more probable, that they were omitted in fome copies of St. Mark by fome indifcreet orthodox, who thought them to bear too hard upon our Saviour's divinity. For all the moft antient copies and tranflations extant retain them; the most antient fathers quote them, and comment upon them: and certainly it is cafier for words to be omitted in a copy, fo as that the omiffion fhould not generally prevail afterwards, than it is for words to be inferted in a copy, so as that the infertion fhould generally prevail afterwards. Admit the words therefore as the genuine words of St. Mark we muft, and we may, without any prejudice to our Saviour's divinity. For Chrift may be confidered in two respects, in his human and in his divine nature; and what is faid with regard only to the former, doth not at all affect the latter. As he was the great teacher and revealer of his Father's will, he might know more than the angels, and yet he might not know all things. It is faid in St. Luke, (ii. 52.) that Jefus increased in wisdom and ftature, and in favour with God and man. He increafed in wisdom, and confequently in his human nature he was not omnifcient. In his human nature he was the fon of David; in his divine nature he was the lord of David. In his human nature he was upon earth; in his divine nature he was in heaven (John iii. 13.) even while upon earth. In like manner it may be faid, that though as God he might know all things, yet he might be ignorant of fome things as man. And of this particular the Meffiah might be ignorant, because it was no part of his office or commiflion to reveal it. It is not for you to know the times or the feafons, which the Father hath put in his own power, as our Saviour faid (Acts i. 7.) when a like queftion was propofed to him. It might be proper for the difciples, and for the Jews too by their means, to know the figns and circumftances of our Saviour's coming and the deftruction of Jerufalem; but upon many accounts it might be unfit for them both, to know the precife time.

Hitherto we have explained this twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew, as relating to the deftruction of Jerufalem, and without doubt, as relating to the deftruction of Jerufalem, it is primarily to be understood. But though it is to be understood of this primarily, yet it is not to be understood of this only; for there is no question that our Saviour had a farther view and meaning in it. It is ufual with the prophets to frame and exprefs their prophecies fo, as that they fhall comprehend more than one event, and have their feveral periods of completion. This every one must have obferved, who hath been ever fo little converfant in the writings of the antient prophets and this I conceive to be the cafe here, and the deftruction of Jerufalem to be typical of the end of the world. The deftruction of a great city is a Lively type and image of the end of the world; and we may

ob

obferve that our Saviour no fooner, begins to fpeak of the deftruction of Jerufalem, than his figures are raifed, his language is fwelled, and he expreffes himfelf in fuch terms, as in a lower fenfe, indeed, are applicable to the deftruction of Jerufalem, but defcribe fomething higher in their proper and genuine fignification. The fun fhall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the ftars fhall fall from Heaven, the powers of the Heavens fhall be fhaken, the Son of man fhall come in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory, and he shall fend his angels with a great found of a trumpet, and they fhall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other. Thefe paffages in a figurative fenfe, as we have feen, may be understood of the deftruction of Jerufalem, but in their literal fenfe can be meant only of the end of the world. In like manner that text, Of that day and season knoweth no man, no not the angels of Heaven, but my Father only; the confiftence and connection of the difcourfe oblige us to understand it as fpoken of the time of the deftruction of Jerufalem; but in a higher sense it may be true alfo, of the time of the end of the world, and the general judgment. All the fubfequent difcourfe too, we may obferve, doth not relate fo properly to the destruction of Jerufalem, as to the end of the world, and the general judg ment. Our Saviour lofeth fight, as it were, of his former fubject, and adapts his discourse more to the latter. And the end of the Jewish ftate was in a manner the end of the world to many of the Jews.

The remaining part of the chapter is fo clear and easy, as to need no comment or explanation.'

The Doctor now proceeds to the confideration of St. Paul's Prophecy of the Man of Sin, and introduces his differtation upon it with obferving, that St. Paul's and St. John's predictions are in a manner the copies of Daniel's originals, with fome improvements and additions. The fame times, the fame perfons, he fays, and the fame events are defcribed by St. Paul and St. John, as well as by Daniel; and it might therefore with reason be expected, that there fhould be fome fimilitude and refemblance in the principal features and characters.

St. Paul has left in writing, befides others, two moft memorable prophecies, both relating to the fame fubject, the one concerning the Man of Sin, the other concerning the Apoftacy of the latter Times; the former contained in the fecond epistle to the Theffalonians, and the latter in the first cpiftle to Timothy.. The prophecy concerning the Man of Sin having been delivered firft in time, our Author confiders it firft in order; and for the fuller manifeftation of the truth and exactnefs of the pre

diction,

diction, he first inveftigates the genuine fenfe and meaning of the paffage; then fhews how it has been miftaken and mifapplied by fome famous commentators; and laftly, endeavours to vindicate and establish what he conceives to be the only true and legitimate application.

The apoftle introduces the fubject thus, (2 Theff. ii. 1, 2.) Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Chrift, &c. The prepofition; which is tranflated by, we are told, ought rather to have been tranflated concerning, as it fignifies in other places of fcripture, and in other authors both Greek and Latin. For the apostle does not befeech them by the coming of Chrift, but the coming of Chrift is the fubject of which he is treating; and it is in relation to this fubject, that he defires them not to be difturbed or affrighted, neither by revelation, nor by meffage, nor by letter, as from him, as if the day of Chrift's coming was at hand. The phrafes of the coming of Chrift and the day of Chrift may be understood, 'tis faid, either figuratively of his coming in judgment upon the Jews, or literally of his coming in glory to judge the world. They may be fometimes used in the former fenfe, but they are more generally employed in the latter, by the writers of the New Teftament; and the latter, our Author fays, is the proper fignification in this place.

