LETTERS 
 
 TO 
 
 A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, 
 
 ON 
 
 HIS AND OTHER INTERPRETATIONS 
 
 OF OUR 
 BECORDED 
 
 MATT. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A MINUTE EXAMINATIOM^OF THESE PROPHECIES, 
 
 AND EXHIBITING 
 
 THE EVIDENCE THEY CONTAIN 
 
 THAT 
 
 CHRIST'S COMING IN THE CLOUDS OF HE J f 'EN 
 
 IS 
 
 PERSONAL, AND NEAR AT HAND. 
 
 " Beloved, believe not evert/ spirit, but try the spirits whether they 
 are of God.'' 1 John iv. I. 
 
 " JPor AS A SNARE shttll it come on all them that dwell on the face of 
 the whole earth." Luke xxi. 35. 
 
 By JAMES A. BEGG. 
 
 PAISLEY, 
 PUBLISHED BY ALEX. GARDNER: 
 
 M. ogle, W. COLLINS, J. REID & CO. AND G. GALLIE, GLASGOW J 
 
 \\\ OLIPHANT, WAUGH & INNES, W. WHYTE & CO. J. LINDSAY & CO. 
 
 EDINBURGH ; J. ANDERSON, DU31FRIES ; BROWN & CO. ABERDEEN \ 
 
 W. M'COMB, BELFAST ; R. M. TIMS, AND W. CURRY, JUN. & CO. 
 
 DUBLIN ; AND JAMES NISBET, LONDON. 
 
 1831. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In the character of the Son of man, the Son of God has 
 gone " into a far country to receive a Kingdom, and to re- 
 turn." Ere he left this lower world, He communicated 
 his purpose to those whom he honoured with his love, and 
 who were the chosen companions of his toil. In the pros- 
 pect of his absence, He consoled them with the promise of 
 the Spirit as the Comforter till his return, and animated 
 their hearts with the prospects of glory which then awaited 
 Him and them. With feelings which once characterized 
 all the followers of Jesus, but which ignorance of their Mas- 
 ter's will has now weakened greatly, these tried and faith- 
 ful friends on a particular occasion addressed to him an 
 inquiry respecting His Coming. With endearing conde- 
 scension did the Saviour at once comply with their request, 
 giving them an Extensive Prediction of events from that 
 time forward till the coming of the Son of man in the 
 clouds of heaven with power and great glory. On this ob- 
 ject of their peculiar desire he particularly enlarged, pre- 
 senting a detailed account of the circumstances by which it 
 should be attended, as well as a summary of events in the 
 History of his church by which it should be preceded. 
 
 Regarding this magnificent Prediction of our blessed Lord, 
 there has been a most unhappy discordance among Scrip- 
 ture Expositors, which, considered apart, might suggest an 
 idea of great ambiguity as to its meaning. But a careful 
 if not an unbiassed examination produced an impression on 
 the mind of the author of these pages, that the lamented dis- 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 crepancies were less occasioned by any difficulties contained 
 in the prediction itself, than they were the result of certain 
 preconceived opinions concerning Christ's return, with which 
 its very pointed statements would in no way accord. This 
 conviction was greatly strengthened by that series of Dis- 
 courses which more especially called forth the present pro- 
 duction. The palpable inconsistencies into which an ana- 
 lytical exposition of the prediction betrayed their esteemed 
 author, in endeavouring to support a figurative coming, as 
 it is usually termed, and the benefits derived from the close 
 and repeated investigations of the prophecy which these dis- 
 courses naturally induced, suggested the idea that a full ex- 
 hibition of particulars, and a contrast of statements, might, 
 by the blessing of God, be rendered useful in recalling the 
 church to her former standing on the subject of her Lord's 
 return. 
 
 Sanctioned though they have been by men of superior 
 discernment and Christian attainments, the Expositions 
 now generally oflfered of the Saviour's prediction of his 
 coming seem destitute of all that should command the 
 submission of a faithful and intelligent inquirer. Harsh as 
 such a judgment may seem, it is not uttered unadvisedly, nor 
 is the accusation preferred without an effort dispassionately 
 to establish its truth. Various theories of interpretation 
 have been controverted on grounds which lie within the 
 range of the most ordinary understanding, and although the 
 statements and arguments contained in theological writings 
 of high repute have been unhesitatingly rejected, the reasons 
 are uniformly exhibited on which their accuracy is ques- 
 tioned. Let not those whose faith is thus impugned seek 
 to put away from them the imputation, till able to satisfy 
 themselves, at least, of its being unfounded ; but, as they 
 would value their Lord's approbation, let them receive from 
 His mouth a knowledge of the time of his glorious return, 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 and yield to his intimations that implicit submission which 
 the sacredness of his character imperiously demands. 
 
 These Letters have been more immediately addressed to 
 the reverend gentleman by whose Expositions they were 
 suggested. But although that view contained various peculi- 
 arities, there exists such a similarity and necessary con- 
 nection as naturally elicited the animadversions offered on 
 those by whom the Coming of the Son of man is misappre- 
 hended in its nature, even when it has not also been mis- 
 placed in point of time. In adopting this method, the 
 author feels satisfied that ample justice has been done 
 towards those from whose Interpretations he is compelled 
 to dissent. Although the Discourses to which these Let- 
 ters owe their origin, formed part of a regular course on the 
 Gospel according to Matthew, the particular views therein 
 maintained have especially been combated with every cir- 
 cumstance in their favour, which ability, care, and delib- 
 eration could afford. They were advocated by a reverend 
 gentleman of acknowledged piety and talent — not in a few 
 casual, hasty, or unstudied observations; but in a long series 
 of above twenty Lectures on the Prophetic part of the Sa- 
 viour's Discourse to his disciples, with few interruptions 
 extending over a period of several months — in the com- 
 position of which he could avail himself of the aids of all 
 preceding Commentators of similar sentiments — and deliv- 
 ered after attention had been loudly called to the doctrine 
 of the Speedy Advent of the Redeemer, by numerous publi- 
 cations advocating Millenarian views; several of which he 
 had perused, and some of the arguments of which he pub- 
 licly aimed at refuting. 
 
 Of these Discourses the author of the following Letters 
 took and preserved very copious notes, the principles of his 
 former work on this subject being thereby assailed. These 
 principles he deemed capable of ample vindication, and 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 conceiving that an important service might be rendered to 
 the cause he has espoused, by a full and deliberate exam- 
 ination of our Saviour's predictions, he readily accepted of 
 the call then made, that any farther evidence in favour of 
 the premillennial Personal Advent be produced. Believing 
 that much has been exhibited, it is now, with gratitude, 
 committed into the hand of that blessed Spirit who alone 
 can render it of any avail for producing conviction. The exe- 
 cution of his purpose has been unavoidably delayed long 
 beyond what was originally designed ; but the subject, in- 
 stead of diminishing in interest, is one possessed of growing 
 importance. If the Return of Christ was that to which 
 the faith and the hopes of believers were almost uniformly 
 directed by the apostles, and generally cherished by Chris- 
 tians long after the decease of these inspired teachers, cer- 
 tainly it ought not now to be esteemed more lightly, when 
 we have arrived so much nearer to its glory, and when the 
 manifest signs of its approach follow each other in rapid 
 succession. WTiile, therefore, the author desired much to 
 have submitted his remarks immediately upon the close of 
 that series of Discourses by which they were elicited, he 
 regrets the less that frequent interruptions from an impaired 
 state of health have prevented the accomplishment of his 
 design, till his views have acquired additional confirmation by 
 those stupendous events of which the world little knows 
 the issue. 
 
 Paisley, Scpteynber 2Qfh, 1831. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 On the importance of the Doctrine of Christ's Return, and the 
 Duty of Investigation, _ - . - Page 9 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 A full and combined View of the Saviour's Prediction of His 
 Coming with the Clouds of Heaven, as recorded by the dif- 
 ferent Evangelists, with the various Interpretations of Ex- 
 positors, - ----- 22 
 
 LETTER IIJ. 
 
 On the precise Signification of the word translated " Genera- 
 tion," - - - - - - - 32 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Brief Exposition of the Saviour's Prediction of His Return. 49 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 The Coming of the Son of man farther proved to be at the close 
 of the times of the Gentiles, or Restoration of Israel. - 62 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 On the Figurative Language of Prophecy, and the idea of a 
 Double Reference in the Prediction, - - - 84 
 
viii CONTEXTS. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 On the Views and Questions of the Disciples, and the pre- 
 ceding Prediction of our Lord delivered in the temple, (Mat. 
 xxiii. 37—39,) as confirmatory of His Coming with the 
 clouds of heaven being his Personal Return, - - III 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 That our Lord in His Prediction referred to his Personal Re- 
 turn, proved from the language employed, and the circum- 
 stances foretold, - - - - - - 137 
 
 LETTER IX, 
 
 That the Coming of the Son of man will be Personal, proved 
 from the various Parables 'given in illustration of the Pre- 
 diction, ------- 157 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 On the Signs, Celestial and Terrestrial, which precede the 
 Coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, - - 200 
 
LETTERS, 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST'S 
 RETURN, AND THE DUTY OF INVESTIGATION. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 It is with no feeling of levity that I thus 
 address you. It can indeed yield me no delight to believe 
 you are in error, nor have I any desire to triumph over the 
 mistaken views of him to whom, under Christ, I have been 
 most indebted for the precious communications of divine truth, 
 and to whom I am also under obligations of a personal nature. 
 The resolution of endeavouring to disprove your statements 
 and to invalidate your arguments, was not formed without 
 reluctance, nor has it been carried into execution without 
 many a painful emotion. Whatever may be the opinion 
 of others, with the testimony of an approving conscience 
 I can confidently aver, that had there been no higher mo- 
 tive by which to be actuated than an ungodly desire of 
 signalizing my prowess, or of displaying skill in argumen- 
 tation, I should not on the present occasion have presented 
 myself to your notice. Indeed the relation in which we 
 stand, would, in all probability, have deterred me from ani- 
 madverting on your opinions and ministrations, on any sub- 
 ject of less moment than that which I feel imperatively 
 called thus to discuss. 
 
 But renewedly and increasingly impressed with the con- 
 viction that the Archangel's Trump shall sound ere long over 
 an ungodly world, if not in the ear of an unthinking church, 
 I felt not at liberty to abstain from again lifting up the 
 voice of warning. While I willingly testify to your great 
 B 
 
10 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT, [Let. 1 . 
 
 worth, and acknowledge with pleasure how much 1 have 
 been indebted to your ministrations, I should have profited 
 little by your instructions, w^ere I yet ignorant of the duty 
 you so strongly inculcate, of bearing testimony for God, 
 unbiassed by the partialities of friendship, as well as un- 
 awed by the frowns of opposition. Often indeed have I 
 been reminded by yourself of the obligations under which 
 every Christian is laid of extending, so far as in his power, 
 the knowledge of the truth revealed unto himself; and it 
 would, in reality, be an improper requital of services re- 
 ceived, did I not wish to correct your views where I deem 
 them erroneous. 
 
 With such feelings, it ought not to be regarded as unkind 
 or invidious to point out the mistakes into which you have 
 fallen, or to exhibit how untenable are the opinions you have 
 sought to promulgate. In the spirit of gratitude, therefore, 
 as well as of Christian love, I pray the Lord whom we serve 
 to bless to your soul what truths he may thus enable me to 
 discover, to correct the errors into which I may have fallen, 
 to supply what I may have omitted, and to give you such 
 clear conceptions of his holy word, that you may feel con- 
 strained, as I have been, to proclaim His Speedy Coming, 
 at the hazard or witli the certainty of dissolving ties of 
 long-endeared relationship, and of weakening bonds of 
 Christian love. It is indeed with ardent desires of being 
 made instrumental in bringing more fully to your notice 
 the meaning and design of these predictions, I now address 
 you. But it is also with the assured hope that others may 
 profit, by seeing brought to the test of heavenly wisdom, 
 those opinions on which so many confidently rely without 
 examining for themselves the doctrines of God's holy word, 
 or appreciating aright the glories reserved for His Son. 
 
 Such considerations diminish, but do not wholly remove, 
 the difficulty and disagreeableness of the task of exhibiting 
 the unscriptural nature of the expositions you have recently 
 given of an important prediction of the Saviour's future pur- 
 pose of condescending love. Still I am by no means igno- 
 rant that such a course, notwithstanding of these explana- 
 tions, may very probably expose me to the suspicion of un- 
 worthy motives, on the part of those who can il] appreciate 
 the infiuencing power of truth ; but the vindication of such 
 a doctrine must be regardedasof sufficient value to warrant, 
 
Let. I.] AND DUTY OF INVESTIGATION. II 
 
 in its defence, even the hazard of such an imputation. 
 The time indeed for temporizing is now past, if it could ever 
 have been excused ; for the full understanding of the pre- 
 dictions here referred to becomes daily more valuable, as it 
 must teach more imperatively the duty of weaning our af- 
 fections from the engrossing concerns of an evil world, and 
 of continual watchfulness for the Glorious Advent of the 
 Son of Man. If, by the blessing of God, I shall succeed 
 in convincing you of this precious truth, I know I shall yet 
 receive your thanks, as having conferred a favour of no 
 trivial value. But whatever may be the issue in this re- 
 spect, I never can divest myself of the incumbent obliga- 
 tion of seeking to vindicate the truth and testimony of God. 
 The question concerning the premillennial Coming of the 
 Lord, ought not to be esteemed by the Christian as one of 
 minor importance. It involves the honour of his God — the 
 triumph of his Saviour, and the reward of His work — - 
 the resurrection of the saints who sleep in death, and the 
 glorious transformation of those who shall be alive, person- 
 ally to participate in all the joys of Millennial bliss. The 
 annunciation of these forms the great burden of ancient pro- 
 phecy ; they were frequently referred to by our Lord him- 
 self, and are much insisted on by his apostles. Such 
 considerations gave to the doctrine of the Crlorious Advent 
 an importance in the eyes of primitive believers, of which it 
 has been wholly divested by Modern Theology. Rarely 
 as it finds a place in our pulpit discussions, the slightest 
 attention will demonstrate, that there are few doctrines so 
 frequently referred to in the word of God as the Second 
 Coming of the Lord Jesus, and the glory which shall then 
 be revealed. To one conversant with his Bible no proof of 
 this should be required ; yet it may not be wholly without ad- 
 vantage to call your attention to a few passages confirmatory 
 of the statement. In doing so 1 will not carry you back to 
 the waitings of Old Testament prediction, or refer to the 
 hopes of those who lived in ages prior to the incarnation of 
 the Redeemer. Numerous and clear as I regard the proofs 
 which might thence be derived, it would require argument 
 to remove your objecfions, without which you would ques- 
 tion their admissibility as evidence. But this is . at present 
 unnecessary, since it will be sufficient for our purpose to cite 
 a few from the New Testament Scriptures, which will not 
 b2 
 
12 IMPORTANCE OP THE SUBJECT, [Let. I. 
 
 require the aid of argument to prove, even to the most pre- 
 judiced, their proper application. Even with such a limi- 
 tation, we hope to be able to show that the future Coming 
 of the Lord in glory is often stated as an important fact — 
 that our special attention is demanded unto it— that it is 
 used to urge to repentance — that it is addressed to Christians 
 for their consolation — is referred to as a motive to duty — is 
 presented as the period of our gi'eat reward — and that it is 
 anticipated by the inspired penmen as the era of the Sa- 
 viour's brightest triumph and of their own glorious destiny. 
 And if it was so viewed, and if such were the uses to which 
 it was formerly applied, it should not now be regarded as 
 unimportant to the Ciiristian, nor a Scriptural knowledge 
 of the time of this event be considered as a matter of very 
 trivial value. 
 
 With a frequency which forbids quotation, did our Lord 
 himself intimate his future Coming in Glory, and enjoin 
 upon all the duty of watching for His Return. In one 
 form or in another, this event is introduced in nearly all 
 His discourses on record. By parable and by precept, by 
 comparison and by contrast, in terms more or less directs 
 it is strongly enforced and many of its circumstances are 
 fully illustrated. Equally did the Saviour inculcate this 
 doctrine on friends and on foes; on the disciples whom he 
 loved, and on those before whom he was arraigned. He 
 taught it in private, and in public ; in the guest-chamber, 
 to the select few, and openly m the temple to the as- 
 sembled multitudes; in the seclusions of Olivet, and at the 
 bar of his unrighteous condemnation. And to all, the un- 
 varying tenor, and not unfrequently the language of his 
 admonition was, "Watch, therefore; for ye know not 
 what hour your Lord doth come." 
 
 After the ascension of the Saviour, the same doctrine 
 continued to be taught in like manner by His apostles. 
 They urged it with equal frequency, and that also for the 
 inculcation of the same holinass of heart and of life. 14 
 runs through all their addresses with which we have been 
 favoured, whether delivered orally or by epistle. In the 
 very First Sermon which was preached after our Lord had 
 left the earth, Peter reminded his countrymen that David 
 " being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with 
 an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according 
 
Let. I.] AND DUTY OF INVESTIGATION. 13 
 
 to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his 
 throned Acts ii. 30. And on this very ground he urged 
 them to repentance; " Forl^ says he, " the promise is unto 
 you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, as 
 many as the Lord our God shall call." ver. 39. Again 
 in the Second Sermon on record, delivered also by Peter 
 after the cure of the lame man, the apostle, again address- 
 ing the Jews, calls upon them to repent '^ and be converted, 
 that your sins may he blotted out when the Times of Re- 
 freshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and 
 He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached 
 unto you.*' Acts iii. 19, 20. 
 
 The same doctrine which the apostles began thus early 
 to preach unto the Jews, they continued also to teach 
 among the Gentiles. Of this their epistles contain abun- 
 dant evidence, not only in the allusions which these con- 
 tain to doctrines they had previously declared, but also 
 in the' statements they directly make upon the subject. 
 Paul thanked God on behalf of the church of Corinth for 
 the attainments they had made, of whom it was his praise, 
 " So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the 
 Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,^' 1 Cor. i. 7. The 
 believing Jews were taught that " as it is appointed unto 
 men once to die, but after this the judgment : so Christ was 
 once offered to bear the sins of many ; and, unto them that 
 LOOK FOR Him, shall He appear the Second Time, ivith- 
 out sin unto salvation." Heb. ix. 27, 28. The Coming 
 of the Lord, with its attendant glories, was regarded form- 
 erly as the Christian's " blessed hope," the contemplation 
 of which should promote every holy principle in the soul. 
 Thus Paul writing to Titus, says, " the grace of God, that 
 liringeth salvation, has appeared unto all men, teaching us 
 that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live 
 soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world ; 
 LOOKi'NGFoKthat blessed hope, and the Glorious Appear- 
 ing of the Great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ." Titus 
 ii. 11 — 13. And the power and importance of this doc- 
 trine may be inferred from what the apostle immediately 
 adds, "these things speak, and exhort and rebuke loitk 
 all authority. Let no man despise thee!' ver. 15. 
 
 In the view of his own dissolution, the apostle's great 
 consolation still was the prospect of glorious reward at the 
 b3 
 
14 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT, [Let. I. 
 
 Coming of the Lord : " I atn now ready to be offered,'* he 
 says, " and the time of my departure is at hand : I have 
 fought a good fight, I have finished my course, 1 have 
 kept the faitli ; Henceforth, there is laid up for me a 
 CROWN of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
 judge, shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, 
 hut unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 
 iv. 6, 8. Thus "forgetting those things which are behind, 
 and reaching forth unto those things which are before," he 
 elsewhere says, " I press toward the mark for the prize of ' 
 the high calling of God in Christ Jesus;" and all this he 
 states, was, " if by any means I might attain unto the re- 
 surrection of the dead,"— the ''resurrection of the just," 
 there can be little reason to doubt. Phil. iii. 11 — 14. 
 Peter also, when admonished by the Lord that he " must 
 shortly put off^ his fleshly tabernacle," writes an epistle, 
 the whole subject of which is to urge attention to the " sure 
 word of Prophecy," and to instruct concerning " the coming 
 of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall 
 be dissolved," which he enjoins them to be " looking for, 
 and hasting unto,'' since they had been taught to expect 
 " new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- 
 eousness," according to the promise of God concerning the 
 Millennium, by Isaiah. 2 Pet. iii. 12, 13. Is. Ixv. 17. 
 For the church at Thessalonica Paul gave God thanks, 
 that they had been '' turned to God from idols, to serve the 
 living and true God ; and to wait for his Sonfro7n heaven.'' 
 1 Thess. i. 9, 10. 
 
 He consoled believers of that church, bereaved of Chris- 
 tian friends, by the assurance of their being brought back 
 again at the Coming of the Lord : " I would not have you 
 to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, 
 that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For 
 if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so the?n 
 also ivhich sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. . . . 
 wherefore comfort one another with these words." He 
 reasoned with the Colossians for purity, on the ground of 
 future glory : "Set your affections on things above, not on 
 things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid 
 with Christ in God. IVhen Christ, who is our life, shall 
 APPEAR, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 
 Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the 
 
Let. I.] AND DUTY OF INVESTIGATION. 15 
 
 earth." Col. iii. 2 — 4. Under oppression James exhorts 
 believers to wait for the Coming of the Lord, as the period 
 when all their wrongs shall be redressed ; " Be "patient, 
 therefore, brethren, unto the Coining of the Lord. Be- 
 hold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the 
 earth, and hath long patience for it until he receive the early 
 and the latter rain. Be ye also patient ; stablish your hearts ; 
 for the Corning of the Lorddraweth nigh." James v. 7, 8. 
 This was also Paul's consolation under all the trials and afflic- 
 tions to which he was exposed : " For, if we be dead with 
 Him, we shall also live with Him. If we suffer, we shall 
 also reign with Hi7n.'* And on this the apostle grounded 
 an important admonition to Timothy as a minister of the 
 gospel. " Of these things*' says he, " jout them in re^ 
 memhrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive 
 not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the 
 hearers. Study to show thyself unto God, a workman 
 that needeth not to he ashamed, rightly dividing the 
 word of truth." 2 Tim. ii. 12 — 15. Even the apostle's 
 commendation of the Thessalonian church, which he praises 
 beyond any other, testifying that their " faith groweth 
 exceedingly,'' is made to bear on the same doctrine : *' We 
 ourselves," says he, "glory in you in the churches of God, 
 for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and 
 tribulations that ye eudure ; which is a manifest token of 
 the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted 
 worthy of the Kingdom of God/o;- wJiich ye also suffer : 
 seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense trib- 
 ulation to them that trouble you ; and to you who are 
 troubled, rest ivith us when the Lord Jesus shall be re- 
 vealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming 
 fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and 
 that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; w^ho 
 shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the 
 -presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power ; 
 WHEN HE SHALL COME to he glorified in his saints, and to 
 he admired in all them that believe''' 2 Thess. i. 3 — 10. 
 The contemplation of this happy time to which the apostle 
 had often called their attention, w^as calculated to produce 
 the most lively emotions of delight. They anticipated with 
 rapture the bright era of the Saviour's triumph and of their 
 own reward. In the eagerness of desire, these holy saints 
 
16 IMPORTANCE OP THE SUBJECT, [Let. I. 
 
 could have wished, as they indeed expected it to be "in- 
 stantly," and the apostle having shown that it wiil not be 
 till the destruction of the Man of sin, therefore prays, 
 "the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and 
 the PATIENT waiting for of Christ!' 2 Thess. iii. 5. 
 
 Such was the primitive desire for our Lord's Return, and 
 such was the apostolic use of it. Surely a doctrine so 
 much and so often insisted on in the word of God, is not 
 one of such inferior importance to the Christian that it 
 should engage little of his attention, or rarely be made mat- 
 ter of serious reflection — a doctrine to be stated, perhaps illus- 
 trated, once in a life-time, or merely to be alluded to once in 
 a year. No; by the Saviour and his apostles its belief is 
 evidently regarded as the existence of a living principle, 
 abiding and operative. To it they appeal under every va- 
 riety of circumstance and condition ; and He who knows so 
 intimately the mind of man, must have been well aware 
 that such appeals find a ready response in every believing 
 heart; and those who enjoyed his immediate tuition, under 
 the guidance of the Spirit afterwards followed in precisely 
 the same path. 
 
 Oh what a loss has Modern Theology sustained by the 
 almost total exclusion of a doctrine which gave such a 
 pathos to the addresses of the Saviour and the epistles of 
 his apostles! — which ministered consolation under adversity, 
 taught moderation in prosperity, and which served as a sal- 
 utary corrective to every evil that arose. The prospects 
 which this doctrine reveals to the believer, armed him with a 
 holy heroism which no sufferings could subdue, infused ad- 
 ditional efficacy into reproof wherever it was required, and 
 powerfully strengthened the whole tone of Ch ristian morality. 
 
 Contrary to the present prevailing practice, the passages 
 already cited, prove that the Coming of Christ was urged 
 by the apostles, not in the way of information of its being a 
 very distant event — an eventbefore which many ages of unin- 
 terrupted tranquillity and bliss must certainly elapse — but as 
 one for which they were constantly required to be /oozing- 
 and waiting. As if the church could have no deliverance till 
 her liord's Return, their views were carried forward to that 
 event as the end of all their sufferings and peril ; and they 
 lived MT-ith an ever-present impression of its glory as soon to 
 be revealed. Waiting with anxiety for their Master's hon- 
 
Let. I.] AND DUTY OF INVESTIGATION. 17 
 
 our and their own reward, they would have been loath to 
 think it distant by many years. They manifested a differ- 
 ent spirit from those who seem as if they would gladly 
 postpone, for a thousand years, a weight of glory they might 
 iDe unable to bear, if they do not estimate lightly the promised 
 enjoyment. Now, that we have evidently arrived at the 
 very eve of that time for which the primitive church so 
 anxiously longed, and to which they so earnestly looked, 
 many of the people of God appear as if they would have 
 preferred to live in earlier times, and that instead of ob- 
 taining a glorious transformation, they would rather have 
 submitted their mortal frame as a prey to the Devourer. 
 Had believers in the first ages of the church been made 
 aware, not merely of the events first to occur, but also of the 
 time they should occupy, (for their great mistake arose from 
 their ignorance of the duration of Anfichristian domination,) 
 they would have burned with impatience, and grieved for 
 the delay. They, indeed, needed to be often reminded of 
 the duty "of the patient waiting for of Christ," a frame of 
 mind, which it is now little necessary to inculcate. Nor is it 
 difficult to discover the reason. Their attention was con- 
 stantly directed to the Return of Him who is the object of 
 faith, and its importance exhibited. For, from the citations 
 already made, more than the importance to the Christian of 
 the doctrine of Christ's Coming in glory may surely be 
 distinctly inferred. They do more than prove the frequency 
 with which it is urged and referred to; they prove that 
 it was much looked and longed for, that it was the frequent 
 subject of fervent prayer, and that it was made available for 
 every holy use, by the inspired apostles. How otherwise 
 is it with the church in the present day ! Seldom is the 
 doctrine at all introduced ; and if now, since attention was 
 called to this fact by Millenarian authors, the ivords of 
 such texts are sometimes introduced, it is often obviously 
 with reluctance. And well it may, until a change of views 
 is enjoyed : for that it is inconsistent is too easily perceived, 
 to speak of constanfiy looking for the glorious appearance 
 of the Redeemer, and to press as a duty " \\\q imtient wait- 
 ing for of Christ," while at the very moment it is believed, 
 if with the same breath the conviction be not expressed, 
 that that Coming will not be till a thousand years after. In 
 other cases also where the language is supposed to be less 
 
18 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT, [Let. I. 
 
 explicit, or where by detacbiDg a phrase from its context 
 the meaning of the words can be more easily concealed, you 
 will bear me witness that it is not uncommon to connect 
 them with expressions concerning temporal judgments or 
 the death of individuals, with the design of confounding 
 such events with the Coming of the Lord. Of the disin- 
 genuousness of such a practice 1 do not now speak; but oh 
 is it becoming in Christian ministers so to deal with God's 
 most holy word and Christ's most blessed promise ? 
 
 But much as these things are to be regretted, since their 
 tendency is not only to destroy the meaning of language, 
 but to weaken the impression which ought to be produced 
 by inspired testimony, they have been so long prevalent that 
 it is not perhaps very surprising that in the present day they 
 should have taken deep hold of the minds of those who 
 minister in sacred things. Taking much the assistance of 
 those who have made it the business of their lives to pre- 
 sent to the church expositions of the Holy Scriptures, they 
 have been by them led into views which of themselves few 
 would have adopted. But evils once admitted, often wax 
 worse, and an erroneous principle when introduced, is fre- 
 quently carried to a degree of excess not originally contem- 
 plated. This remark is fully verilied in the case of many, 
 v/ho having adopted, in particular instances, the views of 
 eminent Expositors, afterwards apply the principle to an 
 extent w^hich would have alarmed him to whom they have 
 originally been indebted for the suggestion. 
 
 But besides the fact that Commentators themselves depend 
 much on each other, in modern times their systems have 
 generally been formed upon a principle which admits of no 
 interpretation which would place the Coming of the Lord 
 before the Millennium. With very few exceptions, all our 
 Systematic Theology has presented a difrerent view of the 
 question ; and much as we must deplore the means by 
 which these views are upheld, to the systems in which they 
 are maintained may easily be traced the present opinions 
 of the church upon the subject. In no former age, perhaps, 
 has Theology been so completely systematized, or such im- 
 plicit trust been reposed in the uninspired writings of men 
 approved for talents, piety, and Scriptural research. Not 
 unfrequently, this veneration amounts to little less than idol- 
 atry ; and to venture to dispute the Scriptural authority of 
 
Let. I.] AND DUTY OF INVESTIGATION'. 19 
 
 any opinion, having such a sanction, is regarded by many 
 as ahiiost profane. 
 
 Thus we may account in some measure for the present 
 disrepute of the doctrine of the Redeemer's Speedy Per- 
 sonal Return. Several of the Commentators most in request, 
 are deeply embued with a principle of hostility to such a 
 view — an hostility which, it" not always sustained with abil- 
 ity, is at least sudiciently manifested in the sedulous care 
 they evince to find for the multiplicity of passages which 
 refer to the Coming of the Lord a meaning of an opposite 
 nature. Should this, however, be found impossible, every 
 effort is put forth to get it at least misplaced in point of time. 
 In either case the desired result is not unfrequently obtained 
 by a sacrifice of all consistent interpretation, and with utter 
 disregard of the rules of ordinary propriety. 
 
 The varying forms which error has assumed in the in- 
 terpretation of Scripture, is well exposed by the learned 
 Bishop Horsley in the following passage on the very doc- 
 trine in question. *' Time was," says he, '" when I know 
 not what mystical meanings were drawn, by a certain cab- 
 alistic alchymy, from the simplest expressions of holy writ, 
 — from expressions, which no allusion could reasonably be 
 supposed to any thing beyond the particular occasion upon 
 which they were introduced. While this phrensy raged 
 among the learned, visionary lessons of divinity were often 
 derived, not only from detached texts of Scripture, but 
 from single words— not from words only, but from letters 
 — from the place, the shape, the posture of a letter : and 
 the blunders of transcribers, as they have since proved to 
 be, have been the groundwork of many a fine spun me- 
 ditation. 
 
 " It is the weakness of human nature, in every instance 
 01 folly, to run from one extreme to its opposite. In later 
 ages, since we have seen the futility of those mystic expo- 
 sitions in which the school of Origen so much delighted, 
 we have been too apt to fall into the contrary error ; and 
 the same unwarrantable license of figurative interpretafion 
 which they employed to elevate, as they thought, the 
 plainer parts of Scripture,, has been used, in modern times, 
 in effect to lower the divine. 
 
 "' Among the passages which have been thus misrepre- 
 sented by the refinements of a false criticism, are all those 
 
20 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT, [Let. I. 
 
 which contain the explicit promise of the ' Coming of the 
 Son of man in glory, or in his kingdom;' which it is be- 
 come so much the fashion to understand of the destruction 
 of Jerusalem by the Roman arms, within balf a century 
 after our Lord's ascension, that to those who take the sense 
 of Scripture from some of the best modern expositors, it 
 must seem doubtful whether any clear prediction is to be 
 found in the New Testament of an event in which, of all 
 others, the Christian world is the most interested." 
 
 Sermons, pp. 1, 2. 
 
 While examining the authority for your own interpre- 
 pretation, it may be serviceable to inquire also into that of 
 others, that by exposing their inconsistency with the divine 
 standard, Christians may be led to inquire for themselves 
 what is taught in that " sure word of Prophecy" w^hich 
 God has given for their guidance. The duty of investiga- 
 tion daily grows in importance, yet few comparatively are 
 to be found with inquiring diligence seeking to ascertain 
 the ground of their trust. While such unbounded confi- 
 dence is reposed in those who minister in sacred things ; 
 awful is the responsibility which those incur, who give any 
 encouragement to unchristian indolence, or who may lull 
 to rest by their delusive interpretations. Think, I entreat 
 of you, what may be your own feelings if very soon an as- 
 tounded world should witness the Glorified Redeemer re- 
 vealed from heaven in flaming fire, while you are still lead- 
 ing forward the views of your people to the successive gen- 
 erations which you say we are assured must first arise. I 
 speak with plainness but in sincerity, and I dare not conceal 
 the fears I entertain of the guilt of those whose business it is 
 to declare the whole counsel of God, who yet from negligence 
 or by design, conceal a doctrine of such transcendant im- 
 portance as the revelation of the Son of man, when on the 
 very eve of being manifested to all, " as the lightning which 
 cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west." 
 
 It is painful so to speak of men who are or may have 
 been regarded as the brightest ornaments of the Christian 
 church. But however painful, it is much more dangerous 
 to be silent, while, by their words or their works, they mis- 
 lead those who implicitly trust in them. By the very sanc- 
 tion of their names, good men may stamp a degree of credit 
 upon error, so as seriously to affect the interests of truth, and 
 
Let. I.] AND DUTY OF INVESTIGATION. 21 
 
 which on that very account calls the more imperatively for 
 rigid examination. 
 
 The necessity for such remarks in reference to the Second 
 Coming of the Lord Jesus, will hardly be questioned by 
 those who have given much attention to the innumerable 
 and contradictory and perplexing views offered by Ex- 
 positors of many of the Scripture precepts, promises, and 
 predictions. Much that is clear they have enveloped in 
 darkness, and few who have had occasion to consult them 
 often, will boast much of their assistance in elucidating 
 what is really obscure. '•' The labours of Expositors and 
 Commentators," says Bishop Newton, '* which were de- 
 signed for a remedy, are now become a part of the disease. 
 The case is the same with the laws of God as with the 
 laws of the land. Read a statute and you will think you 
 understand it, but afterwards hear the opinions of counsel 
 upon it, and their explanations, and they ivill exjplain the 
 meaning quite away : In like manner, many a text of 
 Scripture seemeth plain enough to a man upon his reading 
 it by himself, and comparing it with the context ; but upon 
 consulting the tribe of Paraphrasts and Annotators, he scarce 
 knoweth what to think; and instead of that one genuine 
 SENSE which he conceived, he hath ten or twenty senses 
 offered to him, or rather NO sense at all. Commenta- 
 tors are a kind of necessary evil ; there is no doing well 
 without them or with them. The truth is," the Bishop too 
 truly adds, *' men interpret Scripture according to their 
 opinions, and frame not their opinions according to Scrip- 
 ture." With so much evidence of the truth of such remarks, 
 we cannot but love the piety and admire the sagacity dis- 
 played by Luther, when he expressed "his fear lest the 
 vast increase of books should in a short time obscure the 
 doctrines of truth, so that the Bible itself should be again 
 * hidden under a bushel.' " 
 
 It may, I think, be safely affirmed, that no doctrine of 
 Scripture has received more of such treatment than that of 
 the Coming of the Lord; and of all the passages in which 
 it is declared, none so conspicuously as that prediction which 
 forms the subject of our more immediate investigation. By 
 supposing that when our Lord foretold His Coming with 
 the clouds of heaven He spake of entirely different events, 
 incalculable mischief has been occasioned. Men's minds 
 
 C 
 
22 VIEW OF THE SAVIOURS PREDICTION, [Let. II. 
 
 have thus heen altogether led away from the consideration 
 of that doctrine which the projDhecy was designed to teach. 
 The evil is not confined merely to the view taken of the 
 prediction itself; but in every passage which speaks of the 
 Coming of the liord, the mind which has fully imbibed the 
 view condemned, must feel itself at perfect liberty, and be 
 ready at once to reply to the arguments or remonstrances or 
 cautions they suggest, that if in a prediction of such seeming 
 importance as that delivered by our Lord himself, nothing 
 more was meant than the destruction of Jerusalem by the 
 Romans, then may we easily understand in a similar man- 
 ner, and as meaning nothing more, those which less form- 
 ally and with less circumstantiality inculcate the same doc- 
 trine. And good reason there were for such indifference if 
 the expositions on which it rests were correct. But this 
 opinion may have been received by many who have attended 
 little either to the grounds on which it is formed or to the 
 consequences to which it naturally leads. To expose there- 
 fore the inconsistency and impropriety of such interpreta- 
 tions, and to point out some of their injurious effects, will, 
 in dependance on that blessed Spirit whose aid I implore, 
 in some future Letters, be the object of, 
 Reverend 8ir, 
 
 Yours very faithfully, &c. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 A FULL AND COMBINED VIEW OF THE SAVIOUR'S 
 PREDICTION OF HIS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS 
 OF HEAVEN, AS RECORDED BY THE DIFFERENT 
 EVANGELISTS, WITH THE VARIOUS INTERPRE- 
 TATIONS OF EXPOSITORS. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Having in the preceding Letter endeav- 
 oured to show the importance to the Christian of the Doc- 
 trine of Christ's Return in Glory, and having urged the 
 Duty of Investigation, I proceed to consider one of our 
 Lord's own Predictions concerning that event. Fre- 
 
Let. II.] RECORDED BY THE DIFFERENT EVANGELISTS. 23 
 
 quently as the Saviour discoursed of his Coming, there is 
 only one Prophecy recorded at length in which the time 
 and circumstances are minutely specified. On the occasion 
 alluded to, however, these are particularly narrated ; and, 
 with a care proportioned to the importance of the subject, 
 has the Spirit employed three of the evangelists to embody 
 it with considerable fulness in their respective Gospels. 
 The account furnished by Matthew, which lately formed 
 the subject of a series of Lectures by yourself, is the most 
 particular ; but, in the inquiry into its full meaning, we 
 will be greatly aided by having before us at one view all 
 the circumstances related by the evangelists severally, as 
 each of them supplies information not furnished by the 
 others. 
 
 In consequence, however, of the diversified representa- 
 tions of the inspired penmen, there will be, in the order of 
 arrangement in any such attempted harmony, variations in 
 the allocation of certain particulars, suggested by the 
 general views entertained of the whole prediction. Your 
 ideas of the time and nature of the Coming of the Son of 
 man with the clouds of heaven will therefore lead you to 
 object to any harmony which I can form ; but as the fol- 
 lowing has not been adopted without a careful comparison, 
 my grounds of preference, and its accordance with the Sa- 
 cred narratives, will more obviously appear in course of the 
 argument, in cases where you would at present propose a 
 different arrangement. Although wholly in the words of 
 our authorized version, which have been adhered to even in 
 cases where tlie connecting of the statements of the different 
 Evangelists might have required slight modification, to avoid 
 very frequent citation it has been formed into paragraphs, 
 with the combined references appended to each. 
 
 On various occasions our Lord had intimated to his dis- 
 ciples that He should not only be put to death and rise 
 again, but that he should leave them altogether for a time. 
 Nor were these intimations wholly confined to his disciples, 
 but were even made to the Jews in general. A prediction 
 delivered in the temple, and which contained the latter 
 important circumstance, appear^s to have occasioned those 
 inquiries by the apostles, in answer to which our Lord 
 delivered that enlarged prophecy which is now to be the 
 subject of investigation. In order therefore to the right 
 c 2 
 
24 VIEW OF THE saviour's PREDICTION, [Let. II. 
 
 understanding of its meaning, .it will be necessary to have 
 in view not only the prediction itself, but also the circum- 
 stances out of which it arose. 
 
 In denunciations of wrath upon the hypocrisy of the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, our blessed Lord said unto them, 
 
 " Beliold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes ; 
 and some of them ye shall kill, and crucify; and some of them shall 
 ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to 
 city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon 
 the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of 
 Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and 
 the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon 
 this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the pro- 
 phets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would 
 I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
 chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold your House 
 is left unto you desolate ; for I say unto you, ye shall not see me 
 henceforth.! till ye shall sai/. Blessed is He that Cometh in the name 
 of the Lord:' Mat. xxiii. 34—39. 
 
 " And Jesus went out, and departed from the Temple ; and His 
 disciples came to him, to show him the buildings of the Temple. 
 And as he went out one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see 
 what manner of stones and what buildings are here ; how it was 
 adorned with goodly stones and gifts. And Jesus answering aai'd 
 unto him, See ye not alt these things ? Verily I say unto you, the 
 days will come in the which there shall not be left here one stone 
 upon another that shall not be thrown down." Mat. xxiv. 1, 2. 
 Mark xiii. 1, 2. Luke xxi. 5, 6. 
 
 " And as he sat upon the mcunt of Olives, over against the Tem- 
 ple, the disciples came unto him; and Peter, and James, and 
 John, and Andrew, asked Him privately, saying. Tell us when shall 
 these things be ? and what shall be the sign of thy Coming and of the 
 end of the world ?" Mat. xxiv. 3. Mark xiii. 3, 4. Luke xxi. 7. 
 
 " And Jesus answered and said unto them. Take heed that no 
 man deceive you ; for many shall come in my name, saying, I ara 
 Clirist, and the time draweth near ; and shall deceive many : go ye 
 not therefore after them ; but when ye shall hear of wars, and ru- 
 mours of wars, and commotions, be not terril^ed or troubled ; for 
 all these things must first come to pass, but the end shall not be yet. 
 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; 
 and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and great earthquakes 
 in divers places ; all these are the beginning of sorrows. Then 
 shall they deliver you up to be afflicted ; and they shall lay their 
 hands on you, and persecute you, and kill you, delivering you up 
 to the synagogues, and to councils, and into prisons, being brought 
 before kings and rulers for my name's sake, for a testimony against 
 them ; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake^and 
 it shall turn to yau for a testimony. But when they shall lead you 
 and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, 
 ueither do ye premeditate what ye shall answer ; but whatsoever 
 shall be given you in that hour, speak ye, for it is not you that speak 
 
Let. II. J RECORDED BY THE DIFFERENT EVANGELISTS. 25 
 
 but the Holy Ghost; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which 
 all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist." Mat. 
 xxiv. 4 — 9. Mark xiii. 5—11. Luke xxi. 8 — 15. 
 
 "And then shall many be offended and betray one another, and 
 hate one another; and ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and 
 brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends ; and some of you shall they 
 cause to be put to death ; the brother shall betray the brother to 
 death, and the father the son ; and children shall rise up against 
 their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And 
 many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And be- 
 cause iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. And 
 ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake ; but there shall 
 not an hair of your head perish ; in your patience possess your 
 souls ; he that shall endure vnto the end^ the same shall be saved. 
 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, 
 for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. "Mat, 
 sxiv. 10—14. Mark xiii. 12, 13. Luke xxi. 16—19. 
 
 When ye, therefore, shall see the Abomination of Desolation, 
 spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place where it 
 ought not, (whoso readeth let him understand,) when ye shall see 
 Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation 
 thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the 
 mountains ; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out ; 
 let him which is on the house-top not come down to take any thing 
 out of his house ; neither let him which is in the field return back 
 to take his clothes ; and let not them that are in the countries enter 
 thereinto ; for these be the days of vengeance that all things which 
 are written may be fulfilled. But wo unto them that are with child, 
 and to them that give suck in those days, for there shall be great 
 distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they shall 
 fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all 
 nations ; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until 
 the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.'' Mat. xxiv. 15 — 19. Mark 
 xiii. 14—17. Luke xxi. 20—24. 
 
 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the 
 Sabbath day, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not 
 since the beginning of the creation which God created unto this 
 time, no, nor ever shall be. And except the Lord had shortened 
 those days, there should no flesh be saved ; but, for the Elect's sake 
 whom He hath chosen. He hath shortened those days. Then if any 
 man shall say unto you, Lo here is Christ, or lo He is there, believe 
 it not ; for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and 
 shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were pos- 
 sible, they shall deceive the very elect. But take ye heed, behold I 
 have foretold you all things. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, 
 Behold He is in the desert ; go not forth : behold He is in the secret 
 chambers ; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the 
 east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the Coming of the 
 Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles 
 be gathered together." Mat. xxiv. 20 — 28. Mark xiii. 18 — 23. 
 
 But in those days, immediately after that tribulation, there shall 
 he signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars ; the sun shall 
 be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars 
 c3 
 
26 VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS GIVEN OF THE [Let. II. 
 
 shall fall from heaven, the sea and the waves roaring ; men'? hearts 
 failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are 
 coming on the earth ; for the powers that are in heaven 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 So\ OF MAN CoMiNG hi the cloucls of keuven^ loith 
 power and great glory ; and He shall send his angels with a great 
 sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect, from 
 the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the utter- 
 most part of heaven, from one end of heaven to the other. And 
 \vhen the-^e things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up 
 your heads, iov your redemption draweth nigh. Now learn a par- 
 able of the fig-tree, and all the trees ; when the branch is tender 
 and putteth forth leaves, ye see and know of your ownselves that 
 summer is now nigh at hand. So ye, in like manner, when ye see 
 all these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is 
 nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not 
 pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass 
 away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day and hour 
 knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven ; neither the Son, 
 but the Father only. Take ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know 
 not when the time is ; and take heed to yourselves, lest at any time 
 your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and 
 cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For, 
 as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the 
 whole earth. Watch ye, therefore, 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 of man." Mat. xxiv. 29—36. 
 Mark xiii. 24-32. Luke xxi. 25—36. 
 
 Such is a view of this extensive and magnificent pro- 
 phecy, derived, by a combination of the circumstances, from 
 the several narratives of the three evangehsts. It will not, 
 1 think, be questioned by any one, that it appears, at least, 
 to have two great prominent objects, the Destruction of 
 Jerusalem, with the consequences which flowed directly 
 from it, and the Coming of the Son of man in glory. The 
 former is clearly, and at considerable length referred to, but 
 it seems no less evident, that the evangelists also foretell, and 
 that with still greater minuteness, the Second coming of 
 Christ, for which all of them proceed farther to inculcate 
 the duty of watchfulness, by a variety of parables descriptive 
 of the state of the church and of the world, at the time of 
 His Return. To these we shall afterwards have occasion' 
 to advert, with the view of more fully demonstrating, that 
 our Lord, by the Coming of the Son of man in the 
 clouds of heaven, means His Personal Appearance. At 
 present, however, we proceed to notice a few of the inter- 
 
Let. II.] SAVIOUR's PREDICTION OF HIS RETURN. 27 
 
 pretations which have been given of this portion of Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
 Whatever may be the difficulties which the prediction it- 
 self involves, these, instead of being diminished, have been 
 prodigiously increased by learned and pious Expositors. It 
 may indeed with truth be affirmed, that more contradictory, 
 confused, and inconsistent opinions have never been pre- 
 sented of any portion of the divhie word, than have been 
 given of this sublime prediction, even by friends of the Re- 
 deemer. Its meaning begins now indeed to be more clearly 
 perceived, and more correct expositions are offered, and its 
 circumstances are more generally understood than perhaps at 
 any former period. A few eminent men there have been, 
 in different ages, whose views of the time and nature of the 
 coming of the Son of man we deem correct — understanding 
 it not only to intimate the overthrow of the Jewish polity, 
 but also the Personal Return of the Lord Jesus Christ, at 
 the Restoration of Israel, at the close of the times of the 
 Gentiles. But, by a misconception of the Saviour's mean- 
 ing in the 34th verse, it has most usually been supposed, 
 that our Lord affirmed, that the whole prophecy should 
 have received its accomplishment before the generation of 
 men then living had ceased to exist. This is your own idea 
 of the words referred to, as it has been that of many emi- 
 nent men who have gone before you. This opinion has, 
 however, given much ground to the enemies of the Saviour 
 to triumph in His supposed failure as a prophet, and has 
 perjDlexed and afflicted others, whose views of the endow- 
 ments of the Saviour for the Prophetic office would not 
 admit of the ready reception of any interpretation which 
 seemed inconsistent with matter of fact. " The near ap- 
 proach of this wonderful event," says the infidel Gibbon, 
 " had been predicted by the Apostles ; the tradition of it 
 was preserved by their earliest disciples ; and those who 
 understood in their literal sense the discourses of Christ Him- 
 self were obliged to expect the Second and glorious coming 
 of the Son of man in the clouds, before that generation ivas 
 totally extinguished which had beheld his humble condi- 
 tion upon earth. Yet," he adds, *' the revolution of seven- 
 teen centuries has instructed us not to press too closely the 
 language of Prophecy and Revelation." Decline and Fall 
 of the Roman Empire, Vol. I, pp, 470, 47 L 
 
2^^ VARIOUS INTERPRETATrONS GIVEJf OP THE [Let. II. 
 
 That the Coming of the Son of man in glory was con- 
 tinually urged upon the attention of Christians by the 
 apostles, my former Letter demonstrates ; and that it was con- 
 stantly expected by primitive believers, History fully testi- 
 fies. But that our Lord affirmed, that it would take place 
 before those alive had departed, is an idea which I utterly 
 reject. It appears to have arisen from attaching a wrong 
 sense to a word used by the Saviour, and woful have been 
 the consequences w^hich have resulted from it. 
 
 On the above passage from Gibbon, Dr. Thomas Edwards, 
 the author of a series of Sermons preached before the Uni- 
 versity of Cambridge in 1790, says, " The various and oppo- 
 site methods which Theologians.have adopted to remove an 
 objection which is too obvious to be overlooked, form, it 
 must be confessed, a very considerable presumption, that an 
 adequate solution of the difficulty has not hitherto been dis- 
 covered, and that the objection [of the infidel] is founded on 
 the basis of truth." In confirmation of this opinion he far- 
 ther adds, that " some interpreters imagine that the Prophecy 
 relates entirely to the ruin of the Jewish nation : others, by 
 the convenient introduction of types and double senses, pre- 
 serve in it a reference throughout to the consummation of 
 ail things. Some have contended that it partly belongs to 
 the former, and partly to the latter ; but what portions of it 
 are applicable to the one, and what to the other, they can- 
 not ascertain ; — while a few have ventured to assert, that it 
 represents the final judgment as immediately subsequent to 
 the Jewish Calamities." pp. 18, 19. And inconsistent as 
 these views appear, they embrace all the interpretations of- 
 fered by Antimillenarian expositors of the present day, 
 whatever modifications there may be of parts of inferior mo- 
 ment, of which there is indeed no inconsiderable variety. 
 
 But, after such an exhibition of inconsistent and conflict- 
 ing expositions, it is not a litfie remarkable to find this 
 learned preacher assert, that our Lord really did predict the 
 Advent of '' the Son of man descending visibly from heaven, 
 before the generation then existing was totalh/ extin- 
 guished"!-' p. 23. And again, he says, " our Lord, in the 
 xxivth of Matthew, decisively foretells, that the generation 
 then exisfing should not be totally exfinguished till it had 
 witnessed his Second and glorious appearance in the clouds 
 of heaven" !! p. 19. He thence concludes, that " the records 
 
Let. II.] saviour's PREDICTION OF HIS RETURN. 29 
 
 of History do not authorise us to believe tiiat this prediction 
 was accompUshed at the destruction of Jerusalem." pp. 19, 
 20. And he farther states, that " this awful prediction is 
 not recorded among the stupendous prodigies of the Jewish 
 war." p. 23. V\\io could hesitate for a moment in placing 
 his own interpretation among the number which have pre- 
 sented no adequate solution of the ditficulty ? And who 
 does not perceive that the great stumbling-block has been, 
 the idea attached to *' this generation" ? 
 
 Mr. Faber, an eminently learned living author, who has 
 devoted much attention to the study of prophecy, while he 
 places the comii}g of the Son of man at the close of the 
 times of the Gentiles, and not only regards it as an event 
 yet future but as near at hand, denies it to be the personal 
 return of Christ. While he rejects as a " vulgar error" 
 that interpretation which makes this event a Figurative 
 Advent at the destruction of Jerusalem, he not much less 
 inconsistently with the whole object and scope of the pre- 
 diction, still understands it to be a Figurative Advent at 
 the restoration of Israel ! 
 
 But a still more remarkable view of this important pre- 
 diction is that given by Mr. Houghton, the author of two 
 sermons on the subject. Having, as he conceives, dis- 
 covered discrepancies in the sacred narratives, he says, 
 " From these differences among the Evangelists, it is evident 
 that they spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of 
 the end of the world promiscuously, and consequentli/ 
 that the}/ considered these two advents as one and the 
 same*' a ! p. 225. Again he says, " Mark and Luke, while 
 evidently discoursing of the calamities of the Jews, seem to 
 rise by a sudden transition from the period of the Jewish 
 state to that of the world itself, and describe the coming 
 of our Saviour in terms nearly similar and equally/ sub- 
 lime with those of Matthew, yet all with one consent refer 
 the whole to that present generation." p. 226. 
 
 \Yhen such views are put forth by Christian authors, 
 who can wonder at the charges of the Infidel Historian, or 
 condemn as uncalled for the sneer they elicit ? It is not 
 at all surprising, that the enemy of our religion should con- 
 tinue dissatisfied, although as he says, " Erasmus removes 
 the difficulty by the help of allegory and metaphor, and 
 
30 VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS GIVEN OF THE [Let. II. 
 
 the learned Grotius ventures to insinuate, that for wise 
 purposes the pious deception was permitted to take place." 
 
 On the same ground, namely, the supposed necessity of 
 finding the fulfilment of the whole prophecy during the life- 
 time of at least some of those alive when it was delivered, 
 many have conceived the coming of the Son of man in the 
 clouds of heaven to have taken place after the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, by the preaching of the gospel, or otherwise. 
 This was the view which you yourself sometimes avowedly 
 took; but it was so mixed up, in a manner not very easily 
 understood, or rather at different times you took such dif- 
 ferent views of the words, that any attempt at reply must 
 embrace the whole. At one time you represented the 
 coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven to be the 
 destruction of Jerusalem itself by the Romans ; at another 
 time it became the overthrow of the Jewish polity, which 
 followed that event; and at a third time it was represented 
 as the successful propagation of the gospel by the apostles ; 
 and again all of these were introduced as if all equally the 
 ONE EVENT of the Coiuifig of Christ ; — and, finally, there 
 was occasionally the opinion given, that it still had a lean- 
 ing and looking forward to the Personal Return of the 
 Saviour; while there was, nevertheless, a constant and 
 undeviating assertion, that all had been fulfilled diu'ing 
 the life-time of some of those who were the contemporaries 
 of our Lord.* 
 
 Such a variety of interpretations of one glorious event, 
 given in language perfectly precise, and having a definite 
 time appointed for its accomplishment, seems not very 
 
 • Among the multitude of astonishing interpretations which have 
 been offered of Mat. xxiv. there is yet one worthy of being put 
 upon record. It was delivered in your own pulpit, since the pub- 
 lication of the first edition of my " Connected View," by a person 
 then a probationer, but who now has the spiritual oversight of a 
 Christian congregation. Evidently regarding his aflirmation as of 
 more conseqwence than the multiplicity of evidence produced for 
 the premillennial return of the Redeemer, he at once set aside both 
 your interpretation and mine, by an emphatic " I say it contains a 
 Prophecy concerning the church, from the time that she came out of 
 THE GARDEN OF Eden, till the end of timc " ! ! ! Any remark on 
 this felicitous discovery is not more unnecessary than it would be 
 unappreciated by its author. Scriptural argument were useless, 
 where "/say," is preferred to " thus saith the Lord." 
 
Let. II.] saviour's PREDICTION OF HIS RETURN. 31 
 
 unlike the solutions sometimes presented by pupils to whom 
 has been assigned the task of proving certain problems by 
 every variety of computation, for the purpose of exercising 
 them to ingenuity. The comparison would indeed appear 
 in favour of the latter. For, while it must be confessed 
 that probably nine-tenths of the ingenious calculations are 
 neither designed to be repeated, nor perhaps ever will be in 
 actual business, yet they have all had the merit of at least 
 leading to the right conclusion ; but it is obvious that in 
 every case in which predictions referring to one event are 
 applied to a mimher of very different events, — and events 
 of an opposite nature, — not more than one can be correct. 
 And, in the enumeration above referred to, the interpreta- 
 tions are evidently altogether wrong, having excluded the 
 only event to which the prophecy can refer — the personal 
 Coming of the Son of man at the close of the times of the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 The following remarks of Dr, Benson appear to me to 
 state accurately the duty of a Commentator, to which it is 
 much to be regretted that more attention is not given, rather 
 than to discover by ingenuity in how many ways the text 
 may be confused and a reader perplexed, by having his 
 attention forced from the obvious meaning of the divine 
 annunciation made : ** It is the business of the Commenta- 
 tor to find out the one true sense of Holy Scripture, and to 
 set it before his reader in as clear a light as he can.'* 
 Again, the Doctor says, " It appears to me that a Critical 
 Interpreter of Holy Scripture should set out with this as a 
 first frinci^le ; viz. that no text of Scripture has more than 
 one meaning ; that one true sense he should endeavour to 
 find out, as he would find out the sense of Homer or any 
 other ancient writer. When he has found out that sense, 
 he ought to acquiesce in it, and so ought his readers too, 
 unless by the just rules of interpretation, they can show 
 that he has mistaken the passage ; and that another is the 
 one, just, true, and critical sense of the place." 
 
 This unity of sense it will be niy object both to exhibit 
 and vindicate, satisfied that thus only is the true meaning 
 of the prediction to be obtained, and convinced that God is 
 more to be glorified by it than by any scheme, however 
 well designed, which is destitute of his sacred sanction. 
 Before, however, proceeding farther, it will be proper to 
 
32 PRECISE SIGNIFICATION OF THE [Let. III. 
 
 endeavour to remove the obstacle which has been supposed 
 to lie in the v^ay of consistent interpretation, and v^hich has 
 occasioned such absurdity, confusion, and contradiction. 
 This will, therefore, form the subject of the following 
 
 Letter, by 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Yours very sincerely, &c. 
 
 LETTER IIL 
 
 ON THE PRECISE SIGNIFICATION OF THE WORD 
 TRANSLATED " GENERATION." 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 In all the extracts contained in the pre- 
 ceding Letter, very pointed reference is made to the words 
 " This generation shall not pass till all these things be ful- 
 filled." The arguments which have been founded upon 
 theJD, and the interpretations to which they have given rise, 
 render necessary, therefore, a more careful examination of 
 their meaning. More correct acquaintance with their pre- 
 cise signification will be of the highest importance to the 
 right understanding of our Lord's whole prophecy concern- 
 ing His Return ; for should it be proved that the idea 
 which you and others have attached to them is not the 
 only one of which they can admit, it necessarily follows 
 that any interpretation dependent on that idea will be de- 
 prived of its support. And, with Mr. Faber, I am firmly 
 convinced that " the passage where it occurs has been the 
 chief ground of those erroneous expositions wiiich would 
 confine one of the most magnificent prophecies of Holy 
 Writ to the mere destruction of Jerusalem and the tempfe 
 by Titus." (Sacred Calendar of Projiheci/^ vol. L p. 262.) 
 It forms the ground of Gil)bon's insinuation ; it is expressly 
 assigned by the writers formerly quoted for all the absur- 
 dities into which they have fallen, and on it you took your 
 stand for affirming, that the whole of the predictions preced- 
 ing are necessarily confined to the term of existence of 
 
Let. III.] WORD TRANSLATED "GENERATION." 33 
 
 those who were the contemporaries of the apostles who then 
 Ustened to our Lord. On this you founded the necessity 
 of making your particular applicatioa ; although, in not a 
 few instances, was it evinced that your interpretation was 
 adopted as one rather of imagined dire necessity, than of 
 obvious accordance. But before affirming that the So?i of 
 man was seen coming in the clouds of heaven, and sending 
 his angels to gather together his elect at the destruction of 
 Jerusalem — an idea which it is not very easy for an unpre- 
 judiced mind to adopt — would it not have been proper far- 
 ther to examine whether no other signification could be 
 found for the expression which seemed to impose such a 
 necessity ? Had this been done, some explanation might 
 have been discovered — as more than one have been sug- 
 gested — which would wholly have freed you from the 
 necessity of adopting an interpretation so strained and in- 
 consistent with the express terms of the prediction itself, 
 concerning the previous fulfilment of the times of the Gen- 
 tiles. 
 
 Mr. Cuninghame, who has given much attention to the 
 subject, considers the solution of this difficulty ''to consist 
 in a close attention to the word which is supposed to indi- 
 cate the comjplete fulfilment of the prophecy in that gener- 
 ation." Considering it rather to signify " commencement 
 running into subsequent continuance of action," he proposes, 
 therefore, as the more correct rendering of the verse, " this 
 generation shall not pass away, till all these things shall 
 he, i. e. shall begin to be accomplished." Dissertations on 
 the Seals and I'tmnpets. pp. 241, 242. 
 
