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downfall of this opposing power was to be the triumph and the establishment of the Messiah's kingdom. Both these great results, therefore, were to be accomplished by this his coming. (See also Matt. 16: 27.)" — pp. 545–550.

IV. FROM THE COMMENTARIES OF DRS. GILL AND CLARKE.

[I have been induced to make the following selections, not only by the great learning and laboriousness of these Commentators, but also by the especial reputation and influence which they possess among extensive communities of Christians; Dr. John Gill having been, without dispute, the most eminent Baptist Commentator, and Dr. Adam Clarke the most eminent Methodist Commentator, that has ever written. The extracts will be simply arranged in the order of the texts. Had it been thought necessary, many similar extracts might have been added from other Commentators.]

of his Father with his

Mat. xvi. 27, For the Son of man shall come in the glory angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.] "This seems to refer to Dan. vii. 13, 14; 'Behold one like the Son of man came... to the Ancient of days; ... and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him.' This was the glorious Mediatorial kingdom which Jesus Christ was now about to set up, by the destruction of the Jewish nation and polity, and the diffusion of his Gospel through the whole world. If the words be taken in this sense, the angels or messengers may signify the apostles and successors in the sacred ministry, preaching the Gospel in the power of the Holy Ghost. It is very likely that the words do not apply to the final judgment, to which they are generally referred; but to the wonderful display of God's grace and power after the day of Pentecost." - Dr. Clarke.

Mat. xvi. 28, "Till they see the Son of man coming in his

kingdom; which is not to be understood of his personal coming in his kingdom in the last day, when he will judge quick and dead; for it can't be thought, that any then present should live to that time, but all taste of death long before, as they have done; for the story of John's being alive, and to live till then, is fabulous, and grounded on a mistake which John himself has rectified at the close of his gospel: -nor of the glorious transfiguration of Christ, the account of which immediately follows, when he was seen by Peter, James, and John, persons now present; for that, at most, was but an emblem and a pledge of his future glory:— - rather, of the appearance of his kingdom in greater glory and power, upon his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to heaven; when the Spirit was poured out in an extraordinary manner, and the Gospel was preached all over the world, was confirmed by signs and wonders, and made effectual to the conversion and salvation of many souls; which many then lived to see and were concerned in: present though it seems chiefly to have regard to his coming to show his regal power and authority in the destruction of the Jews; when those his enemies, that would not that he should reign over them, were ordered to be brought and slain before him; and this the Apostle John, for one, lived to be a witness of."- Dr. Gill.

Mat. xxiv. 29, Immediately after the tribulation, &c.] "Commentators generally understand this and what follows, of the end of the world, and Christ's coming to judgment. But the word immediately shows that our Lord is not speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately consequent on calamities already predicted; and that must be the destruction of Jerusalem. The Jewish heaven shall perish, and the sun and moon of its glory and happiness shall be darkened, brought to nothing. The sun is the religion of the church; the moon is the government of the state; and the stars are the judges and doctors of both. Compare Isa.

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xiii. 10, Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8, &c.' Lightfoot. — In the prophetic language, great commotions upon earth are often represented under the notion of commotions and changes in the heavens." - Dr. Clarke.

"That is, immediately after the distress the Jews would be in through the siege of Jerusalem, and the calamities attending it; just upon the destruction of that city and the temple in it, with the whole nation of the Jews, shall the following things come to pass; and therefore cannot be referred to the last judgment, or what should befall the church or world a little before that time, or should be accomplished in the whole intermediate time between the destruction of Jerusalem and the last judgment. For all that is said to account for such a sense (as that it was usual with the prophets to speak of judgments afar off as near; and that the apostles often speak of the coming of Christ, the last judgment, and the end of the world, as just at hand; and that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,) will not answer to the word immediately, or show that that should be understood of two thousand years after. Besides, all the following things were to be fulfilled, before that present generation in which Christ lived passed away, ver. 34, and therefore must be understood of things that should directly and immediately take place upon or at the destruction of the city and temple.”. Dr. Gill.

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Mat. xxiv. 34, " Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, Not the generation of men in general, as if the sense was that mankind should not cease until the accomplishment of these things; nor the generation or people of the Jews, who should continue to be a people until all were fulfilled; nor the generation of Christians, as if the meaning was that there should be always a set of Christians or believers in Christ in the world, till all these events came to pass but it respects that present age, or generation of men then living in it; and the sense is, that all the men of

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that age should not die, but some should live till all these things were fulfilled (see Mat. xvi. 28); as many did, and as there is reason to believe they might and must, since all these things had their accomplishment in or about forty years after this. And certain it is, that John, one of the disciples of Christ, outlived the time by many years; and, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, many of the Jewish doctors now living, when Christ spoke these words, lived until the city was destroyed; as Rabban Simeon, who perished with it, R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, who outlived it, R. Zadoch, R. Ishmael, and others. This is a full and clear proof, that not any thing that is said before relates to the second coming of Christ, the day of judgment, and the end of the world; but that all belong to the coming of the Son of man in the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the end of the Jewish state.” - Dr. Gill.

Mat. xxvi. 64, “Thou hast said, that is, I am the Christ, the promised Messiah; and you and this whole nation shall shortly have the fullest proof of it. For hereafter, in a few years, ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, fully invested with absolute dominion, and coming in the clouds of heaven, to execute judgment upon this wicked race. See chap. xxiv. 30. Our Lord appears to refer to Dan. vii. 13; One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven,' &c. This may also refer to the final judgment."- Dr. Clarke.

John xxi. 22, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? meaning, that if it was his pleasure that he should live, not till his second coming to judge the quick and dead at the last day, but till he should come in his power, and take vengeance on the Jewish nation in the destruction of their city and temple by the Romans, and in dispersing them through the nations of the world, (till which time John did live, and many years after; and was the only one of the disciples that lived till that time, and who did not die a violent death,) what was that to Peter? It was no concern of his." - Dr. Gill.

Heb. x. 37, For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come.] "This is to be understood, not of his coming in the flesh, for he was come in the flesh already; ... but of his coming in his kingdom and power, to destroy Jerusalem, and take vengeance on the Jews for their rejection of him." - Dr. Gill.

James v. 8, The coming of the Lord draweth nigh.] "He is already on his way to destroy this wicked people; to raze their city and temple, and to destroy their polity for ever; and this judgment will soon take place." - Dr. Clarke.

"Con

1 Pet. i. 13, Hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.] tinue to expect all that God has promised; and particularly that utmost salvation, that glorification of body and soul, which ye shall obtain at the revelation of Christ, when he shall come to judge the world.

"But if the Apostle alludes here to the approaching revelation of Christ to inflict judgment on the Jews, for their final rebellion and obstinacy; then the grace, xápu benefit, may intend their preservation from the evils that were coming upon that people, and their wonderful escape from Jerusalem at the time that the Roman armies came against it." Dr. Clarke.

“In

1 Pet. iv. 7, But the end of all things is at hand.] a very few years after St. Peter wrote this Epistle, even taking it at the lowest computation, viz. A. D. 60 or 61, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. To this destruction, which was literally then at hand, the Apostle alludes when he says, 'The end of all things is at hand': the end of the temple, the end of the Levitical priesthood, the end of the whole Jewish economy, was then at hand.".

Rev. i. 7, Behold he cometh with clouds.]

Dr. Clarke.

"This relates

to his coming to execute judgment on the enemies of his religion perhaps to his coming to destroy Jerusalem, as he was to be particularly manifested to them that pierced him;

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