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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film^s en commengant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Stre film^s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour §tre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est film6 d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 R :i; . "■ » PRICE to CENTS. THE Restitution of All Things, -OR- THE GREAT RESURRECTION, -AND- Other Important 5ubject5 Explained. BY MRS. MARY GILBERT. '*^^^^^' TORONTO: Printed by THE HUNTER, ROSE CO., Limited. 1899. 8 Tn I 1961 (^iLj^cfiT ^ Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thou- sand eight hundred and ninety-nine, by Mrs. Mary Gilbert, at the Department of Agriculture. CONTENTS. PAGE Restitution ; or, the Great Resurrection 5 Melchizedek, a Type of Christ 22 Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost 23 The Spirits in Prison 23 Satan Chained 26 Antichrist, or the Man of Sin 27 Satan Loosed a Little Season 27 The Battle of Armageddon 28 The End of the World 29 The New Heaven and the New Earth 29 The Bride, the Lamb's Wife 30 » John's Revelation of Christ Coming to Possess His Kingdom 31 INTRODUCTION. IDEING grateful for the encouragement received by th« first pamphlet, I ask my readers to please allow mo their thoughtful attention a little further ia the word of truth — called truth, because it is the substance of which Judaism was the shadow. When Jesus said, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no Life in you, it was His teachings, not His material Body, for He said, the flesh profiteth nothing ; the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are Life, John ri. 63. And when Jesus said, Upon this rock J will build my Church, He meant Himself the Christy as Peter had said, Thou art th9 Christy the Son of the Living God, Matt. xvi. 16. And Peter acknowledged Christ to be the Rock on which the true church is built, I. Peter ii. 4-6. So, when we read, we should try to understand what the speaker means by examining ita connection. As the Bible is the birthright of every indi- vidual, it ib our privilege to understand its teaching, and to know its value we have only to look where they have it not. May we, like Mary of old, sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of Him is my sincere prayer. MARY GILBERT. .// The Restitution of all Things; OB. ' THE GREAT RESURRECTION. ■^"^ IN the new version it is called restoration, in the Greek it is called resurrection, and as our word, resurrection, is derived from the Greek root, to rise higher, it is often used in Scripture to signify the raising up into a higher and happier position while in this world, and to understand its meaning we must examine its connection and ascertain when, and under what circumstances, were the words spoken, and may the spirit of truth, lead us in the v/ay of truth. It was expected that in the days of the Messiah there would be a resurrection to a better state of things, called the resurrec- tion of the just and the unjust, meaning the raising up of Jew and Gentile into a higher position called eternal life. That was the hope of Israel for the preaching of which Paul was called in question before King Agrippa, Acts xxvi. 6, 7, unto which promise the twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hoped to come. Martha, supposing that it was the resurrection of the dust, said to Jesus, I know my brother shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day, John xi. 24, 25. To correct that mistake, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, meaning the Gentiles, who were in the position all men fell into through Adam, called death, that is, they were out of covenant. But by believing in Christ they were resurrected from that death-state into the Chris- tian covenant called eternal life ; that is what Jesus meant wh«n he said : The hour is coming, and now is, meaning the 2 he Restitution of all Things; m time WAS then come whOii the dead, meaning the Gentiles, should hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall liye ; that is, be raised into Christian privileges. For that purpose Christ called Paul to be the chief of sinners, or the chief preacher or leader of the Gentiles, called sinners, read Paul's commission, Acts xxvi. 14-23, and 1 Tim. i. 12-15; and for thus preaching the resurrection of the dead (Gentiles) called dead, Paul was persecuted by the Jews who, he said, were contrary to all men, forbidding him to preach to the Gentiles that they might be saved, 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16. When Abraham, through believing and obeying God, was raised from heathenism into covenant with God, all his descendants through Isaac were elected to the pri vileges of that covenant ; but their continuance in the covenant depended on their strictly observing certain ordinances g;ven them. Lev. xviii. 4, 5. On that account they were called the living and the just, to distinguish them from other nations called unjust, or sin- ners. But it was predicted that when their economy ended, the just should live by faith as their fathers did before those ordinances were instituted. Christ meant the Jews, then called the living, when he said to Martha, He that liveth and be- lieveth in me shall never die. Those faithful Jews who had kept the covenant and received Christ were said to be the first-fruits of the Spirit, and were the nucleus or the Chris- tian church, having passed from glory to glory, "even as by the Spirit of the Lord ; 2 Cor. iii. 1 8, as Christ said, Thine they were and Thou gavest them me, and they have kept Thy word ; John xvii. 6, as in John viii. 51, if a man keep my sayings he shall never see death; and in 1 John ii. 17, the world passeth away and the lusts thereof ; the Jewish world and all pertaining to it passed away, but those who did the will of God were said to abide for ever. They did not die out of covenant, but lived on in the Christian covenant. When Jesus said. As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, so the Son quickeneth whom He will ; he meant that, as the Father.i had raised up Abraham from the dead, that is f rona amongst the Gentiles, called dead, and made him a living father of a living people ; so the Son came to raise all those who believed in Him, both Jews and Gentiles ')/. oVt of all People. i into Christian privilegei, called eternal life, so making one new family, in which there is neither Greek nor Jew, circum- cision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free. But Christ is all, and in all. Col. iii. 1 ^ ; as it was predicted in Isaiah xlii., that Christ should bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, that is, raise up the Gentiles from their deatli-state to life. It is said in the 4th, He shall not fail nor be dis- couraged till He has set judgment in the earth, that is, give all equal privileges ; for this cause was the gospel also preach- ed to them that are dead, that they might be judged accord- ing to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit, 1 Peter iv. 6 ; for an explanation of men in the flesh, read what Paul said in Phil. iii. 3, 4, if any man thinketh that he might trust in the flesh, I more ; and Rom. ix. 3-5, where he calls the Jews his kinsmen according to the flesh. The meaning is this, the Jews, called men in the flesh, had been favored with distinguished privileges, that the Gentiles, called dead, had not ; but God predestinated before the foun- dation of the Jewish world, that in the gospel dispensation the Gentiles should be raised to equal privileges with the Jews, called the resurrection of the just and the unjust, or the restitution of all things, that is, all people, as Peter said, Christ was then ready to judge the quick and the dead, that is, Jews and Gentiles, placing all in equal position, conclud- ed them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all, Bom. xi. 32 ; For that cause was the gospel also preached to the dead (the Gentiles) that they might be judged or deaU with according to men in the flesh (the Jews), but live accord- ing to God's purpose in the spirit of Christianity ; as it is said, I will call them my people, which were not my people ; and her beloved, which was not beloved, and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of tho living God. Rom. ix, 25-26, They were the children of God, because they were the children of the resurrection ; Luke xx. 36, The restoration of Israel to their forfeited privileges was called resurrection ; in Ezek. xxxvii. 