of Man in the clouds, &c. found this their opinion upon the 34th verse. But to these I answer in the words of the learned Mr. Mede, that they ground

' this their opinion upon the ambiguity of the ' word generation, whereas γενεα signifies not only

atas, but gens, natio, progenies, and so ought to • be here taken, viz. Gens Judæorum non interibit,

usque dum omnia hæc implentur : the Nation of the • Jews should not perish, till all these things were fulfilled, for so signifies παρελθη in the Hebrew ' notion, as you may fee even in the verse following, ὁ ἐρανὸς κ ̓ ἡγῆ παρελεύσονται. By vir ' tue of which Amen, ver. 34. Verily I say unto you, the Jewish nation, even to the wonder and • astonishment of all who confider it, remains a • distinct people in so long and tedious a captivity, and after so many wonderful changes as have • befallen the nations where they live. Accord' ing to that of Jeremy, chap. xxxi. 35, 36. (whi ther this passage seems 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 stars ' for a light by night, which divideth the sea when ' the waves thereof roar: If those ordinances depart • from before me, faith the Lord, then the feed of • Ifrael also shall cease from being a NATION before

me for ever. S. Chryfoftome, among the ancients,

• and Flaccius Illyricus, (a man well skilled in the

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style of scripture) among the moderns, and ⚫ those who follow them, might have admonished ⚫ others to take the word γενεα in this accepta

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tion, rather than by turning it ætas or feculum,

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to put this Prophecy in little ease, and the ' whole harmony of scripture out of frame, by 'I'know not what confused interpretation. S. Chryfoftome applies it to gens Christiana, or fidelium, • which he calls ἡ γενεα ζηθένιων τ κυριον, genera‘tio quærentium Dominum; others have other accommodations, but still under this notion I speak of. I prefer, as I faid, gens Judæorum; ' for what reasons, nihil nunc attinet dicere. No

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man can deny that this is one of the native no' tions of γενεά, yea and so taken in the gospels ; 'as in the foregoing chapter, Matt. xxxiii. 36.

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Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come (ἐπι – γενεάν ταυτην) upon this nation. So 'Beza renders it twice in the parallel place, ‘Luke x. 50, 51. and seven times in this gofpel. Again, Luke xvii. 25. The Son of Man must be first rejected, ἀποτ γενεᾶς ταυλης, Beza à gente ista. The LXX renders by this word עם populus משפחה familia מולדת progenies patria.

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• See Gen. xxv. 13. xliii. 7. Num. x. 30, &ι. • 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 Jerusalem, ' is contrary to the context of our Saviour's Pro

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phecy: for the coming of Chrift to destroy Je

rufalem, was the beginning and cause of that great

' and long tribulation of that people, but the

coming and appearing of the son of Man in

' the clouds of heaven, is exprefly faid should

be after it, immediately AFTER the days of that

'tribulation, &c. Matt. xxiv. 29.-Mark xviii. 24.

• For

* For this great tribulation, such as never nation fuffered, is not to be confined to their calamity

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at the deftruction of Jerufalem, but extends to ' the whole time of their captivity and difperfion, • from that time unto this present not yet ended; wherefore St. Luke, who is wont to be an ex

pofitor of our Saviour's words, puts instead of ' those words of great tribulation, these of parallel ' sense to them, there shall be great distress in the

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land, and wrath upon this people, and they shall

'fall by the edge of the fword, and shall be led a

way captive unto all nations; and Jerusalem shall

‘be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of 'the Gentiles be fulfilled, Luke xxi. 23, 24. And as the other Evangelifts say, after that tribula'tion ended, fo he, after, or when these times of ' the Gentiles are fulfilled, then shall be signs in

the fun and moon, and then they shall fee the • Son of Man coming in a cloud, &c. For the ' copulative και, ver. 25. (και ἔται σημεῖα) is to

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be taken after the Hebrew manner, ordinativè

' for tum deinde, which you know is frequent in

scripture, Then shall be signs *'

From hence it is sufficiently clear, that the coming of the Son of Man here spoken of, is his fecond coming, yet future, and not his coming to destroy Ferufalem; because at this coming he is to GATHER TOGETHER his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth, to the uttermost part of heaven; whereas, at his coming to destroy Jerufalem, he, on the contrary, difperfed them among all nations.

Some indeed, by the eleft 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 such gathering together of the elect from the four winds, &c. at that time, or afterward; neither can it signify (with others) the gathering together at the last and final judgment *, because that is always in scripture

* 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 Christ's reign upon earth; and if so, the coming of Christ in the clouds to gather together his elect, Spoken of in this chapter, and the beginning of the day of judgment, are the same thing: Agreeably to which, Ifaiah, 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 second refurrection, at the end of this thousand years, when the dead, small and great, are to stand before God, Rev. xx. 12. so that as there are to be two refurrections, fo also will there be two judgments; the first, like the first refurrection, a particular one, to be executed during the thousand years, and the fecond, a general one, at the general refurrection, when the thousand years are expired.

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

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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 short only, but a long time; a Day,

• whereof St. Peter speaking, (zd epist. chap. iii.) tells the

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believing brethren, as soon as he has named it, ver. 8. that ⚫ he would not have them ignorant, that one day with the • Lord was as a thousand 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 shall destroy them that de• stroy the earth, ver. 18. The process of this wonderful • day St. John describes by a twofold judgment, and a two• fold refurrection, and the glorious reign of the saints be• tween them: The Morning Judgment shall be of Antichrift ⚫ and all his partakers, whom Christ shall destroy at the ap• pearance of his coming, 2 Thes. ii. 8. and then shall be the • first and particular refurrection. The Evening Judgment shall • be upon the remainder of the living enemies of Christ, • Gog and Magog, and conclude with the last and universal • refurrection of all the dead: And so the last enemy, Death, • being now wholly vanquished, he shall surrender the king• dom into the hands of his Father, that God may be all in

all, 1 Cor. xv. 24. Nor ought it to seem strange, the name • Day should fignify so long a time as a thousand years; the • Jews who first imposed it understood it so. And in the < end of St. Peter we shall find yet a longer day, even * ημέρα ἀιῶν (Dies Eternitatis) a Day of Eternity, 2 Pet.

iii. 18. The Prophets have many fuch long days, when • they say, in that day. The whole time of Chrift's first

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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 first captivity of se

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venty years, a day, (vide Prophetas). Their last and long

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