and he himself rejoiced in this title, as it is clear from such expressions of his as, a prophet is not without honour save in his own country." We have always been taught by divines to regard Christ in the character of a prophet, in one of his mediatorial offices, teaching his people-as it was a branch of the duties of the ancient Jewish prophets to teach the people— the will of the Lord, revealing hidden things, aud working wonders. The idea of a Messiah, or a national deliverer, and that of a prophet were very closely allied-almost identical-in the Jewish mind. A prophet was required to be anointed for his office, and the word Messiah means one that is anointed. The idea of deliverance was inseparably connected with that of a prophet. Moses and David were prophets, as well as Jewish deliverers or leaders; just as Zoroaster, Confucius, Mahomed, &c., discharged the duties of this twofold office. The Jews accepted and recognised Christ as a prophet; but rejected him as the promised deliverer, or Messiah. In the character of the latter he did not answer their expectations; but with that of the former they were satisfied; seeing he had about him much which resembled the sayings and doings of the ancient prophets. Had he claimed only the character of a prophet, and never insinuated that he was the King of the Jews, "he might have expected credit on the same evidence of a divine mission as that on which the other prophets had been received."† He, however, not only frequently appealed to the ancient prophets as authority for what he said and did, but likewise closely imitated them in many things; so that-as will hereafter be shown-his language and predictions strikingly resemble those of theirs, with the exception that they are not quite so obscure.

Christ, although like Mahomed, illiterate, yet is represented as having such an insight into futurity as enabled him to predict several notable events. These predictions, we are told, were at various times more or less distant from their delivery, recorded by four of his adherents, and among other matters, relating to his three years of public career, have descended to us in the shape of what are called Gospels. To inquire how far these predictions are in harmony with truth-to ascertain whether the prophecies of Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Jew, as to his parentage, country, and religious training, are more in accordance with the events to which they refer, than those of his Jewish predecessors in the same art, which we have just seen to be notoriously false, is a subject replete with interest, especially to the Christian world.

The most remarkable, perhaps, of all the prophecies of Christ is that chain of predictions which evidently refer to the destruction of the present system of nature, and events concomitant therewith. They are recorded

Matth. xiii. 57. Mark vi. 4.

† Dr. Gerard's Evidence of Religion, p. 167.

Eusebius, however, in his Ecclesiastical History (lib. 1. c. 14) furnishes us with letters, purported to have passed between Christ and Abgarus, which he affirms he found in Edessa, written in the Syriac language, and of which, in his above work, he gives a Greek translation. Many divines, among whom were the learned Grabbe, Archbishop Cave, and Dr. Parker, have strenuously contended for their genuiness. There is quite as much proof of their authenticity as there is that the four gospels were written by those apostles whose names they respectively bear. See the letters translated into English, and published as part of the Apocryphal New Testament-a production that should be in the hands of every Biblical student.-Hone; London, 1820. Price only Is.

by three of the Evangelists, at different lengths, and with slight variations. Similar prophecies have been uttered by Christ on other occasions, in a more concise form. Expressions explanatory of them pervade the four Gospels, and the events which they foretell are, in all the Epistles, together with the Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse, more or less dwelt upon. In a word, the subject of these predictions is a prominent doctrine in every part of the New Testament. In Matthew these predictions commence at the 34th verse of chapter xxiii. and end at the 46th verse of chapter xxv.* That the same prophetic discourse, by way of expatiation on the more pointed predictions of the foregoing chapter, is continued to the end of chapter xxv. is clear from the concatenated tenour of the whole-from the words" then shall the kingdom of heaven, &c.," with which chapter xxv. commences-and, especially from the words-" and it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings," which occur immediately after the last words of the above chapter. In addition to these proofs, it may be observed that it is the same moral lesson which is inculcated throughout chapter xxv. as in the latter portion of the previous chapter-the lesson of watchfulness-of being ready, so as to avoid punishment and obtain a reward. To the end of chapter xxiv. the lesson of the faithful and wise servant is taught; and at the beginning of the next chapter, the lesson of the ten virgins-five wise and five foolish-is taken up, without any interruption, except the modern and arbitrary division into chapters. Then follows the lesson of a man, who, before he takes a journey into a far country, calls his servants, and gives to each the care of a portion of his goods, rewarding, on his return, each according to his merits. After all these lessons, which are in the form of parables, follows the moral-the Son of man coming in his glory,‡ &c.-which continues to the end of the chapter § Mark records the substance of these predictions in chapter xiii. the whole of which is taken up with them ;|| and Luke in chapters xxi. and xvii. ver. 20-37. There are in the Gospels other passages in which predictions of the same events are found, and which, in due order, will be cited, together with the passages which show in what light the writers of the Epistles viewed the occurrence of such events.

