bands of thieves and robbers. They put Jesus to death, lest the Romans should come and take away their place and nation; and the Romans did come and take away their place and nation. They crucified Jesus before the walls of Jerusalem; and before the walls of Jerusalem they themselves were crucified in such numbers that it is said room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses for the bodies. I should think it hardly possible for any man to lay these things together, and not conclude the Jews' own imprecation to be remarkably fulfilled upon them, (Matt. xxvii. 25 :) "His blood be on us and on our children."

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We Christians cannot indeed be guilty of the very same offence in crucifying the Lord of glory: but it behoves us to consider, whether we may not be guilty in the same kind, and by our sins and iniquities, (Heb. vi. 25,) "crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame ;" and therefore whether being like them in their crime, we may not also resemble them in their punishment. They rejected the Messiah, and we indeed have received him: but have our lives been at all agreeable to our holy profession, or rather as we have had opportunities of knowing Christ more, have we not obeyed him less than other Christians, and (Heb. x. 29) "trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith we are sanctified an unholy thing, and done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" The flagrant crimes of the Jews, and the principal sources of their calamities, in the opinion of Josephus, were their trampling upon all human laws, deriding divine things, and making a jest of the oracles of the prophets as so many dreams and fables: and how hath the same spirit of licentiousness and infidelity prevailed likewise among us? How have the laws and lawful authority been insulted with equal insolence and impunity? How have the Holy Scriptures, those treasures of divine wisdom, not only been neglected, but despised, derided, and abused to the worst purposes? How have the principal articles of our faith been denied, the prophecies and miracles of Moses and the prophets of Christ and his apostles been ridiculed, and impiety and blasphemy not only been whispered in the ear, but proclaimed from the press? How hath all public worship and religion, and the administration of the sacraments been slighted and contemned, and the sabbath profaned by those chiefly who ought to set a better example, to whom much is given, and of whom therefore much

4 Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 4 et 13; 1, 3, c. 8; 1.4, c. 3; 1. 7, c. 8, &c.

5 Καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος χώρα τε ἐνελείπετο τοῖς σταυροῖς, καὶ σταυροὶ τοῖς σώμασιν. Εt propter multitudinem spatium crucibus dcerat, et corporibus cruces. Ib. 1. 5, c. 11, § 1.

Κατεπατεῖτο μὲν οὖν πᾶς αὐτοῖς θεσμὸς

ἀνθρώπων, ἐγελᾶτο δὲ τὰ θεῖα, καὶ τοὺς τῶν προφητῶν θεσμούς [Αl. χρησμούς] ὥσπερ ἀγυρτικὰς λογοποιΐας ἐχλεύαζον. Et ab illis quidem omne jus humanum conculcabatur, divina autem quæque deridebantur et prophetarum oracula ut præstigiatorum commenta subsunnabant. ibid. 1. 4, c. 6, § 3.

will be required? And if for their sins and provocations, (Rom. xi. 21, 20,) "God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear." God bore long with the Jews; and hath he not bore long with us too? But he cut them off, when the measure of their iniquities was full; and let us beware lest our measure be not also well-nigh full, and we be not growing ripe for excision. What was said to the church of Ephesus, is very applicable to us and our own case, (Rev. ii. 5:) "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."

As

XXII.-ST. PAUL'S PROPHECY OF THE MAN OF SIN.

S our blessed Saviour hath cited and appealed to the book of Daniel, so likewise have his apostles drawn from the same fountain. St. Paul's and St. John's predictions are in a manner the copies of Daniel's originals, with some improvements and additions. The same times, the same persons, and the same events are described by St. Paul and St. John, as well as by Daniel; and it might therefore with reason be expected, that there should be some similitude and resemblance in the principal features and characters.

St. Paul hath left in writing, besides others, two most memorable prophecies, both relating to the same subject, the one concerning the man of sin, the other concerning the apostacy of the latter times, the former contained in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, and the latter in the first Epistle to Timothy. The prophecy concerning the man of sin, having been delivered first in time, may fitly be considered first in order and for the fuller manifestation of the truth and exactness of this prediction, it may be proper, 1st, to investigate the genuine sense and meaning of the passage; 2dly, to show how it hath been mistaken and misapplied by some famous commentators; and 3dly, to vindicate and establish what we conceive to be the only true and legitimate application.

I. In the first place it is proper to investigate the genuine sense and meaning of the passage; for a prophecy must be rightly understood, before it can be rightly applied. The apostle introduces the subject thus, (2 Thess. ii. 1, 2:) "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be

