his GLORY and SALVATION are at hand! Then shall he be hidden in the Lord's pavilion from the strife of tongues ;- then is the time arrived when he shall be redeemed from this vile body— this body of sin, in which he so often groans, being burdened. Yea, then shall he be delivered from all the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God!

END OF LECTURE III.

OUR LORD'S PROPHECY,

MATTHEW XXIV.

PART III.

VERSES 30-51.

THE SECOND ADVENT.

AT the conclusion of my last Lecture, I encouraged you, dear brethren, to expect, from the various promises which I adduced from the prophets, that God will interpose, in a remarkable manner, for the salvation of believers, during the last crisis of the Great Tribulation which we have now considered.

The 30th verse of the chapter before us declares, that that interposition shall be effected by the Epiphany and Advent of the Son of Man himself; which events wind up the present dispensation of divine goodness, and introduce the millennial. "For then" (says our Lord)" shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn ; aud they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory."

First let me observe on this passage, that in

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the parallel places in Mark and Luke's account of this prophecy, no mention is made of the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, but only of his coming in the clouds of heaven; and it would appear, from a consideration of the manner in which a sign is expressed in other places, that it means no other here than the manifestation of our Lord himself in heaven, previous to his actual descent; which two things therefore Mark and Luke have treated as one. For, in Matth. xii. 39, we have the expression," the sign of the prophet Jonah ;" which does not mean any device or symbol signifying Jonah, but Jonah himself, or what happened to him, the sign. So, in Romans iv. 11, where it is written, that Abraham received the sign of circumcision, we all understand that circumcision itself was the sign. And it is perfectly analogous therefore to understand the sign of the Son of Man in heaven to signify the Son of Man in heaven the sign of his coming: for the disciples had inquired, what should be the sign of the Lord's coming; (not what should be the sign of his being in heaven;) and there is no reply to their question, unless this epiphany, or glorious manifestation of Christ, be the sign.

Now those interpreters who make the signs in the sun and moon and stars, identical with the overthrow of Jerusalem, instead of noticing what I have pointed out to you by comparing Luke, -viz. that there intervenes the whole period of

"the days of vengeance," during which the Jews were to be captive in all lands, and Jerusalem trodden under foot, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled; and that these signs do not occur until immediately after the tribulation of those days;-I say, those interpreters, who do nevertheless make these signs identical with the desolation of Jerusalem, are compelled to fall into another and still more serious error in regard to the coming of the Son of Man, mentioned in this place. For having nothing in their minds but the destruction of Jerusalem, and knowing that there was at that time no literal or personal advent of the Son of Man, they make this another figure of the desolation of Jerusalem; alleging that it signifies no more than an invisible or providential coming of Christ, for the purpose of inflicting this awful judgment on Israel. This involves the prophecy in great difficulties and absurdities, some of which we must notice.

First, you will remember that the question of the disciples concerning Christ's coming, was apparently raised by his having declared just before-"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate! For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that COMETH in the name of the Lord." But if this desolation of Jerusalem were the coming of Christ, the impenitent Jews, who were besieged at that time, were the parties who did see this coming;

whilst yet it is quite certain they did not then say, either of Jesus or of the desolation of their temple, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

Now

Secondly, We have seen, that our Lord has taken especial care, in reply to the question of his disciples on this head, that no man might deceive them in regard to it. He has warned them of the impostors that would arise, saying "I am he;”— and of the false prophets, who would declare, that he was come invisibly or privately, and was in the secret chambers of the temple, or in the wilderness. He likewise admonished them, that his coming should be as the lightning, streaming forth from the one end of heaven to the other. after all this care to prevent them from misunderstanding it, how singularly inconsistent it would be, that he should nevertheless speak of his personal and glorious advent in terms which must puzzle and deceive his disciples throughout all generations. For if nothing is meant but a providential visitation of wrath upon the Jews, there is nothing in it which can properly be compared to the suddenness and splendor of the lightning's flash; but if the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour is intended the Son of Man, all at once manifested in heaven, in the glory of his Father with the angels, then the whole is

in keeping with the Lord's warnings, and with the simile of the lightning.