swells into a largeness of expression, which embraces and strikingly predicts the winding-up of this dispensation*. The parallels to this clause are Mark xiii. 14-23, and Luke xxi. 20-24. The next passage in Matthew is, Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they * I am aware that this is the part of our statement which is charged with unsoundness; and which being, as is alleged, mere arbitrary ingenuity, throws discredit upon all the rest. But here, as elsewhere, it is easier to deny than to disprove. "Scripture prophecy," says Mr. Davison, "is so framed in some of its predictions as to bear a sense directed to two objects; of which structure the predictions concerning the kingdom of David furnish a conspicuous example; and I should say, an unquestionable one, if the whole principle of that kind of interpretation had not been by some disputed and denied. But the principle has met with this ill acceptance, for no better reason, it should seem, than because it has been injudiciously applied in cases where it had no proper place; or has been suspected, if not mistaken, in its constituent character, as to what it really is. The double sense of prophecy, however, is of all things the most remote from fraud or equivocation, and has its ground of reason perfectly clear. For what is it? Not the convenient latitude of two unconnected senses, wide of each other, and giving room to fallacious ambiguity; but the combination of two related, analogous, and harmonizing, though disparate, subjects, each clear and definite in itself; implying a twofold truth in the prescience, and creating an aggravated difficulty, and thereby an accumulated proof in the completion. So that the double sense of prophecy, in its true idea, is a check upon the pretences of vague and unappropriated prediction, rather than a door to admit them."-So much for the principle generally and touching its applica tion to this particular prophecy, if it shall be proved (as I think it is in this paper) that the coming of the Son of Man here predicted cannot possibly be his providential visitation at the destruction of Jerusalem, so that one branch of this prophecy must be admitted to reach forward to the close of the Gentile dispensation; then it remains to be proved that it is inconclusive to assert a similarly extended application of the whole prophecy. One of the examples selected by Mr. Davison, in illustration of the principle above stated, is the prophecy now before us. He says, "The prophecy of the judicial destruction of Jerusalem, with the dissolution of the Jewish economy, symbolizes with that which relates to the final Judgment, which will shut up the whole temporal economy of God, at the end of the world. In the New Testament they are united. In this, as in other authentic instances of a double sense, particulars are found belonging exclusively to the one subject or the other: these particulars create a discrimination, but do not violate the general harmony of the things described: the chief propositions and images, and the substance of the prediction, are common to the two; and they are common by the nature of the subjects, which correspond so far in their main attributes as to give a plain ground of fitness and agreement to the prophecies which join them together in one comprehensive scheme of delineation."-I repeat, it is easier to deny than to disprove the opinion maintained in these very sensible observations. shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to another. The period for the commencement of these great and final signs is here distinctly marked, in reference to what has gone before, immediately after the tribulation. In Mark it is, In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, &c. In Luke it is, There shall be signs in the sun and in the moon, &c., without any mark of the period, as in the other two. The reason is obvious. The period is sufficiently marked in the preceding words in St. Luke: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled: and there shall be signs in the sun." And this confirms the identity of the two periods, that tribulation, and the times of the Gentiles. When the tribulation of those long days from Jerusalem's overthrow shall be ended, and the time shall have arrived when Jerusalem is to be restored and made a praise in the earth, then the sun shall be darkened, &c. What precise events are predicted in these great words I do not dare to say; whether political and ecclesiastical commotions throughout the empire, or real miraculous appearances in the heavenly bodies, or both the mode of the prediction, as we find it in St. Luke, favours the supposition of the former. But whatever they are, they shall usher in the great climax of all, the glorious appearing of the Son of Man. I do not believe that any of the late or present commotions in Europe have fulfilled the signs here predicted, because I cannot subscribe to that view of the prophetic chronology which supposes the times of the Gentiles to have already expired. For this I have many reasons: it will be sufficient at present to assign this one: Jerusalem is still trodden under foot of the Gentiles; whereas, from the terms of the prophecy before us, it appears undeniable that the restoration of the Jews and the re-establishment of the holy city, either in its actual consummation, or at the least in such obvious progress as cannot be gainsayed, must be contemporaneous with the termination of the times of the Gentiles, which times we have seen are identical with the duration of the great tribulation. I thank God, the interests of Jerusalem are attracting increased and increasing attention, and the last great step of this prophecy may be at the door. Agreeing most cordially with the observation of the learned prelate above quoted, that it is of great importance to rescue the phrase of the Lord's coming, in this 30th verse, from the refinements of modern expositors, I shall here compare the passage with a parallel prediction from the first chapter of the Apocalypse."Behold," saith the Spirit, by the beloved disciple, "He cometh "-He, the faithful Witness, the First Begotten of the dead, the Prince of the kings of the earth; He who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father-He cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even So, amen! Here, as in the passage before us, we have the Lord Jesus coming in the clouds of heaven, every eye seeing him, and the kindreds (vλa, in both texts) of the earth mourning (kovovra, in both texts) because of him. And we have one additional circumstance predicted among the spectators of the glorious scene, they who pierced the Son of Man are specified as a distinct groupe. : Now what coming of the Lord is this? Not his providential visitation at the destruction of Jerusalem for then, instead of coming in the clouds of heaven, he did not come at all, but by his Spirit he stirred up the hearts of the Roman Emperors to come and bring their armies to destroy Jerusalem: and instead of every eye seeing him at that time, no eye saw him, for he remained in the invisible world: and instead of the Jewish. nation seeing and knowing him as the person whom they had pierced, they were still rejecting him, and for rejecting him were destroyed and instead of all the nations of the earth