 This view Mr. Cuninghame still inclines to believe cor- 
 rect, and has adhered to it as one principle by which a 
 consistent interpretation of the prophecy may be given ; 
 justifying it in his Letter to the Editor of the Edinburgh 
 Theological Magazine, in 1828, by adducing several pas- 
 sages in which a similar phraseology in the original is sup- 
 posed to require a translation corresponding to that which, 
 in the verse under consideration, would read, " this gener- 
 ation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilling.'' 
 
 But another, and what I esteem the proper explanation, 
 yet remains to be considered. In the above, as also in nil 
 the interpretations which seek to find a fulfilment of the 
 prediction of the coming of the Lord in the events connected 
 
 D 
 
34 PRECISE SIGNIFICATION OF THE [Let. III. 
 
 with the destruction of Jerusalem, it is uniformly assumed 
 that the "generation" spoken of, absolutely and only means 
 those alive at the particular time. This does not, however, 
 appear to be always the case, nor to be its only signification. 
 The word used in the original occurs frequently in the New 
 Testament, and is, indeed, generally translated in our 
 authorized version, generation. In many cases, however, 
 this translation, if " generation' is so understood, appears 
 incorrect, and in many the original would probably be bet- 
 ter rendered " race," or '* people." By the present trans- 
 lation, and the idea usually attached to it, our Lord, during 
 his personal ministry, is frequently represented as condemn- 
 ing with much severity that generation as a ivhole, when 
 it is evident that he directly referred to that particular 
 people to whom he was more immediately sent, and among 
 whom he lived and laboured. '* I am not sent,*' he said, 
 *' but to the lost §heep of the house of Israel;" and the 
 condemnation which he so often pronounces upon " this 
 generation," is not upon the whole of mankind then ahve, 
 but upon that race to whom he was especially missioned, 
 and by whom alone he bad hitherto been rejected. 
 
 Now this, you are aware, is the sense in which I appre- 
 hend we are to understand the word when our Lord said 
 " this generation shall not pass till all these things be ful- 
 filled," regarding Him to intimate, not the continuance of 
 those alive, or any part of them, till the accomplishment of 
 all he had predicted, but rather as foretelling the preserva- 
 tion of the Jew^s as a people, even in the most peculiar cir- 
 cumstances, till His Return. This view has been taken of 
 the verse by many eminent men. Although Mr. Cuning- 
 hame, as already noticed, adopts another explanation, he 
 yet admits that when " the great and justly celebrated 
 Mede," in maintaining that here the word translated gener- 
 ation " does not mean a generation of co-existing men, but 
 a race or nation, and the nation spoken of he takes to be 
 that of the Jews," and that when Mede '* refers to the 
 declaration of God in Jeremiah xxxi. 35, 3f5. as being 
 parallel thereto," he considers such a view as admissible, 
 adding, that the word " is sometimes used in this sense 
 bath in the Greek version of the Old and New Testaments, 
 is shown by Mede in the passages of his works referred to." 
 Dissertations, p. 240. The peculiar force and beauty, as 
 
Let. Iir.] WORD TRANSLATED "generation." 35 
 
 well as the propriety of this translation, is well urged by 
 Mede. These he considers obvious when we regard it as 
 our Lord's design "to assert the continuance of the Jewish 
 nation. Verily, I say unto you — the Jewish nation, even 
 to the wonder and astonishment of all who consider it, re- 
 mains a distinct people in so long and so tedious a captivity, 
 and after so many wonderful changes as have befallen the 
 nations where they live." x\nd after stating that the word 
 used in the original signifies not only an age, but also a 
 people, a nation, a race, he adds " 710 one can deny but 
 this is one of the native notions of the Greek word trans- 
 lated ' generation,' yea, and so taken in the Gospels as in 
 the foregoing chapter, (Mat. xxiii. 36.) ' Verily I say unto 
 you, all these things shall come upon this nation.' So Beza 
 renders it twice in the parallel place, Luke xi. 50, 51, and 
 seven times in this gospel. Again," Mede continues, " Luke 
 xviii. 25, * the Son of man must be first rejected by this 
 nation.' " 
 
 Nor is it only in these instances referred to by Mede, 
 tiiat Beza has so rendered yivix, the word translated " gen- 
 eration" in our Lord's predicfion. Of thirty-nine instances 
 I have examined, in which this word occurs in the Greek 
 New Testament, twenty-two are in Beza's T^atin translation, 
 rendered either by gens or natio, words always signifying 
 a people or nation. This is not an unimportant testimony 
 in favour of the proposed reading of the disputed verse ; since, 
 of Beza's Translation of the New Testament, Home, in his 
 Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the 
 Holy Scriptures, says, " On account of its fidelity it has 
 always been highly esteemed by Protestants of every deno- 
 mination." 
 
 Still I do not quote Beza as an infallible guide, but I do 
 appeal to him as, in this case, a valuable and unbiassed wit- 
 ness to the real meaning of the word. He must be allowed 
 to have been a very competent judge, and he cannot be sus- 
 pected of adopting generally a rendering suitable to his 
 views of the passage in question ; for although in more than 
 twenty instances he has translated this word in the Greek by 
 that which signifies " a nation," in our Lord's prediction 
 itself \\Q has rendered it by a word really signifying, in the 
 disputed sense, " a generation." But it is not to his opin- 
 ion of this or any other particular passage I now refer, b^t 
 d2 
 
36 PRECISE SIGNIFICATION OF THE [Let. III. 
 
 to his understanding of the general signification of the 
 word. And on his testimony the raore reliance may cer- 
 tainly be placed, that contrary to his prevailingly practice he 
 has made this one of the exceptions to his more uniform 
 translation ; because so far from his being a witness objec- 
 tionable on account of partiality, it is thus shown that his 
 tendencies, if they operated at all, must have been to give 
 the other rendering a preference. If then, a witness so well 
 qualified and so unexceptionable, intimates his conviction of 
 the meaning of the word to be that of a nation or jieople, 
 by so translating it in a majority of the cases in which it 
 occurs, he has, in so far as the mere words are concerned, 
 and to the extent that his authority is regarded, removed all 
 ground of complaint that it in any degree does violence to 
 the language of our Lord, so io understand it in this predic- 
 tion, — which, as I shall afterwards show, necessarily re- 
 quires some such extended signification, by its including 
 within it events posterior to the fulfilment of the times of the 
 Gentiles, which you admit to be still future. 
 
 But such an interpretafion has not been confined, even 
 among Scripture Expositors, to Mede and Beza. While 
 the first edition of my " Connected View" was passing 
 through the press, a dear friend put into my hands a jNlil- 
 lenarian work published in 1770, by the Rev. S. Hardy, Lec- 
 turer at Enfield, Middlesex, in which nearly the same view 
 is given of our Lord's whole prediction. On the word trans- 
 lated " generation," in addition to the sanction of Beza and 
 Mede, he refers, as authority in support of the substituted 
 rendering, to Chrysostom, Erasmus, and Pasor. I have 
 since ascertained, that the same interpretation of the passage 
 has been offered by many others. 
 
 Indeed, although in our Authorized version the word is 
 almost uniformly translated "generafion," this rendering is 
 rather to be viewed as intimating the translators' sense of the 
 passages in which it occurs, than as demonstrating their 
 conviction, that this is the unvarying signification of the word. 
 In Philippians, ii. 15 ("in the midstof a crooked and perverse 
 nation,'" ) they have themselves translated it by the very 
 word contended for by Mede, and adopted by Beza, and 
 received by Hardy, and which I regard as that which ought 
 to have been used in the translation of our Lord's prediction. 
 Now I do not contend that our Translators are right in 
 
Let. III.] WORD TRANSLATED "GENERATION." 37 
 
 their rendering in the particular instance, but I again cite 
 this passage as containing evidence unbiassed by Milienarian 
 tendencies, that nation is really one of the significations of 
 the word. If, in every case where such a translation would 
 bear directly in favour of the view I am now defending, 
 they have adopted one that is different, it certainly strengthens 
 much the argument to be derived from any admission they 
 may indirectly make, fiere then, I again remark, as in 
 the case of Bcza, the rendering of our Translators in this 
 particular instance proves unquestionably their conviction, 
 that the word really has such a signification. Nay, the 
 very impropriety of the translation in this case, if you 
 choose to regard it in that light, only proves more decidedly 
 that such a rendering must have been easily admitted by 
 them as correct, if adopted without their having been com- 
 pelled to have recourse unto it by the obvious sense of the 
 passage. 
 
 It might be highly useful, but would occupy much space, 
 to examine with minuteness many of the passages in the 
 New Testament in which this word is used, apparently in 
 the sense of people or nation. Two or three cases may, 
 however, be noticed. 
 
 In that discourse in the temple which led to the delivery 
 of the magnificent prediction now under consideration, the 
 Saviour had denounced vengeance on the Jews as a rebel- 
 lious people. On the Scribes and Pharisees wo after wo 
 was pronounced, for their hypocrisy, the last of which is 
 in these words : '' Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, 
 hypocrites, because ye build the tombs oi the prophets diudi 
 garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say. If we had 
 been in the days of our fathers we would not have been 
 partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Where- 
 fore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the chil- 
 dren of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up, then, 
 the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation 
 of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? 
 Wherefore, behold I send unto you prophets, and wise 
 men, and scribes ; and some of them ye shall kill and 
 crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in i/our syna- 
 gogues, and persecute them from city to city ; that upon 
 you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, 
 from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacha- 
 d3 
 
38 PRECISE STGN'IFICATtON OF THE Let. III.] 
 
 rias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple 
 and the altar. Verily 1 say unto you, all these things 
 shall come upon this generation^ Mat. xxiii. 29 — 36. 
 
 The last word in this passage is tiie same which occurs 
 in our Lord's subsequent prediction ; and it can scarce be 
 doubted, that here it refers to the Jews only, and not to 
 the whole generation of living men. It has the Saviour's 
 previous denunciations of wo upon that people all included, 
 when he says, " all these things shall come upon this 
 generation." It was they who were " the children of 
 them which killed the jJrophets ;''' and to them the Saviour 
 said, " Fill ye up, then, the measure oi your fathers." It 
 was them the Saviour still addressed, as those who should 
 kill His disciples in their " sj/nagog//es." In all these 
 circumstances, there is a reference to the Jews, and to them 
 only ; and it was upon this guilty people, — and not upon 
 the whole living race of men, — that wrath was now de- 
 nounced for such enormities ; " Verily I say unto you, all 
 these things shall come upon this generation," this race, 
 this people. My idea is farther confirmed by what follows ; 
 for the Saviour immediately takes up a lamentation for the 
 punishment entailed by the guilt of " this generation." 
 And does this pathetic address apply to the circumstances 
 of mankind generally? Not at all; its expression of His 
 grief and sympathy is wholly expended on the Jewish 
 people ; and instead of embracing the ivhole generation of 
 living men over a wide world, his apostrophe only is, " O 
 Jerusalem, Jerusalem." 
 
 Farther, I would ask, is it true that <7//that Christ now 
 denounced came upon " this generation" in the limited 
 sense for which you contend? Is it not the punishment of 
 those very crimes specified by our Lord that the Jews are 
 still suffering? " Behold your House is left unto you des- 
 olate." It has continued desolate for many generations, 
 and is so still, and therefore " all these" things did not 
 come upon that generation, but it has all come upon that 
 people who were addressed. 
 
 In another prediction of His Return, our Lord *' said 
 unto the disciples, the days will come when ye shall desire 
 to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not 
 see it. And they shall say to you, See here ! or see there ! 
 go not after them nor follow them. For as the lightning 
 
Let. III.] WORD TRANSLATED "GENERATION." 39 
 
 that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven ; so shall 
 also the Son of man be in his day. But Jirst must He 
 suffer many things and be rejected of this genera- 
 tion." Luke xvii. 22 — 25. It is not my intention at pre- 
 sent to insist on the beautiful harmony which there is be- 
 tween this prediction and that which forms the particular 
 subject of immediate investigation ; but to confine my atten- 
 tion to what is said of his rejection, as confirmatory of the 
 idea attached to " this generation." That here also it is 
 the Jewish people to whom he refers will appear by atten- 
 tion to several circumstances. 
 
 Before this day of the Son of man desired by his disciples.. 
 He must first *' be rejected of this generation.'* Now, that 
 he was and is rejected by the Jews as a people, admits not 
 of doubt. But, rejected as he was by that nation, he was 
 not more rejected of tliat generation of Jews than any 
 which has succeeded, but much less. We read of " the 
 many thousands of Jews who believe," when Paul came 
 up to Jerusalem — nay of the myriads of them. Has the 
 success of the gospel been so great among the Jews in any 
 subsequent age, that it would warrant the idea of his hav- 
 ing been peculiarly rejected of that generation then living. 
 Or is it said the " generation" is to be understood more 
 generally, and instead of confining it to the Jews to extend 
 it to the whole of mankind then alive ? In this sense will 
 your idea of the word better accord with matter of fact ? 
 Not at all. So far from the Saviour having been peculiarly 
 rejected of the whole Gentile world in that age, was not 
 the gospel extensively preached, and preached with power 
 — preached with a degree of zeal and success which has 
 not since been equalled ? Instead of that generation having 
 rejected i\\Q Saviour in any peculiar degree, you have once 
 and again recounted the triumphs of the cross as being 
 then the most obvious, when you would maintain that our 
 Lord's prediction, — which I regard as even yet unfulfilled, 
 — that the gospel should *' be preached in all the world 
 for a witness" before the end came, had its fulfilment before 
 the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 Having thus seen the inapplicability of the words to that 
 generation in such a sense, observe now its perfect appli- 
 cation and beauty when understood of the Jewish race or 
 people. By them he was indeed rejected — rejected by 
 
40 PRECISE SIGNIFICATION OP THE [LeT. lU. 
 
 them as a nation, and for eighteen hundred years, which 
 have since elapsed, he has continued to be rejected by that 
 people of whom our Lord appears to speak. The parallel 
 passage in another gospel proves, indeed, that it is in this 
 sense we are here to understand *'this generation:'' And *Mie 
 began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many 
 things, and he rejected of the elders and of the chief priests 
 and scribes.'* Mark viii. 31 . That is, he was to be rejected 
 of the Jewish nation, for these were the supreme authori- 
 ties among the Jews, constituting, therefore, the repre- 
 sentatives of that nation. Now the evangelists, by their 
 severally using the term generation and the Jewish repre- 
 sentatives in expressing our Lord's idea, show clearly that 
 "this generation" is used in a sense synonymous with " this 
 people," else the expressions could not have been given as 
 recordino; the same statement. 
 
 Our Lord's language here seems also to imply, that 
 when the rejection of this generation shall cease, that then 
 will his glorious coming be visible to all " as the light- 
 ning." Now, as this rejection is predicted to cease just at 
 the commencement of the Millennium, it intimates clearly 
 that his Coming will be at the conversion of Israel, when 
 they shall return to their allegiance. And the whole pas- 
 sage may surely be regarded as additional evidence, that the 
 Saviour referred to the continued existence of the Jewish 
 peo|)le even till his Return, when he said, " this generation 
 shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." I shall re- 
 fer to only one other passage in which I think our Lord ob- 
 viously means the Jews, when, using the word under con- 
 sideration, he speaks of this generation. It was on an 
 occasion when the Jewish "' people were gathered thick to- 
 gether, He began to say, this is an evil generation ; they 
 seek a sign and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign 
 of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the 
 Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this genera- 
 tion. Luke xi. 29, 30. In these words our Lord appears 
 expressly to compare the Ninevites with the Jews. It is 
 not the whole people living in the days of the prophet Jonas 
 compared with the whole people living when our Lord thus 
 spake. The comparison evidently is between the Ninevites 
 to whom Jonas was sent, and that people who were now 
 tempting the Saviour by asking a sign. 
 
Let. III.] WORD TRANSLATED "GENERATION." 4J 
 
 These various passages, in which the word is obviously- 
 used in the sense of nation or people, do therefore support 
 the idea that the Saviour, in Mat. xxiv. 34. foretells the pre- 
 servation of the Jews as a distinct people till His Return. 
 
 Although Mr. Faber denies the Coming of the Son of 
 man with the clouds of heaven to be the Personal Return of 
 Christ, he has done much to correct the misapprehension so 
 generally entertained respecting the Time to which the pro- 
 phecy relates, and also concerning the meaning of this 34th 
 verse. When, in the First edition of the " Connected View/' 
 I expressed my conviction that the word translated " gener- 
 ation" ought to be here rendered " nation" or " people," I 
 was quite unaware that precisely the same view was main- 
 tained by this eminent critic, or by any other in the present 
 day. In that author's " Sacred Calendar of Prophecy" it 
 is, however, distinctly and accurately stated. " The original 
 word," he says, '' which our translators have rendered 
 generation, has been commonly supposed to denote the then 
 existing generation of men. or the generation of men who 
 were contemporary with the Apostles. But the j^iimari/ 
 meaning of the word is a race oxfamili/ or nation : it is only 
 in a secondary sense that it acquires the signification of a 
 single generation of contemporaries. Let it, then," he adds, 
 *' in the present passage, be understood in its friinary and 
 proper sense, and the whole difficulty will vanish ; for, in 
 that case, our Lord's declaration will run as follows : — 
 Verily, I say unto you, this nation shall not pass away, until 
 all these things shall have been fulfilled." 
 
 x\nd, in confirmation of this view, he has appended, as a 
 note, the following satisfactory evidence. "I subjoin the 
 very accurate and satisfactory exposition of the word, which 
 has been given by Scapula. 
 
 " Ttnoi, 95, Genus, Progenies. "0(p^ tv il^vig Yi^iri^n^ yiviYn. 
 Homer. Iliad, lib. vi. ver. 150, 151. Tocvrvig roi yinnq ts xac; 
 aJjUccroj ivx.ofixi iimi. Ibid. lib. vi. ver. 211. Et Philo de 
 vita INIosis. KccrxXitmi f4,zv TrarDt'oa kxi yinoc.v kxi vrxTfaov 
 oiKov. Expon. etiam, ^tas, Seculum, Scap. Lex. in voc. 
 
 " To these authorities," he continues, " may be added an 
 equally decisive one from Eschylus. 'Qg af^oip^ovag ^ctifAuv 
 hi/Syj Ui^u-m yivix. Pers. ver. 912, 913, 
 
 " The primary meaning, then, of the word is, a race or 
 
42 PRECISE SIGNIFICATION OF THE [Let. III. 
 
 family or nation : and, accordiDgly, it is used in this sense, 
 botii by the fSeventy, and by the writers of the New Testa- 
 ment, Thus, in Gen. xUii. 7, the Seventy use the word ytnoi 
 to express whatour translators render kindred; and they simi- 
 larly employ the same word, for the same purpose, in Numb. 
 X. 30, and elsewhere. Thus also, as Beza rightly under- 
 stands them, the writers of the New Testament use yivia, to 
 denote a peojile or nation, in Matt xxiii. 36, Luke xxi.32. 
 xvii. 25, and in other places. In like manner Chrysostom 
 uses the same word to describe the whole collective body of 
 Christians. He styles them >5 yivix t/irovvrav rh Kv^iov, the 
 people or nation of those who seek the Lord. See Mede's 
 Works, book iv. epist. 12. p. 752." 
 
 Sac. Cal. of Prophecy, vol. i. pp. 263, 264. 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke also, (a commentator who will not be 
 suspected of accommodating his interpretation to favour 
 Millenarianism,) gives precisely this idea to the word gen- 
 eration, and understands our Lord to say '' this race, i. e. 
 the Jews, shall not cease to be a distinct people till all the 
 counsels of God, relative to them and the Gentiles, be ful- 
 filled." 
 
 My object, in these remarks, you will perceive, has been 
 to ascertain the precise meaning of that word in the origi- 
 nal, which has been translated " Generation." But I have 
 now to remark, that before building so much of your in- 
 terpretation of our Lord's prediction of His coming in glory 
 upon the verse under consideration, as fixing its entire ful- 
 fulment to the days of those then alive, it might also have 
 been proper to inquire whether the word *' generation," even 
 in the translation, never admits of another signification. 
 Without insisting at length on this, the citation of a few 
 passages will be sufficient to prove, that it is sometimes 
 used in a corresponding sense with that already noticed. 
 Is not this the case where it is said, "there is a generation 
 that cursoth their father, and doth not bless their mother ? 
 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and 
 yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a gener- 
 tion. Oh how lofty are their eyes ! and their eyelids are 
 lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are as 
 swords, and their jaw-teeth as knives, to devour the poor 
 from off the earth, and the needy from among men." Prov. 
 
Let. hi,] word TRANSLATED " GENERATION." 43 
 
 XXX. ]1 — 14. The "generations" here evidently mean 
 particular classes of wicked men. 
 
 By the Psalmist those who have clean hands and a pure 
 heart — who receive the blessing from the Lord, and right- 
 eousness from the God of their salvation, are also called 
 ** the generation of them that seek Him.'' (Ps. xxiv.) 
 4 — 6.) Again, '' God is in the generation of the right- 
 eous." (Ps. xiv. 5.) " A ^^6*^ shall serve Him ; it shall be ac- 
 counted to the Lord for a generation.'' (Ps. xxvii. 30.) 
 And "the generation of the upright shall be blessed." 
 (Ps. cxii. 2.) In like manner the apostle Peter, speaking 
 of those " which believe," calls them " a chosen genera- 
 tion." 1 Pet. ii. 9. 
 
 By the prophet Jeremiah, " generation" is used in pre- 
 cisely the same sense, in direct application to the kingdom 
 of Judah. He first addresses them as " Judah," and af- 
 terwards beseeches them, " O generation." Jer. ii. 2S, 3L 
 The same prophet again uses the same word, in the same 
 sense, when it is said, *' This is a nation that obeyeth not 
 the voice of the Lord their God," and concerning whom it 
 is added, in the following verse, " the Lord hath rejected 
 and forsaken the generation of his wrath." And it is 
 again immediately repeated in the next verse, " For the 
 children of Judah have done evil in my sight." Jer. vii. 
 28- 30. 
 
 In the song of Moses the children of Israel are ex- 
 pressly called, in prophetic anticipation, " a crooked and 
 perverse generation." He does not, in these words, refer 
 to their condition as they existed at the time he spake, but 
 is avowedly looking forward to their conduct in the latter 
 days: " For I know," says he, "that after ray death ye 
 will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way 
 which I have commanded you ; and evil will befall you in 
 the latter days, because ye will do evil in the sight of the 
 Lord." Deut. xxxi. 29. xxxii. 5. And in this same song 
 of INIoses, in the 20th verse of the last-cited chapter, they 
 are again called "a very froward generation, children in 
 whom is no faith ;" while, in the 28th verse, they are re- 
 newedly called "a nation void of counsel." 
 
 In reference to our Lord's prediction of His Coming in 
 the clouds of heaven, surely such multiplied instances are 
 sufficient to prove, not only that the original word on which 
 
44 PRECISE SIGNIFICATION OP THE [Let. III. 
 
 the whole difficulty has been founded, may without impro- 
 priety be viewed in a sense consistent with its reference to 
 His future Personal Return, but also that the very word by 
 which it has unhappily been translated, is itself occasion- 
 ally used in a similar sense. These citations prove satis- 
 factorily that the word, both as it occurs in the original 
 and in the translation, does signify a race of men, a peo- 
 ple, a nation, and that both are so used in reference to the 
 Jews, 
 
 With such proofs, I therefore hold it to be indisputable, 
 that when our Lord says, " this generation shall not pass 
 till all these things be fulfilled," he men/ have intimated 
 that the Jewish people should continue to exist as a sepa- 
 rate and distinct race, even while in captivity among the 
 Gentiles, and subjected to every species of oppression, by 
 all the nations among whom they should be mingled. It 
 naturally follows, therefore, that it is not a point to be as- 
 sumed, that our Lord meant to assert that all He had fore- 
 told should be accomplished ere forty or fifty years should 
 have elapsed. For if, as I have proved, the word is really 
 used in different senses, it is necessary to show% that the 
 one in v^hich we find it thus often used is not that in 
 which it is to be understood in the present instance. The 
 fact of Christ's not having been seen coming in the clouds 
 of heaven before the generation of men then living had died, 
 is itself presumptive evidence that such was not our Lord's 
 prediction. And, accordingly, by attending a little more 
 closely to his language w^e shall find, that it neither was 
 nor possibly could be his meaning. 
 
 For, besides the evidence derived from the use of the 
 term in a different sense in the works of Greek authors, 
 and in numerous passages of the New Testament, there is 
 yet another important argument, of which I must still avail 
 myself, against the idea you attach to " this generation." 
 We have still to inquire, whether such a sense as that on 
 which your objection is founded will really accord with our 
 Lord's statements. Is it really true, then,, that all he pre- 
 dicted, pior to making that declaration, was fulfilled be- 
 fore the men then living had ceased to exist ? * Our con- 
 
 * The celebrated Mr. Scott, in his Commentary, assumes with 
 marvellous ease, that our Lord here answers only " the/ormer part 
 of the Apostles' question concerning the time when these events 
 
Let. III.] WORD TRANSLATED "generation." 45 
 
 ceptions of Prophecy myy be aided by Plistory, as specu- 
 lative opinions are often corrected by our knowledge of 
 matters of fact. The generation of men who were living 
 upon the earth when our Lord delivered his prediction has 
 long been consigned to the dust — the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem has long found its place in the records of past events 
 — and, for 1700 years, the city itself has been trodden 
 under foot of Genlile nations. Is it then true, — without 
 having recourse to an idea of double sense, a scheme for 
 which our Lord himself has made no provision, and which 
 the direct terms of his prediction wholly exclude ; a scheme 
 which, even if admitted, is, in so far as the present question 
 is concerned, absolutely self-contradictory, — without such 
 an assumed sense, allow me to ask. Do you, Reverend Sir, 
 helieve it to he true — uath the historic page in view, do you 
 really think our blessed Lord ever meant it to be understood 
 as true — that his coming in the clouds of heaven would take 
 place before the generation of men then upon the earth 
 should cease to live — that at that time he would be seen so 
 coming in power and great glory by all the tribes of the 
 earth, (or even the Jewish tribes only, if you j)refer to have 
 it so,)— and that then also he should send forth his angels 
 to gather together his elect from the four winds of heaven — 
 and do you believe He declared that all this should take 
 place, not before, nor in, nor during the destruction of Jer- 
 usalem, but "immediately after' its tribulation? 
 
 would take place." By adopting such an idea, I would in this way 
 escape the force of your objection ; but although my present in- 
 quiry is not relative to the questions of the disciples, but concerning 
 our Lord's prediction, I must affirm that if our Lord at all answered 
 the latter question of his disciples concerning his Return, and the 
 end of the age, that he did so in the magnificent description of his 
 coming in the clouds of heaven, which occupies so large a portion 
 of the preceding discourse. On what principle then his parabolic 
 illustration, when they " shall see all these things," is to be restricted 
 to " the former part of the apostle's question" concerning the de- 
 struction of the Temple, it is difficult to conceive. However, he 
 proceeds as if this most important point were satisfactorily ascer- 
 tained, and absolutely settled. But notwithstanding of the dis- 
 tinction he has thus made in the prediction, he still regards it as 
 necessary to restrict " the primary interpretation of the prophecy 
 to the destruction of Jerusalem." It is, however, not a little re- 
 markable, that he should thus consider it suflicient to restrict what 
 he calls " the. primary interpretation," although our Lord gives not 
 the slightest hint of its having more than one. 
 
 E 
 
46 PRECISE SIGXIFICATIOX OF THE [Let. III. 
 
 Nay, putting aside for a time the question concerning the 
 Return of the blessed Son of man, permit me to ask, do you 
 beheve that all the other events, included in our Lord's pre- 
 diction, and uttered before he said •' this generation shall 
 not pass till all these things be fulfilled," were accomplished 
 before those then living had died ? There are various state- 
 ments contained in that prediction, the nature of which you 
 will not dispute, which really were not fulfilled before the 
 grave had received the last survivors. I am perfectly wil- 
 ling that the term of existence allotted them be extended 
 even to that of longevity; but the accommodation will still 
 be insufficient — and that by many hundreds of years — to 
 bring within its little compass the mighty things previously 
 foretold by Christ. Let me then ask if it be true, that 
 within this period the gospel was really " preached in all 
 the world for a witness unto all ?iatio)is' ? With a full 
 knowledge of the explanation usually offered — that in the 
 apostolic age the gospel had made very extensive progress, 
 — yet, keeping in view the design expressed by the Saviour, 
 for which the gospel should be preached, " as a witness,'' 
 for myself I dare not make the limitation which the offered 
 explanation demands, and have still to ask of you and 
 others, if it be really true, that even yet the gospel has been 
 preached in all the world, for a witness unto *' all nations" ? 
 and whether the complete accomplishment of this work 
 when performed, will not rather mark " the end of the 
 age"? * 
 
 Before uttering the words I have so long been consider- 
 ing, our Lord had also foretold that the Jews should " be 
 carried captive into all nations;" and again I ask, is it true 
 that this also took place before that generation of living 
 men had ceased to exist? Great as was the slaughter of 
 the Jews by the Romans under Titus, and numerous as 
 were his 'prisoners, it was not until after their revolt, to- 
 
 • It is not my part to reconcile your inconsistencies, but I do you 
 no injustice in thus reasoning against what you made your direct 
 exposition, and which is indeed essential to your view of the time 
 of the coming of the Son of man, although there have been occasions 
 in which you have incidentally given opposite interpretations. The 
 above view you have often neutralized ; and so late as yesterday 
 (May 1st, 1831,) you, in prayer, expressed it as matter of rejoicing 
 " that the gospel ivill he preached in all the world for a witness unto 
 all nations," — as if the prediction was still unfulfilled. 
 
Let. III.] WORD TRANSLATED " GENERATION." 47 
 
 wards the end of the reign of Adrian, between 130 and 140 
 of the Christian era, that this prediction was accompHshed. 
 ft was not till after this repeated ruin of their nation, that 
 the Jews were " led captive into ail nations," and dispersed 
 over the face of the earth. Neither will this circumstance, 
 therefore, come within the time of those living when the 
 prediction of our Lord was delivered. 
 
 But there is yet farther evidence in the prophecy itself, 
 that the Saviour, when he said " this generation shall not 
 pass till all these things be fulfilled," did not mean to 
 affirm, that the whole prophecy should have received its 
 accomplishment within a single life-time. That prediction 
 'previously foretold that Jerusalem shall be " trodden 
 down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be 
 fulfilled." Luke xxi. 24 — 32. Now I unhesitatingly af- 
 firm that whatever be the right interpretation of the 34th 
 verse, yours must be wrong; for our blessed Lord never 
 could declare that a prediction of events extending at least 
 over 1800 years, should all be fulfilled before those then 
 living had ceased to exist. Yet your interpretation of the 
 prophecy founded on the verse in question, necessarily in- 
 volves that absurdity. Endeavour to conceal it as you may, 
 it is not a matter to be questioned, that the w^ords by 
 which you felt constrained to maintain that the Coming of 
 the Son of man in the clouds of heaven referred to the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, hj the same kind of interpretation 
 will necessarily require it to be believed that the times of 
 the Gentiles should have been fulfilled at the same early 
 period. But the times of the Gentiles are not yet fulfilled, 
 for Jerusalem is still trodden under foot of the Gentiles, and 
 these times will not be fulfilled so long as this is the case, 
 for " Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles 
 until the times of the Gentiles he fulfilled!'' I therefore 
 appeal to you, and to all who know the Lord, whether He 
 could afterwards mean to affirm in the sense which you 
 attached to His words, " this generation shall not pass till 
 all these things be fulfilled" ? 
 
 With the same design, T again ask, whether any " King- 
 dom of God," either spiritual or external, visible or invisible, 
 which was not established prior to the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem, has since been erected ; so that concerning it our 
 Saviour could have said of the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 e2 
 
48 SIGNIFICATION OP "THIS GENERATION." [Let. III. 
 
 " When ye see these things come to fass; know ye that 
 the kingdom of God is nigh at hmuV ? Luke xxi. 31. 
 Was there any kingdom which had not been erected when 
 the Saviour uttered the words just quoted — any kingdom 
 that was not erected when, at the day of Pentecost, the 
 disciples first enjoyed those spiritual gifts which were to 
 quahfy them for their Master's work — that was not even 
 erected when myriads of Jews embraced Jesus as the pro- 
 mised Messiah, and when the gospel had been so exten- 
 sively propagated that you have once and again affirmed it 
 to have been preached in all the world? — Was there any 
 " Kingdom of God," which had not been erected even after 
 the spiritual kingdom of Christ had made such triumpiiant 
 progress, of which our Lord could yet declare that before 
 those then living had died, and at the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem, it was only "nigh at hand''? 
 
 And farther, What " redemption" was enjoyed, either 
 by the Jews as a nation, or by the disciples of Christ in 
 particular, which could be promised by our Lord as to take 
 place within the term of existence of his contemporaries, 
 and as only drawing nigh when the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem began to come to pass? (Luke xxi. 28.) Were the 
 Jews, as a nation, called to look and lift np their heads, 
 while misery and desolation approached ? or did his Jewish 
 disciples then enjoy any "redemption" in which they were 
 to exult. No ; much they suffered even in that early 
 period, but they enjoyed no such redemption; and in the 
 very destruction of Jerusalem they lost all that they pos- 
 sessed. Compelled to flee in haste to the mountains, they 
 escaped only with their lives. Their whole property was 
 left as a spoil to the Gentile oppressor, or consumed by the 
 devouring flame; and the House of their God, which they 
 held more dear, was laid waste and pillaged by the fierce 
 idolater. They regarded not as their " redemption" an event 
 so disastroris, and which was followed by manifold perse- 
 cutions and much distress. Their redemption was not, 
 therefore, an event " nigh at hand" at the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, nor has anything since taken place that can be 
 regarded as that object of hope to which our Lord could 
 allude, when he said, " when these things begin to come 
 to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your re- 
 demption draweth nigh;" and this having been delivered 
 
Lct. IV.] EXPOSITION OF THE SAVIOUr's PREDICTION'. 49 
 
 prior to that declaration which is the subject of iraniediate 
 inquiry, also sets aside the force of your objection to a more 
 extended and consistent interpretation of the whole pre- 
 diction. 
 
 From all the circumstances noticed, I therefore infer the 
 absolute incorrectness of that exposition, which would con- 
 fine the fulfilment of the entire prediction to the term of 
 existence of any of those alive when it was uttered. And 
 not only so ; but from the multifarious evidence adduced, I 
 believe our Saviours meaning in the expression to be, that 
 notwithstanding of his having just predicted unparalleled 
 sufi^erings to which the Jewish nation should be subjected 
 — of their being carried captive into all nations, and having 
 their capital laidw^aste and subject to the power of ruthless 
 spoilers — that still as a distinct nation or j)^ople, they 
 should yet continue to exist till his return. And as if it 
 were almost incredible that a nation could survive such 
 complicated distress, he adds the assurance, " Heaven and 
 earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." 
 
 That the explanation thus offered, in so far as it is agree- 
 able to the mind and word of God, may be blessed to your 
 soul, is the sincere prayer of. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Yours in Christian love, &e. 
 
 LETTER TV. 
 
 BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE SAVIOUR'S PREDICTION 
 OF HIS RETURN. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 In my last Letter I considered at much 
 length the meaning of the words " this generation shall not 
 pass till all these things be fulfilled." Having, as I trust, 
 thus completely removed the supposed necessity of limitafion 
 on which you insisted for the enfire fulfilment of the pro- 
 phecy many centuries ago, and having shown the inconsis- 
 tency of such a view with various statements contained in 
 e3 
 
50 BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE SAVTOUr's [Let IV. 
 
 the prediction itself, may I now solicit your attention while 
 1 endeavour to present a brief, but, as I conceive, a more 
 correct exposition of the whole, as narrated by the evange- 
 list Matthew. By the removal of that great obstacle which 
 has so often been put in the way of all consistent interpre- 
 tation, we will be better prepared for understanding the 
 Saviour's real design, and, by seeing the harmony and dis- 
 tinctness of its parts, you may more readily receive the evi- 
 dence to be afterwards adduced of its reference to the pre- 
 millennial return of the Redeemer. In this I shall, in so 
 far as necessary, fi'eely avail myself of my own remarks 
 already before the public, with such additions as careful 
 and repeated examinations have suggested. 
 
 T'or the last time, as we have seen, Jesus being in the 
 temple, exposed with unsparing severity the hypocrisy of 
 the Scribes and Pharisees. He reproves them for their 
 hardness of heart, in persecuting the prophets and rejecting 
 Himself, and denounces upon them coming judgments. 
 He then utters the tender expostulation and lamentation, 
 " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, 
 and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would 
 I have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her chickens 
 under her wings, and ye would not ! [Observe what fol- 
 lows.] Behold your House is left unto you desolate, for 
 I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, //// ye shall 
 say. Blessed is He that coineth in the name of the Ijord." 
 Mat. xxiii. 37- 39. He shall not be seen of them " hence- 
 forth" till a certain time. As they then saw Him 'person- 
 allj/, so their not seeing Him " henceforth," for a specific 
 period, must be in the same sense, and therefore implies 
 His personal absence in the interim. But the duration of this 
 his absence is coeval with that of the Temple's desolation : 
 " Behold your House is left unto you desolate. For, [the 
 reason or ground of its being so, "./o/'"] I say unto you, ye 
 shall not see me henceforth." Still, however, this deso- 
 lation of their House occasioned by the Saviour's absence 
 is only for a limited time, "' till" they shall call Him 
 Blessed. This clearly refers not directly to the individuals 
 immediately addressed. These were the Scribes and Pha- 
 risees, on whom He had just denounced a " woe" of con- 
 demnation, as men who could not " escape the damnation 
 of hell." vcr. 33. Never, therefore, will such call Him 
 
Let. IV.] PREDICTION OF HIS RETURN. 51 
 
 " blessed." They would not do so at the overthrow of 
 their city ; they will not do so when raised to punishment. 
 But they were the rulers, and therefore the representatives 
 of the Jewish nation, who, at their conversion, will, indeed, 
 bless that Saviour they have so long execrated : " ye shall 
 not see me, henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He 
 that cometh in the name of the Lord." 
 
 Having delivered this important prediction to the Jews, 
 of His absence for a time and the desolation of their Temple, 
 the Saviour now departed from its precincts ; and, followed 
 by his disciples, (ruminating on the import of the denun- 
 ciation just uttered,) He retired to the mount of Olives, the 
 place of his frequent resort, and which commanded a line 
 view of the Temple, being directly opposite the hill on 
 which it stood : *' And Jesus went out, and departed from 
 the Temple ; and his disciples came to him for to show him 
 the buildings of the Temple." (xxiv. 1.) " Master/' said 
 one, '• see what manner of stones and what buildings are 
 here"! (Mark xiii. 1.) " Goodly stones" indeed, some of 
 which, as mentioned by Josephus, were of the whitest 
 marble, and upwards of 67 feet long. From its beauty, and 
 the sacred purpose for which it was designed, and perhaps 
 also from its great strength, they were unwilling to believe 
 it would be destroyed. It was indeed a magnificent struc- 
 ture: and, as they contemplated its threatened desolation, 
 they were ready to exclaim, in the pathetic language per- 
 haps, as also in the spirit, of prophetic lamentation, '' Our 
 holy and beautiful House, where our fathers praised thee !" 
 They therefore point to its superlative grandeur, as if im- 
 ploring its preservation from the impending destruction. 
 This, however, only calls forth a repetition of the afflicting 
 prediction : " And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all 
 these things ? Verily 1 say unto you, There shall not be 
 left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown 
 down." ver. 2. This solemn asseveration of their Master 
 at once negatived their hopes, and prevented farther impor- 
 tunity for the preservation of the Temple. x\ssured with 
 certainty of its fate, and remembering the prediction He 
 had so recently delivered within its walls, they now inquire 
 particularly concerning both the commencement and termi- 
 nation of the predicted desolation : '' And a«^ he sat upon 
 the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, 
 
52 BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE SAVIOUr's [Let. IV, 
 
 saying, Tell us, ivhen shall these things he ? And what 
 SHALL BE THE SIGN OF THY CoMiNG, and of the end of the 
 world V 
 
 By recalling to our remembrance what Jesus had foretold 
 before leaving the Temple — a prediction which would make 
 no transient impression on the minds of His Jewish disciples 
 — we shall be better prepared to understand the important 
 questions now addressed to Him, and the grounds which 
 suggested their combination. Unconnected as these ques- 
 tions must at lirst sight appear, they are, I humbly appre- 
 hend, both naturally and intimately connected. The Saviour 
 had just assured them of the destruction of the Temple : 
 and, as I have already shown, had shortly before predicted 
 its continued desolation till the time of His coming. The 
 disciples, therefore, here first ask '' tvhen" its destruction 
 will take place: '" when shall these things be?" — when 
 shall the Temple be utterly ''thrown dow^n"? and they 
 next inquire concerning the termination of this desolation, 
 inquiring for the sign of the Saviour's '• coming," which, 
 from his prediction in the Temple, they had been taught to 
 connect with the close of that desolation : " Behold your 
 House is le/t unto you desolate, for, I say unto you, ye 
 shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He 
 that comethy But, in their second question, the disciples also 
 connect the time of his "coming" with "the end of the 
 w^orld" — or age, as you admit the word should be rendered. 
 Nothing had previously been said by the Saviour, at least 
 nothing is here recorded as previously said, of the " end of 
 the ago." But the disciples were not ignorant of Prophecy, 
 and they were able to observe and attend to its intimations. 
 And thus it was, I have no doubt, they learned to connect 
 the coming of the Lord with the end of the age. From a 
 prophecy given by Daniel, they had already ascertained 
 the precise era of Christ's appearance in the world ; and, 
 by their acquaintance with this same prediction, and the 
 remembrance of what had so recently fallen from their 
 Master's lips, they would be enabled to connect the time of 
 Christ's Return with the end of the age. Daniel had fore- 
 told that, after the Messiah was *' cut off*," the City and 
 the Sanctuary should be destroyed by the people of the 
 Prince who should come against Judea; and that these he 
 should " make desolate, even until the consummation" 
 
Let. IV.] PREDICTION OF HIS RETURN, 53 
 
 or end. Dan. ix. 27. Now, as the Saviour had himself 
 predicted that this desolation would continue till the time 
 of His Return, when the Jews will acknowledge and bless 
 Him as the sent of the Lord, his disciples, equally desirous 
 of information concerning both, ask, " When shall these 
 things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming and 
 of the end of the age ? " 
 
 PVora the 4th to the 14th verse, the Saviour gives them 
 a general outline of what should take place up to ''' the end" 
 of the age, cautioning them against false Christs who should 
 arise, and warning them against the supposition, that when 
 they should hear of wars and rumours of wars, that this 
 ''end" had arrived; — " but the end is not yet" Great as 
 was the distress entailed upon the Jew^s by the invasion of 
 the Romans, and by the famines and pestilences and earth- 
 quakes which occurred at that time. He shows them that 
 this was but the commencement of long continuing affliction 
 to which the Jews should aftervv'ards be exposed, — " all 
 these are the beginning of sorrows.'' ver. 8. Much w^as 
 to be endured by the impenitent Jews before the end 
 arrived. But upon his own followers our Lord enjoins that 
 for all these things they " be not troubled." In the Dth verse 
 he predicts the persecutions under Pagan Rome : " Then 
 shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you." 
 This being narrated in order posterior to the evils which w^ere 
 connected wdth the destruction of Jerusalem, related in the 
 foreii'oin"; verses, I understand to be the continued chrono- 
 logical order of events, and which form the next great sign. 
 The true friends of the Redeemer were to be persecuted 
 both by Jews and Gentiles, being, as here intimated, 
 " hated of all nations" for the name of Christ. Accord- 
 ingly, they suffered dreadfully at the hands of the Roman 
 emperors in the noted persecutions of that early period. 
 In the 1 0th verse, there next appears a prediction of Pnpal 
 persecutions, as succeeding those of Pagan Rome. " Then 
 shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and 
 shall hate one another." This is not the work of avowed 
 enemies, but of professing friends ; they betray and hate 
 not mutual and open foes, but " one another.'' In the 
 following verse I believe the Saviour alludes To the Papal 
 Antichrist, in the continued succession of Popes, as the 
 '' many false prophets," who should rise and " deceive 
 
54 BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE SAVIOUr's [Let. IV. 
 
 many;" assuming a wicked and idolatrous power in the 
 Church of Christ, and by the establishment of whose abo- 
 minations " iniquity shall abound," and " the love of many 
 shall wax cold." These '^ false prophets' are not to be 
 confounded with the '* false Chtists*' mentioned in the 5th 
 verse. Still viewing the prediction as advancing chrono- 
 logically, I observe that these " prophets" are mentioned 
 as being in the Christian church, while the false Christs 
 deceived the Jews only. In the 13th verse he exhorts to 
 steadfastness in maintaining the truth, and in the 14th adds, 
 " And this gospel of The Kingdom shall be preached in all 
 the world* /or « witness unto all nations, [not that it shall 
 have been universally received by them for 1000 years,] 
 and THEX shall the end come' — the " e)id of the age" 
 about which they were inquiring. 
 
 Such appears to be the natural and proper exposition of 
 this part of the chapter; although you laboured hard to 
 make this end of the world, or age, appear to be the de- 
 struction of the Jewish polity. But, besides that Chris- 
 tianity had made considerable progress before the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem and the Temple, there is no authority 
 whatever, for supposing that event the termination of "the 
 age," — that " consummation' or end being placed by 
 Daniel ?iot at the commencement, but at the close of the 
 desolation of the city and sanctuary, and therefore as pre- 
 ceding the Millennium : " he shall make desolate even 
 UNTIL the Consummation!' Dan. ix. 27. It is also o be 
 remembered, that in the latter question of the disciples, 
 this end of the age was connected with the coming of 
 Christ : " What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the 
 end of the age ?" 
 
 Having thus given them a very condensed view of events 
 up to the end of the age, the Saviour, in the 15th verse, 
 returns, and becoming more minute in the specification of 
 particulars, points to the duration of the afflictions upon 
 
 * On this verse, the Rev. Mr. Scott remarks, the word rendered 
 world " properly signifies the whole habitable earth, whether inha- 
 bited or not; but it is sometimes used," he adds, '* for the Roman 
 empire, and is by many restricted to that sense in this place, perhaps 
 improperly." The view which I take of these verses as a chrono- 
 logical epitome of the threat events which were to precede the end of 
 the age, as wpII as the purpose for which the gospel is to be preached, 
 leave me without doubt that the restriction is improper. 
 
Let. IV.] PREDICTION OF HIS RETURN. 55 
 
 the Jews, and gives farther instructions to be recorded for 
 the guidance and direction of those hving in the periods to 
 which His predictions referred, and who were more parti- 
 cularly interested : " When ye, therefore, [this being an 
 inference relative to their conduct drawn from the former 
 chronological part of His discourse — " when ye therefore"^ 
 shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel 
 the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth let 
 him understand,) then let them which be in Judea flee into 
 the mountains — let him which is on the house-top not come 
 down to take any thing out of his house ; neither let him 
 which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And 
 woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give 
 suck in those days." 
 
 The parenthetical injunction for the reader to understand 
 clearly implies a danger of mistake ; and the neglect of this 
 very warning has probably occasioned much of tiie confu- 
 sion in which commentators have involved the chapter. As 
 the prediction of the prophet, from which I have already 
 quoted, not only shows to what our Lord immediately 
 refers, but will also assist us in another part of the inquiry, 
 I shall now cite fully the passage to which our attention is 
 thus particularly called : " Know therefore and understand, 
 that from the going forth of the commandment to restore 
 and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall 
 be seven [prophetic] weeks, and threescore and two weeks : 
 the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troub- 
 lous times. And after threescore and two weeks [of years] 
 shall Messiah be cut oft* but not for himself; and the 
 'people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the 
 City and the Sanctuary : and the end thereof shall be with 
 a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are deter- 
 mined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for 
 one week ; and in the midst of the week, he shall cause 
 the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over- 
 spreading of abo?ninatio/is he shall make desolate, even 
 until the consummation, and that determined shall be 
 poured upon the desolate,'' — or *' desolator." (marg.) 
 Dan. ix. 25—27. 
 
 My only remark on this, at present, is, that the prophet 
 evidently refers to the Romans as " the people of the prince 
 that shall come," and to the destruction of Jerusalem and 
 
56 BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE SAVIOUR S [Let. IV. 
 
 the temple by that of " the City and the Sanctuary," to- 
 gether with the continuance of their desolation " for the 
 overspreading of abominations." But although the Saviour 
 clearly refers to this destruction of the city, and warns his 
 followers to escape when they should see the period arrive, 
 it is difficult to conceive how any should have thought of 
 applying to that event what He afterwards states respecting 
 his Coming, in answer to the second question of his disciples. 
 Such a misapplication is the more surprising, as He has 
 carefully guarded against false ideas of the nature of his 
 coming. Having predicted a period of the greatest tribula- 
 tion that ever was or shall be, He warns them, in the 24th 
 Verse, against false Christs and false prophets who shall 
 arise, and adds, " Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, 
 Behold He is in the Desert, go not forth : Behold He is in 
 the secret chambers, believe it not; For, [this is the reason 
 why they are not to go into the desert seeking Him, "for''\ 
 as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even 
 unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man 
 be." When He comes, therefore, it will be in no secret 
 influence on the soul ; no mere display of power in the in- 
 fliction of judgments; no coming to be known only in a 
 chamber or witnessed only in a desert — but a bright and 
 glorious manifestation of himself, instantaneous and seen 
 of all, — as the lightning which *' cometh out of the east 
 and shineth even unto the west." 
 
 Having warned them against mistake or deception with 
 respect to the nature of his coming, the Saviour proceeds 
 more particularly to inform his disciples when this glorious 
 event shall take place : " Immediately after the tribula- 
 tion 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 hea- 
 ven ; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and 
 they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds 
 OF heaven, [or, as in the parallel gospel by Luke, (xxi. 
 27.) " in a cloud,"] with power and great glory: and he 
 shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and 
 they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, 
 from one end of heaven to the other." His Second coming 
 will therefore be very different from his First appearance. 
 
Let. IV.] PREDICTION OF HIS RETURN. 57 
 
 H will now be with power and great glory, as frequently 
 predicted by the prophets, and by some of them so raag- 
 niticently described. It is that coming for which his dis- 
 ciples looked with such desire and with such delightful 
 anticipations. His great wot k of humilicition being past, 
 he now comes to enjoy his visible triumph over Satan, and 
 to share it wilh his chosen, for " He shall send his angels 
 with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather to- 
 gether his elect from the four winds, from one end of hea- 
 ven to the other." 
 
 In order, therefore, to know the period of our Saviour's 
 return, it is only necessary to ascertain w/ie/i " the tribu- 
 lation" here spoken of shall cease. For this we are fur- 
 nished with three keys. The first may be found in the 
 passage already quoted from the prophecies of Daniel. We 
 there learn, that " unto the end of the war desolations are 
 determined," and that, *'for the overspreading of abomina- 
 tions," the city and Sanctuary shall continue to be made 
 desolate, '' even until the consummation, and that deter- 
 mined shall be poured upon the desolate," — or, (as corrected 
 in the jnargin,) " upon the desolator." It is to this con- 
 tinuance of the desolation, I apprehend, our attention is 
 especially directed by the parenthetical warning of the 
 Saviour or Evangelist, " whoso readeth let him under- 
 stand;" — the full knowledge of its duration being neces- 
 sary in order to the understanding of the prediction of his 
 Return, "immediately after the tribulation of those days," 
 at its termination. The " consummation" has not yet 
 arrived, God's controversy, or " war," with his ancient 
 people has not jqI ceased ; nor has " that determined" 
 been wholly poured upon its objects, whether reading 
 '' desolate," it is referred to the Jews ; or reading " deso- 
 lator," it is referred to those by whom they have been op- 
 pressed. But, as we have already seen, " the end," or 
 " consummation," will come when the gospel has been 
 ''preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;" 
 and when the city and Sanctuary cease to be made " de- 
 solate." God's controversy witii his ancient people must 
 cease before the Millennium, for then he shall have returned 
 to them "with mercies;" and this is to be preceded by 
 the infliction of dreadful judgments upon their enemies. 
 The Saviour's return being " immediate ly after the tribu- 
 F 
 
58 BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE SAVIOUr's [Let. IV. 
 
 lation of those days" must therefore be before the Mil- 
 lennium. 
 
 In the 21st verse, we have the second source of evidence, 
 in the extent of the tribulation by which the coming of 
 Christ shall be preceded : " For then shall be great tribu- 
 lation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to 
 this time, no, nor ever shall be; and except those days 
 should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved ; but 
 for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Now 
 as there cannot be two tribulations, each the greatest that 
 ever was, this period cannot yet have arrived, for we learn 
 from Daniel (xii. 1.) that this greatest tribulation is to be 
 at the period of the restoration of Israel : *' And at that 
 time," — at the destruction of the Ottoman empire, pre- 
 dicted in the last verse of the preceding chapter, — '* And 
 at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which 
 standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be 
 a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a 
 nation, even to that same time; and at that time thy 
 people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found 
 written in the book." 
 
 Here then we find that the time of the greatest trouble, 
 up to that period, is to be at the time of the restoration of 
 Israel, the children of Daniel's people, when Michael the 
 prince stands up in their behalf. It seems, therefore, a 
 misapplication of our Lord's prediction of this greatest tri- 
 bulation to refer it to the destruction of Jerusalem, although 
 in Matthew's gospel it may have some appearance of being 
 connected with the prophecy relative to that event. But 
 in the gospel of Luke, to which I shall shortly advert, it is 
 to be observed that the coming of Christ is distinctly placed 
 subsequent to the fulfilment of the times of the Gentiles. 
 I apprehend, liowover, that our Lord, having foretold the 
 near destruction of Jerusalem and the troubles connected 
 with it, carries forward the views of believers to the day of 
 the Lord,' — the long-desired Sabbath, — and to the more 
 dreadful tribulation at its commencement, which he con- 
 trasts with that at the destruction of Jerusalem. This, 1 
 think, is that "Sabbath," and that "winter" or tempest," 
 as the word signities, (see Acts xxvii. 10.) concerning which 
 the Saviour enjoins believing Jev^^s to pray their flight be 
 not in it. In this as in other cases tlie prophecy, having 
 
Let. IV.] PREDICTION OF HIS RETURN. 60 
 
 reference to the time of the Saviour's return, is addressed 
 to the disciples for the instruction of their brethren in all 
 ages. The flight to which he refers appears to be that 
 already noticed, when " all nations'' shall be gathered 
 against Jerusalem to battle after the restoration of Israel, 
 w^hen, says the prophet Zechariah, '* ye shall flee, like as 
 ye fled from before the earthquake, in the days of Uzziah, 
 king of Judah; and [as in our Lord's own prophecy,] the 
 Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee," 
 Zech. xiv. 1 — 5. This being in a time of tribulation so 
 much greater than was even that at the destruction of Jer- 
 usalem, the Saviour probably directs His disciples of the 
 Jewish nation — to whom the prophecy was given, and to 
 w^hose circumstances much of it relates — to pray that they 
 be not involved in it. 
 
 There are various reasons which constrain me to think 
 that it is at the 19th verse our Lord concludes his direc- 
 tions concerning the conduct of the disciples at the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem ; and in the 20th directs attention forward 
 to the greater tribulation immediately preceding His com- 
 ing. It is at the time of this " winter," or tempest, that 
 " then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the 
 besrinnino; of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be." 
 Matt. xxiv. 20, 2L This time of greatest tribulation, as 
 has been shown, is however to be at the restoration of Is- 
 rael, (Dan. xii. 1,) and therefore could not be referred to 
 by our Lord, as at the destruction of Jerusalem formerly. 
 It is evidently the same that is predicted, Rev. xvi. 18. It 
 is spoken of by our Lord, as just noticed, to be a time of 
 such great tribulation, that but for the elect's sake, " no 
 flesh should be saved." This, while it accords fully with 
 the predictions concerning the time of trouble at the com- 
 mencement of the Millennium, does not appear at all to 
 apply to the destruction of Jerusalem, in which the Jews 
 only were involved. Again, the period of trouble referred 
 to by our Lord is to be shortened " for the elect's sake." 
 ]y either does this, however, correspond with the circum- 
 stances connected with the destruction of Jerusalem, from 
 which the Christians had escaped before its calamities 
 commenced, and whose escape, therefore, (into which it is 
 explained) did not depend on the shortening of that trouble. 
 The " tribulation" of which our Lord speaks, as being 
 f2 
 
60 BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE SAVIOUr's [Let. IV. 
 
 "immediately" preceding His coming, must be still future, 
 and is only referable to the unparalleled troubles at tlie 
 close of the present Gentile dispensation. 
 
 The return of Christ at the restoration of Israel is ren- 
 dered farther evident on attending to the parallel passage of 
 the evangelist Luke, who, instead of referring us to Daniel, 
 simply embodies in few words the information we have 
 already obtained from that prophet: "There shall be great 
 distress in the land, and wrath upon this people; and they 
 shall fail by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away 
 captive into all nations ; and Jerusalem shall he trodden 
 down of the Gentiles, until the tunes of the Gentiles be 
 fulfilled.'' And then follow the signs of Christ's return, 
 and the account of the coming itself as given by Matthew: 
 "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and 
 in the stars ; and upon the earth distress of nations, with 
 perplexity ; the sea and the waves roaring ; men's hearts 
 failing them for fear, and for looking after those things 
 which are coming on the earth ; for the powers of heaven 
 shall be shaken. And i"^^^ shall they see the Son of man 
 coming in a cloud with ^lower and great glory.'* Luke 
 xxi. 23 — 27. Jerusalem still is " trodden down of the 
 Gentiles," and therefore the coming of the Son of man is 
 an event vet future. But we have the full assurance of the 
 Saviour's verity that " immediately after the tribulation of 
 those days," and after certain celestial signs, that then shall 
 be seen the Son of man coming in great glory. 
 
 These remarks are designed not merely to direct atten- 
 tion to the precise period of our Lord's return, but al^o to 
 counteract an erroneous opinion too generally entertained, 
 that Christ Himself, in some sense, applies to the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, what he declares of his Personal Coming 
 in the clouds of heaven, when he shall be seen so coming 
 of all the kindreds of the earth. Such an opinion can only 
 be accounted for on the supposition of the total oversight of 
 those various statements by which it is completely refuted. 
 But indeed the language itself in which the Coming is an-' 
 nounced, expressly excludes the possibility of any such 
 construction. Even if the miseries attending the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, rather than any subsequent to that event, 
 had been " the tribulation" here spoken of, it is still to be 
 observed that the comin«: of the Lord was not to be " in" 
 
Let. IV.] PREDICTION OP UIS RETURN. 61 
 
 that tribulation — not even conte?nporaneously, but — " im- 
 juediately after" it, whatever the trihiilaiion itself may 
 1)9, But, as lias been proved, this refers to future times; 
 to which our attention must still be directed as the period 
 IMMEDIATELY after which, or at the Restoration of Israel, 
 when Jerusalem has ceased to be trodden down of the 
 Gentiles, that then the coming of our Lord shall be glori- 
 ously realized, as here declared by Himself and uniformly 
 predicted by the prophets. 
 
 Again, on the supposition that Christ was not to return 
 till after the Millennium, it might well appear surprising 
 that He should not have included that long term of holiness 
 and happiness among the signs which precede his coming. 
 After the world had for thousands of years been torn by 
 dissension, and been the scene of every wickklness, such a 
 lengthened period of universal purity and peace must have 
 proved a very notable sign. But, as has been observed, 
 the words " immediately after the tribulation of those days,'* 
 prove that the coming of the Saviour shall precede the com- 
 mencement of the iMillenniuQ], and therefore its existence 
 could not have been given as a sign of his approach. 
 
 " Now learn a parable of the tig-tree," said the Saviour : 
 ** When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, 
 ye know that summer is nigh : So, likewise ye, when ye 
 shall see all these things, know that it \7narg. " He"] is 
 near, even at the doors." In these eventful times let not 
 the illustrative warning pass unheeded. While nations are 
 convulsed, and thrones are overturned; while there is 
 " upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity." and 
 the most sagacious politicians are in fear of " those things 
 which are coming upon the earth," let not the Christian 
 lose sight of the pole-star of Prophecy, which alone casts a 
 steady light on the events of futurity — near as they may be 
 and mighty in their result. Let us all observe with in- 
 terest the Lord's doings on behalf of his ancient people, in 
 w^hose holy prosperity is bound up the destinies of a re- 
 generated world. Think of the Saviour's gracious assurance 
 unto them, as connected with his Coming, " Verily I say 
 unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things 
 be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my 
 words shall not pass away." ver. 32 — 35. 
 
