stead of every eye seeing him at that time, no eye saw him, for he remained in the invisible world: and instead of the Jewish nation seeing and knowing him as the person whom they had pierced, they were still rejecting him, and for rejecting him were destroyed: and instead of all the nations of the earth wailing because of him, they have all been rejoicing ever since, and making merry, regardless of him. And further, as Horsley argues from the narrative in St. Matthew, "It is evident that the coming intended in these similitudes, [the lightning, and the eagle and carcass,] is that coming, of the time and hour of which none knows, said our Lord, 'not even the Son, but the Father.' But since the epoch of the destruction of Jerusalem was known to the Messiah by the prophetic Spirit -the coming, of which the time was not known to the Messiah by the prophetic Spirit, could be no other than the last personal advent." To these conclusive arguments we may add, that, according to the best and most careful investigation, it appears that Jerusalem had been already destroyed previous to the giving of the Revelations to John, in Patmos, and was consequently a matter of history in the church, and not of prophecy.

What coming, then, of the Lord is this? Not his spiritual coming, as it is called, to his church: because, in what is meant by that phrase, instead of coming in the clouds of heaven in manifested manhood, as he went away, he reveals himself by the Spirit in the hearts of his elect, as present with them in all places at the same time; consequently, not in his manhood, which can be only in one place at a time;—and instead of every eye seeing him, no eye sees him: the elect walk by faith, not by sight; and instead of the Jewish nation, who pierced him, seeing him, they have rejected, and do reject him to this day;-and instead of all the nations of the earth wailing because of him, they still rejoice and make merry, regardless of him, and scoff with disdain at the pretensions of his people to any inward revelation of his presence by the Spirit. It is manifest that similar arguments would prove that the coming of the Lord cannot mean the death of the individual man, as has been absurdly maintained.

Clearly his pershall be brought

What coming, then, of the Lord is this? sonal coming in visible manhood, when that to pass which was spoken by the angels to the Apostles, on the day of the ascension; when Jesus, being parted from them on the Mount of Olives, and received into a cloud out of their sight, two men stood by them in white apparel, and said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall SO come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

"Behold, he cometh with clouds!" This exclamation of

the Apostle is grounded upon the last of those sublime visions which had been presented to him, and with the glory of which he was so filled when he came to testify the truth to the churches, that he is interrupted by, as it were, involuntary bursts of feeling. In his benediction, he had called Jesus Christ "the Faithful Witness," "the First-Begotten of the dead," and "the Prince of the kings of the earth," with evident allusion to the three-fold revelation of the Lord which he had received—the great Bishop of the church, the Lamb as it had been slain appearing in heaven, and the King of kings returning to the earth. Then out of the abundance of his inspired heart bursts forth the doxology, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood," &c. But this was not enough to satisfy his ardent, holy enthusiasm. A chart had been laid before him, marking the course of the voyage by which God had fore-ordained to carry on the world and the church through this dispensation. Both are seen sailing together; the one exulting in her pride; the other meek and lowly: the one glittering in all splendour of costly ornament: the other in sackcloth: the one changing its aspects under successive commanders, and increasing, as it proceeds, in luxury and pride; the other always the same, under one Captain, neither imitating nor envying the pageantry of its companion: the one ringing with the sounds of revellings and banquetings and blasphemies; the other breathing into every gale the tender accents of earnest, humble prayer. They sail on together: the one pleased with the voyage, and wishing it to last for ever; the other sore buffeted and weary, almost to death, longing for the haven. The whole voyage being traced before the Apostle's eye, the port at last appeared, and there, behold! the Master of both vessels rushes forth with flaming. fire! Every eye beholds him. The crew of the little tempest-tossed bark shout for joy, saying, 'This is our Friend: we have longed for him, we have waited for him: now he is come, and he will save us: Hallelujah!' Then shall doleful cries be heard from on board the great gay vessel; for everlasting destruction shall be her portion, and that of all who belong to her.

This last scene had made an impression upon the Apostle's heart, which he was eager to communicate, and the words we have been considering, contain the enraptured utterance of that eagerness: Behold, he cometh with clouds! &c. They have no other connection in the context. Where, where is the man who can contemplate the truths revealed to the Apostle, without catching a spark of the Apostolic fire here kindled? In all light there is heat. The man who can proceed in a cold investigation of these revealed glories of God in Christ Jesus,

without finding himself once and again hurried away into a warmth of devotional enthusiasm, which bids defiance to all rules of logic, has more reason to be ashamed of the deadness of his heart, than to pride himself upon the soundness of his understanding. This exuberance of feeling, however, arising from the overflowing fulness of the transporting subject, is a very different thing from that vapid excitement which is begun, continued, and ended in emptiness.

