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"The majority of interpreters admitted, what could not
indeed be well denied, that the predictions in Mark and Luke referred to the
destruction of Jerusalem, but thought that in Matthew predictions of the end
of the world and the general judgment were mixed together: the nearer event
being, in our Lord's mind, a type of the more remote. In opposition to these
views, Dr. Hammond, in his Commentary, had suggested that the whole of the
prophecy had reference solely to the destruction of Jerusalem" (Memoir of Wellbeloved)
Dividing Line Between Destruction of Jerusalem and General
Judgment - Matthew 25:31
(On Matthew 3:2)
' The phrase basilea ton ouranon, the kingdom of heaven and of God,
signifies in the New Testament the kingdom of the Messias, or that state or
condition which is a most lively image of that which we believe to be in
heaven, and therefore called by that name. For as God's regal power,
exercised in heaven, consists in assisting, defending, and rewarding all his
faithful subjects, and in warning, punishing, and destroying his obdurate
enemies, so this kingdom of the Messias is an exact image or resemblance of
it; and being, as it is elsewhere affirmed, not of this world, a secular
kingdom, but consisting especially in subduing the world to his dominion.
That is done first by the descent of the Spirit, and preaching the gospel,
by his word powerfully working in some, and bringing them unto the faith,
and then by his iron rod executing vengeance on others, viz: the
contumacious and obdurate, (to this purpose that parable delivered by
Christ, Luke xix. 12, on the occasion of their thinking that the kingdom of
God should presently appear, ver. 11, is very considerable, — see the
place,) and particularly those of the nation of the Jews after the
crucifixion of Christ. And accordingly this kingdom of God will generally
signify these two together; not only the first alone, but, in conjunction
with it, that other more tragical part of it also. That it is used so here
may be discerned, — '
First, by that which is said in
Malachi, by way of prophecy of John's preaching, (iv. 5,) that he should
come before the great and terrible day of the Lord, (see note on chap. xvii.
10,) i. e. before the fatal destruction of this people ; and also in Isaiah,
that when he cried in the wilderness, this was part of his crying, prepare
ye the way of the Lord: noting him an anteambulo or forerunner of Christ's
coming, &c. ' Secondly, by that which follows here (ver. 10,) as the
explication of this text of the Baptist's, (and now also the axe is laid to
the root of the trees; every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good
fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire;) and again, (ver. Y,) by the
orge mel-
lousa, the wrath ready to come upon them, which is proportionable or
parallel to the approaching kingdom of heaven, as the exhortation (ver. 8,)
of bringing forth meet fruits of repentance, is to metanoeite, repent; and
so directly in that prophecy of Malachi's concerning the coming and
preaching of John Baptist, (iv. 5, 6,) the sum of his preaching is expressed
by the effect of it: he shall turn the heart of the fathers to (or with) the
children, and the heart of the children to (or with) their fathers; i. e.
shall convert all sorts of Jews, young and old, fathers aud children, —
preach conversion and repentance to them, lest I (i. e. God) come and smite
the earth (or land) with a curse; whereas God's coming is interpreted by his
smiting Judea, (curses and inflictions on that land,) so is this
denunciation of those judgments part of that Baptist's sermon, and the
repentance or conversion by him preached, the only means to avert them. '
And so likewise in Isaiah xl. the
revealing the glory of the Lord, &c. (ver. 5,) may be the preaching of the
gospel; and then the visibleness of God's judgments on all the Jews in
Judea, and vers. 6, 7, 8, very fitly refer to the sudden destruction of that
people, as the withering of grass, or fading of flowers, upon God's blowing
upon them, whereby his displeasure is expressed. To which yet his
preservation of the remnant, (as here his gathering the wheat into his
garner, ver. 12,) his protecting of the few believers, (so that not a hair
of their heads shall fall, Luke xxi. 18,) is immediately annexed, vers. 9,
10, 11. And accordingly the kingdom of God here is not to be so restrained
to the punitive part, but that it also contain under it that other piece of
regality, which consists in protecting of subjects, and rewarding them which
do well also, which should be most visible at the time of his punishment on
the obstinate, his burning the chaff with unquenchable fire. To this purpose
the words of St. Luke (xxi. 18, 31,) are most remarkable, where, setting
down distinctly the signs and forerunners of the destruction of the temple
and that people, and among those prognostics the great persecutions which
the .disciples should find from the Jews, he bids them cheerfully look up, (ver.
28,) for their redemption, deliverance from these hazards and pressures,
draweth near; and, with a short parable interposed to express it, he adds, (ver.
31,) know that the kingdom of Ood is at Jiand, — this kingdom surely here,
which now approached, but should then be more near, wherein the judgment of
God should be most visible in judging betwixt the wheat and the straw,
burning up the refuse, destroying the impenitent, unbelieving Jews, but
protecting and setting safe on the shore all the disciples and believers;
and that by the very destruction of these their brethren, who were their
chiefest persecutors, (ver. 16.) This sense will be the more unquestioned,
if it be observed that, when Christ himself begins to preach, he used the
same words, (Matt. iv. 17,) by which it is clear that Christ's preaching the
gospel was not the only thing ' meant by this kingdom, (as it is generally
supposed,) because that was then actually present, when Christ saith only,
it is nigh approaching. '
And as by Christ, so, when the
apostles are sent out by him, the same style is still prescribed them,
(Matt. x. 1:) As you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And it is to the same sense affirmed by Christ that he came to send a sword,
i. e. a slaughter on the land of Judea, (Matt. x. 34 :) so, when this
commission of the apostles is set down by Luke, (x. 11,) to those that
receive them not, they are appointed to use a direful ceremony, shaking off
the dust from their feet against them, and telling them the importance of
it, that the kingdom of GOD is nigh upon them, (ver. 11 ;) and upon the back
of that, (ver. 12,) Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for
Sodom in that day, (i. e. not in the day of judgment to come, for that
belongs to each particular person; not whole cities together, but) in that
day of the kingdom of God, than for that refractory city. God's dealing with
Sodom, in the day of their destruction with fire and brimstone, shall be
acknowledged to have been more supportable than his dealing with such
contumacious, impenitent cities of Judea. '
So Matt. xvi. 28 : The Son of man
coming in his kingdom belongs not to the transfiguration, as it is by many
mistaken, but to a coming in the glory of his Father to reward and punish, (ver.
27,) and is called the kingdom of God coming with power, (Mark ix. 1 :) and
that belongs clearly to the scope of the place, viz: to arm his followers,
that they should not be terrified with the malice of the Jews, (ver. 25,) or
tempted to deny Christ, (Luke ix. 26.) So Luke ix. 11, when it is said they
thought the kingdom of God should presently appear, Christ's parable,
concluding with the bringing forth and slaying his enemies before him,
applies it directly to this purpose, (ver. 27,) and to what he adds (ver.
43) at his entrance into Jerusalem. So Luke xvii. 20, when he answers that
the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, i. e. in a pompous,
remarkable manner, so as kings were wont to come with their court and train
attending, which all men come out to look after, and cry, lo here, i. e. it
is come, &c., it is clear, by the consequent, that it belongs to this
matter; first, the preaching of the gospel among them, then already begun, (ver.
21,) and then the destroying of unbelievers, (vers. 22, 24, &c.) '
The way by which this phrase comes
thus to signify is this, because there be several offices of a king, the
exercise of the power of the sword, as well as of making laws; of punishing
and rewarding, as well as of reigning : he is ekdikos eis orgen, (Rom. xiii.
4,) an avenger to inflict punishment; and so he is expressed at his
ekdikesis, vengeance, (Luke xviii. 7, speaking of this matter.) In this
respect it is, that the governors of the Jews were called judges ;
inflicting of punishments or judgments, which is one part, giving
demonstration to the whole regal office, and so (Luke x.} these three
phrases, the kingdom of God, (ver. 11,) and that day, i. e. the time of his
exercising that regal power, (ver. 12,) (or, as St. Mark reads it, hemera
kriseos (vi. 11,) the day of executing judgment,) and in the same matter
krisis, (ver. 14,) judgment simply, are all phrases of the same significancy
to denote the destruction here threatened, with which there was also mercy
mingled, and preservation to some. (See Luke xvii. 34 ; xxi. 28.) The same
thing is expressed by other phrases, the coming of Christ, the end, the end
of all things, the conclusion of this age, which in their due places shall
be observed.' (Annot. in loc.)
