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tors at least thought, that these verses, 30 and 34, relate to the final judgment of the world.-Secondly, He alleges, that the expreffions in Matth. xxiv. 30, are not applicable to the deftruction of Jerufalem; but fuch as are conftantly made ufe of in defcribing the judgment of the world; as in Matth xxv. 31, 32. and elsewhere: Viz. When the Son of Man fhall come in his glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then shall be fit upon the throne of bis glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations and be fhall feparate them one from another, as a Shepherd divideth bis fheep from the goats.-Thefe are the only reasons which the Author alleges to fupport his charge.

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To the first of them, That the tranflators at least thought, that Matth. xxiv. 30, 34. relate to the final judgment of the world; it is fufficient to fay, that it is fo utterly contemptible as to be beneath all notice.

In answer to the fecond, that the expreffions in Matth, xxiv. 30. are not applicable to the deftruction of Jerufalem; it has often been obferved by writers on this fubject, that God's coming in the clouds, is an expreffion used by the Prophets in foretelling the execution of fignal judgments upon particular nations; as for inftance in Ifai. xix. 1. But further, and what is even more directly to the present question, the expreffion used in this place by our Saviour, is plainly borrowed from a paffage in the Prophet Daniel, where it is actually made use of by him, in describing the

* I faw in the night vifions; and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him Dominion, and Glory, and a Kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages fhould ferve him: his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion, which shall not pass away, and his Kingdom that which shall not be deftroyed.Dan. vii. 13, 14

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establishment of the Gofpel Difpenfation, or kingdom of the MESSIAH; in the course of which eftablishment the power of God was fo fignally difplayed, by the terrible punishment of the Jews as a nation, in the deftruction they fuffered, and the utter overthrow both of their religious and civil conftitution. So that this affertion of the Author, concerning the expreffions in Matth. xxiv. 30. is abfolutely and notoriously falfe.

To the remaining part of the objection, that the expreffions in Matth. xxiv. 30. are fuch as are conftantly made use of in defcribing the final judgment of the world; as appears in Matth, xxv. 31, 32, and other places; it must surely occur to the thoughts of every one, that the very fignal punishment of the Jews, as it took place within a few years after JESUS's death, was an event of fo fimilar a nature to the final judgment of the world; that it might very naturally and properly be foretold by JESUS, and efpecially to the Jews themselves, in the fame kind of expreffions. So that the fimilarity of these general defcriptions in the places concerned, if they were indeed as fimilar as the Author fuppofes, would not prove the point for which he contends; that thefe expreffions muft always relate to the final judgment of the world only; but we must confider the different occasions on which JESUs delivered them, and what he faid befides at the fame time, to know when he meant to exprefs One of thefe events by them, and when the Other. And if we do this, we fhall immediately perceive, notwithstanding the general fimilarity of fome expreffions, that in Matth. xxv. 31, 32, &c. JESUS is moft evidently speaking of the final judgment of the world, without any reference whatever to the national punishment of the Jews; but in Matth. xxiv. 30. and xvi. 28, only of the national overthrow of the Jews, accompanied

panied with the more complete establishment of the kingdom of the MESSIAH, or Gospel Difpenfation.

Nothing can be plainer upon inspection, than that in Matth. xxv. from ver. 31 to 46; the end of JESUS's difcourfe; JESUS is delivering a defcription of the final judgment of the world, without the leaft reference to any other event *. But in chap. xxiv. it is evident, that from ver. 1, to ver. 34, to go no further, he is delivering a continued defcription of the national punishment of the Jews; no part of which can be applied, without manifeftly interrupting the thread of the difcourse, to the final judgment of the world. To break the thread of this narration therefore, by applying ver. 30 to the final judgment of the world, merely because fome expreffions in it, are, fingly confidered, capable of being used to defcribe One of thefe events as well as the Other ; would be utterly unwarrantable, and oppofite to every principle of just and rational interpretation.

But further, the very paffages themselves differ fo widely in several material particulars, notwithftanding fome general likeness in others, as to fhew undeniably that they could not be descriptions of the fame event.

In Matth. xxv. 31, JESUS fays,—When the Son of Man fhall come in his glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then shall be fit upon the throne of his glory. -Here we fee him defcribed as attended by all the Hoft of Heaven, and as feated in the most proper place for the folemn judgment of all mankind.

Ver. 32. And before him shall be gathered all nations; (not the Jews only;) And he shall feparate. them one from another (the virtuous from the wick

See the whole paffage:*

ed, as is expressly declared in the fequel, from ver. 34, to 46), as a shepherd divideth his Sheep from the goats: the very nature of the final judgment of the world.

Ver. 33. And he shall fet the sheep on his rightband, but the goats on the left, &c. And at length ver. 46; Thefe fhall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. There is evidently no poffibility of applying this defcription to any event but the final judgment of the world.

But Matth. xxiv. 30, JESUS fays -And then (immediately after the deftruction of the Jewish ftate, defcribed from ver, 15 to 29;) shall appear the fign of the Son of Man in heaven; (by this remarkable Verification of the Prophecies in general; and of That delivered in this very chapter, of the deftruction of Jerufalem, in particular;) And then fhall all the tribes of the land + (of Judea) mourn; (not, And then shall all nations be gathered before him ;) And they shall fee the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (they fhall fee the establishment of the Gofpel Difpenfation, on the abolition of the polity of the Jews; not, He fhall fit on the throne of his glory, as in Matth. xxv. 31.).

Ver. 31. And be hall fend bis Angels, or Meffengers, (the Apoftles; not, and all the holy Angels with him;) with a great found of a trumpet; (that is, in a cuftomary prophetical phrafe; preaching the glad Tidings of the Gofpel;) And they shall gather together bis Eley (eftablish a church of thofe who believe in him; without a word of Separating one from another;) from the four winds, from the one end of beaven to the other (i. e. from all nations where

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It has long been obferved, that this is the proper tranf lation here, inftead of the more general interpretation, the Earth,

they

they shall preach the Gospel).

And here ends

this description; without a fingle fyllable of fend ing fome into everlasting punishment, and others into life eternal, as in Matth. xxv. 46.

We may venture to affirm, that these two paffages are fo very different in the moft material particulars, that they muft unavoidably relate to quite diftinct events; and that it is evident from their contexts, that Matth. xxv. 31, &c. relates wholly to the final judgment of the world; and Matth. xxiv. 30, &c. to the national punishment of the Jews. And as the Author himself lays it down as a principle, in which he is certainly right, that chap. xvi. 28-Verily, I fay unto you, there be Some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they fee the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom; relates to the fame event with chap. xxiv. 30-Ve→ rily I fay unto you, this generation fhall not pass away, till all these things are fulfilled; the confequence directly follows, that in Matth. xvi. 28, JESUS is not foretelling that he should come to judge the world; but only that the Jews would be punished by a national destruction, and their polity fubverted, while fome of those who then ftood with him were yet alive.

And that this is the true meaning of the Coming of the Son of Man in his Kingdom there foretold; as well as, that it did actually come to pals within the time foretold; is ftill further evident from hence, that JESUS moreover prophefied on another oc-cafion, that John the Evangelift fhould tarry till he Should come; and that accordingly fobn did live till Jerufalem was trodden down of the Gentiles; and the Jewish polity utterly fubverted, as Jesus had foretold it fhould be.

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