12, Behold, my peo- ple, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel; they wore The Bestitviion of all Things ; P ! Ill t:! resurrected, that is, freed from their bondage, and Cyrus, king of Persia, sent them to Jerusalem to build the temple that Ezekiel had the vision of fifty years before. Read Ezra i., When the Jews had been in captivity about twenty years they expressed their despair of ever going back to their own land, by saying. Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts ; then the vision of dry bones was given to signify the certainty of their restoration. Read the whole of Ezek. xxxvii., and compare the vision and prophecies with what is said of them in Ezra and Nehemiah, where all was fulfilled ; observe the expression in Ezek. xxxvii. 11, These bones are the whole house of Israel ; all that were will- ing to go were settled again in their cities, Ezra ii. 70 ; and in Neh. vii. 73, Such was their low, degraded condition when in captivity that they were said to be in their graves, and eating'swine's flesh, Isaiah Ixv. 4, an expression signifying their polluted state of mind, and their bonda.ge to their powerful en- emies called death. But God said, I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death : death, I will be thy plagues; grave, I will JbQ thy destruction, Hos. xiii. 14. They were represented as dead and buried and lost to the purpose for which God had called them. But God raised them out of that state of death and degradation ; they revived and lived again. But their enemies were destroyed. In Isa. xiii. and xiv. we have an account of the destruction of Baby- lon and their king, how he fell from his exalted position, called heaven, down to a low degraded state, called hell or the grave. The word heaven is often used in scripture to sig- nify an exalted position, and the word hell, or the grave, to signify a low and humiliated state. Christ said to the unbe- lieving Jews at Capernaum, And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell, Luke x. 15, he meant they should be as much humiliated as they had been exalted. In John v. 28, 29, Jesus said, The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves should hear His voice and come forth ; th^y that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. He had reference to the dreadful calamities which were coming on the Jews at the time of the siege by the Ro- ii or, of all People. 9 ,il man armies. All who were in Jerusalem, both belieTing and unbelieving Jews, being surrounded by death and devastation, may be said to be in graves among the dead and were repre- sented as coming forth, those that had done good unto the resurrection of life, and those that had done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. John, in his vision, heard a voice from heaven saying, Come out of her my people. Rev. xviii. 4. Daniel had a vision of the same resurrection about six hun- dred years before it occurred, for it took place in the year seventy, when the power of the Jews, called the holy people, was scattered, when all the visions of Daniel were finished, Dan. xii. 7. Christ said the trilnlntion of those days were such as never had been^ nor never at • would be, Matt. xxiv. 21. We read in Dan. xii. 1, 2, Thero .hall be a time of trouble such as never was since there wr. a ni.tion '^ en to that 3a.rae time ; and at that time thy people si all oe delivered, every o^ii; 'hat shall be found writcen in^a» book. As in Rev. xx. 15, the sleeping in the dust of the <;d.rth signified their con- fused and very humiliated condition. As in Lam. iii. 10, and in Isa. iii. 25, 26, the Christians were said to avvV? to ever- lasting life, but the Jews were said to aw&>ke to everlasting ahame and contempt ; each awoke to their true position. It was predicted in Isa. Ixv. 15, And yt sbnll leave your name for a ourse to my chosen : for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call His iervants by another name. All who followed Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, were called the saints of the Most High that took the kingdom and will pos- sess it for ever, even for ever and ever, Dan. vii. 18, never to go back to the Jews again, for Christ said unto them. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, Matt, xxi. 43. Peter, in writing to that new nation, the Christian church, composed of Jew and Gentile believers, said, Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation^ that ye should shew forth the ;«raises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light, 1 Peter ii. 9. Those were the saints that possessed the kingdom when the Jewish age was ended, called the last days ; when the whole body of Christians were raised up into a glorified state ; when the hu- TT 10 The Restitution oj all Things; ■II I i> miliated body of Christiana were fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself, Phil. iii. 21. That was the resurrectionjChrist spoke of in John vi. 40, This is the will of Him who sent me, that every one who seeth the Son and be- lieve th on Him may have everlaising life, and I will raise him up at the last day. So the dead in Christ were raised up ac- cording to promise at Christ's appearing, when He came in the glory of His Father, to reward every man according to his works, Matt. xvi. 27, 28. The dead in Christ were those who renounced Judaism by being baptized into the Christian faith. They were then reckoned as dead to those Jewish ordinances as Christ was when He died to put an end to them. Some of the Colossians had gone back to those ordinances, and Paul in reproving them said. If ye be dead with Christ, from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances after the commandments and doc- trines of men, which all had to perish with the using. Col. ii 20-22. We read in Col. iii. 3, Ye are dead, but your life is bid with Christ in God. They were dead to the Jewish life, and were in the Christian life. But until they were brought into the fulness of their Christian privileges their life was said to be hid with Christ in God. But when the opposing power of the Jews, called Antichrist, or man of sin, was overthrown, and Christianity obtained, then Christ was glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believed. That is the meaning of what Paul said, When Christ who is our life shall appear, then we shall appear with Him in glory ; because His appear- ing was not in a body of flesh but in power and glory. We read in Rom. vi. 3, 4, Know ye not that so many of us as were bap- tized into Christ were baptized into His death ; therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death, and only those who were in the likeness of His death could be in the likeness of His resurrection. For it is a faithful saying, if we be dead with Christ we shall also live with Him ; if we suffer we shall also reign with Him, 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12. That is what is meant in 1 Cor. XV. 29, Else, what shall they do who are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all ? Why are they made dead to Judaism by being baptized into Christ if there is no resurreq- U or, of all People. 