And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
Ver. 11. And restore all things] viz. In Malachi's sense, i.e. not simply, absolutely, perfectly, for the royalty of restoring all things so was reserved for Christ alone, Acts 3:21, but comparatively, to the state of the old Church. So those renowned reformers, Luther, Farellus, &c., abroad, Cranmer, Cromwell, &c., here at home, freed the churches from many burdens and bondages, did (for their time) worthily in Ephrata, and are therefore famous in Bethlehem. But as eiusdem non est invenire et perficere (it is a praise proper to Christ only, to be Alpha and Omega, author and finisher of that which he sets about, Revelation 1:8; Heb 12:2), those brave men left many abuses and disorders in the Church unrectified, unreformed, which either they did not see or could not help. But now as more light is diffused, so great thoughts of heart, yea, and great hopes are conceived, that God will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness,Romans 9:28; that he will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall be no more remembered, Zechariah 13:2, yea, that he will cause the false prophets, and with them the unclean spirit, to pass out of the land. We read,Nehemiah 8:17,18, of a feast of tabernacles so well kept by the Jews newly come out of captivity, with dwelling in booths and reading every day out of the law, &c., as had not been done in many hundred years before, no, not in the reign of David and Solomon.