in St. Mark, instead of the words feeft thon all these things? it is directly feeft then these great buildings? So that fince in the entrance to this Difcourle the words Tau and Taula nál in St. Matthew and St. Luke are by St. Mark call'd Tablas τὰς μεγάλας οικοδομής as the adequate importance of them, we fhall have reason hereafter to explain the fame words in the fame fense; and to fuppofe that when our Saviour affures us that, that present Generation was not to pass away till mina or Пára Tavla were fullfilled, he thereby particularly refer'd to thofe great Buildings of the Temple which were to be deftroy'd in that age; without any respect therein to the Day See Luc. xxj. of judgment, or the Signs thereto belonging.

22.

IV. I Obferve, that the two words of the latter Question in St. Matthew, naguola and Erixon To The folemn Appearance or Prefence of Chrift again, and the Confummation of the Age, do each of them, both by their Natural Importance, and Conftant Ufe elsewhere in Scripture belong to, that grand Appearance to judge the world at the last day, and never to any other coming of his, either of Mercy or Judgment in the mean time. As to the former word nagusia, or the Appear ance and Prefence of Chrift, it has no relation to, or derivation from the Verò "Eg, which fo frequently belongs to any coming of Chrift in Scripture; nor is it fo properly rendred by us the coming of Chrift; on which rendring yet this mistake does in great part depend: for when 'tis granted that the Destruction of Jerufalem in Scripture phrase is fometimes faid to be a Coming of his, it paffes of courfe that any other word which is by us rendred a Coming of his also, will refer naturally to the fame time: whereas the Noun nagyria has no relation to the Verb ", nor ought to be rendred by the fame word; but denotes properly that glorious Prefence or Appearance of his which will be confpicuous at the last day and if the conftant ufe of the word in the New-Teftament out of this Difcourfe, may be any guide as to its importance in it, I am pretty confident that not one example can be given of its fignifying any other Prefence or Appearance of Chrift but that of the laft day, in the whole New-Teftament befides. And why we should have recourse to a new

and

and unexampled fenfe here, when thereby we shall but more perplex the Difcourfe before us; and when the moft Ufual and Obvious Senfe will much better affift us in the underftanding of it, I cannot tell. It muft indeed be own'd that in one place of this 24th of St. Matthew, if that is to be fuppos'd the true place for the words where they now ftand, there would be great probability of the application of this word naguria to the Deftruction of Jerufalem: the words are thefe, for as the lightning cometh out of the east and fbineth Ver.27. even unto the west, fo alfo fhall the coming Пuesoria of the Son of Man be, for wherefoever the carcafe is there will the eagles Ver. 28. be gathered together. But when we obferve that even in St. Matthew thefe verfes refer to their fellows afterwards v. 37. and fo appear to belong to them; when we find that the Connexion of the Difcourfe requires that they be plac'd there with their fellows, where they come in moft properly, but in this place without any visible coherence at all; and that they are accordingly join'd in a parallel place in St. Luke Chap. xvij. 22.-37. when we obferve farther that St. Mark and St. Luke both wholly omit them all in this Difcourfe; when alfo we note that both St. Mark and St. Luke make an Immediate Connexion of the Exhortation for Watchfulness Luk. xvij. 22. to the Declaration of the time for the Deftruction of Fe---37rufalem, and of the uncertainty of the Day of Judgment; and that the Nature of the Reafoning requires that Connexion. When I fay we obferve and confider all these things, we shall perhaps be rather enclin'd to believe thefe verfes mifplac'd in St. Matthew, than to put such a sense upon this word aguria, as can be juftified by no other Authority; efpecially when we remember that tho' St. Matthew has commonly more particulars than the others, as being an Eye and Ear-witnefs himself; yet is his Gospel the only one which in our prefent Copies has many of its Sections mifplac'd; and in which we are oblig'd to reEtify them by the more methodical Accounts of the other E- Prop. 2. vangelifts. And as to the latter phrase £urría «iC, The Confummation of the Age, It ftill more plainly appears to belong to the end of the world than the former; both by the fignification of the words; the Conclufion or Confummation of that

Age

See Harmony,

+ See Apoc. ij. 5,16, 25, & šij. 3, 11.

Age, which was the last Age, and days of the Messiah, naturally inforcing us to underftand by them the end of the World; and by the conftant ftile of the New Testament; in which elfewhere the phrafe cannot with any probability be pretended to belong to any other time than that of the general Judgment. Nay I may, I believe, appeal to all the Jewish Writers, or any who know their Ancient Cuftoms and Phrafes, whether they had the least notion of any Age and Period to be ended at the Destruction of their Temple and Polity, different from that of the end of the days of the Meffias at the day of Judgment; and to make the Deftruction of Jerufalem to be a great End of a Period, or the Confummation of an Age in the Jewish Stile, without the least knowledge that ever there was fuch a Stile or Notion among the Jews, is to interpret Scripture by the arbitrary found of words in English, without any regard to their true and properImportance in the Nation and Age wherein they were fpoken; which Iam fure is fufficiently abfurd and unaccountable.