11 J ((I tion with Christ into the Christian life which is everlasting ^ And why are they then baptized for the dead, and why stand we in jeopardy every hour? To be baptized for the dead means they were baptized to be made members of the Christian body, called dead, because of their separation from the Jewish covenant. We must remember the nucleus of the Christian church were Jews, and when they were baptized into the Christian church they were made dead to the Jewish ordinances. They had been servants to those sacrificial ordi- nances, called sin and death, because they were offerings for sin and had to come to an end. Paul said, God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, that is sin-offering ; but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, that is, sin- offering, ye became servants of righteousness, Rom. vi. 17, 18. When they became servants to the Christian righteousness they were freed from the Jewish rites and ceremonies. But those who manifested their death to Judaism by being bap- tized into Christ were in jeopardy every hour, for they suf- fered very much for Christ's sake. Read what Paul said about his sufferings in 1 Cor. iv. 9-13; those sufferings were called death, from which Paul believed they would be raised up. He said, God hath raised up the Lord, and will raise up us also by His own power, 1 Cor. vi. 14 ; and if there was no resurrection from such a condition they were of all men most miserable. But Paul assured them that as certain as Christ was raised up so they would be raised into a better position. In 1 Thess. iv, 14, If ye believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. So, although they were in jeopardy every hour, their state, called death, was of 8Mch a short duration that they were represented as asleep. And as Christ was raised and became the first-fruits of them that slept, 80 those who had been counted dead or as asleep, on account of their condition, were raised up with Christ into an exalted position, that is Christianity instead of Judaism. As Jesus said, He that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that ^ateth his life in this world (meaning the Jewish world) shall keep it unto life eternal, John xii. 25. The meaning is this, 12 The Restitution of all Thing$ ; those who were willing to give up all they were interested in in the Jewish world for the sake of Christianity, would gain more in the Christian world, called life eternal. Christ alluded to the same thing in Matt. xix. 28, 29,where the pass- ing out of the Jewish world and the coming in of the Christian world is called the regeneration. In Phil. iii. we read of Paul being willing to suffer the loss of all things pertaining to Judaism, what he there called flesh, if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, meaning the resur- rected state of the Christian Jews, who, being in Christ, were dead to Judaism, and to be found in Christ, not having on his own Jewish righteousness, but the Christian righteousness, believing that at Christ's appearing the humiliated condition of the followers of Christ who were then suffering for His name sake, would be changed ; and as by the Spirit of God the body of Christ was raised from the dead without being corrupted, in triumph over all that opposed Him in His work, and was glorified, so His spiritual body of followers would be raised from their perilous condition without being corrupted by their surroundings, or the conduct of the Jews — as it reads, Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body — which took place about eight years after this epistle was written to the Philippians The word vile means lightly esteemed or despised by the Jews. Like the poor man in vile raiment in James ii. 2, 3. The Christian Kingdom, called the Kingdom of Heaven, was compared to a grain of mustard seed, and Christ said, the good seed are the children of the kingdom. Paul, in 1 Cor. xv., compares the nucleus of the Christian Church in their humiliated state to a grain of wheat, or some other seed, sown in the ground, not wasting away but germinating, and should spring forth into a glorious body, and, as Christ said, Luke vi. 22, Men (meaning the Jews) shall hate you, and separate you from their com- pany, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Being thus cast out of the Jew- ish body and counted dead, some scoffers in Corinth, who thought that such a despised few could never be raised up to a body of any importance, said : How are the dead raised up, and with what body will they come ? 8o it is not a dead i Kh t i o (,i» •r, 0/ all People, la carcass that is in question, but the body of people that fol- lowed Christ. Observe the expression, with what body will they come ? Paul's reply was, Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die ; showing by that figure it was needful they should die to Judaism in order to be res- urrected into Christianity, called eternal life — using the same figure Christ used in John xii, 24 ; and furthermore, he said, Thou sowest not that body that shall be. It is not a body that is sown but a bare grain, as in the new version. As a bare grain is sown in the earth to bring forth a body of grain of its kind, so the small nucleus of the Christian Church was raised up into a body of their kind ; as it is written, God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him ; to every seed His own body. Hence, Adam had his descendants which was his body ; Noah bad his descendants which was his body ; Abraham had his body, but all included in one natural body, in contrast with the followers of Christ, which was His spir- itual body. So, at that time, Paul could say, there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. Then it is quite clear it was two bodies of people Paul was speaking of ; and as the outward part of the grain dies and the germ that is in it springs forth into a new body, so in like manner the Jew- ish body had to die, and the Christian body spring forth into a glorious body, as predicted in Isa. Ixv. 8, 9, Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so I will do for My ser- vants' sake, that I may not destroy them all, and I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains, and Mine elect shall inherit it. The nucleus of the Christian Church were the seed of Jacob, and Christ is the inheritor of God's mountrans, and He was of the tribe of Judah. And, as Isaias said before, except the Lord of Sab- baoth had left us a seed we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah, Rom. ix. 29. The seed of Christianity was sown in corruption, for that was the state the Jewish Church was in at that time. It was represented to John in his vision, by the sun being as black as sackcloth of hair. Rev. vi. 12 ; and Paul said : That which decayeth and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away, Heb. viii. 9 ; It was sown in 9 14 The Restitution of all Things; corruption but it was raised in incorruption, for Christianity is incorruptible and undefiled, and fadeth not away, 1 Peter i. 4 ; It was sown in dishonour, for Christ and his disciples were despised and rejected, but raised in glory, for those who suffered with Christ were afterwards glorified with Christ at His second appearing, and Paul reckoned that the sufferings they endured before the restitution was not worthy to be compared with the glory which afterwards was revealed in them, Rom. viii. 17, 18 ; It was sown in weakness, for God chose the weak things of the Jewish world to con 'ound the mighty, 1 Cor. i. 26, 28 ; But it was raised in power by Him who is able to subdue all things unto Himself, Phil. iii. 10, 21 ; It was sown a natural body, for it was sown by Jews, and among Jews who were the natural descendants of Abra- ham, but it was raised a spiritual body by Christ, who is a quickening spirit, 1 Cor. xv. 45 ; For as raa,ny as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on His name ; which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of th'^' will of man, but of God, John i. 1 2, 1 3 ; For flesh and blood could not inherit the Kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incor- ruption, 1 Cor. XV. 50. The real meaning is this : although the Jews were the lineal descendants of Abraham, they could not on that account inherit the Kingdom of God, that is the Christian Kingdom ; neither could those Jews who remained in their corrupted state inherit Christian privileges. For no man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the bottles will burst and the wine be spilled, Mark ii. 22. Christianity could not be placed in the hands of the Jews until they were made new creatures in Christ Jesus. For being born a Jew was not suflBcient to give him a place in the Christian King- dom ; therefore, they had to put off the old man with his deeds which were corrupt, and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, Eph. iv. 22-24, and put off Judaism, v/^hich was mortal, and put on Christian- ity, which is immortal. Judaism had to die out and Chris- tiaaity be established, as signified by the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke xvi., the rich man died and was buried ; so the Jewish economy is dead and done with, read ->- fO ^« or, of all People. 