It is further to be remarked, that neither in the 24th chapter of St. Matthew, nor in the first of the Apocalypse, is there any mention made of the resurrection of the body. Elsewhere, indeed, the resurrection of those that are Christ's at the same period is predicted as certainly to take place; but in the passages now under consideration, the spectators of the advent appear to refer exclusively to the living in that day. The circumstance of the Jews who pierced him being specified, contains no objection to this opinion; for it is the nation that is spoken of, as such: to the Jews, as a nation, the promises of restoration and prosperity are made: not to the generation who were alive in the day when the prophecy was uttered, whether by Moses or Isaiah, or Ezekiel or John; but to the nation, as a continuous aggregate; and those prophecies shall be literally fulfilled in that generation of the nation, which shall be alive upon the earth in the day when the Lord doeth these things. Upon that nation (generation after generation) has been visited. the vengeance of His blood whom they pierced. It is true of the present generation of Jews, that they are suffering for, or because of, Him whom they pierced; and the generation of them who shall be alive when he returns, shall see Him whom they have pierced. They shall recognise Him, in the glory of Jehovah, as that same Jesus, whom they crucified, and whom they have for so many hundred years spurned and blasphemed; and perceiving that he returns their Friend, causing mercy to triumph over justice, they will be overwhelmed with mingled shame and remorse, and fear and gratitude, and faith and love. No event short of this can fulfil the words of the Lord by the Prophet Zechariah: "In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David: and the house of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord, before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication: and they shall look upon Me, whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his first

born. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart, and their wives apart. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." (Zech. xii. 8-14; xiii. 1.) That no such favour was shewn to the Jews as that which is here promised, nor any such penitential mourning awakened among them as that which is here described, at the time that the Messiah was pierced by them, is matter of notoriety. The facts of the case were precisely the reverse. Instead of Jerusalem being defended, it was destroyed: instead of penitent bitterness of spirit amongst the inhabitants thereof, there was the most hardened obduracy. Yet the single clause of the prophecy which says, "They shall look on him whom they have pierced," is quoted, (John xix. 37.) as applicable at the moment of the crucifixion;-applicable, however, it is manifest, as identifying the person crucified with the person predicted by Zechariah; but not as supplying the fulfilment of the whole strain of Zechariah's prophecy. That remains to be fulfilled in the day when the Crucified One shall re-appear upon the earth.

With this important corroboration of our exposition, we return to Matt. xxiv. Having concluded this prophecy, our Lord proceeds to instruct his disciples, by a parable, how they might be sure of the final accomplishment of all he had said (vers. 32-34.) "When you see the fig-tree bud, you hail it as a sign and pledge of the summer and harvest. So, also, when you shall see the destruction of the temple, the dispersion of the Jewish nation, and the beginning of the great tribulation, you may hail all these things as a sign and pledge of the finishing of that tribulation, and the coming of the Son of man at the end of it." "All these things," in verse 33, must be thus limited: for if they be understood to include more than the beginnings of the prophecy, there will be no force in the parable; for "all these things" would then include as signs, those very events of which they were to be the signs. these things" which the disciples were to see (ver. 34) and hail as signs, correspond, therefore, with the budding of the figtree, and mean the dispersion of the Jews and the beginning of the sorrows. "Verily I say to you,' added our Lord, all these things shall be fulfilled-the fig-tree shall bud-before this generation passes away.' As if he had said, "The whole prophecy, in all its periods, is aptly represented by the whole season of a fig-tree. While I speak, it is winter: the fig-tree is bare, the prophecy has no fulfilment. Before this genera

"All

tion of men shall pass away, it will be spring: the fig-tree shall bud, the prophecy shall have a commenced fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem. This you, my disciples, shall see. From this you may argue surely, and expect confidently the summer and harvest. The fig-tree shall blossom and bear fruit: the prophecy shall make progress in fulfilment, the great tribulation shall run its course, and the Son of Man shall come. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.'

We now proceed to the practical application of this prophecy, as pressed by our Lord, under the two heads of watchfulness and diligence, to the end of the chapter, and enforced by two parables in the chapter following.

"As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be: for as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and knew not, until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." They knew not! But had they not been told? Yes, verily: Noah preached to them of righteousness and judgment to come; he builded the ark also, and thereby gave them warning; by which, as it is written, he condemned the world. They had heard, therefore, that the flood was coming; and many, very many of them must have joined Noah in making visible preparation for it; yet our Lord says, "They knew not, till the flood came." This opens a truly deceitful mine of the human heart: and as it was then, so it is now. It is possible to hear of the coming King, the coming judgments, and the coming kingdom, and to be constrained to admit the justice of the statements, not seeing how the arguments advanced can be refuted-nay, not only so, but to take a liking for the subject, to find in it a comprehensiveness, a depth of intellectual exercise, an excitement of political application, which invests it with a very animating interest; and thereupon to become a zealous advocate for it, a champion in the controversy excited by it: and yet to be without part or lot in its blessedness; never really to embody it in your instinctive creed, so as to make it your own; and, after all, to have it truly said of you, in the sense now before us, that you knew it not till it came. Here, as in every other branch of it, salvation is by grace. The natural workings of the mind and heart of man, are easily mistaken for the energizings of the Holy Ghost. The study of prophecy may be as formal as the profession of orthodoxy; and the formal student, as well as the formal professor, may live and die at enmity against God, and be cast into the damnation of hell.