PREFACE TO THE READER

There is nothing more delightful to an honest mind than truth; nor more important than religious truth. In the holy Scriptures, a complete system of the latter is revealed. But it has unfortunately happened, that through prejudice and indolence, from whence has arisen implicit faith in the opinions of others, and sometimes from a misguided piety, truth has been concealed from the view of mankind, and Christ and his Apostles have been made to speak a language derogatory both to reason and religion, and directly contrary to fact and experience.

But this is an age of enquiry, and Christianity is not of a nature to shrink from the severest scrutiny. It invites examination; and with the more freedom it is treated, the more conspicuously will it display its genuine beauties, and discover its sacred origin.

Whether the enquiry contained in the following pages, will contribute to so valuable a purpose, must be left to the judicious reader to determine. It was undertaken to satisfy the author's own mind, and was submitted, in another form, to the perusal of a worthy friend who condescended to ask h s opinion upon the subject. As he proceeded, evidence increased, till at length he conceived it his duty to communicate the result to the public; hoping that at least it might excite others, better qualified, to do it justice.

With respect to the manner in which he has treated the subject-he has avoided every thing that appeared to him unintelligible, even to the lowest class of men; from a conviction that all are highly concerned in it, if they wish to understand the New Testament.

He has only to add, that when he has had occasion to think differently from the writers whom he has quoted, he hopes he has neither treated them with disrespect on the one hand, nor deserted the cause of truth on the other.



AN ATTEMPT, &c

It cannot escape the observation of any one, in the least conversant with the writings of the Evangelists, that the prophecies, relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, form a very considerable and important part of our blessed Lord's discourses. Many of his parables have an evident relation to that melancholy event, and were probably delivered at an early period of his ministry, when it would have been inconsistent with the great ends of it to have been more explicit.

In the following places, our Lord uses the parabolic method in speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem. Luke xiii. 6- 29. Matt. xxii. 1-7. Luke xiv. 17-24. Matt. xxi. 33-46. Mark xii. 1-12. Luke xx. 9-19. Luke xix. 11-27.



Towards the close of his life, he threw aside the parabolic method, and assumed a plainer language upon the subject, both to his own immediate followers, and to the multitude. Bishop Newcome, in his excellent observations on our Lord's conduct as a divine instructor, is of opinion, that the large discourse, which we have recorded in the 24th of Matthew, and the parallel chapters of Mark and Luke, was delivered but four days before his crucifiction, when Jesus took his final leave of the temple. And it seems to contain the substance of all that is to be met with upon this subject, in the Gospel History.

In the fulfilment of these predictions, as recorded by Josephus, an historian of undoubted credit, who was not only an eye-witness of the transactions of the Jewish war, but bore a considerable share in it, and was an enemy to the christian name; an argument of no small weight arises in favour of the divinity of our Lord's character and mission; for to allude to what Nicodemus said in the case of miracles, No man could foretel events of such magnitude and importance, and with the precision which he did, unless God was with him. A wise man, says the great writer above-mentioned, may foresee some events, relating to an individual or a nation, which depend on a formed character and a connected train of circumstances; but reason and experience shew, that there are likewise events of so contingent and improbable a nature, that the foresight of them exceeds the greatest human sagacity.

Of this nature were the predictions of our Saviour concerning the destruction of Jerusalem; upon the completion of which, the very credit and fate of Christianity depended; not in some distant and uncertain period, but in that very generation in which they were delivered. Verily, says Christ, this generation shall not pass away, before all these things be fulfilled. This is not the language of an impostor, but of one who knew that his predictions would be most exactly fulfilled.

Christ foretold, says Dr. Jortin, the total destruction of the city and temple; the coming of false Christs and false prophets; famines, pestilences, earthquakes, fearful sights and great signs from heaven; the persecution of the apostles, the apostacy of some Christians; the preservation of the faith; the spreading of the gospel through the Roman world; the Roman standards defiling the holy place; the city encompassed with armies, walls and trenches; the retiring of the Christians to the mountains; the greatest tribulation that ever was known; the time when these things should happen; the comparative happiness of the barren woman; wars and rumours of wars, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom; the dispersion of the captive Jews through all nations; the continuation of the desolation; a shortening the days of vengeance for the sake of the elect: all which came to pass. Jortin's Remarks on E. Hist. vol. i.