16 '»? h Rev. xviii. And as Lazarus was carried by angels into Abra- ham's bosom, so the Christians were taken into God's protec- tion, as signified, by being caught up in the clouds, 1 Thess. iv. 17, so we who are in Christ are said to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God ; for the Abrahamic dispensation was a dispensation of faith and obedience before the ritual law was instituted, as ours ia after it is abrogated. And when that glorious restitution took place, that saying came to pass that is written in Isa. XXV. 8, He will swallow up death in victory. Thus Judaism was absorbed in Christianity. The sting of death was sin, that was the sin-offering the ritual law gave strength to, that was the sin, or sin offering, Christ put away at the end of the world by the sacrifice of Himself, Heb. ix. 26. Then the last enemy (the ritual law) called death was destroyed ; it was called death because it had the power of death ; it not only enforced all the rites and ceremonies of the law, but it put out of covenant all those who did not strictly adhere to its usages ; and to be out of covenant was called death. But Christ, through His own death, destroyed him that had the power of death (the ritual law) called the devil, and delivered them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subjected to the bondage of the ritual law, Heb. ii. 14, 15. Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, 2 Tim. i. 10. So those Jews who received Christ could say with John : We know that we have passed from death unto life, 1 John iii. 14, all those who were raised from Judaism to Christianity could exclaim, O death, where is thy sting ; O grave, where is thy victory ! thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. When Chri'st died on the cross, and said It is finished, all those Jewish ordinances became a dead body ; that the unbelieving Jews who would not receive Christ were clinging to, as repre- sented in Rom. vii., where Paul is personating the Jews from the time of their commencement, down to the time Christ came to deliver them from their sin-offerings, by offering up Himself as the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, that is, their sin-offerings. When Paul said, I was I'll ! m 16 The ReBtitution of all Things; alive without the law once, he did not mean himself, for he was never without the law, for he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and as touching the righteousness which was in the law, he was blameless, Phil. iii. 6, he was personating the Jews who were called the living in Abraham, before the law was given them to keep them a living people. The ten commandments, or the moral law, was given them as a standard for their conduct, but that which was ordained to life they found to be unto death, for the moral law being violated they had to have recourse to the sacrificial law, to make atonement by ofiFering those required sacrifices described in Lev. iv. We read of sacrifices being oflfered by Job and others before the law was given, but it was optional, that is the meaning of what we read in Rom. v. 13, for until the law, sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed when there was no law We know that men were punished for wrong-doing befere the law was given, therefore the word sin is put for sin-offering, which was not enforced till the law came ; then when the law came, sin, that is sin-offerings, revived, and they died, hence what was ordained for their life they found to be unto death, because they were condemned by the law for their wrong-doing, and they objected to it, for the oftener they violated the moral law, the more abundant were their sin-offerings, until they hated it, and were groaning under their burden, and Paul in personating their condition, said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death, called the body of the sins of the flesh in Ool. ii. 11 ; then he exclaimed, I thank God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought deliverance and said, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, Matt. xi. 28. But they rejected Christ, and the good they would, they did not, but the evil that they so much hated, that they did. They were so accustomed to those usages, that being carnal, they were sold under sin, while they were in bondage to the ritual law, and were under condemnation if they did not fulfil every jot and tittle of the law, called walking after the flesh. But there was no condemnation for not walk- ing after those fleshly ordinances, when Christianity was estab- lished; to which those ordinances as a schoolmaster were X I t OTf of all People, 17 I 1 I leading then, hence in Rom. viii. Paul could say, there is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, that is Christianity. When he said, that with the mind he served the law of God, hut with the flesh, the law of sin, he meant that as a converted Jew, he served the law of God with his whole mind, for he was not without law to Christ, 1 Cor. ix. 21, but when an unconverted Jew, with the flesh, that is with those fleshly ordinances, he served the law of sin, that is sin-offering, Phil. iii. 3-6, he could not serve the law of God and the law of sin the same time, for the law of the Spirit of Life, which is Christianity, made him free from the law of sin and death, that is, the Spirit Life of Christ Jesus, freed him from the ritual law, for what the law through its fleshly ordinances was too weak to do. God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, or in the likeness of those sin- offerings, condemned sin in the flesh, that is. He condemned or put an end to those sin-offerings. By the sacrifice of Himself once at the end of the world, Heb. ix. 26, so those Jews who were carnally minded by still adhering to those carnal ordin- ances could not please God, for Judaism, called flesh, lusted against Christianity called Spirit, and the Spirit of Christian- ity against those fleshly ordinances, which was contrary th« one to the other, so that they could not do the things that they would. Gal. v. 17, but it is quite plain that tht iin of the flesh was the sin-offering in Judaism, called flesh and carnal, Heb. ix. 10, in contrast with Christianity, which is spiritual and eternal, and cannot be handled and seen with the natural eye ; only in the same sense in which we see and feel the wind, by its effects and realized in mind, which comforted Paul in his sufferings, while he looked not at the things that pertained to Judaism and died, and passed away, compared to a body of flesh that wastes away in the earth. But at Christianity, which is compared to the spirit that lives for- ever, 2 Cor. iv. 8, Paul could say, in respect to the Jewish house and body, we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, as the Jewish Tabernacle was, and had to be dissolved. But a house, or Christian body or church, 18 The Restitution of all Things ; I which is eternal in the heavens, 2 Cor. v. 1-4, said to be in the heavens because of its superiority, for true Christians are said to sit with Chrst in heavenly places, Eph. i., 3, it was a building of God, said to be from heaven, because it was of God, as the new heaven and new earth that John saw. And the Holy City, which is Christianity, said to come from God, because it was of God, in the Jewish Tabernacle they groaned being burdened, as Christ said, their burdens were grievous to be borne. Matt, xxiii. 4. Hence, Paul said. We earnestly desire to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, that being clothed he would not be found naked, as those Jews were who were not in the Christian house when the Jewish house, which was earthly, was dissolved. Paul did not wish to be unclothed (that is unchurched), but to be clothed with Christianity, that Judaism called mortality might be swallowed up in life ; meaning, that all pertaining to Judaism might be absorbed in Christianity ; feeling confident that whilst he was at home in the Jewish body he was absent from the Lord's body, but when absent from the Jewish body he was present ith the Lord in the Christian body who are resurrected to eternal life. The Pharisees believed in a resurrection of the material bodies of the good Israelites, to live on the earth with the Messiah ; but the Sadducees did not believe in any resurrection ; they both erred, not know- ing the Scriptures.