nothing can defeat his purpose; nothing can prevent the fulfilment of his promise. "What he had promised he was able also to perform." Rom. iv. 21. If God were not almighty, then the world might not be saved; but he is almighty; "none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?" and therefore, in God's own time (and that is the best time), and by his own ineans, the whole world shall be saved.

THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

31. Because God not only wills the salvation of all men; not only hath purposed to save them all; not only hath promised it; not only hath confirmed that promise by an OATH; but also hath provided the means, in the death of Christ, for the salvation of all men. Jesus died for all. "He gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 1 Tim. ii. 6. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. Heb. ii. 9. "And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John ii. 2. Here are three expressions: 1st, "ALL;" 2d, "EVERY MAN;" 3d, THE WHOLE WORLD. It seems as though the sacred writers took the utmost care to guard against being misunderstood in this important particular. Some would have us believe (see Prof. Stuart's Com. on Heb. ii. 9,) that these expressions are to be understood only in a general sense, in opposition to the contracted opinions of the Jews, who confined the blessings of God to their own nation only; and that the words are intended to declare, that Jesus died for Gentiles as well as Jews. We cannot so restrict the sense. Look at the connexion in which these passages are found, and it will be seen that the terms used, apply to all men, in the widest sense of these terms. Paul instructs Timothy to pray for all men; not for Jews and Gentiles in the general sense, but for kings,

and all in authority; for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, who will have all men to be saved. So John says, "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father." 1 Epis. John i. 1. Is not the language here designed to apply to all men? Who can dispute it?

32. The labor of Christ will be efficacious for al for whom he died. "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” Isaiah liii. 11. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. John xii. 32. If the Redeemer died for all men, can he be satisfied with the salvation of a part only? Can he look back upon his work and say, it is well done? Will he not rather draw all men unto him, by the power of his truth, and make them holy and happy forever? Are we not authorized to expect such a result, from the fact, that he gave himself a ransom for all? and if they are all drawn unto him, will they not all be saved?

33. When Jesus was born, the angel said to the fearful shepherds, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke ii. 10. The tidings of the Redeemer's birth, were certainly good tidings to all people. They should all hear these tidings, and to all they should be good tidings. But how can this be, if a part of the human race are never to be benefited by the Redeemer's sacrifice?

34. The people who heard Jesus preach, said, "we have heard him ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." John iv. 42. Jesus cannot be the Saviour of the world, if the world will never be saved. What Jesus taught the Samaritans, that induced them to regard him as the Saviour of the world, may be infered, 1st. from his conversation with the woman at the well of Jacob, (John iv.) and 2d, from the exclamation of the Samaritans, in the 42d verse. He evidently did not preach to them the doctrine of endless misery; for would they have con

cluded from the fact of his preaching that doctrine, that he was THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD?"

35. John, the beloved disciple of Christ, said, "We have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." 1 John iv. 14. This is the same character that the Samaritans judged the Lord to possess, from his personal instructions. John iv. 42. John says, "We have seen; i. e. he knew it from his acquaintance with his Master.. And do testify. We cannot hide this truth; we will proclaim to men, that Jesus is the Saviour of the world.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS.

36. All the holy prophets have spoken of the restitution of all things. "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began." Acts iii. 20, 21. This is an important passage of Scripture. "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, [but who hath been crucified, and hath ascended unto heaven, and] whom the heaven must receive [or contain,] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." This "restitution of all things" is to take place, when Jesus comes down from the heavens, in the sense in which he had ascended into heaven. He had ascended into heaven bodily; the heavens would contain him until the times of the restitution; and then he would bodily visit the earth again. Now when shall he visit the earth again bodily? Answer, at the resurrection of the dead. See Acts i. 10, 11, and 1 Thess. iv. 16. We conclude from this, that the restitution of all things Is to take place at the resurrection of the dead. The learned Parkhurst gives this view of the subject, and quotes Stockius at large as agreeing with him. See his

Lex. on the word atozarastasis. We do not understand, that the restitution shall not begin until that time, but that it shall then be completed, and filled up, so that it may be said, all things are restored. This is begun in part in this life; but it will be completed and finished at the resurrection. What is this restitution? It is the putting of things back into their original condition. See A. Clarke, on the passage. Man was originally created in God's image; but the divine image has been obscured by sin; and men now bear the image of the earthly. But at the resurrection, when Christ shall appear, the restitution of all things shall take place, and then mankind will be restored to the image of God again; for St. Paul says, that at the resurrection mankind shall be changed from the earthly to the heavenly image, 1 Cor. xv. 49. This heavenly image which we have lost, we obtain back again at the resurrection of the dead; and to this the Saviour's language agrees, for he saith, that in the resurrection men shall be as the angels of God in heaven; i. e. they shall bear the heavenly image; Matt. xxii. 30 ; that they can die no more, and shall be the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." Luke XX. 36. This God hath spoken by all his holy prophets since the world began; not fully and clearly as he hath revealed it in the gospel; but he hath spoken by the prophets of the recovery of all things from the dominion of sin, and their reconciliation to God, and the gaining again of the heavenly image. The reader is referred to a long and excellent passage in A. Clarke's Com. on Acts iii. 21, which he closes by saying, "as therefore, the subject here referred to is that, of which all the prophets from the beginning have spoken, (and the grand subject of all their declarations was Christ and his works among men,) therefore the words are to be applied to this, and no other meaning. Jesus Christ comes to raise up man from a state of ruin, and restore to him the image of God, as he possessed it at the beginning."

37. Moses, one of the earliest prophets, foretold the destruction of all evil, when he represented sin under the figure of a serpent, whose head the seed of the woman was to bruise. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. iii. 15. The seed of the woman was Christ. See Luke iii. 23-38, in which place the evangelist traces through seventy-five generations, the descent of Christ from Eve. Dr. Lightfoot says, Works, IV. 185, "that all the prophets from Adam, and upward, had their eye upon the promise in that garden, and spake of salvation and delivery by Christ, by his breaking the head, and destroying the kingdom, of the devil." The serpent is a personification of evil, in this place. A wound upon the head of a serpent is fatal. The natural inference is, Christ will totally destroy evil. See Heb. ii. 14. 1 John iii. 8.

38. David said, "all the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him." Psalms xxii. 27. This agrees precisely with the promise of God to Abraham, that all the nations, families, and kindreds of the earth shall be blessed in Christ Jesus.

39. David also said, "all kings shall fall down before him (Christ), all nations shall serve him, ***** men shall be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessed." Psalms lxxii. 11, 17. This is of the same import with section 38.

40. David also said, "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name." Psalms lxxxvi. 9. This must certainly include all the nations of the earth; God made them all, from Adam to the latest born.

41. David also said, not less than twenty-six times, in that part of his meditations embraced in the 136th Psalm, "his mercy endureth forever." What kind of a mercy is the mercy of God, which is to endure forever? It is a universal mercy. See the next section.