Before I had found the key of Scripture knowledge, I own to you, sir, that I wondered how that apostle could say to the Jews, that Samuel had prophesied of Christ. I found no such prophecy in the books of Samuel. But now I see that St. Peter had in view the most glorious typical predictions concerning Christ, as our king, prophet, and priest. I have proved that the "King of Israel," who brought his people out of Egypt, was Christ in his pre-existent nature. Moses was the prime minister of this great King; Joshua, the general of his armies; the tabernacle his palace; the mercy seat his throne; the ark his royal standard; the priests his officers; the Levites his guards; and the shekinah the visible display of his presence. In the days of Samuel, whom he had chosen for his prophet, minister, and representative, the Jews, tired of their invisible King, said to Samuel, “Make us a king, to judge us, [personally and visibly,] like all the nations. And Jehovah said unto Samuel, Hearken to the people: they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. As they have done since the day that I brought them out of Egypt, so do they also unto thee," 1 Sam. viii, 5. And when Samuel expostulated with them, he said, Your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king, when Jehovah "your God was your King." And to back this reproof, Jehovah sent such "thunder and rain for a whole day in wheat harvest," as made the rebellious Jews afraid of instant destruction, 1 Sam. xii, 12, 19. From this important passage, we learn three things. (1.) The King of Israel, who was rejected by the Jews in Samuel's days, is truly Jehovah, that very "Lord of glory," whom the Jews rejected a second time, when, appearing "in the form of a servant, he came to his own, and his own received him not," but crucified him with this remarkable title, "Jesus, the King of the Jews," the very title given him, both by the wise men, when they inquired after him "that was born King of the Jews," and by the "Israelite without guile," when, seeing the form of God shining in Christ through the form of a servant, he confessed that Christ was the Son of God, "the King of Israel," John i, 49. (2.) We see the ground of that "good confession, which our Lord made before Pontius Pilate," when he declared himself both "the Son of God," and "the King of the Jews." Nor do I see how this confession could be true, if Christ, in his form of God, was not that very Jehovah envoy, who spake to Moses in Horeb, and who, by indefectible right, was the King of the Jews, and of the whole earth, even after his unruly subjects had rejected him. And that this was the true question in debate is evident from these taunting words of the unbelieving Jews: "If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him," Matt. xxvii, 42. (3.) If this is the truth for which our Lord (as faithful witness and Divine martyr) thought it proper to lay down his life, does it not follow, that the doctrine of Christ's divinity, or of his absolute right, as "Lord of glory," to be the "King of the Jews," and "of the whole earth," is the capital doctrine of the Old as well as of the New Testament?

But, methinks you rise with indignation against this inference. What becomes of the glory of the Father, if the Son was the King of Israel in Samuel's time, and is still the King of the whole earth? But you

need not fear that our doctrine gives a wrong touch to the ark of the Father's monarchy; for as the "Son, the Lord of glory," is the ostensive King of the Church and of the whole earth, in and by whom the Father now governs the world: so there will come a time when the "Father of glory" will himself be the ostensive King, governing all the nations of men, whom the Son hath redeemed and brought into subjection, immediately in his own proper person, without the mediating minis. try of the Son, the Son, however, still reigning in and with the Father. For, says an apostle, the Son "must reign till he hath put death," and "all enemies under his feet." And when the kingdoms of this world shall have been made worthy of the Father's peculiar acceptance; when Emmanuel "shall have put down all those earthly and infernal powers destructive of the perfect order and complete happiness of the universe, "then shall come the end" of the Son's mediatorial kingdom; then shall the Son of God "deliver up the kingdom to God the Father," in whom nevertheless the Son and the Spirit will still have the dominion belonging to their Divine rank: and thus, while the man Christ, still united to the Word, shall be the first "subject of him who put all things under him," God (namely the Father, including the Word, and the Holy Ghost) will be all in all for ever, 1 Cor. xv, 24, &c. But I return to

Samuel.

