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THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS.

BY THE REV. W. BROCK, M.A.

ACTS iii. 21.

"Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

THESE words carry us forward to a blessed period of the world's destiny, which, amid the strife and turmoil of its present condition, it is most refreshing to contemplate. They tell us of a time when the last echoes of the Lord's judgments shall have died away, when the whirlwind of his wrath, and the earthquake, and the fiery desolation, with which this dispensation is to terminate, will be over and gone; and there shall succeed the peaceful calm, and a smiling and renovated earth, clothed once more with all the beauty of the

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paradise of God, and fit to be the dwellingplace of the redeemed.

Brethren, there is something most tranquilizing to our weary spirits, in looking forward to scenes of blessedness like these. For we have no such repose in our present condition. The world, as it now is, presents a sad picture to the Christian's view. We look around us and within us, and we see sin prevailing, and dark clouds gathering on every side. There are "fears within and fightings without." The overflowings of ungodliness make us afraid. The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof. The Church is vexed with strife and sorrow; and the whole creation under the curse. So that if we groans had to look only upon the things which are seen, we should be of all men most miserable. But "we walk by faith, not by sight." This is our privilege; and while it is our privilege, it is also our comfort and our refreshment, in this tempestuous state of human things. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen:" and when we look

forward by faith, there floats before our contemplation the prospect of our inheritance, in all its loveliness and in all its reality. Nor is it a vain and delusive vision of the coming future that we gaze upon. For it is the word of the living and true God that sets before us the glorious scene, and that maps out for us the pleasant land. The world, indeed, has its day-dreams, and its visions of the imagination, which will end in disappointment. There are men, who disown Christianity altogether, who will tell you of a prouder and a better day which is in store for our species; and whether it is to be brought about by the progress of science, or the spread of education, or by some other means of secular improvement, they anticipate it without any reference to the Scriptures, and they expect the regeneration of the world, without a Saviour, and without a God.*

The following statement of three different Millenniums is from an Essay by Dr. Maitland. It is clear and forcible :

"In a certain sense, almost all Christians in the present day may be said to be Millennarians; and I am not sure that the title might not be even more extensively applied. We might almost say, that the expectation of a period of greater felicity to be hereafter enjoyed by mankind on earth, is now the general expectation of educated mankind. At all events, we may say, that such a period is

But that, which these uninspired prophets vainly doat upon, the promises of the Bible do most certainly hold out to the faithful.

expected by most of those whose minds are exercised in anticipations of the future. So far, the infidel and Christian agree, however widely they may differ as to the nature and circumstances of the happiness which they expect, and as to the means by which it is to be attained.

An opinion so general, and held by such very different classes, on totally distinct grounds, may be expected to take many modifications, and to shew itself in various forms and degrees; but I believe, that without pretending to strict definition, we may say, that those who are looking forward with anything like settled and considerate belief, to a future period of happiness on earth, may be divided into three classes.

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I. There are those who expect the perfection, or the definite improvement of man, through the cultivation of his moral, intellectual, and physical capacities. A new era, characterised by a new form of society, is anticipated. Old forms and follies are to be abolished, and old superstitions forgotten. It is hoped that enlightened reason will rid mankind of moral evil; and that the natural evils which he has hitherto suffered, may be mitigated, perhaps annihilated, by science. The chief means of promoting this state of happiness, is supposed to be education, directed to the development of the faculties of man. 'The schoolmaster is abroad:' cheap science is provided for the multitude; and institutions for mechanics, universities for shopkeepers, and schools for in

"We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto, ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,

fants, are supposed to be preparing a golden age, in which man will shew himself in a state of moral, intellectual, and physical maturity, such as he has never yet attained.

I do not mean to say, that some such opinion as this, or some modification of it, is not held by persons avowing, and actually possessing, various degrees of religious belief; but as far as I have observed, those by whom it is most zealously maintained, are avowed infidels. As to the scheme itself, its most striking feature is, that it is altogether irrespective of man's relation to God, and of the connection between this world and another. was the devil who first pointed out the tree of knowledge to mankind, as the means by which they might become as gods; and I shall take leave to call this expected period, in which man is to be brought by the progress of science, and the march of intellect, to a happy independence of God, the Devil's Millennium.

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"II. The second form in which this expectation is manifested, is that which, recognising the Scriptures as a Divine revelation, and believing that the happiness of man must depend on his knowledge of God, looks forward to the conversion of the world to the faith of Christ, by means of schools, missions, and other institutions for the promulgation of Christianity. It is expected that these means, by the grace of God, will gradually convert mankind, and bring them from unbelief and ignorance, to a state of vital Christianity.