Ezek. xxxiv. the whole chapter. which the church then was, the Spirit visibly, powerfully, miraculously present, and all the believers of one heart and one soul, this must give us a very elevated view of a state so much beyond this as to be called "times of refreshing;" for he does not speak of the extension of the church, but of a different state of things. The prophet of the captivity promised to Israel, in the name of the Lord, saying, “I will make them, and the places round about my hill, a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season: there shall be showers of blessing." Then shall "the Plant of renown" be raised up for them; he whom the sweet Psalmist also Ps. lxxii. 6. declared should " come down as rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth." This language poetically describes "a time of refreshing," nature starting, as it were, into new life; and is in exact accordActs, iii. 20. ance with the next promise in Acts: "And he shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached unto you." He was "preached before," in the second chapter, but how? As having a spiritual reign for ever in heaven? or as returning to this earth in the moment of nature's final groan? No, but as the Christ, who it was promised to David should be raised up to sit upon David's throne. Now it does not appear necessary, or proper, to examine into what sense these words may, by the rack of modern criticism, be tortured into bearing, or be transmuted into by the spiritualising alembic: the question is, what sense the expressions chosen by Infinite Wisdom would convey to those addressed? To say that the Jews, in consequence of their carnal notions of Messiah's kingdom, would misunderstand these truths, is to charge God with either not being able or willing to convey correct ideas to them! For they did not, as in the case of the Messiah's sufferings, perversely refuse to receive the literal import of the words; but, on the contrary, the plain meaning of the words is that which they did, and which, I contend, they ought to take. But I ask, would the multitude have less material notions than the apostles whom Jesus had been so long teaching, who yet came to the matter-offact idea of a kingdom restored to Israel? What shall I say? Did they understand the throne of David to be a kind of ethereal negation?—or did they expect yet to see Matt. v. 35. Jerusalem "the city of the great King?” All the prophets But "the heavens must receive" Jesus "until the times of restitution of all things." If, then, he remain in the heavens until the times of restitution, and shall return in the times of refreshing, these times must be co-incident; or I should rather say that they are synonymous. We have very abundant materials for have spoken learning the nature of this blessed dispen of the resti tution of all Acts, iii. 21. things, sation, because concerning it "God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." This, however, is not the place for entering into detail; but this much may be mentioned: as all things originally came very good from the hands of God, so their restitution must be into the condition of their original purity and perfection. But where is this restitution to be? Surely, in the very field which has been deteriorated by sin: heaven has nothing to be restored. Hell is performing the office for which it was originally prepared; but as it is the earth which has been deteriorated, so it must be the earth which shall be renewed. The expression, "restitution of all things," is marked to be at the same time as the subjugation of all Christ's enemies (Psalm cx.); because this limits his session on the throne of God, and that denotes the period of his leaving the heavens. We are therefore justified in considering them in conjunction: and thus we may have a good general idea, both negatively what shall not be, and positively what shall be, upon Christ's resignation of the throne of God. On the one hand, there will be no more sin, for that is an enemy of Christ. Death is an enemy which therefore will be 1 Cor. xv. destroyed; there will, in short, be no more curse, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor pain; for the former things shall have passed away. And, on the other hand, we may say, that nature, which has waxed old un Rev. xxii. 3; xxi. 4. 3. God's purpose to der the withering curse, will, with her youth renewed like the eagle's, shine forth in the perennial bloom of Adamic purity. But these blessings, I conceive, will, in the first instance, extend, in all their fulness, only as far as the dominion of the Son of David. I proceed to the last head, which is: 3. God's purpose to dwell and reign upon dwell upon the earth. earth. 27. Immediately after the deluge, we have the prophecy of Noah, which, according to the Gen. xi. 25- Jews, bears a different interpretation from that commonly given by us Gentiles. The occasion of the prophecy was the misconduct of Ham, and the correct behaviour of his two brothers; upon which a curse was pronounced upon Canaan, and a blessing upon Shem and Japheth: which is generally understood to announce, that Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and is interpreted as indicative of the extensive colonisation by the Europeans in the east. But instead of being a blessing upon the two brothers, this would rather be a prediction of the superiority of one over the other; for |