392 Reflections on the Day of CHRIST's coming to Judgment. Sect. 162. self, tho' so much fuperior to them, but my Fa- [but my Father only.] ther alone, or the indwelling Godhead, from [MAT. XXIV. 36.]

32.

Mark XIII. whom nothing can be concealed: And as he does not think fit to disclose it, let it be your Care to improve this Uncertainty, as an Engagement to the most diligent and conftant Preparation for its Coming.

L

IMPROVEMENT.

ET us now raise our Comtemplations to that awful Day, when all that was figuratively spoken of the Destruction of Jerufalem, thall be literally accomplished; and let us confider our own intimate Concern in it. Where will our Hope and Comfort, our Light, and our Safety be, Mat. xxiv. when the Sun shall be darkened, and the Moon shall not give her Light, when the Stars shall fall from Heaven, and the Powers of the Heavens Shall be shaken? Where indeed, unless the Almighty GOD, the Everlafting Jehovah, by whose Voice they were created, and by whose Hand they shall be dashed in Pieces again, shall condescend to be our Light, and our Salvation? (Pfal. xxvii. 1.) And if He indeed be so, then we

29.

Lukexxi.28. may lift up our Heads with Joy; as knowing, that our compleat Redemption draweth nigh, even that long-expected Day, which, with all its folemn Horrors, has still been the brightest Object of our Faith and our Hopes.

Mat. xxiv.

30, 31.

32.

Then shall the Son of Man indeed come in the Clouds of Heaven, with Power and great Glory, and send his Angels to summon his Elect, and to assemble them from one End of Heaven to the other: For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a Shout, with the Voice of the Archangel, and with the Trump of GOD. (1 Theff. iv. 16.) May we hear the Summons with Joy, and stand in our Lot among his Chosen

Mat. xiii. Ones! What tho' the Day and Seafon be unknown? It is enough for us that we know, that all these interpofing Days and Years, be they ever so numerous, will at length be past; for the Promise of the great Redeemer is our Security, and he will haften it in its Time. (Ifa. lx. 22.)

Ver. 31.

These visible Heavens shall be rolled together as a Scroll, and the Earth fhall be removed out of its Place; but the fure Word of his Promise shall never pass away; even that Promise, which is engaged for the Salvation of his People. Let us often review it; let us firmly realize it to our Souls; and feeing we look for fuch Things, let us seriously confider what manner of Persons we ought to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness, (2 Pet. iii. 11, 14.)

SECT.

The Coming of the Son of Man shall be as the Days of Noah.

SECT. CLXIII.

Our Lord urges the Suddenness of his Appearance, as an
Engagement to constant Watchfulness, repeating several
Things which he had formerly faid on that Subject. Mat.
XXIV. 37, to the End. Mark XIII. 33, to the End.
Luke XXI. 34,36.

МАТ. XXIV. 37.

393

UR Lord having told them in the preced- Sect. 163. ing Words, that tho' the Time of his Appearance to the general Judgment was uncertain, Mat. XXIV. yet the Destruction of Jerufalem should happen 37. before that Generation of Men was passed away, went on with his Discourse, and added, But this I will in general inform you, that as sudden and unthought-of as the Deluge was, which came upon the World in the Days of Noah, so unexpected and furprizing also shall the Coming of the Son of Man, to execute his Vengeance, be. For as in 38 the Days which were before the univerfal Deluge, they were so inconfiderate and fecure, that they went on with all their usual Business, and spent their Time in Entertainments, eating and drinking, marrying Wives, and giving their Daughters in Marriage, thinking of nothing but present Indulgence and future Settlements in the World (a); and went on thus, in Contempt of every serious Admonition, even until the very Day that Noah entered into the Ark; And knew not, nor fuf39 pected, that any Evil was approaching, till the Deluge came with an irresistible Violence, and bore them all away with a Torrent of Destruction: So alfo shall the Coming of the Son of Man be, and tho'

(a) They were eating and drinking, &c.] Dr. Woodward (in his Theory of the Earth, pag. 98.) thinks, these were modest Expressions, to fignify their giving themselves up to all the Extravagancies of Riot and Luft; and Wolfius (in loc.) has most learnedly proved, that γαμειθαι is often used in a very criminal Senfe. But how great Reason foever there may be to believe, that the Antediluvian Sinners did fo, these Words may be intended to express no more, than the Security and Gaiety, with which they pursued the usual Employments and Amusements of Life, when they were on the very Brink of utter Destruction. VOD. II.

Ddd

(b) Tw

394

We should take heed, he do not come upon us unawares :

Sect. 163. tho' Men have been so frequently and plainly warned of it, yet Multitudes shall be surprized Mat. XXIV. in an unprepared State. (Compare Luke xvii.

39.

40

26, 27. pag, 189.)

40 Then shall Two be in

taken, and the other left:

I formerly told you with relation to the Temporal Desolation of your Country, and I the Field, the one shall be now repeat it; that of Two Men who shall then be at work together in the Field, the one shall be

41 feized, and the other dismissed (b):

Luke XXI.

34.

And that of

Two Women who shall be grinding Corn at the
fame Mill, the one shall be feized, and the other
difmifled: (Compare Luke xvii. 35, 36. pag. 191.)
And I may say the like with respect to this im-
portant Event; many who have been engaged
in the fame Station and Employments, and most
intimately converfant with each other, shall be
found exceedingly different in their Characters
and States; and some of them shall be made the
Prisoners of Divine Justice, while others shall
not only be spared, but in a very fingular Man-
ner favoured by GOD.