 Such is a brief exposition of the prophecy, and some of 
 f3 
 
()2 COMING OF THE SON CF Mx\N [Let. V. 
 
 the grounds on which it is formed. The principal event it 
 contains is afterwards illustrated l>y a variety of parahles 
 to which I do not. however, at present refer, as they shall 
 afterwards be made the subject of minute investigation. 
 
 That the Lord, who has the hearts of all men in his 
 hand, and who alone by his Spirit can convince and illu- 
 minate, may lead you into all truth, and give you grace to 
 acknowledge, and fideUty to teach, whatever He imparts, 
 is the sincere prayer of, 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Yours very truly, &c. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN FARTHER PROVED 
 TO BE AT THE CLOSE OF THE TIMES OF THE GEN- 
 TILES, OR RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 In the preceding T^etter I presented you 
 with a Brief Exposition of our Lord's predictions, as under- 
 stood by me, with some few remarks in its vindication. It 
 differs from that given by you in two important particulars, 
 — the /?'me and the nature of the Coming of the Son of man 
 in the clouds of heaven. To many important particulars, 
 in reference to both, I liave yet to solicit your farther at- 
 tention, in support of the view already exhibited. The 
 present Letter shall, therefore, be occupied with additional 
 arguments in proof of the Time of that event being the one 
 already stated. 
 
 In my Harmonized View of the prediction, as recorded by 
 the different evangelists formerly given, I placed the Coming 
 of the Son of man ii'i subsequent to the times of the Gentiles, 
 In this, you are aware, i followed the arrangement of the 
 evangelist Luke, who, so far from identifying that coming 
 with the destruction of Jerusalem, or placing it either in or 
 at or immediately after that event, in his account, inter- 
 poses between them a period which he terms " the times 
 
Let. v.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 63 
 
 of the Gentiles." Of the duration of tliis period he does 
 not indeed speak, but information is supplied by which it 
 may now be pretty nearly ascertained. It is a period 
 which may be measured by that of Judah's dispersion and 
 oppression. The times of tlie Gentiles was to be a period 
 during which the Jews would be subjugated by other na- 
 tions, and Jerusalem itself, the capital of their land, be de- 
 graded and under their control. Now as the evangelist 
 places the coming of the Son of man immediately after this, 
 it is of importance that we examine it with attention. 
 
 It is to be remarked, then, that all \\^\9, followed \\\q de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, the desolation of which the disciples 
 were informed should be nigh when they saw it " com-' 
 passed with armies." ver. 20. Tliere was then to be 
 " great distress in the land and wrath upon this people," 
 and they were to " fall by the edge of the sword," a pre- 
 diction which, you know, w^as fearfully realized. Still, 
 besides and after all this, they were to be " led away cap- 
 tive into all nations," and Jerusalem was to be '* trodden 
 down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be ful- 
 filled," Luke xxi. 24. And on this Scott remarks, *' the 
 remains of that devoted nation have been dispersed as cap- 
 tives, or in a most dependent oppressed condition, through- 
 out the kingdoms of the earth ; and yet have been preserved 
 a distinct people for above 1700 years," "Jerusalem has 
 ever since been * trodden under foot,' or governed with 
 desjwtic sway by the Gentiles ; by the Romans, Saracens, 
 Mamelukes, Franks, and Turks, who possess it to this day. 
 A law was made by the Roman victors forbidding any Jew 
 to dwell in their ancient inheritance, or to come within sight 
 of Jerusalem ; the foundations of the old city were ploughed 
 up ; a new city was at length builded by the conquerors, 
 called -^lia, and an idolatrous temple was erected in the 
 place where the temple of Jehovah had stood. In the 
 days of Constantino, and afterwards, the city was indeed 
 possessed by Christians among others; but they were 
 chiefly the Gentile converts, and the Jews were driven 
 thence with great severity.'' So fully was this part of the 
 prophecy verified I 
 
 The times of the Gentiles wmU. however, come to an end, 
 and when these times are fulfilled, and Jerusalem ceases to 
 be under the oppression and power of the Gentiles, having 
 
64 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let. V. 
 
 been restored to its rightful owners, then arrives the period 
 of the coming of the Lord. But of all this you took no 
 notice, scarcely ever making the least reference to the period 
 at which Luke places the coming of the Son of man. On 
 one occasion only did you even allude to this part of his 
 narrative, and then you asserted that at the Restoration of 
 Israel the times of' the Gentiles will not be fulfilled; but 
 that then the Gentile fulness will be brought in. It was 
 indeed a hasty, a very unguarded assertion to make ; and 
 shows how little you had availed yourself of aid from the 
 statements of this evangelist, who clearly intimates the 
 contrary. Do you ask any proof? I reply, that as Jeru- 
 salem shall continue to be trodden under foot of the Gen- 
 tiles until their times are fulfilled, that this necessarily im- 
 plies the fuUilment of these times when that oppression 
 shall have ceased. At the Restoration of Israel, you allow 
 Jerusalem will revert to them, this therefore will be the 
 period " until" which it is trodden down of the Gentiles, 
 and as it is to continue in that state until the times of the 
 Gentiles are fulfilled, the very regaining of it by the Jews 
 will therefore demonstrate the accomplishment of these 
 times. 
 
 But on the occasion alluded to, you also affirmed that 
 it is no -where said that the Coming of the Son of man w^as 
 to be subsequent to the times of the Gentiles being fulfilled; 
 but that Luke, after foretelling the continued desolation 
 upon the Jews, goes hack to speak of the destruction of 
 Jerusalem as the Coming of the Lord. To this, you are 
 indeed necessarily shut np by the view you have given of the 
 coming of the Son of man. For if it can be proved from Luke 
 that these are two distinct events, then must it follow that 
 your interpretation of the prediction as recorded by Matthew 
 was incorrect. Now let me request you to read again the 
 passage by Luke, and then to say whether such an in- 
 terpretation has the most distant appearance of propriety. 
 Having in the plainest language referred to Jerusalem's 
 being " compassed with armies," and having enjoined the 
 friends of the Saviour then to leave the city, its desolation 
 being nigh, the evangelist next advances to give directions 
 about their escape ; then having foretold the awful afflic- 
 tions which should be entailed upon the Jews at that time, 
 he proceeds, chronologically hitherto, you will confess, to 
 
Let. v.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 65 
 
 predict their long captivity among all nations, which fol- 
 lowed the overthrow of their civil polity, and next intimates 
 their continuance in this state "till the times of the Gen- 
 tiles be fulfilled." He then gives intimation of signs to be 
 in the sun, moon, and stars, among the heavenly bodies, and 
 distress among the nations on the earth; *' o'/^rf then," he 
 adds, " s/iall they see the Son of man Coming in a cloud 
 with power and great glory." Luke xxi. 20 — 27. Now, I 
 ask, who could imagine that the evangelist, in this latter part 
 of the prediction, is not proceeding with his narrative in the 
 same regular chronological order v/hich he follows in what 
 immediately precedes ? 8till more, may I ask, who can 
 suppose that after he has a/readi/ given a plain and direct 
 intimation of the desolation of Jerusalem, and after pro- 
 ceeding in language equally precise, with a narrative of 
 events for 1800 years after that catastrophe, and appears to 
 be still proceeding with the narrative of events which fol- 
 low, that instead of this, he is now returning, and that 
 without any intimation of his design, or any circumstance 
 from which it can at all be inferred — returning to envelope 
 in a figure, if the Coming of the Son of man is to be so 
 named, events which he had already plainly foretold? 
 
 That the destruction of Jerusalem was not the coming 
 of the 8on of man, is I think thus evident from this fact, 
 that after the former had been predicted, the latter is fore- 
 told as something altogether distinct, and with many im- 
 portant circumstances intervening. Nor can the one be 
 considered as an explanation of the other, for they do not 
 occur in connection, but at a distance from each other, with- 
 out having any thing to lead to such an idea, but the reverse. 
 Even were there no evidence directly in proof of the Coming 
 of the Son of man, being at the close of the times of the 
 Gentiles, still your application of it to the destruction of 
 Jerusalem is altogether arbitrary. As well might the cap- 
 tivity which followed, or any other of the events w4iich have 
 since intervened, be called the Coming of the Son of man 
 with power and great glory. There is no reason w^iich 
 can be adduced for referring it to the destruction of Jer- 
 usalem that may not, with more than equal propriety, be ad- 
 vanced for applying it to any event which happened "after" 
 it. But no unbias'^ed reader could entertain any other idea, 
 than that the evangelist meant to intimate that the Coming 
 
66 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let. V. 
 
 of the Son of raan was an event to succeed the fulfihnent 
 of the times of the Gentiles. Besides, it is to be observed, 
 that this is not introduced e/s an explanation of any thing al- 
 ready declared, but as something additional. This is clear- 
 ly implied in the use of the conjunction, "AND there shall 
 he signs," Sic. which succeed the fulfilment of the times of 
 the Gentiles, and precede the Coming of the Son of man.* 
 I therefore repeat that there is not a single circumstance 
 in the narrative of this evangelist which can naturally lead 
 to the idea that in predicting this Coming of the Son of 
 raan, the Saviour is going back to speak in this neiv form 
 of the destruction of Jerusalem merely ; but that having 
 predicted that event, he carries forward the view in an un- 
 broken chronological order beyond it in the successive ca- 
 lamities which should befall the Jews, and their continued 
 captivity till the Coming of the Son of man with the clouds 
 of heaven. If this were not the evangelist's desio;n, I think 
 his readers must necessarily have mistaken it; since by 
 narrating the preceding events in the precise order in 
 which they have occurred, he, by this very circumstance, 
 leads to the expectation that those succeeding will bo so 
 also. Surely in such a case, had he meant to be other- 
 wise understood when he reaches the 25th verse, he would 
 have given some intimation of this ; and this idea is greatly 
 strengthened by observing that when he really does make 
 such a departure as you suppose, from this regular order, 
 he gives express intimation of the fact. Observe how 
 carefully this is attended to in the 12th verse, "^?// before 
 all these, they shall lay their hands on you." 
 
 Let us now attend a little raore particularly to the time 
 of the Coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven, 
 
 • Mede, as quoted by Mr. Cunin^,liame in his Dissprtation on 
 the Seals and Trumpets, (p. 230,) understands the word ''and" to be 
 here used for then : " Then shall there he signs in the sun, and in 
 the moon, and in the stars ;" and it is really so used in the verse im- 
 mediately preceding ; "'there shall be great distress in the land, and 
 wrath upon this people. y!l)ul they shall fall by the edge of the 
 sword, a?id shall be led away captive into all nations, o/i^/ Jerusalem 
 shall be trodden down of the Gentiles." Propriety seems there- 
 fore to require tliat we understand the evangelist still in the same 
 sense, when he immediately adds, '"''And there shall be signs in the 
 sun," &c. 
 
Let. v.] at THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 67 
 
 as declared in the gospel hi/ Matthew. As both evangelists 
 were equally inspired, if 1 be correct in understanding Luke 
 to place that Coming at the close of the times of the Gen- 
 tiles, then to the same period will it be referred by Matthew, 
 how different soever may be the form ia which the intima- 
 tion is conveyed. 
 
 There also we are supplied with a chronology, and in 
 this inquiry, it will be of the very highest importance to 
 keep in view the important fact which I have already illus- 
 trated, that Matthew's chronology is given, from the 5th 
 to the 14th verses inclusive, before at all describing the 
 glorious advent of the Saviour. Much as it has been ne- 
 glected, this I take to be the grand ceironological key 
 to the whole re^iaising jiortion of this magnificent pre- 
 diction, in which the various events are so minutely des- 
 cribed, and so fully illustrated. The disciples in their 
 second question take for granted that the Coming of Christ 
 is to be at the end of the age, and ask one sign for both. 
 The Saviour having given them intimation of the rise of 
 false Christs, which shortly afterwards occurred, leads on 
 their attention to the rumours of approaching war, which he 
 informs them "must come to pass.'"' x\nd here mark 
 the note of Chronology ; '' but the end is not yet." The 
 end of the age is the object of the disciples' solicitude, since 
 with it comes their Lord s return ; and it is the point to which 
 the Saviour designs ultimately to lead their attention ; but 
 lest they should have been in danger of supposing that the 
 approaching war would terminate the age. He warns them 
 that even when this has come to pass, "the end is not yet.'' 
 ver 4. Having in the next verse made more particular 
 mention of the wondrous events which took place about the 
 time of the destruction of Jerusalem, he again cautions them 
 that these did not indicate the termination of the age ; on 
 the contrary, all these are only "M^ beginning o( sor- 
 rows.'' ver. 8. 
 
 Advancing now in this chronological narrative of events 
 towards the end of the age, our Lord specifies the next im- 
 portant sign after the destruction of Jerusalem. This he again 
 does in terms sufficiently indicating its chronological char- 
 acter, as succeeding the events last specified; "THEN 
 shall they deliver you u-p to be afflicted." My present ob- 
 ject is not so much to refer to the fulfilment of this in t^^e 
 
68 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let. V. 
 
 early persecutions of Pagan Rome, as to point attention to 
 the order in which these events are predicted, and their 
 regular succession as implied in the terms used. Having 
 already foretold the circumstances or signs of one particular 
 period; the next are intimated as " then" to taice place. 
 I have, in the Brief Exposition offered of the chapter, re- 
 ferred to the fulfilment of the verse quoted in the precise 
 order v^hich it here occupies in the leading events connected 
 with the church of Christ. Without therefore, further in- 
 sisting on this, but simply reverting to the chronological 
 note with which it is introduced, 1 again remark that the 
 next verse is introduced in preci-^ely the same manner : 
 " And THEN shall many he offended, ^^c. VV^ith what regu- 
 larity and precision does the Saviour advance in his noti- 
 fication of the successive signs which lead to the termination 
 of the age ! Circumstances of prominence and of greatest 
 interest to the church, and accessible to the observation of 
 every individual member, are selected, and their succession 
 marked by special reference, until the whole are set before 
 us, having as the last the preaching of the gospel, " in all the 
 world for a witness unto all natiofis, and THEN" shall the 
 end come''* 
 
 Thus in a few verses, by prominent marks which may 
 easily be recognized in the History of the Church, has the 
 Saviour extended his signs over a period of 1800 years. 
 The more I contemplate this part of the Chapter, the more 
 am 1 impressed with its importance; and the more do lad- 
 mire the beauty, simplicity, and precision of the statements 
 
 • Mr. Faber in one part of his Sacred Calendar of Prophecy, has 
 referred to this preaching of the (Jospel to all nations, as accom- 
 plished before the destruction of Jenusalem. Vol. J. p. 201. But in 
 the same volumt% he very distinctly applies it to present times. 
 He thus paraphrases the veri^e : " This gospel of the Kiiigdotn must 
 first be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; not 
 merely throughout the Roman empire, but unto every nation of the 
 habitable globe. Then, and not till then, shall come that <md of the 
 ao-e, and with it the advent of the Son of man, respecting which you 
 inquire. 
 
 *'Now," he adds, "according to such an explanation of the lan- 
 guage used by Christ, it is evident, that an universality of the preach- 
 ing of the gospel is an indication, that the end of the great prophetic 
 age is near at hand : And with this indication, both the Calendar of 
 prophecy, and the present state of the world, exactly agree." iSac. 
 Cat. vol. I. p. 244. 
 
Let. v.] at THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 69 
 
 it contains, and of their adaptation to the purpose for whicli 
 they were given. 1 hey are signs of a wide and general 
 prevalence, in or concerning the church ; and, being of a 
 moral nature, are within the comprehension of every Chris- 
 tian. 
 
 It is not until the evangelist has brought down this sum- 
 mary view of the great leading events to "the end" of the 
 age, that he presents our Lord's specific directions to the dis- 
 ciples concerning their conduct at the destruction of Jer- 
 usalem, and gives them minute and specific information of 
 the Coming of the Lord. These are the two great events 
 which the disciples embrace in their questions ; and the 
 Saviour having foretold all the signs by which both should 
 be preceded, he now returns to give directions relative to the 
 duties they involve. 
 
 You objected to the interpretation I have just given of 
 the first part of the chapter, on the ground that the view 
 offered of the various events specified being si^ccessive, des- 
 troyed the unity of the prophecy. But how is the unity 
 of a prediction in any way impaired by its being considered 
 chronological in its details ? It is no departure from unity 
 that Daniel predicted the desolation of Jerusalem and the 
 Sanctuary as following, in point of time, what he had fore- 
 told of the Messiah's being cut off. Dan. ix. 26, 27. Indeed, 
 if to view the events mentioned by our Lord as successive, be 
 destructive of the unity of the prophecy, then is your own 
 interpretation chargeable with this very fault. You your- 
 self do not consider the various signs, of false Christs, of 
 wars, of famines, of pestilences, of earthquakes, of persecu- 
 tions, of apostasy, of treachery, of hatred, of false prophets, 
 of the abounding of iniquity, of the waning of Christian love, 
 and the universal preaching of the gospel, as events which 
 all happened at one and the same time. You regard them 
 indeed as having all been fulfilled prior to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem ; but this is by no means the same thing as if 
 you should assert that they were all fulfilled synchronically. 
 And if the unity of the prophecy is still unbroken, with such 
 a view of succession, then I cannot perceive how it should 
 be accounted so, by a view which merely regards them as 
 continuing gradually to be fulfilled for a longer period of 
 time. The difference between us is, that while you admit 
 of short intervals as having elapsed between the events pre- 
 
 G 
 
70 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let. V. 
 
 dieted, I consider these intervals as having been of more 
 extended duration. And that such extension is absolutely 
 necessary, I hope yet to be enabled more fully to show. 
 
 Anotiier iiuportant circumstance, which gives much 
 strength to the idea of this being a chronological narrative 
 of events to the end of the age is, the exact accordance of 
 the prediction, not only with the events in former times, 
 but also with those of present occurrence. I have already 
 noticed the harmony which subsists between Historical 
 facts and the order of these facts as here recorded, in so 
 far as relates to earlier times; and a little attention will 
 show how remarkably the correspondence is still maintained. 
 The last sign before '' the end" comes, you observe, is the 
 universal preaching of the gospel. This sign has not yet 
 been fulfilled; but that which immediately precedes it, is 
 now so evidently being accomplished as particularly to 
 arrest attention. It is an awful sign, but fearfully appli- 
 cable to the circumstances of the church and of the world : 
 *' Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall 
 wax cold." Mat. xxiv. J 2. " Iniquity shall abound." In 
 all ages it might have been said this sign was more or less 
 applicable ; but as a sig/i it must refer to some time pre- 
 eminently guilty, and never was it so fearfully realized as 
 in the present day. Iniquity of every description abounds 
 both at home and abroad, in such a manner as to mark 
 this, with peculiar emphasis, as the epoch of the prediction. 
 Iniquities which have borrowed all the aids of civilization 
 and of science to add to their enormity, are daily perpetrated ; 
 and atrocities unheard of in any former age, or among the 
 most barbarous of nations, have stamped their infamy on 
 lands which proudly claim the sacred name of Christian. 
 Who can cast his eye over the face of society, or attend 
 for an hour to the daily records of its crime, without per- 
 ceiving the appalling realization of this prediction? In the 
 proud defiance of all that is sacred — in the blasphemies 
 fearlessly uttered and industriously circulated — in the mur- 
 ders unprovoked, yet extensively committed for the paltry 
 price which the human carcase can command — in all the 
 varied forms in which impurity prevails, and the fiendish 
 arts by which lust is gratified — in the daring and dexterous 
 schemes by which fraud is extensively practised and con- 
 cealed — in the thousand forms which sin assumes, refusing 
 
Let. v.] AT THE BESTORAflON OP ISRAEL. 71 
 
 to be shamed, there is the sad, sad evidence indeed, that 
 we live in times in v^^hich, with peculiar propriety, it may- 
 be said, Iniquity abounds. To this view of the moral 
 aspects of our times, I assuredly expect your assent, and 
 therefore I feel warranted in pressing upon your attention 
 that interpretation of our Lord's prediction with which they 
 so strikingly correspond. 
 
 But " Because iniquity shall abound," said the Saviour, 
 " the love of many shall wax cold," and again I calculate 
 upon your acknowledgment of its obvious fulfilment in the 
 state of the church. Perhaps at no former period has real 
 religion been so deplorably low among professors of the 
 name of Christ, as at the present day. A clearer comment 
 is not furnished of the former clause in the aspects of the 
 world, than is presented of the latter in the state of the 
 church. With difficulty indeed can even the broad line of 
 demarcation be drawn ; and, worst of all, men " love to 
 have it so." To keep ** unspotted from the world'* is now 
 no regulating precept of the majority of those called by the 
 sacred name of Christ. His holy institutions are perverted 
 or despised, his choicest gifts are unsought and unprized, 
 and, in frequent instances, the authority of his word holds 
 an inferior place to the opinions and practices of men. 
 The few redeeming qualities, if so they may be called, 
 which lightened the darker shades of the sad picture, are 
 fast passing away, and daily do they vanish with little ex- 
 pression of regret. The noblest of our institutions is much 
 debased, and those by whom it is supported, and those by 
 whom its management is conducted, have avowedly leagued 
 themselves with those who are " denying the Lord who 
 bought them."* Fast indeed is the measure of iniquity be- 
 ing filled up, and a day of retribution is at hand. It has 
 already commenced. The storm of divine indignation has 
 
 • It is scarcely necessary to remark that I here refer to the Bri- 
 tish and Foreign Bible Society. To all their guilt of adulterating 
 the word of God, theyhave justadded (May 7th,) that of a decision 
 by which they formally admit into the management of this institu- 
 tion those who deny the divinity of the Saviour, and have refused 
 to acknowledge God in their meetings, or seek His direction. 
 If " Ichabod" was inscribed upon its front by former unacknow- 
 ledged guilt, the characters are now retraced and more deeply im- 
 pressed by these recent transactions. 
 G 2 
 
72 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let.V. 
 
 burst forth, and the nations are writhing in the agonies it 
 has occasioned. 
 
 The Coming of the Lord is preceded by a period of 
 awful tribulation, and it is ** immediately after" that his 
 Return takes place. 1 have already exhibited the ground 
 on which I differ from you concerning the time of this un- 
 paralleled affliction, — having endeavoured to prove its refer- 
 ence to the close of the times of the Gentiles and the Re- 
 storation of Israel. This is the period fixed for it by the 
 prophets, whose expressions admit of no modification. I 
 have already referred to the testimony of Daniel. Pre- 
 cisely similar are the statements of Jeremiah. " Alas! for 
 that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the 
 time of Jacobus trouble ; hut he shall be saved out of it. 
 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of 
 hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and 
 will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve 
 themselves of him." Jer. xxx. 7, 8. And as our Lord him- 
 self says, immediately after the tribulation of those days 
 shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds of hea- 
 ven, so the prophet here adds, " They shall serve the Lord 
 their God, and The Beloved their King, whom 1 will 
 raise up unto them." — " Then shall be great tribulation 
 such as was not since the beginning of the world to this 
 time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should 
 be shortened, there should nojiesh be saved. But [blessed 
 be God for His promise,] for the elect's sake, those days 
 shall be shortened." This prediction by our Lord, of a 
 period when there should no flesh be saved but for the 
 elect's sake, corresponds fully with another in Isaiah, which 
 also refers to the period immediately preceding the time 
 "when tlie Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in 
 Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously." Between 
 the part of the prediction of our Lord concerning His re- 
 turn, under consideration, and that of the prophet, there is 
 an exact parallel, while the prophet also foretells the awful 
 tribulation by which it is preceded : " Behold the Lord 
 raaketh the earth empty. . . .Therefore the inhabitants of 
 the earth are burned, ^x\^ few men lefty Is. xxiv. 1 — 6, 23. 
 
 With a peculiarity of expression and unaccommodating 
 precision, the evangelists thus speak of it as a time of trouble 
 
Let. v.] at the BESTORATION of ISRAEL. 73 
 
 " such as was not since the beginning of the world to this 
 time, no, nor ever shall be;" (Mat. xxiv. 21.) and ** in 
 those days shall be affliction such as was not from the be- 
 ginning of the creation which God created, unto this time, 
 neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened 
 those days, fio flesh should be saved ; but, for the elect's 
 sake whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days." 
 (Mark xiii. 19, 20.) All this you, however, applied to the 
 destruction of Jerusalem. To the same period is it referred 
 by Henry in his Commentary. Quoting the words, "there 
 shall be great tribulation," he says, " great indeed, when 
 within the city plague and famine raged, and (worse than 
 either,) faction and division, so that every man's sword was 
 against his fellow," thus endeavouring to prove its fulfilment 
 in all the predicted magnitude. But he afterwards says, 
 " the tribulation of those days, includes not only the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, but all the other tribulation that the 
 church must pass through." This is a principle of inter- 
 pretation which, however accommodating and fitted to re- 
 lieve from every difficulty, I can by no means adopt. 
 " Those days" plainly refer to days already spoken of, 
 and if Henry was right in his first application, to that he 
 should have felt bound to adhere. 
 
 Some eminent expositors, however, among whom are Mr. 
 Cuninghame and Mr. Faber, consider the tribulation spoken 
 of, to refer to no particular period, either at the destruction 
 of Jerusalem or at the Restoration of Israel; but that it in- 
 cludes all the various calamities in which the Jews were 
 involved, and thus beginning with the first sufferings of the 
 Jews, it "extends to the whole time of their captivity, even 
 to the close of the times of the Gentiles." This explana- 
 tion, if admissible, would avoid what with many forms a 
 great difficulty. But as I regard " the tribulation of those 
 days' to housed more definitely,! cannot avail myself of its aid. 
 
 That there is in Matthew's narrative some obscurity, 
 from the abruptness with which our Lord is represented as 
 referring to the period of tribulation, is what I have no wish 
 to deny. But the circumstances most fitted to throw light 
 upon it have been too little attended to. If it be kept in 
 view that the gospel by Matthew was written expressly for 
 the Jews, while that of Luke was written for Gentiles, it 
 will tend to explain how it is that to us Luke's narrafive 
 appears most disfinct. 
 
 g3 
 
74 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let. V. 
 
 The Jewish converts, from their acquaintance with the 
 Old Testament prophets, were better qualified for under- 
 standing a simple allusion to the great tribulation at the 
 period of their Restoration. When, therefore, Matthew 
 intimates to them the time of Christ's coming as immediately 
 after that greatest tribulation, they would readily recognise 
 his allusion. But for the same reason it was necessary that 
 Luke should be more explicit, since he wrote to those less 
 minutely acquainted with prophec}'-. 
 
 Another circumstance to be attended to, in considering 
 Matthew's reference to the great tribulation is, that he had 
 already given them a chronological view of events up to the 
 end of the age. In that narrative he had distinctly given 
 the various signs by which it and the coming of the Lord 
 should be preceded. And thus it is that in giving directions 
 concerning their conduct, in relation both to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem and the coming of the Lord, he is only draw- 
 ing inferences from what he had previously declared. 
 
 But, as already noticed, the extent of the tribulation forms 
 a check which renders it impossible to apply it to the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem. It is the greatest which ever was 
 or shall be; and as the greatest that ever was till that 
 same time is at the Restoration of Israel, it necessarily fol- 
 lows that the one to which the evangelist refers must still be 
 future. 
 
 And '' except those days should be shortened there should 
 nojlesh be saved." Scott on this passage very properly re- 
 marks, of the Jews who had embraced Christianity, that 
 ** it does not appear that the continuance of this tribulation," 
 referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, *' in the smallest 
 degree tended to exterminate them ; indeed/' he adds, " it 
 is not known that any Christians lost their lives by means 
 of them." But he understands our Lord to refer only to 
 the remnant of Jews " who should in any age of the world 
 embrace Christianity." Still, however, I regard it as being 
 the specification of a parUcular period, and that also of no 
 very long duration, which seems implied in the Lord's 
 shortening it. 
 
 Now this period is expressly called " the winter" and 
 " the sabbath," whatever these may be. I have already 
 remarked that the word translated " winter" may be ren- 
 dered " outpouring," and have also assigned reasons for 
 regarding it as an allusion to that awful outpouring of the 
 
Let. v.] at THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 75 
 
 vials of the wrath of God upon his great Antichristian foes 
 which takes place at the close of the times of the Gentiles, 
 immediately before the Millennium. It may farther be 
 noticed that the word " winter," which, in Matthew, oc- 
 curs in connection with the KSabbath (the great Sabbatism 
 of the day of the Lord, I think,) stands singly in Mark, and 
 both call it the greatest tribulation that ever was or shall be. 
 Now while these evangelists both place the Coming of the 
 Son of Man " immediately after the tribulation of those 
 days," it is remarkable as confirming the view already 
 oft'ered, that Luke, although he says nothing of " the win- 
 ter," or outpouring, in that form of expression, gives the 
 very vievv* in other words. Among the last signs by which 
 the Coming of the Son of man is preceded, he predicts 
 *' upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity." Now 
 as this is the very idea which I attach to the great outpour- 
 ing, his placing it before the Coming of the Son of man, 
 and at the close of the times of the Gentiles, tends to con- 
 firm the general view already offered. Besides, if the 
 words are to be understood as a reference to the seventh 
 day, or to the natural season, connected with the miseries 
 attendant on the flight from Jerusalem when besieged by 
 the Romans, (and there is no historical fact on record which 
 gives any countenance to that idea,) it is not a little remark- 
 able that Luke should take no notice of them, since by his 
 giving a minute account of these sufferings he might have 
 been expected to be more particular on that point also. 
 
 Instead, therefore, of confining this greatest tribulation to 
 the suflTerings formerly inflicted on the Jews, I regard it as 
 applying more peculiarly to the Gentiles ; and instead of 
 continuing during the whole term of Judah's long captivity, 
 I believe it to be but for a little period, being shortened for 
 the elect's sake ; and instead of being at the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, that it will be immediately followed by the 
 coming of the Lord and the glorification of his saints. 
 When in holy vision the beloved disciple " beheld, and lo 
 a great multitude which no man could number of all na- 
 tions and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the 
 throne and before the Lamb, clothed with v^hite robes, and 
 palms in their hands ; and cried with a loud voice, saying, 
 Salvafion to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and un- 
 to the Lamb," he was informed that "these are they which 
 
76 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let. V. 
 
 came out of TR^ great tribulation," (ths dXi-^/ia^,) Rev. vii. 
 9, 10, ]4. Not that they were those who had, in the 
 course of ages, been subjected to various tribulations, from 
 which they had successively been redeemed. They had 
 not merely come out of ''tribulation," which is all our 
 translation intimates, but they came out of a particular and 
 definite tribulation, which is expressively designated " the 
 great tribulation." This tribulation I believe to be the same 
 of which our Lord and the prophet Daniel speaks. That pre- 
 dicted by the prophet, is followed by the resurrection — that 
 declared by our Lord, "immediately after" by His return, 
 and sending his angels to gather together his elect — and out of 
 that referred to by John, the elect are declared to have come. 
 This tribulation unparalleled in its extent, 1 believe we 
 have already entered upon. It is the effect of the outpour- 
 ing of the seventh vial ; and the character of the times cor- 
 respond in every respect with the predictions concerning it. 
 And do not these present doings among the nations also 
 correspond with such fearful declarations? Is not the 
 Lord giving them blood to drink profusely, and sending 
 among them a spirit of confusion and convulsion ? Within 
 a year * what changes have taken place on the Conti- 
 nent of Europe ! An extensive region in Northern Africa, 
 made a conquest by the arms of France — France herself also 
 revolutionized, and Paris deluged with the blood of her citi- 
 zens ; their King being dethroned and banished— a revolt in 
 Belgium, which, though thousands have fallen in the conflict, 
 may yet lead to farther commotions — An insurrection in 
 Italy, which, though suppressed by foreign arms, has left 
 the stormy spirit still unquelled— A desolating war in Poland, 
 in which the contending parties have acted as God's avenger 
 on each other, still leaving little hope that the sought-for in- 
 dependance of the Poles is thus to be obtained — Commo- 
 tions in Switzerland, and various changes among the minor 
 states of Germany— In the East Indies a formidable war 
 waged by one of the native Kings, and in our West India 
 Islands, a revolt among the slaves, and the property of sev- 
 eral of their oppressors consigned to the flames— An English 
 fleet already in the Tagus, and one from France daily ex- 
 pected, to demand reparation for injuries and insult, or to 
 
 • The rapidity of change renders date necessary; — May 16th, 1831. 
 
Let. v.] at THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 77 
 
 inflict chastisement on Portugal ; — And in all this the hand 
 of God is not seen, nor in all the changes which have been 
 induced, is his authority at all recognized. With such char- 
 acteristics of the times, can the Christian fail to perceive 
 that he lives in " the great tribulation," or be unaware of its 
 dangers ? But rapid as have been its movements, and san- 
 guinary as has been its character, we have only witnessed 
 its commencement, and ere the vial has been drained, there is 
 reason to fear that some who now reject this interpretation, 
 will be compelled to acknowledge it " the greatest tribula- 
 tion that ever was or shall be," and thus have forced upon 
 them the conviction, that " immediately after" will be the ce- 
 lestial signs of his approach, when they shall " see the Son of 
 man Coming in the Clouds of heaven, with power and great 
 glory." 
 
 The language used by our Lord, as descriptive of His 
 Coming, must at once recall to the recollection of those ac- 
 quainted with the Old Testament prophets, the prediction 
 by Daniel of the Coming of "one like the Son of man," of 
 whom it is also said, He " came with the clouds of hea- 
 ven." Dan. vii. 13. Now, the correspondence between the 
 language used by the prophet, and that employed by our 
 Lord, is so striking as not only to seem to refer to the same 
 event, but to warrant the idea that our Lord, in foretelling 
 the time of his Return in answer to the question of His dis- 
 ciples, makes a direct quotation from the prophet to lead 
 their attention to him.* Li another part of the prediction, the 
 
 • It must be regarded as one of the most singular perversions of 
 which an eminent Critic could be capable, that Macknight, who, with 
 you, applies our Lord's prediction of his coming to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, actually makes the same application of Daniel's pro- 
 phecy quoted above, of the coming of one like unto the Son of man 
 with the clouds of heaven, at the destruction of the papal horn, 
 when " the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the king- 
 dom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the 
 saints of the Most High," of which prediction Macknight says our 
 Lord's is " an explanation.^' After such an interpretation it will not, 
 perhaps, appear surprising that he should ask, whether there can be 
 any doubt that the apostles " by their Master's coming., and by the 
 end of all things, which they represent as at hand, meant his coming 
 todestrot/Jerusaletn, and to put an end to the institutions of Moses?" 
 Nor, however absurd his view, can he be charged with inconsistence/ 
 when he asserts, that, " with the greatest propriety," we may give 
 a similar interpretation to " e\eky passage of their epistles in which 
 the apostles have spoken of these things as at hand." 
 
78 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let. V. 
 
 Saviour not only refers to Daniel, but leaves a caution that 
 we should *' understand " him ; and it is not unreasonable to 
 suppose, that by the quotation concerning his coming he more 
 particularly refers to the prediction of that prophet. 
 
 But similar as the prediction appears, you will not deny 
 that Daniel here refers to the period when " the times of 
 the Gentiles are fulfilled," after which Luke places the 
 Coming of the Lord. It is at the destruction of the Papal 
 horn immediately before the Millennium, which confirms the 
 view that our Lord intimated His coming in the clouds of 
 heaven to be, not at the destruction of Jerusalem, but as fore- 
 told by the prophet, at the overthrow of Antichrist. 
 
 However well Mr. Faber and you may agree with re- 
 spect to the nature of our Lord's coming in the clouds of 
 heaven, he differs from you entirely respecting the time of 
 it. He fully admits, nay, lays it down as indisputable, that 
 Dan. vii. 13, (already quoted,) 2 Thess. ii. 8, Dan. xii. 1, 
 Joel iii. and Rev. xix. 11 — 21, all relate to the same period 
 with Mat. xxiv. 30. To these passages he refers, as sever- 
 ally according with our Lord's own prediction of his com- 
 ing again, although, as he states, they foretell *' the coming 
 of one like the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, to re- 
 ceive dominion, and glory, and royalty" — of **the standing 
 up of the great prince Michael for the children of Judah" 
 — of " the bright coming of the Lord foretold by St. Paul, 
 in his prophecy of the Man of sin" — and of " the coming of 
 the Word of God, foretold by St. John in the Apocalypse." 
 Sac. Cat. vol. I. pp. 218, 21*9. vol. III. p. 494. 
 
 This, you are aware, is precisely the view which I en- 
 tertain of the time of the Coming of the Lord. These all 
 refer to the commencement of the Millennium, and not to 
 the destruction of Jerusalem. The correctness of this ap- 
 plication in reference to time may, I think, be established 
 from many considerations besides the chronology already 
 referred to, as embodied in the prediction itself, and con- 
 firmed as we have seen by its correspondence with Daniel's 
 vision. Before arriving in the narrative to the end of the 
 age, the Saviour has pointed out various circumstances as 
 first to occur. Among these, and among the earliest of 
 them, does he evidently refer, as already shown, to those 
 events which brought destruction on Jerusalem, adding em- 
 phatically, and in the way of particular caution, ** but the 
 
Let. v.] at THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 79 
 
 end is not yet." In Luke it is, " But when ye shall hear 
 of wars and commotions, be not terrified ; for these things 
 must first come to pass ; hut the end is not hy and by*' 
 Luke xxi. 9. The word rendered " by and by" would 
 have been more perspicuously translated "immediately," as 
 it is by Matthew in another part of the same prediction, 
 when he places the coming of the Lord " immediately after" 
 the great tribulation. Mat. xxiv. 29. '* The end is not im- 
 mediately ;" and the Saviour afterwards pointed out many 
 important circumstances which had first to occur. 
 
 Now, it is remarkable that such various notes of order 
 did not arrest your attention, when imagining the time of 
 the end to be that of the destruction of the Jewish pohty. 
 Important as that event was to the Jews, the time of "the 
 end " is one of much more general interest to the world, 
 whether viewed as a calamity to those involved, or contem- 
 plated as a blessing to the world thereafter. As formerly 
 noticed, we are furnished by the prophet Daniel with the 
 chronology both of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the 
 time of the end. From his prediction we are clearly taught 
 the distinction between them ; for while the destruction of 
 " the city and the Sanctuary" are plainly mentioned, that 
 destruction is expressly placed anterior to the end. Their 
 desolation, indeed, instead of beginning only, really ceases 
 then ; for they continue desolate " until the Consumma- 
 tion." This term "consummation" here clearly refers to 
 some great chronological epoch, as the termination of their 
 desolation. It is emphatically denominated "the end,'* 
 or consummation. It is not an end merely, nor the end of 
 some one event previously referred to, but is one of such 
 note and magnitude as could not fail to be recognized as 
 " the" end, — it is in fact the end of the age. 
 
 But the passage of the prophet contains another chrono- 
 logical mark by which the period of the end may be ascer- 
 tained. It is when " that determined shall be poured 
 upon the desolate;" or, as corrected in the margin, "upon 
 the desolator.'* Now, so far from this having been eflfected 
 at the destruction of Jerusalem, that very event proved the 
 power, and formed one of the triumphs of the desolator, 
 which was no other than the Roman empire. This em- 
 pire still stands, and though now in the divided form of the 
 European kingdoms, (as predicted, Dan. ii. 44.) continued 
 undivided, and in its gigantic might, long after the destrijction 
 
80 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let. V. 
 
 of Jerusalem. It is not till at the very commencement of 
 the Millennium that "that which is determined shall be 
 poured upon the desolator." It is at the very time, as we have 
 already seen, when the prophet beheld, and " one like unto 
 the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven" at the de- 
 struction of the fourth great beast. Dan.vii.13. Accordingly, 
 concerning the Papal horn the prophet says, " the judgment 
 shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume 
 and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and 
 dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole 
 heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the 
 Most High." ver. 26, 27. And in the Apocalypse this 
 period is marked as the end of time. At the sounding of 
 the seventh angel it is proclaimed, that *' time should be 
 no longer." Rev. x. 7. This then is " the end of the age." 
 A new era shall now arise upon the world ; for when the 
 same seventh angel has sounded, then shall " the kingdoms 
 of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and 
 his Christ." Rev. xi. 15. 
 
 As then " the City and the Sanctuary" are to be made 
 desolate, only until " the consummation," that consumma- 
 tion cannot yet have arrived, (although you referred to the 
 passage as if this end expressly applied to the destruction of 
 Jerusalem merely,) for both Jerusalem and its Sanctuary 
 still continue desolate ; and if they are to continue deso- 
 late only until the consummation or end, the simple fact 
 of their being still in that state proves that end to be still 
 future. But so certainly as evidence is thus afforded that 
 the end has not yet arrived, so surely will it be evidenced 
 that it has arrived when the city and the Sanciusiry are rebuilt, 
 which, as predicted by the prophets, will be at the Restor- 
 ation of Israel. Zech. xiv. 11. Ezek. xlv. 1 — 3. xlviii. 8. 
 
 But there is more than the mere similarity of the lan- 
 guage, descriptive of the Son of Man, to mark the corre- 
 spondence in point of time between Daniel's prophecy of 
 that event, and the prediction of our Lord. I have already 
 shown that the prophet refers to the commencement of the 
 Millennium, and in the verse which immediately follows, it 
 is added, " And there was given ]iim dominion, and glory , 
 and A Kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages 
 should serve Him." In like manner, our Lord having de- 
 scribed his coming with power and great glory, adds, 
 ^' When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that 
 
Let. v.] at THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 8] 
 
 THE Kingdom of God is ?ng/i at handy Now between 
 these two statements there is a very obvious and remark- 
 able harmony, which would at least af^ear to intimate a 
 correspondence in point of time, and which would lead us 
 to regard both as still future. But although you have 
 sometimes referred to the passage in the prediction of the 
 Saviour as to an unfulfilled promise, yet in your exposition 
 of the prophecy it was applied to the period of the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, and as referring to the merely spiritual 
 Kingdom. Among the numerous checks which the pre- 
 diction contains, however, I regard thij* as one of the most 
 difficult to accommodate upon your system of interpreta- 
 tion. You suppose this to be the merely Spiritual kingdom. 
 And at the destruction of Jerusalem, was the Spirit- 
 ual kingdom really only "nigh at hand" ? Was it not 
 established by our Lord during his personal ministry on 
 the earth ? Before this he had said to the Pharisees who 
 came inquiring about the external kingdom, " the kingdom 
 of God is within you" or among you, and others he had 
 taught it was come unto them. Yet, if your view be cor- 
 rect concerning the coming of the Lord and the Kingdom 
 spoken of, it could not have been established till after the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, for at the coming of the Son 
 of man it is only " nigh at hand." What ! was it not even 
 established, when at the day of Pentecost the Spirit was 
 given in miraculous manifestations to the disciples ? This 
 display of Christ's power, bestowed upon him by the Fa- 
 ther^ and exercised through the Spirit, I certainly regard 
 as belonging to the period of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ, 
 and that it had then done more than drawn ?iigh, that it 
 had now, at least, fully come unto them. Still you say, no ; 
 for as the coming of the Son of man was at the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, and as, when this event occurred, the King- 
 dom of God is only " nigh at hand," it could not have 
 been established till long after the wonders of Pentecost. 
 
 Farther, if the Coming of the Son of man was at the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, and the Kingdom of God was 
 then only nigh at hand, and if this was indeed the Spiritual 
 Kingdom, then, necessarily, was that spiritual kingdom not 
 established by the apostles themselves. Then all their la- 
 bours, mental and bodily, were performed — all the gifts 
 with which they were endowed were exercised — all their 
 H 
 
82 COMING OF THE SON OF MAN [Let. V. 
 
 c'burches were planted and watered— all their epistles were 
 written, and read, and in circulation — and, with the excep- 
 tion of John, all of them consigned to the tomb — all before 
 the erection of the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ ! ! x\nd if so, 
 I may surely be allowed to ask at what time, and by whom 
 was it afterwards erected ? If the twelve disciples, with one 
 exception, had tinished their labour on earth before the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, and if, as you affirm, the spiritual 
 kingdom was at that destruction only " nig/i at hand," by 
 whom was it afterwards erected, and what demonstration 
 was subsequently given of the fact, which had not previ- 
 ously been made? The plain answer to this question is 
 that the spiritual Kingdom of Christ, instead of being only 
 nigh at hand at the destruction of Jerusalem, was erected 
 long before, and that therefore the interpretation which fixes 
 the coming of the Son of man, to have been at the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, since it involves such consequences, must 
 be erroneous. 
 
 From these various circumstances 1 think it evident that 
 " the kingdom of God,'' referred to by our Lord, is no other 
 than the Millennial Kingdom predicted by Daniel, and that, 
 as it is only ''nigh at hand," when the Son of Man is seen 
 coming in the clouds of heaven, that this is also the same 
 coming, witnessed by the prophet, which he similarly de- 
 scribes ; and as this coming immediately precedes the 
 establishment of the Millennial Kingdom, that this is the 
 period to which our Lord refers. And thus is confirmed 
 the view already given from His prediction that the coming 
 of the Son of man, is subsequent to the fulfilment of the 
 times of the Gentiles, and at the RestorEition of Israel. 
 
 This view is also farther strengthened by another of our 
 Lord's statements, which yet remains to be noticed. Af- 
 ter having predicted his coming, he immediately adds, "And 
 when these things begin to come to pass, then loo/cup and 
 lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nighy 
 Luke xxi. 28. Of whom does our Lord thus speak, and to 
 what does he refer ? Is this redemption any thing that 
 took place at or after the destruction of Jerusalem, either 
 as regarded Jews or Gentiles, believers or unbelievers ? I 
 think not. To no class was that event a ** redemption" of any 
 kind, nor has it ever yet been followed by any thing which 
 could be so regarded, without manifest impropriety. Appli- 
 
Let. v.] at the RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 83 
 
 ed to that period, it cannot be referred to the Jews as a na- 
 tion, for they afterwards suffered more than before, and sub- 
 sequently Jerusalem came to be trodden down of the Gen- 
 tiles, and continues so until this day. Neither can it be ap- 
 plied to believing Jews, in reference to that period. The 
 destruction of Jerusalem itself brought them no " redemp- 
 tion." They suffered in it the loss of their property, and 
 instead of its being followed by, or bringing nigh, a redemp- 
 tion for them, it was succeeded by severe and unrelenting 
 persecutions. How many Jewish Christians were after- 
 wards subjected to the power of heathen hatred for their 
 adherence to the cause of the crucified Nazarene ! All the 
 apostles are supposed to liave been martyred for his name, 
 with the exception of John, who was punished with banish- 
 ment to Patmos, after having escaped unhurt from the boil- 
 ing oil. If it refers to Jews particularly, it must be to he- 
 lieving Jews ; yet to them it will in no way apply, if the 
 destruction of Jerusalem is to be considered as the Coming 
 of the Son of man. In the prospect of that "redemption," 
 those addressed are called to look up and lift up their heads, 
 since, by those events, the promised redemption would be 
 brought nigh. But oh, with what other feelings than those 
 of rejoicing, did believing Jews regard that destruction ! 
 When predicted by the Saviour, what solicitude did his dis- 
 ciples display for its preservation I And are we to forget 
 the repeated cautions of our Lord, that instead of their re- 
 demption being brought nigh by that event, that it was only 
 " the beginning of sorrows," even to them? 
 
 To a different period than the destruction of Jerusalem 
 therefore must this " redemption" refer ; and you yourself 
 have since quoted the words, applying them to the glory 
 which awaits believers at our Lord's return. This I regard 
 as the proper application, although, by some who have given 
 considerable attention to the subject, it has been applied to 
 the Restoration of Israel. The contrast between their dis- 
 persed, oppressed, and captive state might be well expres- 
 sed by their " redemption." But the expression "your re- 
 demption draweth nigh," is put, apparently, in Luke's gos- 
 pel, in place of the gathering of the elect, in the other two. 
 For where in Matthew and ]\Iark this is mentioned, there 
 is nothing about the "redemption;" so, in Luke, who inti- 
 mates the redemption as drawing nigh when these things 
 
84 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, [Let.VI. 
 
 begin to come to pass, there is nothing about the angels 
 being sent to gather together the elect from the four winds. 
 
 The promised redemption at the Coming of the Son of 
 man, is therefore utterly irreconcileablo with your idea of 
 that Coming having been at the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 And on the grounds mentioned, the interpretation by which 
 it is applied to the glorification of the Saints at their Lord's 
 return appears preferable. This, Paul expressly calls "the 
 adoption, the rede7nption of our bodies,'' for which he says 
 the whole creation waits. Rom. viii. 22. 
 
 Desiring the participation of its blessings, may we seek 
 a juster appreciation of its glory, and hail with joy every 
 event which more clearly indicates that our redemption 
 indeed draweth nigh. This is an exercise in which every 
 Christian should be engaged, and which is especially in- 
 cumbent on those whose attention is particularly called to 
 the contemplation of passing events. That you may thus 
 be enabled "to discern the signs of the times," is the un- 
 feigned prayer of, 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Yours in Christian love, &c. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 ON THE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECV, AND 
 THE IDEA OF A DOUBLE REFERENCE IN THE PRE- 
 DICTION. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 In previous Letters, I trust I have established the impos- 
 sibility of understanding our Lord to affirm that his Com- 
 ing would take place at the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
 have proved that event to be at the Restoration of Israel. 
 It yet remains, however, that I now examine the nature of 
 that Coming. This is necessary, not merely for farther de- 
 monstrating that your interpretation of our Lord's prediction 
 is erroneous, but also for its vindication from the views of 
 some who place that coming correctly enough at the close 
 of the Times of the Gentiles. 
 
 You not only referred our Lord's prediction of his coming 
 in the clouds of heaven to an improper time ; but having 
 
Let.vi.] and the idea of double reference. 85 
 
 done so, you necessarily maintained that it was not the pre- 
 diction of a personal, but oi o. Jigurative coming. In this 
 last idea you have Mr. Faber's support, who, although he 
 rejects as a *' vulgar error" the opinion of its being a figur- 
 ative coming at the destruction of Jerusalem, yet regards it 
 as a figurative coming at the Restoration of Israel. You 
 both appeal to the language of ancient prophecy as a war- 
 rant for such an interpretation — although even in this you 
 diflfer widely in your views and application of the diflferent 
 passages from which it is inferred. Our Lord's prediction 
 Mr. Faber applies absolutely to the destruction of Christ's 
 enemies before the Millennium, although he considers the 
 language borrowed from that of the personal Return of 
 Christ; on the other hand, while you applied it directly to 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, and as then comjdetely ful- 
 filled, you also considered it as referring in some way to the 
 personal return of Christ, to which you said the prediction 
 has a leaning and a looking forward. 
 
 This last mentioned idea I shall consider fully ; but pro- 
 ceed in the first place to examine the argument urged by 
 both from the figurative language of ancient prophecy. 
 '■'The literal future judgment," says Mr. Faber, "both of 
 the quick and of the dead, and the literal Second Advent 
 of Christ with the clouds of heaven, are poetically, though 
 appropriately, used as a type, or symbol, or hieroglyphic of 
 any eminent.judgment, inflicted here below^, upon any im- 
 pious nation or community, through the instrumentality of 
 those secondary causes which God may be pleased to call 
 into eflTective action.'* 
 
 '•' Of this remarkable phraseology," he continues, " in- 
 stances occur perpetually in the mystic volume of Prophecy. 
 And respecting its true import we cannot doubt ; because 
 the requisite explanation has been aflforded by the occur- 
 rence of the predicted event itself." 8ac. Cal. vol. I. p. 227. 
 
 Now, with those who deny the premillennial Return of 
 the Redeemer, this is a most important point; and one which, 
 if at all open to dispute, will necessarily aflfect materially 
 the arguments on which their cause principally rests. 
 When, therefore so much depends upon its truth, it would 
 require to be clearly exhibited and well defended. But 
 although frequently asserted by you, and laid down by Mr. 
 Faber with the utmost confidence, as a proposition which 
 H 3 
 
86 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, [Let.VI. 
 
 '' we cannot doubt," I must be allowed not merely to ex- 
 press dubiety, but also to take the liberty of expressly con- 
 troverting it, and of calling for the proof. So far from ced- 
 ing the point thus assumed, some of the passages cited in 
 its support, I claim as clear and distinct intimations of the 
 future but premillennial coming of Christ. 
 
 Yet, as if wholly incontrovertible, you both simply refer 
 to the passages as all fulfilled in former ages, and appeal 
 to the nature of their fulfilment, as fitted to illustrate other 
 predictions relating to future times, " because the requisite 
 explanation has been afforded by the occurrence of the pre- 
 dicted event.'' 
 
 *'Thus," Mr. Faber continues with unfaltering confi- 
 dence, '*if Babylon is to be destroyed by the instrumentality 
 of the Medes and Persians: the great day of the liord is 
 said to come, the sun and the moon and the stars are dark- 
 ened, the heavens are shaken, and the earth is removed out 
 of its place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the 
 day of his fierce anger. Thus if Egypt is to be judicially 
 visited : Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud and 
 shall come into Egypt ; and the idols of Egypt shall be 
 moved at his presence ; and the heart of Egypt shall melt 
 in the midst of it. Thus if Assyria is to be punished : 
 Behold the Name of the Lord cometh from afar, burning 
 with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy ; he caus- 
 eth his glorious Voice to be heard, and showeth the light- 
 ing down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and 
 with the flame of a devouring fire and with scattering 
 and tempest and hailstones ; through the Voice of the 
 Lord, the Assyrian is beaten down ; Tophet is ordained of 
 old ; yea for the King it is prepared ; he has made it deep 
 and large ; the pile thereof is much wood ; the breath of 
 the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it." 
 
 " In all this, and in numerous parallel cases," Mr. Faber 
 asserts, " the language is purely iigurative. God's tem- 
 poral judgments upon the nations are abroad; and there- 
 fore of such temporal ]n(\gmeY\i9, the literal future day of 
 judgment, and the literal second advent of the Lord, are 
 employed as the conventional fixed symbol or hieroglyphic. 
 When Babylon, and Egypt, and x\ssyria were respectively 
 visited; it is clear, that nothing supernatural occiu'}[ed." 
 Sac. Cal. vol. I. pp. 227, 228. 
 
Let. VI.] AND THE IDEA OP DOtTBLE REPERENCE. 87 
 
 It is, therefore, on the assumption that the predictions 
 quoted have already been fulfilled, that the burden of 
 proof is supposed to rest, that our Lord himself, in predict- 
 ing his coming with power and great glory, does not fore- 
 tell his ]iGrsonal return. But it is sufficiently obvious, that 
 although it were conceded, that these predictions had long 
 ago been fulfilled, and although it were admitted that these 
 refer to times when the nations specified " were respec- 
 tively visited," rather than to times yet future, and that 
 '* nothing supernatural occurred," this would not prove 
 that in no other prophecy of the coming of the Lord is » 
 literal advent foretold. For it is not to be forgotten, that 
 both you and Mr, Faber do expect the Lord Jesus to re- 
 turn personally at some feriod; and unless we be willing 
 to rest in a vague unproveable exjiectation of this, it must 
 be supposed to be somewhere foretold. In point of fact 
 you both regard the personal return of the Redeemer to be 
 a predicted truth ; but if it is any where predicted, then 
 must we examine in what particular prophecy it is re- 
 vealed. The fact, that in some predictions concerning the 
 coming of the Lord nothing more had been meant than 
 temporal judgments, if of itself sufficient proof that one 
 other prediction was of the same nature, would equally 
 apply to others, and thus by being so adduced in reference 
 to all predictions of Christ's coming, would leave that glo- 
 rious event absolutely unproveable. Yet, if, without exa- 
 mination of the circumstances which gave rise to any par- 
 ticular prophecy, and to the circumstances which that pro- 
 phecy itself embraces, we should simply affirm, that since 
 certain other predictions concerning the coming of the Lord 
 were figurative, that this must therefore necessarily be so 
 also, we should establish a principle by which it would 
 manifestly be impossible to prove that there was a single 
 prediction of his ever returning otherwise. If, then, the 
 personal coming of Christ be matter of revelation, the cir- 
 cumstance of certain figurative comings having previously 
 been predicted, if that were the case, would not determine 
 that every other is of the same nature ; and the inquiry 
 will still remain whether by that revelation the personal 
 return is before or after the Millennium. 
 
 Now, this is a point which neither you nor Mr. Faber 
 have attempted to decide, by direct reference to express 
 
88 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, [Let.VI. 
 
 prediction. You make not an effort to prove, from the 
 Word of God, that a coming of the Lord, even of any kind, 
 is expressly foretold, as to be subsequent to the Millenni- 
 um. Having found certain predictions of the coming of the 
 Lord, which you conceive to refer to a figurative coming, 
 these are appealed to as proof that when our Lord himself 
 foretells his coming in the clouds of heaven, he meant a 
 figurative coming at the destruction of Jerusalem, you sup- 
 pose ; while Mr. Faber, regarding that coming as future, 
 attributes to it the same figurative character at the close of 
 the times of the Gentiles. Surely before such a conclu- 
 sion be drawn — a conclusion which would render proof of 
 the personal return of the Saviour impossible — more regard 
 should be given to the circumstances which occasion the 
 prophecy, to the nature of the events foretold, to the lan- 
 guage and the views of those addressed, to the charac- 
 ters they bear, and the work for which they were selected — 
 circumstances, all of which conspire to prove that it is his 
 real personal return of which our Lord so speaks. 
 
 But let me now examine for a little the nature of your 
 evidence for the supposed figurative advent in temporal 
 judgments on the nations. Often did you assume, and Mr. 
 Faber, in the pages already quoted, expressly asserts, that 
 of the true import of the phraseology employed in the pre- 
 dictions referred to, we cannot doubt, " because the requi- 
 site explanation has been afforded by the occurrence of the 
 predicted event itself.'' Without seeking for the unquoted 
 ''numerous parallel passages," of which Mr. Faber speaks, 
 let me then request your attention for a little to the consid- 
 eration of those cited, taking it for granted, that if they are 
 not in his own estimation most in point, that they are at 
 least equally strong with any he has omitted. The exa- 
 mination may perhaps prove, that they do not bear out his 
 assertion, and that they at least do not entitle any one to 
 assume even the possibility of any predicted coming, mean- 
 ing merely a figurative advent at any time whatever. 
 
 The following are the passages adduced by Mr. Faber, 
 although the citations are not given by him : Is. xiii. 1 — 13. 
 Is. xix. ]. Is. XXX. 27 — 33. Of these three, the one 
 concerning the coming of the Lord upon a swift cloud to 
 Egypt, is the most direct, — indeed it is, in some important 
 respects, perhaps the most precise of any contained in the 
 
Let.vi.] and the idea of double reference. 89 
 
 Scripture. When thus adduced by Mr. Faber as a pro- 
 phecy of which, without doubt, " the requisite explanation 
 has been afforded by the occurrence of the predicted event 
 itself," it is, however, of no small importance in the argu- 
 ment, to know that however we may differ vvith respect to 
 the meaning of the prophecy, you do not regard it as hav- 
 ing hitherto received its accomplishment. For if it really 
 be an unfulfilled prediction, certainly no one is at liberty 
 to assume that the coming of the Lord which it foretells, 
 will not be personal, and then to turn round and say, since 
 this does not refer to a personal coming, so will that pre- 
 dicted by the Saviour himself be only figurative. The 
 first point, therefore, to be ascertained, is the period to 
 which the prophecy relates, and then to inquire into the 
 nature of the coming it foretells. I cannot quote at length, 
 but it is much to be wished that it were carefully exam- 
 ined in its connection ; for I am persuaded that investiga- 
 tion will prove, not only that the whole chapter remains 
 unaccomplished, but that a more extended context is so 
 also. 
 
 " The burden of Egypt. Behold the Lord rideth icpon 
 a swift cloud, and shall come into Egt/pt ; and the idols 
 of Egypt shall be moved at his jtresence, and the heart of 
 Egypt shall melt in the midst of it." Is. xix. 1. The pro- 
 phet proceeds to describe minutely a scene of awful confu- 
 sion and perplexity, of civil war and foreign invasion, to 
 which they shall be subjected ; next predicts some provi- 
 dential dispensation, and also human interference, by which 
 *' the waters shall fail from the sea, and the rivers shall be 
 wasted and dried up. And they shall turn the rivers far 
 away, and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried 
 up; the reeds and flags shall wither." ver. 2 — G. Another 
 consequence of this drought and change in the channel of 
 the Nile, is described as the lamentation of the fishermen; 
 and also " they that work in tine flax, and they that weave 
 net works, shall be confounded. And they .shall be broken 
 in the purposes thereof, all that make skiices and ponds 
 
 for fish Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, 
 
 which the head or tail, branch or rush may do." ver. 7 — 15. 
 