(On Matthew 3:7)
"O ye that are more like to broods of venomous creatures than to the
progeny of Abraham, who hath admonished you to make use of this means to
escape the destruction approaching ?' (Para. in loc)
(On Matthew 3:10)
"But now are God's judgments come home to this people, and ready to
seize upon the whole nation, and shall actually fall upon every unreformed
sinner among you.' Par A. in loc.
(On Matthew 3:12)
"According to this notion of winnowing, and burning the chaff, this
verse accords with the general matter of John Baptist's preaching, viz.
Christ's rich promises of all-merciful reception, and preservation to those
that shall repent
and receive the gospel; and threatening of all judgments upon the impenitent
Jews, formerly expressed by the kingdom of God approaching, and again by the
axe laid to the root of the tree, ready to hew it down, and that attended
with casting into the fire, as here the chaff is with burning with fire
unquenchable. And so it was fulfilled on the Jews even in this life, (as it
was oft foretold,) the godly true penitents that received Christ, through
these tribulations, were preserved, when the rest that could not bear, or
hold out the trial, all that the wind of temptation, false doctrines, &c.,
carried away, were generally destroyed ; the corn laid up in a garner, and
the chaff devoured with the fire." (Annot. in loc.)
(On Matthew 10:15)
"I assure you, the punishment or destruction that will light upon
that city will be such, that the destruction of Sodom shall appear to have
been more tolerable than that. See note on Matt. iii. 2." (Par. in loc.)
(On Matthew 10:22)
"And the Jews, wheresoever you come, shall persecute you for
preaching of Christ; but there is a fatal day approaching for these Jews,
and they that in despite of all these persecutions, vs. 18—22, shall stick
fast to your Christian profession, they shall, beside their crown in another
world, have a remarkable deliverance here out of that destruction, which
universally lighteth upon all others."
"To endure to the end doth here clearly signify a
persevering, constant adherence to Christ, in despite of all the
persecutions that shall befall them for the name of Christ, and for an
encouragement to that, is here added the promise, that this shall be the
most probable course, in the event, to escape, not only eternal wrath, but
even destruction here. This will appear by the context which runs thus ; the
apostles are appointed to go preach first to the Jews peculiarly, and not to
any others, till they have done with them, ver. 5 ; they are foretold what
usage they shall meet with among them, scourging and killing, ver. 17 ; and
as a means to escape the sharpness of this ill usage among them, is their
flying from one city to another, ver. 23, which will save or deliver them
for the time, and before they shall have gone over all the cities of Israel,
that fatal destruction, or coming of the Son of man, ver. 23, shall be ; and
so shall supersede their further cruelty upon them and withal involve all
those, who, to save themselves, shall deny and forsake Christ. See ver. 39,
and Luke ix. 24. That this is the meaning of sothesetai, (shall be saved)
here, as it is in many other places, will appear, both by Matt. xxiv. 13,
where the same words are again used in that very business, and by Mark xiii.
13, which is parallel to that place ; and there these words, but he that
endureth to the end, shall escape, are attended immediately with the mention
of the abomination of desolation, instead of which St. Luke sets the
encompassing of Jerusalem with armies, (see note on Matt. xxiv. 3,) and the
advice to them, which are in Judea, to fly to the mountains, which is a
character by which we may discern to what the escaping doth belong; and that
sothesetai, (to be saved) is not always to be interpreted of eternal
salvation, but of temporal escaping, (any more than soteria, salvation,
doth, Acts vii. 25, where it is clearly the deliverance of the Israelites
out of Egypt by Moses,) will hereafter appear on occasion of the phrase oi
sozomenoi, Acts ii. 42; Luke xiii. 23; 1 Pet. i. 5; and 2 Pet. i. 3. And
this verse, being thus understood, will be all one with that famous
prediction of the bird in the capitol, estai panta kalos, (see Suetonius in
Dom.it. c. 23,) spoken surely for the comfort of Christians then, in respect
of their persecutions, but wrested to Trajan and Adrian by the historian."
(Par. in loc.)
(On Matthew 10:39)
"The comfort meanwhile ye have, that as he that useth any way of compliance
with the persecutors, and so escapes their malice, and saves his Matt. x.
33. See notes on Mark viii. 38. life, shall gain little by this, but be
involved in the destruction which awaits them ; so on the other side he that
shall hazard the utmost, that he may stick close to me, shall be likely to
fare best even in this world. For thus I foretell you it will be ; some to
comply with the persecuting Jews, and to escape their persecutions, will
renounce Christianity, and feign themselves zealous Jews, and so when
destruction falls upon the Jews, as it certainly shall most heavily, they
shall be involved in that destruction, and that is all they shall get by
that compliance, and pusillanimity: Whereas at the same time, they that
comply not, and so venture all that the Jews' malice can do against them,
shall, by the destruction of their persecutors, be rescued from that danger,
and live to see a peaceable profession of Christianity ; or if they do not,
have the loss of a short temporary life rewarded with an eternal." (Par. in
loc.)
(On Matthew 12:31)
"The issue of this whole matter, as far as concerned the Pharisees there,
was this, that unless their sins were particularly retracted by repentance,
and Christ received and acknowledged upon these miracles of his, or
afterwards by the conviction which the Holy Ghost should work upon the
crucifiers, they can never have pardon
or remission : not that they that were here guilty should never after
repent, or upon repentance be accepted; this is not said here, or in
any other place; but rather the contrary is every where affirmed in the
Scriptures, which ofifereth repentance to all, (and that so really, that by
the grace of Christ, and the Holy Ghost assisting his word, they may receive
it,) and promiseth pardon to all, be they never so great sinners, so they do
amend their lives sincerely, and lay hold on God's mercy in Christ. And this
is particularly applied to those Pharisees, by force of Christ's prayer for
his crucifiers, (which certainly was heard,) Father forgive them, that is,
deny them not the means of forgiveness, (the power of repenting,) and
forgiveness if they shall repent. And accordingly the Apostles after teach,
that God hath exalted Christ to his right hand to give repentance unto
Israel, Acts v. 31, that is, to all Israel, Acts ii. 36, 38; and
particularly those crucifying rulers, Acts iii. I7, whose ignorance is
there, as on the cross by Christ, urged to make their case the more hopeful,
not that it was not notoriously vincible and criminous, but that they had
not yet received all those means and methods of the Holy Ghost for their
conversion, the greatest of all being yet behind, the raising up Christ from
the dead, to be such a sign to move them, as Jonas was; whereupon he tells
them, ver. 38, &c., that that only sign more they should have, (though they
were a malicious and adulterous generation,) and when that was witnessed by
the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, and the preaching, and
miracles wrought by that descent, then they that come not in to Christ shall
never be forgiven, nor be capable of any further means of working repentance
in them, this being indeed the last that should ever be allowed them.' Annot.
in loc.)
(On Matthew 13:37-43)
"The field is this world, the place of our living here;
that part of the parable that concerneth the good seed,
signifies the Christians ; but that ofthe tares, signifies
the wicked seducers ; such were the Gnostics, and
other heretics of the first times, such are all heretics
and schismatics since. The time when believers and
unbelievers (and seducers) shall be called to account,
is, to this people, that solemn approaching time of
their visitation, as to all other people, the time of final
excisions, and especially the day of judgment. So
shall it be at God's times of eminent discrimination,
such as his judgments on the Jews, and such the last
dreadful day of doom. Christ by his messengers and
instruments of his justice, shall destroy all heretics
and schismatics, that any way keep others from the
Christian religion, and all that live professedly in any
unlawful course of contrariety to Christian purity.
Then shall the true, pure Christian professors shine
eminently in the church here, and after in glory." (Par.
in loc.)
(On Matthew 13:49)
"So shall it be, at the time
wherein Christ shall come to work his revenge upon
his enemies, not only at the destruction of the Jewish
state, (wherein that discrimination shall be made betwixt
believing and unbelieving Jews, reformed and
unreformed,) but especially at the final day of every man's doom, at the
conclusion of the world." (Par. in
loc. )
(On Matthew 16:28;
Nature of Christ's Return)
"V.28.
