Jew Figns and wonders; the very words made use of by the fame hiftorian, as well as by our Lord*. And it is remarkable that Chrift here foretels, not only the appear ance of these false prophets, but the very places to which they would lead their deluded followers; and these were, the "defert, and the fecret chamber." And accordingly, if you look into the hiftory of Jofephus, you will find both these places diftinctly specified as the theatres on which thefe impoftors exhibited their delufions. For the hiftor ran relates a variety of inftances in which thefe falfe Chrifts and falfe prophets betrayed their followers into the defert, where they were conftantly deftroyed; and he also mentions one of these pretenders, who declared to the inhabitants of Jerufalem, that God commanded them to go up into a particular part of the temple (into the fecret chamber, as our Lord expreffes it) and there they fhould receive the figns of deliverance. A multitude of men, women, and children went up accordingly; but, inftead of deliverance, the place was fet on fire by the Romans, and fix thousand perrifhed miferably in the flames, or by endeavoring to escape them.+ But the appearance of the true Chrift was not to be in that way; it was to be as vifible and as rapid as a flash of lightning: "for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the weft, fo fhall alfo the coming of the Son of man be." It fhall not be in a remote defert or in a fecret chamber of the temple, but fhall be rendered confpicuous by the fudden and entire overthrow of Jerufalem, and its inhabitants. "For wherefoever the carcafe is, there will the eagles be gathered together." By the carcafe is meant the Jewish nation, which was morally and judicially dead; and the instruments of divine vengeance, that is the Roman armies, whofe standards were eagles, would be collected together against the wicked people, as eagles are gathered together to devour their prey. * Jof. Antiq. I. xx. c. 27. f. 6. p 983. Ed. Huds. Jof. Antiq. I. xx. c. 7. f. 6. and c. 7. f. 10. De Bell Jud. 1. ii, c 13. f. 4. and l. vii. c. 11. f. 1. Ed. Huds. In the three following verfes, the language of our dis vine Mafter becomes highly figurative and fublime. "Immediately after the tribulation of thofe days fhall the fun be darkened, and the moon fhall not give her light, and the ftars fhall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens fhall be fhaken. And then fhall appear the fign of the Son of man in heaven: and then fhall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they fhall fee the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he fhall fend his angels with a great found of a trumpet, and they fhall gather his elect from the four winds from the one end of heaven to the other." Few people, I believe, read thefe verfes, without fuppofing that they refer entirely to the day of judgment, many of thefe expreffions being actually applied to that great event in the very next chapter, and in other parts of fcripture; and indeed several eminent men and learned commentators are of that opinion, and imagine that our Lord here makes a transition from the destruction of Jerufalem to the end of the world, conceiving that fuch ve ry bold figures of fpeech could not with propriety be applied to the fubverfion and extinction of any city or state, however great and powerful. But the fact is, that these very fame metaphors do frequently in fcripture denote the deftruction of nations, cities, and kingdoms. Thus Ifaiah, fpeaking of the deftruction of Babylon, fays, "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land defolate, and he fhall destroy the finners thereof out of it. For the ftars of heaven, and the conftellations thereof, shall not give their light; the fun fhall be darkened in his going forth and the moon fhall not cause her light to fhine." And in almost the fame terms he describes the punishment of the Idumæanst, and of Senacherib and his peoplet. Ezekiel fpeaks in the fame manner of Egypt; and Daniel, of the flaughter of the Jews; and, what is ftill more to the point, the prophet Joel describes this very deftruction of Jerufalem in terms very fimilar to thofe of Christ. Ch. xiii. 9. Ch. xxxii. 7, 8. || Ch. viii. 10. will fhew wonders in the heavens; and and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of fmoke. The fun fhall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord fhall come* " It is evident then that the phrases here made ufe of, of "the fun being darkened, and the moon not giving her light, and the stars falling from heaven, and the powers of heaven being fhaken," are figures meant to express the fall of cities, kingdoms, and nations; and the origin of this fort of language it well illuftrated by a late very learned prelatet, who tells us, that in ancient hieroglyphic writing, the fun, moon, and stars, were used to reprefent states and empires, kings, queens, and nobility; their eclipfe or extinction denoted temporary difafters, or entire overthrow, &c. So the prophets in like manner call kings and empires by the names of the heavenly