 In all this, it will readily be conceded, there is nothing 
 which may not refer to the future; and although in the 
 whole prophetic description, there is the most obvious and 
 
90 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, [Let.VI. 
 
 pointed allusion to the peculiarities of Egyptian circum- 
 stances, I am not aware that any attempt has ever been 
 made to exhibit its real accomplishment. All attempts of 
 this kind must indeed prove abortive, by its inseparable 
 connection with what immediately follows, which it is my 
 happiness to know you regard as referring to the com- 
 mencement of the Millennium. Its importance will war- 
 rant more lengthened quotation. " In that day shall Egypt 
 be like unto women ; and it shall be afraid and fear, be- 
 cause of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, 
 which he shaketh over it. And the land of Judah shall 
 be a terror unto Egypt : every one that maketh mention 
 thereof shall be afraid in himself; because of the counsel 
 of the Lord of hosts which he hath determined against it. 
 In that day shall live cities in the land of Egypt speak the 
 language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts ; one 
 shall be called the city of Destruction, [or of Heres, or of 
 the Sun. ?narg.] In that day shall there be an altar to 
 the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at 
 the border thereof to the Lord. i\nd it shall be for a sign 
 and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts, in the land of 
 Egypt : for they shall cry unto the Lord, because of the 
 oppressors; and He shat/ se^d them a Saviour, and a 
 Great One, and He shall deliver them. And the Lord 
 shall be known to Egypt; and the Egyptians shall know 
 the Lord in that day; and shall do sacrifice and oblation ; 
 yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. 
 And the Lord shall smite Egypt; he shall smite and heal 
 it : and they shall return even unto the Lord; and He 
 shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them. In that 
 day shall there be an highway out of Egypt to Assyria; 
 and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyp- 
 tian into Assyria : and the Egyptians shall serve with the 
 Assyrians. In that day shall Israel he the third with 
 Egypt, and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of 
 the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, bless- 
 ed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the w^ork of my 
 hands, and Israel mine inheritance." ver. 16 — 25. 
 
 Any farther remark to prove this to be an unfulfilled 
 prediction, and one which clearly relates to the commence- 
 ment of the Millennium, is quite unnecessary, and we are 
 only left to wonder where Mr. Faber has ever yet found 
 
Let.VI.] and the idea of double reference. 91 
 
 "the occurrence" of all or any of these predicted events, 
 which thus stand connected with the Coming of the Lord. 
 
 Such then is the connection of tliis prediction, that 
 " the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into 
 Egypt," disproving completely Mr. Faber's opinion of the 
 time stated, even as sanctioned by your own former exposi- 
 tions. But it is of too much consequence not to avail my- 
 self of a direct argument from it in support of the viev\^ 
 already presented of the Saviour's prediction of His Return 
 "in a cloud," as narrated by Luke. The prophet and 
 evangelist place His Coming at the same time ; both inti- 
 mate it as to be in the same manner; and if there be any 
 proof that Luke refers to a personal coming, this seems not 
 less explicitly declared by Isaiah. In quoting the words 
 of the prophet, you said such a view would involve an ab- 
 surdity. Instead of retorting the charge on your view of a 
 figurative coming, let me simply ask, which is most accor- 
 dant with the statements given ? That the Saviour will 
 come from heaven to the earth at some period, is evident 
 from the assurance of Job, that " he shall stand at the 
 latter day upon the earth." But if he ever comes to earth, 
 it must be to some i^lace ; and as there is not in the whole 
 Scriptures a single intimation of his coming direct to any 
 other place, where is the absurdity in believing that he will 
 come to Egypt; the manner of his coming here declared, 
 being the only one also in which His Return is predicted ? 
 
 Again, when " the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and 
 shall come into Egypt," it is in answer to the prayer of the 
 Egyptians. " They shall cry unto the Lord because of 
 the oppressors, and He shall send them a Saviour, and a 
 Great One." How is such language consistent with any 
 idea which denies his personal presence ? It is not God 
 the Father, for the cry of the oppressed is addressed to 
 Him ; and He cometh not himself, but " shall send them 
 a Saviour." Equally inconsistent is this language to Christ, 
 except as possessed of human nature. In his divine nature 
 He is already everywhere present, and needs not to be sent, 
 and having assumed our nature, in it alone can He be sent. 
 Even before His incarnation, the Son was often sent to our 
 world on missions of mercy ; on these occasions he appeared 
 in human form, though not possessed of human nature. 
 But having become incarnate, after His resurrection He 
 
92 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, [Let.VJ. 
 
 left this world in a cloud, and so shall He come in like 
 manner ; and as it is here expressly promised that he shall 
 so come to Egypt, and as the Scriptures speak not of his so 
 coming to any where else, I trust you will yet see reason 
 to acknowledge that the charge of absurdity was made 
 unadvisedly, as you already reject Mr. Faber's interpretation 
 of the past fulfilment of the prediction. 
 
 x\nother of the passages cited by Mr. Faber as proof of 
 his view of the figurative language of prophecy was also 
 quoted by you for the same purpose. Although less evi- 
 dently a prediction concerning the future, I believe it to be 
 not less really so. *' Howl ye," says the same prophet, 
 '^for the day of the hard is at hand: it shall come as a 
 destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands 
 be faint, and every man's heart shall melt : and they shall 
 be afraid ; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them ; they 
 shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth; they shall be 
 amazed, one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 
 Behold the day of the Lord cotneth, cruel both with wrath 
 and fierce anger to lay the land desolate ; and He shall de- 
 stroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven, 
 and the constellations thereof shall not give their light ; the 
 sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon 
 shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the 
 world for their evil, and the wicked iov their iniquity; and 
 I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will 
 lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man 
 more precious than fine gold ; even a man than the golden 
 wedge of Ophir." Is. xiii. 6 — 12. 
 
 That in this passage the prophet refers to the same period of 
 which our Lord in his prediction speaks, I have no doubt, and 
 I know no reason to question that the celestial signs are to be 
 interpreted in the same way. But at present it is less my 
 object to examine into the nature of these signs, than to as- 
 certain the time to which this prophecy relates. It is one 
 of the three on which Mr. Faber rests his proof of the state- 
 ments contained in our Lord's prediction, being merely the 
 figurative language of prophecy, which, he asserts, is so com- 
 mon in Old Testament prediction. Let us therefore attend 
 a little to the circumstances foretold. 
 
 The prophet clearly refers to a time of great destruction 
 and calamity to men — not of a limited, but of a general 
 
Let. VI.] AND THE IDEA OF DOUBLE REFERENCE. 93 
 
 nature : " therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's 
 heart shall melt;'' God "will punish the world for their 
 evil, and the wicked for their iniquity;" and so extensive 
 will be these overwhelming judgments, that a man will be 
 "more precious than fine gold." 
 
 But it is upon the title, I have no doubt, that Mr. Faber 
 grounds his opinion of the prediction being already fulfilled ; 
 " The burden oi Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did 
 see." ver 1. But in the Apocalypse, John also saw the burden 
 of Babylon, of the same mystic Babylon, I apprehend, that is 
 here referred to.* Its overthrow under the outpouring of the 
 7th vial, is in a period of tribulation such as is here described. 
 This day of wrath Isaiah repeatedly calls " the day of the 
 Lord," and " the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the 
 battle ;" ver. 4, 6, 9. And in the Apocalyptic vision, John 
 saw the nations muster against Messiah ; " these shall make 
 war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them ; 
 for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings." Rev. xvii. 14. 
 
 But instead of pointing farther to circumstances of minute 
 coincidence, it is sufficient to overthrow Mr, Faber's view 
 of the prophecy having been already accomplished, to notice 
 how clearly it is limited to Israel's future and final restora- 
 tion. The 13th and 14th chapters are unquestionably con- 
 nected, the latter being merely a continuation of the former. 
 It begins with the reason of this Babylon's overthrow, 
 " For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet 
 choose Israel, and set them in their own land.'' Is xiv. 1. 
 It is not merely their return to their land, but their restora- 
 tion to power which they have .never yet possessed since 
 this prediction was uttered. Not only shall their captivity 
 cease, but they shall then have the ascendency over the 
 Gentiles ; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the 
 land of the Lord for servants and for handmaids; and 
 they shall take them captives whose captives they were; 
 and they shall rule over their oppressors.'' \er. 2. Before 
 either you or Mr. Faber draw inferences concerning the 
 nature of the celestial appearances described by the prophet, 
 
 • In my "Connected View of the Scriptural Evidence of the Re- 
 deemer's Speedy Persona] Return," (p. 259, 4th edition,) I have 
 exhibited evidence in proof of the identity of the Babylon denounced 
 by John, and that described in the above and in other Old Testa- 
 ment predictions. 
 
 1 
 
94 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, [Let.VI. 
 
 it will yet be necessary to show that the prophecy has really 
 received its accomplishment, and that not in some particu- 
 lars only, but in all— for that in many things, the fate of 
 the real and of the raystic Babylon will be the same, is 
 obviously intimated. In the circumstances already referred 
 to, as well as in others which might be specified, the pro- 
 phecy is inapplicable to the overthrow of ancient Babylon. 
 This is, therefore, the destruction which awaits the great 
 enemy of Israel when he comes against them after their 
 restoration : *' The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, surely 
 as T have thought, so shall it come to pass ; and as I have 
 purposed so shall it stand ; that I will break the Assyrian 
 in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot; 
 then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden 
 depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose 
 that is purposed iqwn the whole earth ; and, this is the 
 hand that is stretched out upon all nations. For the Lord 
 of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it ? and his 
 hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" ver. 
 24 — 17. Let nothing more be said then of "the occurrence 
 of the predicted event," as if it were past, until a fulfilment 
 be found corresponding with the prophecy in these its 
 particulars, for it is not more obvious that nothing supernat- 
 ural occured in the events to which Mr. Faber would refer 
 the prediction, than that all which he would call natural 
 here foretold has never yet been accomplished. 
 
 The only remaining evidence cited by Mr. Faber in sup- 
 port of his view of the figurative language of prophecy, is 
 one which I regard as strictly parallel to that last quoted. 
 If the evidence be rather less direct in support of the view 
 already exhibited, I still think it sufficient, while there is cer- 
 tainly nothing from which the opinion of its past accom- 
 plishment can be at all established : '' Behold the Name of 
 the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the 
 burden thereof is heavy ; his lips are full of indignation, and 
 his tongue as a devouring fire : and his breath as an over- 
 liowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift 
 the nations with the sieve of vanity : and there shall be a 
 bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. Ye 
 shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity 
 is kept ; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a 
 pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty 
 
Let. VI.] AND THE IDEA OF DOUBLE REFERENCE. 95 
 
 One of Israel. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice 
 to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, 
 with the indi2;nation of his anger, and with the flame of a 
 devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and liailstones. 
 For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be 
 beaten down which smote with a rod. And in every place 
 where the grounded staff [the rod of correction, Lowth,^ 
 shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be 
 with tabrets and harps : and in battles of shaking will he 
 fight with it. For Tophet is ordained of old ; yea, for the 
 King it is prepared : he hath made it deep and large ; the 
 pile thereof is fire and much wood ; the breath of the Lord 
 like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it.'' Is. xxx. 27 — 33. 
 Such is the third passage cited by Mr. Faber, as not 
 only fulfilled, but as so obviously accomplished, as to fur- 
 nish a clear illustration that Christ's prediction of the com- 
 ing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, is merely 
 the annunciation of temporal judgments. But certainly 
 there is nothing in the above prophecy itself, from which it 
 can be ascertained, that there has ever yet been any " oc- 
 currence of the predicted event." Where, I ask, is the evi- 
 dence that the coming of the Name of the Lord from far, 
 means merely the infliction of his wrath through human 
 agency? The circumstances described do not, you must 
 acknowledge, accord fully with those which have ever at- 
 tended the overthrow of any Assyrian foe which Israel has 
 yet encountered ; and seems, like the former passage, to 
 refer to the utter discomfiture of the great enemy with 
 whom they have to contend after their future return to their 
 own land. It is immediately connected with the Millen- 
 nium in the context: " x\nd there shall be upon every high 
 mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of 
 waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers 
 fall. Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light 
 of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as 
 the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord hindeth 
 ttp the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their 
 wound." ver. 25, 26. From this it appears that this day of 
 dreadful slaughter is to be just at the time when the light 
 of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, &c, which is 
 universally understood to refer to the Millennial era. This 
 is further confirmed by its being also connected with the 
 
 i2 
 
96 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, [Let.VT. 
 
 conversion of Israel, God's chosen people, and their resto- 
 ration to the favour of God, "when the Lord hindeth up the 
 breach of his people!' And, in the midst of all the evil 
 by v^hich their enemy shall be overtaken, a period of ** re- 
 joicing and gladness of heart" is promised them. Notwith- 
 standing of the pecuharly awful nature of the means era- 
 ployed, — " the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, 
 and tempest, and hailstones," (which means, also, prove the 
 prophecy to be unaccomplished.) it sliall be with tabrets 
 and harps, employed in praise to the King, of Kings, and 
 Lord of Lords, "The Mighty One of Israel." 
 
 From these various circumstances I conclude, that this 
 passage, like the other two adduced by Mr. Faber, is an 
 unfulfilled prediction, and that instead of presenting evi- 
 dence in support of his views, that it farther exhibits the 
 uniformity with which the Old Testament prophecies, as 
 well as those of the New, concur in stating and enforcing 
 the premillennial advent of the Redeemer. 
 
 Before closing this part of the inquiry, however, I must 
 yet refer to the declaration of Peter on the day of Pente- 
 cost, including a quotation from the prophecies of Joel, 
 which the more requires examination, that it has been sup- 
 posed to exhibit strong figurative language and the idea of 
 a double reference, by some who altogether reject such a 
 view of our Lord's prediction. 
 
 The wonder which v/as excited by the first communica- 
 tion of spiritual gifts, when the disciples " were all filled 
 with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues 
 as the Spirit gave them utterance," was extreme. " The 
 multitude came together and were confounded, because that 
 every man heard them speak in his own language." It 
 was unaccountable, and " they were all amazed, and were 
 in doubt, saying one to another. What meaneth this? 
 Others mocking, said, These men are full of new wine. 
 But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, 
 and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that 
 dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken 
 , to ray words ; For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, 
 seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that 
 which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come 
 to pass in the last days, saith God, / will pour out of my 
 
Let.vi.] axd the idea of double reference. 97 
 
 /S/nVeV upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters 
 shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and 
 your old men shall dream dreams : And on ray servants, 
 and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of 
 my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show 
 wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath ; 
 blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke; the sun shall be 
 turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that 
 great and notable day of the Lord come." x\cts ii. 13 — 20. 
 
 This quotation you apphed partly to the manifestations 
 of the Spirit in those miraculous gifts bestowed upon the 
 church; and partly to the destruction of Jerusalem, which 
 afterwards took place. You thence argued that the sun's 
 being darkened, and the moon's being turned into blood, 
 was figurative; and that being parallel to our Lord's pre- 
 diction, the passage confirmed your application of it. There 
 are, however, several things to be noticed, which you wholly 
 overlooked on that occasion. First, there is no necessary 
 connection between the view taken of the first part of the 
 quotation as being a direct prediction of the bestowal of mi- 
 raculous gifts, and the idea that the latter part is a figurative 
 prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. It certainly 
 might be an intimation of the signs which shall precede the 
 personal coming of the Lord, — which T believe it to be. 
 Not only is this view confirmed, but yours is directly op- 
 posed, by the express statement that these things are to 
 take place ''before that great and notable day of the Lord 
 come." If the destruction of Jerusalem be the day of the 
 Lord, then the darkening of the sun, or the blood-coloured 
 appearance of the moon, cannot be a figurative expression 
 of the same thing; for these celestial phenomena are repre- 
 sented as taking place " before" that day. Besides, if the 
 great tribulation spoken of by our Lord, in his own predic- 
 tion of His coming, be the destruction of Jerusalem, as you 
 affirm it was, then the celestial signs foretold by the Savi- 
 our, instead of being " before" that day, w^ere to be " im- 
 mediately after''' it. 
 
 But while thus meeting you on your own supposifion, and 
 showing its inconsistencies, 1 have farther to remark that I 
 do not consider the language of the apostle as warranfing the 
 idea that he affirmed Joels prediction to have at that time 
 received its accomplishment. Kxi examination of the con- 
 i3 
 
98 Figurative language of prophecy, [Let.vi. 
 
 text will show that Joel in the passage cited clearly refers 
 to the period of Israel's Restoration, at the commencement 
 of the Millennium: *'The sun shall be turned into dark- 
 ness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the 
 terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, 
 that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall 
 be delivered ; for in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, shall be 
 deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant 
 whom the Lord shall calL For, behold, in those days and 
 in that time, when I shall hri)ig again the captivity of 
 Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and 
 will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and 
 will plead with them therey^r 7ny heritage Israel, whom 
 they have scattered among the nations, and parted my 
 land'' Joel ii. 31, 32. iii. 1, 2. Clearly, therefore, does 
 the prophet refer to events still future. Accordingly Mr. 
 Faber regards the passage as an express prediction of the 
 ultimate destruction of the great Antichristian confederation 
 before the Millennium, saying, "■ Joel clearly predicts those 
 identical events which St. John arranges under the Seventh 
 Vial." Sac. Cal. vol. iii. p. 308. Nay, although, when il- 
 lustrating our Lord's prediction of His coming, you yourself 
 quoted Joel as fullilled ; yet on the very Sabbath following, 
 in explaining the prophecy without having that idea in view, 
 you admitted the connection between the 2d and 3d chap- 
 ters of Joel, and stated the latter to be evidently yet unful- 
 tilled. How then you could quote the words as an instance 
 of highly figurative language, corresponding to your view of 
 our Lord's prediction, was what T cannot explain. 
 
 But if the prediction refer to signs preceding the " day of 
 the Lord," and of the general possession of miraculous 
 gifts during His Millennial Reign, when the Spirit shall be 
 poured "upon all flesh," the apostle's quotation of the 
 passage yet remains to be explained. In doing so, the 
 tirst thing to be attended to, is Peter's obvious design at the 
 time. That design, then, was the correction of those who 
 mockingly said the wonders they witnessed ivere the effects 
 of intoxication. No question had been raised concerning 
 the prophecy of Joel, or the period to which it applied ; 
 and although the apostle affirms that the Christians were 
 now influenced by the sa?ne Spirit of whom Joel had pro- 
 phesied, he does not say that the ptrophecy itself wasful- 
 
Let.vi.] and the [dea of double reference. ^9 
 
 filled. The context shows, that it was not then accom- 
 plished ; and your own admission you will accept as evi- 
 dence, that such a statement could not be reconciled with 
 truth. The apostle meets the mockers on the only ground 
 which as objectors they had chosen to occupy, denying and 
 disproving the charge preferred against his brethren. " These 
 men,' said they, "■ are full of neiv wine.'' (ver. 13.) Peter's 
 object is therefore to vindicate them from the malicious as- 
 ])ersion. From the early hour, he first reminds them of the 
 high improbability of their being already intoxicated, and 
 next asserts that it is the result of a power with which they 
 ought not to have been ignorant : " These are not drunken 
 as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day ; 
 but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." 
 The question is thus made to turn on the nature of those 
 influences by which they were moved, and not on the time of 
 v/hicli Joel had spoken. No inquiry had been made or 
 argument advanced concerning the period at which this or 
 any other prophecy should be fulfilled. The people of 
 various nations were amazed to hear unlearned Galileans 
 speak a variety of languages, so that each was addressed 
 in his own tongue, (ver. 7.) They were not only amazed, 
 but they "■ were in doubt" as to the origin of so wonderful 
 a power, and said one to another, " what meaneth this ?" 
 (ver. 12.) This then is the ground of the apostle's state- 
 ment, and attention to it will obviate all the difficulty about 
 the quotation made. This object was not to settle any dis- 
 pute, or correct any mistake about the time of which the 
 prophet spake, but to remove the doubts of those of the 
 amazed auditors, and to vindicate from calumny the char- 
 acter of those whom God had honoured. He exculpates 
 them from the injurious charge of being " full of new wine," 
 and declares the nature of that inspiration of which they 
 were thus made the subjects, witnessing to these being pro- 
 duced by the outpouring of the Spirit. That which they 
 affirmed to be the efTects of intoxication, was the result of 
 those influences of the Holy Spirit which Joel predicts 
 shall yet be poured upon all flesh, and which Christ, being 
 now "' exalted, and having received of the Father the pro- 
 mise of the Holy Ghost," had shed forth upon his church 
 that which they now saw and heard, (ver. 33.) The na- 
 ture of the celestial signs stated by Joel as to occur " before 
 
100 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PHOPHECY, [Let.VI. 
 
 the great and the terrible day of the Lord come," therefore 
 remains wholly undetermined by the apostle's quotation, 
 and in no way proves that the Coming of the Son of man 
 in the clouds of heaven is any thing less than his Personal 
 Return. 
 
 Having thus shown how little countenance such passages 
 give to the idea of mere temporal judgments on the Jews, or 
 any other nation, being considered a Coming of the Lord, it 
 may not be without advantage now to examine some of the 
 Old Testament prophecies which do relate to the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem. A minute examination would, in all 
 probability, prove a profitable exercise for those who em- 
 brace your view of the Coming of the Son of man. For, 
 if you apply our Lord's prediction of his Coming with the 
 clouds of heaven to that event on the express ground of 
 such statements being merely the figurative language of Old 
 Testament predictions, it would be well to ascertain the 
 evidence that ^x^CYi figurative language is really employed. 
 Nay, if it be so common as the nature of your remarks 
 would intimate, we may expect to find it employed fre- 
 quently in those Old Testament predictions which foretold 
 that event. In order, therefore, more completely to show 
 how far this is from being the case, I quote a few predic- 
 tions relative unto it. Be it remembered also, that notwith- 
 standing of the frequency with which language of a really 
 figurative nature is used in ancient prophecy, and that some- 
 times in predicting the destruction of Jerusalem, under the 
 conquering power both of Babylon and Rome, neither you 
 nor Mr. Faber have produced one single instance in which 
 that event is called the Coming of the Lord, or in which 
 terms any thing like these are so employed. 
 
 The first prediction of the evils with which God's ancient 
 people should be visited, was given by Moses, which, 
 although delivered before the children of Israel had any 
 city of their own, describes with minuteness the siege of 
 their future capital and its consequences. It is not, how- 
 ever, called " the Coming of the Lord" by the prophet, 
 •' The Lord shall bring a nation" ^' a nation whose tongue 
 thou shalt not understand," "a nation of fierce counten- 
 ance," and their "enemies," is the language employed. 
 Deut. xxviii. 49, 50, 5'd. Precisely similar is that used by 
 Jeremiah, " Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, 
 
Let.VI.] and the idea of double reference. 101 
 
 house of Israel, saith the Lord : it is a mighty nation, it 
 is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest 
 not, neither understandest what they say." Jer. v. 15. Again, 
 by the same prophet, " Thus saith the Lord concerning the 
 sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, 
 and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concern- 
 ing their fathers that begat them in this land ; they shall 
 die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented, neither 
 shall they be buried ; but they shall be as dung upon the 
 face of the earth : and they shall be consumed by t/ie 
 sword, and hy famine ; and their carcases shall be meat 
 for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth. . . . 
 
 1 cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, 
 neither ye nor your fathers ; and there shall ye serve other 
 gods day and night, where I will not show you favour." 
 Jer. xvi. 3, 4, 13. '' x\nd I will make this city desolate, 
 and an hissing ; every one that passeth thereby shall be 
 astonished and hiss, because of all the ijlagues thereof. 
 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the 
 flesh of their daughters ; and they shall eat every one the 
 flesh of his friends in the siege, and straitness wherewith 
 their enemies, and they that seek their lives shall straiten 
 them." Jer, xix. 8, 9. Still in all this statement of misery, 
 there is not any intimation of its being the coming of the 
 Lord, although inflicted by God on account of their guilt, 
 who expressly says, " Behold I will bring evil upon this 
 place, the which whosoever heareth his ears shall tingle." 
 ver. 3, 
 
 In the prediction already referred to, by Daniel, of the 
 destruction of the city and Sanctuary, the language is most 
 explicit : "' And after threescore and two weeks shall Mes- 
 siah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the 
 prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the 
 Sanctuary." Dan. ix. 26. Here there is no confusion, no 
 confounding of the Messiah with the people of the prince 
 by whom Jerusalem was overthrown. Their enemies are 
 repeatedly mentioned in the following prediction also, while 
 there is not the most remote allusion to the Coming of the 
 Lord, as synonymous : " I will even give them into the hand 
 of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their 
 life ; and their dead bodies shall be meat unto the fowls of 
 the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth, And Zedekiah 
 
102 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OP PROPHECY, [Let.VI. 
 
 king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of 
 their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their 
 life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which 
 are gone up from you. Behold I will command, saith the 
 Lord, and cause them to return to this city, and they shall 
 light against it, and take it, and burn it with lire ; and I 
 will make the cities of Jndah a desolation without an inha- 
 bitant." Jer. xxxiv. 20—22. 
 
 Such are a few of the most explicit predictions concern- 
 ing the destruction of Jerusalem, and the sufferings of her 
 people ; and it is unnecessary to add, they afford no evi- 
 dence whatever of the coming of the Lord being commonly 
 used in Old Testament prophecy, to intimate the temporal 
 judgments in which they were involved. But although 
 some of the passages just cited are among the strongest of 
 the predictions which foretold their overthrow, there are 
 others of a more figurative nature. But still the figures 
 used have not the most distant resemblance to the language 
 descriptive of the Saviour's Return. Thus the Lord ad- 
 dressing Israel, by the prophet Ezekiel, says, " Ye have 
 multiplied your slain in tliis city, and ye have filled the 
 streets thereof with the slain. Therefore, thus saith the 
 Lord God, Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of 
 it, they are the Jlesh, and this city is the caldron; but I 
 will bring you forth out of the midst of it. Ye have feared 
 the sv/ord, and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the 
 Lord God. And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, 
 and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and I will exe- 
 cute judgments upon you." Ezek, xi. 6 — 9. Again, by the 
 same prophet, "Thus saith the Lord God, Set on a pot, 
 set it on, and also pour water into it. Gather the pieces 
 thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the 
 shoulder; till it with the choice bones. Take the choice of 
 the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it 
 boil well, and \e^i them seethe the bones of it therein. 
 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God, Woe to the bloody 
 city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is 
 not gone out of it, bring it out piece by piece ; let no lot 
 fall upon it. For her blood is in the midst of her." Ezek. 
 xxiv. 3 — 7. Tliis figure is carried out at considerable 
 length in the following verses, and others are used in dif- 
 ferent predictions; but, in so far as considerable examina- 
 
Let.VI.] AMD THE IDEA OF DOUBLE REFERENCE. 103 
 
 tion warrants me to say, there is nothing in all the figura- 
 tive language of Old Testament prophecies, concerning the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, which gives the slightest counte- 
 nance to the idea of that event heing called or considered 
 the coming of the Lord. 
 
 It is not less remarkable, in opposition to your view of 
 the figurative nature of our Lord's prediction, and in per- 
 fect harmony with that maintained above, that when the 
 Saviour really foretold the destruction of Jerusalem in other 
 cases, he did so in terras which could not be mistaken, 
 whether it were delivered in the form of a parable, or in 
 the pathetic language of prophetic expostulation. This is 
 well exemplified in his parable of the marriage of the king's 
 son, and in his address, when for the last time approaching 
 to Jerusalem. Those first bidden to the wedding, slighted 
 the gracious invitation, " but when the King heard thereof, 
 he was wroth; anA he sent forth his armies and destroyed 
 those murderers, and burnt up their city." Mat. xxii. 7. 
 There is no intimation here, (where it would be reasonable 
 most to expect it, if your idea were correct,) of the coming 
 of the Son of man for this purpose. " And when He was 
 come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If 
 thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the 
 things which belong unto thy peace ! but now are they hid 
 from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that 
 thitie enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass 
 thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay 
 thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee ; 
 and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another ; 
 because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke 
 xix.41 — 44. Instead of saying He should come for this work 
 of destruction, the Saviour informs the Jews that their '' ene- 
 mies" should do so, with whom he does not identify himself. 
 
 These various passages are a fair specimen of Scriptural 
 prediction concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and I 
 am at no small loss to discover the evidence on which you 
 and Mr, Fabor conclude, that " of such temporal judgments 
 the literal future day of judgment, and the literal Second 
 Advent of the Lord, are employed as the conventional 
 fixed symbol or hieroglyphic.'' It is not the destruction of 
 Jerusalem assuredly, which is so symbolized in Old Testa- 
 ment prophecy. Numerous as are its predictions of the 
 
104 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, [Let.VI. 
 
 coming of the Lord, they are, in almost every instance, 
 clearly referable to the period immediately preceding the 
 Millennium ; and therefore, instead of supporting in the 
 least the notion of our Lord's coming in the clouds of hea- 
 ven, being either figurative or past, they contribute valuable 
 evidence in proof of the accuracy of that interpretation, 
 which regards it as the Saviour's personal Return for the 
 establishment of his promised Millennial Kingdom. 
 
 But conveniently as the Literal Second Advent is under- 
 stood by you as a conventional fixed symbol in our Lord's 
 prophecy, it is also made to serve another important pur- 
 pose in the interpretation. Besides your application of it 
 to the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Mr. Faber's applica- 
 tion of it to the overthrow of Antichristian powers before 
 the Millennium, you both regard it as having somehow 
 another reference to the Personal Return of the Redeemer. 
 While you frequently asserted the entire fulfilment of the 
 prophecy during the existence of some of those alive when 
 it was delivered, you still intimated, on several occasions, a 
 conviction of its having a leaning and a looking to an event 
 which you regard as near 3000 years after ; Mr. Faber, 
 while he treats your frimury application as " a vulgar er- 
 ror," and generally refers the prediction of the coming of 
 the Son of man in the clouds of heaven to the time imme- 
 diately preceding the Millennium, finding circumstances in 
 the prediction which he cannot reconcile to his own convic- 
 tion to any thing but the Personal Advent, also departs from 
 his own general interpretation. Exposing himself to all 
 the charges of inconsistency brought against others, he says 
 — '* while the general context of our Lord's prediction re- 
 quires us to suppose that the Coming of the Son of Man, thus 
 preluded by infidelity, and anarchy, and licentiousness, is 
 his figurative coming to destroy the Antichristian faction at 
 the close of the seven times of the Gentiles ; we have rea- 
 son, I think, agreeably to the double sense of many pro- 
 phecies, to believe that his iinal coming at the literal day 
 of judgment, is also not obscurely alluded to. This opinion 
 I am led to adopt, from a remarkable parenthetic clause 
 inserted in the midst of the prophecy. 
 
 " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, 
 not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but 
 my Father only. Take ye heed: watch and pray; for ye 
 
Let. VI.] AND THE IDEA OF DOUBLE REFERENCE. 105 
 
 know not when the time is. And take heed to yourselves, 
 lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeitino* 
 and drunkenness, and cares of this life ; and so that day 
 come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come 
 on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 
 Watch ye, therefore, and pray always that ye may be ac- 
 counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come 
 to pass, and stand before the Son of man." 
 
 "The day and the hour," he remarks, ''unknown to 
 all save the Divinity himself, unknown even to the human 
 soul of the Son, which (we are told, Luke ii. 52,) admitted 
 of a growth in wisdom, can only be the literal day of 
 judgment at the final consummation of all things." Sac. Cal. 
 vol. I. pp. 258, 259. 
 
 Now, what is the amount of this statement? It is just 
 this ; that the very day which " the general context of our 
 Lord's prediction requires us to suppose" will be i)efore 
 the Millennium, " can only be the literal day of judgment 
 at the final consummation of all things I" It is of that 
 very " day'' which our Lord says is unknown, and for 
 which he requires us to " watch and pray," that he had 
 previously been speaking, and the signs of whose approach 
 he has specified with so much minuteness : " But ^that 
 DAY AND THAT HOUR khoweth uo man!' Of what day and 
 hour? Of the very day and hour of the Coming of the 
 Son of man with the clouds of heaven, w^hich Mr. Faber 
 strenuously maintains will be at the Restoration of Israel, 
 and when he himself expects men to have sunk into all 
 the security and all the wickedness of the antediluvians. 
 These are Mr. Faber's own admissions; and it is not with- 
 out singular inconsistency, that when convinced our Lord 
 is really predicting His personal return, that instead of 
 placing it where required by "the general context," he 
 should arbitrarily depart from it to put that coming J 000 
 years beyond. This inconsistency is the more remarkable, 
 since the character of the times, the nearer we approach 
 the event, intimates the peculiar need of the Saviour's cau- 
 tioning his disciples against the " surfeiting and drunkenness, 
 and cares of this life," and when the increasing infidelity 
 shows too plainly how His Return will be "as a snare." 
 
 But Mr. Faber's reason for adopting the view of a "dou- 
 ble sense'' of the prophecy, and for supposing that a tliird 
 
106 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, [Let. VJ. 
 
 or ^' final coming at the literal day of judgment is also not 
 obscurely alluded to," is very far from being satisfactory. 
 It is because he conceives " this character of absolute dark- 
 ness and uncertainty answers not to the close of the latter 
 three times and a half," before the Millennium. But if 
 this be the case, instead of talking of a " double sense" to 
 evade the inapplicability of the prophecy, he ought to have 
 felt bound to refer it entirely to that period to w^hich alone 
 he thought it could apply. If it really " ansv^^ers not '' to 
 the former period, then it absolutely is not a prophecy of 
 '" double ^ewie:' and if it will apply to that period, then 
 Mr. Faber's own reason for such an interpretation is de- 
 stroyed ; and it yet remains to be shown what necessity — 
 what authority there is, for carrying away the Coming of 
 the Son of man from the only time to which *' the general 
 context of our Lord's prediction requires us to suppose" it 
 was applied by its author. 
 
 In the interpretation of Scripture, there are few subjects 
 on wdiich more inconsistency has been displayed, than in 
 upholding the idea of a double reference in our Lord's pre- 
 diction. Direct authority for such a view is never pretend- 
 ed, — all necessity for it is generally removed, as might at 
 least be supposed, by those who affirm that the prediction 
 was entirely fulfilled, in every particular, before some of 
 those living contemporaneously with the Saviour had ceased 
 to exist — and, from circumstances introduced in the predic- 
 tion, such a scheme of interpretation necessarily involves 
 the whole in inextricable confusion. Some Expositors ap- 
 ply to the close of this mundane system statements which 
 others regard as totally inapplicable to any other period 
 than the destruction of Jerusalem ; and as both acknowledge 
 the want of a standard for the regulation of their double 
 sense, the fancy of each is made the only criterion. Henry 
 indeed, expressly says that our Lord, from speaking of the 
 Coming of the Son of man in the clouds as the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, afterwards speaks of it as His Second Com- 
 ing at the end of time, which, he says, the Saviour " insen- 
 sibly slides into a discourse of," — thus leaving it of course 
 for the ingenuity of men to determine what is, of itself, 
 undistingnishabie. 
 
 Notwithstanding that you repeatedly asserted in the most 
 express and positive terms that our Lord's prediction of His 
 
Lft. VI.] AND THE IDEA OF DOUBLE REFERENCE. 107 
 
 Coming was all fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem, — 
 you on other occasions affirmed that it is an erroneous view 
 to take of Scripture to refer only to one period this coming 
 of Christ. Such an idea appears remarkable ; and, in reply, 
 I must be allowed to say, that to place an event which our 
 Lord himself has so confined to a jmrticular time — be that 
 time when it may — an event confined expressly by ** im- 
 mediately after \)iiQ tribulation of those days," — to apply it to 
 as many events as we may think fit, is a liberty for which 
 some warrant should be ascertained ; for it cannot be deriv- 
 ed from a prediction which is asserted to have been all ful- 
 filled many centuries ago. But without even professing to 
 have express authority for so doing, you again and again 
 spoke of the prediction, " pointing forward to the grand con- 
 summation " or end of time, for a more splendid accomplish- 
 ment. If such a glory has alread}^ been displayed in their 
 accomplishment, what a glory shall be seen, you on one oc- 
 casion exclaimed, "'when they shall have their/?^// and en- 
 tire fulfilment"! Such an expression certainly does convey 
 the idea that its full and entire accomplishment the predic- 
 tion had not yet received ; and, as afraid of the consequences 
 of such a statement, you immediately added, (with what 
 consistency it must be left for you to explain,) " not that I 
 would say that they have not had their proper application to 
 the event of Jerusalem's destruction, but Christs coming shall 
 be progressive." x\s I cannot comprehend the meaning of 
 a progressive coming of the Son of man with the clouds of 
 heaven, especially when expressly declared to be immediate- 
 ly after an event which is particularized, I make no farther 
 attempt at reply. 
 
 But your view of our Lord's predicfion of his Coming 
 having a leaning and looking forward beyond the period to 
 which you suppose it to be directly applied, is of sufficient 
 importance to merit more attentive examination. Unwilling 
 as you may be to admit the fact, this is indeed to say that 
 all has not been fulfilled; for the change of expression does 
 not in the least alter the idea conveyed. To say that the 
 prophecy has a leaning or looking forward to the end of 
 time, is certainly to say that it does predict something con- 
 cerning the end of time. This therefore is in direct oppos- 
 ition to the view of all having been absolutely fulfilled be- 
 fore the then living generafion had ceased to exist. The 
 
 k2 
 
108 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OP PROPHECY, [Let, VI. 
 
 consequence of the establishment of this principle, if it could 
 be maintained, would therefore be the subversion of your 
 more general interpretation. But on what authority is it 
 advanced? It is derived from no statement contained in 
 either of the gospels. The prediction itself affords not the 
 least countenance to the idea of its having a leaning or look- 
 ing forward to any event besides that to which it is directly 
 applied. The very express terms by which it is restricted 
 to one particular period absolutely excludes its reference to 
 any other. The expressions "in those days," ''immediate- 
 ly after the tribulation of those days," "that day," and 
 *' then," frequently employed, are too definite and precise to 
 admit of loose or varying interpretation— or of application to 
 different and dissimilar events. 
 
 On what then is the opinion of the prophecy having a 
 double reference founded? Is it not on the very circum- 
 stance that the sublimities of the prediction do «o^ appear to 
 have been really exhausted ? After all you have said of 
 the entire fulfilment of the prediction before that generafion 
 had died, I still suspect that your view of double reference 
 arises from a convicfion, (however unwillingly entertained,) 
 that the destruction of Jerusalem is not an event to which 
 the expressions properly apply. 
 
 But whatever may be the reason on which such an inter- 
 pretation is founded, the idea of the prophecy having ^second 
 reference to the Saviour's personal Return, virtually destroys 
 the foundation on which the primary reference is supposed 
 to rest, namely, that the loJiole prediction was fulfilled be- 
 fore the generafion then living had ceased to exist. If the 
 prophecy has a reference to any event still future, then it 
 was not all fulfilled, but only a fart of it at the time fixed 
 by the Saviour himself. Not only so, indeed ; but if the 
 infimafion of the Coming of the Son of man in the clouds of 
 heaven, be a prophecy both of the destruction of Jerusalem 
 and of the personal Return of the Redeemer, besides your 
 thus supposing it only in part fulfilled before that genera- 
 tion had died, you suppose hi/ far the most i7nportant fart 
 as sfill remaining to be accomplished — just in as far as the 
 Return of the Redeemer will transcend in importance the 
 destrucfion of Jerusalem. And yet with such an opinion 
 you still affirm that the fulfilment of that minor part of the 
 prophecy was its entire accomplishment. 
 
Let. VJ.] AND THE IDEA OP DOUBLE REFERENCE. 109 
 
 But this view of a double reference, even if fully admitted 
 affects not the question concerning the period of Christ's 
 real return. For if, as is supposed, the first reference be to 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, and if this be the only one 
 having the time fixed, then may the second reference, (by 
 which is meant Christ's personal return,) be applied to any 
 other time, as properly at least as that to which you and those 
 taking the same view are pleased to apply it. If no time 
 be fixed in the prophecy itself for the accomplishment of its 
 second reference, then have Antimillenarians no more war- 
 rant for fixing it subsequent to the Millennium, than Mil- 
 lenarians would have to presume that it will precede that 
 glorious day, independently of all other evidence. And ac- 
 cordingly, among those who hold the opinion of double re- 
 ference, there are some who do believe in the premillennial 
 Return of the Saviour. And certainly if the idea of a double 
 reference be at all entertained, this view is of the two by far 
 the most consistent with the declarations of our Lord. It is 
 the unquestionable fact, whatever may be the correct inter- 
 pretation, that, in the narration at least, the evangelist Luke 
 (xxi. 24 — 27,) places tlie Coming of the !Son of man sub- 
 sequent to the close of the times of the Gentiles, and conse- 
 quently at the beginning of the Millennium. If then in the 
 prediction some must suppose from Matthew's gospel a first 
 reference of that coming to be at the destruction of Jerusa- 
 lem, it certainly appears more reasonable to place the second 
 reference at the close of the times of the Gentiles with Luke, 
 than arbitrarily to postpone it beyond the Millennium alto- 
 gether, to a time to which it is not pretended there is in the 
 prediction itself the most remote allusion. 
 
 But I must now observe that no assurance of a real per- 
 sonal return of the Son of man ever taking place can be ob- 
 tained from the prophecy, if the idea of a double reference 
 is allowed. For if the prophecy was all fulfilled before the 
 generation in whose life it was uttered had passed away, then 
 was it all once fulfilled without any personal return. i\nd 
 if the first reference was thus accomplished, then may the 
 Second be so also, without any personal coming. If a pre- 
 diction of Christ's coming in the clouds of heaven was once 
 j*eally and actually fulfilled without any indication of such 
 an event — if a prediction of His being seen so coming by all 
 the tribes of the earth was once accomphsbed without any 
 k3 
 
110 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY, &C. [Let. VI- 
 
 of them having been actual witnesses — if the angels have 
 once been sent forth, and have really gathered together 
 God's elect from one end of heaven to the other, v^ithout 
 either the saints dead being rescued from the tomb or those 
 alive being removed from their habitations — if all this has 
 once taken place without its being known, or believed, or 
 suspected, then what warrant is there that it ever will bo 
 otherwise at any future period ? This argument acquires ad- 
 ditional strength when we observe that the time past for the 
 fulfilment of the prophecy— the time of the iirst reference, 
 as is supposed— is that to which alone the prophecy itself 
 is believed directly to apply. If there is only one time in 
 the prediction itself, and this be considered as undoubtedly 
 the period of Jerusalem's destruction, there is certainly no 
 reason to conclude that it will \>q more truly i\)M\Q^^, at a time 
 concerning which the prophecy is altogether silent. If any 
 second reference there be, the probability certainly is, that 
 its manifestation, instead of being much more specific than 
 what took place at the time directly promised, will be still 
 less obvious and distinct. Thus the natural consequence of 
 supposing, without direct authority, the idea of a double 
 reference in the prediction, is to destroy altogether the as- 
 surance from it of our Lord's personal return. 
 
 Having thus examined at so much length the idea of the 
 Coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven being 
 expressive of mere temporal judgments, and having endea- 
 voured to exhibit the inconsistencies and untenable nature 
 of the opinion of our Lord's prediction containing a double 
 reference, permit me to indulge the hope, that as the in- 
 quiry has been useful to myself, it may also be blessed to 
 you, which is the sincere desire of, 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Yours with Christian affection, &c. 
 
Let. VII.] VIEWS AND QUESTIONS OP THE DISCIPLES. Ill 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 ON THE VIEWS AND QUESTIONS OF THE DISCIPLES, 
 AND THE TRECEDING PREDICTION OF OUR LORD 
 DELIVERED IN THE TEMPLE, (Mat. xxiii. 37—39,) AS 
 CONFIRMATORY OF HIS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS 
 OF HEAVEN BEING HIS PERSONAL RETURN. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Although in previous Letters, numerous 
 arguments have been adduced which might be regarded as 
 sufficient to determine the question concerning the nature 
 of the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, 
 the evidence is by no means exhausted. In every aspect 
 in which our Lord's prediction can be viewed it appears in 
 a light which renders your interpretation inadmissible. In 
 no point of view, however, does this more conspicuously 
 appear, than when considering the circumstances which 
 gave rise to the prediction of our Lord, the character and 
 view^s of those to whom it was addressed, and the nature of 
 the questions to which it is professedly the reply. 
 
 It is certainly of considerable importance to attend to the 
 circumstances which prompted the inquiry of the disciples 
 concerning the Coming of the Lord. By what circum- 
 stance or event then was it immediately suggested ? This 
 question admits of easy solution. They had just before 
 been with Him in the Temple when He said unto the Jews, 
 " Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed 
 is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." Mat. xxiii. 39. 
 From this statement, which it will be proper more parti- 
 cularly to examine, the disciples had been taught that He 
 would be personally absent for a certain time ; and it was 
 evidently under this impression that they addressed to Him 
 the question concerning His Coming. When therefore our 
 Lord made answer in such terms as must have confirmed 
 them in the view which they had already taken of His 
 personal absence, can we doubt that it was really of this 
 and of his subsequent return that the Saviour spake? 
 And again it is to be noticed that here the period of ab- 
 sence corresponds exactly with the time he afterwards 
 
112 Christ's return: personal, proved [Let. VII. 
 
 fixed for His Return. It is at the conversion of the Jews: 
 "Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed 
 is He that cometh in the name of the Lord;" that is, till 
 they should acknowledge him their Messiah. This the 
 Saviour must have said, not of the Priests and Pharisees 
 whom he then more particularly addressed, but of the nation 
 of which they were the representatioes, just as his disci- 
 ples were next addressed as the representatives of the 
 Christian church. Jesus had just accused their nation of 
 the most heinous crimes, and had also denounced his judg- 
 ments upon them, as those who should kill and crucify 
 the prophets, and wise men, and scribes, whom he should 
 send unto them. In this he predicted the sufferings be- 
 lievers afterwards endured at the hands of the Jews gen- 
 erally, and not merely of those whom he now addressed. 
 In the same representative character he said unto them, 
 " Behold yowr House is left nxiioyou desolate." The Tem- 
 ple was not their private property, but the glory of their tia- 
 Hon ; and to thein it was left desolate or deserted. When, 
 therefore, our Lord adds, " For I say wwio you, Ye shall 
 not see me henceforth, till ye shall say. Blessed is He that 
 cometh in the name of the Lord" it must also be of the 
 Jews, as such, that He speaks. 
 
 Thus then Christ was not again to he seen by the Jewish 
 nation, till they call him " Blessed." This, however, they 
 never yet have done. Certainly they did not at the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem ; nor will they do so till the period 
 of their conversion, at the commencement of the Millen- 
 nium, — when therefore our Lord thus taught them to ex- 
 pect His Return. 
 
 This very distinct and important prediction always has 
 perplexed, and ever must, those commentators who deny 
 the premillennial Return of Christ. As the easiest method 
 of getting rid of the difficulty, Grotius altered the text — 
 making it '' till ye would he glad to say, or wish you had 
 said, Blessed is He that cometh." This reading Dr. Dod- 
 dridge would gladly have adopted, " could the version he 
 justified," but this he could not do for himself, and I am 
 not aware of any other having yet attempted to do it. In- 
 separable as is the connection iDetween this prediction and 
 that afterwards delivered in reply to the questions to which 
 it gave rise, and important as it therefore must be for deter- 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 113 
 
 mining the nature of the Coming of the Son of man in the 
 clouds of heaven, it is remarkable that it should not have 
 occupied more of Mr. Faber's attention. Containing as it 
 does statements calculated much to illustrate our Lord's 
 enlarged prediction of His Return, I must hold that Ex- 
 position materially defective wrhich embraces not a consid- 
 eration of the one which led to it ; and consider as essen- 
 tially incorrect, that interpretation with which it does not 
 coincide. Yet Mr. Faber who has dwelt at much length 
 on Mat. xxiv, dismisses this prediction in the 23d chapter, 
 by simply calling it an announcement concerning the Jews, 
 that "their House or Temple should be left unto them 
 desolate." vol. I. p. 197. Scott also passes over it with the 
 single observation, ''no doubt but their present dispersion, 
 and unbeHef, and then- fuiure conversion to Christ are here 
 predicted,'' as if it contained not the slightest intimation of 
 our Lord's Return.* It is, however, very evident, that in 
 our Lord's estimation, His absence is the most important 
 point; and, in our inquiry, the duration of that absence 
 is the most prominent question. And must not the nature 
 of his absence and that of his coming be the same ? 
 And that as the former has been personal, so must be 
 the latter? If, when He said, ye shall not see me till a 
 certain time, he intimated his personal departure for a 
 specified period, it necessarily follows that his coming then 
 will be personal also. Now that it was his corporeal ab- 
 sence of v^hich the Saviour spoke is obvious, not only 
 from his expressly declaring, '^ye shall not 5^^ me," but 
 from the connection in which he has placed it with their 
 then present perception of him as a man. " Ye shall not 
 see me henceforth^' clearly implies his being then seen, 
 and to the Jews, this is what he was not in any other sense 
 than whh the bodily organs of vision. In the same sense 
 therefore will He be again soon when the Jews recognize 
 Him as their Redeemer. They will then hail him with 
 the welcome, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of 
 the Lord.'*' 
 
 But Christ also predicts the desolation of the Temple 
 
 • Having mislaid my notes of your discourse on the passage, 
 I do not reler particularly to your own interpretation. 
 
114 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. vii. 
 
 during His absence : " Behold your House is left unto 
 you desolate ; for I say unto you, Ye shall not see me 
 henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh.'* 
 In this He does not merely speak of the desolation after- 
 wards brought upon the Temple by the Romans, and of 
 its being laid in ruins. Before that time it had been left 
 desolate. It became so when Christ himself left it. The 
 desolation predicted, consisted, indeed, in his very absence. 
 It was left desolate, for they would not see Him, The 
 word, you know, means deserted, and this desertion was that 
 which 'resulted from His departure. But Christ also states 
 a period for the termination of this desolation or desertion of 
 the Temple. It will not always continue in this state, but 
 only till His Return at their conversion. It is left desolate 
 only '' tiir they shall say, " Blessed is He that cometh." 
 The desolation of the Temple is coeval with Christ's ab- 
 sence, and both are limited in their duration, — continuing 
 only until the submission of the Jews to Jesus as their 
 Messiah, which we know will be before the Millennium. 
 Now 1 have already noticed, (p. .'^2,) that the prophet 
 Daniel predicts the continued destruction of both the city 
 and the Sanctuary till the same time, till "the consumma- 
 tion" or end of the age,— till the great outpouring, when 
 "that determined shall be poured upon the desolator," 
 just at the commencement of the Millennium. If, there- 
 fore, my interpretation concerning our Lord's absence and 
 coming' be correct, the Temple must also be re-erected be- 
 fore the Millennium. Were there indeed no other evi- 
 dence of the fact than this prediction of the Saviour, I 
 think that from it this is the legitimate deduction. But 
 the evidence of this is neither scanty nor ambiguous. Lit- 
 tle as the matter is attended to by those who deny the 
 premillennial Return of Christ, it is very distinctly foretold 
 by several of the prophets, although I mean not to enter 
 into farther examination of it here.* Suffice it to observe, 
 
 • That the Temple will be rebuilt, I have in the 13th Section of 
 my " Connected View," endeavoured to demonstrate. Till the ar- 
 guments there advanced are fairly met, it is unnecessary to resume 
 the discussion. You may assert, as you did yesterday, (July 1 0th,) 
 that "altars will no more smoke, nor victims bleed ;" but turn the 
 period ever so smoothlj', it will not extenuate in the least, the sin 
 of putting a negation on God's revealed will. I can tell you on the 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 115 
 
 that not only is the re-ereclion of the Temple predicted, 
 but of that Temple the east or front gate is solely 
 appropriated to the Lord. " This gate shall be shut, it 
 shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; be- 
 cause the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, 
 therefore it shall be shut. It is for the Prince." Ezek. xliv. 
 2, 3. It was on account of their sins that the Temple was 
 at all left desolate or deserted ; for the connection in which 
 
 very highest authority, that after Israel's Restoration to their land, 
 Heaven /m^ prescribed '■'•ordinances of the altar, in the day when 
 they sliall make it, to offer burnt-offerings thereon, and to sprinkle 
 J/oo«f thereon." Ezek. xliii. 18. Be it as repugnant as it may to 
 your ideas or your wishes, I must tell you, that God has expressly 
 commanded, (and He will not be gainsayed,) " Thou shalt give to 
 the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach 
 unto me to minister unto me, saith the Lord God, a yoinig bullock^ 
 for a sin-ottering. And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put 
 it on the lour horns of it, and on the four horns of the settle, and 
 upon tiie border thereof round about ; thus shalt thou cleanse and 
 purge it. Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin-ofiering, and 
 he shall burn it in the appointed place of the House, without the 
 Sanctuarj-. And on the second day, thou shalt offer a kid of the 
 goats, without blemish, for a sin-ottering; and they shall cleanse the 
 altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock. When thou hast 
 made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt otter a young bullock with- 
 out blemish, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. And thou 
 shalt offer them before the Lord ; and the priests shall cast salt up- 
 on them ; and they shall offer them up for « burnt-offering unto the 
 Lord. Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat, for a sin- 
 offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of 
 the flock without blemish. Seven days shall they purge the altar, 
 and purify it." Ezek. xliii. 19 — 26. Receive it as you may, there 
 shall then be devoted, as it is expressly demanded, " one lamb out 
 of the flock out of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel, for 
 a meat-offering, and for a burnt-offering, and for peace- offerings, to 
 make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord God. All the people 
 of the land shall give this oblation for the Prince in Israel." Ezek. 
 xlv. 15, 16. Deny it as you dare, God has said, "Thou shalt r/a?7y 
 prepare a burnt-offering unto the Lord, of a lamb of the first year^ 
 without blemish ; thou shalt prepare it every morning." Ezek xlvi. 
 13. " And the burnt-offering that the Prince shall offer unto the 
 Lord in the Sabbath-day, shall be six lambs without blemish, and a 
 ram without blemish." Ezek. xlvi. 4. While these, the institutions 
 of Heaven, given unto his ancient people to be observed after their 
 Restoration and Conversion, remain a part of God's revealed will, 
 and thus brought fully under notice, think you, can he be guiltless 
 of the awful charge of wilful rejection of His truth, who can himself 
 believe, or teach to others, that " altars will no more smoke, nor 
 victims bleed'" ? 
 
1 16 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. VII. 
 
 this is placed by the Saviour, is that of its being a punish- 
 ment for their rejection of Himself, and their persecution of 
 his people. But when they shall be converted, and re- 
 stored to their land, that Temple, in which was formerly 
 the manifested presence of the living God, and which con- 
 stituted their highest honour in their holiest days, will be 
 re-erected, and here the Son of man shall receive the hom- 
 age of an adoring world. Yes, '" Blessed is He that com- 
 eth in the name of the Lord !" 
 
 What I now wish particularly to notice is, the connec- 
 tion between this prediction of our Lord of his personal 
 absence and return, with the views of His disciples when 
 they shortly after put the question, — " What shall be the 
 sign oi thy coming V It was this prediction in the Tem- 
 ple, evidently, which immediately suggested the inquiry. 
 And the inquiry itself was concerning that coming which 
 he had promised in the temple would take place when He 
 was acknowledged by the Jews in his true character and 
 worth, and work. This coming, which the Saviour him- 
 self had thus taught them to regard as personal, and to be 
 at the conversion of their nation, was therefore that which 
 in his answer to their question, He informed them would 
 be " in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." 
 
 Independently, however, of the connection betw^een our 
 Lord's prediction to the Jews, and the question put to Him 
 by the disciples on Mount Olivet, they did expect Him 
 gloriously to appear for the erection of His Kingdom on 
 the earth. This is a fact which admits of ample proof, and 
 which no one attempts to deny. However much their 
 views have been stigmatized as carnal, it is admitted that 
 this hope they did entertain from first to last, during their 
 Master's ministry, unaffected as it would seem by the 
 many reproofs He is asserted to have administered, and 
 the many intimations of the contrary He is supposed to 
 have given. Disposed as I may be to call for the proof of 
 a single instance in which our Lord has so rebuked their ex- 
 pectations, this is not ray present purpose; but rather to al- 
 lude to the fact, in the way of farther accounting for the ques- 
 tions put by them on this occasion. The circumstance by 
 which they were more immediately suggested, I shall again 
 notice, but confine myself meanwhile to this general expec- 
 tation, as illustrative of their views in the inquiry concern- 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 1J7 
 
 ing the sign of His coming. They at least, it will be ad- 
 mitted, had no notion, previously, of a figurative coming 
 of Christ. " Perhaps they had a general idea,'' Scott re- 
 marks, "that He would go from them for a time, before 
 He set up His Kingdom ; that He would at length come 
 in a very glorious manner, according to several intimations 
 which He had given them; that He would then execute 
 the predicted vengeance on His enemies, destroy the tem- 
 ple, terminate that dispensation, and introduce His own 
 glorious reign as the Messiah." This is a point of no small 
 importance. For if it was His personal return to which 
 they referred, when He should come *' in a very glorious 
 manner," the Saviour was not ignorant of their views, and 
 our ideas of his prediction ought to be formed under this 
 impression. The first question which suggests itself with 
 regard to the error or accuracy of their views, will then 
 be, Does Christ say any thing calculated to destroy their 
 cherished hopes, and to intimate to them that although 
 they inquire concerning His personal Return, He now an- 
 swers them rather concerning rtf /f^z^rrt/^y^ coming? If their 
 expectations concerning his personal coming in a very glo- 
 rious manner was, as Scott supposes, founded on "several 
 intimations which He had given them,'' this correction was 
 the more necessary had these expectations been erroneous. 
 Our Lord, however, gives them no intimation of their being 
 in error concerning the nature of his coming, but without 
 any such intimation, proceeds to answer their questions as 
 if they ivere correct, while you suppose He in reality 
 speaks of something entirely different from that about which 
 they inquire. The inference which I therefore deduce 
 from this fact is, that it is indeed His personal coming he 
 predicts as being " in the clouds of heaven with power and 
 great glory." For if such impressions w^ere on their minds, 
 our Lord's whole prediction was calculated to confirm these 
 as giving them his utmost countenance, — and as we cannot 
 believe our Lord designed either to lead them into error or 
 to confirm them in it, I feel that His integrity demands the 
 rejection of your interpretation of His having foretold, with- 
 out acknowledgment, a figurative coming, in answer to an 
 inquiry about a personal one. 
 
 It still remains that I examine more particularly the 
 questions of the disciples, in order to ascertain their pre- 
 L 
 
118 Christ's return personal, proved [I-et. VII. 
 
 cise import in relation to our inquiry as to whether the 
 coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven will be 
 figurative or personal. In all the three Gospels in which 
 our Lord's prediction is recorded, it is represented as an 
 answer to the two questions addressed to Him by the dis- 
 ciples. Matthew narrates it thus : "And Jesus went out, 
 and departed from the Temple ; and His disciples came to 
 him, for to show him the buildings of the temple. And 
 Jesus said unto them. See ye not all these things? Verily 
 I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon 
 another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat 
 upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him 
 privately, saying, Tell us, When shall these things he ? 
 And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the 
 end of the world" or age? Mat. xxiv. 1 — 3. 
 
 Concerning the questions themselves, as well as the views 
 of those by whom they were put, there has been very con- 
 siderable diversity of opinion. Mr. Faber considers the 
 disciples as combining in one question the coming of the 
 Lord with the destruction of Jerusalem; and supposes 
 them to have made this combination from a recollection of 
 the prophecy, Zech. xiv. 1 — 9, in connection with Christ's 
 present prediction of the destruction of the Temple. Sac. 
 Cat. vol. I. p. 209. But where is there any evidence that 
 the disciples did so connect the coming of the Lord with 
 the destruction of the city, or of the temple? No such 
 evidence can I perceive. On the contrary, they appear 
 entirely to disconnect them, presenting their inquiries con- 
 cerning both in distinct and separate questions. In refer- 
 ence to the Saviour's prediction of the destruction of the 
 temple, when one stone should not be left upon another, 
 they ask, "When shall these things be?" while in their 
 next inquiry, they connect His coming with the end of the 
 age: "And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of 
 the end of the world ?'* They do not regard these last 
 events as belonging to different periods, and requiring dis- 
 tinct signs, to be separately ascertained; but intimate their 
 sense of a subsisting connection, by which one sign shall 
 serve the purpose of foreshowing both — the single " sign" 
 answering the purpose of premonition both "of thy coming 
 and of the end of the world," or age. 
 
