and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST, and his APOSTLES, &c. 211 they fhould thew great figns and wonders ; infòmuch that, ifit werelio ible, they would deceive the very eleCI. But take ye heed : behold, Ihave foretoldyou all things. But as it was likely the partizans of the falfe thrifts would pretend that the Mef- fiah was concealed awhile for fear of the Romans, and the weaker fort ofChriffians, without this warning, might have imagin- ed, that Chrilá was aftually returned to deliver the nation in it's extremity, and to punifh their enemies, who now fo cruelly oppreffed them, and that he would thew himfelf as foon as it was proper, our bleffed Saviour thought proper to caution them againft this particular : Wherefore, if they flzall fay unto you, Behold, he is in the defert; go not forth : behold, he is in the ferret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightening comethout of theealt andfhineth evenunto the well; foAult alto the coming ofthe Son of man be, Matt. xxiv. 26, 27. As lightening is fwft and deftruElive, fo {hall the coming of the Son of man be. But he will not come perfonally, his fer- vants only {hall come, the Roman armies, who {hall deftroy this nation, as eagles devour theirprey, by his command. Thus having given them a particular account of the various circumftances which fhotild precede the deftruaion of Jerufa- 1em, he next defcribed that catafirophe itfelf, in all the pomp of language and imagery made ufe of by the ancient pro- phets, when they foretold the deftruaion of cities and kingdoms: But in thole days, after that tribulation, 'thefizn'hall be dark- tied; and the moon 'hall not give her light, and the liars of heaven fhall fall, and the powers that are in heaven (hall be fhaken. And upon the earthdiftr f of nations, with perplexity; the fea and the waves roaring; den's hearts failing themfor fear, andfor looking after thole things which are coining on the earth. Thefe exprelhions are figurative and lofty, and fignify the decaying of all the glory, excellency,, and profperity of the nation, and the introduaion of univerfal fadnefs, mifery, and confufion. The roaring of the fea and the waves may juflly be con- fidered as metaphorical, as the figns in the fun, in the moon, and in the fears are plainly fo. And by the powersof heaven are meant the whole Jewilh polity, gó- vernment, laws, and religion, which were the work of heaven ; thefe our bleffed Saviour tells us fhould be shaken. As the difciples, in conformity to the rem peated queftions of the Pharifees during his miniftry, had alked what would be the figns of his coming. Our bleffed Savióur told them, that after the tribulation òf thofe days, when the fun fhould be dark- ened and all the enemies of the Mefíìah thould mourn, they thould fee the accom- plifhment of what Daniel foretold, by the figurative expretfion of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven ; for they thould behold the fignal punifiìtrents exe- cuted on the Jewifh nation, by the Roman armies fent for that end by the Sonof mani who (hall thus glorionify demonflrate the greatnefs of his power, and the extent of his dominion : Then (hall appear thefigs of the Son of man in heavers : and then 'hall all the tries ofthe earth mourn. And they fhallfee the Son ofman coming In the clouds o£ Heaven, withpower andgreatglory. The difeiples were tò confider the tinte of their redemption, from the oppretfion under which they then groaned, as near at hand when thefe things came to pafs and that they might b'e certain this pro= phecy would not long wait for it's accom= plifhment, he told them that the prefent generation fhould not all be laid in the chambers of the duff, before thefe terri- ble calamities fhould fall upon Jerufalem. Adding, that his difciples might fooner estpett the diffolution of the whole. frame of nature, than that one fingle circum- fiance of this prophecy fhould fail of it's accomplithment : Verily Ifay untoyou, This generation _Mall not fefs, till all thefe things be fulfilled. Heavers and earth (hall pafs away, but my words fall not pats away. If
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