of the Gentile nations as his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as his possession, and his breaking them in pieces with an iron rod, and dashing them as a potter's vessel, There is no intimation that the raging of the nations, and the conspiracies of the kings and rulers against Christ, had terminated, or was speedily to terminate. For aught that is foreshewn in the Psalm, they were to continue as they in fact have for ages. The apostles indeed shew that they contemplated their continuance; for they prayed, not that Christ would immediately interpose, and crush his foes by his resistless power, but that he would grant them,-notwithstanding the opposition of the rulers-to speak his word with boldness, and verify it by signs and wonders. The inauguration of Christ as king of Zion, and the gift to him of the Gentiles universally as his inheritance, are exhibited as taking place after the nations had raged, and the kings and rulers conspired against him; and for aught that appears in the prediction, they might be at the distance of ages. Neither the passage therefore quoted by the apostles, nor the other part of the Psalm, presents the slightest proof that the administration instituted by Christ on his ascension, is to continue unchanged to the end of his kingdom. Instead, it expressly declares that after the nations have raged and conspired against him, and attempted to free themselves from his dominion, and while they are continuing the attempt, God is to announce to them in his wrath, that he has constituted his king on Zion his holy hill, and is to declare the decree by which he is to have dominion over all nations, and is to dash them to pieces as a potter's vessel; and the period of that inauguration and investiture with the dominion of the earth, and punishment of the nations, is expressly assigned in the vision, Dan. vii. 9-14, to the time of the judgment and destruction of the antichristian rulers of the fourth monarchy, which is yet future. His reception of the sovereignty of the earth is assigned also in the Apocalypse to the times of the seventh trumpet, when he is to descend from heaven with the armies of the saints, and destroy the wild beast and false prophet. Such is the result of his attempt to verify his theory by that passage.

"He next alleges a text that is altogether irrelevant to his proposition; as it simply announces that God has exalted Christ as a Chief and Saviour. 'The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom ye put to death, hanging on a tree. Him hath God exalted at his right hand a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins.'- Acts v. 30, 31. What proof is there here that Christ is to continue his present

mode of administration to the last judgment? Mr Brown manifestly regards the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of the Majesty on high, as a demonstration that he is for ever to reign there; which is directly taking for granted the point he affects to prove.

"He founds his last and most confident argument on a class of passages which teach that Christ is to reign at the right hand of God, till his foes are made his footstool. The first are :

“Ps. cx. 1—‘Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool;' and Acts ii. 34, 35, in which that is quoted.

“Heb. x. 11, 12-'This man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down in continuance at the right hand of God, from thenceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.'

"1 Cor. xv. 24-26—' Afterward, the last band [shall rise from the dead], when he shall deliver the sovereignty to God even the Father, when he shall have put down ALL rule, and ALL authority and power; for he must reign till he has put ALL enemies under his feet.'

"These passages afford abundant materials for settling the whole question of Christ's kingdom.-(Pp. 152, 153.)

"He assumes, accordingly, that they shew, beyond all contradiction,' that he is to reign in heaven, till all his enemies are subdued, and he delivers to the Father the sovereignty he exercises during that reign. As usual, however, he is wholly in error. In the first place, he omits to notice the distinction between Christ's foes, who are mentioned, Psalm cx. 1, Acts ii. 34, 35, Heb. x. 11, 12, and all enemies, whoever they are, exercising rule, authority, and power, mentioned 1 Cor. xv. 24-26. Who, then, are the foes and enemies designated in the former? They are undoubtedly human beings solely, the nations, peoples, kings, and rulers, enumerated Ps. ii., who rage, take counsel against him, and endeavour to free themselves from his dominion. This is indicated in Psalm cx. verse that follows the command, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thy foes thy footstool,' exhibits him as to rule at Jerusalem, and among his enemies; and represents these enemies, like those of Psalm ii., as Gentile nations and kings.

The

"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord will send the rod of thy strength— the rod of chastisement-out of Zion; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people-the Israelites-are free-will offerings in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness; from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth; '—that is, they are voluntarily to submit to his sceptre at the opening of his millennial reign, not to be subdued, like his Gentile enemies, by avenging judgments. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge

among the nations; he shall fill with dead bodies; he shall wound the headthe chiefs-over many countries.' (Ver. 1-6.)

"These are human beings exclusively, and the antichristian powers, undoubtedly, who are to be destroyed at his coming, and whose destruction is exhibited, Dan. vii. 9-14, as immediately preceding his investiture with the dominion of the earth, and the institution of the kingdom of the saints-and, also, Zechariah xiv., Joel iii., and Rev. xix. The conquest, however, of these enemies will not necessarily involve the subjection of all his foes. Who, then, are his other enemies who are to be put under his feet at the resurrection of the last band of the dead? We have the answer, Rev. xx. They are the nations who are to be excited to revolt after Satan's release at the end of the thousand years; the unholy dead, who are then to be raised and judged; Satan himself, who is then to be consigned to eternal punishment; and finally, death, the last enemy, which is then to be abolished. The fact, therefore, that Christ is to reign in heaven till the time of the destruction of the usurping kings and hostile nations, who oppose the institution of his kingdom on the earth, is no proof whatever that he is not to descend to the earth and reign in person over that kingdom, during the thousand years which are to precede the destruction of the other class of his foes.