 The propriety of my adopted rendering of the last word 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 119 
 
 in this question, it is not now necessary to vindicate. *'Age," 
 it is admitted on all hands, is the real meaning of the word 
 used in the original ; and the necessity of adopting it is 
 greater on your interpretation than it is on mine. However 
 inconsistently you apply to the period of Jerusalem's de- 
 struction, that part of our Lord's prediction, "And this gos- 
 pel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for 
 a witness unto all nations, and then shall tre end come;'' 
 that application renders unnecessary any other authority, 
 since it proves that *' the end of the world" in the question 
 of the disciples would, in your estimation, be better ren- 
 dered '' the end of the age," 
 
 With this slight correction, for the sake of others rather 
 than for yourself, — yet really of considerable importance 
 to the proper understanding both of the question and the 
 answer — let me now examine a little more minutely the 
 questions themselves, and the views given of them, and see 
 how these may bear in the illustration of a personal or fig- 
 urative Coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven. 
 '* I cannot believe," says Mr. Faber, " as some commen- 
 tators appear to have imagined, that the combination of 
 these two inquiries, on the part of the disciples, arose from 
 their recollection of Christ's antecedently delivered prophe- 
 cy respecting his figurative advent, to destroy Jerusalem 
 through the secondary human agency of Titus and the 
 Romans, as detailed in Luke xvii. 22 — 37, and as referred 
 to in Mat. xvi. 27, 28. Mark vhi. 38. ix. 1. Luke ix. 26, 
 27." ^ac. Cal. vol. I. p. 211. Authority for such an ap- 
 plication of these texts he does not even attemiit to pro- 
 duce, while he wholly overlooks the more recent predic- 
 tion in the Temple. It is not, however, necessary for me 
 again to enter into a consideration of the unwarranted idea 
 of the Coming of the Son of man being either through 
 Titus, or the Romans, or "through the secondary human 
 agency" of any other.* But the combination of these 
 
 • The inconsistencies of great and good men in this controversy, 
 and the nature of many of the interpretations into which they have 
 been driven to avoid the unn-elcome truth, have excited my aston- 
 ishment beyond any thing else I have ever witnessed which either 
 claims or obtains a place among the fruits of piety or the efforts of 
 intellect. Mr. Faber, as I have already noticed, rejects as a "vul- 
 gar error" your interpretation of our Lord's prediction of his com- 
 
 T *> 
 
J20 Christ's RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. VII. 
 
 questions was doubtless suggested by some circumstance 
 which may perhaps be ascertained. Having rejected that 
 particular prediction and the recollection of it by the disci- 
 ples, as the ground of combination, Mr. Faber, however, 
 supposes an explanation of the "' peculiar mode of putting 
 the question" adopted by the disciples, is afforded " by the 
 writings of two of the most ancient Hebrew prophets, Zech- 
 ariah and Daniel," referring to Zech. xiv. 1 — 5, Dan. vii. 13, 
 14. Sac. Cal vol. T. p. 207. 
 
 Besides the evidence I have already adduced in the con- 
 sideration of the circumstances and previous prediction of 
 our Lord, I think Mr. Faber mistaken in supposing such a 
 connection. In both of these passages, there is indeed an 
 express prediction of the premillennial coming of the Lord, 
 but in neither of them is there any intimation of the end 
 of the age ; and although the first cited contains a predic- 
 tion of the future sacking of Jerusalem after the Restora- 
 tion of Israel to their land, nothing is there said of the 
 overthrow or the desolation of the Temple; and, so far as 
 appears at least, our Lord had not said a word concerning 
 the destruction of Jerusalem as a city, previous to the dis- 
 ciples having asked their complex question. There is also 
 this important circumstance to be attended to, which Mr. 
 Faber wholly overlooks, that Zechariah does not predict 
 Christ's "figurative advent to destroy Jerusalem." If it 
 be a figurative advent at all of which this prophet speaks, 
 it is for a very different purpose. Whatever " secondary 
 human agency" is to effect that destruction, it is for the 
 overthrow of that agency the coming of the Lord is then 
 announced. In his righteous indignation aoi;ainst the sin of 
 his ancient people, God will, indeed, " gather all nations 
 against Jerusalem to battle;'' but when they shall have 
 accomplished his work of judgment in the sacking of the 
 city, the Redeemer himself will avenge their cause on 
 those who have unjustly attacked them, for 'Hhen shall 
 
 ing in the clouds of heaven, as having been fulfilled at the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem ; while, in the extract made above, with you 
 he applies as unquestionable a perfectly parallel passage to that 
 very event. Let me recommend to your attention, and to that of 
 Mr. Faber, the masterly remarks of the Rev. W. Anderson on Luke 
 xvii. in Part Second of his " Apology for Millennial Doctrine in 
 the Form in which it was entertained in the Primitive Church." pp. 
 72-75. 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 121 
 
 the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when 
 he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand 
 in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jer- 
 usalem on the east." Zech. xiv. 1 — 4. It is not for the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, therefore, that the Lord doth come, 
 but for its rescue, by the destruction of those nations 
 which shall destroy Jerusalem; and thus, so far is the 
 Redeemer from identifying his advent with this "second- 
 ary human agency," that he makes the distinction per- 
 fectly obvious. The same distinction is, I think, evi- ' 
 dently made by his disciples also, when they put first the 
 question concerning the destruction of the Temple, which 
 the Saviour had intimated just before, " When shall these 
 things be?" and then inquire, "'And what shall be the 
 sign of thy Coming and of the end of the age?" 
 
 On examining the parallel passages however, we find that 
 the questions of the disciples are not given in the same form 
 by the different evangelists. Mark and Luke seem as if 
 they had wholly omitted the question concerning the Com- 
 ing of Christ and the end of the age. From this it has 
 even been supposed, and was given as your own opinion 
 on one occasion, that the only object of the disciples w^as 
 to inquire regarding the destruction of Jerusalem or the 
 Temple, and the sign of it. But supposing that this had 
 been the only point oLjjjquiry in the questions of the dis- 
 ciples, as recorded by the two evangelists named, this would 
 by no means prove that no inquiry had been made con- 
 cerning tlie coming of the Lord. Matthew informs us 
 expressly, that besides asking, " When shall these things 
 be ?" referring to what the Saviour had repeated respecting 
 the overthrow of the Temple, they did also ask, " What 
 shall be the sign of My coming and of the end of the age ?'* 
 Instead therefore of supposing that the only question the 
 disciples put was relative to the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 it had been more reasonable to think they had put three. 
 And this is the conclusion to which Mr. Cuninghame has 
 come. Understanding the disciples not only to ask the 
 sign of Christ's coming, but also the sign when the Tem- 
 ple should be destroyed, he arranges the questions thus, — 
 " When shall these things be ? What sign will there be 
 when these things shall come to pass ? What shall be the 
 sign of thy coming and of the end of the age ?" Dissert, oik 
 l3 
 
122 CHRIST'S RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. VII. 
 
 Apocali/jise, p. 220. Still, this supposed second question, 
 I apprehend, is founded on a mistake of Mark's meaning, 
 which perhaps accords more nearly with that of Matthew 
 than is generally supposed. The latter is the only one of 
 the evangelists who states the precise question, " What 
 shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age ?" 
 but the same thing is, I think, implied in the Second ques- 
 tion of all the three, " When shall these things be ? And 
 what shall be the sign when all these things shall be 
 fulfilled^'' Mark xiii. 4. ''When shall these things be? 
 And what sign will there be when these things co?ne to 
 pass?" Luke xxi. 7. 
 
 I do not understand the evangelists Mark and Luke to 
 intimate an expressed desire on the part of the disciples to 
 obtain a sign when the destruction of the Temple is about 
 to commence, which is Mr. Cuninghame's view ; but ra- 
 ther when its desolation should be completed. The last 
 question actually is, as expressed by Mark, " What shall 
 be the sign when all these things shall he fulfilled V Yet 
 it cannot be supposed that the disciples merely ask a sign 
 by which to ascertain ivhen it has been laid in ruins, or 
 whe}i one stone shall cease to lie upon another. No sign 
 could be required to intimate that it had been destroyed. 
 The fact itself would be the evidence of its accomplishment, 
 after the prediction was ''fulfilled." Yet the question real- 
 ly is not concerning the commencement or progress of the 
 predicted event ; but, " What shall be the sign when all 
 these things shall be fulfilled?" The question as stated 
 by Luke, " What sign will there be when these things shall 
 come to pass?" is apparently to be understood also in the 
 same way of the entire completion of the things spoken of 
 — not when they begin to take place, but when they have 
 "come to pass." Attention to this circumstance may per- 
 haps add much to the perspicuity of the questions as stated 
 by these evangelists. For it is to be noticed that in both 
 Mark and Luke, as well as in Matthew, there is a preced- 
 ing question concerning the destruction of the Temple, 
 " When shall these things be?" The second question we 
 might therefore expect to be of the same import, as record- 
 ed by the different evangelists, even if the expression should 
 be varied by either. And so I believe it to be. For, as 
 Matthew records that question to have been concerning the 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 123 
 
 sfgfi of the coming of Christ and the end of the age, so I 
 think that, as stated by Mark and Luke, the desire of the 
 disciples is to obtain ^/le s?'gn of the completion or ful- 
 filment of all that term of the Temple's desolation which 
 is to precede the coming of Christ and the end of the ago; 
 or, being aware that His coming will be preceded by a 
 sign, they ask, ** JF/ia^ shall be the sign when all these 
 things shall be fulfilled?" Remembering his prediction 
 recently delivered in the Temple that He should 'be absent 
 for a time, the duration of which would be coeval with the 
 desolation of that Temple, in putting the question concerning 
 the sign of the completion or fulfilment of its desolafion, 
 they do virtually ask concerning the sign of the coming of the 
 Son of man, inserted disfinctly in the question, as recorded ^ 
 by Matthew. From our Lord's repeatedly warning them 
 in the progress of his prediction that " t/ie end is not imme- 
 diately," we may infer that they really had been inquiring 
 about it, which they certainly would be, if asking when the 
 desolafion of the Temple should " be fulfilled." And what 
 is the next great event, as detailed in our Lord's prediction, 
 as immediately subsequent to the termination of Jewish de- 
 solation, about the sign of which they were so solicitous ? It 
 is just " the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and 
 great glory." Jerusalem shall be trodden under foot of the 
 Gentiles, until the times of the Genfiles be fulfilled ; but 
 when Gentile oppressions shall cease^ — "when all these 
 things shall be fulfilled," the celesfial signs appear which 
 precede the coming of our Lord. x\ssured by the Saviour 
 of his absence during the Temple's desolation before he 
 left the precincts of that hallowed building, the earnest in- 
 quiry of the disciples was directed to ascertain t/ie sign 
 which should intimate the full accomplishment of God's 
 wrath — when all the purposes of His vengeance should be 
 fuljilled, and the more auspicious era of his favour be re- 
 stored; and thus they embrace in the single question, "What 
 shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age ?" 
 But what a marvellous change has been eflfected in the 
 course of our argument ! Why the disciples themselves 
 have now become the abettors of a Figurative Coming ! 
 With all their absurd and fanciful notions about a tempo- 
 ral Kingdom and a Divine King, when they w^ould inquire 
 about the destruction of Jerusalem, they ask the Saviour 
 
121 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. VII. 
 
 in all good faith, " What shall be the sv^n of t/iy Coining.^ " 
 So for once they have become orthodox even on this sub- 
 ject in the estimation of those modern Antimilienarians who 
 would accommodate the question as recorded by Matthew 
 to their own notions of it as stated by Mark and Luke. 
 This, however, was ground which, though you once took, 
 you did not attempt to keep. On the contrary, you held 
 them to be full of prejudices at the very time they address- 
 ed their Lord concerning His Coming. But if the disciples 
 were then labouring under the influence of prejudice con- 
 cerning their Master's coming, He himself contributed 
 largely to their adopting and continuing in that error. 
 Their questions, as I have shown, were naturally suggested 
 by his former prediction in the Temple, and every word of 
 his present magnificent prediction must have confirmed the 
 views they had adopted on the subject, or rather which 
 they had ever entertained. It is admitted, indeed, in Hen- 
 ry's Commentary, that Christ in his answer, " doth 7ioi 
 expressly rectify the mistakes of his disciples. That,'' it is 
 added, '' must be done by the pouring out of the Spirit." 
 1 have yet to show what was the nature of their mis- 
 takes which the Spirit rectified, as also the manner in 
 which this was done. But was the Spirit to correct their 
 Master's discourse also ? According to the interpretation 
 put upon it, this seems equally necessary, if not for the 
 then illuminated disciples, at least for all who came after 
 them. As it stands, it has all the evidence which could 
 possibly be required of being a direct and deliberate state- 
 ment concerning a personal coming, to a plain and distinct 
 question concerning a coming of that nature. Any correction, 
 therefore, of the views of those by whom the question was 
 put, made afterivards upon their minds by the Holy Spi- 
 rit, affects not in the least the morality which you impute 
 to our Lord in giving for the time a deceitful answer, nor 
 does it even exhibit to others the prediction itself in any 
 different light. 
 
 But neither you nor any one holding similar views, have 
 yet shown why the rectification of this mistake must be 
 left to be effected by the Holy Spirit afterwards, rather 
 than be done by Christ himself. And certainly no one 
 ever will succeed in showing why the Saviour, instead of 
 rectifying it, should have done much — should have done 
 
Let. VIL] FRCM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 125 
 
 every thing, in fact — to confirm them in that error! Nor 
 has any one yet attempted to show why all the evangelists 
 should have conspired in this instance also to conceal from 
 all their readers the great mistake into which they had fal- 
 len on the subject of the Kingdom; or why the author of 
 the Acts of the Apostles should likewise have failed to re- 
 cord the subversion of all their views, when Pentecost had 
 shed its illumination on their minds. 
 
 But is it really possible to conceive, under all the cir- 
 cumstances, that our blessed Lord did not speak of His 
 personal Return, but of a figurative Coming ? That with 
 the perfect knowledge that his disciples were come to in- 
 quire concerning a personal Coming, He should, instead of 
 objecting to their views, proceed immediately to answer 
 their question as if all was perfectly right — that he should 
 not only gratify them, for the time at least, by declaring 
 minutely the manner of his coming, but in the most strict 
 accordance with their request, should give them tlte sign 
 of that coming, by enumerating the various important cir- 
 cumstances by which it should be preceded, and by the ful- 
 filment of which its approach might be discerned; the ear- 
 liest of which signs, experience soon proved to have been 
 literally stated, as time has since demonstrated the same 
 concerning those which followed, — to believe all this, and 
 still to suppose the disciples altogether wrong in their expec- 
 tations, and the Saviour as intimating something very dif- 
 ferent from that about w^hich they inquired, requires a kind 
 and degree of credulity which I am not ashamed to avow 
 I do not possess. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable, moreover, if our Lord really 
 did not mean to intimate his personal return but the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, that his language was not more 
 adapted to lead to the idea he must have wished to sup- 
 press, than it was unfitted to communicate the knowledge 
 he desired to convey. Can we believe, that if the event 
 the disciples were really to expect was the destruction of 
 Jerusalem alone, that the Saviour would not, by the choice 
 of his language, have more distinctly shown this to be the 
 case. The most effectual method of suppressing their no- 
 tions of a personal coming, would have been to have simply 
 set before them that destruction in its native horrors, to do 
 in short as on other occasions he did when the foretellins: 
 
126 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. vii, 
 
 of that event was his sole object. The simple quotation of 
 any of the Old Testament prophecies concerning it, or the use 
 of similar language — highly figurative as those prophecies 
 are said to be — v^ould have been sufficient at once to annihi- 
 late these fallacious hopes. The language of Moses on 
 the subject, or of any one of his successors, would not only 
 have been better fitted for bringing into subjection their 
 high imaginations, but would more obviously have ex- 
 pressed the capture of their city and the overthrow of their 
 venerated polity, than any prediction of the Coming of the 
 Son of man in the clouds of heaven. They would thus 
 have learned that " a nation of fierce countenance, which 
 shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to 
 the young," would come against them and subdue them. 
 If Christ had even continued to use such language as he 
 has employed in that part of this very prediction in which 
 he does speak of the destruction of Jerusalem, when it 
 should be " compassed with armies," and of its being 
 ''trodden down of the Gentiles," the very possibiKty of 
 mistake had been removed. But our Lord, in speaking of 
 His coming, uses very different language, and language 
 conveying very different ideas. His every word must have 
 convinced the disciples that it was of his real and proper 
 return He now spake. The prediction exhibits no proof 
 of the Saviour's displeasure — it conveys no reproof of the 
 carnal notions of his disciples — it contains no corrective of 
 their deep-rooted prejudices in favour of a glorious Messiah 
 — it presented no information requisite for men who had, 
 upon the subject, greatly mistaken their Master's meaning. 
 If, by his declaration to their rulers, they had been led to 
 believe that He would absent himself from thera till they 
 manifested towards Him a very different spirit, and were 
 willing to welcome Him as their long-desired Messiah, 
 every word He now uttered in reply to their own inquiry 
 concerning his return was calculated to lead them to the 
 conviction that his prediction was really a reply to their 
 question, and that his personal return at the Conversion of 
 the Jews would be '' in the clouds of heaven with power 
 and great glory." The conclusion therefore at which I 
 am again under the necessity of arriving is, that this was 
 the glorious event which he so magnificently predicts. 
 The force of these remarks is much increased when we 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES, 127 
 
 consider the character of the persons by whom our Lord 
 was addressed, and to whom His prediction was given. 
 These were not his enemies set to entrap him, but his dis- 
 ciples — his real and devoted friends. Jt was not even in 
 tlie presence of a mixed multitude, some of whom might 
 have misconstrued his words ; — the prediction was delivered 
 to them "privately." Mat. xxiv. 3. His Return was not a 
 matter of little consequence to them, and about which they 
 had merely dropped a question casually; — it was a case 
 in which they felt particularly interested, and about which 
 they thoughtfully and formally inquire. If their ignorance 
 had rendered it necessary, such circumstances must have 
 induced the Saviour carefully to correct the views of the 
 inquirers, and to have warned them most distinctly that 
 he now, in speaking of his " Coming," used the word in a 
 very different sense from that in which it had been era- 
 ployed by them. Even his most implacable enemies the 
 Saviour never deceived. If at any time he declined grati- 
 fying their impertinent curiosity, — or rejected the claims of 
 their usurped authority — or refused new signs to their want 
 of faith, — if he corrected their mistakes or exposed their 
 sins, all was done in openness and in candour. They knew 
 when the Redeemer refused compliance with their wishes; 
 they were perfectly aware when corrected or reproved; 
 they ran no hazard of mistaking his meaning, though they 
 may have been denied the information requested, or have 
 been frustrated in their ensnaring designs. And if the 
 Saviour was thus open in his dealings with his determined 
 foes; if to them his language was distinct and unambigu- 
 ous, can we suppose that to his bosom friends — his most- 
 beloved of the number — it should be the very opposite ? 
 Are we really to believe that these friends, to whom He 
 had made known his design of leaving the world for a time, 
 when they had chosen for themselves an opportunity to in- 
 quire privately concerning his return, instead of receiving 
 an answer to their inquiry, should be told only of some- 
 thing else, and that too without the slightest hint that it 
 was so, while all the language employed, and the circum- 
 stances mentioned, must have led them to conclude that he 
 truly spake of His Return } 
 
 The importance of a distinct understanding by the disci- 
 ples, of the Saviour's meaning,, is farther evident, when we 
 
128 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. Vll. 
 
 consider that the answer to their questions was not to be 
 by them kept a profound secret, and hushed in silence so 
 soon as they left their present retirement. It would be 
 told to all their friends; it would be threatened to their 
 enemies ; and it was to be put on record by inspired men, 
 as the answer to these questions, by which future genera- 
 tions, of friends and of foes, up to the very hour, whensoever 
 this may be, when the Son of man shall be revealed from 
 heaven in glory and in majesty. 
 
 The dangers arising from their being deceived would not 
 even in a direct way be confined to these disciples. They 
 were to be the future teachers of others : and to be intrust- 
 ed with the institutions of their Master. It was therefore 
 of the utmost importance that their views should be rightly 
 directed. And during their whole journeyings with Jesus, 
 have we not perceived his tender soUcitude for their instruc- 
 tion, and watchful care for the correctness of their opin- 
 ions. His love would not admit of his allowing them to 
 remain in error. This they well knew, from frequent ex- 
 perience ; and upon it they could calculate with safety. 
 They could reason from their knowledge of Christ that not 
 only would he abhor directly to deceive them by speaking 
 of a figurative coming in language which they could only 
 apply to a coming that is personal, or in the way of an- 
 swering their inquiries concerning a personal coming by 
 concealed intimations concerning a figurative coming; but, 
 from intimate acquaintance with His character, they could 
 infer the accuracy of their own understanding of his predic- 
 tion, since he had never blamed them for misunderstanding 
 it. They would call to remembrance how on other occa- 
 sions he had corrected their mistaken ideas, divulging for 
 this purpose the unexpressed thoughts of the heart. Luke 
 ix. 47. They could remember that when they had at a 
 certain time pressed Him to eat, and had been answered 
 that He had meat to eat of which they knew not, when 
 they thence supposed some man had brought him bread in 
 their absence, " Jesus saith unto them, mi/ meat is to do 
 the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." 
 John iv. 31—34. 
 
 There were indeed occasions on which we are informed 
 they did not understand their Master. " For He taught 
 his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is de- 
 
Let. VIT.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 129 
 
 livered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and 
 after that he is killed he shall rise the third day. But they 
 understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.'' 
 Mark ix. 31, 32. Although our Lord spake to them in 
 the plainest terms of his sufferings and death, their minds 
 had been perverted by those false views or expositions of 
 prophecy by which the humiliation of the Messiah was 
 explained away. The difficulties thus experienced in un- 
 derstanding the above prediction by their Master did not 
 arise from any ambiguity or mystery in his language; but, 
 by the adoption of a system of inconsistent interpretation, 
 they had been taught to reject the literal meaning of the 
 predictions of Messiah's sufferings, while they willingly re- 
 ceived in its proper sense the language of those which re- 
 lated to his glory. By the same error which now leads 
 the Christian church to explain away one class of predic- 
 tions, while they receive literally the other, the disciples 
 could not comprehend the Saviour when he spake of his 
 sufferings as predicted by the prophets, although he spake 
 in terms than which plainer could not have been employed. 
 This was yet more remarkably exemplified w^hen "He 
 took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we 
 go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the 
 prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. 
 For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be 
 mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted en ; and they 
 shall scourge him, and put him to death; and the third 
 day He shall rise again. And they understood none of 
 these things!' Luke xviii. 31 — 34. This shows very 
 clearly how the plainest and most distinct statement may 
 be incomprehensible when the prejudices of men are op- 
 posed. Their difficulty arose neither from obscurity in the 
 language, nor from any concealed sense being intended ; 
 but was the result of refusal to understand the words in 
 their proper meaning. These predictions of our Lord w^ere 
 exactly fulfilled in the sufferings He endured, and nothing 
 can justify the disbelief of the disciples, — although the con- 
 duct of the Christian church enables us more fully to ac- 
 count for it. Nor was it seldom that the disciples, by 
 their prejudices, were prevented from receiving the state- 
 ments communicated by the Saviour concerning His hu- 
 miliation, nor have the evangelists been backward to testify 
 
 M 
 
130 chrfst's return personal, proved [Let. VII. 
 
 the fact. Again and again the same unjustifiable ignorance 
 is displayed, while, on the part of the evangelists, it is thus 
 frequently, and with perfect readiness, exposed ; thus af- 
 fording by each successive instance, an additional argument 
 against the opinion of those who maintain that our Lord 
 predicts a figurative coming, while the disciples expected 
 one that is personal. The day after that of the Trans- 
 figuration, when Jesus had cast out an unclean spirit, the 
 people " were all amazed at the mighty power of God. 
 But while they wondered every one at all things which 
 Jesus did. He said unto his disciples, Let these sayings 
 sink down into your ears; for the Son of man shall he de- 
 livered into the hands of men." Luke ix. 43, 44. What 
 could be plainer than such a statement? Surely if it be 
 not comprehended by those to w^iom it is addressed, the 
 fault must be theirs. Yet in this instance also does the 
 evangelist add, " But they understood not this sai/ing, and 
 it was hid from them that they perceived it not ; and they 
 feared to ask him of that saying." ver. 45. 
 
 On an occasion when Jesus had said unto his disciples, 
 * Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees 
 and of the Sadducees; and they reasoned among themselves, 
 saying, It is because we have taken no bread," the Saviour 
 at once corrected their mistake as to the bread he meant, 
 M''ithout waiting for their asking an explanation. And we 
 are informed that " then understood the>/ how that he bade 
 them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine 
 of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." IVIat. xvi. 5 — 12. 
 
 How careful w^as our Lord on a former occasion that He 
 should not be misunderstood by His disciples, when speak- 
 ing in reference to the very question before us. He illus- 
 trated, by parable, His coming at the end of the age, send- 
 ing his angels to " gather out of His Kingdom all things 
 that offend, and those which do iniquity," adding, " then 
 shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of 
 their Father." The intimation of these glorious events was 
 delivered to the multitude in parables. The disciples after- 
 wards came privately seeking more particular information 
 concerning them. And in his solicitude for their instruction, 
 not only did the Saviour readily comply with their request, 
 by minute explanations; but, by several additional parables, 
 He furnished them with information which must have fitted 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 131 
 
 them for more readily comprehending the magnificent pro- 
 phecy which has occupied so much of our attention in these 
 sheets. The blessed Saviour w^as by no means indifferent 
 as to whether or not they comprehended his instructions, 
 but on the occasion alluded to, with condescension ineffable, 
 "Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these 
 things f They say unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then said He 
 unto them, therefore every scribe which is instructed into 
 the Kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an house- 
 holder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new 
 and old." ver. 51, 52. It was no part of our Lord's design 
 to conceal the fact of His Glorious Return, nor of the events 
 by which it should either be preceded or attended. He not 
 only taught it with pains-taking care to his disciples, but in- 
 culcated upon them the duty of making it known unto 
 others, by imparting unto them things both new and old. 
 Far, far indeed, from the Saviour, was the desire to deceive 
 or mislead on the subject of his coming in the clouds of 
 heaven, with power and great glory. And when great ig- 
 norance on this subject is attributed to the disciples, in their 
 finally putting the question, " What shall be the sign of thy 
 coming, and of the end of the age?" it seoms to be utterly 
 forgot with what fulness and precision our Lord had previ- 
 ously instructed them regarding these matters, until they ac- 
 knowledged their entire acquaintance with the circumstances 
 foretold, saying, '*Yea, Lord." Their progress in such 
 knowledge, and this attestation to the fact, is wholly over- 
 looked ; and when at length, to complete their information 
 on the point, they ask for the sign of their Lord's Return, 
 they are branded with incurable ignorance, and stigmatized 
 as inveterately carnal. 
 
 Ignorant indeed the disciples were in many things ; but 
 they w^ere not so wedded to their ignorance as wo are 
 sometimes taught to suppose. That may be said of them, 
 which cannot be said of many of their defamers in the pre- 
 sent da}^ ; they really desired information concerning the 
 Glorious Advent at least, and were not reluctant to receive 
 it. In the prospect of his absence, which the love of his 
 disciples rendered more difficult for them to bear, the Savi- 
 our, with peculiar tenderness, consoled them with the 
 briefness of his absence, evidently as contrasted with the 
 duration of his abode among them at His Return. " A 
 m2 
 
132 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. VII. 
 
 little while and ye shall not see me, and again, a little 
 while and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father." 
 They, however, perceived not his meaning, but v^ere com- 
 pletely perplexed. Did the Saviour then leave them in 
 their ignorance? No: although they did not ask him for 
 an explanation, desirous as they were of doing so. He ex- 
 plained Himself fully, that He was to leave them for a 
 time, during which His people would be persecuted by the 
 world, but that He should return in triumph, to their joy. 
 And what was the result upon the minds of those address- 
 ed ? "His disciples said unto Him, Lo, speakest thou 
 now plain/)/, and speakest no proverb." John xvi. 16 — 29. 
 Above all things was our blessed Lord careful for the in- 
 struction of those who were to be the future instructors of 
 his church, as was often evinced by the private instructions 
 they received relative to the topics previously illustrated in 
 discourses addressed to the less favoured multitude. And 
 rarely are we left to conjecture what was the result on the 
 minds of his friends. In most cases we have the Saviour's 
 direct correction, and there are instances in which although 
 this is not put on record, or where, from the circumstances, 
 no correction could have been given by Him, it has been 
 furnished by the evangelists. This care for the preserva- 
 tion of the Saviour's meaning is on one occasion extended 
 even to a general rumour, founded on a misapprehension 
 of his words. Reproving Peter's unwarrantable curiosity 
 concerning John, "Jesus saith unto him, Jf I will that he 
 tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. 
 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that 
 that disciple should not die: Yet," adds John himself, 
 "Jesus said not unto him he shall not die ; but, If I will 
 that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? This is 
 the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these 
 things ; and we know that his testimony is true." John xxi. 
 21—24. 
 
 Very different, you will perceive, was the reception 
 given to the Saviour's prediction of His return in glory, to 
 that given to the predictions of his sufferings, although 
 related in language certainly not more obvious. They evi- 
 dently recognised at once his allusion to those prophecies 
 of Messiah which they delighted to contemplate. We read 
 nothing now of their want of comprehension. In the ac- 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OP THE DISCIPLES. 133 
 
 counts of the prediction given at length by the three evan- 
 gehsts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, not a word of reflection 
 against themselves is introduced. Yet as faithful histori- 
 ans, they have not hesitated when in error to acknowledge it. 
 In the present case, therefore, their views must have been 
 correct enough. Not the most distant hint of surprise had 
 been expressed; not a single question for explanation was 
 addressed ; not the slightest symptom of mistake is allowed 
 to appear in the record. No prejudices now prevent them 
 from discerning what their Master means. 
 
 Those who charge misapprehension of all that concerns 
 the Saviour's Kingdom against the apostles, appear to con- 
 sider themselves sufficiently liberal in allowing their views 
 to have been corrected on the day of Pentecost, when they 
 received of the outpouring of the Spirit. The charge of 
 ignorance on this subject, (except in so far as relates to the 
 time of the establishment of the Kingdom,) is of itself only 
 an unsupported assumption. While the evangelists them- 
 selves notice that spiritual darkness which prevented their 
 comprehending the prophecies concerning Christ's humilia- 
 tion, they never once intimate such difficulty in compre- 
 hending those of his glory when the Saviour discoursed on 
 the subject, nor does he ever intimate that their views re- 
 garding it were altogether erroneous. Nay, if there were 
 the slightest ground to believe in a variety of Comings of 
 the Son of man, we should have had little reason to won- 
 der if they had experienced difficulty in understanding to 
 what coming our Lord now, or on any particular occasion, 
 referred. There is reason to conclude the apostles were 
 better informed upon the subject, than many who bestow 
 upon them unqualified censure. But even if the contrary 
 were admitted, it cannot, in the present case, in the least 
 affect the matter. With whatever ignorance they may have 
 been chargeable, we have here the statements of our Lord 
 himself. We are not considering, nor are we required to 
 expound, their erroneous creed, but have simply to consid- 
 er their Master's reply to a plain and intelligible question. 
 This reply does, however, reflect satisfactory evidence of 
 the correctness of the opinions condemned by you. These 
 had been explicitly uttered in the presence of their Lord ; 
 and if, when they were wrong on other occasions. He cor- 
 rected their mistakes, we are bound to believe that when, 
 M 3 
 
134 Christ's RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. vn. 
 
 instead of doing so, he answers them as if they were cor- 
 rect, they were so in truth. His language relative to His 
 coming in glory is not less explicit than was that concern- 
 ing his sufferings ; and when viewed, as it must he, as the 
 answer to a direct question, it is impossihle to conceive how 
 the nature of the language is to be so entirely changed by 
 the presumed mistakes of his disciples. 
 
 But the views which it is supposed were now so erron- 
 eous, and which the Saviour certainly did nothing to cor- 
 rect, were all rectified, it is alleged, at Pentecost, when the 
 Holy Spirit was shed forth on those who believed upon his 
 name. The Spirit had been promised to his apostles long 
 before. And what was the Spirit's particular work in re- 
 ference to what oiu- Lord had previously foretold ? It was 
 that of a Rememhrancer. " He shall teach you all things^ 
 
 and BRING ALL THINGS TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE, wiiatsO- 
 
 ever I have said, unto you.'' John xiv. 26. When the 
 Saviour in lowliness rode into Jerusalem on an ass, his 
 friends thought not of the clear and distinct prediction which 
 was then exactly and ///(jr^-Z/y fulfilled : " Fear not, daugh- 
 ter of Zion; behold thy King coraeth sitting on an ass's 
 colt." That they were ignorant of it we are expressly 
 told, while the work of the Spirit in recalling it to recollec- 
 tion, is well exemplified. " These things understood not 
 his disciples at the first ; but when Jesus was glorified, 
 THEN remembered they that these things were written of 
 him, and that they had done these things unto Him." John 
 xii. 15, \Q. With respect to what they had seen or heard, 
 to bring to their remembrance, was the chief work of the 
 Spirit. In the instructions communicated by the Saviour, 
 there was nothing mystical, requiring a new revelation by 
 the Spirit to render them intelligible. All that w^as neces- 
 sary with respect to these, was their being recalled distinct- 
 ly to recollection, with the circumstances in which they 
 were spoken, and the connection in which they were ut- 
 tered. To bring to their remembrance all that He had 
 already told them, the Saviour therefore promised the aids 
 of the Holy Spirit. And this gracious promise was indeed 
 completely fulfilled; and our Lord's important prediction 
 concerning his return was, among others, brought distinctly 
 to their recollection. 
 
 Tile remembrance, however, could supply nothing capa- 
 
Let. VII.] FROM THE VIEWS OF THE DISCIPLES. 135 
 
 ble of leading them to the opinion that Christ meant a fig- 
 urative coming, at the destruction of Jerusalem. They 
 would remember that in the Temple He had declared that 
 from " henceforth," or from that time, till the predicted 
 desolation should cease, He should not again be seen of 
 the Jews, — they would remember that it is predicted by 
 the prophet Daniel, that the Temple and the city shall 
 continue desolate until the end or " consummation," and 
 that this period will arrive only when that determined is 
 poured upon the " desolator'" of Judea; — they would pro- 
 bably remember that, in another prediction by Daniel, the 
 Coming of the. Son of man with the clouds of heaven, in- 
 stead of being placed at the destruction of Jerusalem, was 
 at the overthrow of the blasphemous little horn, or Papal 
 man of sin, at the commencement of the Millennium ; — they 
 might perhaps remember, that with their views directed to 
 these more ancient predictions of the prophet, and also to 
 the more recent declaration of their Master, and with anx- 
 ious thoughts about his absence, they implored of Him the 
 sign of His Coming and of the predicted "consummation*' 
 or end of the age ; — they would moreover remember their 
 Lord's condescending reply to their interesting inquiry about 
 His Return. They would remember it as at once an an- 
 swer direct and satisfactory, equally confirming them in 
 their belief that His Coming would be at the end of tha 
 age, and, by furnishing them with intimations the most di- 
 rect of the time and nature and manner of His Return, 
 dispelling all doubt, if it is possible to suppose the Saviour's 
 language capable of creating dubiety, that in either the one 
 or the other they could have been mistaken ; — they would 
 likewise remember that on other occasions, and on far less 
 important subjects, He had not suffered them to remain in 
 error when they had misunderstood his meaning, and that 
 if it had been possible for tiiem to question the correctness 
 of their ideas concerning his glorious return, his acquies- 
 cence on this occasion would confirm their hopes; — they 
 would remember too, that his whole language could only 
 convey the idea of a personal return, when, as the Son of 
 man, he should be seen of all the tribes or kindreds of the 
 earth, " coming in a cloud,'' — the very manner of his return 
 they would also remember, announced by the angul atten- 
 dant on his ascension. Such must have been the result of 
 
136 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. VII. 
 
 that work of the blessed Spirit in bringing to their Remem- 
 brance all things ivhich Christ himself had told them. It 
 enabled them to remember distinctly the prediction He had 
 dehvered, with all the circumstances which gave it illustra- 
 tion, rather than suggested unto them new ideas which 
 could not have been deduced from that combination. 
 
 By the evangelists these things were not only all brought 
 to remembrance, but they were also vut on record for 
 the information of ' the church in all ages. And we 
 have, in their case, the clearest evidence that the receiving 
 of the Holy Ghost did not change their ideas of the sig- 
 nificancy of the language of their Lord, or their views of 
 the nature of his return. Their Gospels were written 
 after the miraculous manifestations of the Spirit were made, 
 yet in the record of Christ's prediction they have given no 
 intimation whatever, nor left any thing from which it could 
 be inferred, that they ever had any other opinion than that 
 the Saviour foretold his real personal return, or that he 
 was to be understood in any other than the natural sense 
 of his words. The same important truth is evident from 
 the testimony of the apostle James, called by Paul "■ the 
 Lord's brother," and in Jerusalem surnamed The Just. 
 When urged to impugn the cause of his blessed Master 
 before the people, he on the contrary made honourable 
 confession, exclaiming, " Why do ye inquire of me con- 
 cerning Jesus, the Son of man ? He sits in heaven, at the 
 right hand of the Majesty on high, and will come in the 
 clouds of heaven ;" and for this he immediately after re- 
 ceived the crown of martyrdom. — Eusebius Eccles. Hist. 
 Book 2d. chap. 23, or History of the Church of Christ, 
 published by the London Tract Society, vol. L p. 68. The 
 receiving of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost did not, therefore, 
 change this apostle's idea, that Christ had foretold his per- 
 sonal return as in the clouds of heaven, since this attesta- 
 tion to its truth was 24 years after the ascension of Christ. 
 The same truth was also attested at a still later date by 
 John, another of the Apostles, and one deeply interested 
 in the matter, being one of the four who immediately put 
 the question to the Saviour concerning His Coming, — if in- 
 deed the Lord's brother was not that James who also v/as 
 of the inquiring four. Even after the destruction of Jer- 
 usalem, did John prophetically exclaim, " Behold He 
 
Let. VIII.] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD. 137 
 
 cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him.'' Rev. i. 7. 
 But there is evidence that not only the apostles, but tho 
 whole primitive church did regard our Lord's prediction of 
 His ''Coming in the clouds of heaven," as his Second and 
 glorious coming. I have already referred to the use which 
 Gibbon has attempted to make of the prediction ; but hav- 
 ing vindicated our Lord from the opinion of his having fix- 
 ed that coming to be before the then living generation had 
 ceased to exist, I now avail myself of the universal belief 
 of tho church concerning this prediction, to prove that if 
 the apostles had been wrong in regarding it as Christ's per- 
 sonal return, their views cannot have been corrected at the 
 day of Pentecost, since that still continued to be the belief 
 of the church. Nor was it a mere barren speculation ; 
 but, on the testimony of the Infidel himself, a doctrine 
 "productive of the most salutary effects on the faith and 
 practice of Christians." And in point of fact, however 
 much Christians may have erred in their minute exposition 
 of our Lord's prediction, " the church,'' as Mede remarks, 
 " hath always grounded her faith of the Second Coming 
 of Christ, upon those passages in the Gospels which speak 
 oi his coming in the c/ouds of heaven." 
 
 Even yet, I believe that there are thousands in the church 
 who never doubt for a moment, that in this important pre- 
 diction delivered by our Lord, He declares His personal 
 return, and who derive from it their knov/ledge of the cir- 
 cumstances by which it will be attended, who have never 
 observed the time at which that Coming is placed. This 
 was long the case with, 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Yours in love sincere, &c. 
 
 LETTER VHL 
 THAT OUR LORD IN HIS PREDICTION REFERRED TO 
 HIS PERSONAL RETURN, PROVED FROM THE LAN- 
 GUAGE EMPLOYED AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES 
 FORETOLD. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Ix all your Expositions of our Lord's pre- 
 diction concerning his coming with the clouds of heaven, it 
 
138 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. viii. 
 
 was assumed that there are a variety of Comings of the 
 Son of man. Here you said it is applied to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem — that it is sometimes applied to the destruc- 
 tion of Antichristian nations — to His final Coming, — and 
 to the day of death. This enumeration I regard as utterly 
 unsupported by proof, and it is an unwarrantable assump- 
 tion in argument to assert that here it is the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, and then adduce this as a fact which proves the 
 variety you maintain. But multiply as you may the 
 cotniugs of the Lord, still you will not deny that there is 
 one coming which is of transcendant importance to the 
 Christian ; and which, if in any case particularized, may 
 with greater propriety than in the mere infliction of judg- 
 ment be called emphatically '' the coming of the Lord." 
 Now if this be the case, it is no small presumption in favour 
 of the view already offered, and now maintained, that our 
 Lord in his illustrations of his coming in the clouds of 
 heaven repeatedly gives unto it this emphatic character of 
 *' the coming of the Son of man," Mat. xxiv. 27, 37, 39. 
 If there were really a variety of comings, similar in char- 
 acter, and equal in importance, we cannot suppose that in 
 speaking of any one of these, while there was yet one pecu- 
 liar in every respect, and vastly more important than all the 
 others, the Saviour should speak of any one of these subor- 
 dinate comings in this emphatic language of the coming. If 
 amidst a variety of comings such language might be used 
 concerning the one of vastly greatest importance and of 
 peculiar characteristics, in speaking of any one of the others 
 it would be necessary to use the less definite language of 
 " a coming,'" or concerning the one more particularly spe- 
 cified to say ''this coming" or "that coming." 
 
 I however go farther and say, that the use of ''he defin- 
 ite article seems altogether to set aside the idea of there 
 being a variety of comings. It infimates such a singleness 
 of event as to render specification unnecessary. To use 
 this form of speech, in referring to one particular event from 
 among a class of similar events would be altogether im- 
 proper, since it would convey an idea of definiteness re- 
 garding an object wholly indefinite. '* The coming of the 
 Son of man," I therefore consider as in itself an evidence 
 that our Lord was speaking of the only event which could 
 be so called, even his personal return. 
 
Let. VIII. ] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD. J39 
 
 The same argument may with equal propriety be de- 
 duced from the form in which the question was put by the 
 disciples. They do not assume— they do not seem at all 
 to have supposed — that there would be a variety of comings 
 of their Master, for they do not prefer a request that they 
 may obtain the sign of his first, or second, or twentieth 
 coming. Instead of putting their question in a form to dis- 
 tinguish some particular coming, they simply ask, ''What 
 shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age ?" 
 Nor does our Lord remind them that since there are a 
 number of Comings it is necessary that they be more specific 
 in their question. He does not interrogate them as to the par- 
 ticular coming they mean — whether that at death ? or that 
 at the destruction of Jerusalem ? or that at the overthrow of 
 the Antichristian Apostasy ? or that at the termination of this 
 mundane system ? or that at whatever other time men may 
 have been pleased to fancy or invent a coming. The dis- 
 ciples, by the very nature of their question, assume that from 
 the time at which they spoke there would be only one 
 coming of Christ, an idea which the Saviour's answer 
 amply confirms. 
 
 But even the character in which our Lord predicts his 
 coming in the clouds of heaven, of itself necessarily implies 
 his personal presence. It is the Coming of " The Son of 
 man." Is this term at all applicable to Him except as 
 having the human nature in union with his divine ? A com- 
 parison of the passages in which the term occurs, and 
 where it has no reference to his coming, would pro- 
 bably be of service to you in determining the meaning of 
 those which are disputed. A near and beloved relative in 
 his regular course of reading; through the Greek New Tes- 
 tament, in the way of comparison for his own satisfaction, 
 marked down every instance in which this term is used ex- 
 tending also the connection in which it occurs. This list 
 he has put into my hands, but the number of these passages, 
 (82,) prevents their quotation ; still for the sake of those 
 who desire due investigation, I subjoin the references. 
 Except in one case in the Acts, and another in the book of 
 the Revelation, the term is confined to the Gospels, never 
 being used but by the Saviour himself. If, however, we 
 may form a judgment of the meaning of those relating to 
 his coming, by the nature of those which do not, then I must 
 
140 Christ's RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. VIII. 
 
 say that in every instance, except one which Griesbach in 
 his "Various Readings" says is omitted in some MS8., 
 "the Son of man" is absolutely restricted to the actings of 
 the Son of God as clothed with the nature of Man ; never 
 being apjilied to the operations of the Holy Spirit, nor to 
 God's execution of judgment on wicked nations, nor in any 
 case in which there is not the palpable presence of Him 
 who w^as made in the likeness of men.* You yourself, in- 
 deed, when discoursing on the 31st verse of the following 
 chapter, actually drew an argument for its being the Son of 
 God in human nature, that is tliere spoken of, when He 
 " shall come in His glory," and surely if your argument, 
 from the mere use of this term, be worth any thing in Mat. 
 XXV. its value should not be greatly less when used by me 
 concerning Mat. xxiv. It is admitted by all, that He will 
 yet come in that nature in v*^hich alone he is the Son of 
 man, and it should be some very strong reason which would 
 occasion any doubt that the Saviour referred to His return 
 in that character when he spake of His Coming as the Son 
 of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 
 It is not the execution of his purposes througli human 
 agency that will be a coming of the Son of man, but a real 
 corporeal presence visible to the eyes of men, and actually 
 to be seen by them. 
 
 The distinction between his corning and the presence of 
 the Roman army is made perfectly obvious by the Saviour 
 himself. The one is "'the aboininalion of desolation," the 
 other is " the Son of man." How different are the terms 
 employed by the Saviour to designate the two ! In the 
 one case they are the language of endearment, in the other 
 they excite indignation, and convey the expression of re- 
 probation. The approach of the Romans was the preludo 
 
 • The term "The Son of man," occurs in Mat. viii. 20.. ix. 6.. 
 x.23..xi. ]9..xii. 8,32. 4U..xiii. 37, 41..xvi. 13, 27, 28..xvii. 9, 
 12, 22. .xviii. 1 1 . .xix. 28. .xx. 18, 28. .xxiv. 27, 30, i^lwice,) 37, 39, 
 44. .XXV. 13. 31 . xxvi. 2, 24, 45, 64. 
 
 Mark ii. 10, 28. .viii. 31, 38. .ix. 9, 12, 31..x, 33,45. .xiii. 26. . 
 iiv.21,41, 62. 
 
 Luke V. 24. .vi. 5. 22. .vii. 34. .ix. 22, 26, 44, 5Q, 5S. .xi. 30. . 
 xij. 8, 10, 40. .xvii. 22, 24, 26, 30. .xviii. 8. .xix. 10. .xxi. 27, 36. . 
 xxii. i3, 48. 69.. xxiv. 7- 
 
 Joha i. 51..iii. 13, 14. .v. 27— vi. 27, 53, 62. .viii. 28..xii. 23, 
 34. .xiii. 31. Acts vii. 56. Rev. xiv. 14. 
 
Let. VIII.] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD. 141 
 
 to thoir being " led away cajitive into all nations;" on the 
 contrary, the signs of the Coming of the Son of man will 
 intimate that " their rede?fi27tio/i drawelh nigh." ^Yhcn 
 the time of the destruction of Jerusalem arrived, believers 
 were to "Jlee into the mountains ;" when the Son of man 
 comes in the clouds of heaven, " He shall se?2d His angeh 
 with a great sound of a trumpet, and ihet/ shall gather to- 
 gether his elect from the four winds, from one end of 
 heaven to the other." Is it then his own coming, think 
 you, that the Saviour calls an ''abomination' "i He who 
 is worthy of all admiration in heaven and in earth, who 
 claims and receives the homage of the highest of created 
 intelligences to represent himself as an abomination ! No, 
 no. The work of destruction was indeed in execution of 
 the righteous purposes of the Most High, but there is surely 
 a wide distinction between the instrument and. Him whose 
 designs they execute. These instruments are often the 
 guiltiest of men, and the very acts by which Gods holiness 
 may be most conspicuously vindicated and his wrath against 
 sin most eminently displayed, may be the most aggravated 
 guilt of those instruments by whom it is immediately inflicted. 
 In the very case of the destruction of Jerusalem, the Romans 
 are therefore called *'the abomination of desolation," but 
 never would Christ call his own coming an abomination — 
 that coming which will be in " great glory." 
 
 Those to whom the Saviour spake could easily recog- 
 nise an enemy to their nation in this " abomination of deso- 
 lation ;" but this they certainly did not in the Coming of 
 the Son of man. With them, this was evidently an object of 
 great desire. The very danger of their deception indeed 
 lay in the eager desire they had for his return. On false 
 representations they would he ready to go forth to seek 
 him. They therefore needed to be warned of the hazard 
 to which they were exposed on this ground. " Where- 
 fore," says the Saviour, " if they say unto you, behold He 
 is in the desert, go not forth ; behold. He is in the secret 
 chambers, believe it not." So eager would they be for 
 the Coaling of the Son of man, that false pretenders would 
 find it easy to deceive many, and that without special 
 warning all would be in danger. Was it of "the abom- 
 ination of desolation," the enemy they hated, they could 
 be mistaken in the heat of their zeal for his " coming" ? or 
 N 
 
142 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. Viii. 
 
 was it of the real, true, and personal coming of the Son of 
 man as their glorious Messiah ? 
 
 But this warning against ''false Christs'' is in its very 
 nature utterly irreconcilable with any other idea than that 
 the coming which they expected, and desired, and inquired 
 about, and which Jesus described, was his Personal Return. 
 When he would guard them against the danger of mistake, 
 it is not by telling them that there will be no per- 
 sonal manifestation of himself, but a mere display of his 
 power and his wrath, by the agency of the Romans. The 
 ground of caution is very different, and applicable only to 
 a personal coming, ft is, that the promised manifestation 
 will be altogether inimitable by imposters, for it will be no 
 secret, buta bright visible appearance, *' as the lightning,"* 
 
 But not only does the term " Son of man'^ necessarily 
 imply his personal presence, while there is also a clear dis- 
 tinction drawn between his coming and the destruction of 
 
 * It lias been well said by Mr. Cuninghame, that ^' there is na 
 end to the vagaries of Commentators." To a person desirous of 
 really ascertaining the meaning of the Scriptures, there can be few 
 things more annoying than the " vagaries" which are offered as ex- 
 planations in approved Commentaries. A striking instance of this 
 occurs in Henry on this comparison of our Lord's coming to 
 the lightnings which he says "seems primarily to be meant of His 
 coming to set up his spiritual kingdom in the world : where the gos- 
 pel came in its light and power, there the Son of man came, ''as 
 the lightning" ! ! So the gospel came not any where in its light and 
 power till the destruction of Jerusalem ; not even to the thousands of 
 Jews who believed long previously, in that city itself. (Acts xxi. 20.) 
 Transcendantly important has that event become by "the vagaries 
 of Commentators," in other respects than in the sufferings which 
 it occasioned. 
 
 The same explanation is extended to the following verse, "for 
 wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered to- 
 gether," being also understood of the successful preaching of the 
 gospel, which it is said '■'' gathered in multitudes^ not by external 
 compulsion, but as it were by such a natural instinct and inclina- 
 tion as brings the birds of prey to their preys" ! ! Notwithstanding 
 of this explanation, however, since "some understand these verses 
 of th^ Coming of the Son of man, to destroy Jerusalem^" the author, 
 in the most accommodating manner, proceeds to show that these 
 things were " intimated concerning it" also. And after all this, he 
 yet says, " it is vety applicable to the day of judgment, the coming 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ in that day, and our gathering together 
 unto him." Can we wonder that the vagaries of Commentators should 
 have induced the discerning infidel to regard the Scriptures, so 
 treated, as a nose of wax., to be moulded and fashioned at pleasure ? 
 
Let. VIII.] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD. 143 
 
 Jerusalem ; but the minuteness with which the intimations 
 concerning the latter were literaily fulfilled, presents a 
 strong argument that in a similar manner, at the appoint- 
 ed time, will all the tribes of the earth " 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 shall gather together His elect from 
 the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.'' The 
 very fact of the events of a certain character having received 
 their fulfilment in the proper sense of the words used in the 
 prediction, is certainly a warrant for the expectation that 
 the other will be so also. Now Jerusalem was to be 
 ** compassed with armies;" (Luke xxi. 20,) and was not 
 this the very method adopted by Titus to reduce the city ? 
 When this took place the disciples were to " know tbat 
 the desolation thereof is nigh," and the event soon verified 
 the accuracy of the prediction. " Then lei them which 
 are in Judea, flee to the mountains," said the Saviour, ''and 
 let them which are in the midst of it depart out ; and let 
 not them that are in the countries enter thereinto." This 
 is a case which, if in any, it might certainly have been ex- 
 pected was not meant to be understood to the letter of the 
 statement. It might have been thought and said, that if 
 Jerusalem was really to be cotnpassed with armies, that 
 the proper time of escape instead of being "then,'' when 
 it had been so compassed, should have been before it. 
 But the circumstances fully vindicate the minuteness of 
 the prophecy, and testify how very literally it has been 
 fulfilled, in so far as hitherto accomplished. For when the 
 city was compassed by the Roman army under Cestius, in 
 the 68th year of our Lord, when, as appears from all testi- 
 mony, it miglit easily have been taken, he suddenly ** retired 
 from the city," as Josephus narrates, " without any reason 
 in the world ;" and thus gave the Jewish disciples an op- 
 portunity of obeying their Lord's command, and effecting 
 their escape. They had been enjoined to flee to the moun- 
 tains, and accordingly they fled principally to Pella, a town 
 situated in the mountains of Perea, beyond Jordan, where 
 they were allowed to remain for the time in safety. 
 
 Our Lord declared concerning the temple, that not one 
 stone of it should be left upon another that should not be 
 thrown down. Luke xxi. 6. And this also was accom- 
 
 n2 
 
144 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. Vlir. 
 
 plisbed in the minutest manner, when Titus ordered liis 
 soldiers to dig up the foundations both of the citj and tem- 
 ple, orders which they obeyed with alacrity, in expectation 
 of much treasure; and the foundations were afterwards 
 turned up entirely icith a i^loughshare, by order of Tur- 
 nus Rufus, who was left to command the army. 
 
 The Jews were to be led captive into all nations ; and 
 their present dispersion continues to testify to the literal 
 fulfilment of the Saviour's prophecy. Their capital was 
 also to be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of 
 the Gentiles be fulfilled ; and frequently as for seventeen 
 centuries it has changed masters, it has invariably been in 
 the hands of Gentiles, and has almost invariably been trod- 
 den down, or kept in degradation and in thraldom by them. 
 The disciples themselves were to endure much persecution, 
 both before and after the destruction of Jerusalem. Let 
 the history of the church bear witness whether this was 
 literally or figuratively accomplished. And let the same 
 record be searched, in order to ascertain the nature of his 
 language in the prediction of false Christs, by the kind of 
 accomplishment it has received. 
 
 In all of these particulars, that our Lord's language is to 
 be understood in its plain and obvious sense, is perfectly 
 evident ; and indeed the supposition of our Lord's predic- 
 tion concerning his coming in the clouds of heaven being 
 rrierely figurative, is a supposition entirely at variance with 
 the whole tenor of his ordinary discourse. Parable was 
 with him a very common mode of instruction, but the use 
 of figurative language, at least figures elaborately carried 
 out to their utmost length, is exceedingly rare with him, 
 — even if it could at all be proved that there was any thing 
 like a figure in this prediction of his coming in the clouds 
 of heaven. 
 
 But if, as I have formerly shown, our Lord had already 
 predicted the destruction of Jerusalem in the plainest lan- 
 guage,— in a way which it was impossible could be misun- 
 derstood, — what plausible reason can be devised for sup- 
 posing that he afterwards, under promise of the coming of 
 the 8on of man, merely tells the same thing, even though 
 it be called language of a figurative nature ? No figurative 
 language could render more intelligible the awful fate which 
 awaited Jerusalem and the House of the Lord, than that 
 
Let. VIII.] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD. 145 
 
 he had already uttered ; while, to suppose that what Christ 
 afterwards said concerning his own coming was also applied 
 to that event, involves the whole in inextricable confusion. 
 He had, very shortly before, informed them that their House 
 was left unto them " desolate," — He had afterwards as- 
 sured them that " there shall not be left here one stone upon 
 another that shall not be thrown down," — He had warned 
 them that they should "hear of wars and rumours of wars," 
 and that they should " see the abomination of desolation 
 spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the Holy place," — 
 and he had informed them that they might, when they saw 
 '* Jerusalem compassed about with armies, then know that 
 the desolation thereof is nigh;" — All these plain and dis- 
 tinct intimations concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 he had given previous to his speaking at all of his " coming 
 in the clouds of heaven." And can we suppose that such 
 a prediction as that of his coming with all the attendant 
 circumstances, was meant merely to elucidate or illustrate 
 those concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, already de- 
 clared with so much plainness ? If applied to the same 
 event, the only possible effect they could produce would 
 be to render it obscure and confused ; and this just has been 
 the effect of all interpretations of that nature. But no 
 where has Christ confounded the two. He has on the 
 contrary kept them perfectly distinct ; and this, the slight- 
 est examination, in the way of comparison between the 
 very circumstances predicted and the nature of Antimillen- 
 arian Expositions, will amply demonstrate. 
 
 Observe then that our Lord expressly says that when 
 the sign of the Son of man has appeared in heaven, " then 
 shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and thei/ shall see the 
 Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven." The tribes 
 of the earth, you say, are the tribes of the Jews, who, 
 you farther say, did see the Son of man coming at the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem. Now observe how directly opposed 
 this is to the express statement of the Saviour himself to 
 the Jews, just before he left the Temple, " I say unto you, 
 Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say. Blessed 
 is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ;" that is, that 
 He would not be seen of them, in whatever sense you are 
 pleased to understand it — and the argument will admit of 
 my allowing you to choose your particular application — he 
 n3 
 
146 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. VIII. 
 
 would not be seen of them till their conversion. No vision 
 of him did they enjoy, either personal or gracious, at the 
 destruction of Jerusalem ; and therefore to assert that it 
 was of that event the Saviour spake, when he said he should 
 be seen coming in the clouds of heaven, is to set prophecy 
 against prophecy, or Christ against himself. 
 
 x'\gain, when the Son of man comes in the clouds of 
 heaven with power and great glory, "He shall send his 
 angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and the j shall ga- 
 ther together his elect from the four winds, from one end 
 of heaven to the other." This you also refer to events 
 at the destruction of Jerusalem, with what consistency, let 
 me again inquire. The "angels," you say, are the minis- 
 ters of the gospel, and the gathered elect are those con- 
 verted to the faith through their instrumentality. And 
 would this be a gathering of the elect "together"? and 
 if so, would it be then so very extensive as to be from "the 
 one end of heaven to the other ?" But farther, was it only 
 at the destruction of Jerusalem that tiie ministers of the 
 gospel were sent on their mission of mercy? Had they 
 not long before engaged in their work? had not eleven 
 of the apostles finished their labours before that time ? 
 The 14th verse of this very chapter, " And this gospel of 
 the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a wit- 
 ness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come,'' you 
 asserted to have been fulfilled before the destruction of Je- 
 rusalem, before the end of the Jewish polity. How then 
 can the angels sent out at the coming of the Lord, and 
 that ''after the tribulation" which you regard as the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, have been the preachers of the gos- 
 pel sent forth only at that time ? They would thus be- 
 made to have accomplished their work before it was begun. 
 Mr. Faber, though he places the Coming of the Son of man 
 immediately before the Millennium, still regards it as a 
 figurative Coming, and therefore gives the same interpreta- 
 tion of the mission and work of the angels. This exposi- 
 tion is, however, not less inconsistent with his ideas of 
 other parts of the prediction than I have already shown it 
 to be with yours. For he understands " the end" before 
 which our Lord declares the gospel will be preached in all 
 the world to be at the close of the times of the Gentiles. 
 Now, as Mr. Faber places his figurative Coming of the 
 
Let. VIII.] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD, J47 
 
 Son of man after these times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, 
 how does the Son of man only send forth his angels at his 
 Coming after these times, if this meant the preachers of 
 the gospel offering salvation before their accomplishment? 
 It is only ivhen He shall come, that the angels are sent forth ; 
 then only do they receive their commission to gather the 
 elect. 'I'his, therefore, is something that is to take place, 
 not before, but after the Coming of Christ, and can in no 
 way accord with the idea of its being a preaching of the 
 gospel which is to he begun — nay, which is to be com- 
 jdetely accomj)lishecl — before those times be fulfilled, which 
 y recede the coming of the Lord. 
 
 Observe also, that as it is the same Son of man who is* 
 to come in the clouds of heaven, that is to send forth his 
 angels to gather together his elect, it necessarily follows 
 that if that Coming was the coming of the Romans, so also 
 must it be this avenging and desolating people who, at the 
 very destruction of Jerusalem, were to send' forth the an- 
 gels to gather the elect, or, as you expound it, the minis- 
 ters to preach the gospel. Was it then the Romans by 
 whom these preachers were missioned to proclaim the name 
 of Jesus ? The very opposite was the fact; and, as it was 
 indeed expressly foretold by our Lord in this very predic- 
 tion, they persecuted to the death those commissioned by 
 his church. 
 
 x\gain, the destruction of Jerusalem, you say, was itself 
 "the Coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven." 
 You also assert, however, that the " greatest tribulation 
 that ever was or shall be," was likewise that at the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem. Now, these interpretations are 
 mutually destructive; for our Lord expressly informs us 
 that His coining is not this great tribulation. 1 have al- 
 ready shown, as maintained by Mr. Faber, that this tribu- 
 lation, instead of being at the destruction of Jerusalem, is 
 at the close of the times of the Gentiles; but if you had 
 been correct in asserting that this great tribulation was the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, you would necessarily destroy 
 your other assertion — for the coming of the Son of man in 
 the clouds of heaven is "immediately after ' that tribulation.. 
 
