Rom -11.26

It remains therefore, that by the elect must here be meant no other than the Jews or Ifraelites, who are commonly diftinguished by that appellation in fcripture, and who, as a nation, have been in reality, and ftill are, notwithstanding the punishments which they have undergone, and ftill fuffer, the elect of God, i. e. a people whom He intends to take under his more efpecial protection, and to render glorious, with regard to outward circumstances, above all the nations upon earth.

Another argument for the restoration of the Jews, is contained in the 24th verfe of the 21st chapter of St. Luke: Jerufalem fhall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; for this implies, that after those times of the Gentiles, it fhall no longer be trodden down by the Gentiles, but fhall be restored to the Jews agreeably to the predictions of the Prophets.

And here I cannot omit a text which has generally puzzled thofe who oppofe the notion of the

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long captivity, a day, as Deut. xxxii. 35, et alibi apud Prophetas. And what if in our daily prayer (give us this day. our daily bread) day be to be taken for the whole of our life? For inftead of St. Matthew's (this day), fpeaking af ter the Hebrew notion, St. Luke hath it in the fame petition na' par, that is, every day. So St. Paul, Heb, iii. 13. Exhort one another (xabenasny nuépar) every day, whilst it is called to-day.' Mede, Book V. Chap. III.

He then proceeds to fhow that this was the opinion of the primitive fathers, by quotations from Irenæus, Juftin Martyr, Cyprian, and La&antius; for which I refer the reader to the abovementioned chapter.

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Jews reftoration, and the millennial kingdom of Christ upon earth, Matt. xxvi. 29.' But I fay unto you, I will not drink benceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom; or as it is, Mark xiv. 25. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of GOD. In St. Luke xxii. 18. For I fay unto you, that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of GOD fhall come. To which let me add, ver. 29, 30. of the fame chapter, And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father bath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and fit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Ifrael; and its parallel, Matt. xix. 28. And Jefus faid unto them, Verily I Jay unto you, that ye which have followed me * in the regeneration, when the Son of Man fhall fit in the throne of his glory, ye alfo fhall fit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Ifrael.

It is allowed, by all fenfible expositors, that the plain and literal fenfe of fcripture ought never to be departed from, except where fuch literal fenfe is either impoffible or contradictory to what the fcripture teaches in other places, or elfe is evidently a metaphorical expreffion. That there is no impoffibility in the literal fense of these

* The words in the regeneration ought not to be joined (as in our translation) to the words, ye that have followed me, but the comma placed after the word me; the true fenfe not being, ye that have followed me in the regeneration shall fit, &c. but ye that have followed me fhall in the regeneration fit, &c.

texts, every one muft allow, and that it is contradictory to other places of fcripture, is so far from being the cafe, that, on the contrary, such a ftate of refidence of our Lord, and the faints upon earth, after his fecond coming, as these texts feem to imply, is not only perfectly agreeable to all the Old-Teftament Prophecies, many of which I have here laid before the reader, but is alfo exprefly afferted by St. John, Rev. xx. 4. And I faw the fouls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jefus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beaft, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their forebeads, or in their bands; and they lived and reigned with Chrift a thousand years. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finifhed. This is the first refurrection. That this reign of Chrift and the faints is to be upon earth, is plain from what follows in the 8th and 9th yerfes, concerning Gog and Magog, who are, when the thousand years are expired, to go up on the breadth of the earth, and compass the camp of the faints about, and the beloved city. The literal fenfe therefore being neither impoffible, nor contradictory to other places of fcripture, the only remaining way to evade it, is to fuppofe the expreffions here to be metaphorical; and this is what thofe, who are highly prejudiced against a literal meaning, have had recourfe to: But he that can fuppofe drinking of THIS fruit of the vine, which was actually then in the hand of our Lord, can fignify any thing else but what the words themselves

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do exprefs, or can fuppofe the drinking of it new in the kingdom of God, to be only a metaphorical drinking, may full as well fuppofe that our Lord's Supper was nothing real, but only a metaphorical eating and drinking: Nay farther, that the accounts we have of his life and death, are metaphorical, for these are not expreffed in more clear terms. To conclude, fuch a liberty as these metaphorical commentators here take with the plain words of fcripture, would, if allowed, render the whole of the facred writings unintelligible and uncertain.

I shall mention but one more argument in favour of the reftoration I have undertaken to prove, and that fuch a one as (if duly attended to) is of weight enough to determine the point in difpute.

LVI.

ACTS i. 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, faying, Lord, wilt thou. at this time restore again the kingdom to Ifrael? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times and the feafons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

Immediately before our Lord's afcenfion, the Apoftles being come together, put this question to him, Lord, wilt thou at this time reftore the kingdom to Ifrael? This plainly fhows, that the Apostles themfelves had an expectation that the kingdom or fovereignty of the country of Judea,

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which was then in the hands of the Roman emperor, fhould at fome time or other be restored to the Ifraelites. Whether this opinion of theirs was well grounded or no (I think) will best appear from our Lord's anfwer: And be faid unto them, It is not for you to know the times and feafons, which the Father hath put in his own power. Our Lord here does not deny the truth of that reftoration they expected, but only fays, it was not for them to know the Times and Seafons when fuch a restoration was to take place. Now can it be imagined, that if the Apoftles had been in an error of such confequence, our Lord would not have endeavoured to fet them right, and have answered in fome fuch manner as he did to the Sadducees, Ye do err, not knowing the fcripture; inftead of which, He only declares, that the times or feasons when he should restore the kingdom to Ifrael, (which was the only thing they inquired after) GOD had put in his own power. If therefore the kingdom is never to be restored to Ifrael, our Lord here informed his Apoftles, that God had put in his own power the times and seasons of that which was never to happen; but this is a manner of fpeaking that is inconfiftent with common fenfe how much more fo with divine wisdom!

Thus have I laid before the reader the most remarkable Prophecies relating to the future reftoration of the Jews. Many others might have been

added;