"The Age to Come"
BY JOSEPH MARSH
ROCHESTER, N. Y., PUBLISHED AT THE ADVENT HARBINGER OFFICE 1851
THE RESTITUTION
named in our text. The word restitution occurs but once in the New Testament, and is translated from the
Greek word apokatastasis, and signifies "a restoration of any thing to its former state."
Mark the import of the word; it is not creation. That is expressed by the Greek word
ktisis, which
signifies "the act of creating, production from nothing."
Many overlook these important facts: and consequently, instead of looking for the work of restitution to
commence at the coming of Christ, expect all things will then be made new at once.
It should be remembered, that this is a lost world: that the saints are fallen in death; that Eden is lost; that
Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles; that the tabernacle of David is fallen down, and his throne is in
ruins; that Zion is ploughed as a field, that the Sanctuary is yet under the vile tread of unsanctified Gentile
feet; that the kingdom is still under their power, and that the earth is yet under the curse. It should also be
borne in mind, that God, by all the holy prophets, has promised a restoration of these things. It has not
been spoken of obscurely by one or two, nor merely hinted at by them all; but they have all dwelt largely
on this glorious subject.
A restitution then, will commence at the return of the Lord, as Peter, in our text, says, ~~ "Whom the
heavens must receive until the times of Restitution:"
then he will come and the glorious work will begin, and be perfected in those times.
This is, emphatically, a day of high expectation with all classes of reflecting men: they are confidently
looking for the immediate dawn of better times: ~~ their millennium is at the door. They are, however,
divided relative to its character. The despotic monarchist looks for the triumph of monarchial principles;
the liberalist for the victory of republicanism; the socialist, for the universal spread of his favorite
philosophy; the catholic for the triumph of Catholicism; the protestant for the triumph of Protestantism;
and the true Bible Student is rejoicing in hope of the universal conquest of the
world by the Lord, at his glorious coming.
As it does not fall within the objects of this work to notice these political, moral and philosophical theories
of a millennium, or "good time coming, "but those of a theological character, we will therefore, confine
our remarks to four of them: one of which, however, locates the millennium, of Rev. 20, in the past, in
the days of Papal triumph. The first that will claim our attention is, the . . .