 But the coming of the Son of man is to be -preceded hy 
 certain " signs in the sun, moon, and stars," &c. ; these 
 signs are still more *' immediately after* the great tribu- 
 
148 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. VIII. 
 
 lation ; consequently neither are they to be confounded 
 with it. Yet you do confound these " signs," not only 
 with the "tribulation," which in the prophecy they are 
 thus made to succeed, but you also confound them with 
 the coming itself, which they really precede. The signs 
 you symbolize to mean the overthrow of the Jewish polity, 
 civil and ecclesiastical ; but if they frecede the coming of 
 the Lord, and if that coming be the destruction of Jerusa- 
 lem, and if both be the great tribulation, there is an utter 
 and entire confusion of the sign with that which it an- 
 nounces, and of the event itself with what is to take place 
 " after" it. Evidently feeling involved in this dilemma, 
 you again said the Coming of the Son of man was his com- 
 ing in the establishment of his spiritual kingdom. The 
 spiritual kingdom had been established, however, long be- 
 fore the destruction of Jerusalem ; it had made large pro- 
 gress, indeed ; you yourself said the gospel had been preach- 
 ed in all the world before it; and how then could the 
 coming of the Son of man, if after the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem, be the establishment of the spiritual kingdom ? Be- 
 sides, His coming is in the clouds of heaven ; and how this 
 will accord with its being in the establishment of the sjJiri- 
 tual Kingdom, it is difficult to perceive, — nor is the diffi- 
 culty lessened, but increased, when we observe that " all 
 the tribes of the earth shall mourn'' when they witness 
 His coming. The supposition, moreover, is in complete 
 oversight of your having already converted the angels into 
 the preachers of the gospel, for the very purpose of estab- 
 lishing the spiritual Kingdom, whose mission is not to be 
 confounded with the coming of the Son of man, hy whom 
 they are sent out. 
 
 These various circumstances demonstrate your exposition 
 of our Lord's prediction of his coming to be altogether er- 
 roneous, and therefore confirm much the view already given 
 of that being his real, proper, personal return, at the close 
 of the times of the Gentiles and restoration of Israel. Mr. 
 Faber, as I have frequently noticed, places this coming of 
 the Son of man immediately before the Millennium. The 
 timeio^N\\\z\\ the prophecy refers, he has endeavoured with 
 much care to ascertain ; although his views of the nature of 
 Christ's coming have led him into various singular incon- 
 sistencies. Little of that critical acumen which so strongly 
 
Let. VIII.] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD. 149 
 
 marks some of his prophetical investigations has been dis- 
 played in the interpretation of the most important parts of 
 this prediction. He seems indeed to have entirely over- 
 looked the circumstances which occasioned the prediction, 
 and the most niarked and obvious distinctions which it pre- 
 sents. He readily perceives, however, the impression 
 which must be produced upon the mind of the unpreju- 
 diced, or, as he is pleased to say, the " careless reader," 
 by the nature of the language in which the prophecy is 
 couched, and by the connection of the circumstances fore- 
 told. 
 
 " This epoch," he says, of the coming of the Son of man 
 in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, "This 
 epoch is not identical with the epoch of the literal day of 
 judgment : for although the poetical imagery of that figu- 
 rative judgment-day is borrowed from the awful realities of 
 the literal judgment-day, and although such a circumstance 
 7nay easili/ mislead a careless reader to confound the one 
 day with the other day ; yet we shall always find some 
 chronological mark or circumstance associated with the 
 former, which will clearly and effectually distinguish it 
 from the latter.'* Sac. Cal. vol. I. p. 22J, It will only be 
 " a careless reader," and not a careful student of our Lord's 
 prediction, whose attention is thus to be diverted from its 
 obvious meaning and design. How easily Mr. Faber, by 
 the gratuitous assumption of a different chronology for our 
 Lord's return, disposes of all the circumstances in which it 
 originated ; of the nature of the questions put by the dis- 
 ciples; and of the numerous minute details in the predic- 
 tion, which it would require all the extent of his ingenuity, 
 if " borrowed," to restore to their rightful owner. But if 
 the sublime language so magnificently descriptive of the 
 Coming of the Son of man, instead of referring to his per- 
 sonal return, be merely borrowed from some one descriptive 
 of the real event, it will be diflicult, I fear, to find that ac- 
 count of "the awful realities" of his coming from which it 
 is so borrowed. Is there a single passage, which is not 
 clearly referable bt/ its c/ironology to the very same period, 
 that is equally fidl, sublime, or circumstantial? There is 
 not one. In different passages, as we shall afterwards find, 
 indisputably referring to the personal coming of Christ, the 
 same circumstances are introduced, but these are in detail. 
 
150 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. viil. 
 
 The particulars which are here enumerated in combination, 
 though they may all be found in other passages, are con- 
 tained in no other single prediction. Instead, therefore, of 
 this description being " borrowed" from some other predic- 
 tion, other passages evidently refer to this description of 
 the Coming of the Son of man and its various concomitants. 
 Had there even been nothing in the circumstances in which 
 it originated, or in the views and questions of those to whose 
 inquiry it is professedly a reply, the statements here con- 
 tained plainly forbid any one to assume that it is merely 
 the adornings of a picture with borrowed scenery, and not 
 rather " the awful realities" of his glorious coming of which 
 the Son of man thus speaks. 
 
 Indeed, Mr. Faber himself seems sometimes to admit, 
 that his notion is really destitute of Scriptural fioof. 
 Speaking of the celestial signs here predicted, he says they 
 are " images all borrowed from the expected occurrences 
 attendant upon the literal day of judgment." Sac. Cal. vol. 
 I. p. 250. It is therefore, in his own estimation, not a 
 truth which may be proved, but something which is only 
 " expected," that such signs will precede the literal coming 
 of Christ; and yet our Lord's sublime description of these 
 signs, as preceding his Coming, is declared to be " borrowed," 
 without question, from these " expected occurrences" ! We 
 have thus the singular logical inconsistency of an unqualified 
 assertion of the most magnificent description of certain events 
 being absolutely borrowed from other events which are on- 
 ly expected to occur 1 ! If the reality be matter only of 
 probability or peradventure, where is the ground of assur- 
 ance that any thing can be borrowed from it? 
 
 But however insecure such a foundation maybe for faith 
 to rest upon, in a matter of the greatest importance, those 
 who deny that such passages as this refer to the proper 
 coming of Christ, deprive themselves of all evidence by 
 which it can be established ; and thus render it necessary 
 to lower down the certain assurance derived from God's 
 word into an unsupported expectation. But even after 
 having thus despoiled our Lord's prediction of its literal 
 meaning, Mr. Faber can still speak of " the literal Second 
 Advent of Christ with the clouds of heaven," as if he were 
 nevertheless at liberty to assume that his coming will be in 
 the very manner here described. Sac. Cal. vol. I. p. 226. 
 
Let. VIII.] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD. 151 
 
 It is indeed perfectly evident, that if the manner oi Christ's 
 coming is not declared in this prediction, it must still re- 
 main a matter of uncertainty ; and Mr. Faber is bound to 
 return to his former proposition, and to replace the coming 
 of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven in his list of 
 " ea-^(?c/<?^ occurrences." Yet after all he has said of " bor- 
 rowed" scenery and a '' figurative coming,*' we have already 
 seen, in a preceding Letter, that Mr. Faber could not fully 
 reconcile his own mind to the idea of this sublime predic- 
 tion being entirely so, and found it necessary to take shelter 
 in the notion, " that His final coming at the literal day of 
 judgment is also not obscurely alluded to." But it is not 
 a little remarkable that while he has often argued strongly, 
 in some instances I might say pertinaciously, yr^;?/ the very 
 tvords of Scripture prophecy, he should here set aside the 
 whole tenor of the Saviour's discourse, so as to find noth- 
 ing like evidence in the clearest language that could possi- 
 bly be employed. 
 
 But this argument may yet be put in another form to 
 advantage, in considering the nature of our Lord's predic- 
 tion. You yourself admit that the Lord Jesus will at some 
 time return in person — you will farther admit (take your 
 evidence from what source you may,) that his Coming will 
 then be with the clouds of heaven — you do not question 
 that, when he so comeS; all his elect will be gathered from 
 the earth, at the sound of the archangel's trumpet — now, 
 with these admissions, connect a supposition that our Lord 
 on the present occasion had truly desired to communicate 
 to his disciples, who contemplated with sorrow his depar- 
 ture, an account of his real return — making for a moment 
 such a supposition of the Saviour's design of informing his 
 disciples of these events, tell me, whether language more 
 appropriate, direct, and perspicuous, could possibly have 
 been selected for the purpose ; or what circumstances would 
 warrant more the idea of its being his personal advent, of 
 which the Saviour at any time spake? But if the lan- 
 guage was so fitted to convey such an impression ; and if 
 these ideas be those which connect themselves with the 
 personal return of Christ, then not only would the disciples 
 have been most completely deceived, unless it was of that 
 coming of which He spake ; but every reader of the narra- 
 tive would have been exposed to the same hazard. 
 
152 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. viii. 
 
 Scott indeed confesses, that ''the language of these 
 Verses is suited, and probably was intended, to lead the 
 mind of the reader to the consideration of the end of the 
 world and the coming of Christ to judgment; yet," he 
 nevertheless asserts, *' the clause 'immediately after the 
 tribulation of those days,' restricts the 'primary sense of 
 them to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the events which 
 were consequent to it." That the coming of the Son of 
 man is not restricted by that clause to the destruction of 
 Jerusalem but to the great tribulation at the close of the 
 times of the Gentiles, I have often shown ; but whatever 
 restriction that clause puts upon the time of the coming of 
 the Son of man to it we are bound to adhere. If our 
 Lord restrict the sense in which his prediction is to be 
 understood., it certainly becomes not his people, without his 
 authority, to extend it. Yet this eminent commentator hes- 
 itates not to assert, that " the whole passage will have a 
 more literal, and/«r more august accomplishment, at the 
 day of judgment." 
 
 '' Ere long," says he, in his reflections on this part of 
 the prediction, " the expected end shall come : then ' the 
 sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, 
 the stars shall fall from heaven,' and nafure shall seem to 
 expire in convulsions. The tokens of the Saviour's com- 
 ino- will be perceived. He ivillcome with divine power and 
 glory in the clouds of heaven ; and ' all the tribes of the 
 earth shall mourn because of Him' whom now they despise 
 and disobey. But before He executes his righteous vengeance 
 on his enemies, He will employ his holy ' angels to gather 
 his elect' from every part of the earth, as with the sound 
 of a mighty trumpet, that they may * be for ever with the 
 Lord,' " But notwithstanding of this correct exhibition 
 of the fulfilment of the prediction, he immediately neutral- 
 izes all the effect of our Lord's following exhortations to 
 watchfulness, so forcibly inculcated both by direct precept 
 and parabolic illustration. Scott thus continues after the 
 quotation just made : " It is not for us * to know the times 
 and seasons' of this grand event ; but we may easily per- 
 ceive the tokens of our own approaching dissolution .'* 
 Under the guise of a retiring modesty, which fears the 
 charge of presumption, the signs which our Lord gives of 
 his coming, and attention to which he urges for the ex- 
 
Let. VIII.] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD. 153 
 
 press purpose of ascertaining the time, are thus supplanted 
 by the tokens of our own approaching dissohition, which, 
 (to prove o?/r ignorance of the times and seasons, I suppose,) 
 it is assumed as infalhbly certain will take place before 
 the coming of the Lord. Mark now the perfect contrast 
 between the inference drawn by the Saviour from this our 
 ignorance of the time of his return, with that deduced 
 from it by his Commentator; " Watch, therefore," is the 
 injunction of Jesus, '*' for 9/e know not at what hour 
 YOUR Lord doth comey Henry himself, while he states 
 the views of those *' who think this is to be understood 
 only of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jewish na- 
 tion," yet acknowledges that "it seems rather to refer to 
 Christ's Second Coming," and asks *' What need we put 
 such strained constructions as some do upon these verses, 
 which speak of it so clearly and so agreeably to other 
 Scriptures, especially," he very well adds, "when Christ 
 is here answering an inquiry concerning his coming at the 
 end of the world, [or age,] which Christ was never shy of 
 speaking of to his disciples ? " 
 
 Its agreeableness to other Scriptures which do confessed- 
 ly refer to the personal return of Christ is a matter of vast 
 importance, and this correspondence we will find to hold in 
 every particular. I say nothing at present of Daniel's 
 placing the resurrection of " many of them who sleep in the 
 dust of the earth" immediately after the great tribulation, 
 (Dan. xii. 1, 2,) since I know not what acknowledgment 
 you would make concerning that prophecy. Neither do 
 I appeal to the evidence of Zechariah, who exhibits the 
 coming of the Lord with all his saints just when the na- 
 tions have assembled against Jerusalem to battle and 
 the city has been taken, after its repossession by the 
 Restored tribes of Israel. Zech. xiv. 1 — 5. I rather con- 
 fine myself entirely to New Testament evidence, and to 
 passages the application of which you will not question. 
 According to our Lord's own prediction, his coming will 
 be '* in the clouds of heaven," or "in a cloud,*' and this 
 corresponds with the annunciation of the angelic attendant 
 on his ascension. While the disciples beheld, "he was 
 taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight;" 
 when to the astonished witnesses it was declared, that 
 " this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, 
 
 O 
 
154: Christ's return personal, proved [Let. VJII. 
 
 shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go," 
 And, twenty years after the destruction of Jerusalem, when 
 therefore the apostle could not refer to that event, John 
 still exclaims, '* Behold He cometh with clouds, and every 
 eye shall see himy And as Christ himself said that " all 
 the trihes of the earth shall mourn" when they see him 
 coming, so John also adds, *'and all kindreds of the earth 
 shall wail hec3.\\?>e of him" — the word ** tribes,'' used by 
 our Lord, being in the original the very word rendered 
 "kindreds," by John.* Acts i. 9 — 11. Rev. i. 7. Our 
 Lord declares that He will then have a retinue of " angels ;" 
 and Paul also testities of his personal return, that ''he 
 shall bo revealed from heaven, with his might t/ angels'* 
 2 Thess. i. 7. 
 
 The 8on of man shall send his angels " with a great 
 sound of a trumpet ;" and Paul again informs us that " the 
 Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with 
 the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God ;" 
 "the last trump," he again says, "for the trumpet shall 
 sound." 1 Thess. iv. \Q. i Cor. xv. 52. When the Son 
 of man comes with his angels, "they shu\\ gather together 
 his elect from the four winds, from the one end of heaven 
 to the other;" and the apostle farther testifies that "the 
 dead in Christ shall rise Jirst ; then we which are alive 
 and remain, shall he caught up together with them in the 
 CLOUDS, to meet the Lord in the air." 1 Thess. iv. 17. 
 
 In every particular, therefore, do we find our Lord's 
 statement fully corroborated by those in the epistles, where 
 
 • Mr. Faber, in his Geyieral and Connected J'iein of the ProphecieSy 
 has the following remarks on this passage: " These words contain 
 an evident allusion to a prophecy of Zechariah, relative to the Resto- 
 ration and Conversion of the Jews. (Zech. xii. 10.) Like that 
 prediction, they certainly give us reason to believe, that there will 
 be A VISIBLE manifestation of the Lord at the period when Antichrist 
 is overthrown, aiid the Jews arc re-settled in their own land. Tliis 
 awful manifestation St. John afterwards describesat large. (Rev. xiv. 
 17— :20. xix. 11 — 21.) Here he briefly tells us that all the kindreds 
 of the earth, meaning, I suppose, the great confederacy of the Latin 
 earth or Roman empire, shall wail because of the Messiah; that 
 every eye shall see liim ; and that they also which pierced him, the 
 lately unbelieving but now penitent./(y^/'5 shall look upon \\\\\\. Amen. 
 Even so come., Lord Jesus," \^ol. II. p. 337. I do not remember that 
 Mr. Faber has taken any notice of this verse in his Sacred Calender 
 of Prophecy ; but, if he has, I doubt it will be in very different terms. 
 
Let. VIII.] FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD. lo5 
 
 there cannot be a doubt that the Saviour's personal return 
 is referred to, thus also confirming the interpretation given. 
 The fact of this being the personal return, has, by these 
 very coincidences, compelled the acknowledgment of those 
 who w^holly disregard the express statements of the time 
 to u^hich it is fixed. From the questions of the disciples, 
 the circumstances introduced, and the language employed, 
 the Rev. Mr. Mason regards our Lord as here predicting 
 his personal return, although by a too close adherence to the 
 word ''world" in our translation, he places tliis Coming of 
 Christ after the Millennium. "Having informed his dis- 
 ciples of the total desolations which should come on the 
 temple, he forcibly observes, " they were induced to ask 
 him, *TelI us when shall these things be? and what shall 
 be the sign of thy Coming, and of the end of the world ?' 
 Mat. xxiv. 3. In the latter question, the disciples con- 
 nect Christ's Second Coming with the end of the world, 
 [or age,^ importing plainly that they had no idea of this 
 advent till the conclusion of time, [or of this dispensation.] 
 As Christ does not correct this opinion, we mat/ be assured 
 it was no mistake. In answer to this part of their request, 
 He says, in verse 30, ' And they shall see the Son of man 
 coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great 
 glory.' " Gentiles' Fulness, p. 198. The single correction 
 of "age" for world, which even you w-ould make, and at- 
 tention to the time at which it is expressly fixed by the 
 Saviour himself, but which Mr. Mason has w4ioIly over- 
 looked, this single extract would overthrow many a page 
 its venerable author has written upon the subject. It also 
 testifies strongly to the conviction which forced itself upon 
 his mind, that the Coming of Christ with the clouds of 
 heaven can only apply to His personal return. 
 
 Indeed, although most Antimillenarians, in the present 
 day, have become too wary to make such an admission, it 
 does not appear to have been so in former times. Thus 
 Dr. Cressener remarks, as quoted by Mr. Cuninghame, 
 " it found an almost unanimous consent among all sorts of 
 interpreters, that this coming of the Son of man (Mat. xxiv. 
 80,) must he His Second Coming in glory. Grotius him- 
 self in this is forced to be of the same mind\^^\i\\ the rest." 
 1 have already referred to the testimony of the Historian 
 of its having been universally so understood by the prira- 
 2 
 
156 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. VIII. 
 
 itive church ; and, I may now add also by the collective 
 representatives of the Church in different ages. The pas- 
 sage is cited in the Creeds and Confessions of different 
 countries in proof of Christ's Second Coming, when they 
 have attended httle to the time at which it is placed by the 
 Saviour himself. The prediction is so cited in the Geneva 
 Confession of Faith, in proof that Christ ''will come in 
 the same visible form in the which he ascended, with an 
 unspeakable raajesty, power, and company.'' Collection 
 of Confessions, p. 6. It is also cited in the Scots Confes- 
 sion of Faith, as an encouragement to present duty, by the 
 glories it presents, since " we certainly believe that the same 
 our Lord Jesus shall as visidly return as that he was seen 
 to ascend ; and then we firmly believe, that the Time of 
 Refreshing and Restitution of all things shall come, in- 
 somuch that those that from the beginning have suffered 
 violence, injury, and wrong, for righteousness' sake, shall 
 inherit that blessed immortality promised from the begin- 
 ning;" whence they pledge themselves not to be moved " to 
 renounce and forsake that blessed society which w^e, the 
 members, have with our head and only Mediator Christ 
 Jesus, whom we confess and avow to be the Messias pro- 
 mised." Ihid. p. 22. The compilers of the Westminster 
 Confession, also, — one of the most eminent of whom, (Good- 
 win,) we know to have been a staunch Millenarian, — al- 
 though they have said nothing in the Confession itself oi 
 the Millennium, by which their precise views concerning it 
 can be ascertained, appear evidently to have regarded it as 
 preceded hj the Coming of Christ. They have had no idea 
 of JOOO years as certainly tointervene, for they cite our Lord's 
 prediction to prove the personal return of the Redeemer as 
 sudden and unexpected; and that Christ wdll have the day 
 of judgment '^unknown to men, that they may shake off all 
 carnal security, and he always watchful, because they know 
 not at what houri\[e Lord will come; and may ever be pre- 
 pared to say, 'Come Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen.' ''Ibid. 
 p. 274, or common edition, p. 174. They again cite this 
 prediction in their Larger Catechism, (Quest. 56,) in proof 
 that Christ shall personally " come again at the last day, in 
 great power, and in the full manifestation of his own glory, 
 and of His Father's, with all his holy angels." 
 
 These are clear and unequivocal testimonies as to the 
 
Let. IX,] FROM THE PARABLES OP ILLUSTRATION. 157 
 
 ideas attached by their authors to the Coming of the Son 
 of man in the clouds of heaven, being no figurative advent. 
 Far be it from me, however, to ask of you submission to 
 the authority of men, or to bend your judgment before that 
 even of the most eminent in the church, — not altliough they 
 may have been employed in the compilation of Catechisms 
 and Confessions. But if you can come to the u'ord of God 
 itself as unfettered as they appear to have done, bringing 
 with you Reason for the rig/it interpretation of Revelation, 
 I am not w^ithout hope, that in the evidence previously ad- 
 duced, and in the arguments formerly advanced, you may 
 perceive grounds for acquiescing in their decision with re- 
 spect to the nature of the coming of the Son of man. 
 Should this be the result of our present investigation, it will 
 afford me much pleasure, and be additional cause of grati- 
 tude to Him who has already honoured much. 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Yours in the Lord Jesus, &c. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 THAT THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN WILL BE 
 PERSONAL, PROVED FROM THE VARIOUS PARABLES 
 GIVEN IN ILLUSTRATION OF THE PREDICTION. 
 
 Reverexd Sir, 
 
 The Parables continued in our Lord's Pro- 
 phetic Discourse supply, in my opinion, additional and im- 
 portant evidence in favour of the interpretation formerly 
 given. They have proved another source of serious diffi- 
 culty to all Antimillenarian Expositors, who, while they 
 readily admit the proper application of one or more, accord- 
 ing to their several fancies or caprice, strenuously resist every 
 attempt to extend to all the same application to the personal 
 return of Christ, as declared to be the coming of the Son of 
 man in the clouds of heaven. While almost all of them 
 agree in maintaining, that the Saviour, from speaking of 
 the destruction of Jerusalem as the coming of the Son of 
 man, proceeds somewhere in his discourse to speak of his 
 real return — there is yet an utter w^ant of harmony in de- 
 o3 
 
158 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. IX. 
 
 terraining at what particular point he ceases to refer to the 
 one and begins to predict the other. One admits that all 
 the parables are meant as illustrations of His Second Com- 
 ing, while others suppose that only a part are to be so un- 
 derstood ; and of those who do so, scarcely two agree as 
 to where the division is to be made, nor afterwards adhere 
 with consistency to the distinction they themselves have 
 drawn. 
 
 This confusion may, I think, be easily traced to the 
 same fertile cause of inconsistency already so often allud- 
 ed to — the refusal to recognise the real nature of the com- 
 ing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power 
 and great glory, when tie shall send his angels to gather 
 together his elect from the one end of heaven to the other. 
 It is only by the acknowledgment you are so willing to 
 make concernino; thatcorains;, that a consistent view of these 
 parables can ever be obtained, for it is in illustration of 
 that coming they were all spoken, and with regard to no- 
 thing else will they all harmonise. They were not delivered 
 on different occasions, and for different purposes. There is 
 no intimation given of their being ^m/'//j/ in illustration of a 
 figurative coming, and 'partly m illustration of one that is 
 personal. They were all uttered at one time, and for one 
 specific purpose — the illustration of the prediction just be- 
 fore delivered concerning the coming of the Son of man. 
 With it they stand intimately connected ; and they are inse- 
 parably related, each to the other, as the several parts of 
 one great whole. The Coming of Christ in glory is in it- 
 self an important event, and in the eyes of the disciples, to 
 whose inquiries our Lord's prediction was delivered as a 
 reply, one of deepest interest; and circumstantial as was 
 the prediction itself, Jesus added seven distinct illustrations 
 in this parabolic form, all to exhibit the state of the church 
 and the world in relation to his return. Several of the par- 
 ables are recorded fully by Matthew only; but by him 
 some of them are narrated at considerable length— the 25th 
 chapter being entirely occupied by the account of three. 
 In all of them, observation of the progress of events in the 
 fulfilment of the numerous signs Jesus had given is enjoined. 
 The duty of watching for his coming in the clouds of 
 heaven is first inculcated by the parable of the fig-tree. 
 Mat. xxiv. 32. 33. The state of the world at the time of 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION, 159 
 
 his coming, in their infidel disregard of all the signs of its 
 approach, and their contempt for the warnings of his word, is 
 next compared to that of the antedihivians, whose fate is 
 also set forth as the example of what shall again befall a 
 rebellious world, ver. 36 — 41. This is followed by a com- 
 parison of his coming to that of a " thief" in its unexpect- 
 edness to those whom its awful realities will surprise. 
 There is next an especial admonition to watchfulness and 
 fidelity, on the part of ministers of the gospel, contained in 
 the parable of the " faithful and wise servant whom his 
 lord halh made ruler over his household" in his absence, 
 and an exhibition of the consequences which will ensue to 
 others awfully unfaithful, who, in the depth of their infidel- 
 ity regarding the coming of the Lord, will act a cruel and 
 unjust part towards their brethren in the ministry, ver. 42 
 — 51. The state of the church generally, as it respects 
 the ea;fecintion of this coming of her Lord, is next set be- 
 fore us in the parable of the Bridegroom and the marriage. 
 Mat. XXV. 1 — 13. The duty of a careful occupation and 
 diligent use of the talents with which Christians are 
 endow^ed, and the several rewards to be bestowed accord- 
 ing to the improvement made by them respectively, is then 
 illustrated by the distribution of various sums by the noble- 
 man to his servants, prior to his taking a long journey, and 
 his reckoning with them at his return, ver. 14 — 30. And, 
 lastly, the termination of the Gentile dispensation, and the 
 judgment of Jesus upon the quick at his return, bestowing 
 rewards upon his people and inflicting punishment upon his 
 enemies, are displayed by the illustration of the sheep and 
 the goats, ver. 31 — 46. 
 
 All of these, it is to be observed, form one series, and are 
 all meant to serve one important purpose — the more full 
 elucidation of the prediction of the con:iing of the Son of man 
 in the clouds of heaven. They follow each other in regu- 
 lar and unbroken succession, having ever interwoven into 
 their composition the particular references which they sev- 
 erally possess to the great event to which they relate. The par- 
 able of the fig tree follows in the very next verse, the mission 
 of the angels to gather together the elect, and the object of 
 it is declared to be that when the preceding signs are ac- 
 complished, it may be known that the Son of man ^'is near 
 even at the doors." But as the precise time of his coming 
 
160 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. ix. 
 
 was left unknown, the case of the antediluvians and their un- 
 expected destruction in the raidst of their wickedness, is set 
 forth, when its relation to the Saviour's return is once more 
 distinctly intimated by its being twice again expressly de- 
 clared, " so shall also the coming of the Son of man be/' 
 ver. 37, 39. The same relation is farther repeatedly in- 
 troduced in the illustrations both of the thief and the stew- 
 ard. The inferences in the former case are, *' Watch, there- 
 fore, for ye know not at what \\qwx your Lord doth come ;'* 
 and " therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye 
 think not, the Son of man cometli." ver. 42, 44. In the 
 case of the steward, or ruler over the household, a blessing 
 is pronounced on him who continues faithful to his trust, 
 and *' whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing ;" 
 and it is when the "evil servant shall say in his heart. My 
 Lord delayeih his Coming,''' that he begins to exercise cru- 
 elty towards his fellow-servants, when "the Lord of that ser- 
 vant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in 
 an hour that he is not aware of." Again wdien the Kingdom 
 of heaven, or the Church, is likened unto ten virgins, it is 
 ''while the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and 
 slept;" and the admonition from this is, "Watch, there- 
 fore, for ye know neither the day nor X\\^\\<:)\xx wherein the 
 Son of man cometh'' Farther, in the case of the man 
 travelling into a far country, who called his own servants 
 and delivered unto them his goods," the lesson taught still 
 is, that " after a long time tJie Lord of those servants com- 
 eth, and reckoneth with them." And, finally, the separation 
 of the sheep from the goats is ''when the Son of shall come 
 in his glory, and all the holy angels with hi?n." 
 
 Nothing can be more obvious than the perfect unity of 
 design which runs through the whole. How various soever 
 the circumstances stated may be, still they all centre and 
 terminate in the one great event of the coming of the Son 
 of man. Looking at them in their natural and regular 
 connection, a person ignorant of the present state of the 
 case might naturally suppose that nothing but the greatest 
 perversity could have induced any individual to attempt a 
 separation of the one from the other, or of any or all from 
 that coming to which they are so indissolubly united. Yet 
 not only has this been done, but is done by every Antimil- 
 lenarian Expositor. It is essential to the very being of 
 
Let. IX.] PROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 161 
 
 his interprotation of a figurative coming of the Son of man 
 in the destruction of Jerusalem, that this coming be dis- 
 joined from his real proper coming whenever it may occur. 
 And as there is at least one of these illustrations which all 
 Antimillenarians apply to Christ's personal return, and se- 
 veral others of which the majority make a similar applica- 
 tion, that disjunction must be effected at whatever expense 
 of consistency and propriety. And, as in all other cases in 
 which the fancies or caprice of men is the only regulating 
 standard, the mode of treatment has been exceedingly va- 
 rious. 
 
 Let me now more particularly call yonr attention to the 
 obvious connection which the one parable has with the 
 other, and the relation in which they all stand to the pre- 
 diction of the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of 
 heaven, with the view of farther demonstrating that that is 
 the personal return of Christ, and no figuralive coming, 
 either at the destruction of Jerusalem, or at the overthrow 
 of the Antichristian Apostasy. 
 
 The first parable, or simile, that of the fig-tree, relates 
 entirely to the indications of His coming, intimating the 
 duty of habitual attention unto them, and the capability of 
 their being distinctly understood when perceived, as the ap- 
 proach of summer is discerned by the putting forth of 
 leaves, " So, likewise, ye," says the blessed Saviour, "when 
 ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [He is 
 near, marg.^ even at the doors.'* Mat. xxiv. 33. This 
 has, therefore, an evident reference to what has previously 
 been said, in the verses immediately preceding, of the com- 
 ing of the Son of man. The correction of " He'' for " it," 
 made from the margin of some of our bibles, is adopted by 
 Scott from Whitby, who justifies it as more agreeable to 
 the original to understand " He, the Son of man, mention- 
 ed ver. 30, stands at the doors." 
 
 To the 34th and 35th verses I have already devoted 
 the whole of my 3d Letter, and make no farther reference 
 to thorn here, but proceed to the 36th, " But of that day 
 and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, 
 but my Father only." Henry adopts the view^ given by 
 Grotius, and still entertained by some, of there being a 
 distinction between the time of " all these things," in the 
 34th verse, and *' that day and hour,"^ in the 36th, by 
 
162 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. ix. 
 
 which the former is understood to refer to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, and the latter to the personal coming of the 
 Lord. This is the view which you had adopted when you 
 delivered your first Lecture on the chapter, but which you 
 avowedly abandoned when you reached the verse for expo- 
 sition. But notwithstanding of the supposed distinction which 
 Henry thus admits, with an inconsistency rarely equal- 
 led except in Scripture exposition, in which a license un- 
 known in other departments of criticism seems claimed, he 
 immediately proceeds to apply the 36lh verse equally to 
 both events. It is not, however, necessary that 1 should 
 farther insist on the inseparable connection between " all 
 these things," and on " tliat day and hour" of the coming 
 of the Son of man as unknown, the character of which the 
 Saviour immediately compares with that of the Antedilu- 
 vians. 
 
 Besides the celestial and terrestrial signs given by our 
 Lord of that glorious day, He has also furnished us with 
 great moral signs by which its approach may be discerned. 
 " But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming 
 of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were be- 
 fore the flood, they w^ere eating and drinking, marrying and 
 giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the 
 ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all 
 away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." ver. 
 37 — 39. Thus it is plainly predicted that immediately before 
 our Lord's return mankind will have sunk into a state of de- 
 grading sensuality. Amid all the palpable tokens by which 
 it is preceded, unimpressed by the denunciations of his 
 wrath, they will be as insensible to their danger as were 
 the antediluvians. The same awful features of ungodli- 
 ness which characterized our race in the days of Noah shall 
 prevail at the coming of the Lord. Regardless of the glo- 
 ry of God, and heedless of their souls' salvation, men shall 
 have given themselves up to licentiousness and violence, to 
 irreligion and to vice, in their most hideous forms. Wick- 
 edness as abandoned as ever vexed the soul of holy saint, 
 shall have acquired a fearful ascendancy. And, oh ! who 
 does not, in the present aspects of society, perceive the rapid 
 degeneracy which may soon, very soon, realize in all its 
 horrors, the frightful demoralization thus depicted by our 
 Lord ! Sins of a nature too hideous to be mentioned even 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 163 
 
 by a licentious press, itself the organ of impurity, are daily 
 perpetrated without exciting on the part of a large propor- 
 tion of the population, one feeling of disgust, or one expres- 
 sion of holy giief. It may indeed be questioned, which is 
 the most alarming? — the direful prevalence of grossest sin, 
 or the awful apathy wnth which its commission is regarded. 
 Let those whose powers of moral perception have not be- 
 come dreadfully diseased say, whether there be not in the 
 aspects of society something approaching to that state de- 
 scribed by the Saviour. And let them consider whether it 
 does not more correctly apply to present times, than it did 
 to that of Jerusalem's destruction. 
 
 But as in the days of antediluvian guilt, men ^' knew not 
 until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also 
 the coming of the Son of man be." What a state of aw- 
 ful ignorance ! Ignorant of the value of Christ as a Savi- 
 our — ignorant of His design as an Avenger — ignorant of 
 His purpose as a King, — they will be surprised in their 
 self-willed ignorance, and overwhelmed in the midst of their 
 sin. How aw^ful is the criminality of the ignorance of 
 those to whom God has so long proffered instruction! There 
 is no cause for their ignorance but their own neglect or 
 contempt of divine information — there is no palliation of 
 that ignorance in which men obstinately remain — there is 
 no cure for ignorance which despises all knowledge. And 
 as it wms in the days before the flood, the overflowing of 
 divine indignation will sweep away ungodly scoffers, "walk- 
 ing after their own lusts, and saying. Where is the promise 
 of His coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep all things 
 continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 
 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that, by the word 
 of God, the heavens were of old, and the earth standing 
 out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that 
 then was, being overflowed with water, perished." 2 Pet. 
 iii. 3 — 6. Well may all the tribes or kindreds of the earth 
 mourn, when they shall see the Son of man coming in the 
 clouds of heaven with power and great glory : for, like the 
 men before the flood, they reject the counsel of God against 
 themselves. " This gospel of the Kingdom shall be preach- 
 ed in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then 
 shall the end come." But this heavenly witness will bo 
 disregarded, the threatenings of God's word will be gene- 
 
164 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. IX. 
 
 rally despised, as was the warning voice of faithful Noah ; 
 and the world will again be exposed to the fate of those 
 who " knew not until the flood came, and took them all 
 away." But perfectly safe shall those be, even in the day 
 of his wrath, who by faith repose their trust on Him who 
 is able to save, although we are taught that the number will 
 be few; for "when tlie Son of man cometh shall He find 
 faith upon the earth?" How^ever they may be engaged, 
 the angels sent forth to gather the elect will tind and tran- 
 .sport them to meet their coming Lord. *'Then shall two 
 be in the field ; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 
 Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be 
 taken and the other left. Watch therefore ; for ye know 
 not what hour your Lord doth come." ver. 40 — 42. The 
 day of Christ will find ungodly men in a state little think- 
 ing of such a visitation. Engaged in the business of hfe, 
 they shall be found in the field and at the mill. His own 
 people, safe in every situation, will be found at their duties, 
 till the hour when they '* shall be taken" to himself. 
 
 These are characteristics which, though all applied by 
 you to the destruction of Jerusalem, I can regard only as 
 applicable to the personal return of Christ. Henry, with 
 bis usual facility, applies them first " to the success of the 
 gospel," in its reception by some and rejection by others, 
 and also '' to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and the 
 separation which \n\\\ be made in that day." Thus it is, that 
 by disjoining circumstances which our Lord has insepara- 
 bly united, an explanation is sought for statements which in 
 their proper and connected form can find no solution but in 
 the personal coming of the Redeemer, Thus, notwithstand- 
 ing of these applications of our Lord's injunction, " Watch 
 therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come," 
 Henry, without scruple, makes his first interpretation to 
 the death of men. The duty of being always prepared for 
 death is unquestionable, and I know no preparation more 
 effectual than an abiding sense of the Coming of the Son 
 of man, and habitual watchfulness for it. But familiarized 
 as Christians have long been to call death the coming of 
 the Lord, to admit that the death of either saint or sinner 
 is the great event which the Saviour compares with that 
 deluge which overwhelmed a guilty world, is a proposition 
 which it seems impossible for a reflecting mind to admit. 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 165 
 
 The next comparison illustrative of the coming of the 
 Son of man is that of a midnight thief. "Watch, there- 
 fore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come: 
 But know this, that if the good man of the house had 
 known in what watch the thief would come, he would have 
 watched, and would not have sufl'ered his house to be 
 broken up. Therefore, he ye also ready; for in such an 
 hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." ver. 42 — 44. 
 Still the object is to furnish information concerning the 
 coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, and to 
 inculcate watchfulness concerning it. The comparison here 
 made is the same with that applied by Peter to the personal 
 Coming of Christ, when that apostle, in the passage already 
 quoted, comparing it to the deluge, says, " the day of the 
 Lord will come as a thief ^ 2 Pet. iii. ]0. The same 
 simile is again used by Paul, when writing to the church 
 at Thcssalonica. " For yourselves know perfectly that 
 the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 
 For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden 
 destruction shall come upon them, as travail upon a woman 
 with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, 
 are not in darkness, that that day should oxexioke youas a 
 thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of 
 the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness. There- 
 fore, let us tiot sleep, as do others; but let us ivatc.h, and 
 be sober.*' 1 Thes. v. 2 — 6. Not only is the comparison 
 the same, but the same inference of watchfulness drawn 
 by the Saviour, is here repeated by the apostle. It is the 
 very argument deduced from their not being in darkness, 
 ** Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us 
 watch, and be sober." So Christ, concerning His coming 
 in the clouds of heaven, and its being as a thief, says, 
 ''Therefore, he ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye 
 think not, the Son of man cometh." 
 
 The next parable in our Lord's discourse is one which 
 more particularly applies to those having office in his church, 
 still in reference to His Return. Connecting it with those 
 he had already uttered, as each is related to that by which 
 it is preceded, in this parable He says, " Who, then, is a 
 faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler 
 over his household, to give them meat in due season ? 
 Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, 
 P 
 
166 Christ's return personal, proved [Let, IX. 
 
 shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall 
 make huii ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil 
 servant shall say in his heart, iV/j^ Lord delayeth His corn- 
 ing ; and shall begin to smite his fellows-servants, and to 
 eat and drink with the drunken : the Lord of that servant 
 shall come in a day w^hen he looketh not for Him, and in 
 an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, 
 and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites : there 
 shall be w^eeping and gnashing of teeth." ver. 43 — 51. In 
 the preceding verses, our Lord tenders injunctions of watch- 
 fulness to all his followers; but, in the present case, the 
 admonition is more immediately addressed to those in of- 
 fice. The servant is one whom the Lord has " made ruler 
 over his household, to give them meat in due season." 
 This therefore, must represent the ministers of the gospel, 
 whose office and duty it is to furnish their flocks with pro- 
 vision from the Master's stores. Theirs it is not only to 
 wield the terrors of the law in arousing the careless and 
 secure, or to exhibit the cross of Christ as the appointed 
 and only way of salvation, but they are required to exhort 
 all to ivatchfulness for the Coming of the Son of man in 
 the clouds, and to supply them from the heavenly treasure 
 with information concerning the purposes of God. It is 
 their duty not merely to teach them the doctrines of sal- 
 vation, but to unlock for their edification all the treasures 
 of divine inspiration. They are, or ought to be, *' ministers 
 and stewards of the mysteries of God," 1 Cor. iv. 1. Ne- 
 glect is a breach of trust, in whatever department it may 
 be. But here, the duty spoken of is especially connected 
 \vitlj the glorious coming of Christ. Their watchfulness 
 with regard to it, is that which is inculcated by the para- 
 ble. And if they are thus placed under obligation to their 
 flocks, " to give them meat in due season," what will be 
 the reflections of those by whom the duty is neglected, 
 should the Son of man be revealed without their having at 
 all testified of his approach ? If ever it was a duty to ex- 
 hort to watchfulness, and the example of holy apostles 
 even 1800 years ago show that it was, surely the obliga- 
 tion must be mightily increased, when almost the last sign 
 has been fulfilled, and the glorious event is about to be re- 
 alized. Let it not be forgotten that a blessing is pro- 
 nounced on him " whom his Lord when He cometh shall 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. ]67 
 
 find so doing.'* To my utter astonishment, you applied 
 this parable, like the preceding;, to the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem ; but as you did nothing in the way of supporting 
 that application, I have assumed, in these remarks, that 
 the preceding arguments have established the coming of 
 the Son of man in the clouds of heaven to be his personal 
 return, and on this part of the parable will only farther 
 add, that how ^/le blessing here pronounced upon the 
 faithful steward was in any way fulfilled at the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, is what I cannot perceive. Scott's ex- 
 position is again different from yours. ** Our Lord,'* he 
 says, " at length more clearly speaks of his coming to take 
 men away bt/ death, and of his Second Advent to Judge 
 the world " — for wonderful as it may seem, he thus ap- 
 plies the parable to both. It will not, however, be farther 
 necessary to disprove such an inconsistent and contradicto- 
 ry proposition, or again to say that the parable is merely 
 another illustration of the one great and grand event con- 
 cerning which the whole of the latter part of this chapter 
 and the entire of the following one is occupied. 
 
 But our Lord presents the contrast to the faithful stew- 
 ard, and exhibits the practical effect of men's entertaining 
 the idea that the coming of the Lord is a distant <ivent. 
 *' But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, 7ny 
 Lord delayeth his coining, and shall begin to smite his fel- 
 low-servants.*' This still represents the professing Christ- 
 ian, it is even the Christian minister that is supposed ; and 
 fearful it is to think that such should be found among the 
 persecutors of Christ's people, — of Christian ministers, their 
 ** fellow-servants." But such, you perceive, is represented 
 as the result of their views concerning the coming of Christ. 
 Not that they question, not that they doubt, that He will 
 come at some time. He is a "servant" of Christ that is 
 mentioned, though an ** ^y// servant ;" and he acknow- 
 ledges Christ as his " Lord." But he says, " my Lord de- 
 layeth his coming." This is the cause of his smiting his fel- 
 low-servants. From the parable 1 am thus distinctly taught 
 that before the coming of Christ, Christians, and Christ- 
 ian ministers, will have the opposition, the absolute perse- 
 cution oi false brethren ; and that this will be the case at 
 the very time of Christ's return in glory, for when he 
 " shall begin" to do so, " the Lord of that servant shall 
 p3 
 
168 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. IX. 
 
 come in a day when he looketh not for hira, and in an hour 
 that he is not aware of." It is an awful thought, but I 
 confess the impression is strong upon ray mind, however 
 reluctantly entertained, that in the proceedings of some 
 late church courts, there has been evidence of too unequi- 
 vocal a nature to admit of much doubt, that we already 
 approach to the period more particularly referred to in the 
 parable. Without seeking to vindicate all the doctrines 
 condemned, I do think it ominous that while ministers open- 
 ly preaching Arminian and Socinian doctrines are left un- 
 questioned — while ministers neglectful of the most impor- 
 tant duties of their office are tolerated in indolence and in- 
 difference — while ministers whose lives are flagrantly im- 
 moral remain unimpeached — the Church of Scotland, up- 
 on a charge of heresy, has lately cast from her commun- 
 ion men of holiest lives and ardent zeal for the glory of 
 the Redeemer ; and in one case, I am convinced a most 
 unrighteous decision has been pronounced against a Scriptu- 
 ral doctrine, miserably misunderstood, and into the real na- 
 ture of which little inquiry was made by many who hesi- 
 tated not to pass judgment of condemnation upon their 
 more faithful fellow-servant.* 
 
 But under the impression that their Lord ^^ delay eth his 
 coming," the parable farther represents some of these rulers 
 in his household, as not only beginning to smile their fellow- 
 servants, but as also beginning " to eat and drink with the 
 drunken.'' The awful sin of intemperance, though it has 
 swept through the length and breadth of the land like a 
 desolating pestilence, destroying its thousands and its tens of 
 
 * In these days of relis^ious calumny I am not unaware of the oblo- 
 quy to which I may probably be subjected, by thus voluntarily asso- 
 ciating my belief with that of one against whom public clamour is 
 already loudly raided, and who has been authoritatively branded as 
 a heretic. It is, however, my prayer to the God of truth, that I 
 may be kept from that fear of man which bringeth a snare, and al- 
 though 1 would have preferred silence where opportunity is awant- 
 ing of unfolding fully my views, I am not very solicitous to escape 
 all risk of unjust imputations, if the interests of injured truth de- 
 mand such acknowledgment. On this subject, much has been writ- 
 ten which I do not approve; but every sentence of Mr. M'Lean's 
 remarkably distinct answers to the very absurd hypothetical ques- 
 tions of the Irvine Presbytery, (published entire in au explanatory 
 Letter to Dr. Rodman, by VVarrand Carlile, Esq. Paisley,) I freely 
 adopt as a confession of my faith concerning the perfect sinlessaess 
 of the fallen humanity of our blessed Lord. 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OP tLLUSTRATlON. 169 
 
 thousands, does not appear to me to have yet assumed the 
 aspect in which it is represented in the parable. Alarm- 
 ingly general as drunkenness is, I regard the peculiar feature 
 here represented as one which intimates a more advanced 
 era When, with such a degree of frequency as can 
 mark it as a sign, ministers of the gospel shall begin to eat 
 and to drink with the drunken, 1 shall regard it as addi- 
 tional and clearer evidence, that the coming of the Lord 
 draweth nigh. For " if that evil servant shall say in his 
 heart, my Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to 
 smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the 
 drunken ; the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when 
 he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware 
 of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion 
 with the hypocrites ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of 
 teeth." Such is the awful fate which awaiteth the unfaith- 
 ful, unbelieving, and persecuting minister of the gospel, in 
 the day "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heav- 
 en, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance 
 on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall be punished with ever- 
 lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from 
 the glory of his power ; when he shall come to be glorified 
 in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe." 
 Dreadful it is to think that such should be the condemnation 
 of any who minister in sacred things. But this is represented 
 as actually the sin and the fate of some at the coming of the 
 Lord. And although it cannot be regarded as a present por- 
 trait of ministerial character, soon the e may be witnessed, in 
 the progress of immorality, such indifference to companion- 
 ship among those who ought to be ensamples to their flocks, 
 when they shall associate with the worthless, and learn of 
 them their way. 
 
 Let those who watch the moral signs of Christ's return 
 observe the connection in which it is here and elsewhere 
 placed in relation to a dissolute state of society. In the 
 38th verse, our Lord compares the time of His coming to 
 "the days that were before the flood." Regardless of their 
 impending fate, " they were eating and drinking;" and in 
 the 49th verse. He farther intimates, not only the prevalence 
 of drunkenness, but the awful implication in its guilt of those 
 who ought most loudly to testify against it. As the coming 
 
 F 3 
 
170 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. IX. 
 
 of Christ is ever urged by himself and his apostles as a mo- 
 tive to holiness, so would 1 wish particularly to call attention 
 to the sins w^hich are here represented as then to be prevail- 
 ing, and implore of men to consider the dangers they incur. 
 " The end of all things is at hand ; he ye therefore sober, and 
 watch nnto prayer. ' 1 Pet. iv. 7. *' For yourselves know 
 perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in 
 the night . . .Therefere let us not sleep, as do others; but 
 let us watch, mid he soher." 1 Thess. v. 2, 6. These cau- 
 tions against the degrading vice of intemperance, although 
 at no period unseasonable or uncalled for, still seem 
 from the connection in which they are placed to imply in- 
 creased temptations and extreme indulgence just betore the 
 coming of the Lord. While, therefore, such exertions are 
 made for the Prevention and Cure of Intemperance by the 
 combined efforts of associated men, let me suggest to Chris- 
 tian advocates for Temperance, a more frequent use of 
 the Scriptural weapon provided by Christ and his apostles, 
 against this growing and rampant sin. The coming of the 
 Lord, in all its array of terror to the drunkard, is the argu- 
 ment to be urged in immediate bearing against its seductive 
 influence. Let me then repeat it in admonition for the con- 
 tinued temperance of those who, in enjoined " moderation," 
 are waiting for their Lord — let me urge it, in the language 
 of solemn warning, on those who may be yielding to the 
 seductive power of this abounding immorality — let me 
 thunder it in the ears of others going headlessly down the 
 gulph of ruin, victims of this debasing and fatal vice — '* And 
 take heed to yourselves, lest at any time yoar hearts be 
 overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares 
 of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For 
 AS A SNARE shall it come on all them that dwell on the 
 face of the ivhole earth. Watch ye, therefore, 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 of man." Luke xxi. 34 — 36. Unwilling to weaken 
 the impression of a warning so solemn and appropriate, I 
 leave it without farther comment, to the consciences of all. 
 In the next parable, the church is exhibited in a differ- 
 ent point of view. This is one of an historical nature, in so 
 far as the history bears upon the coming of the Son of 
 man in the clouds of heaven. In the preceding illustra- 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OP ILLUSTRATION. 171 
 
 tions of that glorious event, I have shown that there is a 
 constant reference to it, and that the one great purpose for 
 which they were spoken, is the exhibition of circumstances 
 relating unto it. Jn the parable last considered, the conse- 
 quence of the fl?/^^^//^ of Christ's speedy coming is exhibited, 
 and in the present one the lo?ig and general neglect of this 
 truth in the church is foretold. This was to continue till 
 near the very time of Christ's return. " Then," says the 
 Saviour, " shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ien 
 virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the 
 Bridegroom. And. Jive of them were wise, and five were 
 FOOLISH. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took 
 no oil with them ; but the wise took oil in their vessels, 
 with their lamps. While the Bridegroom tarried, they 
 ALL slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a 
 cry made, Behold the Bridegroom cornet h ; go ye out to 
 meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their 
 lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your 
 oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, 
 saying. Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you ; 
 but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 
 And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came ; and 
 they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; 
 and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other 
 virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answer- 
 and said. Verily 1 say unto you I know you not. Watch 
 therefore ; for ye know neither the day nor the hour ivherein 
 the Son of man cojneth." Mat. xxv. 1 — 13. Still the 
 same reiterated warning to watchfulness for the Coming of 
 the Son of man, — a warning repeated with such frequency 
 and earnestness as to leave the absolute neglect with which 
 it is treated awfully criminal. It is the same important 
 coming, and the connection of the parable with the pre- 
 ceding prediction is distinctly expressed. It is not to be 
 applied to a multitude of times nor to more than one. It 
 stands in inseparable connection with the preceding predic- 
 tion, for it is ** then"* the kingdom of heaven shall be hkened 
 unto ten virgins. 
 
 This with you was a point of the greatest difficulty. 
 You would separate what Christ has joined, but where that 
 disjunction could be most easily effected you were evidently 
 at a loss to determine. The whole of the parables in the 
 
172 Christ's RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. IX. 
 
 24th chapter you applied absolutely to the destruction of 
 Jerusalem; and how this, therefore, could be otherwise ap- 
 plied was a difficulty of which you could in no way get rid, 
 without doing the utmost violence to the language. Ra- 
 ther, however than submit that the Coming of the Son of man 
 is his personal coming, you committed that violence, although 
 in a manner which sufficiently exposed itself. At one time 
 you said you understood our Lord to refer hereto the Chris- 
 tian church, after the coming of the Lord at the destruction 
 ot Jerusalem, spoken of in the preceding chapter, to which 
 you conceived Him to refer by the word " thenj^ Again, 
 however, you said that in it the Saviour looks forward to the 
 very end, to the consummation of the Kingdom, when you 
 affirmed He also looks forward in the same manner in the 
 two parables which precede it, notwithstanding of the view 
 you had previously given. i\gain, you regarded it as a di- 
 datic address; then as o. prophetic parable. Afterwards 
 you viewed it as referring to the union of believers with 
 Christ, as if no particular time had been intimated by the 
 *' then." Farther, you affirmed with confidence that it was 
 the gospel dispensation in its finishing state ; and lastly ap- 
 plied it to individuals at death. But amid all this variety of 
 comings ot the Bridegroom, presented at different times as 
 the explanation of our Lord s one parable, there was a spe- 
 cial care to exclude all view of the Bridegroom coming im- 
 mediately after the great tribulation at the close of the times 
 of the Gentiles. What is, however, the most remarkable is, 
 that you should not have felt bound to confine it to the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, as you did the coming of the Son of 
 man, of the circumstances of which it is only an additional il- 
 lustration. If our Saviour has restricted it by the word 
 *' then" to that period, no one is at liberty to remove it 
 thence. And if that person find that his interpretation will 
 not admit of the application of the Saviours own illustration, 
 he may receive this as evidence that his interpretation is 
 wrong. Its utter inapplicability I shall therefore attempt 
 to show, while I endeavour to demonstrate its confirmation 
 of the view already exhibited. 
 
 The character of a Bridegroom, and the circumstances of 
 a Marriage, it will be admitted, are of joyful and happy 
 signiticancy. And if so, the appropriateness with which they 
 are used in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem is not 
 
Lbt. IX ] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 173 
 
 very obvious. It cannot be supposed that our Lord spake 
 of an event of the most melancholy interest to his disciples 
 under such a joyous figure. But to the personal return of 
 Christ, both are happily applicable. It is an event for vv^hich 
 the whole creation groans, longing to be delivered from the 
 corruption under which it has been placed. But not only 
 is the coming of the Bridegroom an event which by its very 
 nature is inapplicable to the destruction of Jerusalem, but 
 which may, from other passages, be proved to refer to the 
 personal return of Christ. You yourself admitted on one 
 occasion that the absence of the Bridegroom meant his per- 
 sonal absence, quoting in proof, Mat. ix. 15. Let us there- 
 fore examine this text. ''Then came to Him the disciples 
 of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees of John fast 
 oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, 
 Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn as long as the 
 Bridgroom is with them ? but the days will come when 
 the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall 
 they fast." From this it is indeed perfectly evident, that 
 Christ speaks of his personal presence and absence, as that 
 of the Bridegroom. In his human nature he was then 
 "with" the children £)f the bride-chamber, and not either in 
 his providence, or by his Spirit merely. It was in that na- 
 ture also he was ''iok^xifrom them, " and therefore, his com- 
 ing again as the Bridegroom must be his personal return- 
 But it is also of the highest importance to observe that dur- 
 ing the whole period of the Bridegroom's absence, the chil- 
 dren of the bride-chamber, or his disciples, are to fast, for 
 they cannot mourn'' as long as the Bridegroom is with them." 
 His return must therefore be before the Millennium, and 
 just at its commencement, for during that happy time they 
 shall rejoice and not mourn. As the church will therefore 
 have then ceased from her mourning the Bridegroon must 
 have then returned, for in his absence, or while taken from 
 them, they cannot rejoice. There is therefore an obvious 
 and happy application of the Bridegroom's coming, to that 
 of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, at the close of 
 the times of the Gentiles, at the commencement of the Mil- 
 lennium ; while it is altogether inapplicable to the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem. The return of the Bridegroom is distinct- 
 ly exhibited in the book of the Revelation, and there also 
 it is placed at the commencement of the Millennium. The 
 
174 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. ix. 
 
 language of exultation there is, " Let us be glad and rejoice 
 and give honour to Hina ; for the marriage of the Lamb 
 is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Rev. xix. 
 7, 9. Now the celebration of a marriage necess'arily sup- 
 poses the ^^/'^^■e/^c*? of the Bridegroom. And this is imme- 
 diately before His Millennial reign with his arisen saints is 
 declared. Rev. xx. 4. 
 
 In the parable the Lord represents the condition of the 
 church at the time of his coming in the clouds of heaven, and 
 the views previously entertained concerning it " Then shall 
 the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins." Of 
 this number, five were ivise, and five WQve foolish; yet the 
 Bridegroom having " tarried" beyond their expectafions, 
 "they ^//slumbered and slept." In this state they contin- 
 ued till, " at midnight, there was a cry made, Behold the 
 Bridegroom comet h, go ye out to meet Him." What a 
 faithful History of the church's feelings and views on the 
 subject of Christ's return ! With the minuteness of a His- 
 torian does the Saviour state the fact, and with more than 
 Historian's skill assigns the reason. Notwithstanding of all 
 his warnings for vcatchfuhiess, because they k)iew not at 
 what hour their Lord would come, the Saviour distinctly 
 foretold that they would fall asleep upon the subject, and 
 this was when, in the disappointment of their minds they 
 tliought ''the Bridegroom tarried^ This it is which ex- 
 plains the present heedlessness of the church to the time of 
 His coming, even of many of the wise virgins, Christ's dear 
 saints — it furnishes those who are looking for " that blessed 
 hope" with an explanafion which serves to console under all 
 the opposition of brethren on a subject which radiates so de- 
 lightfully the glory of God — it accounts equally for the op- 
 position, often bitter, and sometimes profane, of others, seen 
 among the "virgins" indeed, but giving little evidence of their 
 being of the number of the " ivise." In an early stage of 
 my own investigations, ere yet the Scriptural Evidence had 
 wrought its work of complete conviction, when my mind was 
 occasionally in danger of being overpowered by the angry 
 opposiUon of those 1 was bound to love, the renewed con- 
 sideration of this parable solaced my soul, restoring and in- 
 creasing that settled trust on God's own word which it then 
 seemed as if the church had conspired to suppress. And it 
 is gratifying to reflect, and it may be useful to state, that not 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. J 75 
 
 a few of those friends whose opposition I had early to en- 
 counter, but who now receive and bear testimony to the 
 truth, regard this parable as affording the only proper ex- 
 planation they can give for their former rejection of a doc- 
 trine attested by evidence so full, so varied, and so wonder- 
 fully precise. 
 
 This parable will not, however, apply to the conduct of 
 the church, the real and hypocritical friends of Immanuel, 
 at the destruction of Jerusalem. Had all the professors of 
 the name of Jesus, the wise as well as foolish virgins of 
 the kingdom of heaven, ceased to expect the destruction of 
 Jerusalem ? There was no relaxation on the part of Jewish 
 Christians in expecting the overthrow of the city which they 
 loved, and to which they clung with the ardour of devoted 
 patriotism — a patriotism modified alone by their Master's de- 
 nunciations of its desolation until His return. From the time 
 the Saviour uttered his prediction of its doom, till the Ro- 
 mans laid Jerusalem in heaps. His afflicted disciples v/atch- 
 ed for its fate with certain assurance. It was not with re- 
 spect to that event certainly that the wise virgins as well aa 
 the foolish had fallen asleep ; and we have sometimes won- 
 dered what could be the nature of that ivisdom which is at- 
 tributed to all the followers of Jesus, when the coming of 
 the Bridegroom in the parable is explained to be their own 
 death, which they had all ceased to expect. 
 
 This is clearly the personal return of the Son of man, 
 who now comes in the character of Bridegroom ; not aa 
 when formerly he appeared in our world, but in a manner 
 and with an attendance suited to his rank— with power and 
 great glory, having angels obedient to his will, and ready 
 in his service towards those who form his bride. Reluctant 
 .•:s Christians may still be to receive this truth, the parable 
 itself had predicted the fact; but not less explicitly does it 
 declare the awakening of all before our Lord arrive. Small 
 as the church may then be, by the increased infidelity of 
 the times, we are told of those then professing his name, 
 not only the wise but the foolish, **«'// those virgins arose and 
 trimmed their lamps." Destitute as they are of the grace 
 of God, deceiving or being deceived, some will be found pro- 
 fessedly looking for his appearing who shall yet be exclud- 
 ed from his presence, and be denied participation in the 
 honours and enjoyments of the marriage supper. Let me 
 
176 Christ's RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. IX. 
 
 then call on all to examine themselves, and ascertain for 
 certain that they have really obtained that oil for which there 
 will not be opportunity to seek when Jesus shall be reveal- 
 ed from heaven. 
 