^ The subject is fully explained in Luke XX., where the Sadducees spoke to Christ about a woman who had bten married to seven husbands, asking, who's wife would she be in the resurrection as the seven had her to wife. Refer- ring him to the law of Moses in Deut. xxv. 5, 6, That if a man die having no child to possess his inheritance, his brother, or the next nearest kinsman had to marry the widow, and the first child had to be called after the name of the first husband, and possess the inheritance, that the name and inheritance go not out of Israel ; read Num. xxxvi. 6-9, and Ruth iv. That was thf reason Onan acted as he did, knowing that the child would be called by the name of the first husband and possess the inheritance, and not himself. Gen. xxxviii. 8, 9, and Tamar's father-in-law deceiving and disappointing her in not letting her have the other brother in hopes of having a child to keep f i or^ oj all People. 19 the name of her first husband in Israel, was the cause of her procedure, Gen. xxxviii. 11-26. In replying to the Sadducee's question, Christ said. The children of this world, moaning the Jewish economy then in existence, marry and are given in marriage (for the purpose they referred to), because it was lawful in that age. But they that shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, meaning the Christian world, then in future, and the resurrection to the Christian privileges, neither marry, nor are given in marriage (for the purpose referred to), the Jew- ish age being ended, their usages were abolished, and Christian- ity, called eternal life commenced. Therefore, Christ said. Neither can they die any more ; for the law of sin and death was done with when Christ abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, 2 Tim. i. 10. Bear in mind, Christ was speaking to the Jews about a resurrection to eternal life while they were on earth, not after the dust had returned to the earth and the spirit to God, as in Eccl. xii. 7. As we said before, our word resurrection is derived from the Greek root, to rise higher. Christ came to resurrect Jew and Gentile into the glorious privileges of Christianity, and only those who received Christ were counted worthy of that resurrection. In the Jewish economy the high priests were called angels, Eccl. v. 5, 6, and they only could have access to the holy place and touch and handle the holy things of the temple. Num. iv. 15-20. So sacred were all the holy things pertaining to the service of God, that Uzzah was struck dead for putting his hand to the ark, 2 Sam. vi. 7. If the types and shadows of the true were so sacred, what ought the Christian church to be 1 Were all are said to be equal unto the angels, being made kings and priests unto God, Rev. i. 5, and can draw nigh to God, Heb. vii. 1 9, and are said to be the temples of the living and true God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, 2 Cor. vi. 16-18. True Christians, whether Jew or Gentile, by one spirit have access unto the Father, Eph. ii. 18, for they are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection, Luke xx. 31. Christ showed the Jews that although they were the children of Abraham they could not be the children of God unless they were the children of the 10 Tks ResHiution of all Things ; 'if resurrection into the Christian covenant, which ia everlasting life. Like as their father Abraham was resurrected out of heathenism into covenant with God, he said now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him, Luke xx. 37, 38, showing that as Abraham who had been an heathen not in covenant, was resurrected into life, so other Gentiles called dead may be resurrected into covenant called life, and all thus resurrected, whether Jews or Gentiles, lived unto God, for he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, as Paul said if Christ died for all, then were all dead ; and that He died for all that those who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again, 2 Cor. v. 14-15, for as in Adam all died, so in Christ all are made alive. Adam's death was a loss of privileges through breaking the covenant ; all were in that state called death, until the Jews were taken into covenant and the law given to Moses. So death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trangression, Rom. v. 14, for there were godly men existing on earth during that reign of death. Seth and his descendants called on the name of the Lord, Gen. iv. 26 ; on that account they were called the sons of God and are called angels in Josephus B. i. 3, but they kept not their first state as sons of God, for when they saw the daughters of men (meaning the daughters of the descendants of Cain) that they wore fair, they took themselves wives of all which they chose. Gen. vi. 1, 2, and their sons became giants in wickedness, and having fallen from their exalted position into a low, degraded state called hell, they are represented as being in chains of darkness, or as spirits in prison, until the judgment of the great day, when the flood came and destroyed them, 2 Peter ii. 6, yet in that dark age Enoch walked with God and had the testimony that he pleased God, and Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation and walked with God, Gen. vi. 9, then after Noah wickedness again obtained, and God called Abraham from amongst the heathen and took him and his descendants into covenant, and to distinguish them they are •r, of aU People, 11 ealled a holy people, Deut. vii. 6, and all who were not in the Jewish covenant were called sinners. Paul said, We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, Gal. ii. 15, and as by one man's disobedience many were made, that is, called sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made, that is, called righteous, Rom. v. 19, and as there were good people living then in the reign of death, so there are ungodly people now in the reign of life. But all may have light and life by accepting Christ, for in Him is life, and the life is the light of men, John i. 4, and this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life, 1 John v. 11, 12, in contrasting the Mosaic economy which was mortal, with the Christian which is immortal. The words immortality and eternal life are used to show that the Christian economy will never end, Rom. ii. 7 and 2 Tim. i. 10, and in Isa. ix. 7 it is said of the increase of Christ's government there shall be no end. Hence, of Christ ifc is written : He only hath immortality, for He is the possessor and the dispenser of eternal life, as He said to the Father, as thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him, John xvii. 2-3. Hence He is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortal- ity dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto ; which no man hath seen nor can see, 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16, meaning that with all the high positions men occupied in the Jewish economy they were only typical of Christ's position which is superior to all. When He said to Nicodemus, " No man hath ascended up to heaven but the Son of Man who is in heaven," John iii. 13, He meant no man ever ascended up to the high position that Himself then occu- pied. As Peter said,, David hath not ascended into the heavens, he meant David had not ascended to the exalted position Christ occupies as Lord und Christ, Acts ii. 29-36. He is king and priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek ; a minister of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man, Heb. viii. 1, 2. Paul, in order to convince hi» brethren, the Jews, that Jesus was the Messiah, and that His everlasting priesthood and kingship had commenced, he informs ""- as [ The Restitution of all Things ; U: ihem of the necessity of a change because of