prophets since the world began? In every point of view, when rightly seen, they are valuable. Under all the circumstances of the christian course they are to be cherished. Under the difficulties of a temporal kind, with which we may be burdened, they encourage us to patience. Under spiritual exercises, which bring the soul into heaviness, they yield consolation. In the days of darkness they afford light. In the sunshine of prosperity they teach us to be soberminded. When we hear the groans of creation they soothe our sadness; for they tell us that these shall shortly cease. When travailing in pain, together with the other creatures of God, they encourage us to endure, "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body." Oh! we do well to cherish them, and to meditate continually upon them; for of them it may be strictly said, "Hæc studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium præbent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur." These are the things which belong to us and to our children, because they are revealed; "therefore we should teach them diligently unto our children; we should talk of them when we sit in the house, and when

Cic. pro Archiâ Poetâ.

we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up; we should bind them for a sign upon our hands, and they should be as frontlets between our eyes. We should write them upon the posts of our house, and on our gates." 1

1 Deut. vi. 7-9.

END OF PART I.

PART II.

CHAPTER I.

ST. MATTHEW.

I Now proceed to consider the New Testament evidence to" the Restitution of all things," and, as in our first part, two objects were necessarily kept in view, I mean the testimonies of the prophets to both the advents of our Lord, in this part our attention will be directed and confined to the second advent only. I propose taking the several books as they stand in their canonical order; and may the anointing of the Holy One abide in me, and teach me all things needful for this work!1

The gospel according to ST. MATTHEW, as it stands the first in the canon of the New Testament, so we have reason for believing that it was written about eight years after our Lord's ascension, and the first of the four gospels.2

1 1 John ii. 27.

* See Scott's Preface, and H. Horne, vol. iv. p. 229.

The book opens with the genealogy of" Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." Two things are here observable : first, that by his reputed father, i.e. by the lawful husband of his mother, He claimed a lineal descent from David in the line of Solomon, and thus was legally David's son, as He was naturally David's Lord. But, secondly, there seems to have been a special purpose in this genealogy being granted to the church, which refers, I conceive, to the restitution of all things. It formed a part of the scriptural expectation of the seed of Abraham, that Christ, as David's son, should sit on David's throne.1 "This genealogy proves that the kingdom of Israel was Christ's by right of inheritance. Christ, though He was not the real son of Joseph, yet was the legal son with greater reason than "when a man took a wife, and died, and left no seed, his brother's seed by her were to be looked upon as his, and had the right of inheritance.” This genealogy, then, is a standing evidence to the truth, that to our Jesus this privilege belongs, and that in Him alone this scriptural expectation of the Hebrews shall be fulfilled; and then only, when He, "the Lord of hosts, shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.""

Psalm cxxxii. 11, 12: Jer. xxxiii. 5, &c. 2 Jon. Edwards' Works, vol. ii. p. 776.

3 Isaiah xxiv. 23.

Of the name Jesus,' it may be remarked, that it was the same as Joshua, or Jehoshua, both intimating the work of the Lord, the Saviour, in bringing in the people to their promised rest: in the one case the typical rest of Canaan: in the other the rest which remaineth to the people of God. Of that name, Emmanuel, it must not be forgotten, that its full development can only take place, when, "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

In the second chapter we meet with the inquiry of the "wise men from the east," and the reply, which all the chief priests and scribes of the people" made to Herod, when "he demanded of them where Christ should be born." With one voice they describe Him as King of the Jews: in other words, as "the Governor that shall rule God's people Israel." I need not remind the christian reader, that Christ never had the opportunity of ruling over the ten tribes of Israel; neither need I add, that when Pilate told the Jews He was their King, they indignantly rejected Him: "write not the King of the Jews, but that He said I am the King of the Jews." The Christian knows, moreover, that his "people shall

Matt. i. 16, 21.

Rev. xxi. 3: Ezek. xxxvii. 27.

2 Heb. iv. 8, 9.