Mark, ix. 13. 66 Baptist that he should suffer,-so some make 66 as it is written of him" to relate, not to the suffering, but to the coming of John. But might Mark be understood in this manner?66 they have done unto him (i. e. the Baptist) whatsoever they listed," in like manner as it is written of him (i. e. the Son of man, referring to ver. 12), that he must suffer;" in which manner the argument appears to agree with Matthew. Our Lord, wishing to impress upon them the fact of his literal death, shews that, as John had Matt. xvii. suffered literally, so "likewise should the Son of man suffer of them." 12. From these causes I am led to believe, that the second assertion of our Lord is not intended to neutralise or qualify the first, but that they are two distinct propositions :* 1. That Elias, the restorer of all things, shall come. 2. That Elias, the sufferer, has come: each *This was the belief of Chrysostom, Cyril, Theodoret, Euthymius, Tertullian, Hilary, Anselm, Hugo, Lyra, Thomas Aquinas (from Gill). Meyer says, "As Chrysostom and Hieronymus, so all of these corresponding, as our Lord seems to intimate, one with Messiah's advent in humiliation, the other with his coming in glory and as our Lord, after John had been beheaded, spake to Peter of Elias's coming to restore all things being still future, so that apostle, in his address to the Acts, iii. Jews, which we have already considered, mentions the time of the restitution of all things as being connected immediately with Messiah's second advent. But it is evident that, if the time of restoring all things be not until the second coming of Christ, John the Baptist could not restore all things at the time of the first advent. the rest of the fathers, did constantly hold that Elias should come in body, before the day of judgment, to convert the Jews, and oppose antichrist." 228 CHAPTER X. THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. “ Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity.”—Burial Service. "That when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you may receive the never-failing crown of glory.”· Consecration of Bishops. "That, faithfully fulfilling his course, at the latter day he may receive the crown of righteousness laid up by the Lord the righteous Judge."-Ib. " THE above quotations from the Prayer-book of the church of England, probably appear to some to maintain contradictory doctrines respecting the intermediate state; at least, they are in exact accordance with different texts of Scripture, from which opposite doctrines are maintained. I must say, that it appears to me as clearly the doctrine of Scripture, as it is of our church, that the souls of the faithful are in joy and felicity in the presence of God; and those who deny it, do not, I apprehend, rest so much upon deficiency of evidence in support of the affirmative, as upon the difficulty of reconciling this view with the statements in Scripture, which appear to maintain such an opposite opinion. This is not the place to examine into the direct evidence in favour of the doctrine of the church of England upon this point: I shall only shew that I conceive the doctrine of Messiah's advent, as I have urged it, removes the principal objection which is advanced against the souls of believers being in the presence of Christ. The passages of Scripture that are not supposed to be in accordance with this view, may be classed under three heads : supposed to 1. The texts which relate to the con- Passages dition of the souls of believers prior to ascension of Christ. the be against the bliss of the separate state of these 2. The texts which describe "the perfect classes. . consummation and bliss, both in body and soul," of the believer in God's "eternal and everlasting glory." 3. The texts which appear to speak of the believer not being with Jesus, and not re ceiving his reward, until after Christ's advent to this earth. Such passages as belong to the first class are clearly foreign to the present inquiry; and the doctrine implied under the second head, I, together with the church of England, concede and maintain; but it is in no degree irreconcilable with the joy of the intermediate state. To the ultimate and eternal state of glory I should refer such passages as Rom. viii. 19-23; 1 John, iii. 2; 2 Tim. iv. 8: but under the third head I should class the first chapter of the first of Peter, and also John, xiv. 3; and it is upon the elucidation of such passages as these that I conceive the contingency of Messiah's advent bears. If it be true, that Christ's second coming depends upon the condition of the church, and that we are called upon by Jesus to be in daily, and even in hourly, watchfulness for his appearing; and if, in consequence of this, we find the apostles spake and wrote in the practical contemplation of Christ's coming before the passing away of the gene |