If the reader is desirous to see in what manner these signs were fulfilled, he may consult Bishop Newton on the Prophecies and the present Bishop of Waterford's excellent observations on our Lord's conduct as a divine instructor.



The accomplishment of our Lord's prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem, may likewise be considered as a standing monument to all future ages, of the truth of the observation of the wise man; that righteousness exalteth a nation, but that sin is eventually, the ruin of any people.

The Jewish nation were favoured with many very extraordinary privileges, both of a civil and religious nature, which, if properly improved, would have distinguished them in an eminent degree above all their surrounding neighbours for national happiness. The whole history of that people, affords ample evidence that they enjoyed prosperity, or suffered affliction, proportioned to their virtous or vicious conduct. But in our Saviour's time they were remarkable for their profligacy and wickedness, and their punishment was equally distinguished for its severity. It was such as had no example in former ages, and would never again be repeated.

To give a particular account, says Josephus, as quoted by Dr. Jortin, of all their iniquities, would be endless. Thus much in general, it may suffice to say, that there never was a city which suffered such miseries, nor a race of men, from the beginning of the world, who so abounded in wickedness. I verily believe that if the Romans had delayed to destroy these wicked wretches, the city would either have been swallowed up by the earth, or overwhelmed by the waters, or struck with fire from heaven as another Sodom; for it introduced a far more impious generation than those who suffered such punishments.

This account is confirmed in a variety of instances by what we meet with in the gospels, but no where more eminently, than in the 8th chapter of St. John, verse the 9th, and their crucifying the Lord of Life. In the former case, they brought a woman to Christ, who had been taken in the very act of adultery, and demanded judgment against her for so flagrant a crime, when it appeared that they themselves were as guilty of a like breach of the marriagecontract. In the latter, they put a person to death, whose innocent and inoffensive life was proof against their utmost malice, and whose benevolent and astonishing miracles testified that he was far superior to any one that ever appeared, and had a divine commission from the Father to rescue them, not from the Roman yoke, as they fondly imagined, but from the more intolerable yoke of sin, and to set them free from the burden of the ceremonial law. This last was the most capital sin of their nation, and is constantly assigned as a principal cause of the destruction, that was coming upon them! Many other instances might be brought from prophane history of the fatal effects of vice on public and national communities: but the same causes, will always product the same effects. Wickedness and punishment, are so closely connected, in the plan of the divine government of the world, that they never were and never can be separated. It is virtue; it is religion alone, that can render nations either happy or durable.

The calamities undergone by the Jews, says the Bishop of Waterford, were unparallel'd in their history, and will remain so. The many and great evils arising from their own distractions and intestine madness, were peculiar to this time. And Josephus asserts in general that no other city underwent such sufferings. In particular he says, that the number of captives, throughout the whole war was 97 thousand and that one million one hundred thousand perished in the course of the siege: To these must be added 237,490 of whom express mention is due by this historian, as being destroyed in other places; besides innumerable others, not subject to calculation, who were swept away by fatigue, famine, disease and every kind of wretchedness and violence. Thus did the awakened vengeance of heaven require of that generation, the blood of all the prophets, which had been shed from the foundation of the world. Newcome's Observations, p. 246.



There is another important use to be made of the prophecies of our Lord, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, which I have chiefly in view in what is to follow, viz. That they serve as a key to many parts of the writings of the Apostles, which otherwise we shall not be able to explain, in a satisfactory manner.

For want of having given sufficient attention to these predictions and to the language of the antient prophets, much obscurity still remains, particularly in the epistles, which have, I think not unfrequently, been totally mistaken by commentators of deserved eminence and repute.

The passages I allude to, are those which speak of the coming of the Lord being at hand, drawing nigh, being ready to be revealed, and coming as a thief in the night, with other expressions of the like nature; which have commonly been understood to relate to the great and final judgment of the last day, or the consummation of all things.