Although, in his time, the Jews incurred already the horrible guilt of rejecting the Lord of glory from being their ostensive king, they did not, they could not put an end to his supreme authority. The theocracy, though impugned, was not destroyed. Jehovah, King of the Jews, still exercised his prerogative, in appointing worshipful types of that Divine Prophet, who was to declare and do the will of God better than Samuel, and of that Divine Priest and King, on whom he would transfer the shekinah, the Divine glory, which rested in the tabernacle, when Jehovah filled it with adorable displays of his presence. Hence he continued Samuel as his prophet, and by his means foretold, both by words and typical actions, the removol of all ungodly priests, the destruction of all wicked kings, and the appearance of Christ, the man after his own heart, who should do all his pleasure, and of whose Divine anointing, that of Aaron, David, and Elisha, was but a faint shadow.*

As Job speaks of the Messiah, when he says, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth," Job xix, 25; so his afflictions were a type of the tribulation of the righteous, and his happy end was an emblem of the prosperity of the Church, in the day when our Lord shall "stand on the mount of Olives," and "gather his saints," that they may "see the vengeance, and wash their feet in the blood of the ungodly," Psalm lviii, 10.

David, in the beginning of the 22d Psalm, describes the amazing sorrows of the Messiah, and the manner in which his heel was bruised, when his hands and his feet were pierced" by the seed of the serpent. And at the end of that Psalm, he declares that the gathering of the people shall be unto Shiloh: that "the ends of the world shall remember

Here there seems to be a chasm in the work. Mr. Fletcher undoubtedly meant to have drawn more proofs or illustrations of his doctrine from the historical books before he came to the poetical and prophetical.

themselves, and turn unto the Lord" in his Son, "and all the kindreds of the earth shall worship before him," for (after the day of vengeance) "the kingdom shall be the Lord's, and he shall be the Governor among the nations. Then shall the meek inherit the earth, then shall they eat, worship, and be satisfied;" enjoying without alloy the days of refreshing, which the Lord's presence will bring to those who shall have been faithful unto the end, whether they shall be of those dead saints, who shall have a part in the first resurrection, which shall take place in the beginning of the days of refreshing; or whether they shall be among the saints, who then shall be found alive.

Isaiah is full of this doctrine: take one or two instances out of a hundred. You know, sir, that in the language of the prophets, as Jacob and the house of Joseph signify the godly, so Edom and the house of Esau stand for the wicked, the enemies of God's holy Church. Isaiah had a prophetic view of the Messiah, performing his strange work, his work of judgment, and "travelling in the greatness of his strength," as Lion of the tribe of Judah, when he says, Isaiah lxiii, 1-6, "Who is he that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, (Rev. xix, 12,) travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, (answers Shiloh,) mighty to save and I will tread [all the Edomites] in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and my garments shall be sprinkled with their blood, for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. In mine anger I will tread down the people, [who obstinately trample my blood and my followers under foot,] I will make them drunk in my fury, and will bring their strength down to the ground.” The prophet, struck with awe, breaks out into a song of praise to the Lord for his "great goodness toward the house of Israel," the righteous to whom the Lord condescends to give rest from those who turned the earth into cruel habitations, and who made the very houses of God dens of thieves, murderers, and hypocrites, verses 7, 8. This song of thanksgiving and praise was echoed back by St. John, when he had a prophetic view of the Messiah "coming in righteousness to judge and make war" on all the antichristian powers, Rev. xix, 1-11.

Isaiah speaks next of the days of refreshing which shall follow those days of vengeance, which shall have such an effect upon the nations that they shall flock into the Church as pursued doves to their windows, "The Lord (says he to the righteous) shall appear to your joy; and those who cast you out for my name's sake shall be ashamed. A voice of noise from the city! A voice from the temple! A voice of the Lord who rendereth recompense to his enemies!" Now for the effect of these voices mixed with the sound of the Gospel trumpet: "Before she [the New Jerusalem] travailed, she brought forth before her pain came she was delivered. Shall the earth be made to bring forth in a day, or shall a nation be born at once? Yes, saith the Lord. Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? saith thy God. [It is done!] Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, ye that love her: be glad with her, ye that mourned for her. Come, that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abun dance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles, [converted,] like a flow

:

ing stream. Then shall ye suck; ye shall be borne on her sides and dandled on her knees: as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem: your hearts shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish, when ye thus see the hand of the Lord toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies," Isa. Lxvi, 5-14. The dawn of this "day of refreshing" was seen in the earthly Jerusalem, when three thousand and five thousand people entered at once into the New Jerusalem, the holy Church, the spiritual "kingdom, which is righteousness, peace, and joy, through the Holy Ghost, in whose comfort they walked, when great grace was upon them all."

