When our Saviour stood before the judgment seat of the Jewish council, he was led to speak of the coming of the Son of Man by the interrogatories of Caiaphas, the high priest:"And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said; nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? hehold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death."-Matthew xxvi, 62 to 66. In this instance our Saviour evidently referred the high priest to Daniel's vision of the Son of Man coming with the clouds of hea ven. This will appear by consulting the nature of the evidence which the council and Caiaphas, the high priest, sought against him; and which, in their opinion, would have rendered him worthy of death. From the question put to the prisoner by the presiding judge of that court, it was entirely suffi cient to convict the accused, to prove that he set up pretensions to the Messiah-ship. After they had sought witness against him, on this point, but to no effect, the high priest, according to the common law of the Jews, resolved to make a witness of the accused; and, in form of an oath, "said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God." Or, as Campbell translates, "On the part of the living God, I adjure you to tell us whether you be the Messiah, the Son of God." "Jesus answered him, it is as you say; Nay, be assured that hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Almighty, and coming on the clouds of heaven." At this answer the high priest informed the council they needed no other witness; they themselves had heard him speak blasphemy: he had set up pretensions to the Messiah-ship. This is evidently the way in which the council understood Jesus' testimony; and in what way could they have construed his words into a confession of his Messiah-ship, if they had not understood him as quoting from Daniel's vision of the Messiah, when he saw one like the Son of Man come with the clouds of heaven to receive a kingdom? This was the only coming of

the Son of Man with the clouds of heaven, mentioned in the scriptures of the Old Testament; and this was evidently understood by the high priest, and the whole council, to refer to the time of the coming of the Messiah: and to suppose that Jesus used this form of expression in any other sense, than that which he knew was the common and universal sense, in which it was used and understood by all the Jewish nation, is, at once, to suppose he was guilty of the darkest duplicity, even under the solemnity of an oath: and that he intended to deceive and mislead the council, to his own condemnation.

After the resurrection of Jesus, and during his repeated interviews with his disciples, he was again interrogated by them, concerning the time of the coming of the Son of Man in his kingdom, and from the question proposed at that time, it appears his disciples were in the expectation of the event immediately. "When they therefore, were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again, the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times, or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Acts, i. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Much stress is laid on the expressions of the two men clothed in white apparel. "Which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." But we are at a loss to know how this passage could be enlisted on the side of orthodoxy; there is nothing said about the time of the coming of the Son of Man, but the manner of his coming--he was to come in like manner as they saw him go up. In a cloud- Their expressions were nothing more than a reference to Daniel's coming of the Son of Man, "With the clouds of heaven," and an intimation that those who saw him ascend "In a cloud," should live to see

him "coming with the clouds of heaven." Therefore, this passage, so far from being testimony of the orthodox notion of the coming of the Son of Man, it is decidedly against it. St. Paul mentions the coming of the Son of Man, "So that ye

come

behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians, i. 7, 8. Here St. Paul represents the disciples at Corinth, as waiting with expectation of the coming of the Son of Man called "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," and "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ," which evidently means the gospel dispensation, emphatically called in scripture, "the day of the Lord Jesus." From what our Saviour had said to his disciples, about the coming of the Son of Man, they had a right to expect it, and were anxiously looking for it to take place in their day;-"For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Philippians, iii. 20, 21. "Who shall change our vile body"-When? why, when he shall come. By "our vile body," the apostle meant the church, in its state while under Jewish forms and ceremo nies: he does not say that "he shall change our vile bodies' "Our vile body""Ye are the body of Christ." See 1 Corinth. xii. 12, 13, 14, and 27. This vile body was to be changed and fashioned like unto his glorious body. By "his glorious body," St. Paul meant the state of the church, after Christ had come and broke down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, and made both one, "making one new man." This "new man" composed "his glorious body." The disciples were in expectation of, and "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works," See Titus ii. 13,14. "That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs of the same body, and partakers of his promises by the Gospel." Eph. iii. 6, This is the same body said to be prepared for the Son of man at his coming. "Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy

will, O God." Hebrews chapter x. fifth and ninth verses. This coming of the Son of Man is referred to by St. Paul, 1 Corinthians, xv. 23. "But every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; and afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power." This last verse, in the Ethiopic version, reads "Then cometh the end, when the Father shall present the kingdom to the Son, after he hath put down all rule--all authority and power." Dr. Belsham observes "This curious reading, is not noticed by Grisbach". However, it appears to me to be the correct reading--the whole context, and all Scripture analogy require it: No other period is emphatically called "The end," in relation to the coming of Christ, but "the end of the age," or Jewish dispensation, the time when the daily sacrifice was to cease. This is the sense in which the term is used in Daniel, from whence it is borrowed by the New Testament writersSee Daniel vii, 26.--chap. viii, 17—ix. 26—xi. 29-40, and chap. xii. 6-9-13. This was to be the end of all Daniel's. wonders. Jesus Christ used the term, "the end," in the same sense as it was used by Daniel to signify the end of the Jewish hierarchy and the troublesome times in which it was to take place. See Math, xxiv. 13, 14. Mark xiii, 7,--Luke xxi. 9,20. It was at the end of all Daniel's wonders that one like the son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and was presented with a kingdom, by the Ancient of days. I do not recollect of any intimation in all the Bible, (the 24th verse of the 15th chap. of 1 Corinthians excepted,) about the Son of Man giving a kingdom to the Ancient of days, or to the Father. All the scriptures of prophecy which refer to this kingdom, represent the Son of Man as being inducted into the kingdom by the Father. In all our Savour's parables on this subject he represents the Son of Man as receiving the kingdom from the Father; and neither in the Old or New Testament is there any intimation, (with that one exception,) that this kingdom should ever be re-delivered to the Father by the Son of Man, From these considerations, I am inclined to believe the read, ing of this passage in the Ethiopic version is the correct reading of St Paul's reference to the coming of the Son of Man, at the time of the end; and that he had a direct reference to Daniel's vision of the coming of the Son of Man, and receiving

a kingdom, instead of the Father receiving a kingdom from the Son of Man. I am not insensible of the fact, that in giving this opinion on the above passage, I am taking a stand which will not only be considered novel, but in direct opposition to all modern speculation on that part of Paul's epistle: But such are my strong convictions in favour of the correctness of this opinion, that I am cheerful in submitting it to a candid and enlightened christian public, for their critical inspection. And while I am on the subject, I will offer another consideration in favor of the genuine reading of the Ethiopic version: according to which, St. Paul only alluded to the coming of the Son of Man spoken of by Daniel. At the time Daniel saw one like the Son of Man come with the clouds of heaven, the thrones were cast down, and the kingdoms of the earth were given to the Son of Man, and all kingdoms were to serve and obey him. St. Paul refers to this part of Daniel's vision. "When he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power." And in verse 28, he speaks of all things being subdued to the Son of Man. This subjugation of all things to the Son of Man, is not of individuals, but of kingdoms. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body; the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Ephesians, Chap. i, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. Thus we see the time alluded to by St. Paul, in his first letter to the church of Corinth, where the Father was to put all things under the Son,-when the Son was to reign in subjection to God the Father, and God was to be all in all:—it was at the time when God "raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly kingdom." There is no other way to reconcile St. Paul with himself, but to suppose the present reading of the 24th verse of the 15th chapter of 1 Corinth. has been corrupted from the original letter of Paul, and that the Ethiopic gives the correct reading. Admitting this to be the case,