summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." In the language of Bishop Pearce, That all which is said in this (29th) verse, and in the following ones, relates for certain to the destruction of the Jewish state, appears from what is said in ver. 34., that that generation was not to pass till all these things were fulfilled: and they were to happen immediately after the tribulation, ver. 29, and in those days, according to Mark xiii. 24."2

It should also be observed, that in connexion with the strong figurative language under consideration, Jesus mentions a judgment which should terminate in the reward of the virtuous, and the punishment of the wicked. The 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew's gospel, appear to embrace one continued discourse with reference to a single important subject. We are the more fully persuaded on this point, from the consideration that orthodox commentators, after admitting the commencement of the 24th chapter to have exclusive reference to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish state, have never been able to agree in what place the subject of discourse is changed, although they seem perfectly confident that the latter part of the 25th chapter has exclusive reference to what they term the last judgment, and its consequences.

"The difficulties which expositors have en

1 Matt. xxiv, 32-34. 2 Comment. on Matt. xxiv, 29.

countered in their attemps to determine the place where Jesus ceases to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem, and begins to speak of the 'general judgment,' are well described in the following passages; it is found in a work entitled, "The Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures asserted,' &c. by Rev. S. Noble. We quote from the Boston edition, 1828.

'It is related, in the first verse, that 'Jesus went out, and departed from the temple and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple;' and it is added, in the second verse, that Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not be thrown down.' First, then, let it be admitted that these words apply, in their immediate reference, to the temple at Jerusalem and its destruction, which, as is known from the history of Josephus, was as total as is here implied. Let, also, the detailed prediction that follows, through the whole of this and the next chapters, be understood of the events connected with the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, as far as they can possibly be adapted to those occurrences. It is allowed, however, on all hands,1 that the whole cannot be so adapted: let then the place be pointed out where the new subject commences. But let this be done in such a manner as to be consistent with the fact, that a space of not much less than two thousand years at the least, was to intervene, between the accomplishment of the latter part of the prophecy and that

1 That is, by orthodox commentators.

of the former for the first part of it is considered to have been fully accomplished about A. D. 70; and the remainder not to be accomplished yet it is also to be recollected, that no events belonging to this intervening period are supposed to be treated of in the prophecy, but that, in whatever place the transition is made, it skips at once from the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of the world. Of course, with these premises assumed, every reader will expect to perceive some well defined mark of so great an hiatus. How will this expectation be answered? So far from discovering any thing like it, no person can read the two chapters, and draw his inference from their contents alone, without concluding, that the events announced are to follow each other in succession, unbroken by any wide interruption whatever. Accordingly, though commentators are now generally agreed that the hiatus must exist, they are by no means unanimous in fixing its situation.

As before observed, the circumstances foretold as far as the twenty-eighth verse of the twentyfourth chapter, may, by having recourse, here and there, to figure, be applied to the calamities which befel the Jewish nation: what follows, respecting the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, and his sending his angels with a great sound of a trumpet to gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, does not, with equal convenience, admit this application: wherefore many eminent writers consider the prophecies relating to the Jews to terminate with the twenty-eighth verse, and all that follows to belong to the great

er events commonly designated as the second coming of the Lord, and the general judgment on the world. Unfortunately, however, let both parts of the chapter denote what they may, they are connected together by the binding word ' immediately' Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened,' &c.'and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven.' Extreme violence, therefore, is done to the words, by those who thrust in, between the tribulation previously described, and this immediate appearing of the Son of man, an interval of two thousand years! On this account, other eminent writers understand the appearing of the Son of man, and all the rest of the chapter, to be merely added in amplification of the previous subject; affirming, however, that 'Jesus Christ intended that his disciples should consider the judgment he was going to inflict on the Jewish nation, as a forerunner and emblem of that universal judgment he is to exercise at the last day; wherefore, they add, he gives in the twenty-fifth chapter a description of the last judgment for which reasons, they place the grand hiatus between the two chapters. But, unhappily, a particle, the nature of which is to draw things into such close connection as admits of nothing being interposed between them, here also Occurs. The divine Prophet concludes the twenty-fourth chapter with describing the reward which the faithful servant, and the punishment which the unfaithful, shall receive at his coming; and he commences the twenty-fifth chapter thus: Then

1 Beausobre and L'Enfant's Note on Matt. xXV, 1,

shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.' Who cannot see that the parable of the ten virgins, five of whom were wise, and five were foolish,' is a continuation and further illus tration of the subject introduced by the parable of the faithful and wicked servant ;-that both relate to the same series of events, and leave no room for supposing an interval of two thousand years between the one and the other? And even if the subjects were not so obviously connected, what propriety would there be in passing from one event to another so distant, by such a copulative as then,-a word that always denotes either identity of time, or immediate succession ?

A third modification of the same general plan of interpretation has therefore been proposed by Dr. Doddridge. He adheres to the system of the hiatus, but he seems to have felt more strongly than some, the difficulties with which it is attended; wherefore, in hopes to avoid them, he steers a middle course between the two theories already noticed. Let us see, then, what degree of probability he has been able to give to the scheme.

He paraphrases the twenty-ninth and thirtieth verses thus: Immediately after the affliction of those days which I have now been describing, the sun shall as it were be darkened, and the moon shall not seem to give her usual light; and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens, all the mighty machines and strong movements above, shall be shaken and broken to pieces; that is, according to the sublimity of that prophetic language to which you have been ac