Coming in his kingdome. The nearness of this to the story of Christ's Transfiguration, makes it probable to many, that this
coming of Christ is that Transfiguration of his, but that cannot be, because the 27th ver. of the
Son of mans coming in his glory with his Angels to reward, &c. (to which this verse clearly connects) cannot be applied to that; And there is another place,
Joh. 21.23 (which may help to the understanding of this) which speaks of a real coming, and one principall person (agreeable to what is here said of
some standing here) that should tarry, or not die, till
that coming of his. And that surely was fulfilled in Johns seeing the
pauoleoria, or famous destruction of the Jewes, which was to fall in that generation,
Matt. 24. that is, in the life-time of some there present, and is called the
kingdome of God, and the coming of Christ, and by consequence here most probably the
son of mans coming in his kingdome, (see the Notes on Mat. 3:2, and ch. 24:3.b.) that is, his coming in the exervise of his Kingly office, to work vengeance on his enemies, and discriminate the faithfull believers from them." (in loc.)
(On Matthew 23:39)
"How many passionate invitations and calls have I given you to bring you to
repentance, to persuade you to be gathered under the wings of the divine
presence, that is, to become proselytes to me, to be born again, and lead
new lives, (see note on Luke xiii. 34,) but ye refused all! Behold your
desolation of temple, city, and whole nation is irreversibly at hand. And
after I am once gone from you, ye shall see me no more, receive no more
admonitions from me till I come to take vengeance of you — at which time you
shall be forced to confess me. And those that will not confess me now, would
then be most glad (if it would be accepted) to use that acclamation which
the children did, when you were displeased with them, (chap. xxi. 9,) to
obtain any mercy from me." (Par. in loc.)
Under her wings; — To gather under
the wings seems to be a proverbial phrase among the Jews for gathering and
admitting of proselytes ; thus, in Haimonides, speaking of three ways of
receiving proselytes, circumcision, baptism, sacrifice, he adds, and in like
manner through all ages, as oft as a Gentile would enter into the covenant,
and be gathered under the wings of the divine majesty, and take upon him the
yoke of the law, &c., where the wings of the divine majesty, referring to
the manner whereby God signified his presence in the ark, and in the holy of
holies, by the cherubims' wings that covered the propitiatory, the being
gathered under his wings is there set for his entering into the covenant,
and attended with undertaking the yoke of the law, that is, obedience to his
commands, and being his proselytes. And so here, Christ's gathering as a
bird under the wings is the preaching of the new covenant to them, and
calling them all, as proselytes, to receive it." (Annot. in Ioc.)
(On Matthew 24:3;
Nature of Christ's Return)
"Coming... the presence, or the coming of Christ is one of the phrases that is noted in his book to signifie the destruction of the Jews... A threefold
coming of Christ there is, 1. in the flesh to be born among us, 2. at the day of gloom to judge the world, I Cor 15:23. and in many other places; and beside these, 3. a middle coming, partly in vengeance, and partly for the deliverance of his servants; in vengeance, visible, and observable on his enemies and crucifiers, (and first on the people of the Jews, those of them that remain impenitent unbelievers) and in mercy to the relief of the persecuted Christians. So 'tis four time in this chap. v. 27,37,39 and here
"...That this is the meaning of his
coming in glory with his angels, Matt. 16:27 hath been shewed already. So again Matt 26:64, his coming
in the clouds of heaven.. as the very Jews have observed, that that phrase signifies the inflection of judgment or punishment, so that it doth so here.." (p. 119)
(On
Matthew 24:16)
"How exactly the several passages of story in Josephus agree with these predictions will easily be discerned by comparing them, particularly that which belongs to this place of their
flying to the mountains, &c. For when Gallus besieged Jerusalem, and without any visible cause, on a sudden raised the siege, what an act of God's special providence was this, thus to order it, that the believers of Christian Jews being warned by this siege, and let loose (set at liberty again) might
fly to the mountains, that is, get out of Judea to some other place! Which that they did accordingly appears by this, that when Titus came some months after and besieged the city, there was not one Christian remaining in it." (vol. 3, p. 160)
(On
Matthew 24:30)
"And this shall appear to be a signal punishment upon the Jews, and they shall with sorrow (though too late) take notice of it as a notable act of revenge of the crucified Christ upon those that were guilty of his death." (v. 1, p. 116, new ed.)
(On Matthew 24:36)
"But of the point of time when this judgment shall come, (see note on Heb.
x. 25, and 2 Peter iii. 10,) none but God the Father knows, and that must
oblige you to vigilancy, and may sustain you in your trials, (when you begin
to faint by reason of persecutions from the Jews, ver. 12, which this is to
set a period to,) by remembering that how far off soever your deliverance
seems to be, it may and will come in a moment unexpectedly." (Par. in Matt.
xxiv. 36.)
(On Matthew 24:40)
"Then shall there be many acts of God's providence discerned in rescuing one
from that calamity wherein another is destroyed, especially that of
departing out of Judea, ver. 16, which the believers generally did, at
Gallus' raising the siege, the rest staying behind, and so being destroyed.
Two persons in the same field together shall be thus discriminated in their
fate: two women grinding together, or turning a hand-mill, one of them shall
stay, and be destroyed, and the other, that was in the same place and danger
with her, shall, as by the angel that hurried Lot out of Sodom, or
otherwise, by some invisible disposition of that Providence which waits on
his faithful servants, be rescued from that destruction, ver. 31." (Par. in
loc.)
(On Matthew 24:45)
"Whosoever of you, then, shall be entrusted by God in any office of trust or
stewardship, especially in that of getting believers to Christ, and shall
discharge that trust faithfully, and discreetly, do that which is his duty
in times of trial and persecution, (vers. 11, 12,) thrice happy shall he be,
if, when his master comes to visit, he continues to be thus employed, and so
be found about the duties of his trust, constant and persevering, (ver. 13,)
his Lord shall enlarge his trust, and make him steward of all, and not only
of his household : either preserve him to be a governor in his church, after
these sad times are over, or otherwise reward him as he seeth best. But if
that servant shall prove dishonest, and say or think, that Christ means not
to come and visit, as he said he would, (2 Pet. iii. 4,) and thereupon join
in the persecuting of his brethren, (as the Gnostics did with the Jews
against the Christians,) and indulge himself presumptuously to licentious
living, (see 2 Pet. iii. 3; Jude 18,) the time of visitation shall come on
him, when it is least looked for — when he is in the worst posture to be
surprised, and shall deal with him as a false debtor, or deceitful steward —
hew him asunder, and assign him the same lot which befalls the unbelieving
Jews, (Luke xii. 46,) bring the same destruction on the Gnostic Christians,
and the Jews together, and that shall be an irreversible, and a most
miserable destruction." (Par. in loc.)
(On Matthew 25:1)
"At that point of time last spoken of, the heavy visitation on this people,
the condition of Christians will be strictly resembled by this parable of
ten virgins, which took hand-lamps,' &c." (in loc.)
(On Matthew 26:24)
"I am to go out of this world, to be put to death according to prophecies :
God hath determined that I should come, and, like the good shepherd, incur
any hazard — lay down my life for the sheep; and foreseeing the malice of
the Jews, and their bloody designs, and the falseness of Judas, &c., he hath
determined to permit me to be slain by them, and accordingly hath foretold
it by the prophets, that I should be led as a sheep to the slaughter, &c.
But that will contribute little to his advantage that is the actor in it. It
is a most unhappy thing to have any hand in putting the Messias or any other
person to death, though their dying may be determined by God to most
glorious ends, which the wicked actor or contriver knows nothing of, nor at
all designs, but directly the contrary, and therefore any such is a most
wretched creature." (Par. in Mark xiv. 21.)
(On Luke 9:26)
"Of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he comes so
illustriously to punish his crucifiers, (or, at the last, judge the world,)
see note on Matt. xvi. 28, which is not now so far off, but that some here
present shall live to see it." (Par. in Luke ix. 26, 27.)
(On Luke 10:11)
"Even the very dust of your city which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off
as a testimony of your obstinacy, and usage of us, (Matt. x. 14 ; Lukeix.