"In the next place, the exaltation of Christ at the right hand of the Majesty on high, denotes in reality, not a mere local exaltation or elevation to heaven, but rather his investiture with the sovereignty of the universe, or supreme power in heaven and on earth. Thus, his being set by the Father at his own right hand, in the heavenly places,' is described by Paul as his being exalted far above all principality and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but in that which is to come' (Eph. i. 20, 21); and as the gift to him of 'a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father' (Phil. ii. 9-11), and that supreme authority over the whole empire of the Almighty, he is to exercise from the times of the restitution of things to the epoch of his delivery of the sovereignty to the Father, as well as during his continuance in heaven. He is accordingly exhibited in the Apocalypse, in the vision of the new Jerusalem, in which God is to dwell with men during the millennium, as exercising his authority at the right hand of the Father. Thus the Lord God Almighty

and the Lamb are the temple' of the New Jerusalem (Rev. xxi. 22); The throne of God and the Lamb are to be in it,' and its pure river of water of life,' is to proceed out of the throne of God and the Lamb' (Rev. xxii. 1, 2.) And finally, in harmony with this, the delivery of the kingdom or sovereignty to the Father, which is to take place after the resurrection of the last band of the dead, and subjection of all his enemies, is the surrendering to the Father of that supreme authority over the whole universe of creatures, in distinction from his dominion over this world. This is indicated by the fact that the dominion with which he is to be invested at his second coming, over all people, nations, and languages, is to be an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. vii. 14.) As his dominion over this world is never to be relinquished, and the only other dominion with which he is invested is the sovereignty of other worlds, it is clear that the sovereignty he is to restore to the Father after the judgment of the last band raised from the dead, is the sovereignty of other worlds. These passages,' thus, in truth, afford abundant materials for settling the whole question of Christ's kingdom;' but they settle it by confuting Mr Brown's proposition, and establishing the great fact which he alleges them to overthrow.

"Such is the mode in which Mr Brown treats the question respecting the future kingdom of Christ, in regard to which there is a greater number of predictions, and a more ample revelation to guide the inquirer than on any other he discusses; yet not one of the passages which shew that he is to return from heaven and reign on the earth has he noticed, with the exception of Acts iii. 19-21, Isaiah ix. 6, 7, and Zech. vi. 12-17, which he totally misrepresents. Instead of seeking, by an exact interpretation of the chief texts that relate to the subject, to ascertain what it is that God has revealed respecting it, he employs himself in endeavouring to establish the monstrous solecism that the throne of Jehovah in the heavens is the throne of David; perverts the whole series of passages which he alleges to verify it; and then uses it, as though it were demonstrated, to set aside the numerous indisputable teachings of the Sacred Word which it contradicts. Would such a course be likely to be taken by a fair inquirer in the advocacy of a demonstrable truth? Does it not rather indicate a mind warped from impartiality, enthralled by the power of a false idea, and resolved to sustain it at all hazards?"

ART. II.-ABRAHAM AND HIS ANCESTRY.

In the previous verses of this chapter,* God has been shewing us the first manifestations of the evil, after the flood. We have seen how soon it struck root again in the earth, as if no infliction of judgment could extirpate it or hinder its upspringing. Babel was its seat; and from that centre did it soon spread abroad, threatening to fill the earth with iniquity.

God must step in. It is time for him to work, for men are making void his law. But how shall he do so? By a second deluge? No; that would not avail to shew sin under a new aspect, as God meant to do. God never repeats himself; but each act, each step, each word, differs from all preceding ones. Each judgment differs from its predecessor. Each dealing with the race of men differs from its predecessor. There is no mere repetition either of judgments or of blessings on the part of God. He moves on in his all-wise purposes, exhibiting his own character under new aspects,-man's character in new shades, and sin's exceeding sinfulness in ever deepening hatefulness.

Accordingly, when sin began once more to overspread the earth, he proceeds to deal with it in a new way; and to unfold new and special features of his character as the God of grace, and as the God of righteousness. A new purpose now came forth into manifestation,-a purpose which has ever since been running its course, and which is not yet completed. That purpose was to select an individual,—and out of that individual to raise up a nation, which through successive ages should be his depositaries of truth and witnesses of his character. The individual chosen was Abram; out of the very midst of that land where idolatry was fast springing up, and from that people who were departing so rapidly from the true God.

It is of this chosen witness and this chosen nation that Goď immediately proceeds to speak. But before doing so, he traces out his genealogy. Just as, in the Gospel of Matthew, before telling us the particulars of the birth of Jesus, he goes back upon his ancestry; so here, before naming Abram, he traces the genealogy in which his name was contained.

* See Genesis xi. 10, and onwards.

+ The first nine verses of this chapter may be looked upon as a sort of parenthesis. In mentioning Peleg, Moses had been led to speak of the division of the earth and its causes; now he returns to the genealogy.