herit with Ifaac the heir, and therefore was fent to a diftance. They cannot inherit with the heirs of promife, those who now believe in Jefus and obey him and therefore they fhall be banished to the far country, where famine and mifery rage. As it was grievous to Abraham to caft out his own child, to wander, parched with thirft in a wilderness, till brought to the brink of the grave; fo the punishment of the wicked will be God's ftrange, tho' neceffary work, in which he can never take pleasure. As Ifhmael was relieved, and reaped the ben fit of his father's prayers, so as to attain holiness fitting him for happiness, whence the place of his refidence was denominated holinefs after him; fo may we hope will Chrift be heard in behalf of his outcaft Ishmaelites, and that the land of their future refidence, even the new earth, fhall be called Holiness to the Lord, a Kadesh-barnea, the holiness of the inconftant or exile fugitive fons. Peter tells us exprefsly, that in that earth righteousness dwelleth. Tho' neither Hagar nor Ishmael were apparent heirs of the promife, yet God took care of them in their outcaft forlorn ftate, provided a well of water to refresh them, and fent his angel to point it out, and to affure them of his protection and bleffing, all of which I view as a figure and pledge of what the Lord will do hereafter for all the wretched outcafts of his great family, Gen. xxi. Their relation to Abraham is the reafon affigned why the Lord promised and fhewed so much kindness to these two outcafts from his family; and will not the relation Chrift bears to all men as their Creator, their Saviour, their Lord and brother, fecure fimilar bleffings, in their favour? You fee that none of these remarks are forced, they flow natively from the fubject; in which we may fee, as in a glafs, what fhall come to pafs hereafter; for we are taught to confider these things as a fhadow, or allegorical reprefentation of things to come.

The prophet tells us, that when God's judgments are, or fhall be in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteoufnefs, Ifa. xxvi. 9. This hath never yet been the cafe; but will any venture to fay that this shall never come to pafs? The Lord hath a great and fore judgment yet to inflict, that will doubtlefs be made fubfervient to fuch an iffue of things, elfe that exprefs prediction can never be fully accomplished. Unerring authority affures us, that there is as real a connection between the miffion of the word of truth, and its defired fuccefs, as between the fruitfulness of the earth, as an effect, and the rain, dew, and fnow of heaven, defcending upon it, as the caufe: "For as the rain cometh down, and the fnow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give feed to the fower and bread to the eater: fo fhall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it fhall not return unto me void, but it fhall accomplish that which I pleafe, and it fhall profper in the thing whereto I fent it," Ifa. lv. 10, 11. This hath never yet been the cafe, in the fenfe this beautiful paffage inftructs, and upon the common fyftem never can; but the doctrine of the final eftoration fhews how it shall be accomplished. Let none object, that the word accomplishes what God pleases, and profpers in the thing for which he fends it, with regard to the wick. ed, on the prefent fyftem, as well as the righteous; for God hath no pleasure in the death of thofe that perifh, and he fends his word to heal men, and to free

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them from their deftructions, Pfal. cvii. 20. which, if not accomplished by its firft difpenfation, that refpects the first fruits, will, by its laft difpenfation of the fulness of times, which is intended for the recovery of the full harvest. The falvation, and not the condemnation of the fianer, is the primary and leading object or end of God's fending the gospel to him, the latter being only the incidental confequence of his own indulged unbelief and perverseness. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil," John iii. 19.

Jeremiah calls Jehovah King of nations, "Who would not fear thee, O King of nations!" chap. x. 7. Elfewhere he is called King of kings, and Lord of lords; and thefe are not mere nominal titles; for, taken together, they muft include all mankind, who will in due time be his willing fubjects. And another prophet fpeaking of him, fays, "The God of the whole earth fhall he be cal led, Ifa. liv. 5. The whole earth must denote all its inhabitants, and not merely or chiefly the foil on which they live. He is equally the God of the whole earth in every age, tho' not fo acknowledged; but the time will come when his universal relation to the human race, as their God, will be believed and profeffed in the church, instead of being counted, as at prefept, a damnable herefy.

The apostle James tells us, that men in general are made after the image of God, which must be true in one sense or other. From our Lord's reply to the Jews, upon prefenting a piece of the public currency, owning that it bare Caefar's image and infcription, "Render to Caefar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's," we may fee the force and native inference of the apoftle's expreffion. Connecting the above, with what I have faid elfewhere, upon our Lord's anfwer to the Sadducees, in proof of a future ftate, I think it is abundantly plain that the Meffiah claims an intereft in the whole human race, that their being made after the image of God is expreffive of his property in them, and a pledge and earnest of hie reftoring them in future to his moral image and enjoyment. Why then fhould any make free to render to the great Caefar, the God of this world, the things that belong to Jehovah, and that by an irrevocable grant.