5,) and as a token to assure you that your destruction is very near falling
on you. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable, when that
judgment comes, (ver. 14,) for Sodom than for that city. Woe unto you, ye
cities of Jewry, among whom so many miracles have been shown, to work faith
in you, and so to bring you to repentance, and all in vain ; had the like
been done in heathen cities near you, they in all likelihood would have been
wrought on by them. And accordingly their portion in the vengeance
approaching, shall be more supportable than yours. And thou, Capernaum,
which art exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down
to destruction and desolation. See Matt. xi. 23." (Par. in Luke x. 11—15.)
(On Luke 13:3,5)
"Ver. 3. ' If you continue in your present wicked practices, raising
sedition under pretence of piety, as frequently you are apt to do, then as
they perished at the day of Pascha at their sacrifice, so shall a multitude
of you, on that very day, in the temple, be slaughtered like sheep, and that
for the same cause — a sedition raised the city.'
Ver. 5. ' Ye shall all perish in the ruins of the whole city, as they in
that tower." (Par. in loc)
(On Luke 17:31—36)
"When you see this judgment break out, let every man that is in Judea make
all possible speed to get out of it, as Lot and his family did out of Sodom.
And the least delay or stop in the course — all inclinations of kindness to
the sins or company of that place, may be as fatal to any as it was to Lot's
wife, who, looking
back, became a pillar of salt. He that shall take any unchristian course of
compliance, (as the Gnostic Christians did afterwards with the Jews to
escape their persecutions,) he undoubtedly shall perish in it; and he that,
being a disciple of mine, shall, for the testimony of my truth, cheerfully
and courageously venture death, is the only person that shall escape this
judgment. Then shall it not be in.the power of any worldly providence to
work any deliverance for any, but as in Sodom an angel came and took Lot by
the hand, and led him out, preserved him, when many others were left behind,
so shall it be now; those whom God will thus please to seal and preserve,
the believers and constant professors, those shall be delivered, and none
else." (Par. in loc.)
(On Luke 19:27)
"But those countrymen of his, (whose king by right he was,) who, when he was
gone to be installed in the kingdom, sent him that contumacious answer, ver.
14, (noting the Jews that would not submit to him upon the apostles
preaching the gospel after the resurrection,) being now installed in his
throne, he presently commanded to be put to the sword — executed as so many
rebels — the fate that soon befel the Jews, after his inauguration in his
kingdom, that is, his going to heaven." (Par. in Luke, xix. 27.)
(On Acts 13:40)
"You are therefore nearly concerned to take heed and beware, that by
your obstinate resisting and rejecting this way of salvation, now preached
and confirmed from heaven by God's raising Jesus from the dead, when ye had
opposed and crucified him, you do not bring a remarkable astonishing
destruction upon yourselves, in the same manner (and a heavier degree,) as
it fell upon the Jews from the Chaldeans, Hab. i. 5, as a just punishment of
their despising the rich mercies of God afforded them, and going on
impenitently in their sins, against all the messages sent them by the
prophets, and by so doing cause the gospel to be removed to the Gentiles,
ver. 46. a thing which will come to pass suddenly, in both parts, (the
gospel's being taken from you and preached to the Gentiles, and the Romans
coming in and destroying you,) though so incredible to you that you will not
believe it, when the news of it shall come unto you by them that see it
done." (Par. in loc.)
(On Romans 2:8-10)
"But to such schismatical factious men, which are as it were born, and
composed, and made up of contention, (as the Gnostics are,) that resist the
right way, deny the Christians the liberty of not being circumcised, and
themselves live in all unnatural sins, those that do thus renounce the
gospel, and live contrary to the law, to such all judgments must be
expected, desolations and destructions here in a most eminent manner, and
eternal misery attending them. And as the Jew shall have had the privilege
to bo first rewarded for his good performances, (as appears by Christ's
being first revealed to him, in whom consequently and proportionably he
shall have all spiritual grace and crown, if he embrace Christ, and live
exactly and constantly according to his directions,) so must he also expect
to have his punishment and destruction first, and that a sad one at this
present by the Roman armies, upon their final rejecting and refusing Christ.
The greater his privileges are, the greater also his provocations and his
guilt will be ; and then the Gnostic also, that takes part with the Jew,
shall bear him company in the vengeance. As for the Gentiles, as they are
put after the Jews only, (and not left out,) in the mercies of God,
particularly in the revealing of Christ, so shall their punishment upon
their provocations only come after the punishment of the Jews, not be wholly
superseded; and accordingly it is to be seen in the predictions of both
their ruins, in the Revelation, the Jewish unbelievers and Gnostics are
punished first, and then the Gentiles and carnal Christians with them also."
(Par. in ver. 8—10.)
(On 1 Thessalonians 2:16)
"And this, generally, is the ground of their quarrel with us, that, in spite
of their prohibition, we preach to the Gentiles, use means that they might
repent of their idolatries, &c., by which, and the former things, the Jews
do sft fill up the measure of their sins, that the wrath of God, to the
utter destruction of them, is now come upon them, already denounced, and
within a very little while most certain to overtake them." (Par in loc.)
(On 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10)
"The revelation of Christ, as the coming of Christ, is a phrase of doubtful
signification, sometimes signifying the coming to the final doom ; but
sometimes, also, that coming that was described, Matt. xxiv., and was to be
within that generation. And so sxire it signifies in several places of St.
Peter, 1 Pet. i. 7, 13; and iv. 13; and the deliverance ready to be
revealed, I Pet. i. 5, the destruction of the Jews being the time of
deliverance and escaping to the Christians that were persecuted by them ;
(see Rom. xiii. 11 ;) so again, 1 Pet. v. 1, where St. Peter, saying of
himself that he was a witness of the sufferings of Christ, addeth, he was
also partaker of the glory that should be revealed; that is, present at the
transfiguration, whereby Moses and Elias were represented, and declared the
glorious consequents of his crucifixion, that is, the destruction of his
crucifiers, and deliverance of his faithful disciples. And so here it most
probably signifies, where the vengeance on the oppressors, that is, the
crucifiers of Christ, and persecutors of Christians, is described, and an
appendix of that rest and release to the oppressed, which is that
deliverance (or salvation) so oft promised to them that persevere and
endure, and outlast those persecutions, and that, in that day, ver. 10,
which is the notation of that time of vengeance upon the Jews. '
As for the mentions, first, of the angels, secondly, of the flame of fire,
thirdly, of the everlasting destruction, which may here seem to interpret
this revelation of Christ, so as to signify the day of the general doom — it
is evident, first, that the angels being ministers of God, in executing his
judgments on nations, this remarkable vengeance on the Jews may well here
and is elsewhere fitly expressed, by his coming or revealing himself with,
or by, his angels; so Matt. xvi. 27, and elsewhere often. Then, secondly,
for tt\e flame of fire, or flaming fire; that is ordinarily the expression
of the appearance of angels, (he maketh his ministers a flaming fire, saith
the Psalmist,) and so adds little to the former. And, besides, God's
judgments, if they be destructive, are ordinarily, in prophetic phrase,
expressed by flaming fire ; see Matt. iii.12. Thirdly, for the everlasting
destruction; that signifies an utter destruction, as of Sodom, it is said,
Jude 7, that it endured the vengeance of eternal fire, which, in all reason,
belonging to the fire and brimstone that destroyed Sodorn, must signify, not
the eternal burning of that fire, but the utter consumption of the city, by
that fire, or the fire's never ceasing to burn, till it had utterly consumed
the city; and so, when of the chaff it is said, Matt. iii. 12, that it shall
be burned with unquenchable fire, it refers to the custom of winnowing,
where the fire, being set to the chaff, and assisted with the wind, never
goes out till it have burned up all ; meanwhile, not excluding the eternal
torments of hell fire, which expect all impenitent sinners, that thus fall,
but looking particularly on the visible destruction and vengeance which
seizeth on whole nations or multitudes at once in this life. And that this
is the meaning of everlasting destruction here, appears, by all that here
follows in this chapter, the time assigned for it, when Christ shall come,
(the ordinary expression of this, his vengeance on his crucifiers,) to be
glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all believers in that day;
which that it belongs to somewhat then approaching, and wherein the
Thessalonians were then concerned, (not to the general judgment, yet
future,) is evident by his prayer for them, that they may have their part in
that great favor of God, ver. 11, and that the name of the Lord Jesus may be
glorified among them, to whom he writes, and that they may be glorified in
or through him, by this remarkable deliverance, which should befall them
which were now persecuted.'" (Annot. in loc.)
