our integrity, and persevering in our fidelity to Christ. 2. That constancy and perseverance in our integrity and fidelity towards Christ, is sometimes attended with temporal salvation and deliverance in this life, but shall certainly be rewarded with eternal salvation in the next: He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved.

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Here our blessed Saviour comforts his disciples with a threefold consideration. 1. That his gospel, how hated and persecuted soever, should be plainly and persuasively preached: The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached. Therefore called the gospel of the kingdom, because it discovers the way to the kingdom of heaven. Observe, 2. The extent of the gospel's publication, It shall be preached unto all nations, that is, to the Gentile world; not only among the Jews, but among the chief and principal nations of the Gentiles. Observe, 3. The design and end of the gospel's publication, and that is, for a witness or testimony; namely, for a witness of God's grace and mercy offered to sinners, and of their obstinacy who reject it. Learn thence, That the preaching of the gospel, wherever it comes, proves a testimony to them to whom it comes. To the humble and teachable, it is a testimony for, to the scorners and despisers, it is a testimony against; or in the words of the apostle, 2 Cor. ii. 16, To some it is the savour of death unto death; to others, the savour of life unto life.

15 When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand,)

The sense is, "When ye shall see the armies of the Romans, who are an abomination unto you, and an occasion of great desolation where they go; when you shall see that abominable, dissolute army begirting the holy city of Jerusalem, then call to mind the prophecy of Daniel, which primarily belonged to Antiochus, but secondarily to Titus, and shall now be fully completed: for the siege shall not be raised till both city and temple be razed

to the ground." Learn thence, That God has instruments ready at his call to lay waste the strongest cities, and to ruin the most flourishing kingdoms which do op. pose the tenders of his grace, and can make those whom most men abhor, to be the occasions of their destruction.

16 Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

The meaning is," As soon as you shall see the Roman army appear before the city of Jerusalem, let every one that values his own safety, fly as far and as fast as he can, even as Lot fled out of Sodom; and let such as fly be glad if by flight they can save their lives, though they lose their goods, their clothes, and all things beside." From hence learn, 1. That when Almighty God is pouring forth his fury upon a sinful people, it is lawful, yea a necessary duty, by flight to endeavour the hiding and sheltering themselves from the ap proaching calamity and desolation: When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then flee to the mountains. 2. That in the case of flight before a bloody enemy and army, if we lose all that we have, and our lives be given us, we fare well, and the Lord deals very mercifully with us.

19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath-day.

Here our Saviour declares the doleful distress of those that could not flee from the siege of Jerusalem; as women big with child, and such as give suck, who by

that means are like to lose their lives. And he farther adds, that it should increase the calamity, if their flight should happen to be in the winter, when none can fly either fast or far; or if they should be forced to flee on the sabbath-day, when the Jews scrupled travelling farther than a sabbath-day's journey, which was about two miles. From thence learn, That it is a great addition to the trouble and disquiet of a good man's spirit, when the day of his spiritual rest is interrupted, and instead of enjoying communion with God

in his house, he is driven from house and home, and flees before the face of an enraged enemy. Pray ye, says our Saviour, that your flight be not on the sabbath-day; that being a day of holy rest.

21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

The doleful miseries and dreadful calamities which were coming upon the Jews in general, and upon Jerusalem in particular, are here foretold by our Saviour, partly from the Roman army without, and partly from the seditions and factions of the zealots within, who committed such outrages and slaughters, that there were no less than an hundred thousand slain, and ninety-seven thousand carried away captive, and made prisoners. They that bought our Saviour for thirty pence, were now themselves sold thirty for a penny. Now did the temple itself become a sacrifice, a whole burnt-offering, and was consumed to ashes. Yet observe, Christ promises that these calamitous days shall be shortened for the elect's sake. God had a remnant, which he determined should survive this destruction, to be an holy seed; and accordingly the providence of God so ordered, that the city was taken in six months, and the whole country depopulated in eighteen. Whence observe, How the Lord intermixes some mercy with the extremest misery that doth befall a people for their sin. On this side hell, no sinners can say that they feel the strokes of justice to the utmost, or that they have judgment without mercy.