the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood, Heb. vii. 11, 12, and that it was appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment, Heb. ix. 27, meaning that all the offices and those in office, whether kings or priests, in the Jewish economy, being only typical of Christ, had to die or cease to be, as in the 82nd Psalm 6, 7, and after that the judgment called, in Heb. vi. 2, an eternal judgment, because it was the final overthrow of Juda- ism and the establishment of Christianity, which took place in the year seventy, as revealed to John, Rev. xi. 15, when he heard the voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever, as predicted in Isa. Ixv. 9, and in the 1 10th Psalm 4, the Lord hath sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The Jews knew from their own records that the patriarch Shem, the second son of Noah, who was king of Salem and priest of the Most High God ; who was called Melchizedek on account of the office he sustained, and that his priesthood was of divine appointment long before the Levitical priesthood commenced, and nothing said of him or his parents in the Levitical records. Hence Paul, in order to pro\e that he was a type of Christ, said that Melchizedek obtained his priesthood without father and without mother, and without descent from Levi, and without beginning of days or end of life in their records, there- fore he was a true type of Christ, who was not of the tribe of Levi, but of the tribe of Juda, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood ; who was made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an end- less life, Heb. vii. 14-16, thus proving the superiority of Christ as priest and king, above all who preceded Him, being far above all principalities, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come, Eph. i. 21, meaning the Jewish world then in existence and the Christian world that then had to come, the same worlds that Christ spoke of in answer to the Pharisees, who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit by saying He cast out devils, or evils, by Beelzebub, the chief idol god of Ekron, called the prince of the devils, because it was the / (yr^ of aU People, I i I chief of the idols the Ekronites worshipped. Thoj knew that no power less than the power of the Holy Spirit oould perform such a miracle that Christ had accom- plished by the Spirit of God, on the man who had been blind and dumb. But out of envy and hatred to Christ; and to prevent the multitude believing on him, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelze- bub, the prince of the devils. Thus by wilfully attributing those works to Beelzebub, of which they had the fullest evid- ence could only be wrought by the Spirit of God, they were guilty of the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, that Christ said should not be forgiven in this world, neither in the world to come. Matt. xii. 32, meaning it should not be for- given in the Mosaic, nor in the Christian dispensation. It is a mist ;e to call the state after death the world to come. Christ did not ; He said, I came forth from the Father and am come into the world ; and again, I leave the world and go to the Father, John xvi. 28. The world to come, so often spoken of in the Scriptures, means the Christian dispensation, or world, that commenced when the Jewish age ended, in con- nection with the second coming of Christ, that Peter referred to in 2 Epist. iii, ch., where he spoke of four worlds, the tirsc was the natural world, called the heavens of old; in the 5th verse the words heaven and earth includes the whole of the natural world, as in Gen. i. 1, in the beginning God created the hea- vens and the earth. The second world spoken of was the an- tediluvian, that was destroyed by water. In the 6 th verse called the world of the ungodly. In ii. 6, called spirits in prison. The word soul or spirit is sometimes used for persons, an in 1 John iv. 1, where the false prophets are called spirits. The antediluvians were called spirits in prison because they were under the sentence of condemnation, waiting to be destroyed if they did not repent, as the people of Nineveh did at the preaching of Jonah iii. 4. We read in Gen. vi. 3, the Lord said. My spirit shall not always strive with man, yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. During that time the Spirit of God preached through Noah to the antediluv- ians, called spirits in prison, when once the long-suffering of God, waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, T 24 The Restitution of all Things ; 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20, so it is certain the preaching was done dur- ing the one hundred and twenty years' respite, by the Spirit of God through Noah, while he was building the ark. Peter, endeavoring to convince his brethren, the Jews, that Jesus was the Christ, showed them that the Spirit of God that preached through Noah to the antediluvians, that they had account of in their own Scriptures, was the very same Spirit that re-entered the body of Christ and raised Him from the dead, thus proving Him to be the Son of God, whose resurrec- tion was predicted by the same Spirit that spoke through the prophets, Psal. xvi 10 ; who was made the Son of David ac- cording to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Kom. i. 3, 4, for it was not possible that He should be holden of it, Acts ii. 24. Being superior to other men who remain in the tomb. Job xxi. 32, and in vii. 9, and wasteth away, xiv. 10, 11, 12, and are as water spilt on the ground, which can not be gathered up again. 2 Sam. xiv. 14, when the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it, Eccl. xii. 7, the third world that Peter spoke of, 2 Pet. iii. 7, was the Jewish world that wai destroyed by fire in about ten years after he wrote hii epiitles, but was in •xistence then when he wrottt about it, for he said, the heavens and earth which are now, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and per- dition of ungodly men, as predicted Jude, 14-15. There were many things spoke of in the future tense, in that age, that are in the past with us, therefore it behoves us to under- stand when the words were spoken, for it still reads in the future tense, as it did before the events occurred. The words heavens and the earth are put here to include the whole of the Jewish Commonwealth, as in Rev. xx. 11, that fled away be- fore God's face, and no place found for them any more. For the vessels of wrath had fitted themselves for destruction, who were scoffing and saying : where is the promise of His coming, thus intimating that God had forgotten, or was very slack concerning His promise respecting their destiny. But Peter showed them that God could not forget, for one day was with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as ' 't } or, of all People. 25 one day. That if therfr was any delay it was on account of God's long-sujffering toward them, not willing that any should perish, but that the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night, and it did come. When their heavens passed away with a great noise and their elemetits melted with fervent heat ; the earth ailso and the works therein burnt up, figura- tive expressions used to denote the entire overthrow of the Jewish Commonwealth. The heavens are put to signify their exalted privileges, their elements were their ceremonial ordin- ances, under which they were kept in bondage until Christ came. Gal. iv. 3, and called beggarly elements in the 9th. The earth is put for the people, the container for the contain- ed, as in Jer. xxii. 29. Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord ; not the natural earth, for it is established for ever, 87 Psal. 67, and 104 Psal. 5, and in Eccl. i. 4, one generation passe th away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever. The destruction of Babylon wai described by the stars and constellations of heaven withdrawing their light : and the heavens being shaken and the earth being re- moved out of her place, Isa. xiii. 9-13, and similar expression! are used respecting God's judgments on the land of Judea in Isa. xxiv. in prophetic language. Great commotions on earth are often represented by the idea of commotions in the hea- vens. When Christ said they should see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, it was in connection with the sun being davrkened, the ^^oon withholding her light, and the stars falling, and the powers of heaven being shaken. Matt. xxiv. 29, 30. The sun signified the religion of the church, the moon the government of the state, and the stars the judges and doc- tors of both. Christ meant that at His second coming the Jewish heavens lihould perish, and the sun and moon of its glory and happiness be darkened, as in Rev. vi. 12, 13, 14. That was the great day of His wrath that John had the vision of a short time before it took place. Read the i. 1, and xxii. 6-10 : the time was then at hand, when the sayings of the prophecy of that book was fulfilled. When the evil spirit of Antichrist was overthrown and Christianity established, in Rev. XX., John saw Satan bound for a thousand years ; a de- finite number put for an indefinite ; as in vii. 4, the meaning 26 The Reetitution of all Things ; is thifi : the poweri that opposed Christianity were greatly re- strained from the day of Pentecost until the great tribulation came on the Jews, represented by Satan being chained, during which time there was as much good done as would take a thousand years under ordinary circumstances to accomplish. Thus Christ and His apostles reigned, that is Christianity reigned or prevailed ; the word reign sometimes means to pros- per or prevail, as in 1 Cor. iv. 8, and in Rom v. 21. Grace reigns through righteousness. That was a great manifestation of Christ's reign when three thousand Jews were converted at the day of Pentecost, when Jews from every nation under heaven heard the Gospel preached in their own tongue, and took the glad tidings back with them, which is described by the living waters going forth from Jerusalem, Zech. xiv. 8. The conversion of so many Jews aroused the indignation of the priests and Sadducees, being grieved that they preached, through Jesus, the resurrection from the dead. The conver- sion of the Gentiles is called the resurrection of the dead, not being in covenant before. The conversion of the Jews is called the resurrection /rom the dead ; that is, from that dead state, called the second death. The first death was the state Adam fell into through disobeyance. The second death was the state the unbelieving Jews fell into through rejecting Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. Their covenant was virtually ended when Christ on the cross said. It is finished. He was the great and grand Sacrifice to which all their types and shadows pointed, and it was only those who believed in Christ had an interest in the second covenant, called eternal life. The more Christianity was opposed, the more it spread. Through the persecution of the church at Jerusalem, all the disciples, except the apostles, were scat- tered abroad, and went everywhere preaching the word, Acts viii. 1-4. That is called the first resurrection, Rev. XX. 6, when multitudes of Gentiles were converted, see Acts xiii. 44-48, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed they could not be ordained to eternal life if they had not believed, xiii. 39. But the conversion of Gen- tiles, called the resurrection of the dead, exasperated the Jews still more, see Acts xiv. Paul said, Why should it be fyr, of all People. 27 thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead, Acts xxvi. 8, 18, 23. When they could not prevent the preaching of the Qospel, they tried to impede its progress by false teachers creeping into the Christian church, see 2 Cor. xi. 13, 14, 15, and in 2 Peter ii 1, 2, 3, they were the antichrist spoken of in 1 John ii. 18, As ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists ; whereby we know it is the last time, meaning the last year of the Jewish Commonwealth, for in one year after their city and temple were destroyed by the Roman army ; which was the end of that world. Then the man of sin, that Paul spoke of eighteen years before, was destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming, 1 Thes. ii. 8. It is quite certain the antichrist the Scripture speaks of was the evil persecuting spirit of the Jews, who opposed Christianity, denying the Father and the Son. He is the antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son, 1 John ii. 22 ; and in Jude 4, who denied the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Those were the anti- christs Enoch prophesied of, Jude 14, 15, 16 ; and Paul, in speaking of the perilous times that came to pass in the last day of the Jewish economy, said that evil men and seducers should wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, 2 Tim. iii. 13, and for that cause God gave them up to their delusions, 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12 ; thus they brought upon them- selves swift destruction, represented by Satan being loosed out of prison to deceive the Jewish nations that were in every quarter of the earth, Rev. xx. 7, 8. In Rev. xvi. 13, John saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouths of the dragon and the beast i.nd the false prophet. The dragon represented the Jewish powers, called the powers of heaven, Matt. xxiv. 29, out of which Satan fell. Rev. xii. 9 ; the beast represented pagan Rome. The beast in xiii. 1 was the Em- peror of Rome, to whom the Jews gave a seat and authority, but he usurped by having his statue set up in the holy temple, which caused great consternation, represented by the unclean spirits like frogs coming out of their mouths, which caused the sedition, represented by the false prophet who made the Jews believe they could obtain their freedom by going to war, and gathered them from all parts to the battle of that great S8 The Restitution of all Thing§ ; day of God Aimighty. The beast with two horns in xiii, 11 was Vespasian and his two sons who finished the war after the city was trodden down by the Romans, called the Gentiles, forty and two months, xiii. 5 and in xi. 2 ; that was the place called Armageddon, meaning in our version a place of great ilaughter,for eleven hundred thousand poor Jews perished in the ■iege, besides the many thousands slain in other places. Those were the days of vengeance, that all things written might be fulfilled, Luke xxi. 22 ; and if those days had not been short- ened no flesh could be saved, Matt, xxi v. 22 ; the righteous were but scarcely saved, 1 Peter iv. 18. There was death and devastation all around them, but when Cestius Gallus with his army retreated the Jews followed them, leaving the city gates open. The Christians, remembering what ^hrist told them in Luke xxi. 20, 21, made their escape, see tfosephus' ¥/ar. Book 2nd, c. 19. The Christians went in a cloud or multitude to the mountains of Pella, where they were nourished for a time, and times, and half a time — meaning three years and a half, Rev. xii. 1 4. As Paul said in 1 Thes. iv. 17, They met the Lord in the open air, and were ever with the Lord, for the powers called death and hell that opposed them were cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death, meaning that as a lake of fire and brimstone consumes all that is cast into it, so the Jewish constitution and all pertain- ing to it was forever done with, and the church of Christ established, in which God is glorified by Christ Jesus through- oat all ages, world without end, Eph. iii. 21. In Rev. xx. 11, John saw the dead, small and great, stand before the great white throne, all represented as dead. The Jews were said to be dead because their covenant was ended. The Christians were dead to the Jewish covenant when they were baptized into Christ, for they were baptized into His death. And the books were opened, and all were judged according to what was written in the books ; and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life, in which the Christians' names were written, who were called the dead in Christ, and ap- peared with Him in glory, Col. iii. 3, 4. Then the righteous shone forth as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars forever and ever, Dan. xii. 3 ; but tht unbelieving Jews II or, of all People^ 20 T' 'I whose names were not found written in the Book