V. I obferve, that those who make this magsría & œvrtiλea Tõ aia, (and the many Prophecies following and depending on fuch an Interpretation,) to belong properly to the deftruction of Jerufalem, do make a much greater thing of it, and of more general concern than the matter will at all bear. It was indeed an eminent and fignal; I may add the Primary and Original Intance of Chrift's Sovereign Power over his Enemies the Jews, and of his heavy Vengeance on those who crucify'd him; on which account he is then, as he is on much † lefs occafions elfewhere, faid thereby to Come, and to Come with Power, and His Kingdom to come; by phrafes well fuited to the Jewish Nation, and agreeable to the Prophetick Phrases of the Old Teftament. But then this did not much concern other Nations, nor affect the Body of the Chriftian Church of the Gentiles: Nay, indeed nor the Chriflian Jews neither in any great degree, excepting thofe few who were then in Judea, and in Jerufalem; who being warn'd by Chrift's Admonitions withdrew themfelves in time to Pella, and fo efcap'd that Deftruction. But to fuppofe that all the High and Noble Expreffions in the Chapters before us, can belong to that Destruction, is quite to overvalue its magnitude, and to make it equivalent with

the

and

the great day of Judgment it felf. Hear the Expreffions and then Judge. And first thofe of St. Matthew, The fun fhall be darkned, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars fhall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens fhall be shaken; and then shall appear the fign of the fon of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they fhall fee the fon of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power great glory: and he shall 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 heaven to the other. Or in St. Luke's words; And there shall be signs in the fun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the fea and the waves roaring; mens hearts failing them for fear,and for looking after thofe things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be fhaken: and then jball they fee the son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory. Thefe are the Predictions which I interpret of the Day of Judgment: and whether the Expreffions be not too high for the Destructi-on of the Capital City of one Nation only; efpecially fince 'tis not in a myftical Prophecy where fuch Metaphors are not fo unufual, but in a plain and familiar Difcourfe of our Saviour's to his Difciples, Ifhall leave it to the Reader to determin.

VI. I obferve, that our Saviour directly diftinguishes between the different branches of this Prophecy, both by direct -Intimations, and by using different Perfons of the Verbs and Pronouns ;applying ftill the particulars relating to the Deftruction of Jerufalem to the Perfons then prefent, and that Age then in being, in the second Perfon plural; and speaking of those things which relate to the day of Judgment without any fuch particular Application, and in the third Perfons fingular or plural; as being of general ufe to all the world,

This Obfervation, of fo great confequence, and fo evident in all the Evangelifts, has not, that I know of, been hitherto made by any: but that it is certainly true, the Reader may cafily fatisfie himself by the perufal of the feveral Chapters themfelves. I fhall here only inftance in St. Matthew's Account, and leave the others to the Readers own Obfervation. In the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew then, and the first 25 Verfes of our Savi

our's

our's difcourfe, from v. 4. to v. 28. Every Body will readily allow that all is to be Expounded of the Deftruction of Ferufalem. Obferve therefore how often in thofe Verfes all is apply'd to his present Hearers, and to that Age, and Nation. Take ye heed that no man deceive you: ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars :-See ye therefore that ye be not troubled:-Thea fball they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye Shall be hated of all nations for my names fake: And then shall many be offended, &c.-When ye therefore fall fee the abomination of defolation, Spoken of by Daniel the prophet, ftand in the holy place, Then let them which are in Judæa flee to the mountains, &c. -But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the fabbath-day: For then shall be great tribulation, &c. — Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo here is Chrift, or there, believe yeit nor: for there (ball arife falfe Chrifts, and false prophets; and Shall fhew great figns and wonders, &c. Behold I have told you before wherefore if they shall say unto you bebold he is in the defert, go not ye forth; behold he is in the fecret chambers, believe ye it not. And again,after the account belonging to the day of Judgment is over,and Chrift returns to caution them about the obfervation of the figns before the deftruction of Jerufalem. But learn ye a parable of the fig-tree,when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that fummer is nigh: fo likewife ye, when ye fball fee all these things know ye that it is near, even at the doors: verily, I say unto you, This genera tion fhall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.

But then in that part of the Difcourfe before-mention'd, which feems fo directly to belong to the Day of Judgment, there the fecond Perfon plural is not once us'd, nor any words that give the leaft intimation of a particular application to that Nation or Age, or to thofe Auditors then prefent; but directly the contrary as is obvious on the bare reading of them, as they are before quoted, and needs not be any farther demonftrated here. And the cafe will be found to be the fame in all the three Gospels, 'Tis true, that the Exhortations to watchfulness, after the Declaration of the utter uncertainty of the time for the Day of Judgment; (which being grounded on that uncertainty must referto that day, and not to the Deftru