510 `1he Evidences of the `truth, - lem, and yet the World is not at an end. How is it then that. the. Evangehft lays, Immediately after theTribulation of thole days ? This is thefrfl.difculry, Secondly, After this Prophecy of the end of the World, we find thofe Words in all the three Evangelifts, Verily 1fay unto you, This generation (hall not pals away; till all theft thingsbe fulfilled. As if not only the Deftruétion of Hierufalem, but theend of the World were to happen in that Age. This is the other Difficulty. But notwithftanding all this, I doubt not but by comparing the three Evange- lifts together, to makethe Series and Order of there Prophecies very clear. In order whereunto, we are toconfider that our Saviour in. this Prophecy fore- tells three things very diftin& in time. I. The Deltru& ion of Hierufalem. 2. The Fare and Condemnation of the fewith Nation after this Defolation, and during their Captivity among the Gentiles, among whom they were to be fcatte- red. And this we have clearly and fully exprefs'd by St. Luke 2 1. 2 3, 24. There !hall be great diflref in the Land, and wrath upon this People. And they (hall fall by the. Edge of the Sword, and !hall be led away captive into all Nations, and Jeru- falem fiall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. So that this Prediétion comprehends from the Deflrudion of Jerufalem, all the time of the Captivity of the Jews among the Gentiles, which we fee is not yet expired, and God alone knows how long it fhall lait. And then, 3. Forerunning Signs of the End of the World, which the Evangelifts fay !hall happen after the Tribulation of there Days ; that is, when God bath made an End of punilhing the Nation of the ems. And this feems to me wholly to clear, and take off the fie,? Difficulty. As to the fecond, namely, That after the Prophecy of the End of the World, we find thefe Words added by our Saviour, Verily Ifay unto you, This Generation ¡hall not pats away, till all thefe 7hings lefulfilled, which feems to intimate that the End of the World fhould happen in that Age ; For the anfwering of this, I !hall not betakemy felf to that Refuge which Tome have done, by explaining thefe Words thus, This Generation, that is, The Nation !hall not paja away, !hall no be utterly deftroyed, but !hall remain fcarter'd up and down the World, as a Monument of God's Difplcafure againft them, till the End of all Things. For rho' the Expreflion 041,ECC awns, this Generation, may well enough be tranflated this Nation, this fiace of People ; yet the precedent Words will not admit this Interpretation ; for it is laid in the Verfe immediately before, So likewife ye, when ye (hall fee all thefe Things, know that it is near, even at the Doers. So that our Saviour fpeaks of fomething very near at hand, which necelîarily confines it to that Generation. Therefore the plain Solution of this Difficulty is this ; That our Saviour ends his Prediúion ofthe Defttu&ion of Hierufalem, and the End of the World, at the 3 if/ Verfe, where he fays,that the Son ofMan Jball fendhis Angels with a great Sound of a Trumpet, and they flail gather together his Elell from the four Winds, flans one End of Heaven to the other. And thenhe makes Tome Reflexions upon what he had foretold concerning the Dtttruftion of Hierufalem, and the End of the World. (i.) As to the Deftru&ion of Hierufalem, he tells them a Parable of the Fig Tree, that by the putting forth of its Leaves, we know that the Summer is nigh ; fo likewife when ye fhallfee all theft Things, namely, all thofe Signs which I have given you of the DeftruLtion of Hierufalem, know that it is near, even at the Doors ; and then he adds, Verily I fay unto you, This Generation fhall not paf away, until all theft Things be fulfll'd; that is, many of thofe who are now alive, shall live to fee all thole Signs which I have mentioned, And then, (2.) He refle&s upon his Predi&ion of the End of the World, ver, 36 Bat of that Day and Hour knoweth no. Man, &c. that is not of that other Day,.of which I have been fpeaking, namely, of the End of the World, no Alan k>rpity; as if he had find, The Signs which I have given of the Deftruûion of Hierufalem are 2
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