not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand." The preposition which is translated by, ought rather to have been translated concerning, as it signifies in other places of Scripture, and in other authors, both Greek and Latin. "Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him." For he doth not beseech them by the coming of Christ, but the coming of Christ is the subject of which he is treating; and it is in relation to this subject, that he desires them not to be disturbed or affrighted, neither by revelation, nor by message, nor by letter, as from him, as if the day of Christ's coming was at hand. The phrases of the coming of Christ, and the day of Christ, may be understood either figuratively of his coming in judgment upon the Jews, or literally of his coming in glory to judge the world. Sometimes, indeed, they are used in the former sense, but they are more generally employed in the latter, by the writers of the New Testament: and the latter is the proper signification in this place, as the context will evince beyond contradiction. St. Paul himself had planted the church in Thessalonica; and it consisted principally of converts from among the Gentile idolaters, because it is said, (1 Thess. i. 9,) that they "turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God." What occasion was there therefore to admonish them particularly of the destruction of Jerusalem? Or why should they be under such agitations and terrors upon that account? What connexion had Macedonia with Judea, or Thessalonica with Jerusalem? What share were the Christian converts to have in the calamities of the rebellious and unbelieving Jews; and why should they not rather have been comforted than troubled at the punishment of their inveterate enemies? Besides how could the apostle deny that the destruction of the Jews was at hand, when it was at hand, as he saith himself, (1 Thess. ii. 16,) and "the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost?" He knew, and they knew, for our Saviour had declared, that the destruction of Jerusalem would come to pass in that generation: and what a ridiculous comfort must it be to tell them, that it would not happen immediately, but would be accomplished within less than twenty years?

1 So it is rendered, Rom. ix. 27. 'Hoatas δὲ κράζει ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, Esaias also crieth concerning Israel. See likewise 2 Cor. i. 7; viii. 23, 24, &c. Galen, 1. 1, ad Glauc. Υπερ πασῶν γράψαι οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ, de omnibus scribere non datur. Virgil Æn. i. 750.

'Multa super Priamo rogitans, super Hectore

multa.'

2 At quis huic terrori locus, si de Judæorum excidio agebatur? Quid Ma

cedoniæ cum Judæa, Thessal. cum Hieros.? quid commune Christianis cum periculo rebellium Judæorum? &c.' Simplicius in Poli Synops.

3 Præterea, quo jure potest apostolus inficiari. Judæorum excidium imminere, cum reipsa jam adesset; uti liquet ex prioris epistolæ, c. 2, ver. 16.' Bocharti Examen libelli de Antichristo, tom. 2, col 1049.

The phrases therefore of the coming of Christ, and the day of Christ, cannot in this place relate to the destruction of Jerusalem, but must necessarily be taken in the more general acceptation of his coming to judge the world. So the phrase is constantly used in the former epistle. In one place the apostle saith, (ii. 19,) “What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" In another place he wisheth, (iii. 13,) that "the Lord may establish their hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints:" and in a third place he prayeth, (v. 23,) that "their whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." These texts evidently refer to the general judgment: and if the phrase be constantly so employed in the former epistle, why should it not be taken after the same manner in this epistle? In the former epistle the apostle had exhorted the Thessalonians to moderate sorrow for the dead by the consideration of the resurrection and the general judgment, (iv. 13, &c.) "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." "But of the times and the seasons of these things, (as he proceeds, v. 1, 2,) brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." Some persons having mistaken the apostle's meaning, and having inferred from some of these expressions, that the end of the world was now approaching, and the day of Christ was now at hand, the apostle sets himself in this place to rectify that mistaken notion: and it is with reference to this coming of Christ, to this day of the Lord, to this our gathering together unto him in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, that he beseeches the Thessalonians not to be shaken from their steadfastness, nor to be troubled and terrified, as if it was now at hand. Nothing then can be more evident and undeniable, than that the coming of Christ here intended is his second coming in glory to judge the world: and of this his second coming the apostle had spoken before, in this same

epistle, and in the chapter before this, (ver. 6-10 :) "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day."

It was a point of great importance for the Thessalonians not to be mistaken in this particular; because if they were taught to believe that the coming of Christ was at hand, and he should not come according to their expectation, they might be staggered in their faith, and finding part of their creed to be false, might be hasty enough to conclude that the whole was so. Where by the way we may observe Mr. Gibbon's want of judgment, in assigning the notion of Christ's coming speedily as one of the great causes of the growth and increase of the Christian church, when it appears from this passage that it had a contrary effect, and tended to shake and unsettle their minds, and to disturb and trouble instead of inviting and engaging them. The apostle therefore cautions them in the strongest manner against this delusion; and assures them that other memorable events will take place before the coming of our Lord, (ver. 3, 4:) "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is wor shipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." The day of Christ shall not come, ἐὰν μὴ ἔλθῃ ἀποστασία πρῶτον, except there come the apostacy first. apostacy here described is plainly not of a civil, but of a religious nature; not a revolt from the government, but a defection from the true religion and worship, "a departing from the faith," (1 Tim. iv. 1,) " a departing from the living God," (Heb. iii. 12,) as the word is used by the apostle in other places. In the original it is the apostacy with an article to give t an emphasis. The article being added, as Erasmus' remarks, signifies that famous and before predicted apostacy. So likewise it is veρwños τñs &μaprias, the man of sin, with the like article and the like emphasis: and St. Ambrose, that he might express the force of the article, hath rendered it that man, as have likewise our English translators. If then the notion of

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The

41 'articulus additus significat insignem illam et ante prædictam defectionem.' Erasm. in loc. ''D Ambrosius, ut explicaret vim articuli, legit homo, ille, &c.' Erasm. ibid.