 The next parable inculcates upon the friends of the Re- 
 deemer the right occupation of the various talents with which 
 they are severally intrusted. It informs us of the rewards 
 to be bestowed upon the faithful at His Coming, and the 
 punishment to be inflicted on the unfaithful. " For the 
 kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country 
 who called bis own servants, and delivered unto them his 
 goods. And unto one He gave five talents, to an- 
 other two, and to another one; to every man according to 
 his several ability ; and straightway took his journey. 
 Then he that had received the five talents, went and traded 
 with the same, and made them other five talents. And 
 likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. 
 But he that had received one, went and digged in the earth, 
 and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord 
 of those servants comelh, and reckoneth with them. And 
 so he that had received five talents came and brought other 
 five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five tal- 
 ents ; behold, I have gained besides them five talents more. 
 His Lord said unto him. Well done, thou good and faithful 
 servant ; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will 
 make thee ruler over many things ; enter thou into the joy 
 of thy Lord. He also that had received two talents, came 
 and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents; be- 
 hold I have gained two other talents besides them. His 
 Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant, 
 thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee 
 ruler over many things ; enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord. Then he which had received the one talent came 
 and said. Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, 
 reaping where thou hast not sowed, and gathering where 
 thou hast not strawed ; and I was afraid, and went and 
 hid thy talent in the earth ; lo there thou hast that is thine. 
 His Lord answered and said unto him. Thou wicked and 
 slothful servant, thou knew^est that I reap where 1 sowed 
 not, and gather where I have not strawed ; thou oughtest 
 therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and 
 then at my coming I should have received mine own with 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 177 
 
 usury. Take, therefore, the talent from him, and give it unto 
 him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath 
 shall he given, and he shall have abundance ; but from him 
 that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath. 
 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, 
 there shall be w^eepingand gnashing of teeth." ver. 14—30.' 
 In this, as in all the preceding parables, the great event 
 still is the coming of the Lord as the period when his ser- 
 vants shall render an account of the manner in which they 
 have improved their talents. As the parable of the Bride- 
 groom is connected with those of the preceding chapter 
 concerning the coining of the Son of man in the clouds of 
 heaven by the particle " then," so the present is again con- 
 nected with that of the Bridegroom by Xh^ particle "for," 
 with which it commences. I fully agree with you in pre- 
 ferring the supplement He, for the more lengthened, but 
 certainly not more perspicuous one, " the kingdom of hea- 
 ven is," which has been introduced in our translation. By 
 this substitution, the parable is thus connected with the 
 preceding context, "Watch, therefore: for ye know nei- 
 ther the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man com- 
 eth. For He is as a man travelling into a far country." 
 But you afterwards spake of its reference to Christ's com- 
 ing ultimately— of His coming to individuals, which you 
 were again pleased to say He does to every one— and of 
 His dispensations, as to the Jews. And in a subsequent 
 discourse you said, whether we are to understand Wareck- 
 oning here referred to, of the conscience—of God's provi- 
 dence— of the soul at death— or the final judgment— it is 
 equally applicable. In the following discourse, you said, 
 that in the close of this parable we see the reward bestow- 
 ed upon two, and the awful punishment of the third at the 
 day of death, and at the last great day, when the Lord 
 Jesus shall judge the world. The-doom of the last, you 
 continued, refers to the awful sufferings of the world to 
 come, although it may also refer to the visible judgments 
 sometimes inflicted on the wicked before they leave this 
 state ; and you concluded by applying it to the end of the 
 world. With such a diversity of interpretations, what be- 
 comes of the unity of the Saviour's Discourse, on which 
 you formerly insisted so strenuously as to deny all suc- 
 cession in the first part of the prediction ? If the com- 
 
 Q 
 
178 Christ's return personal, proved [Let, IX. 
 
 ing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven really 
 was the mere infliction of God's wrath upon the Jews 
 through the agency of second causes, then must this para- 
 ble also have Imd its appHcation at the same time, being 
 merely an illustration of circumstances attending that 
 event. These several parables, I have already shown, are 
 united not only to each other, but through that connection 
 they are all related to the prediction itself, through the 
 first parable which is inseparably connected with the com- 
 ing of the Son of man. This relationship is still maintain- 
 ed in the parable under consideration, commencing as it 
 does with another reason or argument for watchfulness. 
 *' For He is as a man travelling into a far country." It is 
 thus evidently a discourse relating to what has already 
 been spoken. It is Just another inference from it, and one 
 which furnishes new evidence against your idea of a fig- 
 urative coming of Christ. Instead of being before the then 
 living generation had died, " He is as a man travelling into 
 a far country," consequently he cannot very speedily be 
 back ; and thus his coming is not till " after a long time." 
 Besides, the Jews as a nation rejected the Saviour, and it 
 does not therefore appear to be to them, or any such, that 
 our Lord represents himself as committing the talents, but 
 to those who are " his own servants" avowedly. The 
 country into which the Traveller has gone, is heaven — his 
 departure was his ascension in the clouds — the "longtime" of 
 his absence, is that of his session at the Father's right hand — 
 the servants are those who profess themselves his disciples 
 — the talents with which they are entrusted, are the vari- 
 ous means and opportunities with which they are favoured, 
 and which they are required to improve to his glory — and 
 when, " after a long time, the Lord of those servants com- 
 ethy and reckoneth with them," his personal return must 
 as really be meant as his personal departure and continued 
 abode in heaven, realized the taking of his journey and 
 continued absence — the reward of royal authority over 
 cities bestowed upon his faithful servants, intimates the 
 enjoyment of power and glory proportioned to their zeal 
 and fidelity, when they shall live and reign with Christ 
 J 000 years; and the punishment of the slothful servant, 
 is that condemnation which shall be assigned to the merely 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 179 
 
 nominal Christian, when the Son of man shall come in his 
 glory, and all the holy angels with him. 
 
 And oh, let it be observed as matter of fear to the pro- 
 fessing church, that here the ground of condemnation is 
 slothf Illness. Let it be observed with due attention, with 
 serious consideration, with deep alarm. Who can look 
 abroad upon the great Christian community without seeing 
 in fearful prevalence this ground of condemnation. Spirit- 
 ual sloth is indeed a common disease, and its fatally deso- 
 lating effects on the part of many cannot be concealed. 
 It pervades all their thoughts, it is uttered in their words, 
 it is visible in their conduct. They profess to believe in 
 the existence of God, yet seem not to think of His omni- 
 science — they read his word, but meditate not on its con- 
 tents — they hear his gospel, and it is to them as an idle 
 tale, or at best as a very lovely song, fitted only to please 
 — they witness his judgments, while yet they are taught 
 not rigliteousness — they can even hear unmoved, or with 
 little apprehension, the thundered annunciation, that at 
 length '' tlie Lord of those servants comet h, and reckon- 
 etli icith ihe?n." Infatuation unparalleled! Professing to 
 believe the word of God, they wholly neglect for them- 
 selves its proclamations of mercy and denunciations of woe, 
 till aroused by the command, never to be recalled, '' Cast 
 ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall 
 be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Oh, let me seek to 
 arouse from a stupor which, if not soon shaken off, must 
 prove the everlasting destruction of those who indulge in 
 its guilt. Ere their coming Lord arrives, let them seek by 
 His blood and assistance of his Spirit to be found among 
 those on whom is pronounced the benediction, " Well done 
 good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord." 
 
 The last of the seven parabolic illustrations delivered by 
 our Lord in connection with the prediction of his coming 
 in the clouds of heaven, now demands our consideration. 
 It is introduced in language so similar, as at once to inti- 
 mate the identity of the coming spoken of, with that in the 
 prediction itself: "When the Son of man shall come in 
 his glory, and all the holf/ angels with Him, then shall 
 He sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall 
 be gathered all nations ; and he shall separate them one 
 
180 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. IX. 
 
 from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the 
 goats. And He shall set the sheep on his right hand; but 
 the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them 
 on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of ray Father ; inherit 
 the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 world ; for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I 
 was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and 
 ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was sick, and 
 ye visited me; 1 was in prison, and ye came unto me. 
 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, When saw 
 we thee an hungered, and fed thee ? or thirsty, and gave 
 thee drink? when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee 
 in? or naked, and clothed thee? or when saw we thee 
 sick, or in prison, and came unto thee ? And the King 
 shall answer and say unto them. Verily I say unto you, 
 Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these,^ 
 my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say 
 also unto them on the left hand. Depart from me, ye curs- 
 ed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his an- 
 gels. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat ; 
 I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I v/as a stranger, 
 and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; 
 sick and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they 
 also answer him, saying. Lord, when saw we thee an hun- 
 gered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in 
 prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall He 
 answer them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as 
 ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto 
 me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; 
 but the righteous into life eternal." ver. 31 — 46. 
 
 Whatever diversity of opinion there may be among An- 
 timillenarian Expositors with regard to the meaning of our 
 Lord's direct prediction, or the application of all the other 
 parabolic illustrations, there is on this a perfect harmony — 
 with respect to the time, at least, to which it refers. All 
 ideas of a figurative coming are now rejected ; all the for- 
 mer variety of comings is dispensed with, and this stands 
 forth, in the estimation of all, as a full declaration of his 
 real personal return, and is by many accounted an exact 
 representation of the attendant circumstances. Now it is 
 not a little surprising, that when our Lord, in his predic- 
 tion, should have so expressly stated the time of his com- 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OP ILLUSTRATION. 181 
 
 ing, there should be such difficulty in fixing that time, 
 while here, when, if our Lord does not speak of the very- 
 same time, he refers to none at all, so little difficulty should 
 be experienced in relation to it. 
 
 I have already shown the connection of this and all the 
 parables with the prediction contained in the preceding 
 chapter, but you spake of this being a distinct para- 
 grajjh, and of its not being to be regarded as a parable. 
 Although the appellation ** sheep and goats" is figurative, 
 you remarked, this is immediately departed from ; and 
 since it is not called a parable by the Spirit of God, you 
 would not treat it as such. With respect to the use of the 
 word parab/e, did any one better descriptive of its nature 
 occur to me, I should be sorry to give you any unnecessa- 
 ry uneasiness by its use, although you yourself admit that 
 it has some of the characteristics. But to refuse to recog- 
 nize it as a parable, because the Spirit has not expressly 
 called it such, is to refuse to do so on grounds which are 
 utterly untenable. Do you refuse to recognize the illus- 
 tration of the "virgins," or that of the Traveller, or that 
 of the " talents," as parabolic, although the w^ord is not 
 used in either of them ? Or is it more really "a distinct 
 paragraph" than any one of these ? Was it not equally 
 spoken in answer to the questions of the disciples ? Does 
 it not equally tell of the coming of Christ ? We have no 
 intimation of there having been even the slightest interrup- 
 tion during the delivery of the whole discourse of which it 
 forms a part. We have no information of His Coming 
 being here something different from what it is in his direct 
 prediction, or in any of the preceding parabolic illustrations. 
 
 The Saviour again takes to himself the same designation 
 which he had done in his predicton, " the Son of man," 
 which you said is characteristic of his personality, uniting 
 the human and divine natures. In contrast to his former 
 humiliation, you said, he would here seem to speak of his 
 Second Coming, "when he shall come in his glory." 
 Now is it not very remarkable that in his direct prediction 
 you could not equally recognize his Second Coming, as 
 that vvhich is " with power and great glory!' Is not the 
 reference to these words very distinct, when the Saviour now 
 says, " when the Son of man shall come in his glory 7" 
 He bad already foretold distinctly the time of his coming, 
 q3 
 
182 chrlst's return personal, proved [Let. IX. 
 
 and without unnecessary repetition of the time, he now tells 
 farther what shall be done " when" he shall come. Here, 
 again, his attendants are "all the holy angels;" now^ these 
 he had previously declared shall be with him when he 
 comes in the clouds of heaven, for then "He shall send his 
 angels, and they shall gather together his elect." Once 
 more, He here appears in the character of a '* King,'' and 
 ''then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory;" and at 
 his coming in the clouds of heaven, he had already pre- 
 dicted, '' the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand.'' He 
 shall then judge " all the nations," or " all the Gentiles,"*' 
 and he had previously declared not only the gathering of 
 the elect, but also that " all the tribes of the earth shall 
 mourn," when they see him coming. And the fate of 
 both righteous and wicked, as here declared, is in exact 
 accordance with the statements of preceding parables. 
 Every circumstance concurs to prove, that our Lord is still 
 referring to the same great event of his coming, and that 
 this is another illustration of the circumstances which in 
 preceding parables have already been in various important 
 respects so minutely exhibited. 
 
 But if this w^ere really an exact representation of the 
 final judgment, and the preceding prediction of the Son of 
 man in the clouds of heaven merely the declaration of a 
 ^figurative coming, it is not a little remarkable, that while 
 both Mark and Luke give pretty full accounts of the pre- 
 diction itself — and the argument against you is rather' 
 strengthened than w^eakened by interpreting the prediction 
 as applicable only to the destruction of Jerusalem — that 
 they should wholly have abstained from here saying a sin- 
 gle word of this important prediction of the final judgment, 
 as you suppose, spoken on the same mount of Olives, to 
 the same persons, and on the same occasion. If brevity 
 were the reason of the omission, we should i-ather expect 
 the 7nore i?nportant enent to have been the absorbing one, 
 in their narratives. Yet these Sacred Historians have both 
 entirely omitted in its place, that part of our Lord's Dis- 
 course which you regard as a very important and distinct 
 prediction of the personal coming of Christ, while you con- 
 sider they have both given a full account of a prediction of 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, under the name of the com- 
 ing of the Son of man. Say whether such an explanation 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 183 
 
 do not seem unnatural? Viewed, however, as an ilhistra- 
 tion of our Lord's prediction concerning his coming, the en- 
 tire omission of the parable by these two evangelists, gives 
 perfect harmony to the view we are naturally led to take 
 of the record they have left. For while it must have ap- 
 peared remarkable that when recording somewhat fully 
 their Lord's Discourse concerning minor matters, they 
 should both wholly overlook his prediction of an event of 
 such stupendous magnitude, delivered at the same time, it 
 appears jierfectly natural when considered in the way in 
 which it is now exhibited. Viewing this and the preceding 
 parables recorded by Matthew as mere illustrations of the 
 prediction so minutely recorded in the preceding chapter, 
 and also by the other two evangelists, when we consider 
 the greater brevity of their accounts of the prediction, it is 
 precisely what was to be anticipated, that although they 
 give fully the prediction itself, they should wholly omit this 
 and other lengthened illustrations. 
 
 The partialities and prejudices of Expositors, in the very 
 different reception which they give to certain portions of 
 the word of God, as they may accord with, or seem in op- 
 position to their peculiar views, is, however, remarkably 
 illustrated in the instance before us. Even if every thing 
 here narrated had had the clearest marks of an unfigured 
 prediction, it could not be treated in a manner more direct 
 than it is. Its statements are believed and cordially re- 
 ceived, and greatly insisted on, while, as has been pretty 
 fully exhibited in former Letters, all the statements in the 
 preceding chapter, concerning the coming of the Son of 
 man, are lowered down, and shadowed off with the utmost 
 care. Now what is the reason of such diversity of treat- 
 ment in these two cases, supposing that the verses now be- 
 fore us, instead of being a parabolic illustration of the pre- 
 vious prediction, were really in themselves a separate and 
 distinct prediction.^ The reason, I suspect, is simply this, 
 that in the former case, the Coming of the Son of man is 
 fixed to a time which accords not with the views enter- 
 tained upon the subject; while in the latter, it is supposed, 
 no time is specified, and that consequently it may more 
 easily be placed where it is wished. 
 
 The late Bishop of Landaff has well said, " When men 
 are desirous of forming systems, they are apt to collect to- 
 
184 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. IX. 
 
 gether a number of texts, which, being taken as abstract 
 propositions, seem to estabhsh the pohit; but which, ivhen 
 interpreted by the context, appear to have no relation to 
 it. There is no greater source of error than this practice ; 
 it has prevailed in the Christian church from the earliest 
 ages, and it still prevails. We owe to it the corruptions 
 of Popery, and that infinity of heresies which have so 
 much debased the simplicity of gospel truth, and driven so 
 many men of sense from embracing Christianity." Bishop 
 Watson's tivo Sermons and Charge, p. 70. With every 
 circumstance in the occasion which led to the prediction of 
 the Saviour's coming in the former chapter ; — in the views 
 of those to whom it was addressed; — of the statements it 
 contains, and the language in which they are conveyed; — 
 all intimating our Lord to be foretelling his personal return 
 at the close of the times of the Gentiles, and the restoration 
 of Israel, the prediction itself has beeji denied to mean more 
 than the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, or the 
 still future destruction of the divided Roman empire by 
 some other power. And while this has been most confi- 
 dently affirmed, simply on the ground of some difficulties, 
 created without cause and adhered to in the face of dis- 
 proving evidence, the illustration of that prediction has not 
 only been affirmed to refer to his personal return, but has 
 been magnified into undue importance, as if it were the 
 only prediction our Lord had left concerning his coming. 
 
 Not only so, indeed, but having with so much ease dis- 
 posed of all the obvious evidence, direct and collateral, ad- 
 duced in proof of the real meaning of the prediction of the 
 Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, it is then made 
 matter of complaint that demonstration of our views has 
 not been given by the advocates of the premillennial re- 
 turn of the Redeemer. Such a reception of evidence, and 
 such inattention to all the circumstances calculated to 
 throw light on the meaning of the prediction, will suffi- 
 ciently account for the fact, however amazing, of Mr. Fa- 
 ber's want of success in our desperate cause, when prompt- 
 ed by a superabundance of generosity himself to become 
 the advocate of views he found so miserably defended. 
 This manner of disposing of evidence will easily explain 
 how it is that with all \\\^ professional skill and Millena- 
 rian zeal, — with all the candour which such impartiality 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 185 
 
 implies, and with all the industry to which his interest in 
 the Millenarian cause could incite — Mr. Faber has to en- 
 ter his complaint, that "the sole apparent evidence which, 
 after long thought on the subject, I have been able to 
 discover," is the second chapter of the second epistle to the 
 Thessalonians. ^ac. Cal. vol. III. p. 434. The above re- 
 marks will, perhaps, readily suggest to the reader the means 
 by which that author, when he happened to stumble on any 
 passage which opposed his views, could easily extricate 
 himself from all supposed difficulties, and will exhibit how 
 easily, and how much to his own satisfaction, he could 
 also dispose of our "sole apparent evidence." 
 
 But with all this demand for demonstration from us, 
 and with all this inability to perceive its force when pre- 
 sented, — that with so strong a desire to do justice to our 
 cause, it might naturally be expected that Mr. Faber 
 will be jealous of whatever might unduly prejudice it, 
 nor readily assume any position of hostility without that 
 demonstration which he requires at our hand. x\re we 
 then allowed these advantages ? Is all his opposition char- 
 acterized by this cautious search for truth? And does his 
 evidence always approach to demonstration? No; the 
 most important points are assumed, without the shadow of 
 proof; and positions which never could be proved, are laid 
 down as incontrovertibly true. When the question is con- 
 cerning the premillennial coming of Christ, he seems to 
 consider it sufficient to secure the assent of rational and 
 Christian men simply to affirm, that in Mat. xxiv. the 
 coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven is only 
 a figurative coming, and that in Mat. xxv. we have, in 
 contradistinction, " our Lord's own account of His hteral 
 Second Advent," and that this coming is after the Millen- 
 nium. Sac. Cal. vol. I. p. 438. 
 
 Let me now call your attention more particularly to the 
 verses cited : " When the Son of man shall come in his 
 glory, and all the holy angels with him." Although you 
 twice admitted that the coming here spoken of must just 
 be that alluded to repeatedly in the preceding part of the 
 chapter, you yet more generally proceeded as if it were not 
 inseparably connected with a direct prediction, having a 
 specified time, but were merely an isolated passage, to which 
 no chronology was attached. On the last of the occasions 
 
180 Christ's RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. JX. 
 
 already mentioned, you said the time here referred to by 
 the *' when,'' might be ascertained either from the context or 
 from other passages. If to either the decision of the ques- 
 tion be submitted, I have little reason to fear the issue. To 
 both points your attention has already been repeatedly cal- 
 led. I have especially fully shown that this " when" He 
 shall come in his glory, must refer to his personal return, im- 
 mediately after the great tribulation at the close of the 
 times of the Gentiles. In " the context," he had already 
 declared this as the time of His coming "■ in the clouds of 
 heaven with power and great glori/*' To the various 
 parabolic illustrations of that event, he is about to add ano- 
 ther, and therefore with perfect distinctness does He say, 
 ^^ when the Son of man shall come in his glory,'' he shall 
 sit upon his throne. It was not necessary, on each occa- 
 sion of his stating some new particular concerning his com- 
 ing, that he should repeat the time, which he had already 
 given with so much minuteness in the preceding chapter. 
 All that was required was to mark the fact that he really 
 did refer to that coming in '' great ^/<9r//," and this he does 
 fully by simply stating it to be " when the Son of man 
 shall come in his glory." But should the identity of this 
 coming not be discerned by its character of ''glory," nor 
 even by its being the coming of ''the Son of man,'' the 
 prophecy and the illustration of it again correspond in ano- 
 ther of its characteristics, " and all the holy angels with 
 him.*'' The perfect correspondence which there is between 
 them in this respect also, is so marked that it is really as- 
 tonishing how you could fail to recognize the identity of 
 that coming which it is the object of both to exhibit. But 
 one of the grounds of diversity alleged by you is still more 
 remarkable. Here, you observed, our Lord predicts his 
 being attended at his coming with "all the holy angels ;*' 
 while, you stated, that of the predicted angelic attendants 
 on his coming, in the preceding chapter, the adjective '* holy" 
 was not introduced. From this you inferred that in the one 
 case the terra '' angel" was to be received in its usual ac- 
 ceptation, while in the other you considered it more natu- 
 rally to be referred to the messengers of the gospel. I 
 cannot help regarding this as a very wonderful distinction, 
 and one which, if applied in other cases relating to angels 
 — angels whose holiness you yourself would not question — 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 187 
 
 would humble many of these pure spirits from the elevated 
 rank in which God has placed them. But can it not be 
 inferred that in the preceding chapter the angels spoken 
 of as being sent forth by the Son of man at his coming to 
 " gather together ^?> elect," are "holy," although they 
 are not expressly so called ? Is there no such information 
 supplied either in the character of Him by whom they are 
 sent, or in the nature of the mission on which they are em- 
 ployed? Are we not in reality taught expressly by our 
 Lord the holiness of these angelic beings ? Surely it may 
 in this case be regarded as sufficient evidence of their be- 
 ing '* holi/ angels," that Christ himself acknowledges them 
 to be *' His angels.'' 
 
 To proceed, " AVhen the Son of man shall come in his 
 glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall he sit 
 upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be ga- 
 thered all nations ;"^ — or rather, as it is in the original, ''all 
 THE nations." From this it has been inferred, that Christ's 
 coming will not be till the consummation of all things, be- 
 cause He is represented as gathering *' all nations" before 
 Him — and consequently, it is supposed, the whole human 
 race. It is generally assumed that " all nations,*' here, 
 includes not only the whole of mankind alive at the time, 
 but also the whole of the human family who have ever 
 lived, or ever will. This is, however, an unwarrantable 
 assumption. Tec ihn, translated " nations," is never in any 
 way, apj)lied to the dead, so far as we can discover. Even 
 in English, the word nations is only applied to men in 
 their earthly relations — such distinctions being lost in the 
 future state. But the term here used in the Original, al- 
 though it signifies *' l/ie nations'' in a general sense, has 
 also a more limited signification, being very frequently re- 
 stricted to i/ie Gentiles only, as distinguished from the 
 Jews. Thus, in these very predictions it is so used when 
 the Saviour says, '* Jerusalem shall be trodden down of 
 i/ie Gentiles, until the timea of tlie Gentiles be fulfilled." 
 Luke xxi. 24. Again, when He sent forth the apostles, 
 he said unto them, " Go not into the way of t/ie Gentiles 
 . . . .hut go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Isra- 
 el." Mat. X. 6, 6. It is used in the same sense in the 
 blessing of the aged Simeon, " A light to lighten the Gen- 
 tiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." Luke ii. 32. H 
 
188 CHRIST S RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. IX. 
 
 is often so used by Paul : " Wherefore remember," says 
 be to tlie Ephesians, " that ye being in time past Gentiles 
 in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which 
 is called the Circumcision." Ephes. ii. 11. Again, speaking 
 of the mystery of the gospel, he says, "it is now revealed 
 unto the' holy apostles and prophets, by the Spirit, that 
 the Gentiles^ should be fellow-heirs." Ephes. iii. 6. In 
 the parable, it might therefore be rendered, *' and before 
 Him shall be gathered all the Gentiles*' 
 
 In the prophecies also, the expression "all nations," is 
 sometimes used where the whole human family alive are 
 evidently not included. It is the very expression used by 
 the prophet Zechariah, in reference to the destruction of 
 Antichristian nations at the coming of the Lord before the 
 Millennium ; to v;hich prophecy our Lord probably al- 
 luded : " Behold the dai/ of the Lord cometh, and thy 
 spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will ga- 
 ther all nations against Jerusalem to battle ; and the city 
 shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women rav- 
 ished ; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, 
 and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the 
 city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against 
 those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle." 
 Zech. xiv. 1 — 3. This is repeated, Joel iii. 1, 2: " For, 
 behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring 
 again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also 
 gather all nations, and will bring them down into the val- 
 ley of Jehcshaphat, and will plead with them there for my 
 people, and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scat- 
 tered among the nations, and parted my land." And again, 
 the Lord threatens the utter destruction of " all nations," 
 when, it will be admitted, it cannot be understood abso- 
 lutely of the w^iole human family. " Come near, ye na- 
 tions' to hear ; and hearken, ye people ; let the earth hear, 
 and all that is therein ; the world, and all things that 
 come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon 
 all nations, and his fury upon all their armies; he hath 
 hiterh/ destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the 
 
 • Of Eighty-seven times in vvbich the " Gentiles" are mentioned 
 in our translation of the New Testament, in above Eighty the orig- 
 inal Grtek has this very word. 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 189 
 
 slaughter." Is. xxxiv. 1, 2. To this dreadful event our 
 Lord appears to refer, in the parable, when he shall de- 
 stroy the nations which have so long been favoured with 
 the blessings of his gospel without availing themselves of 
 its privileges ; and when his own people shall be made par- 
 ticipants of the joy and honour of his millennial kinscdom. 
 In stating the different significations of the word " nations," 
 in the original, you admitted that it is indeed used for " Gen- 
 tiles'' as distinguished from the Jews, but observed, what I 
 freely admit, that it is also used in a more extensive sense, as 
 when, in Rev. vii. 9, John " beheld and lo a great multitude 
 which no man could number, q{ all nations, and kindreds, 
 and people, and tongues." And again, God " hath made of 
 one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of 
 the earth." x\cts xvii. 26. Here, you remarked, all are in- 
 cluded, both Jews and Gentiles. This is indeed true, and 
 that the word rendered "nations" is used in this extensive 
 sense is unquestionable, but you will observe that in neither 
 of the passages just cited is the article "the" introduced in 
 the original, which, in the parable, I think limits it to 'Uhe 
 Gentiles." Our Lord in a preceding part of his Discourse 
 had predicted that " Jerusalem shall be trodden down of 
 the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." 
 These Gentiles appear to be those of Christendom, whose 
 times are fulfilled just before the Millennium, and are, I 
 conceive, " the nations" here referred to. In Rom, xi. 25, 
 Tm t6vog must mean the Gentile nations of Christendom ; 
 for the nation of Israel is not to be converted, " nntil the 
 FULNESS of the Gentiles be come in'' Now this cannot 
 mean all the nations of the world, for it is not till after the 
 conversion of Israel that many of these nations are to be 
 brought into subjection to Christ— the children of Israel 
 being employed in their conversion. Instead therefore of 
 the conversion of all nations ineceding the in-gathering of 
 the Jews, their conversion ?;? 2/6'^ precede that of many of the 
 Gentiles, and therefore, the reference must be to those 
 Gentile nations which have been favoured with the gospel 
 of the grace of God, and who have so awfully undervalued 
 the privilege ; whose fulness of the saved shall have come 
 in before the coming of the Lord. On these grounds do I 
 believe, that the Saviour instead of giving an exact repre- 
 sentation of the final judgment, after the Millennium, here 
 
 R 
 
190 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. ix. 
 
 presents us with another parabolic ilhistration of his coming, 
 immediately after the great tribulation, which will be far- 
 ther evident from a more particular examination of its state- 
 ments. 
 
 " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all 
 tlie holy angels with Him, then shall He sit ttpon the 
 THRONE OF HIS GLOR\." From this it is evident that the 
 Son of man is not yet seated upon the throne of his glory. 
 This he shall attain only when he "shall come in his glory." 
 It is "then," and not before. After his ascension to heaven, 
 Christ speaks of being seated on his Father s throne, be- 
 tween which and his own he draws a marked distinction. 
 Unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans, John was 
 commanded to write the Saviour's promise, " To him that 
 overcometh, will 1 grant to sit with me in my throne, even 
 as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in 
 HIS throne." Rev. iii. 21 . " The Lord said unto my Lord, 
 Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy 
 footstool," which, it is farther stated, will be when "thy 
 people shall be willing in the day oUhy2^oiver.'' Ps. cx.l, 3. 
 It is therefore in His Millennial Kingdom that the Son*of 
 man " shall sit upon the throne of his glory." Accordingly 
 Paul represents "his appearing and his kingdo?n' as being 
 at the same time." (2 Tim. iv. 1.) And Christ himself in 
 this very Discourse, as already noticed, in speaking of his 
 coming in the clouds of heaven, says, " So, likewise ye, when 
 ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the king- 
 dom OF God is nigh at hand." Luke xxi. 31. How dis- 
 tinctly does this again express the identity of the Coming 
 of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and 
 great glory with this additional parabolic illustration of it! 
 
 " Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; and 
 before Him shall be gathered all nations ; and He shall 
 separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his 
 sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on his 
 right hand, but the goats on the left." Now this I con- 
 sider to be as really parabolic as the admission of the vir- 
 gins to the marriage in the beginning of the chapter, and 
 think this manner of separation no more to be literally un- 
 derstood than the entry of the wise by a door, or the simi- 
 lar exclusion of the foolish. Not only indeed is it found 
 among parables, forming one of a series— having the ap- 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 19J 
 
 pearance and sei'ving the purpose of a parable, — but if 
 viewed literally, its statements will be found in opposition 
 to those of whose meaning no doubt can be entertained, 
 Henry, while he regards this as a description of the process 
 of the last judgment, makes a distinction which you never 
 acknowledged, and which you appeared afraid to make. He 
 admits that "some passages there are in it thsit are para- 
 holicnl, as the separating between the sheep and the goats, 
 and the dialogues between thejudge and the persons judged." 
 You, however, regarded both as literally descriptive. Such 
 a view is indeed essential to your general interpretation ; 
 and the person who can make and adhere to such an ad- 
 mission as that just quoted, may be easily convinced that 
 the whole is merely an additional illustration of the previous 
 prediction of the coming of the Son of man. For if the repre- 
 sentation of such a separation be ''parabolical," is it not 
 evident that the previous representation of their being all 
 •'gathered before Him," in order to their being so separ- 
 ated will be of the same character ? That it must be so 
 I shall farther endeavour to prove. 
 
 Your explanation of the whole passage was entirely lit- 
 eral. Can this then be sustained ? In the representation, 
 literally understood, we have the whole assembled species 
 at once arraigned before the judgment-seat; and, in the 
 first instance, brought irromiscuoush/ together. Now it is 
 not to be questioned, from other passages, that in the order 
 of the resurrection, the righteous ^^AWho-s^ some precedence 
 over the wicked. You yourself on one occasion spoke of 
 the righteous and the wicked rising near together. This 
 implies the fact of their not doing so at the same time. If 
 so, it is not necessary for my present purpose to determine the 
 length of time which is to elapse between — whether one 
 day or one thousand years. But the fact itself is universally 
 admitted, that the righteous do rise before the wicked. Now 
 for what purpose is such a precedence obtained, if they are 
 iijmediately after to be again mixed together ? Is it to be 
 supposed that in the resurrection itself these two classes are 
 entirely separated by the very act of the righteous rising be- 
 fore the wicked, only to be again mingled together when- 
 ever they shall be placed before the judgment-seat — and 
 this second jumbling together being for no other purpose than 
 that they may again be immediately separated, to be placed 
 
 r2 ' 
 
192 CHRIST'S RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. IX. 
 
 the one on the right hand and the other on the left. You 
 speak of the propriety and fitness of such a judgment as 
 you represent the parable to exhibit ; but where is the pro- 
 priety, where the fitness, of such a separation, and re-unit- ■ 
 ing, and subsequent division, as your view necessarily implies? 
 
 Again, in the parable before us, all nations are repre- 
 sented as being gathered together — then separated into two 
 great companies, — and as having judgment pronounced upon 
 the whole of each division simultaneously. But, by inter- 
 preting literally another of the parables considered, (ver. 
 14 — 30,) we have a very different view of the procedure of 
 judgment. In it, each individual is called forward, singly, 
 and successively, to give account of the improvement he has 
 made of the talents intrusted to him ; and, individually, 
 they receive rewards proportioned to the zeal they have 
 severally displayed in the occupation of the talents com- 
 mitted to them. I'hus the consequence of interpreting lit- 
 erally the language of these parables, is to set Scripture 
 against itself, by applying it to purposes it was never de- 
 signed to serve. 
 
 But that it does not refer to the general judgment is far- 
 ther evident from the rule of procedure. It is not applica- 
 ble to the whole, but to a particular class. All " the na- 
 tions" here spoken of must have been favoured with the 
 gospel among them. The ground of acquittal or condem- 
 nafion, respects only the love which has been displayed 
 towards the saints. This rule of judgment is therefore in- 
 applicable to those of heathen nations who have gone down 
 to the dust, without having ever heard the Saviour's name, 
 or known one poor disciple. Moreover, this representation 
 cannot be literally understood as applicable to all individ- 
 uals, even in the nations called Christian, without setting 
 the parable in direct opposition to the plain statements of 
 Scripture. These nations are represented as divided into 
 only two classes. All, therefore, who are not found on the 
 right hand must be included among those on the left. But 
 none are received to the right except such as have testified 
 their love to Christ by deeds of benevolence to his saints, 
 in circumstances of distress ; although we have full assu- 
 rance that all who rely by faith on the merits of the Re- 
 deemors blood shall bo saved, even if grace has been 
 bestowed when under such circumstances as may deprive 
 
Lrt. rX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION'. 193 
 
 them of all o})portunity of disj)]aying their love by the 
 deeds to which it prompts, as in tiie case of the penitent 
 thief on the cross. 
 
 You here discoursed largely on the duties of benevolence 
 as arising from princij)les implanted in the human mind, 
 — as being enjoined by the law, and inculcated in the gos- 
 pel. And viewing them to be here exhibited as the fruit and 
 the evidence of faith, you appeared to consider you had 
 taken up the argument by which it is supposed to be lim- 
 ited to the coming of Christ at the commencement of the 
 Millennium. But you entirely failed in showing how a 
 judgment proceeding upon either the fruit or the evidence 
 of -'faith" could apply to those who never heard of Christ; 
 or how this could be the general judgment, including all 
 who had died without being placed in any situation afford- 
 ing them an opportunity of performing acts of kindness to 
 believers. You however remarked that Christ specifies 
 these as duties most apt to be neglected, but that it is not 
 his design to include every particular, and that those must 
 be excepted who have not had the means. But having 
 made this exception, are we to suppose that to be the re- 
 presentation of the general judgment, in the terms of which 
 there is no reference whatever to rules applicable to so large 
 a portion of accountable men ? 
 
 Bishop Porteus says, our Lord here " questions them on 
 one most important branch of their duty, as a specifne/i of 
 the manner in which the inqiwy into the whole of their 
 behaviour will be conducted." This however is mere as- 
 sumption, and cannot be admitted as evidence that all are 
 included in the judgment thus represented, while the 
 Saviour himself has given no such information. '' A speci- 
 men" it never can be of the manner in which other duties 
 have been performed by those who never enjoyed the privi- 
 leges which the "specimen" necessarily supposes — access 
 unto, and knowledge of, the saints of Jesus. 
 
 " No doubt," says Scott, on the other hand, '• impeni- 
 tent sinners of every age and nation will then be judged; 
 but those to whom the Scriptures are sent," he continues, 
 '' are chiefly concerned in this previous delineation of the 
 final judgment, and its process and event; and therefore," 
 he affirms, " our Lord represents nothing more than the 
 ground on which false professors of Christianity will be 
 r3 
 
194 Christ's return personal, proved (Let. ix. 
 
 condemned." Now this is really one of the most conven- 
 ient modes of theorizing which could possibly be adopted. 
 It is at once assumed that we have here a literal " dehnea- 
 tion of the final judgment"— and assumed, too, with the 
 very acknov/ledgment of important discrepancies in the 
 description when applied to that event — then as " those to 
 whom the Scriptures are sent," are alone introduced in the 
 Saviour's representation, this is at once accounted for, on 
 the ground of their " being chiefly concerned," although 
 absolutely no other has found a place in the scene, not even 
 the most subordinate. This entire want of accordance be- 
 tween the representation given by Christ, and the interpre- 
 tation put upon it by his Commentator, is however in his 
 estimation easily rectified. The great defect in the Scrip- 
 ture statement is at once supplied by the latter ; for he has 
 '' no doubt, impenitent sinners of every age and nation will 
 then be judged," although he finds no proof of the fact. 
 Truly the marvellous ease with which our Lord's direct 
 prediction of his coming is itself disposed of, is not more re- 
 markable than the manner in which its illustrations are 
 magnified into an importance sufficient to occupy its place. 
 We must not, however, forget that it is our Lord's state- 
 ment which we are bound to receive, nor are we to overlook 
 the fact that in it only a certain class are specified. 
 
 It is therefore the judgment of the Gentiles who have been 
 favoured with God's word, and who, in point of fact, have 
 professed themselves his friends. Even those on the left 
 hand, the heirs of condemnation, recognise the Son of man 
 as their "Lord," and address him as such, ver. 44. You 
 yourself, on one occasion, acknowledged, indeed, that they 
 are evidently Christ's false professing friends." He left with 
 his disciples a *' new commandment" to cultivate mutual 
 love, and has said, " by this all men shall know that ye 
 are my disciples, if ye love one another.' x\t his return, 
 their obedience to, or disregard of this new commandment, 
 will form a criterion of their real discipleship. 
 
 But the manner in which this criterion is applied, as 
 here represented, is evidently parabolic. Christ first ad- 
 dresses the righteous, by stating their love to himself, as 
 evidenced in their conduct. They are next represented as 
 replying to Him —not one, but all ; not individually, but 
 collectively. Yet even this you interpreted literally. Can 
 
Lr.T. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION'. 195 
 
 you really suppose this literally to take place ? Or was it 
 a fear that to adiiiit the speech put into their mouths not 
 to have been really spoken would have destroyed the evi- 
 dence for an actual separation in the specified form, and 
 the distinct arrangement of the two classes ? 
 
 Of the reply of the righteous, Henry says, *'the ex* 
 pressions are parabolical, designed to introduce and im- 
 press those great truths that Christ has a mighty regard to 
 works of charity, and is especially pleased with kindnesses 
 done to his people for his sake." Now this is precisely 
 the view which I take of the entire representation ; and 
 there is no good ground on which a part of it can be so 
 understood that may not be equally extended to the whole. 
 But you said, " these words may be interpreted literally, 
 or they may be considered as the import of what will then 
 take place — the passage seems to intimate that the King 
 will indeed speak." Now if you think it may be interpret- 
 ed literally, and that the King will indeed speak the words 
 here used, then you must be bound also to admit that both 
 the righteous and the wicked will speak likewise. They 
 are equally represented as speaking ; and indeed you after- 
 wards said that we could not suppose that the righteous 
 put the questions here stated in a spirit of contradiction ; 
 and so likewise that neither can we suppose the wicked en- 
 deavouring to practise upon and deceive the Judge, — that we 
 cannot suppose they charge the Judge with falsehood when 
 they reply, " When saw we thee an hungered," &c. Their 
 questions, you added, must therefore be viewed as arising 
 from their blindness, ignorance, and stupidity ; that unac- 
 quainted with the spirituality of the law they put these ques- 
 tions. Can you really imagine then, that all this vast assem- 
 blage of righteous persons simultaneously or successively 
 put the questions here intimated ? And that all this vast as- 
 semblage of wicked persons also follow their example ? To 
 suppose that the v/ords here stated as really spoken by 
 Christ, and really replied to by an assembled world, col- 
 lectively or individually, is an idea which I could not easily 
 have supposed you would adopt. Your preference of such 
 an interpretation to that which would regard the passage 
 as parabolic, and as expressive of the import of Christ's 
 judgment on a certain class at his coming, admits indeed of 
 easy explanation. But however necessary it may bo for 
 
196 Christ's return personal, proved [Let. IX. 
 
 the preservation of your literal interpretation of the parable, 
 I am persuaded that in this few will follow you ; and it 
 may be of service that you have so exhibited the conse- 
 quences of such an exposition — consequences which I have 
 little doubt will occasion its entire rejection by many who 
 may not hitherto have fully attended to them. 
 
 The last thing to be here noticed is the result of the 
 whole ; " Then shall the King say unto them on his right 
 hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king- 
 dom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 
 " Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand. Depart 
 from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the 
 Devil and his angels." "And these shall go away into 
 everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.'' 
 ver. 34, 41, 40. 8uch is the result of this judgment, the 
 exhibition and inculcation of which is the Saviour's object 
 in the whole representation. This you considered it im- 
 possible to apply to any thing else than the general 
 judgment. I know no reason why it should be so restricted. 
 Strong and decisive as the language is, it exactly corres- 
 ponds with that used in the other parables. Can any thing 
 be more dreadful than exclusion from the marriage-supper 
 of the Lamb ? Yet to the importunity of the foolish vir- 
 gins, the Bridegroom's appalling reply is, " Verily 1 say unto 
 you, I know ^^ou not." Look again at the reward assigned 
 to the faithful steward, and the condemnation pronounced 
 on him who is unfaithful ; and say whether the language 
 is not equally strong and explicit. He who is faithful to 
 the cause of his Master, shall at his coming be made 
 ''ruler over nil his goods ;" while he who is unfaithful 
 ^hoWhe cut asunder, and have "his portion with the hypo- 
 crites; there shall be weefing and gnashing of teeth," 
 Mat. xxiv. 47, 51. The language thus employed is little 
 less strong than that with which the present illustration is 
 closed, although by you applied directly to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem. In the parable of the talents, the approba- 
 tion expressed of those who had profitably employed what 
 was committed to their care, and the condemnation of him 
 who had been slothful is not less decided. " His Lord 
 said unto him. Well done, good and faithful servant ; thou 
 hast been faithful over a few things, 1 will make thee ruler 
 over many things ; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 197 
 
 *' And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkfiess ; 
 there shall be weepinga/id gnashing of teeth." Mat. xxv. 
 21, 30. If to the representations in which such language 
 occurs, you do not refuse to apply the terra parabolic, (and 
 we have seen you do not and can not,) it will be difficult 
 on this ground to object to the same application in the in- 
 stance under consideration. 
 
 Once more, *' The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a 
 man which sowed good seed in his field; but, while men 
 slept, his enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat." 
 Here, also, as in the separation of the nations as sheep 
 from the goats, it is the purpose and promise of Christ, " In 
 the time of harvest, T will say to the reapers. Gather ye 
 together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn 
 them; but gather the wheat into my barn." Now ob- 
 serve how our Lord's explanation confirms the connection 
 which 1 have been endeavouring to establish between the 
 prediction of his coming in the clouds of heaven at the end 
 of the age (Mat. xxiv. 3, 30,) and the illustration of that 
 event, in the separation of the righteous and the wicked, 
 now under consideration. The result is, '' these shall go 
 away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into 
 life eternal." " As therefore the tares are gathered and 
 burned in thejire," says our blessed Lord, in this parable, 
 " so shall it be in the end of the world [or age^ the Son 
 of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather 
 out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which 
 do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire ; 
 there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall 
 the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
 Father." Matt. xiii. 24, 30, 40—43. You will not ques- 
 tion that this is a parable ; yet the result to the righteous 
 and the wicked, which it is designed to exhibit, is precisely 
 the same with that under notice. Still the same view is 
 given, and the same doctrine taught, by another parable 
 delivered in the same discourse, and recorded in the same 
 chapter with that of the tares ; for, " again the kingdom of 
 heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and 
 gathered of every kind ; which when it was full they 
 drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good unto 
 vessels, bid cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end 
 of the atie. The angels shall come forth, and sever the 
 
198 
 
 CHRIST S RETURN PERSONAL, PROVED [Let. IX- 
 
 wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into a fur- 
 nace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." 
 ver. 47— 50. 
 
 These clear parabolic statements, perfectly similar as they 
 are in every respect, should remove your objections on the 
 nature of the sentence pronounced. Nor is the formality of 
 judgment, here represented, inconsistent with the view al- 
 ready given, when compared with other Scriptures. Thus, 
 for example, we have in Dan. vii. 9, 10, the destruction of 
 Antichrist before the Millennium, part of which has been 
 already executed, set forth under the representation of a 
 judgment — the thrones being placed, the books opened, &c. 
 "1 beheld," says the prophet, "till the thrones were cast 
 down, [set or placed,] and the Ancient of Days did sit, 
 whose garment w^as white as snow, and the hair of his 
 head like the pure wool; his throne was like the fiery 
 flame, and his wheels as burning lire. A fiery stream is- 
 sued and came forth from before him ; thousand thousands 
 ministered unto him, and ton thousand times ten thousand 
 stood before him; the judgment ivas set, and the books were 
 opened." No one doubts that this is before the Mdlenni- 
 um, whatever interpretation they may put upon it. Liv« 
 ing, as we now are, in the scene referred to, without witness- 
 ing in form the solemnities here described, the language of 
 the prophecy may serve to illustrate that of the parable. 
 Both refer to times before the Millennium; and the ob- 
 jector to our view of the latter should be prepared to ex- 
 plain on his own principles the statements of the former. 
 
 Lastly, the "Kingdom" which the righteous are called 
 to inherit is evidently that kingdom which is ^" nigh at hand" 
 when the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven, at the 
 close of the times of the Gentile-, corresponding exactly 
 w^ith that Kingdom in tlie parable of the tares, out of which 
 are to be gathered ^' all things that offend," and "then shall 
 the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
 Father!' Thus again have we evidence of this being only 
 another illustration of the preceding prediction. The 
 "Kingdom" has been "prepared" for the righteous; when 
 the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven, it is "nigh 
 at hand,'' and when He "shall sit upon the throne of his 
 glory" they shall be invited to "inherit'' it. 
 
 The wicked are sent away into "everlasting fire prepared 
 
Let. IX.] FROM THE PARABLES OP ILLUSTRATION. 199 
 
 for the Devi] and his angels;" and it is a fact worthy of 
 notice, that when the Antichristian confederation is destroy- 
 ed, immediately before the Millennium observe, the Apoc- 
 alyptic ''beast was taken, and with him the false prophet 
 that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived 
 them that had received the mark of the beast, and them 
 that worship his image ; tliese both ivere cast alive into a 
 lake of fire burning with brimstone!' xix. 20. And that 
 this lake of fire is that '* prepared" for the devil and his 
 angels is obvious from the fact, that after the IVIillennium, 
 when the final confederation of the nations, against the 
 camp of the saints and the beloved city, is destroyed by 
 fire from heaven, " the Devil that deceived them was cast 
 into the [same] lake of fire and brimstone, where the 
 
 BEAST AND THE FALSE PROPHET ATi^," J^reviousli/. Rev. XX. 
 
 10. Here therefore, as in every other instance, we have a 
 striking coincidence, favouring the view already offered of 
 the representation which you consider an exact delineation 
 of the process of the final judgment being only an addition- 
 al illustration of the more direct prediction of Christ's re- 
 turn in glory, at the close of the times of the Gentiles. 
 
 In concluding this lengthened examination of these par- 
 ables, I trust their real meaning and connection with our 
 Lord's prediction of his coming has been rendered more 
 obvious. If so, you will admit that coming to be personal, 
 since this interpretation, and this alone, you give to part of 
 what is thus proved to be merely illustrative of it. That 
 these remarks may be blessed of God to your advantage, 
 is the heartfelt desire of one who with a sense of his own 
 unworthiness desires to be instrumental in promotino- the 
 glory of Him to whose grace he is wholly indebted, and 
 who unfeignedly acknowledges himself with much respect, 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 Your ever obliged servant in Christ, &c. 
 
200 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 ON THE SIGNS, CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL, WHICH 
 PRECEDE THE COMING OF CHRIST IN THE CLOUDS 
 OF HEAVEN. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 I have hitherto abstained fiom saying much 
 relative to certain signs given by our Lord as the immedi- 
 ate precursors of his return. This is however matter of 
 considerable importance ; for if the Saviour has vouchsafed 
 to furnish us with what is suitable for premonition, by 
 neglect we incur guilt, and deprive ourselves of information 
 he has been pleased to impart. The question of the disciples 
 relative to their Lord's return, was respecting "the sign," 
 rather than concerning the event itself. Much of his an- 
 swer is also to be regarded in the same light, as a sign or 
 signs given with the view of forewarning the disciples of what 
 had first to take place. Viewing the several parts as indi- 
 vidual signs they are numerous, clear, and easily understood- 
 These signs are both of a moral and physical kind. They 
 are, however, principally of a moral nature ; and, therefore, 
 most easily discerned by those who being renev/ed in the 
 spirit of their minds are more alive to the impressions of 
 moral susceptibility. Of those of a physical kind, some are 
 rare, stupendous, and at all times uninfluenced by the in- 
 tervention of human agency. From their very nature and 
 extensive prevalence, both are within the range of ordinary 
 observation, and beyond the reach of imposture to effect, 
 and therefore perfectly adapted for the great purpose they 
 are designed to serve. 
 
 1 do not farther revert to those of which I have formerly 
 spoken, as having been already fulfilled; but would now so- 
 licit for a little your attention to some which yet remain 
 unaccomplished, but which precede the coming of the Son 
 of man in the clouds of heaven. Before that event we 
 are taught by the Saviour himself to expect the Restor- 
 ation of the Jews to their own land. Jerusalem shall first 
 be '* trodden down of the Gentiles, witil the times of the 
 Gentiles be fulfilled.'' This '* until*' clearly intimates that 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 201 
 
 SO long as Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles, their 
 times will not be fulfilled ; and it is not until after Jerusa- 
 lem has ceased to be so trodden down, or till it shall again 
 enjoy the occupancy of those whose capital it was, and 
 shall again be, that the coming of the Son of man will be 
 realized. From Old Testament prophecies I infer, that 
 their Restoration will bo effected in the confusion of the 
 nations which takes place in the great tribulation, under the 
 outpouring of the seventh vial. This therefore is one great 
 sign which I regard as still unfulfilled. 
 
 But great and important as the Restoration of Israel is, 
 if the Lord will, it may very speedily be effected. At this 
 moment, there is less in the way than there has been since 
 their first expulsion by the Romans. By the outpouring 
 of the sixth vial, in the drying up of the Euphrates, the 
 Lord has been preparing their way ; and in the present state 
 of Turkey, the sovereignty of Palestine might probably be 
 procured on easy terms from the Sultan of the Sublime 
 Porte ; — to whose revenue it in fact yields little, and to 
 whom, in his present emergency, money is of vast import- 
 ance. A few months back this project was said to be seri- 
 ously entertained, the greatest capitalist living being then re- 
 garded as the future sovereign of Judea. But while I thus 
 speak of mere natural appearances, in so far as concerns 
 the probability of a speedy restoration of the Jews, it is not 
 thus I expect the fulfilment of Jehovah's pledge to the 
 seed of Abraham. Feasible as the scheme might appear, 
 I said at the time, the redemption of Zion from Gentile op- 
 pression was to be obtained otherwise than by pecuniary 
 purchase. Having respect to the authority which declares 
 that " Zion will be redeemed ivith judgments^' and which 
 gives promise to the captive daughter of Zion, ''Ye shall be 
 redeemed ivithout money,'' (Is. i. 27. lii. 3.) such specula- 
 tions only called forth more marked attention to the pur- 
 pose of God. But this does not in the least abate my con- 
 fidence that their Restoration is near, nearer than their na- 
 tional conversion. God has for a length of time been pre- 
 paring their way, and among themselves the expectation 
 becomes general that the covenant made with their fathers 
 will in this respect be speedily fulfilled. Hath not the 
 Lord said unto Zion, "Thy children shall make liaste, and 
 thev that made thee waste shall go forth of thee" ? Is. xlix. 
 S 
 
202 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 17. And is it not their national restoration, rather than 
 their conversion, (and certainly the promise is to them alone,) 
 which for its suddenness is compared to birth pangs : " Who 
 hath heard such a thing ? Who hath seen such things ? 
 Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day ? Or 
 shall a nation be horn at once ? for as soon as Zion travail- 
 ed, she brought forth her children." Is. Ixvi. 8. The pre- 
 sent state of the nations may soon open a way of which the 
 Jews will readily avail themselves for returning to the be- 
 loved land of their fathers. Reasoning even from analogy, 
 events of greatest moment, and prodigious in their magni- 
 tude, would now excite less admiration than would former- 
 ly have been created by those of much less importance. 
 And certainly the rapidity with which, of late, revolution 
 has followed revolution, leaves us little room to calculate on 
 the Restoration of Israel as a distant event. 
 
 But another of the signs given by our Lord, as preceding 
 his return is the universal preaching of " the gospel of the 
 Kingdom." The coming of Christ forms the commence- 
 ment of a ?iew age, the annunciation of which is to be made, 
 and invitations to its honour given, before the close of the 
 present age. "This gospel of the Kingdom," said the 
 Saviour, "shall be preached in all the world, for a witness 
 unto all nations, and then shall the end come." Mat. xxiv. 
 14. In no sense do I regard this sign as yet fulfilled. Ex- 
 tensive regions have never heard of the name of Christ; 
 and to whom access has not hitherto been obtained. But 
 the language of our jjord appears to intimate more than 
 the preaching of salvation through his name. It is " the 
 gospel of the kingdom' which is the message; and refers 
 apparently to that wondrous condescension of the Son of 
 God in ruling over our regenerated world. It is called the 
 " gospel o^ the Kingdom," and even to misgoverned nations it 
 ought certainly to be regarded as " good news." This gos- 
 pel being that of the " Kingdom," the term naturally sug- 
 gests it to be the annunciation of the Redeemer's Royalty. 
 But this view is farther strengthened by attending to the 
 fact that the Saviour calls it " this gospel of the Kingdom." 
 It is therefore of the Kingdom about which he then spake, 
 x^nd of what Kingdom did he then discourse but of that 
 " Kingdom of God'* which is " nigh at hand," when the 
 Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven with power and 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 203 
 
 great glory ? Its establishment is to be viewed as matter 
 of gratitude, for it is the gospel or good news of the King- 
 dom, and thus corresponds with what Christ farther says 
 concerning his coming, " When these things begin to come 
 to pass, then look up and lift up your heads ; for your re- 
 demption draweth nigh." 
 
 This sign you may also think distant; but judging of 
 the progress which the proclamation of the Redeemer's 
 Speedy Personal Return has already made within so short 
 a time, not merely in this country, but on the Continents 
 both of Europe and America, I consider its fulfilment as in 
 all probability much nearer than many may consider practi- 
 cable. And as the shaking of the nations makes progress, 
 thelmportance of the duty will more obviously appear ; and 
 as the Lord opens up a way, he may also endow men pe- 
 cuharly fitted for the work, until with the rapidity of the 
 eagle's flight that be fully realized which was exhibited in 
 symbol, when in Apocalyptic vision, John " saw another 
 angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting 
 gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and 
 to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, say- 
 ing, with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him ; 
 for the hour of his judgments is come." Rev. xiv. 7. 
 
 Another sign which 1 consider as unfulfilled, is the ap- 
 pearance of false Christs and false prophets. Besides 
 those pretenders predicted by our Lord as at the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, and of which History furnishes us with ac- 
 count, a second class of these Impostors appear to be fore- 
 told by Christ as yet to appear. Concerning that greatest 
 tribulation which ever was or shall be, it is said, '' Except 
 those days should be shortened there should no flesh be 
 saved ; but for the elect's sake those days shall be short- 
 ened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo here is 
 Christ or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false 
 Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and 
 wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall de- 
 ceive the very elect." Here the appearance of these im- 
 postors is fixed by the word "then" to the great tribula- 
 tion. And again reasoning from analogy, this in itself 
 seems very probable. The Jews, I have already remarked, 
 return to their own land in an unconverted state. They 
 disbelieve in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah ; they know 
 
 s2 
 
204 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 not and care not about his warnings ; they look for another 
 Messiah, and will thus be more easily deceived. In the 
 difficulties they experience in their escape from the na- 
 tions, and in the emergencies which arise, it is highly pro- 
 bable that bold and ambitious men may blasphemously 
 assume the sacred title, and be acknowledged by their 
 nation. 
 
 As the expected return of Christ himself becomes gen- 
 eral in the church, there is much reason to fear that 
 even professed Christians may be deceived. By ''great 
 signs and wonders" many may be seduced. There is ex- 
 ceeding strength in the Saviour's language, " insomuch that 
 if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect." 
 There is therefore need for this being insisted on. Tt is 
 impossible to tell or conceive by what artifice Satan may 
 contrive to abuse this doctrine, as he has done every other; 
 but Christians have their Lord's express caution, and let 
 them see to it that it be not neglected. 
 
 There is one class of people in this country by whom 
 these warnings are already much needed ; I mean the 
 Southcotites. They are far prepared for the reception of a 
 false Messiah ; and probably ere long they will receive one. 
 In England they are numerous, and are already under the 
 guidance of a " false inoiihet'' who seems to have in some 
 measure realized the character here predicted by our Lord, 
 showing " great signs and wonders" of a certain description. 
 Should the Lord be pleased to put these Letters into the 
 hands of any one who believes in the existence and re-ap- 
 pearance of Johanna's son, let me address to him the cau- 
 tion, and prescribe for him the test of Jesus, in whose pro- 
 phetic character he professes to believe ; '* Wherefore if 
 they shall say unto you. Behold He is in the desert ; go 
 not forth : behold he is i7i the secret chambers ; believe it 
 not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and 
 shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the 
 Son of man be." Mat. xxiv. 26, 27. He is not the Messiah 
 who comes otherwise than in the clouds of heaven. Me is 
 not to be followed or sought unto, who instead of making 
 a bright and glorious manifestation of himself, visible to all 
 and demonstrative of his proper character, should court the 
 privacy of the chamber, or the retirement of the desert. 
 
 These cautions concerning false Christs and false 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 205 
 
 prophets, are farther necessary to guard against another 
 species of imposition upon those professing their belief in the 
 Redeemer's Speedy Return. InfideHty is not only ex- 
 tending with fearful rapidity, but its champions are becoming 
 more bold in their blasphemies, and more impious in the 
 display of their malice. Whatever can derogate from the 
 honour of the Saviour, or which may mar the peace or en- 
 danger the safety of his saints, they eagerly improve, and 
 with devilish ingenuity prepare devices of seduction. They 
 are organizing systematically into Societies which scruple 
 not at the use of any means, however monstrous, for effect- 
 ing their purposes. An instance of this kind has lately been 
 exhibited by the London Infidel Society, which is said to 
 have lately sent two of their number to Ashton-under-line 
 among the deluded votaries of Southcote, to assume the char- 
 acter of their Messiah. They were caressed until the im- 
 posture was detected. The dreadful success of deceivers as 
 predicted by our Lord, render necessary the urging of his 
 cautions on all who look for his appearing. 
 
 These remarks on False Christs may be closed by an 
 extract which suggests the probability of another appearing 
 in Palestine. The Drusses who at present inhabit some of 
 the mountainous districts of Judea, are supposed to be the 
 descendants of some of those Christian Crusaders who 
 sought to rescue the Holy Land from the hands of the In- 
 fidels. "They believe that the Deify was incarnated in 
 the person of Hakem, Caliph of Egypt ; and that he will 
 shortly appear again. He is to come, they think from 
 China ; and to meet, fight with, and utterly destroy all his 
 enemies at a place called the * Black Stone.' " Joweits 
 Christian Researches in the Mediterranean. Vol. T. p. 444. 
 Is there not much reason to fear that some Impostor may 
 deceive them by blasphemously usurping the name of Christ, 
 the only Incarnated One ? 
 
 I proceed, however, to the consideration of those signs 
 more immediately given by our Lord in connection with 
 his coming. '* Jerusalem," says the evangelist Luke, " shall 
 be trodden dow^n of the Gentiles until the times of the 
 Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, 
 and in the moon, and in the stars ; and upon the earth dis- 
 tress of nations w4th perplexity; the sea and the waves 
 roaring ; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking 
 s3 
 
206 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 after those things which are coming on the earth : for the 
 powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they 
 see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great 
 glory." Luke xxi. 24 — 27. In discoursing on the parallel 
 passage, in Matthew's gospel, you regarded the signs in the 
 sun, moon, and stars, as only the bold figurative language 
 of prophecy. This you considered to be evident from the 
 statement of Luke quoted above. The evangelist, you said, 
 in the latter clause of the verse explained the celestial signs 
 to be the distress of nations on earth. 
 