Read to the end of chap. xxiv. transcribed into this work, pp. 11, 12.
† Chap. xxvi. ver. 1.

Ver. 31.

§ Another proof that the same subject is treated to the end of this chapter, will be found in the fact that Mark-who, in reporting these predictions, as well as in narrating almost all other matters, in his Gospel, is much briefer than the other Evangelistsrelates, in a more concise form, and with slight verbal difference, in the very chapter where these prophecies are found, the parable of "a man taking a journey," which is placed by Matthew in chap. xxv.-Compare Mark xiii. 34, with Matth. xxv. 14.

Vide Ante, pp. 12, 13.

SECTION II.-SCRIPTURAL PROOFS THAT CHRIST PREDICTED THE END OF THE WORLD AND THE FINAL JUDGMENT, AS EVENTS THEN CLOSE AT HAND; AND THAT HE REPRESENTED HIMSELF AS THE JUDGE OF ALL MANKIND, WHO, AS SUCH, WAS SHORTLY TO MAKE HIS APPEARANCE IN THE CLOUDS.

It is now proposed to show that, in uttering these prophecies, Christ intended to predict, and did predict the Last Day of Judgment, and the Destruction of the World, as events inevitable during the then existent generation of men. The mode in which these events were to take place, and the circumstances connected with them, shall be more fully explained in subsequent sections.

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It would appear, according to Matthew, that Christ, on the occasion about to be noticed here, commenced delivering these predictions, in the temple, while addressing himself to the Scribes and Pharisees.* Having pointed out a number of things which were to take place, such as killing and crucifying some of the prophets, wise men and scribes; scourging others, and prosecuting them from city to city, so that by this cruelty, the Jews would draw upon themselves their desert of divine vengeance, he avers to them that all these things should come to pass upon this generation; evidently meaning the generation then living. He then deplores the fate of Jerusalem, and adds that they should not see him henceforth till they would say " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;"† meaning, according to the import of similar expressions used elsewhere, that they should not see him again till he came to execute judgment, destroy the world, and establish his kingdom-" the kingdom of heaven" -as will be shown hereafter. The meaning of the words-“ Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord"-will best be ascertained by that of similar expressions, especially as they are evidently intended as a citation. We find precisely the same words used in one of the Psalms,‡ where it is desired that the gates of righteousness-meaning either the gates of the temple, or of the city of Jerusalem-should be opened, that the righteous (the king-the anointed of the Lord-probably) might enter. But let us see in what sense, in the time of Christ, the Jews, to whom these words were addressed, understood them. A short time before Christ used them, we find that the very same words, § doubtless derived

The subject is here admitted to commence at verse 34, chap. xxiii. of Matthew, as contended for by some Christian writers.

Matth. xxiii. 34-39.

cxviii. 26. "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

§ Matth. xxi. 9, and Mark xi. 9, 10, have the words-" Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,"" Blessed be the kingdom of our father David that cometh in the name of the Lord." Luke xix. 28, has "Blessed is the king that cometh in the name of the Lord." John xii. 13, has "Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord."

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from the Psalm already cited, were used by the Jews when, in a huge, enthusiastic multitude, they hailed him by such acclamations as Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" as he rode in triumph into Jerusalem, on an ass, in fulfilment, he says, of an ancient prophecy, which told the daughter of Jerusalem to rejoice because her king was coming riding upon an ass.* It is clear, therefore, that what Christ intended the Jews to understand by the expression under notice, was that they should not see him till he came as a king to establish his kingdom, the nature of which will hereafter be ascertained. The words" this generation"-will be explained by similar expressions which occur in subsequent portions of this chain of prophecies.+

Jesus, having predicted the foregoing particulars, went out of the temple, and in company with his disciples, viewed that gorgeous edifice from outside.§ Gazing at this group of magnificent buildings, he said to his disciples, in reference to them," there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." Shortly after, the disciples-curious to know more about these momentous events-said to him :-"Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world."||

Here, it should be observed, the disciples connect the coming of Christ and the End of the World with “ these things," the things that Christ had just enumerated. Nor is it possible to understand the passage otherwise, without the most violent perversion of language. Although Christ had not expressly mentioned his coming and the End of the World, in his predictions immediately preceding, yet it is clear that his disciples-probably from his previous predictions of the same events-understood him to mean these occurences, and that they understood the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem at large, as included in the destruction or "End"

Zech. ix. 9.