It was a point of great importance for the Theffalonians not to be mistaken in this particular; because if they were taught to believe that the coming of Chrift was at hand, and he should not come according to their expectation, they might be ftaggered in their faith, and finding part of their Creed to be false, might be hafty enough to conclude that the whole was fo. The apoftle therefore cautions them, in the strongest manner, against this delufion; and affures them, that other memorable events will take place before the coming of our Lord. Let no man (ver. 3. and 4.) deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of fin be revealed, the fon of perdition; who oppofeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; fo that he as God fitteth in the temple of God, fhewing himself that he is God. The apoftafy here defcribed, cur Author fays, is plainly not of a civil, but of a religious nature; not a revolt from the government, but a defection from the true religion and worship.

If the notion of the man of fin be derived from any antient prophet, it must be derived, we are told, from Daniel, who has defcribed the like arrogant and tyrannical power: (vii. 25.) He fhall Speak great words against the Most High, &c. And again, (xi. 36.) The king fhall do according to his will, and he

fall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every God, and shall fpeak marvellous things against the God of gods. Any man may be fatisfied, the Doctor thinks, that St. Paul alluded to this defcription by Daniel, because he has not only borrowed the ideas, but has even adopted fome of the phrafes and expreffions. The man of fin may fignify either a fingle man, or a fuccession of A fucceffion of men being meant in Daniel, it is probable, that the fame was intended here alfo. It is the more probable, becaufe a fingle man appears hardly fufficient for the work here affigned; and it is agreeable to the phrafeology of fcripture, and efpecially to that of the prophets, to speak of a body or number of men under the character of one.

By the temple of God, 'tis faid, the apoftle could not well mean the temple at Jerufalem, because, that he knew very well would be totally destroyed within a few years. Under the gofpel difpenfation the temple of God is the church of Chrift: and and the man of fin's fitting implies his ruling and prefiding there, and fitting there as God implies his claiming divine authority in things fpiritual as well as temporal, and fhewing himself that he . is God implies his doing it with great pride and pomp, with great parade and oftentation.

Having thus endeavoured to investigate the genuine sense and meaning of the paffage, our Author proceeds to shew that it has been strangely mistaken and mifapplied by fome famous commentators. The man of fin, according to Grotius, was the Roman emperor Caligula, who did not at firft difcover his wicked difpofition. He vainly preferred himself before all the gods of the nations, even before Jupiter Olympius and Capitolinus; and ordered his ftatue to be fet up in the temple at Jerufalem. Dr. Hammond applies the prophecy to Simon Magus and the Gnoftics; Le Clerc fuppofes that the apoftacy was the great revolt of the Jews from the Romans, that the man of fin was the rebellious Jews, and efpecially their famous leader Simon, not Magus, but the fon of Gioras. Dr. Whitby, by the apoftacy, underftands the revolt of the Jews from the Roman empire, or from the faith; and the late profeffor Wetstein, by the man of fin, and the wicked one, underftands Titus, or the Flavian family.

After making fome general curfory reflections on thefe feveral explications, the doctor proceeds thus. The detection of falfhood is the next ftep towards the difcovery of truth: and having feen how this paffage hath been mistaken and mifapplied by fome famous commentators, we may be the better enabled to vindicate and establish what we conceive to be the only true and legitimate application. The Theffalonians, from fome expreffions in the former epiftle, were alarmed as if the end of the

8

world

world was at hand, and Chrift was coming to judgment. The apoftle, to correct their miftakes and diffipate their fears, affures them, that the coming of Chrift will not be yet awhile; there will be firft a great apoftafy or defection of Chriftians from the true faith and worship. This apoftafy all the concurrent marks and characters will justify us in charging upon the church of Rome. The apoftle mentions this apoftafy in another place, (1 Tim. IV. 1, &c.) and fpecifies fome articles, as doctrines of demons, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which will warrant the fame conclufion. The true Chriftian worship is the worship of the one only God thro' the one only mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: and from this worship the church of Rome hath notoriously departed by fubftituting other mediators, and invocating and adoring faints and angels. Nothing is apoftafy, if idolatry be not; and the fame kind of idolatry is practifed in the church of Rome, that the prophets and infpired writers arraign and condemn as apoftafy and rebellion in the Jewish church. The Jews never totally rejected the true God, but only worshipped him thro' the medium of fome image, or in conjunction with fome other beings and are not the members of the church of Rome guilty of the fame idolatry and apoftafy in the worship of images, in the adoration of the hoft, in the invocation of angels and faints, and in the oblation of prayers and praifes to the virgin Mary, as much or more than to God bleffed for ever? This is the grand corruption of the Chriftian church, this is the apostasy as it is emphatically called, and deferves to be called, the apoftafy that the apostle had warned the Theffalonians of before, the apoftafy that had also been foretold by the prophet Daniel.

If the apoftafy be rightly charged upon the church of Rome, it follows of confequence that the man of fin is the pope, not meaning this or that pope in particular, but the pope in general, as the chief head and fupporter of this apoftafy. The apoftafy produces him, and he again promotes the apoftafy. He is properly the man of fin, not only on account of the fcandalous lives of many popes, but by reafon of their more scandalous doctrines and principles, difpenfing with the most neceffary duties, and granting or rather felling pardons and indulgencies to the most abominable crimes. Or if by fin be meant idolatry particularly as in the Old Teftament, it is evident to all how he hath corrupted the worship of God, and perverted it from Spirit and truth to fuperftition and idolatry of the groffeft kind. "He also, like the falfe apostle Judas, is the fon of perdition, whether actively as being the caule and occafion of deftruction to others, or paffively as being deftined and devoted to destruction himself. He oppofeth; he is the great adverfary to God and man, excommunicating