wailing because of him, they have all been rejoicing ever since, and making merry, regardless of him. And further, as Horsley argues from the narrative in St. Matthew, "It is evident that the coming intended in these similitudes [the lightning, and the eagle and carcase] is that coming of the time and hour of which none knows, said our Lord, not even the Son, but the Father.' But since the epoch of the destruction of Jerusalem was known to the Messiah by the prophetic Spirit-for he said that it should take place before the generation with which he was living on earth should be passed away-the coming, of which the time was not known to the Messiah by the prophetic Spirit, could be no other than the last personal advent." To these conclusive arguments we may add, that, according to the best and most careful investigation, it appears that Jerusalem had been already destroyed previous to the giving of the Revelations to John in Patmos, and was consequently a matter of history in the church, and not of prophecy. What coming, then, of the Lord is this? Not his spiritual coming, as it is called, to his church: because, in what is meant by that phrase, instead of coming in the clouds of heaven in manifested manhood, as he went away; he reveals himself by the Spirit in the hearts of his elect, as present with them in all places at the same time: consequently, not in his manhood, which can be only in one place at a time;-and instead of every eye seeing him, no eye sees him: the elect walk by faith, not by sight; and instead of the Jewish nation, who pierced him, seeing him, they have rejected and do reject him to this day;-and instead of all the nations of the earth wailing because of him, they still rejoice and make merry, regardless of him, and scoff with disdain at the pretensions of his people to any inward revelation of his presence by the Spirit. It is manifest that similar arguments would prove that the coming of the Lord cannot mean the death of the individual man, as has been absurdly maintained. What coming, then, of the Lord is this? Clearly his personal coming in visible manhood, when that shall be brought to pass which was spoken by the angels to the Apostles on the day of the ascension; when Jesus, being parted from them on the Mount of Olives, and received into a cloud out of their sight, two men stood by them in white apparel, and 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 have seen him go into heaven." ye "Behold, he cometh with clouds!" This exclamation of the Apostle is grounded upon the last of those sublime visions which had been presented to him, and with the glory of which he was so filled when he came to testify the truth to the churches, that he is interrupted by, as it were, involuntary bursts of feeling. In his benediction, he had called Jesus Christ "the Faithful Witness," "the First-Begotten of the dead," and "the Prince of the kings of the earth," with evident allusion to the threefold revelation of the Lord which he had received,--the great Bishop of the church, the Lamb as it had been slain appearing in heaven, and the King of kings returning to the earth. Then out of the abundance of his inspired heart bursts forth the doxology, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood," &c. But this was not enough to satify his ardent, holy enthusiasm. A chart had been laid before him, marking the course of the voyage by which God had fore-ordained to carry on the world and the church through this dispensation. Both are seen sailing together: the one exulting in her pride; the other meek and lowly the one glittering in all the splendour of costly ornament; the other in sackcloth: the one changing its aspect under successive commanders, and increasing as it proceeds in luxury and pride; the other always the same, under one Captain, neither imitating nor envying the pageantry of its companion: the one ringing with the sounds of revelings and banquetings and blasphemies; the other breathing into every gale the tender accents of earnest, humble prayer. They sail on together: the one pleased with the voyage, and wishing it to last for ever; the other sore buffeted and weary, almost to death, longing for the haven. The whole voyage being traced before the Apostle's eye, the port at last appeared, and there, behold! the Master of both vessels rushes forth with flaming fire! Every eye beholds him. The crew of the little tempest-tossed bark shout for joy, saying, This is our Friend: we have longed for him, we have waited for him: now he is come, and he will save us: Hallelujah!' Then shall doleful cries be heard from on board the great gay vessel; for everlasting destruction shall be her portion, and that of all who belong to her. This last scene had made an impression upon the Apostle's heart which he was eager to communicate, and the words we have been considering contain the enraptured utterance of that eagerness: Behold, he cometh with clouds! &c. They have no other connection in the context. Where, where is the man who can contemplate the truths revealed to the Apostle, without catching a spark of the Apostolical fire here kindled? In all light there is heat. The man who can proceed in a cold investigation of these revealed glories of God in Christ Jesus without finding himself once and again hurried away into a warmth of devotional enthusiasm, which bids defiance to all rules of logic, has more reason to be ashamed of the deadness of his heart than to pride himself upon the soundness of his understanding. This exuberance of feeling, however, arising from the overflowing fulness of the transporting subject, is a very different thing from that vapid excitement which is begun, continued, and ended in emptiness. Stimulants are good and healthful when they have substantial nutritious food to act upon; but when administered alone, they can only produce drunkenness or fever. It is further to be remarked, that neither in the xxiv th chapter of St. Matthew, nor in the first of the Apocalypse, is there any mention made of the resurrection of the body. Elsewhere, indeed, the resurrection of those that are Christ's at the same period is predicted as certainly to take place; but in the passages now under consideration the spectators of the advent appear to refer exclusively to the living in that day. The circumstance of the Jews who pierced him being specified, contains no objection to this opinion; for it is the nation that is spoken of, as such : to the Jews, as a nation, the promises of restoration and prosperity are made: not to the generation who were alive in the day when the prophecy was uttered, whether by Moses or Isaiah, or Ezekiel or John; but to the nation, as a continuous aggregate; and those prophecies shall be literally fulfilled in that generation of the nation which shall be alive upon the earth in the day when the Lord doeth these things. Upon that nation (generation after generation) has been visited the vengeance of His blood whom they pierced. It is true of the present generation of Jews, that they are suffering for, or because of, Him whom they pierced; and the generation of them who shall be alive when he returns, shall see Him whom they have pierced. They shall recognize Him, in the glory of Jehovah, as that same Jesus, whom they crucified, and whom they have for so many |