(On 2 Thessalonians 2:8)
"Then immediately shall this sect of Gnostics show itself—join with and stir
up the Jews, and bring heavy persecutions upon the Christians, and (having
this opportunity to .calumniate them to the Jews) behave themselves as their
professed opposers. And Simon Magus shall set himself forth in the head of
them — whom, as a professed enemy of Christ, Christ shall destroy by
extraordinary means — by the preaching and miracles of St. Peter; and for
all the apostatizing Gnostics that adhere to him, they shall be involved in
the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, with whom they have joined against
the Christians.' ' And two means are here mentioned, by which this should be
done ; first, by the breath of Christ's mouth ; secondly, by the brightness
of his coming; the former noting the power of the gospel in the mouth of the
apostles, Peter and Paul, who contended with him personally, at Rome, and
brought ruin and shame upon him; and the second noting the vengeance that
befell the Jews by the Roman armies, at which time the Gnostics, that sided
with them, were destroyed also." (Par. and Annot. in loc.)
(On Hebrews 3:11)
"The only thing farther to be observed, (and wherein the parallel was to
hold most remarkably, and which is the special thing that is pressed in this
place,) is the fate of the disobedient, murmuring Israelites, who were so
impatient of the hardships that befell them in their passage towards this
rest, that they frequently, and foully fell off from God, and returned to
the sins, and idolatries, and villanies of heathen Egypt, from whence they
were rescued by God ; all these were excluded from this rest of God's
giving, their carcasses fell in the wilderness, and of that generation, only
Caleb and Joshua, which were not of the number of these provokers, attained
to that rest, were allowed entrance into Canaan. And just so the Gnostic
Christians, those that in the time of persecution forsook Christ, and
returned to the heathenish, horrid villanies, from which Christianity was
designed to rescue them, were never to enter into this rest of God's, were
certainly to be destroyed with the Jews, with whom they struck in and
complied, and desiring to save their lives should lose them, using their own
ways to attain their rest or quiet, should miscarry, and never have part in
God's rest; whereas all that have believed, that is, that have or shall
adhere and cleave fast to Christ in the present persecutions, and never
murmur, nor provoke, do certainly enter into this rest; (as many as survive
these persecutions;) happy halcyonian days of a peaceable, prosperous
profession of Christianity were very shortly to attend them. And this is a
sufficient means of explaining that whole fourth chapter of the rest, and
the sabbatism, (as that is distinctly severed from the seventh day's
Sabbath, ver. 4,) which re- maineth, (and is now shortly to be had,) to the
people of God, the faithful, sincere, constant Christians, the true
Israelites, ver. 9 ; and so vs. 10, 11, where also the parallel is observed
betwixt this rest of God's giving, and that sabbatic rest, which God is said
to have rested, on the seventh day. For as that was a cessation from all the
works of the six days' creation, ver. 19, so is this rest, that is now to
befall the Christians, a remarkable, discernable cessation from all the
toils and labors, that their persecutions under the Jewish unbelievers had
brought upon them, and it is accordingly styled rest or release to the
persecuted, 2 Thess. i. 7, and days of refreshment, or breathing from these
toils, Acts iii. 19, according as it fell out in Vespasian's time,
immediately after the destruction of the Jews.' ' As the Jewish Sabbath, in
some things, resembled the rest after the creation, (in being a cessation
from works of weight and difficulty, with which, formerly, the person was
exercised, and so also in respect of the time of observing it, the seventh
day,) but, in other things, is the representation and commemoration of the
deliverance out of Egypt, in respect of the tasks and stripes from which
they were freed, and of the plentiful condition to which they were brought,
so may the word rest, prophesied of by the Psalmist, as still future, both
after the creation, and after the entering into Canaan, so many years, be
fitly interpreted rest from persecutions, and have one eminent completion in
this, the Christian's peaceable enjoyment of Christian assemblies, which was
now, through the conduct of God, approaching them." (Annot. in loc.)
(On Hebrews 10:25)
"The day approaching, (ver. 25 :) the notion of the day of Christ, and day
and coming of Christ, and kingdom of God, and many the like, signifying that
famous destruction of the Jews, hath been often mentioned. The other phrases
have been gathered together from their dispersions through this book. Note
on Matt. iii. 2; xxiv. 3, &c. Now for this phrase, day, or day of Christ,
although somewhat hath been said on Rom. xiii. 12, yet now more fully it
must be explained. The force of the phrase may appear, Zech. xiv. 1, Behold
the day of the Lord cometh, and / will gather all nations against Jerusalem
to battle, and the city shall be taken, &c. And so in many places in the Old
Testament: and accordingly in the New, Luke xvii. 24, the Son of man in his
-day, that is, when he comes to destroy Jerusalem ; and so Matt. xxiv. 36,
of that day and hour, that is, the punctual time of this destruction, (not
of the day of the last judgment, but of somewhat that was to come in that
age, ver 34,) knows no man. So Luke xvii. 30, the day wherein the Son of man
shall be revealed: and ver. 31, in that day, and xix. 40, the days shall
come in which ffiy enemies shall cast a trench. So Acts ii. 20, the great
and conspicuous day of the Lord, from which none of the Jews should escape,
but only the believers. In which place, as it is cited out of Joel, it is
observable that there is first mention of the last days, ver. 17, (which as
the Jews render the days of the Messias, so Peter interprets the time after
the resurrection of Christ, in which the spirit was poured out,) then of
this great day, ver. 20, which is, as it were, the last of the last, forty
years after his resurrection, in which Judea was to be laid waste. So 1 Cor.
i. 8, the day of the Lord Jesus, agreeable to the revelation of the Lord
Jesus, ver. 12, both of them denoting this time of judgment on unbelievers,
and deliverance of the faithful. See also chap. iii. 13. So 1 Thess. v., as
times and seasons, ver. 1, refer to this matter, (as, the time is come,
Ezek. ii. 7,) so the day of the Lord cometh as a thief, ver. 2, (the same
that is said of it, 2 Pet. iii. 10,) belongs to this matter also. So 2 Thess.
i. 10, in that day. So here, the day approaching, as Luke xxi. 8, the season
approach- eth, or as Joel ii. 1, the day of the Lord is come, it is nigh at
hand. So the day dawning, 2 Pet. i. 19, is that day of judgment to the Jews,
and deliverance to the believers among them. '