 That the sun, moon, and stars, are used symbolically in 
 Scripture is undeniable. *' Thus saith the Lord, concern- 
 ing the }wo^hets that make my people err, that bite with 
 their teeth, and cry, Peace ; and he that putteth not into 
 their mouths they even prepare war against him : therefore 
 night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision ; 
 and it shall be dark unto you that ye shall not divine ; and 
 the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall 
 be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and 
 the diviners confounded ; yea they shall all cover their lips ; 
 for there is }io answer of God."' Micah iii. 5 — 7. "She 
 that hath born seven languisheth ; she hath given up the 
 ghost; her sun is gone down, while it is yet day; she hath 
 been ashamed and confounded ; and the residue of them 
 will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the 
 Lord." Jer. xv. 9. These are indeed instances of figura- 
 tive language concerning the heavenly host, and others there 
 are in Scripture. But having acknowledged the use of 
 such symbols, I am very far from admitting that this in the 
 least militates against the view by which in any particular 
 case the sun, moon, and stars, are to be understood in their liter- 
 al sense. As signs in these luminaries is no way impossible, 
 they may certainly occur, and if in the purpose of God it 
 is designed they shall occur, then also may they be the 
 subject of Scripture prophecy. If such admissions be made, 
 and I see not how the positions can be questioned, then 
 must we in every case inquire what is the true meaning of 
 such declarations, and therefore what is meant by our Lord 
 when he says, *' there shall be signs in the sun, and in 
 the moon, and in the stars." 
 
 It has indeed been generally supposed that these signs 
 are not in the natural heavens, but that they symbolize 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 207 
 
 events which occur among the nations of the earth. This 
 view, although I think it in opposition to the whole tenor 
 of our Lord's language on other occasions, as well as 
 throughout this discourse, has not been confined to those 
 who deny the personal coming of Christ to be here pre- 
 dicted. A similar interpretation has been given even by 
 the most eminent Millenarian expositors. " It is mani- 
 fest," says that acute interpreter of Prophecy, Mr. Cun- 
 ninghame of Lainshaw, " that the signs spoken of by our 
 Lord, are in the symboHcal, and not the natural heavens ; 
 for we are informed in the subsequent part of our Lord's 
 discourse, that during the occurrence of these signs, the 
 world in general shall be immersed in carnal security and 
 anxious occupation about the things of this life, which 
 could hardly be the case if the signs described were in the 
 natural heavens. Indeed,'' he adds, ''these signs have 
 never been understood in a literal sense by any person con- 
 versant in the language of sacred prophecy." Dissertation 
 on the Seals and Trumpets, p. 231. 
 
 It is not my present object to inquire (even if I had the 
 means of ascertaining,) whether or not they have ever been 
 so understood by competent judges ; it shall rather be my 
 aim to prove that they ought so to be received. This I 
 believe to be capable of proof, and if so, some explanation 
 may possibly be found to account for their not being so re- 
 cognized. But Mr. Cunninghame's supposition, that if 
 these signs were in the natural heavens, the world could not 
 at the time be immersed in carnal security and anxious oc- 
 cupation about the things of this life, can easily be admitted. 
 In point of fact it is expressly stated that the contrary will 
 be the case ; yet that men may be so engrossed before and 
 after the occurrence of the signs, and yet be in alarm at 
 the precise time, is in no way inconsistent with the feelings 
 of the un regenerate heart. Accordingly I believe that the 
 coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven will it- 
 self be as a snare to all them that dwell on the face of 
 the earth, while t yet believe that they will be greatly 
 startled by the signs which immediately precede it. Con- 
 jecture in the case is indeed unnecessary; the signs what- 
 ever they may be, do arrest attention and create alarm. 
 Deep as they may be sunk in carnal security, the passage 
 expressly foretells at least a momentary awakening, since 
 
208 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X, 
 
 it predicts " mens hearts failing them for fear, and for 
 
 LOOKING AFTER THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE COMING ON THE 
 
 EARTH." Luke xxi. 26. This alarm is occasioned by these 
 very signs, as is added in the following clause of the verse ; 
 they form the reason expressed, ''for the powers of the 
 HEAVEN SHALL BE SHAKEN." There is, therefore, at the 
 time when these signs are witnessed, no such tranquillity 
 as to render it '' manifest that the signs spoken of by our 
 Lord are in the symbolical and not the natural heavens." 
 But terrified as the world may be, in the first instance. In- 
 fidel Philosophy may soon tind some natural cause by 
 which to account for the fearful portents, and men may 
 soon return to their wonted security, not again to be dis- 
 turbed until the heavens open for the descent of the incar- 
 nate Judge. 
 
 But the very terms employed, appear to me neces- 
 sarily to imply that the signs in the sun, moon, and 
 stars, are signs in the natural heavens. For it is to be ob- 
 served that Luke besides these intimates the " distress of 
 nations, with perplexity." If the signs previously men- 
 tioned were in the symbolical heavens, they would of them- 
 selves imply distress of nations, and they also would be 
 " upon the earth." But the evangelist states this to be 
 something additional. The latter is not merely an ex- 
 planation of the former. By the introduction of the con- 
 junction " and," they are shown to be perfectly distinct and 
 different, and not explanatory the one of the other. Not 
 only so, but the evangelist by mentioning one class of these 
 signs to be *' on the earth," in contradistinction to the 
 other, leads us to infer that both are not. " There shall be 
 signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon 
 the earth, distress of nations." The mere mention of the sun, 
 moon, and stars, suggests their place to be in the heavens; but 
 besides these celestial signs, there are others of a terres- 
 trial nature. Had the one been merely a repetition of the 
 other in unsymbolized language, the words "upon the 
 earth," in reference only to the last, would have been un- 
 necessary, would indeed have been improper. They sup- 
 pose the former not to be on the earth, while if they refer- 
 red to the symbolical heaven they would in reality be on the 
 literal earth — they would constitute the distress of nations. 
 
 This combination of celestial and terrestrial signs, Luke 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OP CHRIST. 209 
 
 places at the close of the times of the Gentiles. He does 
 not however specify minutely whether they shall be ex- 
 actly at the same time ; or, if otherwise, wliich shall bo 
 first in order. This information is fully supplied by Mat- 
 thew and Mark. The " distress of nations/' spoken of by 
 Luke, is not mentioned by them in the same form, but is 
 introduced in terms still more expressive : '* Then shall be 
 great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of 
 the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except 
 those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be 
 saved." Mat. xxiv. 21, 22. This is indeed "distress of 
 nations," and is " upon the earth." Mark also gives a sim- 
 ilar enlarged statement of unparalleled tribulation, and this, 
 with both, seems to stand in place of Luke's '' distress of 
 nations," since it is not otherwise spoken of by either 
 of these evangelists. In Luke, on the other hand, there is 
 no notice of any other tribulation immediately before the 
 coming of the Son of man, than the predicted " distress of 
 nations with perplexity." In the narrative of all the three 
 evangelists, the coming of Christ immediately follow these 
 terrestrial and celestial signs ; but their relative order, 
 omitted by Luke, is stated by Matthew and Mark. We 
 thus learn that the heavenly signs fotlou^ the great distress 
 among the nations. " Immediately after the tribulation 
 of those days," Matthew informs us, "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." Mat. xxiv. 29. Luke intimates, as we 
 have seen, signs both in the heavens and on the earth, 
 without specifying particularly which shall be first ; but 
 here we are taught not only that the celestial signs 
 succeed the terrestrial, — and that *' immediately," — but 
 we are also informed of the nature of those signs which 
 Luke had merely intimated shall be *'in the sun, and 
 in the moon, and in the stars." *' The sun shall be 
 darkened, and the moon shall not give her light." It is not 
 the destruction of these great bodies, but their obscuration, 
 which takes place. By what means this shall be effected, 
 I do not now inquire, although perhaps some information 
 on the subject, may be obtained from the word of God. 
 
 It is farther added, " the stars shall fall from heav- 
 en." This cannot possibly mean their falling to our earth. 
 
210 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let, X. 
 
 Their greater magnitude renders this impossible. The ex- 
 planation is supplied by Luke who informs us that the ap- 
 pearances predicted of the stars, as of the other two lumi- 
 naries, are merely signs. The stars shall seem to fall, as the 
 appearance of the moon will be that of Mood. By immediate 
 interference with the arrangement by which the solar system 
 is at present regulated, the Lord will give a sign which noth- 
 ing but the absolute and awful infidelity which shall then pre- 
 vail, will prevent the world from recognizing. The supposi- 
 tion of Ben Ezra, that this will be effected by a sudden 
 wrenching of the earth from its present polarity, does ap- 
 pear to present a very natural explanation of the sign, while, 
 I think, it will satisfactorily account for many of the pro- 
 phecies of celestial phenomena at the Restoration of Israel. 
 It may indeed be said that this would not be a falling of 
 the stars, but the fact would as really correspond w^ith the 
 language as does that concerning the sun standing still oX 
 the command of Joshua. From our advanced acquaintance 
 with astronomical science, we know that the language of 
 neither \^ philosophically correct. But the Scriptures being 
 meant for the use of men in all ages, the historical fact is 
 narrated in terms which are generally understood by un- 
 learned men, as well as by those of higher attainments. 
 But if we now know that the fact mentioned, Josh. x. 12,13, 
 must have been occasioned by a suspension of the earth's 
 diurnal motion, while yet it is called a stopping of the sun, 
 so can we also believe that a sudden changing of the earth's 
 motion may be called, what to men it w^ould really seem, 
 a falling of the stars from heaven. This one movement 
 of the earth's motion would indeed affect the appearance 
 of more than the stars; it would similarly affect the 
 appearance of all the other heavenly bodies. And this 
 seems also distinctly implied in the words ''\k\Q powers of 
 the heavens," or as stated by Mark, " the powers in heav- 
 en — shall be shaken." 
 
 One other fact connected with these signs, literally un- 
 derstood, appears farther to confirm this view of the predic- 
 tion. Any interference with the movements of the earth 
 must affect immediately the state of the sea. The regula- 
 tion of the tides, it is well known, is wholly dependant on 
 these movements, and the relations which the planets and 
 their satelites bear to each other, and that in which they 
 
Let.X.] the coming of CHRIST. 211 
 
 stand to the sun. Such an interruption, then, as that which 
 I have supposed, would produce an instantaneous impres- 
 sion upon the waters which cover the face of the globe. 
 This I think is distinctly referred to by Luke, when in con- 
 nection with the predicted signs, he adds, '* the sea and the 
 waves roaring!' 
 
 Between the powers of the heavens being shaken and the 
 actual Coming of the Son of man, Matthew interposes a 
 circumstance not mentioned by any of the other evangelists : 
 " And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in hea- 
 ven." These words may either be used to signify some 
 sign pertaining to the Son of man, — as a sign of his coming, or 
 something else relating to Him, — or they may be under- 
 stood of the Son of man being himself o. sign. Thus view- 
 ed, the expression would be, that after the shaking of the 
 heavenly bodies, there shall be another sign, and that sign 
 will be *' the Son of man in heaven," Henry thus under- 
 stands the sign of " the Son of man, himself ;" and a sim- 
 ilar view has been given by others in more modern times. 
 Indeed, after the various signs already noticed, which, 
 in the sense first mentioned, were all signs of the Son of 
 man, I can scarcely suppose that a new one of any thing 
 Hkethe same nature would be called ''the sign of the Son 
 of man." It may therefore possibly refer to a visible dis- 
 play of the glorious Redeemer " in the heavens " before he 
 descends to our earth ; but as the statement is so brief I say 
 nothing more at present on the subject. 
 
 To only one single circumstance do I farther advert in 
 relation to these celestial signs; they are "immediately 
 after' the great tribulation, on which, I believe, we have 
 already entered. This plainly implies that before the com- 
 ing of Christ — before the signs by which that coming is pre- 
 ceded — there will be an interval, however short, of restored 
 tranquillity. The signs cannot be " after" the tribulation, 
 until the tribulation has really ceased. When the Lord 
 shall have scourged the nations by the sword, by famines, 
 by pestilences, and by earthquakes, there shall be a mo- 
 mentary respite from agitation and alarm ; and we can con- 
 ceive of men refusing to see the hand of God in all that has 
 been done, pleasing themselves perhaps with mutual treaties 
 or with the "new order of things,'' and indulging the ho}?o 
 of lengthened tranquillity, suddenly awakened from their 
 
212 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 dream of peace by the appalling sign of the darkened heavens. 
 Still even with " hearts failing them for fear, and for look- 
 ins: after those things which are coming on the earth," they 
 see it not as the doing of the Lord, nor acknowledge it as 
 the operation of his hand. Able to explain, or to imagine 
 the proximate cause by which the wonder is produced — and 
 having determined that any explanation supplied by '* Re- 
 velation" which they reject, is inadmissible — again may they 
 sink into all their w^onted carnality, and continue, amid the 
 tokens of impending destruction, heedless of their coming 
 fate. 
 
 I say not that this is an exact picture of what will 
 take place, but it is readily suggested by attention to the 
 present increase of Philosophical Infidelity, the disrelish of 
 every thing w^hich has the semblance of what is called 
 *' miraculous" both within and without the church, and 
 the late disregard or unscriptural explanation of recent 
 occurrences in the natural and moral world, by which God 
 seems to be preparing for those mightier displays of His 
 power and of His indignation, which usher in the Millen- 
 nial triumphs of His Son. 
 
 Mr. Faber not only supposes the signs in the sun, moon, 
 and stars to be symbolical, but maintains a theory of their 
 occurring at two distinct periods — the one ''in'' the great 
 tribulation, and the other " immediately after' it. This 
 view he endeavours to support by what has certainly the 
 appearance of a disingenuous use of our Lord's words as 
 recorded by two different evangelists. Again and again, 
 page after page, does he speak of ** those earlier political 
 revolutions which," he says, " our Lord foretells as occur- 
 ring VI the days of the Jewish tribulation;" — revolutions 
 which he affirms " will be followed by others which 
 oar Lord places immediately after the close of the Jew- 
 ish tribulation" — for he confidently and repeatedly asserts 
 that ''the signs in question are to occur not only immedi- 
 ately after the tribulation, but likewise in the days of the 
 tribulation." 8ac. Cal. Vol. L pp. 203, 237, 250. But 
 how necessary so ever such a distinction may be for the 
 general theory which Mr. Faber on this subject upholds — 
 and for him it is really necessary, important conclusions 
 being founded on the mistaken assumption — assuredly it 
 has no countenance whatever from our Lord's prediction. 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 21 3 
 
 Not only in the gospel by Matthew, (xxiv. 29,) are the cel- 
 estial signs, which Mr. Faber understands to signify 
 " revolutions," most distinctly placed " immediately after 
 the tribulation of those days ;" but in the parallel gospel 
 by Mark also, (xiii. 24.) cited as His proof of those " re- 
 volutions which occur in the days of the Jewish tribula- 
 tion," these signs are not less explicitly declared to be 
 " after" the great tribulation. It is indeed " in those days ;" 
 but in what days is the question. Is it in the days of the 
 /n^?('/fl'/z^;^, as Mr. Faber affirms ? No such thing. This 
 evangelist states these signs to be " in those days after that 
 tribulation, and therefore gives not the shadow of counte- 
 nance to the idea his words are so often cited to prove. So far 
 from it indeed that he affirms the very contrary, expressing 
 precisely the idea declared by Matthew, when he says the 
 signs will be ** immediately after the tribulation of those 
 days." It is truly surprising to witness with what perti- 
 nacity Mr. Faber continues to do such violence to the lan- 
 guage of our Lord, reiterating the misinterpretation with a 
 frequency that would be tiresome were it even true, but 
 which must be afflictive to every one who perceives it to be 
 utterly incorrect.* And although he uniformly understands 
 the signs themselves as merely intimating changes among 
 the nations, and the overturn of kingdoms, he does nothing 
 to show that they are not rather to be understood literally 
 of signs in the natural heavens. He does not seem to have 
 
 • We have another singular misapprehension of the language of 
 our Lord in the view given by Mr. Faber of the rebuke addressed 
 to Peter on his improper inquiry concerning the fate of the beloved 
 apostle. " JVhen it was j)romised^'^ he says, " to St. John, that he 
 If hoidd tarry until the coming of the Lord ; the promise was fulfilled, 
 not by the Apostle's living to the day of the literal Second Advent, 
 and consequently (as the saying went erroneously abroad among the 
 brethren.) by his exemption from the death of the body ; but by his 
 living to witness the figurative coming of the Lord to destroy Jer- 
 usalem, and to dissolve the Jewish polity, through the merely human 
 agency of Titus and the Romans." Sac. Cal. Vol. I. p. 229. Here 
 he not only asserts in the most positive terms that " it was promised 
 to St. John that he should tarry until the coming of the Lord," but 
 also that " the promise was fulfilled." I say nothing farther on the 
 figurative coming so strangely supported, but as an express contra- 
 diction to the above assertions, merely quote the apostle's own 
 statement on the subject : '''•yet Jesus said not wito him.. He shall 
 NOT DIE ; but, J/IiviU, that he tarry till I come, ivhat is that to thee." 
 John XX i. 23. 
 
 T 
 
214 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 considered it necessary either to examine minutely the 
 text itself of any one of the gospels, or to have sought the 
 reflective light to be obtained by careful comparison of their 
 harmonies. 
 
 The origin of the symbolical interpretation of these signs, 
 I am persuaded, is to be found in the interpretation 
 given of the great event they are designed to fore- 
 show. Denying that event to be the literal coming of the 
 Son of man, and substituting for it mere temporal judg- 
 ments either at the destruction of Jerusalem or the pre- 
 millennial overthrow^ of Antichristian nations, calling it a 
 figurative coming of the .Son of man that is predicted, it 
 has been conceived that the literal obscuration of the sun, 
 and the strange discolouration of the moon, and the ap- 
 parent fall of stars from heaven would be signs too stu- 
 pendous for the annunciation of such an event. Nor is it, 
 perhaps, very surprising that both opinions should not have 
 been corrected together, and that the idea of symbolical 
 signs should not have been immediately discarded on the 
 real nature of the coming of Christ being perceived. But 
 the statements on the subject are so very precise, that far- 
 ther attention to the question must exhibit more clearly their 
 proper meaning. These very signs are explicitly declared 
 in many of the Old Testament prophecies which furnish 
 us with descriptions of the concluding wonders of this 
 world's history, as preparatory to the reign of the Son of 
 God on earth. 
 
 " I beheld the earth,'' says Jeremiah, " and lo, it was 
 without form, and void ; and the heavens, and they had 
 no light. I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, 
 and all the hills moved lightly. J beheld, and lo, there 
 was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 
 I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all 
 the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the 
 Lord, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord 
 said, the whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not 
 make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and 
 THE heavens above be black ; because I have spoken it, 
 I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will turn 
 back from it." Jer. iv. 23 — 28. 
 
 I cannot believe that the want of light in the heavens, 
 here predicted, is merely a symbolical expression for the 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OP CHRIST. 215 
 
 distress in which the earth is involved. It is very different 
 from the instances of a really symbolical nature formerly 
 quoted. In the one of those cases, if we are told that to the 
 prophets it should be night, we have at the same time the 
 explanation in the fact, that they ''shall not have a vision;" 
 if to them it is to be dark, it is also added in illustration, 
 that they "shall not divine." Micah iii. 5, 7. In the other 
 instance, if of Zion it is figuratively said, '"that her sun is 
 gone down," it is evidently something not of a general but 
 of a peculiar nature. It is not the sun but ''her sun" 
 which sets. This is farther explained by her having 
 "given up the ghost." (Jer. xv. 9.) Very different, how- 
 ever, is the language in the above prediction. It is " the 
 heavens" which are there spoken of; it is even " the heav- 
 ens above!' This also stands in such a connection as proves 
 it to be the natural heavens of which the prophet speaks. 
 It is contrasted with tlie earth, the mountains, and the hills, 
 nay, even with " the birds of the heavens ;" and if the one 
 class of objects are to be understood in their usual signifi- 
 cation, and if the natural " heavens" are referred to as the 
 element of *' birds," on what ground must we cease to un- 
 derstand them in the same sense when the heavens shait 
 have no light — when the *' heavens above" shall be black / 
 Nor is this a solitary instance from the prophets, TJie 
 same fact is introduced again and again in a variety of 
 forms which wholly preclude symbolical interpretation. God, 
 by Isaiah, speaking also of the day of the Lord being at hand, 
 says, " / will shake THE heavexs, and the earth shall 
 remove out of her flace, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, 
 and in the day of his fierce anger,'' Is. xiii. 10. Here 
 again, it is not some particular thing which may symboli- 
 cally be called its heavens, but it is " the heavens" which 
 shall be shaken, and this again in contrast with the earth, 
 which also is to be moved out of its place or position. 
 Farther, this great sign is more particularly stated in the 
 same chapter: " For the stars of heaven, and tlie constel- 
 /flr//£?//5 thereof shall not give their light; the sun ^haWhe 
 darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause 
 her light to shine." ver. 10. Here again it is "the stars 
 of heaven" that are spoken of; the very "constellations 
 thereof" are referred to ; and it is " in his going forth'' the 
 
216 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 sun shall be darkened, language quite inapplicable to any 
 thing else than the natural luminaries named. 
 
 V^ery frequently indeed do such statements occur in Old 
 Testament predictions concerning the great destruction of un- 
 godly men at the commencement of the Millennium. Isaiah 
 contemplating the Millennial glory when " the Lord shall 
 comfort Zion ; he will comfort all her waste places ; and he 
 will make her wilderness like Eden, and her dei^ert like the 
 garden of the Lord," says, " Lift up //^^^{r*?^*?^ TO the heav- 
 ens, a/id look upon tJieearth beneath ; {q^: the heave ns '^\'i^ 
 vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like 
 a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like 
 manner." Is. li, 3, 0. " For thus saith the Lord of hosts, 
 Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, 
 and the earth', and the sea, and the dry land ; and I will 
 shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come." 
 Here also we have " the heavens and the earth" shaken, 
 including both "the sea and the dry land;" and these as 
 altogether distinct from the nations of the earth, '* all wo.- 
 tions" being expressly mentioned in addition. In the epis- 
 tle to the Hebrews this passage is adduced, and affirmed 
 by the apostle to be future : " But now he hath promised, 
 saying. Yet once more, I shake not tlie earth only, but 
 also heaven. x\nd this word, Yet once more, signifieth the 
 removinc^ of those thint^s that are shaken, as of thino;s that 
 
 DO ' D 
 
 are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may 
 remain. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdoin w^hich can- 
 not be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve 
 God acceptably with reverence and godiy fear ; for our 
 God is a consuming lire.'' Heb. xii. 26 — 29. Here then 
 the very purpose of the predicted change in the heavens 
 and the earth, is the establishment of the Kingdom which 
 we shall receive. That it is the natural heavens and earth 
 that are spoken of, and nothing merely symbolical, is evident 
 from the contrast drawn : " Whose voice then shook the 
 earth ; but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more 
 I shake not the earth onh/y If it was the real earth for- 
 merly, it will be so again ; but " not the earth only, but 
 also heaven," implying as clearly as language could ex- 
 press it, something celestial in addition to what formerly 
 took place. As the earth alone was then shaken, so now 
 also are both earth and heaven to be so. 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OP CHRIST. 217 
 
 Once and again are the celestial phenomena introduced 
 in connection with the Millennium in tlie short book of 
 Joel : The earth shall quake before them ; the heavens 
 shall tremble ; the sun and the moon shall be dark ; and 
 the stars shall withdraw their shining." Joelii. 10. And 
 in the conclusion of the same chapter is the passage for- 
 merly referred to, " I will show wonders in the heavens 
 and in the earth," Not only in the one but in the other 
 are these wonders to be seen ; nor is it that the one is ex- 
 planatory of the other, but they are both '* in the heavens, 
 and in the earth." And what are these wonders ? They 
 are expressly mentioned : " blood, and fire, and pillars of 
 smoke ; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon 
 into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord 
 come." ver. 30, 31. Thus then have we again the celes- 
 tial phenomena (once more repeated in tlie following chap- 
 ter, Joel iii. 15,) and with these certain other signs " in the 
 earth," namely, " blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.'' 
 
 But we are even furnished with more particular infor- 
 mation concerning the celestial signs. "It shall come to 
 pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that / will cause 
 THE sux TO GO DOWN AT NOON, and I Will darken the 
 earth in the clear day."*' Amos viii. 9. To the circumstance 
 declared in this remarkable prediction, Jeremiah appears 
 to allude in the following passage concerning the attack 
 upon Jerusalem: "O ye children of Benjamin, gather 
 yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow 
 the trumpet in Tekoah, and set up a sign of fire in Beth- 
 haccerem ; for evil appeareth out of the north, and great 
 destruction. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a 
 comely and delicate woman. The shepherds with their 
 flocks shall come unto her ; they shall pitch their tents 
 against her round about ; they shall feed every one in his 
 place. Prepare ye war against her ; arise and let us go up 
 at noon. Woe unto us ! for the day goeth a\y ay, for the 
 shadows of the evening are stretched out." Jer. vi. 1 — 5. 
 This will indeed be a phenomenon, that the sun shall go 
 down at noon, and that instead of meridian brightness 
 there shall be the shadows of the evening. 
 
 This farther fllustrates another prediction by Zechariah, 
 which embraces with remarkable distinctness some other 
 events connected with the commencement of the Millen- 
 
218 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 nium. "And it shall come to pass in tliat day, that the 
 light shall not be clear nor dark', but it shall be one day 
 which shall be known to the Lord, not da i/ nor night ; but 
 it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light." 
 Zech. xiv. 6, 7. It will be a day altogether peculiar, not 
 day nor night, for, in the language of Jeremiah, " the sha- 
 dows of the evening are stretched out." 
 
 The particular epoch when these celestial signs shall 
 occur, is farther particularized in another prediction by the 
 prophet Ezekiel. Intimately connected is the fate of 
 Egypt with the last great scene of the present age; In- 
 terwoven with its circumstances is the winding up of the 
 history of oppressed Israel ; and to that land the Saviour 
 cometh, riding upon a swift cloud. Dreadful bloodshed is 
 foretold among the people, and with this stands connected 
 the grand events which I have just been illustrating : *' Then 
 will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon 
 the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to 
 remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole 
 earth with thee. And I will lay thy flesh upon the moun- 
 tains, and fill the valleys with thy height. I will also wa- 
 ter with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to 
 the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee. And 
 ivhen 1 shall iiut thee out, I will cover the heaven, and 
 make the stars thereof dark ; I will cover the sun with a 
 cloud ; and the moon shall not give her light. All the 
 bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set 
 darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God." Ezek. xxxii. 
 4—8. 
 
 Such are some of the proofs contained in Old Testament 
 Prophecy of premillennial signs in the sun, moon, and stars. 
 Corresponding as they do with those recorded in our Sa- 
 viour's own prediction, I must again infer that the coming 
 of the Lord which immediately succeeds the appearance of 
 these signs, instead of being at the destruction of Jerusalem 
 is just at the commencement of the Millennium, to which 
 the contexts of the passages adduced clearly refer. 
 
 After the examination already made, I think I am also 
 fairly entitled to conclude that these signs will be literal. 
 Nothing else can at all explain the circumstances foretold, 
 nor accord with the connection in which they occur. And 
 why may not they be so understood ? Surely there i? nothing 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 219 
 
 in the facts predicted which should lead us to put a symbo- 
 lical interpretation upon the language. Is there any thing 
 unreasonable in supposing that our Lord's return will be pre- 
 ceded by such signs as are here described? Can any thing 
 be too magnificent to usher in the day of Jesus' glory ? Is it 
 incredible that the laws of nature, so called, which have often 
 been interrupted in answer to the prayer of faith, should be 
 suspended to intimate the speedy advent of Him who is 
 really Nature's God ? No; the importance of the event is 
 fully equal to the pomp of circumstance by which it is pre- 
 ceded. The beauties of the natural sun may well be 
 shrouded in darkness, and the bright loveliness of the moon 
 be exchanged for the ensanguined hue, before the more 
 glorious rise of the Sun of righteousness. 
 
 But magnificent as such signs appear, and well calcu- 
 lated as they are, if any thing less than the grace of God 
 could, to arrest men in the midst of their secularities and 
 their sins, they will all prove too little to efl^ect so desir- 
 able a result. To believers studying God's Prophetic word 
 they will indeed appear the clear and certain indications 
 of the Saviour's coming, to take up his abode with men, and 
 rule in righteousness a world so long misgoverned. Those 
 in the attitude of watching for their Lord's Return, and who 
 give attention to His own intimations of this his purpose, 
 will be thus prepared for his immediate appearance, al- 
 though generally they be otherwise regarded. In the un- 
 scriptural dreams of men of universal peace flowing from 
 amended institutions, he who should point to the signs in 
 the sun, moon, and stars, as the immediate precursors of an 
 avenging God, will probably be regarded as an idle alarmist. 
 
 The very systems of interpretation by which these sif^ns 
 are all referred to civil and ecclesiastical changes have com- 
 pletely diverted the attention even of the church from these 
 declarations, at least as the prediction of atmospheric phe- 
 nomena. And appear when they may, it is not difficult to 
 imagine how they will be explained, on principles very 
 different from the acknowledgement of their being mira- 
 culous attestations of Christ's near return. Who among 
 us that looks around him with an observant eye, does not 
 perceive the spirit already in operation by which the most 
 stupendous works of the omnipotent God will be witnessed 
 and accounted for, without reference to his purpose, and 
 
220 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 without acknowledgement of his hand ? Infidel Philosophy 
 has long exercised its ingenuity in discovering natural 
 causes, sufficient to account for Jehovah's mighty acts, 
 without regard to himself, and has laboured by its sophis- 
 tries to put discredit on the divine testimony in which they 
 have been recorded. And in this it has been but too suc- 
 cessful. The spirit has spread into the church ; and men 
 high in office and in influence are found frittering down the 
 inspired narrative of Heaven's brightest interpositions in be- 
 half of his people, by accounting for its wonders on the 
 known laws and unchanging principles by which they 
 affirm all matter to be regulated. And if the suspension 
 of these in former times be referred to second causes ; and 
 if all the preceding signs given by the Saviour — and we 
 have now reached the last in his enumeration — have all 
 passed unobserved, can we doubt that an explanation will 
 yet be found, which will by men be deemed satisfactory in 
 accounting for the celestial signs specified. 
 
 I am scarcely more convinced that these signs will be 
 witnessed — and not a doubt rests on my mind of the certainty 
 of this— than I unhesitatingly express it as my conviction 
 that by the infidelity of the age they will pass unappreciated, 
 and that after all, the return of Christ will come as a snare 
 on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth, who 
 are not previously prepared for that event. Christ will have 
 indeed a little flock who know his will, and who "love his 
 appearing;" but there is much reason to fear it will be very 
 small. It will, however, it is to be hoped, be greatly puri- 
 fied. As infidelity acquires the ascendancy, temptations 
 to hypocrisy will diminish. The world's hatred, and the 
 ridicule which may attach to the cause and name of Christ, 
 will separate more fully those who are his friends, although 
 it may leave them few in number. 
 
 There is a certain intimation of this, and a degree of un- 
 iversal infidelity clearly intimated in the soul-searching 
 quesfion of the Redeemer, " Nevertheless, when the Son of 
 man cometh, shall He find faith upon the earth ?'* Al- 
 though usually explained by Millenarian writers to be 
 "faith" in the advent of the Redeemer, I understand the 
 word in its usual acceptation. And the want of faith to a 
 very large extent, which the question implies, is a moral 
 sign which the aspects of society lead me to infer may be 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 221 
 
 at no great distance. Has not infidelity in the present day 
 a more daring effrontery among all ranks than has hitherto 
 been seen ? In our own and other lands it has entered into 
 the councils of nations, and the authority of Him by whom 
 kings reign and princes decree justice, is wholly disregard- 
 ed. The monster rears its crest in unrestrained audacity, 
 where, till very recently, it would have hid its guilty head. 
 Judging from the progress it has lately made, we may well 
 conceive how soon infidelity may have left but few believers 
 in lands where Christianity is still professed. Every effort 
 is made, covertly and openly, to undermine the faith of the 
 gospel ; and under the influence of open ridicule, and of 
 more insidious means, thousands who once had a name to 
 live have fallen into the ranks of Christ's avowed foes, and 
 thousands more who have not yet reached so far, seem even 
 now to follow fast in the same dread road to ruin. These 
 are facts which are perfectly demonstrable, and which 
 must be obvious to the observant whose moral sensibilities 
 have not been sadly impaired by the contaminating influ- 
 ence of an ungodly world. Signs, even the most stupen- 
 dous, must cease in such a case to operate upon the mind 
 the effect they are designed to produce. The powder of the 
 wonder-working God is so litfle thought of, that the fact of 
 a miracle being supposed in the interpretation of a Scripture 
 statement, is by many reckoned sufficient to stamp ridicule 
 upon it. By sjnritual interpretations, its meaning must be 
 changed to suit the taste of an age which brooks not in- 
 fringement upon the laws it has been pleased to assign for 
 the Almighty's regulation. What ignorance as well as pre- 
 sumption is often displayed upon this subject! As if Je- 
 hovah had merely impressed upon matter and mind certain 
 principles which he thenceforth left without controul I God's 
 operations are ever conducted on the wisest principles; 
 and as the ultimate end in view is his own glory and his 
 people's good, these principles embrace all that is necessary 
 for the accomplishment of this end, whether that be the 
 unwonted separation of a rolling sea, or the instantaneous 
 and total overthrow of a citys wall ; the removal of a long- 
 standing mountain, or the new creation of a fertilizing river ; 
 drowning the world with water, or raining upon it fire from 
 heaven. With or without means, his purpose will be ef- 
 fected — by means sufficient in human estimation, or by 
 
222 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 means regarded as inadequate. Defective indeed are that 
 man's views of the cliaracter and works of God, wlio 
 stumbles at a statement of his word because its reception 
 impHes a miracle performed, or as still to be accomplished— 
 which must interpret figuratively the signs in the sun, moon, 
 and stars, solely on account of the marvel's magnitude ! 
 8uch a principle I impute not to you, but it characterizes 
 too well the general views of the church. 
 
 Modern Neologists find explanations, in natural causes, 
 as they term them, for all the wonders performed of old in 
 behalf of God's chosen people, and the same principle may 
 be applied to events of similar character in future times. 
 No place for miracles to come, is to be found in the schemes 
 of systematic theology, but in God's word they abound. It 
 is not merely the men of the world that laugh to scorn all 
 idea of God's direct interposition by miraculous manifesta- 
 tions of his power and of his love ; the church herself in aw- 
 ful unbelief, rather than confess a miracle of any sort as 
 possibly to occur before her eyes, seeks by every means to 
 find some interpretation by which such an admission may 
 be evaded. Pitiful display of ill-concealed want of faith ! 
 It is not in the celestial signs alone that God will give 
 miraculous attestations of himself in the continued regula- 
 tion and controul of this world's movements, and for effect- 
 ing his own gracious purposes, h.% in the days of former 
 years, for the return of his ancient people from Egypt, on 
 the south, to their promised Land, ''the Lord shnll utterly 
 destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea;" (Is. xi. 15,) and 
 what will it avail that some theory of tides may be de- 
 vised to furnish the requisite explanation of the wonder ? 
 A similar miracle will be wrought for their return from the 
 east also, " and, with his mighty wind shall he shake his 
 hand over the River [Euphrates,] and shall smite it in the 
 seven streams [' into seven streams,' Loivth,] and make 
 men go over dry shod;" (U. xi. 15, 16. Zech. xi. 10, 11. 
 Is. xix. 4 — 7.) and what will it matter that some newly 
 discovered local peculiarity may afford in the estimation of 
 an unbelieving world, sufficient explanation of the won- 
 drous circumstance of which, it may then be affirmed, " the 
 remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria," 
 shall merely have availed themselves in returning to the 
 Land of Palestine. 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 223 
 
 Again, God has said, '"Behold I will do a new thing; 
 now it shall spring forth ; shall ye not know it ? I 
 will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in 
 the desert. The beasts of the field shall honour me, the 
 dragons and the owls, because I give waters in the wilder- 
 ness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, 
 my chosen ;" (Is. xliii. 19, 2U. xxxv. 6, 7,) but whatever 
 honour God may receive from the inferior creation, men, in 
 their guilty ignorance of His purpose, may transfer to others 
 the acknowledgements due to the Great Supreme. 
 
 Indeed, although God has promised to Israel, that '•'ac- 
 cording to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, 
 will I show unto him marvellous things ;" (Micahvii. 15.) 
 yet is there reason to believe that, disregarding the mighty 
 purpose and signal interpositions of God in behalf of his 
 ancient people, the nations will probably consider their Res- 
 toration as nothing more than the result of human ambition, 
 for the gratification of which, favourable opportunities were 
 embraced with success. The word of the eternal God is in- 
 finitely more sure than any event, in human view, depend- 
 ing merely upon the relations of men, or the alleged fixed 
 law^s of nature. Men neglectful of Scripture Prophecy, 
 knowing not what God has promised to do, reject alike doc- 
 trines and declarations which humble human pride and ex- 
 clude guilty men from that controul they seek to exercise, 
 and are thus awfully ignorant of their own destiny. 
 
 Let those who doubt the occurrence of premillennial 
 miracles, explain how " the mount of Olives shall cleave 
 in the midst thereof, toward the east and toward the west ; 
 and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the 
 mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it 
 toward the south." Zech. xiv. 4. Let them tell how *' it 
 shall be in that day that living [or springing] waters shall 
 go out from Jerusalem ; half of them toward the former 
 [or eastern] sea, and half of them toward the hinder [or 
 western] sea ; in summer and in winter shall it be." Zech. 
 xiv. 8. If the age of miracles be past, let them explain 
 how it will be that in Judea " all the land shall be turned 
 into a plain, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem." 
 Zech. xiv. 10. 
 
 Although God has expressly foretold the fate of those who 
 shall come up against his people, when re-established in the 
 
224 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 land of their fathers — even remonstrating with this formida- 
 ble foe, " Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by 
 my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those 
 days many years that I would bring thee against them ?" 
 (Ezek.xxxviii.17.) yet with awful infatuation, and in crim- 
 inal ignorance of their impending fate, Gog, the chief prince of 
 Meshach and Tubal, " Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with 
 them ; all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer, and all 
 his bands ; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, 
 and all his bands, and many people with thee," will at- 
 tempt the overthrow of Heaven's preserved nation. "Thus 
 saith the Lord God, In that day when my people of Israel 
 dwelleth safely shalt thou not know it ? And thou shalt 
 come from thy place out of the north parts, thou and many 
 people w^ith thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great 
 company and a mighty army. And thou shalt come up 
 against ray people of Israel as a cloud, to cover the land ; 
 (it shall he in the latter daj/s,) and 1 will bring thee 
 against my land, that the heathen may know me when I 
 shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. . . . 
 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog 
 shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, 
 that ray fury shall come up in my face. For in ray jeal- 
 ousy, and in the lire of ray wrath, have I spoken. Surely 
 in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of 
 Israel ; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the 
 heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things 
 that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon 
 the face of the earth, shall shake at ray presence ; and the 
 mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall 
 fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will 
 call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, 
 saith the Lord God : every man's sword shall be against 
 his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence 
 and with blood ; and I will rain upon him, and upon his 
 bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an over- 
 flowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. Thus 
 will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be 
 known in the eyes of raany nations ; and they shall know 
 that I ara the Lord." Ezek. xxxviii, 1 — 23. 
 
 The appalling and miraculous discorafiture of Jerusalem's 
 foes is strongly expressed by Isaiah : " Moreover the mul- 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 225 
 
 titiide of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the 
 multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth 
 away ; yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. Thou 
 shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, 
 and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and 
 tempest, and the flame of devouring lire. And the mul- 
 titude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even 
 all that fight against her and her munition, and that dis- 
 tress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall 
 even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, 
 he eateth ; but be awaketh, and his soul is empty : or as 
 when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh ; 
 but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath 
 appetite : so shall the multitude of all the nations be that 
 fight against mount Zion." Is. xxix. 5 — 8. 
 
 I do not make these citations with the design of entering 
 upon any illustration. They are clear, distinct, and re- 
 markably minute. Yet how little are they known, and 
 how little attention do they excite ! The particularity of 
 prophecy, in very many cases, in regard to the times im- 
 mediately before the Millennium, is indeed remarkable. 
 It is a bright display of the wisdom of the inspiring Spirit, 
 that predictions of such a nature could be given without their 
 intimations being acted upon. But while the world was in 
 a state when such warnings were at all likely to be attended 
 to, their meaning was overlooked; and now when their 
 meaning is elucidated, infidelity has steeled the nations 
 against their truth. 
 
 In the midst of the fearful desolations of that eventful 
 day, when there shall be one wide waste of devastation, 
 when heaven's windows shall be opened to pour upon guilty 
 men the red-hot vials of Jehovah's wrath, we find a few 
 saved in the very midst of the fires, glorifying the name of 
 the Lord God of Israel, and these in the isles of the sea ; 
 " Behold, the ]iord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it 
 waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the 
 inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so 
 with the priest ; as with the servant, so with his mas- 
 ter ; as with the maid, so with her mistress ; as with 
 the buyer, so with the seller ; as with the lender, so 
 with the borrower ; as with the taker of usury, so with 
 the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly 
 U 
 
226 VARIOUS SJGXS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 etnptied, and utterly spoiled : for the Lord hath spoken 
 this word. The earth mourneth and fad eth away ; the 
 world languisheth and fadeth away ; the haughty people 
 of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under 
 the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the 
 laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 
 
 **■ Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they 
 that dwell therein are desolate : therefore the inhabitants of 
 the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine 
 mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. 
 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice 
 endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not 
 drink wine with a song ; strong drink shall be bitter to 
 them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down ; 
 every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There 
 is a crying for wine in the streets ; all joy is darkened, the 
 mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, 
 and the gate is smitten with destruction. When thus it 
 shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there 
 shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the glean- 
 ing grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up 
 their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, 
 they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the 
 Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel 
 in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the 
 earth have we heard songs, even glory to the Righteous. 
 But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me ! the 
 treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously ; yea, the 
 treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. 
 
 '' Fear, and the jpit, and the snare are upon thee, O 
 inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that 
 he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the 
 pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit 
 shall be taken in the snare : for the windows from on high 
 are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The 
 earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, 
 the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to 
 and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cot- 
 tage ; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; 
 and it shall fall and not rise again. And it shall come to 
 pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of 
 the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 227 
 
 upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as 
 prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in 
 the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then 
 the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when 
 the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jer- 
 usalem, and before his ancients gloriously." Is. xxiv. T — 23. 
 
 Tt is not my mtention to offer any definition of the term, 
 but it is difficult to conceive v^hat is meant by a miracle, if 
 in such descriptions there be nothing miraculous. If the 
 clea\ ing of mountains, and the formation of rivers — if the open- 
 ing a path through mighty rivers and through rolling seas — if 
 visitations of thunder, and earthquake, and great noise ; 
 with storm, QlU^ tempest, and thejlame of devouring fire, 
 sent by God for the very purpose of destruction, be not so 
 regarded, I require to be told what would. Those who 
 see not the hand of God in these, are not likely to perceive 
 it in any signs which may occur in the sun, moon, or stars. 
 If the Scriptures declare that a time approaches when 
 "fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon the inhabi- 
 tant of the earth ; and it shall come to pass that he who 
 fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit ; and 
 he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken 
 in the snare ; for the windows from on high are open, and 
 the foundations of the earth do shake;" if these are not to 
 be regarded as any thing more than natural events, we again 
 require to be told what is supernatural. Is there nothing 
 miraculous in the predicted commotion among " the fishes 
 of the sea, and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the 
 field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, 
 and all the 7nen that are upon the face of the earth ? Will 
 men still continue refusing to see and acknowledge the pro- 
 vidence of God when he pleads \si\i\\ p)estileHce and blood ; 
 when he shall cause an overflowing rain to descend, and 
 great hailstones, fre, and brimstone ? 
 
 Similar statements are repeatedly given by the Psalmist, 
 as connected with, and preceding the coming of the Lord. 
 A prayer of Israel, if I mistake not, for deliverance from 
 their enemies, records these petitions ; '• Boiv thy heave?is, 
 O Lord, and come down ; touch the mountains, and they 
 shall smoke. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them ; 
 shoot out thine arrows and destroy them." Ps. cxliv. 5, 6. 
 
 Several psalms appear designed to celebrate the answer 
 
228 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 to their prayer. In that which follows, very express refer- 
 ence is made to this, and the fulfilment of the various peti- 
 tions is distinctly stated : " In my distress I called upon the 
 ]iOrd, and cried unto my God ; he heard my voice out of 
 his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. 
 Then the earth shook and trembled ; the foundations also 
 of the hills moved and vrere shaken, because he was wroth. 
 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of 
 his mouth devoured : coals were kindled by it. He bowed 
 the heavens also, and came down : and darkness was under 
 his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly ; yea, he 
 did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his 
 secret place ; his pavilion round about him were dark waters 
 and th ick clouds of the skies. At the brightness th at w^as be- 
 fore him his thick clouds passed ; hailstones and coals of iire. 
 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest 
 gave his voice, hail-stones, and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out 
 his arrows, and scattered them ; and he shot out lightnings, 
 and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were 
 seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at 
 thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nos- 
 trils. He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of 
 many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, 
 and from them which hated me, for they were too strong for 
 me." Ps. xviii. 6 —17. 
 
 The following psalm perfectly corresponds : "Thou art the 
 God that doest wonders," it is there declared, however men 
 may shun making the acknowledgement, " Thou art the 
 God that doest wonders ; thou hast declared thy strength 
 among the people. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed 
 thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. The 
 ivaters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee ; they were 
 afraid ; the depths also were troubled. The clouds p^oured 
 out water ; the skies sent out a sound; thine arrows also 
 went abroad ; the voice of thy thunder was in the heaven ; 
 the lightnings lightened the world; the earth trembled 
 and shook." Ps. Ixxvii. 14 — 18. 
 
 It is indeed difficult to conceive how such declarations 
 should be so totally overlooked. But men have been so 
 much in the habit of explaining them as wholly metaphor- 
 ical, or have so long regarded them as already fulfilled, 
 that they are seldom thought of as just about to be realized. 
 
Let. X.] THE CORIIXG OP CHRIST. 229 
 
 And fearful as will be the result, I believe they will have 
 far advanced ere men resign their infidelity and ac- 
 knowledge the hand of God to be displayed. We see al- 
 ready the principle in operation, and applied towards judg- 
 juents such as some of those described. The 'pestilence 
 at this moment traverses the earth with giant strides : and 
 who looks upon it as God's visitation for sin? Such a 
 thought seems not to enter into the minds of those most 
 conversant with the miseries it inflicts, or who are employed 
 in legislating for its arrestment and its cure. Tliey sjjec- 
 lilale on its origin, its nature, and iLs eftects, as it' Jehovah 
 had nothing to do in the matter. Their hopes of escape lie 
 only in the strictness of their quarantine regulations and in 
 their sanatory cordons, and in these they trust with athe- 
 istic confidence, defying the disease they so much dread. 
 Vain hope and unfounded confidence ! If God thereby de- 
 signs for us a vial of wrath, the unsanctified wisdom and 
 worldly prudence of men will not prevail to avert it. As 
 well might Sennacherib have thought to save the Assyrian 
 host by the formation of a trench or the erection of a 
 rampart, when the Angel of Death received his commission 
 for destruction. 
 
 The proper remedy is of a moral nature. The disease 
 yields not to the specifics of physicians who think not of 
 the end for which it is sent. The repentance and holi- 
 ness of our people is the means to secure the object sought 
 to be obtained. Without this, there is little ground to hope 
 for escape from that pestilence which God sends forth as a 
 punishment for sin. Unstayed by all the arts which men 
 devise, it will progress till God in his long-suffering subject 
 it to controul. It is a sign in its nature calculated to 
 humble the pride of men and bring them to the acknow- 
 ledgement of the Most High as he who presides over the 
 destinies of men. If repentance and reformation follow 
 not, we have only to anticipate the infliction of judgment 
 after judgment, until the Lord Jesus himself be revealed 
 from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking 
 vengeance on his impenitent foes. 
 
 In this invesfigation I have almost enfire'y confined my- 
 self to remarks of an expository nature, but I know not 
 a subject more fitted to excite the interest of a Christian mind. 
 
 u 'd 
 
230 VARLOUS SIGxNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 With reluctance have I often dwelt on evidence, when I 
 would have much preferred expatiating in those rich pastures 
 the e:5jistence of which alone 1 was at liberty to prove. We 
 have little of the spirit manifested by some whose history is 
 recorded for our imitation, if we feel not animated by the 
 prospects which thus open on our view. Once you seemed to 
 delight greatly in the contemplation of Millennial bliss ; and 
 why is it that since it has been proved that Christ himself shall 
 reign in glory, and that all his saints shall partake of the 
 honours then to be conferred, your interest in it has so much 
 diminished? If erroneous representations have been given 
 of the nature of that happy era, that is no reason for your 
 retiring from the exhibition of its real character. On the 
 contrary, if you be still satisfied that your general system of 
 prophetic interpretation is correct, there is the more reason for 
 exhibiting the evidence that Christ himself will not be resi- 
 dent on earth in Millennial times. 
 
 I cannot suppose, I do not believe, you to be indifferent 
 about our Lord's return, although charity itself will not 
 allow me to make a similar admission for many who assume 
 the name of Christian. Even to some professed friends the 
 thought of this event ministers not consolation, animates not 
 with higher hopes. But, to the real Christian, what event 
 ought to be so inspiring ? Oh how languid that faith 
 which joys not in a coming Redeemer ! How cold that 
 bosom v/hich has never felt emotion in the contemplation of 
 the glory which shall be revealed ! How feeble the aspi- 
 rations of him who never in faith responds the church's 
 joyous exclamation, " Even so come, Lord Jesus. Of what 
 pleasure and what peace do believers deprive themselves by 
 neglect of God's prophetic word ! Taking shame to myself 
 for having so long neglected such a precious treasure, I seek 
 to redeem the time lost. Now rejoicing in the views it unfolds, 
 I would consider any attempt to divest me of them, except 
 by a Scriptural refutation of the arguments on which they 
 rest, as robbing me of a treasure inestimably dear. Amid 
 the turmoils and tumults of ungodly men, amid the fall 
 and crash of nations, T can contemplate the issue without 
 dread, nay, rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. These 
 doctrines impart consolation under present affliction, and 
 irradiate futurity with the beams of heavenly glory. liike 
 the cloud of separation between the Egyptians and the 
 
Let. X.] THE COMING OF CHRIST. 231 
 
 Israelites, which while it frowned darkness and death 
 upon the one, gave light and direction to the other, 
 Prophecy while it lours destruction and desolation on the 
 foes of the Redeemer, is bright with the visions of mercy, 
 love, and joy, to his faithful people. It speaks to them of 
 safety, even while it tells of a world's overthrow. The very 
 angels who are employed in launching the thunderbolts of 
 Jehovah's wrath, may be commissioned to bear away un- 
 scathed the saints redeemed, to meet in joy their returning 
 Lord. 
 
 It is indeed difficult to account on any principle consis- 
 tent with the duty of a Christian for the indifference mani- 
 fested by many as to whether the doctrines here maintained 
 are revealed in the w^ord of God or not. Surely it is not 
 unreasonable to require from them some examination of those 
 portions of God's word which relate to the most important 
 era of the church's history. For their own comfort they 
 ought to examine with care whether their present views of 
 prophecy in general, if tliey have really formed any, and 
 of the time of the Saviour's advent in particular, have 
 the foundation of that authority which is alone infallible. 
 
 It is a fearful thing, and one of the most ominous of signs, 
 that many whom charity forbids our ranking with the 
 world, treat this doctrine, under its every aspect, as if it 
 were one of trivial importance. Whatever tends to their 
 temporal aggrandisement is pursued and embraced with an 
 eagerness and avidity which could not be surpassed even 
 were the world in all its present forms and fashions designed 
 to endure for aye. Thus things pertaining to the glory of 
 God are neglected. No leisure can be afforded for the 
 study of his word, and the mind is altogether pre-occupied 
 with attention to the business of the world. They strive 
 to think that Christ returns not yet, while they know not 
 what himself has taught. With such, no accumulation of 
 evidence can ever produce conviction, for it remains unex- 
 amined, and every thing which can be contrived to form an 
 objection is embraced as a pretext for their own indifference. 
 
 Against such engrossing concern with " the cares of this 
 life," be it remembered, the Saviour has left his special 
 testimony. He has expressly classed it with drunkenness, 
 as one of the ensnaring circumstances which render men 
 unaware of his approach, when He comes in the clouds of 
 
232 VARIOUS SIGNS WHICH PRECEDE [Let. X. 
 
 heaven with power and great glory. If you would be fur- 
 nished with an argument against such unchristian secular- 
 ity, where is one to be found so well suited for the purpose 
 as that which our Lord himself has provided ? Or if you 
 would seek another sign that the day of the Lord is near, 
 that it hastens greatly, could one more obvious be given 
 than is presented in the state of men in regard to the sin 
 thus particularly referred to ? Let me urge on all this 
 warning. The coming of the Lord will be as a thief in 
 the night. It is the part ascribed to scoffers, to " scoffers 
 in the last days" too, to ask, " Where is the promise of 
 his Coming ?" " The vision is yet for an appointed time, 
 but at the end it shall speak, and not lie : though it tarry, 
 wait for it ; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." 
 It is the spirit of unbelief aud disregard to the word of 
 God, which lead men to suppose that "all things continue 
 as they were from the beginning of the creation." It is the 
 feeling and the language of the scoffer, although it has not 
 Tuifrequently been ignorantly adopted by the Christian. A 
 change, a violent change is at hand — a change more ex- 
 tensive by far than is contemplated by the mere poHtician 
 in his Utopian dream of a world improved by ungodly men. 
 An overthrow, a dioadful overthrow, of all who refuse alle- 
 giance to the Son of God, prepares the way for that happi- 
 ness wiiich God himself designs for a regenerated w^orld. 
 That is a happiness to be conferred and immediately admin- 
 istered by Christ himself, as " King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords." 
 
 Let not any one then " say in his heart, my Lord de- 
 layeth His Coming." Although his own assurances on the 
 subject have long been neglected, the cry has at length 
 arisen upon a slumbering church, not again to be quelled, 
 however it may be disregarded, until the eventful day when 
 the parting heavens shall disclose the descending Judge. In 
 this, God has not left himself without a witness. The 
 opening cry which was at first but feebly heard, has gath- 
 ered strength from the increased number of combining 
 voices, till against its power the deafest ear can no more 
 be shut. It has gone over Christendom with a rapidity 
 which excites the astonishment even of those who know" it 
 to be the truth of God, and has penetrated into countries 
 and kingdoms far beyond these bounds. It has been heard 
 
Let.X.] the coming op CHRIST. 233 
 
 on the banks of the Ganges, and is re-echoed from the 
 most southern point of Africa. That voice, distinct and 
 clear, which, sounding forth from South America, was early 
 wafted o'er the ocean, to mingle with that of Britain's 
 honoured sons, which rose in sweet accord, has since re- 
 crossed the Atlantic, to the North, and now is heard in louder 
 strains along the shores and by the lakes of the great Col- 
 umbian confederation. And, to the praise of divine grace 
 be it spoken, the preparatory note for Jesus' coming begins 
 at length to break in upon the stillness of that false security 
 which had settled down upon our own much favoured but 
 greatly guilty land. 
 
 Since the first agitation of the question among us within 
 these six years past, the prejudices of numbers have given 
 way. Many of our Scottish pulpits in different parts of 
 the country do now testify to the truth ; and in the southern 
 part of the kingdom, as well as in the sister island, the 
 number of ministers who publicly proclaim the near ap- 
 proach of the Son of man has prodigiously increased. The 
 hostility of many who at first stood forward in the ranks 
 of opposition has since subsided, although for the increas- 
 ing bitterness of others, we are by prophecy itself prepared. 
 To those who already feel convinced, but who may be afraid 
 of consequences, let me even tell for their weakness that 
 wherever this doctrine has been faithfully preached, it has 
 been preached with effect. The common people hear it 
 gladly, and I know not an instance in which the minister 
 of any charge has not thereby become more endeared to 
 his people, who are very easily taught both to look and 
 to long for the glorious appearance of their returning Lord. 
 
 It will however be an awful thing should any of the real 
 friends of Jesus be found obstinately rejecting the truth of 
 God. What bitterness would it occasion them to know 
 that the Scriptures had largely testified to a great and im- 
 portant doctrine — had enforced it by every variety of con- 
 sideration — and shed over it the light of a thousand har- 
 monizing texts — and that after all they continued blind to 
 every argument, and deaf to every entreaty ! 
 
 As you would not be guilty of such a sin, and as you 
 would be found a faithful servant, — a ruler over the Mas- 
 ter's household, giving them meat in due season — let me 
 implore your full consideration of the multifarious evidence 
 
234 SIGNS PRECEDING CHRISTS RETURN. [Let. X. 
 
 for the Speedy Personal Return of our blessed Lord. 
 This 1 desire not for your sake only, but for that of 
 those over whom God hath made you overseer, who may 
 also by your instrumentality be prepared for their coming 
 Lord. And in that eventful day, when the angels are 
 sent forth to gather together the elect, may it not be that 
 the " one shall be taken and the other left ;" but that whether 
 they shall have fallen asleep, or be alive and remain unto 
 the Coming of the Lord, all may be made the partakers 
 of his glory. That God may hasten the happy time, and 
 make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, is 
 the sincere prayer of, 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 Yours in unfeigned love, &c. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 ALEX. G.\KDNER, PRINTER, PAISLEY. 
 
Just Published, by the Same Author, 
 FOURTH EDITION, IMPROVED, 
 (Price 4s. Boards,) 
 A CONNECTED VIEW of some of the SCRIPTUR- 
 AL EVIDENCE of the REDEEMER \S SPEEDY 
 PERSONAL RETURN, and Reign on Earth with his 
 Glorified Saints, during the Millennium ; Israel's Restora- 
 tion to Palestine ; and the Destruction of Antichristian Na- 
 tion? : with Remarks on various Authors who Oppose these 
 Doctrines. 
 ( The profits of this edition to aid the funds of the Continental Society.) 
 
 Contents. 
 
 Introductory Remarks on the Studj' of Prophecy — Tlie Conver- 
 sion of Israel —Restoration of Israel to Palestine — Restoration of both 
 Israel and Judah — Enlargement of the Holy Land — New Division of 
 the Holy Land — Israel the Most highly Honoured Nation — Jerusa- 
 lem Rebuilt and Enlarged — The whole Earth blessed in Israel's Res- 
 toration — Millennial Felicity of the Inferior Creation — The Re- 
 deemer's Millennial Reign — The Redeemer's presence on Earth — 
 The Temple Rebuilt — The Nations coming to Worship in Jerusa- 
 lem — Review of Promises of the Presence of the Lord — Literal Ful- 
 filment of Prophecy — Views of Believers, in the Apostolic Age, con- 
 cerning the Millennial Kingdom — New Testament Predictions of 
 Christ's Return at the Restoration of Israel — New Testament Predic- 
 tions of Christ's Return at the Destruction of Antichrist — First 
 Resurrection, and Reign of the Saints — Period of the Erection of 
 Christ's Glorious Kingdom —New Heavens and New Earth — The 
 New Jerusalem — Future Apostasy, General Resurrection, and Final 
 Judgment — The Submission due to Revealed Truth, with remarks 
 on Objections to these Doctrines — Destruction of Antichristian 
 Nations. 
 
 " A very good Sianmary of the general bearing of Prophecy." 
 
 Morning Watch. 
 " IFc know not that we have ever read a work on the glorious sub- 
 jects enumerated above, with more Jinmingled feelings of satisfaction , 
 than this admirable volume of Mr. Begg's. Nor do we know any 
 u'ork which we coidd more strongly recommend to enquirers after those 
 important truths which are treated of in this ''Connected f'iew.' It 
 contains, indeed, a well selected body of ' Scriptural Evidence,^ in 
 . support of the doctrines advocated therein." 
 
 '• JVe conclude with strongly recommending to the perusal of the 
 Students of Prophecy, this volume, which ive rejoice to add, is wi-itten 
 in a very Christian spirit." Dltblix Christian Herald. 
 
 also, 
 
 LATELY PUBLISHED, 
 
 (price threepence,) 
 THE SCRIPTURAL A R G U M E N T >• the COMING 
 OF THE LORD at the Commencement of the Millennium ; Derived 
 from the LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY, and the 
 VIEWS HELD IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE Concerning the 
 Millennial Kingdom : Extracted from the above-named work, with 
 Prefatory and Concluding Observations. 
 
WORKS ON PROPHECY, 
 
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