deftin'd for the preaching to and converting the Gentiles. But the Wonders in the Earth, and the Heavens, and the glorious Appearance of Chrift in the Clouds, immediately follow the Mention of this pofterior Period, and are therefore properly to be referr❜d to that, and not to the Destruction of Jerufalem. Befides, when Christ says, that of that Day and Hour knoweth no Man, no, nor the Angels which are in Heaven, he feems to mean fomething more remote than that Deftruction, which when it was fcarce at the Distance of half an Age from the Time in which our Sa viour spoke, 'tis a great deal less probable that it should have escaped the Knowledge of all the Angels in Heaven, than if you interpofe the Series of many Ages, and understand by it the last Day of the expiring World.

THUS far have we treated of the Remarks which are found in the very Text. If befides you compare this Prophecy with other Paffages of the facred Scripture, where the laft Coming of Christ, and the Day of Judgment are defcrib'd, you will eafily find by the Refemblance and the Relation which the Expreffions have to each other, that the fame Time is defign'd by all of them, and the fame State of Things. In all of them you fee Chrift coming in the Clouds of Heaven; in all of them you fee an Army of Angels attending him, and in all of them hear the Clangor of the last Trumpet proclaim him.

Do

Do you know, you who maintain the contrary Side, tell me, I befeech you, in what Places do you own that the facred Scripture fpeaks of the true, the perfonal, and the laft Coming of Chrift? I know very well that you believe in that Coming fo much expected, and fo much defir'd by Chriftians; and according to my Opinion, Chrift fpeaks of the fame in many Places, in many the Apoftles likewife. Chrift, for Example, fpeaks of it in the Gospel of St. Matthew xvi. 27. but you will not allow it*; in Matthew xxiv. but you will not allow it; in Matthew xxvi. 64. but you will not allow it; Matthew xix. 28. and xxv. 31, 32. when you either deny, or hef

tate.

BESIDES, the Apoftles, in our Opinion, often speak of the fame; as for Example, 2 Theff. i. 7, 8, &c. but you are of another Opinion: Nor the Guards of Angels, nor the revenging Fire, nor the eternal Perdition of the Ungodly, which are all of them here commemorated, have Prevalency enough to prove to you that the ultimate Coming of Chrift in the End of the World is here to be understood. Then in the fecond Epiftle of Peter, Chap. iii. 4, 8, 9, 10, &c. we believe that the Coming of our Lord, that the K 4 Day

*See Dr. Hammond upon thefe and the following Places, efpecially on Matt. xxiv. 3. Not. b. 2 Theff. i. and upon 2 Pet. iii. and Lightfoot upon the fourth of St. Mark, p.

Day of Judgment, and the Diffolution and Renovation of this World are clearly fhewn and exhibited to us; neither here do you give your Affent. Laftly, we in like Manner interpret the fourteenth and fifteenth Verses of St. Jude, and the seventh of the first Chapter of the Revelations, of the judicial and viĥible Coming of Chrift; and here you likewife prevaricate; as likewife in fundry other Places, too numerous to be mention'd here.

"TIS with Pain that we fuffer fo many facred Paffages to be torn from us; Paffages on which all our Hope was founded, of the future Coming of Chrift. Nor is their Employment either grateful to Chriftians, or advantageous to Christianity, who make it their Business to leffen the Weight of the Prophecies, and to confine and constrain their Sense, which fometimes they do without Senfe of Right or Shame, in fpite of the Reluctancy, both of the Spirit and the Letter; as when the Preparation for the last Judgment is manifeftly defcrib'd, or the Conflagration of the World, or the Glory of the Father and the Angelick Guards; or lastly, Chrift himself defcending from Heaven, and confpicuous in the Clouds of Heaven; they who pretend to reduce these Realities, fo illuftrioufly manifeft, to Shadows and Figures, thefe Univerfals, comprehending no less than a World, to the Destruction of one City and Nation; these Perfons seem

to

to me not only to convert a rich Vein into a fteril one, but by an Interpretation of this Nature, to do Violence both to Words and to Things; for what can be more manifest than that Conflagration and the End of the World defcrib'd in the foremention'd Paffages of St. Paul and St. Peter; which yet they are pleas'd to refolve into I know not what chymerical Allegories? But what we can still worse endure, and what has still a nearer Relation to our Argument, is, that they wreft and distort the Descent of Chrift in the Clouds of Heaven, (Matth. xxiv. 30.) from the Letter and the Truth, *and pretend that there is nothing meant by it, but the Judgments of God, and Punishments that are fent from Heaven; when yet they might have learn'd the Force of that Expreffion from the Mouth and Information of an Angel, who tells us, that this Coming in the Clouds is both true and perfonal; for faid the Angel, Ye Men of Galilee, why ftand ye Act. i. 11. gazing up into Heaven? This fame Jefus, which is fo taken up from you into Heaven, fball fo come in like Manner as ye have feen

bim

*That the Word Clouds is to be taken in a literal Senfe, you may fee fully prov'd by Gerard. Tom. ix. de extrem. Jud. p. 67, 68. This Word is taken from Dan. vii. 13. where the Prophet is fpeaking of the fecond Coming of Chrift. By the Clouds of Heaven, the Jews understand Angels, or the Guardian Hoft of Angels, fays Pearfon on the Creed, p. 322. marg.

bim

go

into Heaven, that is, perfonally and vifibly in the Clouds,

παρό

It seem'd to me to be of the greatest Confcquence, to make these fhort Remarks, that no Evidence might escape me in an Affair of fo vaft a Moment, and in fo renown'd a Caufe; for unless Chrift returns from Heaven, we are loft, vain is our Hope, and vain our Faith, as the Apostle fpeaks concerning the Refurrection. But there are, befides, in the facred Writings, numberless Proofs and Testimonies of this glorious and most wish'dfor Coming, which is exprefs'd by various Names. "Tis for the most part call'd mapssia Prefence, and fometimes donáλufis Revelation, 1 Cor. i. 7. 2 Thess. i. 7. i Pet. i. 7, 13. and iv. 13. Luke xvii. 31. fometimes 'tis named pavea, an illuftrious Appearance, 2 Theff. ii. 8. 1 Tim. iv. 14. 2 Tim. iv. 1, & 8. Tit. ii. 13. fometimes 'tis named pavipwors, Manifestation, or manifest Appearance, Col. iii. 4. 1 Pet. v 4. and that folemn Day is call'd by the Prophet and the Adio Apoftle ἡ ἡμέρᾳ κυρίς ἡ μεγάλη καὶ ἐπιφανής, that great and illuftrious Day of the Lord, in which, fays God, I will fhew Wonders in Heaven above, and Signs in the Earth beneath, Blood and Fire, and Vapour of Smoak: The Sun fhall be turned into Darknefs, and the Moon into Blood, before that great and illuftrious Day of the Lord fhall come. Thefe Prodigies, thefe Wonders have not yet been brought upon the Stage; that

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