But wicked men are the children of the devil, fay fome, and it is but right that every being fhould have his own. It is granted that thofe who do the devil's work, are, in a certain fenfe, his children; but this cannot prevent their recovery to God, elfe who then could be faved? The apoftle teaches, that there is in every person an old man, quite diftin&t from what God has given being to, or a corrupt principle, that produces fruit like itfelf; and feeing this is the offfpring of Satan, who fows the tares, it denominates those in whom it prevails his children. The word of God, and the experience of his people in all ages, fhew that this old man, with his deeds, may be destroyed, whence fuch cease to be the children of the wicked one, and yet God's workmanship preferved. Too much of the old man with his deeds exifts in the very best of men, yet the oppofite principle of divine grace having the afcendency, denominates them the fans of God. The apoftle prays, that thofe to whom he wrote might be fan&ified wholly, in foul, body, and fpirit. This will be the privilege of all the firft-born,

whose bodies shall be so fanctified or fet apart for God, that they shall shine like the fun in the kingdom of their Father, as the body of our Lord did in his transfiguration. In this fanctification, the subjects of the second death, tho' reftored, will not participate, their ftate being a reftitution or reftoration to the ftate of primeval blife, as poffeffed by Adam in Paradise.

The feparation of the old man from God's workmanship, is often afcribed in fcripture to the operation of fire, to which the agency of God's word and spirit, in purifying the fouls of men, is often compared. God himself is represented as a confuming fire, and that even to the church of the first-born; "The Lord thy God is a confuming fire-our God is a confuming fire," Deut. iv. 24. Heb. xii. 29. He is not fo merely by the operation of his fiery judgments, but also by the influence of his paternal love and goodness, with which all his works fhall one day appear to be fraught. The imperfect expreffions of our own limited beneficence are spoken of as operating like fire in fubduing the enmity of others; "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat ; and if he be thirfty, give him water to drink; for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord fhall reward thee," Prov. xxv. 21, 22. Confulting this paffage in its connection, as quoted by Paul, the exhortation will appear ftill more forcible, Rom. xii. 20, 21. There Christians are enjoined not to be overcome with evil, but to overcome evil with good. If our little kind offices, the good with which we are to overcome evil, àre capable, like coals of fire, of melting the heart of an enemy, and producing in it a friendly disposition, do we honour God, by not allowing his goodness and love to produce any such effect upon any of his enemies, beyond the boundary of this mortal life to all eternity? Is it poffible that God's love can be totally excluded where his breath fans the fire of the great furnace, and directs its operation?

"I will

So terrible, however, are his judgments, we are told that "at his wrath the earth fhall tremble, and the nations fhall not be able to abide his indignation; for the spirit would fail before him, and the fouls which he has made," Jer. x. 10. Ifa. lvii. 16. This led the weeping prophet to pray, "O Lord correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, left thou bring me to nothing;" which fhews in what sense the spirit and fouls would fail before him. not keep anger for ever, faith the Lord;" and he affigns, this reafon for it, "for I am merciful," which he will always continue to be, Jer. iii. 12. Downwards at the 17th verfe, we are told that "all the nations fhall be gathered to the name of the Lord, to Jerufalem; neither fhall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart." We are told, ver. 19. how finners are brought thus far, "I faid, thou fhalt call me, my Father, and fhalt not turn away from me;" and he who hath fo faid, can bring it to pafe.

Short as the 117th Pfalm is, it contains no mean proof of the universal doctrine "O praife the Lord, all ye nations; praife him, all ye people ;" or, as in the original, all peoples, both including doubtlefs the whole human race. Will the Lord never give them ground of praife to that extent? When Paul and Barnabas declared, as they paffed thro' different places, the converfion of the Gentiles, we are told that "they caufed great joy unto all the brethren," Acts xv. 3.

and why fhould Chrißian brethren be now diftreffed at hearing, from the word of God, of the converfion of the outcaft Gentiles, or nations of all ages? James tells us, that what God has done hitherto, is only visiting them, to take out of them a people for his name; but he fpeaks of his return after this, to build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and to build again the ruins thereof, and to fet it up. This will be accomplished when the Jews are reftored to the church of God. That glorious event is to pave the way for another no lefs glorious, or rather far more io; " that the refidue of men might feek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, (or even all the Gentiles) upon whom his name is (or fhall be) called, faith the Lord, who doth all these things." Well might he add, "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." The term rendered refidue, xaraλ01701, denotes the remaining, the reft, thofe that are left behind, that have been forfaken, that are reserved, according to Parkhurft, in explaining the verb from which, in the paffive, it is derived. The prepofition xara, down, agairft, adds an ill sense to the simple word, and denotes, in connection with 2017, the reft of men, fuch as are in a wretched depreffed fituation. I view them as denoting the rest of mankind, after a people have been taken out of them for the name of the Lord, as James expreffes it. The whole paffage juftifics, in my opinion, this fenfe. If they are left to fuffer mifery for a long period, it is for the reafon affigned by the Lord himself, “ Thine own wickedness fhall correct thee, and thy back flidings fhall reprove thee; know therefore and sce, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou haft for faken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, faith the Lord God of hofts," Jer. ii. 19.