And that this phrase should thus signify, will not be strange, when it is
considered, that, in all languages and idioms, the word day signifies
judgment here on earth. So 1 Cor. iii. 13, the day shall declare, that is,
the judgment or trial; and man's day, 1 Cor. iv. 2, that is, the judgment of
men. So dies in Latin, diem. dicere, to implead, and in English, a day's
man, an umpire, or judge. (See note on Matt. iii. 2, and xxiv. 3.) That this
is the meaning of this place, will appear by the scope of the place, which
is to comfort them which were ready to fall off from Christianity, upon the
continued persecutions of the Christians by the Jews, among whom these
Hebrew Christians lived, as
will appear in the story, Acts xi. 19, and 1 Thess. ii. 14, the approach of
whose destruction must consequently be matter of comfort to them that had
suffered long, and so of keeping them from falling away. And secondly, it
will appear, by the plain words that follow to this very purpose, to sustain
their patience, ver. 37, yet a little while, and he that cometh, that is,
Christ, who hath promised to come to their punishment, and your relief, will
come, (and that notes this particular, the destruction of the Jews, which is
called his coming, Matt. xxiv.,) and he will not tarry, that notes the
approach of that day. And to this purpose, to confirm men in patient
expectation of this, without all disheartening by the delay, follow all
those examples of faith, chap. xi., in which it appears that many depended
by faith on performances of promises to their posterity, which were never
performed to themselves personally, and so might very well fortify the
Hebrews for an expectation of a far shorter time, it being now very near at
hand. The same is expressed, when it draws nigher at hand, by the last hour,
1 John ii. 18." (Annot. in loc.)
(On Hebrews 12:25-29)
"And, therefore, be sure ye despise not Christ, who is come to deliver God's
will unto you ; for if they were destroyed, that contemned Moses that
delivered the law from Mount Sinai, then much severer destruction is to be
expected for them that despise the commandments of Christ, who delivers them
immediately from heaven. In giving the law, there was an earthquake when God
spake, and that was somewhat terrible ; but now is the time of fulfilling
that prophecy, Hag. ii. 7, where God professes to make great changes,
greater than ever were among them before, even to the destroying the whole
state of the Jews. For this is the notation of the phrase which is rendered
yet once, which signifies some final ruin, and that very remarkable, as here
the total subversion of the Jews, of all their law and policy, as of things
that were made on purpose to be destroyed, designed by God only for a time,
for that imperfect state, as a forerunner and preparative to the gospel,
which, therefore, is a state of which there is no mention of the shaking it,
nor, consequently, of any future state that shall succeed it, which
signifies that that is most certainly to endure forever, till the end of the
world. We, therefore, that are vouchsafed our part in this immutable
kingdom, or state under Christ, a condition that no persecutions, nor even
the gates of hell shall prevail against, but it shall be sure, finally, to
overcome and survive all opposition — let us take care to hold fast, and not
forsake the gospel, through which we may serve God so as he will now accept
of, with reverence of so glorious a Master, and with fear of his wrath if we
do provoke him by abusing his mercies. For this gracious God, which is our
God, will show himself to the provoking Christian, as (or more severely
than) he threatened to the Israelites, Deut. iv. 24, an emblem of which we
have, Exod. xxiv. 17, where the sight of the glory of the Lord — that is, of
his presentiating himself—was like devouring fire on the top of the
mountain.'" (Par. in loc.)
(On 2 Peter 3:7-10)
"Melt with fervent heat: the destruction of Judea is here, vs. 10 and 12,
described by dissolution, or consumption by fire, and so Isaiah ix. 5 ; Ixvi.
15, 16; Mai. iv. 1; and Joel ii. 3, 30 ; where that destruction is
described; so 2 Thess. i. 8 — in flaming fire taking vengeance; (which that
it belongs to that matter, see the context of that place, and note on ver.
1;) so Heb. x. 27 — a burning q/ fire to consume all that obdurately stand
out against Christ, and that belonging to this matter also, as will appear
by comparing ver. 25, and ver. 37 ; see the note on ver. 25 of that
chapter."
What is here thus expressed by St. Peter, is ordinarily conceived to belong
to the end of the world, and the beginning of the Millennium, or thousand
years. And so, as St. Peter here saith, verse 16, many other places in St.
Paul's epistles, and in the gospel, especially Matt. xxiv., are mistaken and
wrested. That it doth not belong to either of these, but to this fatal day
of the Jews, sufficiently appears by the purport of the whole epistle, which
is to arm them with constancy and perseverance, till that day come, and,
particularly in this chapter, to confute them who object against the truth
of Christ's prediction, and resolve it should not come at all, against whom
he here opposes the certainty, the speediness, and the terribleness of its
coming. That which hath given occasion to those other common mistakes, is
especially the hideousness of those judgments which fell upon that people of
the Jews, beyond all that before are related to have fallen on them, or,
indeed, on any other people, which made it necessary for the prophets, which
were to describe it, (and who use tropes and figures, and not plain
expressions, to set down their predictions,) Jo express it by these high
phrases of the passing away and dissolving of heaven, and earth, and
elements, &c., which sounding very tragically, are mistaken for the great,
final dissolution of the world." (Annot. in loc. )
(On Jude 4)
"Before ordained of old to this condemnation : the way to interpret this, as
almost any other difficulty in this epistle, will be, by comparing it with
the second of Peter, which is almost perfectly parallel to this. There these
men are spoken of, chapter ii. 3, and the passage that there seems parallel
to this is — bringing on themselves swift destruction, and for whom judgment
for some while lingereth not, and their destruction doth not nod, ver. 3,
which signifies, in both places, the certain, and quick destruction which is
likely to come upon those men, who, by complying with the Jews, and
professing themselves to be such, to avoid their persecutions, are, by the
Roman destroyers, taken for Jews, and so speedily (soon after this time)
devoured. Only in this place is mentioned the being formerly set forth, or
written of, answerable to which is 2 Pet. ii. 1, among you shall be false
teachers; which being an affirmation that there shall be, must be grounded
on some prophecy, or prediction, that there should. And that is clearly to
be found in Christ's prediction of the destruction of the Jews, Matt. xxiv.
10, before which there should come false prophets, all one with the false
teachers in St. Peter, (see 1 John ii. 6,) by which the Gnostics are
certainly to be understood.
And, therefore, at the writing of St. Jude's epistle, these being actually
come in, he speaks not of them by way of prophecy, that they shall come, but
applies to them the former prophecy, that they are the men that were before
written, or prophesied of by Christ, in the gospel of St. Matthew, and so
capable of that title. Instead of this, when St. John, 1 Ep. ii. 18, speaks
of this very matter, he saith — As ye have heard that antichrist cometh, so
now there are many antichrists, by which, saith he, we know that it is the
last hour ; just as St. Matthew had made it a prognostic of the coming of
that final period of the Jews. By this it appears, first, that formerly (or
of old,) here refers to Christ's time; forewritten, (or ordained,) to Matt.
xxiv., or the passage there set down ; and judgment or condemnation, to that
great destruction that should fall, about that time, upon all the obdurate,
unbelieving Jews, and false teachers—Gnostics, or other abominable
Christians, whose sin is set down in the following words—impious, &c., and
their condemnation in these." (Annot. in loc. )
(On Revelation 2:11)
"Take courage against all possible dangers, remembering me, as I have
represented myself to you, verse 8. And now I tell you beforehand, that your
constancy to the faith must, in reason, be expected to raise you up enemies,
both at this present. the Jewish zealots for the synagogue, verse 9,
(incensed against you by the Gnostics,) and afterwards the Roman officers,
asserters of the diabolical idol worship against Christianity, and these
latter shall apprehend and imprison some of you, being permitted by God to
do so, on purpose for the further trial of your constancy. And this
persecution which shall come upon you, when the Jews are destroyed, (in the
time of Marcus Aurelius and Verus, under which, Polycarp, the bishop of this
church, shall suffer death,) shall then last for a little while ; and all
this shall prove a foundation of greater glory to you, and help them to the
reward and crown of martyrdom which suffer in it, and that is all the hurt
which your constancy shall bring you." (Par. in loc.)
(On Revelation 6:12-17)
"And at the opening of the sixth seal, in that roll, there was a
representation of eclipses of sun and moon, &c., figuratively to express
great destructions, Ezek. xxxii. 7 ; Isaiah xiii. 20 ; Joel ii. 10, 31 ; and
chapter iii. 15. And the same was again signified by an appearance of
falling stars, dropping down as the withered figs, those that are of a
second spring, and come not to be ripe that year, but hanging on the tree in
the winter, are frost-bitten, and with a great wind are shaken down and fall
from the tree, Isaiah xxxiv. 4. And by the appearance of great, black,
gloomy clouds, covering the whole face of the sky, not a star to be seen any
more than the writing is discernable in a roll folded up, and by the
earthquakes, verse 12, whereby many hills and islands were moved out of
their places, Isaiah xxxiv. 4. And the governors and great ones, of several
degrees of power among the Jews, the generals of the several factions among
them, and every meaner person of all sorts, appeared in the vision to be in
a horrible consternation. And the guilt of the blood of Christ and
Christians, which they had shed, and of which they wished that it might fall
upon them and their children, now fell upon them, made them fly into vaults,
or caverns under ground, and into walls, (according as it really fell out,
and as it was foretold by the prophets, Isaiah ii. 19; Hosea x. 8; and by
Christ, Luke xxiii. 30 ;) as seeing this inevitable vengeance now falling on
them." (Par. in loc.)
"Verse 16. Wrath of the Lamb: the anger of the Lamb, and
the great day of Ms anger, here, vs. 16, I7, and thine anger, chapter xi.
