provisions, and by so much remitting their usual ardour at the last attack of the higher city so that Titus was astonished when he beheld the strength of the fortifications which he had reduced. And the providence of God so ordered events, that the city was besieged when it was crowded with inhabitants; many of whom seem to have continued in it, fatally confiding in its strength; and thus contributing to its reduction by the famine and pestilence which great numbers in such circumstances always occasion. During the continuance of the siege, the whole country must have been in the greatest confusion and alarm; robbers and assassins must have spread terror every where; the lands must have remained in a great measure untilled; and the supply of provisions from any distant part must have been insecure. If therefore for the sake of Christ's disciples, the whole body of whom are called the elect of God, this calamitous period had not been providentially contracted, if winter had increased the distress of the exiles and fugitives, it would have been highly difficult for any to preserve their lives. "And soon after the tribulation of those days, there shall be signs in the sun, which shall be darkened, and in the moon, which shall fall from heaven; and upon the land distress of nations and perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and expectation of the things which w Matt. xxiv. 29. and p. p. Eubias de x. x. Mark's expression is, But IN THOSE DAYS, after that tribulation, &c. Hence it follows that the words cannot be applied to the day of judgment. shall come upon the land: for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." The style is here very eastern, and imports that the Jewish rulers, and their church and nation, should be involved in ruin: and that this should be effected SOON after the commencement of the troubles alluded to; or in a time which, considering the difficulties of the undertaking, might properly be called SHORT. It is the language of prophecy, to which the Jews were accustomed. The fall of Babylon is thus foretold by Isaiah: "The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine." And he speaks thus of Idumea: " All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven ; behold, it shall come down on Idumea," &c. Ezekiel thus expresses the destruction of Egypt: "When * I shall put thee out, I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee." Joel uses this language of the same event which our Lord predicts. "I will shew wonders * C. xiii. 10. where see Bishop Lowth. 2 C. xxxii. 7, 8. See also xxiv. 23. a y Isai. xxxiv. 4, 5. a C. ii. 30, 31. See Sir Isaac Newton's Obs. on Proph. P. i. c. ii. Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, ii. 30. and Bishop Pearce on Matt. xxiv. 29. Quando vaticinatur Esaias -b in the heavens, and in the earth; blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come." And God says in Haggai : I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen." Our Lord adds that there should be straitness of calamity among those nations which rose against each other, with inextricable necessity, every object of terror striking them, every element seeming armed against them: men nearly expiring through fearful expectation of what impended over their country for the whole frame of the Jewish constitution, both civil and religious, should totter to its foundation. e ❝d And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man dwelling in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the land mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with de gentis alicujus destructione, vel de populi alicujus magni interitu, Whitby gen. pref. p. xxix. Ηέλιος δὲ Οὐρανῶ ἐξαπόλωλε, Κακὴ δ ̓ ἐπιδέδρομεν ἀχλύς. Odyss. xx. 356. See Sol, ut est in tua quadam epistola, excidisse mihi e mundo videtur. Cic. ad Att. ix. 20. ८ a trumpet of a great sound, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other." At that time shall appear plain tokens of my coming to execute judgment on the Jews which shall cause great lamentation to all the tribes of the land: and there shall be as clear a display of my coming, and of my glorious power, as if I had been seen riding on the & clouds of heaven, and thus giving sensible evidence that the fearful punishment was inflicted by me. And I will employ such means to make disciples throughout the world, when the power of the Jews and their opposition to the gospel are at an end, [or, to preserve those from perishing with the Jews, who persevere in the faith, and remember my warnings,] as shall appear like sending heavenly messengers with the loud sound of the h trumpet, to gather them from the four winds, from one extremity of the heaven to the other, or from the extremity of the earth to the extremity of the heaven. "And when these things begin to come to pass, lift up yourselves and raise your heads: for your redemption approacheth :" your deliverance from the persecution of the Jews, and from the calamities of war, draweth nigh. "When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh" that the subjects of my heavenly kingdom will soon be greatly multiplied: [or, that the power f Comp. Matt. xvi. 28. where seeing the destruction of Jerusalem is called SEEING the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And observe well Luke xvii. 24, 30. xxi. 36. 8 See Isai. xix. 1. h This was a familiar idea among the Jews, as the new moon was proclaimed by the trumpet, Ps. lxxxi. 3. and also the beginning and end of the sabbath. B. J. iv. ix. 12. i Luke xxi. 28. kib. 31. AS A DIVINE INSTRUCTOR. of God over the wicked Jews is on the point of being displayed.] "Verily, I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled." The words were spoken about thirty seven years before the event; and therefore many of that generation lived to see their accomplishment. m "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken and the other left." "I tell you, in that night there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other left." The providence of God over my disciples, and the effect of their attention to my forewarning, will then be remarkable: a distinction will take place between those whose external circumstances are alike my disciples will be preserved, and others will perish. The night mentioned in St. Luke's gospel was probably that which succeeded the appearance of Titus's army, when the gates of Jerusalem were thrown open to such as came for the purpose of celebrating the passover; and therefore, it should seem, to such unarmed Jews as were willing to depart, as if to lodge in the country after the due legal observances of the day." : 1 Matt. xxiv. 34. and p. p. mib. 40, 41. These words favour the second sense, between brackets, of Luke xxi. 31. and Matt. xxiv. 3. "Luke xvii. 34. B. J. v. iii. 1. P After I had written this, I had the pleasure of reading a book called Thoughts on the Nature of the grand Apostacy, &c. By Henry Taylor, &c. 1781. As I disagree with this very superior writer in interpreting Matt. c. xxiv. I have reviewed my interpretation with a |