176 He NEW and COMPLETE LIFE. of our BLESSED LORD While our Lord abode in Ephraim, the Pharifees afked him, when the kingdom of the Meffiah was to begin. I have more than once obferved, that the Jews had very grand ideas of the kingdom they ex- peEfed this great Son of David would ella- blifh, the number of his fubjefs, the firength of his armies, and the pomp and magnificence of his court. It is therefore no wonder, that they were very defirousof having that empire fpeedily ereled: but our Saviour, to correa this miflaken no- tion, told them, that the Meffiah's king- dom did not confifi in any external pomp of government, ereéted in fome particular country, by the terror of arms, and defo- lation of war ; but in the fubjeilion of the minds of men, and in rendering them conformable to the laws of the Almighty, which was to be effeéted by a new difpen- fation of religion, and this difpenfation was already begun. It was therefore needlefs for them to Peek in this or that place for the kingdom of God, as it had been al- ready preached among them by CoxtsT and his apoftles, and confirmed by innu- merable miracles : The kingdom of God, faid he, conzeth not with obfervation: nei- thes (hall they fay, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom ofGod is within you, Luke xvii. 20. &c. Soon after fpeaking thefe words to the Pharifees, he addreffed himfelf to his dif- ciples, and, in the hearing of the people, prophecied the deftruEtion of the Jewifh Bate ; whofe conflitution, both religious and civil, was the chief difficulty that op- pofed the erefion of his kingdom : but becaufe love and compaffion were eminent parts of our Saviour's temper, he men- tioned that dreadful catafirophe in fuch a manner, as might tend to the reformation and profit of his hearers. He informed them, that the prelude to this final defiruc- tion would be an univerfal difirefs ; when they fhould paffionately with for the per- fonal prefence of the Meffiah to comfort them, but would he denied their requeft: The days will conte, when ye fhall dire to fee One of the days of the Son of man; and ye 'hall not fee it. He next cautioned them againfi deceivers, which in this time of afllifion, would endeavour to draw the people after them, in order to fupport their own power : And they Ball fly to you, See here; or, fee there: go sot after them, norfollow them. For as the lighten- ing that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, /hineth unto the other part under heaven ; foflzat! alfo the Son of man be in his day. But fill mull he fufer many things, and be rejected of this generation. But the comingof the Son of man fha.11 be fudden and unexpeiled : he will come in his own firength, and with great power ; he will throw down all oppofition, deflroy his enemies with fwift deftruiuion, and eftablifh his religion and goverment in a great part of the world, as fuddenly as lightening darts from one part of the hea- ven to the other: but before there things come to pats, he muff fuffer many things, and be re eEed of this generation. And, notwithftanding this fudden defiruc- don and calamity that was to overwhelm the Jews, he told them their fiupidity would be like that of the old world, at the time pf the deluge, or that ofSodom before the city was deftroyed : And as it was in the days ofNoe, fofhall it be alfo in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they weregiven in mar- riage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and droyed them all. Likewife alfo as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, theyfold, theyplanted, they budded: but thefame day that Lot went out ofSodom, it rained fire and brimflone f-om heaven, and dejlroycd them all. Even thus 'hall it be in the day when the Son of matt is re- vealed. In that day, hèwhichjhall be upon the Itoufe-top, and his fluff in the Itoufe, let hint not come down to take it away : and he that is in thefield, let hint likezofe notreturn back. Remember Lot's wife. A better example than that of Lot's wife could not have been produced: for if any
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