18, are set to express this vengeance on the Jews, whereof the crucifixion
of Christ was so great and particular a provoker. Hence is it, that in the
gospel it is called the kingdom of God, and the coming of Christ, and in
Josephus and Eusebius, divine visitation, destruction from divine vengeance,
and visitation from God, Euseb. Lib. iii. ; and all this from St. Luke xxi.
22, who calls them days of vengeance from God, poured out upon them
remarkably for what they had done unto Christ. And one phrase yet more
eminent, there is to the same purpose, Rev. xvi. 14, the war of the great
day of God that ruleth all, that is, the bloody destruction which this just
judgment of God brought upon them, for their crucifying of Christ, and
persecuting and killing of Christians." (Annot. in loc.)
(On Revelation 14:9-11)
"And methought a third angel followed, on purpose to confirm all weak and
seducible persecuted Christians, and to fortify them in their patience and
constancy, under the present, or yet remaining persecutions, (verse 13;) and
this he did by denouncing the judgments that the inconstant should fall
under, the direful ruin which attended all apostatizing, complying
Christians, that, (after the manner of the Gnostic compilers,) for fear of
persecutions, had or should forsake the Christian purity, and join in the
worships or practices of heathen Rome, in the bitter punishments, or effects
of God's wrath, such as fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Christ being the
Judge, and the angels the executioners of it; even utter destruction to all
that shall have been guilty of this in any degree, and do not timely repent
of it." (Par. in loc.)
(On Revelation 17:8-11)
"And the scarlet beast, ver. 4, on whom this power is seated, and which
blasphemeth, and defieth the God of heaven, that is, the person of the
emperor, in whom this power is vested, at the time to which this part of the
vision refers, is one which was in power, but at this point of time, that
is, after Vespasian's return out of Judea, was out of it, but shall come to
it again, as it were out of hell, to persecute the Christians. And when he,
that is, Domitian, shall have delivered up the empire again to Vespasian,
upon his return out of Judea, and for some years become a private man again;
this shall be matter of great admiration and astonishment to all that are
not Christians, wheresoever they are, seeing by this means, that the
persecutor of Christians is gone out of power, (and when he comes in again,
shall not continue long, but himself be cruelly butchered, vs. 8 and 11,)
and Vespasian, a favorer of the Christians, but the destroyer of the Jews,
is come in again, even while Domitian was alive, which made it the more
strange. This is the meaning of the riddle ; the seven heads are the seven
hills, which are so famously known in Rome. And besides, they denote the
seven kings or emperors thereof, (that have had any thing to do with the
Christians,) which are here to be numbered from the time of the beginning of
these visions, till this, of the writing of them ; of them five are dead,
all of violent deaths, poisoned or killed by themselves or others, viz.,
Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius ; one then reigned, viz., Vespasian,
and a seventh was not yet come to the kingdom, viz., Titus, who, when he
should come to it, should reign but two years and two months. And Domitian,
described ver. 8, as he that was and is not, that is, one that in
Vespasian's time, while he was busy in other parts, exercised all power at
Rome, and was called emperor, is the eighth, that is, comes to the empire
after those seven, being the son of one of them, to wit, of Vespasian, (in
whose time, also, he held the government of Rome,) and this a wretched,
accursed person, a cruel, bloody persecutor of the Christians, and shall be
punished accordingly." (Par. in loc.)
(On Revelation 19:10-11)
"And the Roman idolatry, and the magic, and auguries, and the divinations of
the heathen priests, that had deceived the carnal Christians, BO far as to
consent and comply with the heathenish idolatry, were to be like Sodom and
Gomorrah, utterly extirpated. And the rest — all the secret idolaters, were
swept away in the same destruction also, (for thinking that these armies
against Rome, would be favorable to any, more than to the orthodox, pure
Christians, they then thought it a fit time to discover themselves, but
strangely miscarried in it, the Christians that fled to the Basilica, or
temple, being the only persons that found deliverance,) and so all their
idol- worship was destroyed, which is the sum of this chapter." (Par. in
loc.)
(On
Revelation 20:3)
"The tranquillity and freedom from persecutions that should be allowed
the Church of Christ from the time of Constantines coming to the
Empire." (Works III, 37)
"As for the old idolaters, or Gnostics, there was nothing
like them now to be seen, nor should be till the end of this space of a
thousand years. This is it that is proverbially described by the first
resurrection, that is, a flourishing condition of the church under the
Messias. And blessed, and holy, that is, safe, (separate from all danger,)
are all those that are really in the number of them that partake,
effectually, of these benefits, who, as they are rescued from those
destructions which the Roman tyranny threatened them with, which is the
interpretation of the second death ; so they shall now have the blessing of
free, undisturbed assemblies for all this space." (Par. in loc.)
"First resurrection: what is meant by the first resurrection, here, may be
discerned by comparing it with
the second resurrection, in the ordinary notion of it. That signifies the
resurrection to eternal life ; proportionably, this must signify a reviving
— a restoring to life, though not to that eternal. Here it is figuratively
used to express the flourishing condition of the Christian church for that
thousand years, wherein the Christian professors, in opposition to
idolatrous heathens, and Gnostic Christians, live safely and happily in the
enjoying the assemblies, which is, saith he, as if the primitive martyrs
were fetched out of their graves to live again, here, in tranquillity upon
the earth. Where, only, it is to be noted, that the resurrection here is of
the church, not of the particular persons, (the beheaded, &c., mentioned ver.
4,) thus to be understood, that the church which was persecuted, and
suppressed, and slain, as it were, and again corrupted and vitiated in its
members, now rose from the dead, revived again.' 'The second death: this
phrase — the second death, is four times used in this book, chap. ii. 11,
and here, chap. xx. 6, then ver. 14, then chap. xxi. 8. It seems to be taken
from the Jews, who use it proverbially for final, utter, irrevocable
destruction. So in the Jerusalem Targum, Deut. xxxiii. 6—Let Reuben live,
and let him not die the second death, by which the wicked die in the world
to come. Where, whatsoever be signified, among them, by the world to come,
(the age of the Messias, in whatsoever Jewish notion of it,) it seems to
denote such a death, from which there is no release. And according to this
notion of it, as it reflects fitly on the first death, (which is a
destruction, but such as is reparable by a reviving or resurrection, but
this past hopes, and exclusive of that,) so will all the 'several places,
wherein it is used, be clearly interpreted ; chap. ii. 11 — He that
overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death, that is, if this church
holds out constant, it shall not be cut off; that is, though it shall meet
with great persecutions, ver. 10, and death itself, yet that utter excision
would no way better be prevented than by this of constancy and persevering
in suffering of all. So here, speaking of the flourishing condition of the
Christian church, reviving, after all its persecutions and corruptions, to a
state of tranquillity and purity; On these, saith he, the second death has
no power, that is, they have not incurred that utter excision, (having their
part in the first resurrection,) but they shall be priests to Christ and
God, and reign, &c., that is, have a flourishing time of Christian
profession for that space of a thousand years. So in ver.
14, where death and hades (hell) are cast into the lake of fire, that is,
death and the state of mortality utterly destroyed, (O death, I will be thy
death,) it is added, this is the second death, that is, mortality is utterly
destroyed, there shall now be no more death, the life shall be eternal. So
chap. xxi. 8, the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, (the utter,
irreversible destruction, such as fell on Sodom, called eternal fire,
utterly consumptive,) is called the second death, into which they are said
to go, that are never to appear in the church again, (see chap. xxi. 8.) And
though in these different matters, some difference there must needs be in
the significations, yet, in all of them, the notion of utter destruction,
final, irreparable excision, may very properly be retained, and applied to
each of them.' (Annot. in loc.)
