516 The Authority of yefuf Chrift. Voi. i. I. That the Letter of this Promife extends further than the Perfons of the Apoftles, and the continuance of that Age. z. However that be, it is certain that the reafon of it extends to all that should fucceed them in their Miniftry, to the End of theWorld. I. The Letter of this Promife extends farther than the Perfons of the Apo: files, and the continuance of that Age. I will eafily grant that the Phrafe .vxs rris ñuie_;eç lignifies only continually ; Iwill be with you continually ; but then the other Phrafe, ti C,1; reç ovpmì aF Tgc. d«voç, until the End of the World, is feveral times in Scripture undeniably ufed for theEnd and Diffolution of all things, and cannot with any Probability be (hewn tobe ever ufed otherwife. In this Senfe it is unqueftionably ufed three times, Matth. 13. 771e Harveft is the' End the World. v. 34. So fball it be at the Endof the World. v. 4o. and v. 49. it is faid, that at the Endofthe World, the Angels(hall come forth, andfever the Wicked from the Tuft, and call them into the Furnace ; which muff either be underftood of the End of the World, and of the Day of Judgment, or there will be no clear Text in the whole Bible to that purpofe ; and it is very proba- ble, that this Phrafe is ufed in the fame Senfe, Matth. 2.4. 3. where the Difci- pies ask our Saviour, What (hall be the Sign of thy coming, and of the End ofthe World? as will appear to any one that confiders our Saviour's Anfwer to this Quelion ; the latter part whereof cannot, without too much Violence, be ac- commodated to any thing but the final Diffolution of the World. Now if this Phrafe be every where ere in Scripture ufed in this Senfe, there is no reafort why it should be taken otherwife in the Text, only to ferve the purpofe of an unreafonable Opinion. I know there are Phrafes _ very near a -kin to this, which are ufed in a quite different Senfe, namely, for the expiration of the 51ewifh State ; and that we may know how to diftinguifb them, it is obfervable, that when the Scripture fpeàks of the End of the World, it is called crerriAeat g dtwvoç, the end of the Age, in the fingular Number; but when it fpeaks of the Times before the Go- fpel, it ,always expreffeth them in the plural ; the reafon of which is, that fa- mous Tradition among the Yews, of the Houle of Elias, which dïftributed the whole duration of the World into three Ages; the Age before the Law, the Age under the Law, and the. Age of the Meflias ; and this laft Age they lookedon with great difference from the reft, as thefamous and glorious Age, whichwas to be as it were the beginning of a new World : And therefore the 7ewsintheir Writings conftantly call it thefeculum futurum, the Age, or theWorld to come And therefore the Apoftle in this Epiftle to the Hebrews, calls the State of the Gofpel by that name, as belt known to them, Heb. z. 5. But unto the Angels bath he not put in fubjeftian the World to come, whereof we now fpeak ; that is, the Law was given by the difpofition of Angels, but the difpenfation of the Gofpel, which is call'd the World to come, was managed and adminifired by the Son of God. So likewife Heb. 6. S, thofe miraculous Powers which ac- companied the firft preaching of the Gofpel, are call'd 8uv l oç ? ¡iA aoros di.wcs, the Powers of the World to come, that is, of the Gofpel-Age. So that this lait Age of the Gofpel, is that which the Scripture by way of Eminency calls the Age ; thofe that went before are conftantly call'd cúccpíc, the Ages in the plural number. So we find, Eph. 3. 9. the Gofpel is call'd the difpenfation of the Myftery that was hid in God, 2or3 rwv nnmvno, fromAges ; and. you have the fame Phrafe, Col. 1. 2.6. Upon the fame account, the expiration of the Jewifh State, is in Scripture called the laß times, and the laß Days, Heb. 1: z. But in thefelaft Days, Godbath fpoken to us by' Son. i .Cor. I o. II. Ihefe things are written for our Admonition, upon whom Tré TiA.n u'o áivmv, the Ends of the Ages are come. In the fame Senfe the Apoftle, Heb. 9. 26. fpeak- ingof Clint, i fays, that he appeared, i l ì envro? Taiv aWyo.,r, at the endof the Ages, totakeaway Sin ; that is, at the onclufion ofthe Ages which had gone before, in the fail Age. So that if we will be governed in the Interpretation of
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