+ It would not be inappropriate here, however, to observe that the fact that Christ preached throughout Judea that "the kingdom of heaven was at hand," is proved, not only by his own words, but by the testimony of his Apostles, who had often heard him announce that event, and consequently had better means of ascertaining the import of his words than have mere readers of the Gospels, who are obliged to gather his meaning from a collection-to say the least-of interpolated fragments of his discourses. Luke (xix. 11.)-as will hereafter be more fully noticed-states that" when they"-meaning the disciples-approached Jerusalem the last time, namely, the time when Jesus rode in triumph on an ass, they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." It is a violent and unwarrantable assumption to suppose-as some Christian writers dothat the chosen and constant attendants of Jesus-his apostles-were mistaken as to the chief and most prominent topic of his discourses-one, too, which they themselves had been sent out by him to preach, and had preached; namely, the nature and near approach of the kingdom of heaven. We must, therefore, conclude that Christ, up to his last appearance in Jerusalem, led his apostles and followers to expect that "the kingdom of heaven was at hand," as he himself expressed it. The meaning of this expression will be illustrated hereafter. It is, however, worthy of remark here, that even Dr. Warburton admits that both ancient and modern interpreters suppose that Christ, in his prophetic announcement of the fall of Jerusalem, "interwove a direct prediction of his second coming," adding that "hence arose a current opinion, in these times" (the first ages of Christianity)" that the termination of all things was at hand."

See pp. 66, 67.
§ Matth. xxiv. 1. Mark xiii. 1.
Matth. xxiv. 2-3. Mark xiii. 4. Luke xxi. 6—7.

-Son of man, is evident from his own words on a vast number of occasions, such as-" until the Son of man be risen again from the dead."* He says, therefore, of himself—" the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works."+ When the high priest asked Jesus if he was the Christ, the Son of God, he answered-" Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."‡ "So shall it be in the end of this world :-The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire."§ Let us again attend to his Apostles on this point." We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised."|| "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."¶ "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him."** passage more, which is composed of words from Christ's own mouth, and like all the foregoing, will, by Christians, readily be admitted to refer to the End of the World and the Last Day of Judgment, must suffice on this head." When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."++ Now, as there can be nothing clearer than that all these passages directly refer to the Final Judgment and the End of the World, by parity of reasoning, founded upon the analogy of language, the passage with which they are compared, is, by them, proved most conclusively to refer to the same events. In the present stage of the argument, no other proofs are deemed necessary to demonstrate that Christ did prophesy the End of the World, and the Last Day' of Judgment.

One

The next point to be ascertained is the time at which, according to Christ's predictions, these momentous events were to take place. His language on this head is as lucid and definite as we could wish.‡‡ His words are-s¢ -"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled."§§ The word translated generation here is yevea, which signifies a generation, or race of men, living at the same time, or in the same age, and leaves no room whatever for philological criticism

Matth. xvii. 9.

† xvi. 27.

§ Matth. xiii. 40-42.
1 Thess. iv. 16.

xxvi. 64. Mark xiv. 62.

1 Cor. xv. 51-53.
** Rev. i. 7.

tt Matth. xxv. 31, 32. The identity of language and ideas in this passage and that in ver. 30 and 31 of the preceding chapter, furnishes an additional and most conclusive proof that the same prophecy is continued throughout to the end of chap. xxv.

Indeed, there is not to be found in the whole Bible a single prediction so definite and precise as this is, in point of time for its fulfilment. The day and hour thereof, alone, are unfixed.

§§ Matth. xxiv. 34. Whitby translates this text thus,-" The men of this age shall not pass." There is no resisting of the Greek of this passage. The criticism of Christian writers on it rests wholly on the accommodatory nature of the English word "generation; but this position is quite untenable in the Greek of the New Testament, upon which so much stress is laid by these writers, on some occasions, when it suits them.