(On the Reliability of Christ's Declarations of Imminence)
"If, in this coming of the Lord, this day of vengeance belonged to the day of judgment (now after so many years not yet come) what a forbearance were this? What a delay of his coming? and consequently what an objection against the truth of the
Christian religion. As Mahomet having promised, after his death, he would presently return to life again, and having not performed his promise in a thousand years, is by us justly condemned as an impostor." (no cite yet)
(On
Grotius)
"This very learned, pious, judicious man hath of late among many fallen
under a very unhappy fate, being most unjustly calumniated, sometimes as
a Socinian, sometimes as a Papist, and as if he had
learned to reconcile Contradictories, or the most distant
extreams, all that this very learned man was guilty of in this
matter, was but this, his passionate desire of the unity of the Church
in the bands of peace and truth, and a full dislike of all uncharitable
distempers, and impious doctrines."" (Treatise on the Epistle of
Ignatius, 1655)
A Premonition Concerning the Interpretation of the Apocalypse (1653)
| Having gone through all the other parts of the New Testament, I came to this last of the Apocalypse, as to a rock that many had miscarried and split upon, with a full resolution not to venture on the expounding of one word in it, but onely to perform one office to it, common to the rest, the review of the Translation :
But it pleased God otherwise to dispose of it ; for before I had read (with the design of translating only) to the end of the first verse of the book, these words, which must come to pass presently, had such an impression on my mind, offering themselves as a key to the whole prophecie, (in like manner as, this generation shall not passe till all these things be fulfilled, Matt. 24.34. have demonstrated infallibly to what coming of Christ the whole Chapter did belong) that I could not resist the force of them, but attempted presently a general survey of the whole Book, to see whether those words might not probably be extended to all the prophecies of it, and have a literal truth in them, viz., that the things foretold and represented in the ensuing vision ; were presently, speedily, to come to passe,
one after another, after the writing of them. |
 |
But before I could prudently passe this judgment, which was to be founded in understanding the subject-matter of all the Visions, some other evidences I met with, concurring with this, and giving me abundant grounds of confidence of this one thing, that although I should not be able to understand one period of all these Visions, yet I must be obliged to think that they belonged to those times that were then immediately ensuing, and that they had accordingly their completion, and consequently that they that pretended to find in those Visions the predictions of events in these later ages, and those so nicely defined as to belong to particular acts and persons in this and some other kingdomes (a farre narrower curcuit also then that which resonably was to be assigned to that one Christian prophecie for the Universal Church of Christ) had much mistaken the drift of it.
The arguments that induced this conclusion where these: first, that this was again immediately inculcated, v.3,
for the time is nigh, and that rendered as proof that these seven Churches, to whom the prophecie was written, were concerned to observe and consider the contents of it,
Blessed is he that reads, and he that hears, &c. (saith Arethas, that so hears as to practise)
for the time, or season, the point of time is near at hand. Secondly, that as here in the front, so c. 22.6, at the close, or shutting up of all these Visions, and of S.
John's Epistle to the Seven Churches, which contained them, 'tis there again added, that God
hath sent his Angel to shew to his servants the things that must presently, or
speedily, or suddanly ; and immediately upon the back of that are set the words of Christ, the Author of this prophecie,
Behold I come quickly, not in the notion of his final coming to judgment (which hath been the cause of a great deal of mistake, see Note on Mat. 24.b.) but of his coming to destroy his enemies, the Jewes, &c. and then,
Blessed is he that observes, or keeps, the prophecies of this book, parallel to what had been said at the beginning, c.1.3. Thirdly, that v.10. the command is given to John,
not to seal the prophecies of the book, which that it signifies that they were of present use to those times, and therefore to be kept open, and not to be laid up as things that posterity was only or principally concern'd in, appears by that reason rendered of it,
because the time is nigh, the same which had here at the beginning been given, as the reason that he that considered the prophecies was
blessed in so doing." (A Paraphrase.., In loc.)
"This being thus far deduced out of such plain words, so many times repeated, the next thing that offered itself to me was, to examine and search what was the designe of Christ's sending these Visions in a letter to the
Seven Churches. For by that somewhat might generally be collected of the matter of them, What that design was, appeared soon very visibly also from plain.."
"And it has been matter of much satisfaction to me, that
what hath upon sincere desire of finding out the truth, and making my
addresses to God for his particular directions in this work of difficulty..
appeared to me to be the meaning of this prophecie, hath, for this main of
it, in the same manner represented it self to several persons of great piety
and learning (as since I have discerned) none taking it from the other, but
all from the same light shining in the Prophecie it self. Among which
number I now also find the most learned Hugo Grotius, in those
posthumous notes of his on the Apocalypse, lately publish'd."
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID
The Life of Henry Hammond
John L. Bray
"One of the earlier preterist writers (Henry Hammond) who held to the preterist interpretation of Matthew 24, and taught that the second coming of Christ took place in fulfillment thereof in A.D. 70, termed the final day of judgment a third coming of Christ. He wrote the "coming of Christ...at the day of doom to judge the world" was "his final third coming at the great day of doom" (p.119)." (The "Coming" of Christ)
Alexander Brown
"Let us not forget that once in the Church's history it was the common belief that John's 1000 years were gone. Dorner bears witness that the Church up to Constantine understood by Antichrist chiefly the heathen state, and to some extent unbelieving Judaism (System iv.,390). Victorinus, a bishop martyred in 303, reckoned the 1000 years from the birth of Christ.
Augustine wrote his magnum opus 'the City of God' with a sort of dim perception of the identity of the Christian Church with the new Jerusalem. Indeed we know that the 1000 years were held to be running by the generations previous to that date, and so intense was their faith that the universal Church was in a ferment of excitement about and shortly after 1000 A.D. in expectation of the outbreak of Satanic influence. Wickliff, the reformer, believed that Satan bad been unbound at the end of the 1000 years, and was intensely active in his day. That this period in Church history is past, or now runs its course, has been the belief of a roll of eminent men too long to be chronicled on our pages of Augustine, Luther, Bossuet, Cocceius, Grotius, Hammond, Hengstenberg, Keil, Moses Stuart, Philippi, Maurice." (Alexander Brown, Great Day of the Lord, p. 216.)
Nathanial Crouch
"Dr. Henry Hammond must be held as a somewhat notable figure in the
history of English literature, if it be true, as is alleged of him by
Hearne, that he was 'the first man in England that had copy-money, i.e.,
a price for the copy-right of a literary work. 'He was paid such a sum
of money (I know not how much) by Mr. Royston, the king's printer, for
his Annotations on the New Testament.'
One naturally feels some curiosity about a man who was the first of the
long list who have written for booksellers' pay. He was one of the most
noted of the many divines who lost their benefices (his was that of
Penshurst, in Kent) under the Cromwellian rule. He was devoted to the
monarchy, and bewailed the martyred Charles with bitter tears. His
activity was thereafter given to the investigation of the literature and
antiquities of the Bible, in which he had in his own age no rival. There
could not be a more perfect ideal of a student. He ate little more than
one meal a-day; five hours of his bed sufficed; he read in walking, and
had books read to him while dressing. Finally, he could compose faster
than any amanuensis could transcribe—a most serviceable quality at first
sight for one who looked to be paid by the sheet. Five sheets a-day were
within his range of power. It is related of him that, on two several
occasions, he sat down at eleven at night, and composed a pamphlet for
the press before going to rest. Dr. Fell, however, who wrote his life,
seems to have found that easy writing made rather hard reading, for he
speaks of Hammond's compositions as incumbered with parentheses. It is
also to be observed that the learned doctor did not thrive upon his
assiduity in study, for he died of the stone at fifty-five.
In connection with this article, it may be mentioned that the first book
published in England by subscription was a polyglot Bible, prepared
under the care of Dr. Brian Walton, and published in six volumes in
1657. The learned editor became, at the Restoration, Bishop of Chester,
but enjoyed the honour a very short time, dying November 29, 1661.
It may also be worth while to introduce to notice the first person who
made any efforts in that business of popularising literature which now
occupies so broad a space. It was unquestionably Nathaniel Crouch, a
bookseller at the sign of the Bell, in the Poultry, London. He
flourished in the reigns of William III and Queen Anne, but very little
of his personal history is known. With probably little education, but
something of a natural gift for writing in his native language, Crouch
had the sagacity to see that the works of the learned, from their form
and price, were kept within a narrow circle of readers, while there was
a vast multitude outside who were able and willing to read, provided
that a literature suited to their means and capacities were supplied to
them. He accordingly set himself to the task of transfusing the matter
of large and pompous books into a series of small, cheap volumes,
modestly concealing his authorship under the nom de plume of Robert
Burton, or the initials R. B. Thus he produced a Life of Cromwell, a
History' of Wales, and many other treatises, all printed on very plain
paper, and sold at an exceedingly reasonable rate.
His enterprise and diligence were |
