to in proof of the point, we confess we do not see how the claims of Christ as a prophet can be well sustained. We never read the 24th and 25th chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel without saying to ourselves-destroy the views of Universalists concerning the predictions here recorded, and you destroy the strongest evidence of the truth of Christianity. Let it be agreed, that the events there described have not yet taken place, and it is as true as that Jesus spoke, that 'his words have passed away' without being fulfilled. It cannot have escaped the notice of any candid and unprejudiced reader of the New Testament, that the event spoken of in several passages, which has generally been supposed to relate to a day of judgment,' was expected by Jesus Christ, his apostles and the primitive believers, to take place during that generation. Some, it is true, have attempted to show to the contrary, but their labor has been but an attempt. Grotius, Locke and others have frankly declared, that the apostles themselves believed that the end of the world was to happen in their time, and that they have declared this to be their belief in several passages of their epistles. Now to say that by the end of the world they understood what modern Christians believe, we cannot escape the fact that they were deceived and in error on this all-important point, what assurance can we have that they were not also deceived and erroneous on other points? Nothing but the views of Universalists on this subject, which we believe are assuredly the true ones, can save them against this disastrous and fatal inference. In other words, let the doctrine of a day of judgment in a future

world, so far as this doctrine depends for its support on the passages alluded to, be admitted, and you effectually remove the chief prop from the temple of Christianity.

We have said that sensible men amongst our opponents have discovered this important fact. Our proof of this statement we give below, from Dr. Macknight, an orthodox Calvinist,-whose observations Dr. Clarke has admitted with approbation, as the best manner of sustaining Christianity against the objection referred to. It will be seen, that he has been obliged to give up those passages as containing no proof of the doctrine of a day of judgment,' and to contend that they relate to the end of the Jewish world at the destruction of Jerusalem. Universalists may take confidence when they find their views of this matter so distinctly sustained by such authority. The concessions of an opponent are always valuable.

The following is from the 4th section of Dr. Macknight's Preface to 2 Thessalonians, entitled 'Different comings of Christ are spoken of in the New Testament.'

'In this article, I propose to show that there are other comings of Christ spoken of in the Scripture, besides his coming to judgment; and that there are other things besides this mundane system, whose end is there foretold; and that it is of the other matters the apostles speak, when they represent the day of their Master, and the end of all things, as at hand.

First, then, in the prophetic writings of the

Jews, (2 Sam. xxii. 10, 12. Psal. xcvii. 2-5. Isa. xix. 1.) great exertions of the Divine power, whether for the salvation or destruction of nations, are called the coming, the appearance, the presence of God. Hence it was natural for the apostles, who were Jews, to call any signal and evident interposition of Christ, as governor of the world, for the accomplishment of His purposes, His coming, and His day; accordingly, those exertions of His power and providence, whereby he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, abrogated the Mosaic institutions, and established the Gospel, are called by the apostles His coming and day: not only in allusion to the ancient prophetic language, but because Christ himself, in his prophecy concerning these events, recorded Matt. xxiv. has termed them the coming of the Son of man, in allusion to the following prophecy of Daniel, of which his own prophecy is an explication: Dan. vii. 13. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days. And they brought him near before him. 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory and a kingdom; that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him, His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. This prophecy, the Jewish doctors, with one consent, attribute to the Messiah, and of that temporal kingdom which they expected was to be given Him. Further, they supposed, He would erect that temporal kingdom by great and visible exertions of His power for the destruction of His enemies;

but they little suspected that themselves were of the number or those enemies whom He was to destroy; and that His kingdom was to be established upon the ruin of their state. Yet that was the true meaning of the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven. For while the Jewish nation continued in Judea, and observed the institutions of Moses, they violently opposed the preaching of the Gospel, by which the Messiah was to reign over all people, nations, and languages. Wherefore, that the everlasting kingdom might be established effectually, it was necessary that Jerusalem and the Jewish state should be destroyed by the Roman armies. Now, since our Lord foretold this sad catastrophe in the words of the prophet Daniel, Matt. xxiv. 30, And they shall see the Son of man_coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory; and after describing every particular of it with the greatest exactness, seeing he told his disciples, ver. 34, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled; can there be any doubt that the apostles (who, when they wrote their epistles, certainly understood the true import of this prophecy,) by their Master's coming and by the end of all things, which they represent as at hand, mean, his coming to destroy Jerusalem, and to put an end to the institutions of Moses? It is no objection to this, that when the apostles heard Christ declare, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down, they connected the end of the world or age with that event. Matt. xxiv. 3. Tell us when these things shall be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end

age

of the age? For as the Jewish doctors divide the duration of the world into three ages; the age before the law, the age under the law, and the age under the Messiah; the apostles knew that the under the law was to end when the age under the Messiah began; and, therefore, by the end of the age, they meant, even at that time, not to the end of the world, but to the end of the age under the law, in which the Jews had been greatly oppressed by the heathens. And although they did not understand the purpose for which their Master was to come, nor the true nature of his kingdom, nor suspect that he was to make any change in the institutions of Moses; yet when they write their epistles, being illuminated by the Holy Ghost, they certainly knew that the institutions of Moses were to be abolished; and that their Master's kingdom was not a temporal but a spiritual dominion, in which all people, nations, and languages, were to be governed, not by external force, but by the operation of truth upon their minds, through the preaching of the Gospel.

"Further, that the apostles, by the coming of Christ, which they represented as at hand when they wrote their epistles, meant His coming to establish His spiritual kingdom over all people, nations, and languages, and not his coming to put an end to this mundane system, is evident from what Christ himself told them, Matt. xvi. 28. 'There be some standing here, who shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.' And agreeably to this account of the coming of Christ, and of the end of all things, I observe, that every passage of their epistles