And therefore, that no Calamities of Life,
or Solemnities of Judgment, may be dreadful
to you, take heed to yourselves, left at any Time
your Hearts be overloaded(c), and your Rational
Powers

41 Two Women shall be grinding at the Mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left.

(b) Two shall then be in the Field, &c.] Tho' in the Paraphrafe, for its better Connection, I have introduced these Words incidentally, and hinted how they may allusively be accommodated to the Day of Judgment; yet I doubt not, they originally refer to the Destruction of Jerufalem, to which alone they are properly applicable. After this Paragraph, there is not a Word peculiar to that; but many Circumstances are introduced, which refer to the Day of Judgment, (and of Death, as tranfmitting to it,) and which can only be thus understood. I therefore humbly conceive, that the grand Transition, about which Commentators are so much divided, and fo generally mistaken, is made precisely after these Two Verses.

Our Lord in the following Verses of Matthew and Mark, directs their Thoughts to that final Solemnity, in which they are fo highly concerned, by repeating, almost in the fame Words, the Cautions and Advices he had formerly given Luke xii. 35, & feq. Sett 114. in which whole Context (as I there observed, Note (f), pag. 121.) there is no Reference to those Temporal Calamities that were coming on the Jews, which have been here the Subject of almost the whole preceding Difcourse. And the Remembrance of what had paffed on the former Occafion, might more easily lead them into the distinct understanding of what was now added. Tho' it may not be improper to recollect, that the fame pious Care in their Temper and Conduct, which would be a Preparative against National Judgments, and entitle them to the special Protection of Providence in them, would also secure them from any unwelcome Surprize by a Call to the Tribunal of God.

(c) Your Hearts be overloaded.] The Word βαρυνθωσιν properly fignifies burthened, or preffed down; and so, very elegantly and strongly exprefles the hateful Consequences of Intemperance, and the Load which it brings on those Rational Faculties, which are the Glory

of

For we know

and Drunkenness, and Cares of this Life, and fo that Day

come upon you unawares.

35 For as a Snare shall it come on all them that dwell

on the Face of the whole Earth.

36 Watch ye therefore, [MAR. take ye heed,] and pray always; that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these Things that shall come to pass, and to stand

before the Son M Man [for

ye know not [MAR. when the Time is,] or what Hour your Lord doth come.] [MAT. XXIV. 42. MARK XIII. 33.]

not the Hour when our Lord comes.

395

Powers depressed and stupefied, by Gluttony andSect. 163.
Drunkenness, or distracted with worldly and fecular ~
Cares; and by this Means that awful and impor-Luke XXI.
tant Day of which I have been speaking, should 34.
come unexpected upon you. For the Character of 35
the Generality of Mankind at that Time will be
fuch, that it shall come on the greatest Part of all
them that dwell on the Face of the whole Earth (d),
as a Snare upon a thoughtless Bird, which in the
midst of its Security finds itself inextricably taken.
(Compare Ecclef. ix. 12.) Let me therefore 36
address this most serious Exhortation to you, with
an Earneftness proportionable to its Importance,
Watch ye against every Temptation to Negli-
gence and Sin, take heed of every Thing which
might lull you into a dangerous Security, and
pray always with the most fervent Importunity;
that thro' Divine Grace you may be accounted
worthy to escape all these calamitous and deftruc-
tive Things, which shall assuredly come to pass just
as I have described them, and may be happily
enabled, even in the Day of his universal Judg-
ment, to stand forth with Courage and Accept-
ance before the Son of Man(e); for you know not
when the Time of him Appearance is, [or] at what
Hour your Lord does come to summon you before
him.

But

396

Sect. 163.

Mat.XXIV.

43.

The faithful Servant shall be greatly rewarded :

But this you know, and would do well to con-
fider it, that if the Master of a House that has at
any Time been plundered by Robbers, had known
exactly in what Watch of the Night the Thief
would have come, be would undoubtedly have
watched then ; and would have taken Care to be
provided for him, and not have fuffered his House
to be broke open, or have left the Thief to make
his Advantage by coming at an unexpected Time..

44 And therefore as it is of so much greater Confe-
quence that you should be prepared against an un-
seasonable Surprize, be ye also ready, and learn from
fuch a common Occurence to be upon your Guard;
for I tell you again, that at an Hour when you think
not of it, the Son of Man cometh; and Multitudes
of People will be as much surprized, as if they
had never heard in their whole Lives, that he
would come at all. (Compare Luke xii. 39, 40..
pag. 120.)

Mark XIII.

34.

Mat.XXIV.

45.

[For the Son of Man is] in this Respect as a Man travelling to a distant Country, who, as he was leaving his House, gave Authority to his Head-Servants to direct and oversee the rest in their Bufiness, and affigned to every Man in the Family his proper Work, and particularly commanded the Porter to watch, and to fee to it that the Doors were properly secured, and ready to be opened to him at his Return.

And who now, do you my Apostles suppose,
is the faithful and prudent Servant, of whom his
Lord has fo good an Opinion as to have appointed
him Ruler over the rest of his Houfhold, to give
them [their] proper Portion of Food in due Sea-
Jon? You must easily apprehend, that the Ex-
preffion may with the utmost Propriety be ap-
plied, to that high Office with which you are
invested, and to the Confidence placed in your

46 Integrity and Wisdom. And to excite you to
discharge this Office with the greatest Fidelity,
let me add, Happy indeed is that Servant, whom
kis Lord when he cometh, shall find thus employed
in the proper Duties of his important Office,
distributing to each his Portion in a proper Man-

MAT. XXIV. 43. But know this, that if the GoodMan of the House had known.

in what Watch the Thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have ken up.

fuffered his House to be bro

44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in fuch an Hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.