east into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

He also alluded to the punishment of the Jews, in the parable of the fig tree which had not borne fruit for three years; and which was to be cut down, if it continued barren after due culture.

1

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he took occasion to instruct his disciples in some important circumstances which should attend his coming to punish the Jews. This prophecy was delivered about three months before them copious one on the same subject with which it coincides, and which will soon be particularly considered. It was followed by the parable of the unjust judge, who yielded to importunity; and which was intended to shew that the disciples "ought "always to pray, and not to faint." "Hear," adds

our Lord, "what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect who cry day and night unto him? [shall he not avenge them of those cruelties which the Jews are about to exercise against them?] and will he be long suffering with respect to them ?"

In the parable of the ten servants, who were to traffic till their lord's return from a far country, God's vengeance on the Jews was thus foreshewn: "But those mine enemies, who would not that I should

* Luke xiii. 6-9. " Luke xviii. 1. When the Christians were persecuted by the Jews, our Lord knew that they would be fervent in prayer to God for deliverance from their persecution.

lib. xvii. 20, &c. Matt. c. xxiv. and p. p. • V. p. 144. This is spoken prophetically.

P Luke xix. 27.

reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before my face."

When our Lord was about to enter Jerusalem triumphantly, he thus described its impending calamities: "The days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side: and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another."

On the way between Bethany and Jerusalem, five days before the last passover, he symbolically foretold the curse of God on the wicked Jews by blasting the barren fig tree.

Г

In the parable of the wicked husbandmen, he represented the lord of the vineyard as about to come and destroy those husbandmen, and let out their vineyard to others. And he immediately proceeded to denounce their destruction in other words: "What

ner.

is this that is written? The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corWhosoever shall fall upon that stone, shall be broken: [opposition to my doctrine shall be vain and shall be attended with calamity to its authors:] but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder : [when I exert my vengeance, it shall be irresistible and exemplary.]

u

In the parable of the marriage feast which a certain king made for his son, when those who were

1 Luke xix. 43, 4. ib. 17, 18.

Ecel. Hist. ii. 308, &c.

Matt. xxi. 19.

s Luke xx. 16.

"See Jortin's List of Persecutors and their Fate.

bidden made light of the invitation, and, with the greatest indignity, inflicted death on the servants sent to them; the king is described as moved with anger, and as commissioning his armies" to destroy those murderers and to burn up their city.

X

In our Lord's last severe reprehension of the Scribes and Pharisees, he declared that upon the Jews should come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, [son of Barachias ;] whom they slew between the temple and the altar. And he emphatically repeated his denunciation, and limited its period: "Verily, I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation." He then lamented the obstinacy of the Jews, and added, “Behold, your house is left unto you ' desolate :" your habitation shall soon be laid even with the ground.

a

When Jesus took his final leave of the temple four days before his crucifixion, his disciples observed to him the beauty and magnitude of the stones with which it was built, and the magnificence of the donations with which it was enriched. Upon this our Lord replied, See ye not all these things? There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that

w Matt. xxii. 7. * ib. xxiii. 35, 36. y In Luke xi. 51. the words, son of Barachias, are omitted. So in two mss. referred to by Wetstein. I think them a gloss, from Josephus, B. J. iv. v. 4; where the murder of Zacharias, son of Baruch, and throwing him from the temple into the valley, are recorded. Our Lord refers to 2 Chron. xxiv. 17-22. See Lardner's Cred. v. ii. p. 903, &c. z Matt. xxiii. 38. a ib. xxiv. 1. and p. p. b'Avatμala. Luke xxi. 5. Ptolemy had presented a table, Herod a golden vine, and Augustus and his friends many sumptuous ornaments. See B. J. v. xiii. 6.

Matt. xxiv. 2. and p. p.

e

d

shall not be thrown down." And the same day, as he sat on the mount of Olives, which commanded a full view of the temple and of the whole city, a circumstance which added energy to a discoure in which their desolation was described and deplored, four of his apostles, Peter, James, John and Andrew, said to him apart, 'Master, tell us when these things will be, and what is the sign of thy coming [to effect this destruction,] and of the conclusion of the [Mosaic] age." By explaining our Lord's answer, as it stands in the three evangelists who record this famous prophecy, and by shewing how each circumstance relating to the destruction of the Jews has been fulfilled, all the prophecies on the same subject, here ranged according to the time in which they were delivered, will be duly illustrated.

"See, said our Lord, that none deceive you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ and will deceive many and the time approacheth Go ye not therefore after them." This prediction our Lord thus repeated: Many false prophets will rise, and will deceive many :" And again: "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall *shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it

d Matt. xxiv. 3. Mark xiii. 3. B. J. 2. 13. 5.

three evangelists. i ib. 23-26.

e

Jos. Ant. 20. 8. 6. f A compound text is formed throughout from the 8 Matt. xxiv. 4, 5. and p. p. h ib. 11. Are they will GIVE, that is, appeal to,

promise, or undertake to produce, such signs; using the very language of the Jewish legislator; who represents a prophet as giving, [Deut.

were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold he is in the desert, go not

xiii. 1. in the septuagint] that is, proposing and appealing to a sign or wonder, whether it did or did not come to pass." Farmer on mira. cles, p. 304. And again, p. 307, 8. "They shall give (or undertake to exhibit) great signs and wonders, says the prophecy: and the history relates the fact in perfectly corresponding language: they promised to shew, or exhibit, evident wonders and signs. Jos. Ant. 20. 8. 6." And this very learned and excellent writer thus explains Deut. xiii. 1: "To give a sign or wonder must mean, the proposing and appealing to any particular prodigy or portent, as a token or proof of a divine interposition, as a declaration of the decrees of the gods, and an indication of futurity."

The sense of for giving out, whether truly or falsely, is established by this passage. It is equivalent to in the next verse: "and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee." And I think that Judges v. 11. the root is in and not man. "there shall they rehearse, or proclaim, the righteous acts of the Lord" ixu dúoroidinasuvas. 6. But, as the passage in the gospels is a very important one, the reader shall have his choice of another possible interpretation. The word is used for actually performing or exhibiting signs and wonders, and is translated by didaus, Deut. vi. 22. Neh. ix. 10. Joel iii. 3. quoted Acts ii. 19. The Egyptian magicians are said to do in like manner with Moses, Exod. vii. 11, 22. viii. 7. though their acts were delusions, and miracles in appearance only and not in reality. And the spirits of demons which came out of the mouth of the false prophet, and also the false prophet himself, are said by St. John in the Apocalypse to work miracles, c. xvi. 13, 14. c. xix. 20. though these were such lying ones as St. Paul else where foretels. 2Thess, ii. 9. See also Rev. xiii. 13, 14. The sense therefore of the two evangelists, Matt. xxiv. 24. Mark xiii. 22. may be they shall perform signs and won, ders, great in appearance, and such as may even shake the faith of my followers, though really effected "by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Eph. iv. 14. The reader must judge whether Christians were more likely to be deceived by confident pretensions, or by artful and delusive feats.

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