that

Isaiah points out these days of the Messiah in so many ways, you will excuse me, sir, if I copy one more of his striking pictures :-" Behold," says he, "the Lord [Jehovah our Saviour] will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire: for by fire, and by his sword, will the Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of Jehovah shall be many." What follows is his last description of the days of refreshing, which Je"It shall hovah Shiloh will usher in by the destruction of the wicked. come to pass that [after those days of vengeance] I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory. I will send my heralds, those that shall escape [from the great tribulation] unto the nations and to the isles afar off, which have not heard my fame; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will then make, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come [by turns to my holy mountain Jerusalem'] and shall worship before me, says the Lord: and they shall go forth [to the valley of Jehoshaphat] and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence of all flesh," Isa. lxvi, 15–24. Here ends Isaiah's account of that glorious reign of Jeho vah Shiloh, which the fathers called the millennium, as being to last a thousand years, and during which it is probable that our Lord will use these extraordinary means to keep all the nations in the way of obedience. (1.) A constant display of his goodness over all the earth, but particularly in and about Jerusalem, where the Lord will manifest his glory, and bless his happy subjects with new manifestations of his presence every Lord's day and every new moon. (2.) A distinguished interposition of Providence, which will withhold the Messiah's wonted blessings from the disobedient: "For it shall be that whoso will not come up, of all the families of the earth, unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain," Zech. xiv, 27. (3.) The constant endeavours of the saints, martyrs, patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, raised from the dead, and conversing with men, as Moses and Elijah did with our Lord's disciples upon the mount, where they were indulged with a view of his glorified person, and of his "kingdom come with power." These glorified high priests and kings, as ministers and lieutenants of the Messiah, will rule all Churches and states with unerring wisdom and unwarped fidelity. (4.) The care that the Lord himself will take to set apart for the ministry under his glorified saints, those

who in every nation shall distinguish themselves for their virtue and piety. This seems to be the meaning of his own words: "And when they shall come out of all nations to my holy mountain, I will take of them for priests and Levites, saith the Lord," speaking to the prophet in the language of the Jewish Church, Isa. lxvi, 20, 21. (5.) A stand. ing display of the ministration of condemnation, as appears from Isa. Lxvi, 24, above quoted, and from other parallel scriptures.

6. At the same time that the ministration of condemnation will powerfully work upon the fears of mankind to keep men in the way of duty, an occasional display of the ministration of righteous mercy will work upon their hopes. How will those hopes be fired when they shall "see the Lamb of God standing on the Mount Sion, and with him his hundred and forty-four thousand worthies, having his Father's name [Divine majesty, irresistible power, ineffable love, and bliss inexpressible] written on their foreheads!" Rev. xiv. But,

7. What will peculiarly tend to keep men from relapsing into rebellion against God, will be the long life of the godly, and the untimely death of those who shall offer to tread the paths of iniquity. The godly shall attain to the years of the antediluvian patriarchs, and the wicked shall not live out half their days, they shall not live above a hundred years, or, to speak after our manner, they shall die in their childhood. This seems to be Isaiah's meaning in the following description of the days of refreshing: "Behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered. But be you glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people [to be nothing but a] joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her there shall be no more thence [a burial of] an infant of days, nor [a godly] old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old, but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer, and while they are speaking I will hear." The very beasts of the field will partake of the happiness and glorious liberty of the sons of God: for "the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord," Isa. lxvi, 17–25.

Having dwelt so long upon the account which the evangelical prophet gives us of the day of vengeance, and of the days of refreshing, I shall dismiss this part of the subject by giving two or three short extracts from some of the remaining prophets.

Daniel fixes, in the days of Messiah the Prince, the great tribulation which shall come upon the ungodly, of which the destruction of Jerusalem was but an emblem; God's judgments beginning at his own house. And when the Messiah shall thus have sitten in judgment, and shall have consumed and destroyed the wicked, or bruised the serpent's head in the person of antichrist and his adherents, "the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High," of Jehovah Shiloh, "whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; and all dominion shall serve and obey him," according to the decree recorded in Psalm ii, 7; Dan. vii, 26, 27.

Joel also describes, in the most lively manner, the work of the Mes