I view the phrafe of the apoftle James, at the firft, "how God at the fift did vifit the gentiles," &c. Acts xv. 14. as referring not merely to the converfion of Cornelius and his friends, who were the firft fruits to God and the Lamb from among the nations, but as extending to the whole prefent difpenfation of the gofpel, and to all the people that are taken out of them for the name of the Lord, fo long as that difpenfation fhall continue, which will be to the day of judgment. To vifit thus at the firfl, or first, parov, the adverb fignifying first in point of time, as contrafted with fomething to follow; and alfo firft in order or dignity, feems to me plainly to imply a fubfequent vifitation; and is not this expreffed in the cleareft manner by the apofle, making the Lord promise, "After this I will return-that the refidue of man might feek after the Lord"

that all thofe who had not been gathered to him under the difpenfation of the firft-fruits, might be brought, by that other vifitation upon the Lord's return, to the knowledge and belief of the truth, and fo to an actual intereft in the common falvation, fo far as it confits in deliverance from guilt and mifery and recovery to holiness and happiness. Seeing Jefus is the faviour of all men ths' efpecially of thofe who now believe--has given his life a ransom for allhas tafted death for every man- ken away the fia of the world-is the propitiation, not for the fins of the church only, but alfo for the fins of the whole world is the heir of the world, and head of all things to his church-the Lord of the dead and the living-and will have all men to be faved, and to come to

the knowledge of the truth; is there not abundant ground to believe that this will finally take place, under his adminiftration? Does not his faying, "In my Father's houfe there are many manfions," feem to countenance this view of the fubject? Will no manfions be prepared for the younger branches of his family?

can

I forget myfelf on this delightful theme, fo copious are the materials. Yet c I not forbear recommending to your attentive perufal the 65th and 66th chapters of Ifaiah, which are evidently connected with the reftitution of all things, and defcribe fome of its leading features. What occurs in the 8th verfe of the laft, is truly remarkable in this connection. Zion intends the church of the first-born. Before the new heavens and the new earth are created, their number shall be completed; and yet we here find her in travail, and bringing forth a man child, even before her pain came. That we might not interpret this birth in a contracted, or common light, it is extended to the whole earth, fpoken of as the work of a day, and as including the birth of a nation at once. This is introduced with a question, expreffive of wonder at the glorious event; "Who hath heard fuch a thing? who hath seen fuch things? for as foon as Zion travailed fhe brought forth her children." Yet the renovating work is not to stop here -"fhall I caufe to bring forth, and fhut the womb? faith the Lord." Pauf fpeaks of himself as travailing in birth, till Chrift fhould be formed in the hearts of men the hope of glory; which explains the prophet's figurative language. The mother that bears and brings forth makes the best nurse; accor dingly, the children thus born, are reprefented as fucking, and being fatisfied with the breafts of her confolations; as milking out, and being delighted with the abundance or brightnefs of her glory. The glory of the gentiles, or of the nations, is faid to be extended to Jerufalem like a flowing fiream; whence thefe are addreffed," Then fhall ye fuck, ye shall be borne upon her fides, and dandled upon her knees." How expreffive what follows!" as one whom his mother comforteth, fo will I comfort you;" that is, thefe who are born and nurfed as above; " and ye fhall be comforted in or by Jerufalem." Thus the remarkable prophecy, chap. 25th, fhall be fulfilled. "And in or by this mountain thall the Lord of hofts make unto all people a feaft of fat things, a feaft of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will defroy or fwallow up, in or by this mountain, the face of the covering, or the face-covering, caft over all people, and the vail that is fpread over all nations. He will fwallow up death in victory, or for evermore; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his ple fhall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And it fhall be faid in that day, (faid by the nations fo delivered and blessed) Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will fave us this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his falvation.” Confult the parallels, Rev. vii. 17. and xxi. 4. and you will there fee to what period the prediction refers, even the times of the reflitution of all things, when he that fits upon the throne fhall, according to his folemn promife, make all things new. We fee above the agency of the faints of the Moft High as kings and pricfts, in recovering their brethren. A pious commentator views the two lagt

peo.