Such language as this, applied to an event, the time of which was altogether unknown, and certainly some thousands of years distant, must appear very extraordinary in any writer; much more in the Apostles of our Lord, whose character for veracity and accuracy is deservedly esteemed.

It is now full a century, since the learned Dr. Hammond, in his Paraphrase of the New Testament, was so extremely dissatisfied with the application of this langunge to the day of judgment, as to speak of it in the following very strong terms. "If," says he, in this coming of the Lord, this day of vengeance belonged to the day of judgment (now after so many years not yet come) what a forbearance were this? What a delay of his coming? and consequently what an objection against the truth of the christian religion. As Mahomet having promised, after his death, he would presently return to life again, and having not performed his promise in a thousand years, is by us justly condemned as an impostor."

This reasoning appears to me so just and forcible, that no other satisfactory reply can, I think, possibly be made to it, than what that great man has furnished us with, namely, that neither Christ nor his Apostles, had any view in them, to the great day of judgment at the end of the world, but to the destruction of Jerusalem, and to that only. And accordingly he has uniformly applied those expressions to that event.

His opinion has not, however, been adopted by succeeding commentaors, tho' they seem to have been much embarrassed to determine the meaning of the Apostles, in these passages; sometimes applyng them to the destruction of Jerusalem; sometimes to the final account which all men are to give of their actions, and very often to both those events.

Dr. Taylor, the author of the much-esteemed Paraphrase of the Romans, not being able to reconcile any or these Interpretations with his ideas of the scripture account of those passages, has adopted one of his own, which, I believe has been well received: It is, that the day of the Lord, the day approaching, &c. mean the time of a person's death; which he truly says, ends the Christian's course of preparation, duty, sufferings, watchings and patience. But this account is by no means satisfactory to me, and I am well persuaded, was not the Apostles meaning. Nor can I agree with him when he says, that our blessed Lord knew very well that he should not come, while that generation, to whom he preached, was alive, and that all his Apostles knew this, as well as he; for this is expressly contrary to our Lord's own assertion, in many parts of the gospels, that the Son of Man would come before that generation was wholly passed away. And that the Apostles themselves understood that he would come before that age was completed in a sense different from that of Dr. Taylor, is apparent from the declaration of the apostle Paul, that the Christians were not in darkness, that that day should over-take them unawares, as were the unbelieving Jews; For I suppose no one will think that they had been favoured with a revelation of the time of their death. But this passage will be more fully considered hereafter. In short this hypothesis appears to have been the offspring of necessity, and not quite consistent with that knowledge and penetration, for which he has been distinguished. But we are all liable to mistakes.

I am fully sensible I shall be liable to the heavy charge of presumption, pretend to see farther than the many great and learned men who have gone before me; many of whom have spent their whole lives in the ardent pursuit of scripture knowledge But the name of Hammond, whose great learning and sound judgment in general is acknowledged, must be my refuge from the imputation of such arrogance. If I have been able to add any thing to what he has advanced upon the subject, it should be remembered that I have his excellent labours, and those of the respectable commentators who differ from him, to assist my enquiries: and that it sometimes happens, that even the opposers of any opinion, may contribute, what may tend to establish the doctrine against which they are engaged.

The subject, it will be allowed on all hands, is of importance; and an attempt to remove difficulties, and to ascertain the genuine meaning of the Apostles, on this subject, if conducted with becoming temper and moderation, will, it is hoped, be received with that candour which is due to an upright intention! I am persuaded that the records of the New Testament are an invaluable treasury of knowledge of the most important kind; that they only want to be rightly understood, to be more generally admired and more seriously attended to, and that the most humble attempt to throw light upon them, is an employment, not unworthy of any, who are persuaded of the truth of Christianity.

