ver. 31, 32, &c. both the Preparation for Judgment, and the judicial Sentences, are connected together with this Coming of Christ: When the Son of Man fhall come in his Glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then shall be fit on the Throne of his Glory. And before him fhall be gathered all Nations; and he Shall feparate them one from another, as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats,

&c.

As these Paffages clearly denote the univerfal Judgment, and that at the Coming of Chrift; fo that Judgment as perfpicuously means that the contemporary End of the World, co-incides with the fame. Some have been bold enough to affert, that in the twentyfourth Chapter of St. Matthew, and other parallel Places, nothing is faid concerning the End of the World, or the utmost Confummation of Ages: But that all those Sayings, though ever fo great, yet folidly regard the Destruction of Jerufalem only. A bold Affirmation, and very ill grounded, in my Opinion. What? becaufe in one or two Places, where a certain Coming of Chrift is mention'd, fome View is had to the Destruction of Jerufalem, therefore whereever in the Gofpel mention is made of his Coming, through fuperlatively glorious, and attended with a thousand Marks that can never in the least regard Jerufalem, but muse be referred to Nature, and the World about to perish together; fhall we dare to restrain and to wreft thefe Paffages to the Destruc

tion of one People, and of one City only? Thisseems to me to be highly rash, that I may fay no worse of it.

BUT the Queftion is now concerning this Chapter of St. Matthew, in which the forefaid Interpreters fay, that nothing is found that regards the End of the World, or that ought to be extended beyond the Destruction of Jerufalem; which, if I am not mistaken, may two Ways be confuted. First, several Things are afferted and related in this Chapter, of which we have no Account in the History of the Destruction of Jerufalem. Secondly, the Things that are related in the facred Writings, when the ultimate Coming of Christ in the End of the World is defcrib'd, agree and anfwer exactly to what is faid in this Chapter; and therefore both ought to be understood as meant of the fame Coming.

As to the first of thefe, 'tis faid, ver. 14. This 'Froan T ben. Gofpel of the Kingdom fhall be preached through all the World, for a Witness unto all Nations, and then fhall the End come. Thefe Things are not yet come to pafs, much lefs were they come to pass before the Deftruction of Jerufalem. But further, these Perfons would have only Judea understood by through all the World, and by all Nations only the various Tribes and Provinces of the Jews; which, though it is fomething strain'd, yet, if there were no farther Objection, I should not dwell upon this alone. But, fecondly, the wonderful Appearances both in Earth and in Heaven,

and

and the glorious Appearance of Christ in the Clouds above all, which are faid to precede the Confummation of Things, which is here marked and foretold, did neither precede nor accompany the Destruction of Jerufalem. Thefe Prophecies are thus related by St. Matthew: Immediately after the Tribulation of Ver. 29% thofe Days, fhall the Sun be darken'd, and the Moon fhall not give her Light; and the Stars fball fall from Heaven, and the Powers of the Heavens fall be shaken. And then shall ap- Ver. 304 pear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: And then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn, and they shall fee the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven, with Power and great Glory. But upon the Destruction of Jerufalem, Chrift no where appeared in the Clouds of Heaven, nor did the Sun lofe its Splendor, or the Moon its Light, nor were the Powers of the Heavens fhaken. A Comet, indeed, did appear with its Tail resembling a Sword, or a Faulchion, as ufual: But the reft of the Portents which Jofephus mentions are De Bell. quite of another Kind. Jud. 1. vii.

C. 12.

BUT, befides, thefe Signs in the Heavens are attended by others on Earth, as the Shaking of the Earth, and the Roaring of the Sea and its tumultuous Waves. For fo St. Luke: And there fhall be Signs in the Sun, Chap. xxi. and in the Moon, and in the Stars; and upon the Earth Diftrefs of Nations, with Perplexity, the Sea and the Waves roaring,

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Mens

25, 26.

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 fbaken: But what has Jerufalem to do with the Sea, or the Raging or Roaring of its tempeftuous Waves? Is any Thing like this reÏated to have happen'd at that Time? Certainly nothing; but these and the rest of the Things above mention'd relate to another and a greater Catastrophe, the Deftruction of the World: And therefore in explaining this Matter, Chrift very aptly puts them in Mind of the Times of Noah, and the Deluge, which I was not a national, but an univerfal Deftruction.

In the mean Time, I am not ignorant that the Interpreters, of whom we have been here fpeaking, in expounding thefe Phænomena, have Recourfe to Metaphors, and to Allegories, and to quote Paffages from the Prophets, in which these or the like Expreffions are us'd in a figurative Sense: 'Tis granted that fome of them are; but it appears to me to be no just Law of interpreting, to pretend that thofe Things which are fometimes us'd figuratively by the Prophets, fhould be always and every where understood in the fame Senfe.

The

Style of the Gofpel is a great deal more chafte, nor does it easily deviate from the literal Sense; from which an Interpreter ought never to de- part, unless the Neceffity of the Subject-Matter constrains him: And we have fhewn in another

other Place, that these Phænomena in the Theor. Earth and the Heavens, though wonderful and Tell.lib.3. extraordinary, will really happen towards the End of the World, when Nature is in its Pangs, and the Conflagration impending. The Deftruction of Jerufalem, was, indeed, a Type of the Destruction of the World, and therefore we have lefs Reason to wonder that they should both be mingled in a confus'd Relation; for there is, in the facred Style, if may fo express my self, a fort of a Commu-nication of Idioms between the Types and the Antitypes; and there is in the Prophets a repeated Completion of the fame Prophefy, afcending gradually to its Height.

I

BUT fo much for the fecond Argument,' taken from the external Signs; the third follows it, taken from hence, that we observe, that there is in this Prophecy another Period of Time, befides that of the Destruction of Jerufalem, and a Period posterior to it; for thus we read in St. Luke, Jerufa- C. xxi. 24lem fhall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfill'd.. See here another Period, different from thatof Jerufalem, and pofterior to it; for the Defolation of the Jews is faid to endure to this other Period: I defire to know then what this pofterior Period is, unless it be that of the World? or the Reftoration of the Jews towards the End of the World, after the Times are accomplish'd that are pre

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deftin'd