scattered in such rich profusion and variety in the Prophets and in the Psalms, will receive their fulfilment, when he comes in the glory of his Father, and all the holy angels with him, whom their fathers slew and hanged on a tree; and whom they themselves continue to despise and reject. The vail and darkness which is upon the heart of the Jews, even unto this day, when Moses is read, shall be taken away, and they shall humble themselves in the dust before Jesus, and shall confess him to be the Messias, the Christ of God, their Saviour and Prince. Thus those children of Abraham, who, in their affliction and dispersion, are still beloved for their fathers' sakes, and still remembered with that favour which the Lord beareth unto his own people, will be mercifully restored, and gathered out of every country and city, where they are driven by the fierce anger of God; and they will return to their own land, and the waste places of Jerusalem will be rebuilt, which have been trodden down of the Gentiles so many hundred years. The words of the Lord Jesus, which he spake to the Jews in the days of his flesh, will then be fulfilled. "Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." (Matt. xxiii.) Then also will be fulfilled the

predictions of the Psalmist and of the Prophet Isaiah, "Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory." (Ps. cii.) "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the moun

tain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isa. ii.)

When the world shall have rested for this period of a thousand years from sin and its

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attendant evils and miseries, Satan will be loosed for a little season out of his prison, not to destroy nor to disturb the peace of those, who were found to be Christ's at his coming; for he can no more hurt nor touch them; nor to draw away from their allegiance the children of Israel and Judah, for in their hearts the laws of the Lord shall be written according to the new covenant made with them; (Jer. xxxi.) but he will go out to deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters of the earth, and will gather them against the camp of the saints, and the beloved city of Jerusalem; thus making way for a further manifestation of the divine sovereignty and power in the protection and deliverance of his people that adhere to him; and in the final and complete overthrow of the devil, and of his kingdom, and of his servants, and of his works; for the devil shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and shall be tormented day and night, for ever and ever.

Then will follow the last, and most signal act of judgment on the enemies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The dead, both small and great, will stand before God; and will be judged every man according to their works: And whosoever is not found written in the

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book of life, will be cast into the lake of fire. This is the consummation of all things; for the kingdom of God will, by this last act of the divine majesty and power be perfected, and the felicity of all the servants of God secured and made complete for ever. When the devil, the author of sin and death, is finally cast out; and when death itself is destroyed, all the enemies of Christ will be put under his feet; and the purpose, for which the Father committed to the Son the supreme dominion and government, will be fulfilled. The kingdom, therefore, will no more be administered by God, as the Son of Man, but God, as very God, will be all in all.

The advent of the Redeemer, and his glorious reign, is called in scripture the regeneration, and time of restitution of all things. I must not, therefore, omit to speak of that regeneration or restitution state of things, which is so immediately connected with our Lord's coming and kingdom; and without which Redemption cannot be said to be complete, nor the joy of the redeemed full. "The earnest expectation of the creature, (saith St. Paul in Rom. viii.) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by

reason of him, who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.' By which words of Paul we are taught, that the whole creation expects and greatly longs for the coming of Christ, and his exaltation to his rightful place and power as the Creator, Preserver, Upholder, and Restorer of all things. And it is most true, that wherever the influence of the devil and sin has prevailed to corrupt and destroy; the influence of our blessed Saviour will extend to restore, and heal, and save. The heavens, and the earth, and the whole face of nature will undergo a blessed and glorious change, and by the mighty power of the Redeemer, will be delivered from the bondage of corruption under which they groan.

The Apostle Peter saith, (2 Pet. iii.) "Seeing then that all these things (that is, the heavens and the earth which are now) shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with