*!

of Man in the clouds, &c. found this their opinion upon the 34th verfe. But to these I answer in the

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words of the learned Mr. Mede, that they ground this their opinion upon the ambiguity of the word generation, whereas yeved fignifies not only atas, but gens, natio, progenies, and fo ought to be here taken, viz. Gens Judæorum non interibit, ufque dum omnia haec implentur: the Nation of the Jews fhould not perish, till all these things were fulfilled, for fo fignifies wagon in the Hebrew notion, as you may fee even in the verfe following, pavos nyй wageλsúσolat. By vir tue of which Amen, ver. 34. Verily I fay unto you, the Jewish nation, even to the wonder and aftonishment of all who confider it, remains a diftinct people in fo long and tedious a captivity, and after fo many wonderful changes as have befallen the nations where they live. According to that of Jeremy, chap. xxxi. 35, 36. (whi ther this paffage feems to have reference) Thus faith the Lord, which giveth the fun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the fars for a light by night, which divideth the fea when • the waves thereof roar: If those ordinances depart from before me, faith the Lord, then the feed of Ifrael alfo fhall ceafe from being a NATION before me for ever. S. Chryfoftome, among the ancients, • and Flaccius Illyricus, (a man well fkilled in the ftyle of fcripture) among the moderns, and those who follow them, might have admonished • others to take the word yeved in this acceptation, rather than by turning it ætas or feculum,

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No

to put this Prophecy in little ease, and the ⚫ whole harmony of fcripture out of frame, by I'know not what confufed interpretation. S. Chryfoftome applies it to gens Chriftiana, or fidelium, which he calls revea (svlov + xvojov, generatio quærentium Dominum; others have other ac'commodations, but ftill under this notion I fpeak of. I prefer, as I faid, gens Judæorum; for what reasons, nihil nunc attinet dicere. man can deny that this is one of the native notions of yeved, yea and fo taken in the gospels; as in the foregoing chapter, Matt. xxxiii. 36. Verily I fay unto you, all these things fhall come (ἐπι * γενεάν ταύτη») upon this nation. So Beza renders it twice in the parallel place, Luke x. 50, 51. and feven times in this gofpel. Again, Luke xvii. 25. The Son of Man must be firft rejected, ἀπὸ ἢ γενεᾶς ταυλης, Beza d gente ifta. The LXX renders by this word

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21

.progenies patria מולרת familia משפחה populus עם *

See Gen. xxv. 13.-xliii. 7. Num. x. 30, &c. Befides to interpret this coming of the Son of • Man in the clouds of heaven, and his kingdom then, of his coming to the deftruction of Jerufalem, is contrary to the context of our Saviour's Prophecy for the coming of Chrift to destroy Jerufalem, was the beginning and cause of that great and long tribulation of that people, but the coming and appearing of the fon of Man in the clouds of heaven, is exprefly faid fhould be after it, immediately AFTER the days of that • tribulation, &c. Matt. xxiv. 29.-Mark xviii. 24.

• For

For this great tribulation, fuch as never nation fuffered, is not to be confined to their calamity at the deftruction of Jerufalem, but extends to the whole time of their captivity and difperfion, from that time unto this prefent not yet ended; wherefore St. Luke, who is wont to be an expofitor of our Saviour's words, puts instead of those words of great tribulation, thefe of parallel fenfe to them, there fhall be great diftrefs in the land, and wrath upon this people, and they shall fall by the edge of the fword, and fhall be led away captive unto all nations; and Jerufalem fhall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, Luke xxi. 23, 24. And

as the other Evangelifts fay, after that tribulation ended, fo he, after, or when thefe times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, then fhall be figns in the fun and moon, and then they fhall fee the Son of Man coming in a cloud, &c. For the copulative xa, ver. 25. (xai sai onuña) is to be taken after the Hebrew manner, ordinativè for tum deinde, which you know is frequent in fcripture, Then fhall be figns *?

From hence it is fufficiently clear, that the coming of the Son of Man here fpoken of, is his fecond coming, yet future, and not his coming to deftroy Jerufalem; becaufe at this coming he is to GATHER TOGETHER his elct from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth, to the uttermoft part of heaven; whereas, at his coming

*Mede, Book IV. Epift. XII. p. 752.

to destroy Jerufalem, he, on the contrary, difperfed them among all nations.

Some indeed, by the elect here, would have us to understand the Chriftian Church to be gathered out of all nations, at, or foon after, the deftruction of Jerufalem; but this cannot be the meaning here, because, in fact, there was no fuch gathering together of the elect from the four winds, &c. at that time, or afterward; neither can it fignify (with others) the gathering together at the last and final judgment *, because that is always in fcripture

* The last day, or day of judgment, according to the learned and judicious Mr. Mede, is not one fingle day, but a thousand years, beginning and ending with the millennium, or thousand years of Chrift's reign upon earth; and if so, the coming of Chrift in the clouds to gather together his elect, fpoken of in this chapter, and the beginning of the day of judgment, are the fame thing: Agreeably to which, Isaiah, speaking of this last day, chap. ii. 4. fays, and He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, &c.' Christ will therefore begin to judge the nations at this time, and to give reward unto his fervants, though the particular and final reward or punishment of every individual will be delayed till the fecond refurrection, at the end of this thousand years, when the dead, small and great, are to ftand before God, Rev. xx. 12. fo that as there are to be two refurrections, fo alfo will there be two judgments; the firft, like the first refurrection, a particular one, to be executed during the thoufand years, and the fecond, a general one, at the general refurrection, when the thoufand years are expired.

The millennium (fays Mr. Mede) of the reign of Chrift, is that which the fcriptures call the Day of Judgment, &c.-a Day (not as our languages commonly import) of a few hours, • but,

cripture described to be a gathering together of all mankind, whereas this is of the elect only.

It

but, according to the Hebrew notion, (from whence the name is derived) of many years; for with them, day is time, and not a fhort only, but a long time; a Day, whereof St. Peter Speaking, (zd epift. chap. iii.) tells the believing brethren, as foon as he has named it, ver. 8. that he would not have them ignorant, that one day with the Lord was as a thoufand years, and a thousand years as one day. This is the day of the great Affizes, beginning with the 7th trumpet, Apoc. xi. 15. wherein Christ shall give re• ward unto his fervants the Prophets, and to the faints, and them that fear his name; and fhall deftroy them that destroy the earth, ver. 18. The procefs of this wonderful day St. John defcribes by a twofold judgment, and a two• fold refurrection, and the glorious reign of the faints between them: The Morning Judgment shall be of Antichrift and all his partakers, whom Chrift fhall deftroy at the ap-. pearance of his coming, 2 Thef. ii. 8. and then shall be the firft and particular refurrection. The Evening Judgment fhall be upon the remainder of the living enemies of Chrift, • Gog and Magog, and conclude with the laft and univerfal • refurrection of all the dead: And fo the last enemy, Death, being now wholly vanquished, he fhall furrender the kingdom into the hands of his Father, that God may be all in all, 1 Cor. xv. 24. Nor ought it to feem ftrange, the name Day fhould fignify fo long a time as a thousand years; the Jews who firft impofed it underflood it fo. And in the end of St. Peter we fhall find yet a longer day, even nprépa dia (Dies Eternitatis) a Day of Eternity, 2 Pet. iii. 18. The Prophets have many fuch long days, when they fay, in that day. The whole time of Chrift's first coming is called a day, John xxvi. 26.-2 Cor. vi. 2. The * whole time of the Jews forty years abode in the wilderness is called a day, Heb. iii. 8, 9. Their firft captivity of feventy years, a day, (vide Prophetas). Their laft and