been attended with fome difficulty, had not St. Luke explained it, ch. i. 17. where the angel declares, that be (John the Baptift) shall go before bim in the Spirit and power of ELIAS: from whence it appears that the Elias whom our Saviour af ferts to be already come, was not Elias who lived in the days of the kings of Ifrael, but one who was to come in the spirit and power of that prophet; and that our Lord did not mean that John was the ancient Elias, but only a figurative one, feems probable from the words, and if ye will receive it; i. e. if you rightly comprehend my meaning, and take it not too literally. When therefore John denies himself to be Elias, his meaning is, that he was not the ancient Elias rifen from the dead, (as the Jews seemed to fuppofe him, and which opinion fome of them afterwards entertained concerning our Saviour) and not to deny that he was the person who was to come in the fpirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, &c. prophecied of Mal. iv. 6. and there called Elijah the Prophet; upon which account probably it is, that our Saviour here gives him the title of Elias.

From all which it appears that John Baptist was the Elias that was to come, and that he was already come, our Lord pofitively afferts. But how then are we to understand the immediately preceding words of our Saviour, Elias truly SHALL come and restore all things? Can the fame coming pe both past and future? No furely. How then

is this difficulty to be cleared up? Why very eafily. Our Lord here fpeaks of two different comings of Elias. That this is no feigned hypothefis in order to get rid of a difficulty, but agreeable to all the ancient prophecies, will appear by confidering them more attentively.

The meffenger who was to prepare the way, &c. and whom Chrift himself declares to be John the Baptift, Matt. xi. 10*, was immediately to precede the fudden coming of the Lord, when he was to be like a refiner's fire, &c. fo that it was a question who fhould be able to abide the day of his coming. Now that this could not be the first coming of Chrift which is here spoken of is plain, for that was neither fudden, nor unexpected, there being at that time among the Jews a general expectation of him. Neither was that his coming, with any fuch terror as is here described, but, on the contrary, with fuch meeknefs as is foretold by Ifaiah xlii. 3. A bruifed reed fhall be not break: and the fmoaking flax fhall be not quench. But this defcription answers exactly to the account we have in fcripture of the fecond

*This character is alfo what John takes to himself in his answer to the Jews, John i. 23. He faid, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ftraight the way of the Lord, as faid the Prophet ESAIAS; which prophecy is in the 3d verfe of the 40th chapter of Isaiah, and relates to that preparation He is to make for the fecond coming of the Lord, of which this chapter is evidently a defcription; and of the future happy ftate of Jerufalem, as appears from the first and fecond verses.

coming of Chrift, which is to be not only fudden and unexpected, but also full of terror, and to be a day of deftruction to ungodly men, as might be proved by very numerous paffages of fcripture. It is faid, Mal. iv. 5. Behold I will fend you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; which day is by some supposed to be the time of the destruction of Jerufalem. But whoever will obferve the verfe following, which defcribes the effects of Elijah's coming, will be foon convinced that this dreadful day was not that of the deftruction of Jerufalem; for it is faid, He (Elijah) fhall turn the beart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, leaft I come and fmite the earth with a curfe. Now it does not appear that any fuch great reformation, or turning of the hearts of the children to their fathers, &c. was effected by St. John the Baptift, as to hinder the land from being fmitten with a curse soon after. Befides, this dreadful day of the Lord is plainly the fame mentioned in the first verse of the chapter: Behold the day cometh which fhall burn like an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, fhall be fubble, &c. and it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be afhes under the foles of your feet, in the day that I shall do this, faith the Lord of Hofts; which words are not applicable to the deftruction of Jerufalem, which neither deftroyed all the proud, nor all that did wickedly;

neither

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neither were they trodden down by the people of God, nor were as afhes under their feet.

Since then these prophecies do not appear to have been fulfilled as yet, with regard to many of the most material circumftances, by Elias, whom our Lord declares to be already come, it follows, that there is a fecond coming of Elias yet future, according to our Saviour's prediction: Elias SHALL truly first come and restore all things * ; which prediction could not poffibly relate to the

* These words our Saviour fpake when John Baptift was now beheaded, and yet fpake as of a thing future, (αποκαταςήσει πάντα) Elias fall come, and fall refore all things. How can this be fpoken of John Baptift, unless he be to come again? Befides, I cannot fee how this refloring of all things can be verified of the miniftry of John Baptift at the first coming of Chrift, which continued but a very short time, and did no fuch thing as these words feem to imply; for the reftoring of all things belongs not to the firft, but to the fecond coming of Chrift, if we will believe St. Peter in his first fermon in the temple after Christ's • ascension, As iii. 19, &c. where he thus fpeaks unto • the Jews: Repent (faith he) and be converted, for the blotting

out of your fins, that the times of refreshing may come from the prefence of the Lord, and that he may fend Jefus Chrift, which before was preached unto you; whom the heavens must receive • until the times of the reftitution of all things, which God hath Spoken by the mouths of all his holy Prophet: fince the world ⚫ began. The word is the fame dтonalasάoews Tavlor. If the time of restoring all things be not till the second coming of Chrift, how could John Baptist restore all things at his first? If the Mafter came not to restore all things till then, • furely his harbinger, who is to prepare his way for restoring all things, is not to be looked for till then.' Mede, Book I. Difc. 25.

coming of Elias that was then past, because John Baptist was so far from reftoring all things, that the all things here meant, i. e. all things relating to the Jewish state, were a little while after wholly deftroyed. If any one thinks that the restoring of all things has no relation to the Jewish state, I defire him to point out any other fenfe in which John did reftore all things. The prophecies therefore which I have quoted from Malachi concerning the meffenger, or Elias, there promised, principally relate to the fecond coming of Elias, which is to precede the fecond coming of Chrift, and the restoration of Ifrael, which latter is here meant by restoring all things*. At this time it is that he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord +. Thus

* Accordingly the fon of Sirach, Eccluf. xliii. 10. fays of Elias, that he was ordained- -to turn the heart of the father unto the fon, and to restore the tribes of Jacob.

+ For the phrase of turning (or, as I had rather translate it, reftoring, as the LXX, amoxalasnoei) the heart of the 'fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fa⚫thers; the meaning is, that this Elias fhould bring the re

fractory and unbelieving posterity of the Jewish nation to ⚫ have the fame heart and mind that their holy fathers and progenitors had, who feared God and believed his promises, that fo the fathers might as it were rejoice in them, and own them for their children; that is, he should con

vert them to the faith of that Chrift whom their fathers hoped in and looked for, left continuing obftinate in their unbelief till the great day of Chrift's fecond coming, they might perish among the reft of the enemies of his kingdom.

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