliverer shall come out of Zion, it cannot mean a literal advent: (Gentiles' Fulness, p. 187.) But heaven is, by way of figure, sometimes called Zion in Scripture, as in the following passage, referring to the same advent: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the Rod of thy Strength out of Zion; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning." Ps. cx. 1-3. But the passage would not accord with Mr. Mason's opinion, even if his idea of "gospel Zion" were admitted. For while he would thus make the Spirit come to the church, the apostle says the Deliverer shall come out of Zion. And as the prophet was no less inspired than the apostle, the view taken of the language as quoted by Paul, must be in consistency with Isaiah's prediction. Were this the only passage in which Christ's return at the commencement of the Millennium was declared and if it was either of difficult interpretation, or when so understood appeared in opposition to other scriptures-some liberty might then be allowed in putting upon it such a construction as the necessities of the case might demand. But surely where there is such a harmony of Scriptural Evidence centering in the same point, such an explanation is not more unnecessary than it would be unsatisfactory.

SECTION XIX.

NEW TESTAMENT PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN AT THE DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRIST.

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BEFORE the Millennium, the Papal Apostasy, we are assured, will he destroyed; and we have the express declaration of Paul that this is to be completely effected by the coming of Christ. In his first epistle to the Church at Thessalonica, the apostle had expressed joy in their having turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven." I Thess. i. 9. He had exhorted them to "walk worthy of God," who had called them "unto His kingdom and glory." (ii. 12.) He had regarded them as his hope, and joy, and crown of rejoicing, "in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, at his coming." (ii. 19.) He had prayed that the Lord would establish their hearts "unblameable in holiness, before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." (iii. 13.) He had farther comforted them concerning the death of their believing friends, by the assurance that those who "sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." (iv. 14.) He had reminded them, that, to those who expect Him not, " the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night," although of "the times and seasons" he needed not to write unto them, for they were not in darkness, that that day should overtake them as a thief; for which reason he exhorted them to "watch and be sober." (v. 1-6.) And, finally, he had prayed that they should be "preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (v. 23.)

By thus glancing at these several allusions, in his first short epistle, we are better prepared to understand the apostle's design in the second. For, by the earnestness and the frequency with which he has thus argued the coming of Christ upon the attention of the Thessalonian church, and probably from the statements of others,

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