by the Saviour, at least nothing is here recorded as previously said, of the "end of the age." But the disciples were not ignorant of Prophecy, and they were able to observe and attend to its intimations. And thus it was, we have no doubt, they learned to connect the coming of the Lord with the end of the age. From a prophecy given by Daniel, they had already ascertained the precise era of Christ's appearance in the world; and, by their acquaintance with this same prediction, and the remembrance of what had so recently fallen from their Master's lips, they would be enabled to connect the time of Christ's Return with the end of the age. Daniel had foretold that, after the Messiah was cut off," the City and the Sanctuary should be destroyed, by the people of the Prince who should come against Judea; and that these he should "make desolate, even until THE CONSUMMATION" or end. Dan. ix. 27. Now, as the Saviour had himself predicted the duration of that very desolation as coeval with the continuance of His absence, his disciples equally desirous of information concerning both, ask "When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age?

From the 4th to the 14th verse, the Saviour gives them a general outline of what should take place up to "the end" of the age, cautioning them against false Christs who should arise, and warning them against the

inore appropriate and analogous expressions, some light may be thrown upon subjects of the greatest concern and moment. Take, for instance, a passage in the same Evangelist, where cosmos and aion are used in the same connection, and both translated world.' (Matt. xiii. 38.) The field is the world. The harvest is the end of the world.' 'So shall it be in the end of this world. On perusing the passage in which these words appear, any plain mind inust draw the inference, that at the destruction of this material globe, the procedure, represented under the figure of a harvest, would take place; but when it appears in the original that different words are used; that the world' which is the field is cosmos, mundus, universe; and the world' which is then to end, is aion, sæculum, age; and that this world' refers to the word signifying age, and not to that which signifies universe; the natural and obvious inference would rather be, when this age of the world shall end, then shall the harvest come.””—Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church. By Basilicus. p. 31.

supposition, that when they should hear of wars and rumours of wars that this "end" had arrived :-" but the end is not yet." He shows them that this was but the commencement of long-continuing affliction to which the Jews should afterwards be exposed," all these are the beginning of sorrows." ver. 8. In the 9th and 10th verses, he predicts the persecutions under Pagan Rome; and, probably, in the two following verses, alludes to the Papal Antichrist, in the continued succession of Popes, as the "many false prophets," who should rise and "deceive many" and by the establishment of whose abominations" iniquity shall abound," and "the love of In the 13th verse he exhorts many shall wax cold." to steadfastness in maintaining the truth, and in the 14th adds, "And this gospel of The Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, not that it shall have been universally received by them for 1000 years,] and THEN shall the END come"-the "end of the age" about which they were inquiring.

Such appears to be the natural and proper exposition of this part of the chapter; although some have laboured hard to make this end of the world, or age, appear to be the destruction of the Jewish polity. But, besides that Christianity had made considerable progress before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, there is no authority whatever for supposing that event the termination of "the age," that "consummation” or end being placed by Daniel not at the commencement, but at the close of the desolation of the city and sanctuary, and therefore as preceding the Millennium: "he shall make desolate even UNTIL the consummation." Dan. ix. 27. It is also to be remembered, that in the latter question of the disciples, this end of the age was connected with the coming of Christ: "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age?* Having thus given them a very condensed view of events up to the end of the age, the Saviour, in the 15th verse,

* Dr. Hamilton, (p. 156,) affects to discredit the distinction between cosmos and aion, but the Examinator in the Christian Instructor, whose papers the Doctor highly eulogizes, admits that "the end of the world," in the question of the disciples, is literally the "completion of the age.”—Christian Instructor, p. 553.

returns, and becoming more minute in the specification of particulars, points to the duration of the afflictions upon the Jews, and gives farther instructions to be recorded for the guidance and direction of those living in the periods to which His predictions referred, and who were more particularly interested: "When ye, THEREFORE, [this being an inference relative to their conduct drawn from the former chronological part of His discourse "when ye therefore"] shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth let him understand,) let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains— let him which is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days." The parenthetical injunction clearly implies a danger of mistake; and the neglect of this very warning has probably occasioned much of the confusion in which commentators have involved the chapter. As the prediction of the prophet, from which we have already quoted, not only shows to what our Lord immediately refers, but will also assist us in another part of the inquiry, we shall now cite fully the passage to which our attention is thus particularly called: Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven [prophetic] weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks [of years] shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate,”—or "deso

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lator," (marg.) Dan. ix. 25-27. Our only remark on this, at present, is, that the prophet evidently refers to the Romans as "the people of the prince that shall come," and to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by that of "the City and the Sanctuary," together with the continuance of their desolation "for the overspreading of abominations." But although the Saviour clearly refers to this destruction of the city, and warns his followers to escape when they should see the period arrive, it is difficult to conceive how any should have thought of applying to that event what he afterwards states respecting his Coming, in answer to the second question of his disciples. Such a misapplication is the more surprising, as he has carefully guarded against false ideas of the nature of his coming. Having predicted a period of the greatest tribulation that ever was or shall be, He warns them in the 24th verse, against false Christs and false prophets who shall arise, and adds, "Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold He is in the Desert, go not forth: Behold He is in the secret chambers, believe it not; FOR, [this is the reason why they are not to go into the desert seeking Him, "for"] as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." When He comes, therefore, it will be in no secret influence on the soul; no mere display of power in the infliction of judgments; no coming to be known only in a chamber or witnessed in a desert-but a bright and glorious manifestation of himself, instantaneous and SEEN of all, as the lightning which "cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west." 66 Behold he cometh with clouds," said the beloved disciple, long after the destruction of Jerusalem, yet repeating nearly the very words of the Saviour's prediction in the following verse, which is so often misapplied to the destruction of Jerusalem; "Behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." Rev. i. 7.

Having warned them against mistake or deception as to the nature of his coming, the Saviour proceeds

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more particularly to inform his disciples when this glorious event shall take place: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN, [or, as in the parallel gospel by Luke, (xxi. 27,) “in a cloud,"] with power and great glory: and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." In order, therefore, to know the period of our Saviour's return, it is only necessary to ascertain when "the tribulation" here spoken of shall cease. For this we are furnished with three keys. The first may be found in the passage already quoted from the prophecies of Daniel. We there learn, that "unto the end of the war desolations are determined," and that, "for the overspreading of abominations," the city and Sanctuary shall continue to be made desolate," even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate," or, (as corrected in the margin,) upon the desolator." It is to this continuance of the desolation, we apprehend, our attention is especially directed by the parenthetical warning of the Saviour or Evangelist," whoso readeth let him understand;"-the full knowledge of its duration being necessary in order to the understanding of the prediction of his Return, "immediately after the tribulation of those days," at its termination. The "consummation" has not yet arrived. God's controversy, or "war," with his ancient people has not yet ceased; nor has "that determined" been wholly poured upon its objects, whether reading "desolate," it is referred to the Jews; or reading " desolator," it is referred to those by whom they have been oppressed. But, as we have already seen, "the end," or summation," will come when the gospel has been "preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;" and when the city and Sanctuary cease to be made

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