of Life were cast into the lake of lire, which is the second death — it repre- sented the second death. The first death was all out of core- nant through Adam, the second death was the death out of covenant the Jews realized through rejectingj Chris b, but may yet be received into the Christian covenant if they remain not in unbelief, and the receiving of them would be life from the dead, Rom. xi. 15. John also saw the earth and the heaven fly away from the face of Him who sat upon the throne, which meant the entire annihilation of the Jewish Common- w^ilth, for there was found no place for them, as in Rev. xviii. k 24. That was the end of the Jewish age, called the end of the world in Matt.xiii. 29 43,when the tares and the wheat were separated. Then the new era, or the Christian economy, was fully established, as it was sn.id by Him who sat upon the throne. Behold, I make all things new. Rev. xxi. 5 ; as in Isa. Ixv. 17, Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, mean- ing the Christian dispensation, and the former, meaning th« Jewish dispensation, shall not be remembered nor come into mind ; as John said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. In describing the establishment of the Christian economy, which is spiritual, instead of the Jew- ish, which was carnal, there are types and metaphors used to display its superiority ; hence there is no need of sea, nor sun, nor moon ; as predicted in Isa. Ix. 1 8 to the end. Thou shalt call thy walls salvation and thy gates prp:se ; the sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither shall ihe moon give light unto thee ; but the Lord shall be unt j thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory, etc. In the second verse it reads, Darkness shall cover the earth (that is, the land of Judea) and gross darkness the people (the Jews), but the Lord shall arise upon thee (that is, the Christian church, com- posed of Jew and G entile believers, called the New Jerusalem). In ch&p. Ixv. 19, God said, I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people (that is, those who were said to be a willing people in the day of His power, Ps. ex. 3) ; and the voice of weeping was not heard in the New Jerusalem, as was in the Old Jerusalem, where the Christians suffered so much from the 80 The Reetitution of all Things ; opposing powers called death and hell, Rev. xxi. 4. The Christians' remarkable deliverance out of Jerusalem at the time of the siege was revealed to Paul about fourteen years before it occurred, and it appeared to him mysteriously done, as it were in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, comparatively, at the sound of a trumpet : and the dead were raised incorrupt- ible, 1 Cor. XV. 51, 52, meaning those in Jerusalem represented as dead by the two witnesses in Rev. xi. 8 ; because they were prevented working any more in that condition, were raised up into a position which is incorruptible ; for Christianity is in- corruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away ; and all were changed or raised into a better position ao Christ's second coming ; as He said, I will raise them up at the last day, John vi. 40 ; but every man in hia own order, Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that were Christ's at His coming, 1 Cor. xv. 23 ; that was the time the rest of the dead lived again. Rev. XX. 5. Then the Lamb received His wife, who had made her- self ready during her espouf al ; as Paul said, I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, 2 Cor. xi. 2. For that purpose Christ gave Himself for the church, Eph. v. 26, 27. John had the vision of the Lamb and His bride on Mount Zion, Rev. xiv. That bride, the Lamb's wife, is called the mother of us all. Gal. iv. 26; Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all, Jew and Gentile believers ; said to "be above, because of its superiority, and free to all nations, as predicted in Isa. Ix. 11, Thy gates shall be opened continually, they shall not be shut day nor night. The gates of the Old Jerusalem were shut by day before the night came. But there is no nigh tin the Christian economy ; it is everlasting day, and no more death, for it is everlasting life, in Rev. xxi. 9, 10, the Lamb's wife, which is the Christian church, is called a city that came down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Com- ing from God, means of God's establishment. Its magnifi- cence IP '''^^rjcribed by the figures used; its security and stability is d*» 1 ^^ by a wall great and high, and twelve found- atic come* square. *jii jh were the apostles. But Christ ana ,iij; IS the chief ;s perfection is described as being four- purity, by the city and the streets of it or, of all People, 81 being of pure gold. Its transcendent glory is described by the Almighty and the Lamb being the temple and the light and the glory of it. Its access to all nations in the four quarters of the earth is described by three gates on each of the four sides, and those gates are open continually, that the kings and the nations of the earth may bring their glory and honour into it. Its inhabitants are those who are saved, and whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, being preferable to the Jewish genealogy. As is said of Christ and His Church, thy people shall be all righteous, Isa. Ix. 21, so the real Church of Christ is more than denominationalism. The tree is known by its fruits : as described in Gal. v., it is quite certain that all that was revealed to John about Christ sitting on His throne to judge the nations of the Jews, and the dreadful slaughter of the Jews called Armageddon, and the annihil- ation of the Jewish Commonwealth, and the establishment of Christ's everlasting kingdom, all took place soon after he had the revelation. In Rev. i. 1 it is said, those things were then shortly to come to pass, and in 3rd, the time is at hand. If the metaphors and images are not generally understood, we must believe what comes direct from God, as in xxii. 6, the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things that must shortly be done. The definite article the implies the whole ; and in the 10th the angel said : Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this Book, for the time is at hand ; that is, the time of its fulfilment so near at hand that Christ said, Behold, I come quickly. John was glad to hear his Master say so, for he had been expecting His coming ever since he heard Him say to the apostles, in Matt. x. 23, Verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come ; and Matt. xvi. 28, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom ; and John remembered what was said to Peter, If I will that he (John) tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? John xxi. 22 ; and Peter said, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dtoelleth righteous^ 82 The Restitution of all Things. ness. Not that all people should be made righteous irre- spective of themselves ; then man would be no more a free agent. But in every nation, he that feareth God and work- eth righteousness is accepted of Him. We read in Dan. ix. 24, that when Christ came He would make an end of sins ; that was sinoflferings, and make reconciliation for iniquity (by offering up Himself), and bring in everlasting righteous- ness ; the Jewish righteousness, which consisted of carnal ordinances, was only typical of the Christian righteousness that Christ established, which consists of a holy principle, actuating a righteous conduct, for he that doeth righteous- ness is righteous, 1 John iii. 7 ; hence it is said of Christ, that a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of His king- dom, and His throne is established for ever and ever, Heb. i. 8, and ft is said in Isa. ix. 7, of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end ; as in Dan. yii. 14, His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed as the Jewish kingdom was. Wherefore we hav- ing received a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have graco whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, Heb. xii. 28. Joy to the world — for truth abounds. And error withering dies. In fragments, hurled upon the ground. Her broken altar lies. "1; i» i