luminaries. Stars falling from the firmament are employed to denote the deftruction of the nobility, and other great men; infomuch, that in reality the prophetic ftyle feems to be a fpeaking hieroglyphic‡.” In the fame manner, in the next verse, those awful words, "then shall appear the fign of the Son of man in heaven and then fhall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they fhall fee the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," feem applicable folely to the last advent of Chrift to judge the world; and yet it is certain; that in their primary fignification they refer to the manifestation of Chrift's power and glory, in coming to execute judgment on the guilty Jews, by the total overthrow of their temple, their city, and their government; for fo our Lord himself explains what is meant by the coming of the Son of man, in the 27th, 28th, and 37th verfes of this chapter. And when the prophet Daniel is predicting this very appearance of Christ to punifh the Jews, he defcribes him as "coming in the clouds of heaven, and there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom.” Ch. ii. 30, 31. § Daniel, vii. 14. The fame remark will hold with regard to the 31ft verfe: "he fhall fend his angels with a great found of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth even to the other.” These words alfo, though they seem as if they could belong to no other fubject than the last day, yet most assuredly relate principally to the great object of this prophecy, the deftruction of Jerufalem; after which dreadful event we are here told, that Christ will fend forth his angels ; that is, his meffengers or minifters (for fo that word ftrictly fignifies*) to preach his gospel to all the world, which preaching is called by the prophets, "lifting up the voice like a trumpett; and they fhall gather together his elect (that is, fhall collect disciples and converts to the faith) from the four winds, from the four quarters of the earth;" or, as St. Luke expreffes it, " from the east, and from the weft, from the north, and from the fouth." Our Lord then goes on to point out the time when all these things fhall take place, and thus answers the other question put to him by the difciples, "Tell us, when shall these things be?" "Now learn, fays he, a parable of the fig-tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that the fummer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye fhall fee all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I fay unto you, this generation fhall not pafs till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words fhall not pass away." The only obfervation neceffary to be made here is, that the time when all these predictions were to be fulfilled is here limited to a certain period. They were to be accomplished before the generation of men then exifting fhould pass away. And accordingly all these events did actually take place within forty years after our Saviour delivered this prophecy; and this by the way is an unanswerable proof, that every thing our Lord had been faying in the preceding part of the chapter related principally, not to * Vid. Haggai, i. 13, Malach, ii. 7.-iii. 1. Matth. xi. 10. Mark, I. 2. Luke, vii. 27. Luke xiii. 29. † Isaiah, lviii. 1. the day of judgment, or to any other very remote event, but to the deftruction of Jerufalem, which did in reality happen before that generation had paffed away. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only;" that is, although the time when Jerufalem is to be destroyed, is, as I have told you, fixed generally to this generation, yet the precife day and hour of that event is not known either to men or angels, but to God only. This he speaks in his human nature, and in his prophetic capacity. This point was not made known to him by the fpirit, nor was he commiffioned to reveal it. It is fuppofed by feveral learned commentators, that the words, that day and that hour, refer to the day of judgment, which is immediately alluded to in the preceding verfe, heaven and earth fhall pass away. This conjec ture is an ingenious one, and may be true; but if it be, this verse should be inclosed in a parenthesis, because what follows most certainly relates to the deftruction of Jerufalem, (to which St. Luke in the seventeenth chapter exprefsly confines it*) and cannot, without great violence to the words, be applied to the final advent of Christ. "As the days of Noe were, fo fhall alfo the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; fo fhall alfo the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one fhall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." That is, when the day of defolation fhall come upon the city and temple of Jerufalem, the inhabitants will be as thoughtless and unconcerned, and as unprepared for it, as the antediluvians were for the flood in the days of Noah. But as fome (more particularly the Chriftians) will be more watchful, and in a better ftate of mind than others, the providence of God will make a distinction between his faithful and his * Luke, xvii. 26, 27, 35, 36. |