I have already observed that the predictions of our Lord concerning the destruction of Jerusalem appear to me, to be the only true key to the understanding the passages we propose to examine, and that the sum of those predictions is continued in the 24th of Matt. and in the parallel chapters of Mark and Luke. It will therefore be necessary to examine those chapters, and to enquire into their true meaning, so far at least, as they are the subject of controversy; for some very eminent commentators and divines have strenuously maintained, that some of these predictions relate, not to the destruction of Jerusalem, but to the solemnities of that more awful day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed; and it must be owned, that at first sight, some expressions there made use of, appear to favour their opinion.

But an impartial attention to the language of Scripture, and to the connection in which they stand, will, I am persuaded, remove all doubt upon the subject, and convince us that the Evangelists have their eye upon the destruction of Jerusalem, and upon that only.

To prevent trouble to the reader, let it be observed, that I shall make the 24th of Matthew the ground of my enquiry; taking notice occasionally, of any difference of importance in the other Evangelists.

All the three historians agree, that these remarkable prophecies, took their rise from a survey of the temple and its magnificent buildings, which Jesus then told his disciples, should ere long be thrown down, and not one stone left upon another; that is, should be utterly demolished.

Not leaving one stone upon another, says the Bishop of Waterford, is a proverbial and hyperbolical way of speaking to denote very exemplary destruction. The temple was so magnificent, says Dr. Jortin, that it was esteemed for art and beauty one of the wonders of the world; whence it was natural to expect that the Romans according to their usual custom, amidst their conquests, would endeavour to preserve it safe and entire. And Josephus tells us that Titus laboured with all his power to save it, but that his soldiers, as if moved by a divine impulse, would not hearken to his positive and repeated orders, but set fire to every part of it till it was entirely consumed and the soil on which it stood was ploughed up and not one stone left on another. See Jortin's Remarks on E. Hist. vol. i, p. 30.



Upon this assertion, his disciples very naturally asked him, when these things should be, and what would be the sign of his coming? St. Matt. alone has this addition, and of the end of the world; which Bishop Pearce has, I think, more justly translated, the end of the age, during which the Jewish state was to last, and which age, the disciples imagined, would be at an end, when the Christ came, and visited the Jewish nation.

This makes the question stated by the three Evangelists, to relate to one and the same event, viz. to the destruction of Jerusalem, and well agrees with the declaration upon which it was founded; which certainly had no relation to the final judgment of the great day. On the contrary, if our translation is admitted to be right, the disciples not only introduce a question, which has no connection whatever, with the occasion which gave rise to it, but which was directly opposite to their well-known sentiments. (Note: This last sentence should probably read, ". . . . if our translation is not admitted to be right, etc."). So far were they from conceiving, that the end of the world was at hand, that they became the followers of Jesus, from a belief that he was the Messiah, and they afterwards gave various evidences even till after his resurrection, that they expected, he would erect a temporal kingdom in the world. Lord, said they, wilt thou not at this time restore the kingdom to Israel. - Acts i.7.

To corroborate this translation, I shall produce a passage or two from the epistles, which even the mere English reader, who is at all conversant with the New Testament, will see, must necessarily be restrained to the times when they were written. The first is in the 10th chapter of the 1st epistle to the Corinthians, verse 11th: All these things (the things which he had before been speaking of) happened to them for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Bishop Pearce's note on this passage is remarkable. "St. Paul," says he, "did not imagine, that the end of the world was at hand (as some commentators have, much to his prejudice, supposed): He only alluded to the Jewish distinction of time." The other passage is in Hebrews ix, 26. Now once in the end of the world hath he (Christ) appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; "which phrase of the 'end of the world; "says the writer just mentioned, "relates, not to the end of the world, strictly speaking, but to the preceding ages, be ing ended."

In answer to the latter part of the disciple's question, What shall be the sign of thy coming? Or as it is in Luke, what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? Our Lord proceeds to point out to them the various signs by which they might assuredly know, that the ruin of the Jewish nation was approaching, and to give them some useful directions, for the regulation of their conduct under that heavy calamity. This he doth down to the end of the 31st verse. But it is not universally agreed, that the 29th and following verses relate to the destruction of Jerusalem, though the preceding verses evidently have that event in view.

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