71:8 The Patience ofGod. Vol. Iä dil%lution of the Temple that is plainly the meaning of the firfì queftion ; to which they fubjoinedanother, Andwhat fhall be thefga of thÿ coming? that is, to Judgment, andof the endof the world ? which in all probability, was added to the former, becaufe they fuppofed that. the one was prefently to follow the other, and therefore the fame anfwer would ferve them both : and it appears by our Sa- viour's anfwer, that he was not concerned to rec`tifie them in this miftake, which might be of good ufe to them, both to make them more zealous to propagate the Gofpel, fnce there was like tobe fo little time for it ; and likewife to wean their Affe&ions from this World, which they thought to be fo nearan end. One thing indeedourSaviour Pays, which (had they not been prepolleffed with another Opinion)does fufficiently intimate,that there might be a confiderable fpace of time, betwixt the delruction ofyerufalem and the day of Judgment ; and this we find only in St. Luke, Ch. zz. z4. where fpeakingof the Miferies and Calamities that fhould come upon theYews, he Pays, TheyJhallfag by the edge of thefword, and le carried into captivity into all nations ; andYerufalem (hall k trodden down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled So that here were a great many Events foretold, betwixt thedeftru&ion of Ierufalein and the end of the World, the sccomplifhment whereof might take up a great deal oftime,as appears by theEvent of things,Yerafalem being at this day Rill trodden down by the Gentiles, and the Yews íälí continuing difperfed over theworld : but the Difciples it feems did not much mind this, being carried away with a prejudicate Conceit, that the end of the World would happen beforethe end of that Age ; in which they were much con- firmed by what our Saviour, after hisRefurrection, Paid ofSt. yob:, upon occafi= on of Peter's queftion concerning him ; Yohn zz. .z, II. Lord, what /hall this Man do ? Yefùs faith unto him, If Iwill that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee Upon which words of our Saviour concerning him, St. yob: himfelf adds, v. z;: Then went this flying abroad among the brethren, that that difciple fhouldnot die ;that is, that he fhould live till the comingof our Lord, and then be taken up with hire' into Heaven ; from all which they probably (as they thought) concluded that the day ofJudgment would happen before the end of that Age, whilft St.Yohn was alive ; but St. Yobs, who writ laft of all the Evangelifts (as Eafebius tells us) and lived till after the deftruction of Yerufalem, as he acquaints us with this miftake, which was current among theChriftians, fo he takes care to rectifie it, telling us, That Yefus failnot, he fhouldnot die ; but if Iwill that he tarry till Icome, what is that to thee ? He tells us, that our Saviourdid not affirm that he Jbould not die ; but to eatprefs St. Peter's Curiofity, he Pays, If it were mypleafure that heJbould not die at all, but live tiBI come to judgment, what isthat to thee ? And St. Peter like- wife (or whoever was the Author of this fecond Epiftle, or at leaft of this third Chapter, which feems to be a new Epiftle by it felf) takes notice of this miftake, about the nearnefs of the day of Judgment, as that which gave occafion to thefe Scoffers to deride the expectationof a future Judgment among the Chriftians, be- caufe they had been already deceived about the time of it ; and this the Scoffers twitted them with in that Queftion, Where is thepromife ofhis coming? therefore, the learned Grotius conjectures very probably, that this laft Epiftle (contained in the third Chapter) was written after the deftruétion of Yerufalem, which was the time fix'd for Chrift's coming toJudgment, and therefore there could be noground for this Scoff till afterthat time. St. Peter indeed did not live fo long, and there.. fore Gratins thinks, that this Epiftle was writ bySimeon or Simon, whowas Suc- ceffor of St. Yames, in the Bifhoprick ofyerufalem, and lived to the time of Trajan. I have been the langer in giving an account of this, that we might understand where the ground and force of this Scoff lay ; namely in this, That becaufe the Chriftians had generally been very confident, that the comingof Chrift to Judg- ment would be prefently after the deftru&ion of yerufalem, and were now found to be deceived in that, therefore there was no regard to be had at all to their ex- pectation of a future Judgment ; becaufe they might be deceiv'd in that, as well as in the other. But herein they argued very falfely, becaufe our Saviour had pofitively andpe- remptorily foretold his coming to Judgment, but had never fixed and determined the
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