23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold,

I have told

you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not

forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

The Jews had all along cherished in themselves a vain expectation, that the promised Messiah should be a temporal deliverer, that should set them at liberty from the power and slavery of the Romans; and accordingly Christ declares to his disciples here, that immediately before Jerusalem's destruction, several persons, taking the advantage of this expectation, would make themselves heads of parties, and pretend that they were the true Messiah, who would save and deliver them from their enemies, if they would repair to them, and follow after them. Hereupon our Lord cautions his disciples against such false Christs and false prophets, and bids them believe them not, though they did never so many great signs and wonders, and promised them never such glorious deliverances. Learn hence, That the church's great danger is from seducers that come in Christ's name, and pretend to work signs and wonders by his authority. 2. That such is the power of seduction and delusion, that many are carried away with seducers aud false teachers. 3. That the elect themselves, if left unto themselves, might be seduced; but divine power guards them against seduction and delusion: They shall deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. Which phrase imports not what the event would be upon the elect, but the vehemency of the endeavours of seducers; namely, that they would do the utmost that they could, to shock the christian, and cause him to fall upon his stedfastness.

27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

There is a threefold coming of Christ coming in his spiritual kingdom by the spoken of in the New Testament. 1. His preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles. 2. His coming to destroy Jerusalem forty years after his ascension. 3. His final coming to judgment at the great day. All these comings of the Son of man, for their suddenness and unexpectedness, are compared unto lightning, which in a moment breaketh out of the east, and shineth unto the west. Learn hence, Tha

the coming and appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the judging of the wicked

and impenitent sinners, will be a very certain, sudden, and unexpected appear

ance.

28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

If the coming of Christ be understood in the former verse of his coming to destroy Jerusalem, then by the carcass in this verse are to be understood the people of Jerusalem, and the body of the Jewish nation; and by eagles are to be understood the Roman armies, who carried an eagle in their standard. These were the instruments which Almighty God made use of, as his rod and scourge, to chastise and punish the people of Jerusalem. Learn thence, That the appointed messengers of God's wrath, and the instruments of his vengeance, will certainly gather together, certainly find out, and severely punish and plague, an impenitent people devoted to destruction. Where the carcass is (the body of the Jewish nation) there will the eagles (the Roman soldiers) be gathered together.

29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:

Our Saviour goes on in figurative expressions to set forth the calamities that should befall the Jewish nation, immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem: The sun shall be darkened: that is, all their glory and excellency shall be eclipsed, all their wealth and prosperity shall be laid waste; the whole government, civil and ecclesiastical, destroyed; and such marks of misery found upon them, as never were seen upon a people. By the sign of the Son of man, the papists will have understood the sign of the cross. Others understand it of those prodigies which were seen a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, which Josephus mentions; as, namely, a comet in the form of a sword hanging over the city for a year together; a light in the temple and about the altar, seen at midnight for half an hour; a cow, led by the priest to be sacrificed, calved a lamb; a voice heard in the temple, saying, Abea

And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Then shall the tribes mourn; that is, then shall the Jews be convinced that their destruction was the punishment of their sin, in rejecting and crucifying Christ; and accordingly they that pierced him shall behold him, and mourn over him. Thus it was before the destruction of Jerusalem, and thus will it be before the final judgment. They that pierced him shall be brought before him. Lord, how will the sight of a pierced Christ pierce their souls with horror! they who have not seen a pierced Christ in the sorrows of repentance, shall hereafter see him in the sorrows of despair. To behold Christ with the eye of sense hereafter, will be very dreadful and terrible to all those that have not beheld him with the eye of faith here. And he shall send his angels with the this to the destruction of Jerusalem, by the sound of a trumpet. Those that apply angels understand the ministers of the gospel, who by the trumpet of the word did bring in believers throughout all Judea, who were saved from that destruction. Those that understand it of the general judgment, take it literally, that Christ at the great day will send forth his holy angels, and gather all his elect to himself with the sound of a trumpet. Probably, as there was an audible sound of a trumpet at the giving of the law, so there shall be the like sound of a trumpet, when Christ shall summon the world to judgment, for transgressing of that law. A joyful sound will this be to the friends of Christ, a doleful, dreadful sound in the ears of his enemies.

32 Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near,

33

even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Here our blessed Saviour declares two things with reference to his coming. 1. The certainty of the thing itself. 2. The uncertainty of the time. The certainty of his coming he sets forth by the similitude of the fig-tree, whose beginning to bud declares the summer at hand. Thus when they should see the fore-mentioned signs, they might conclude the destruction of their city and temple to be nigh at hand, and that some then living should see all these predictions certainly fulfilled. What Christ foretells, shall certainly be fulfilled, his word being more firm than the fabric of heaven and earth. Observe, 2. The uncertainty, as to the precise time, when this judgment should come. No angel in heaven nor creature on earth could determine the time, only the glorious persons in the Godhead; the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Learn, 1. That all things are not revealed to the angels themselves, but such things only as it concerns them to know, and the wisdom of God thinks fit to reveal. 2. That the precise time of the day of judgment is kept by God as a secret to himself. He will not have us know that hour, to the intent that we may be upon our watch every hour.

37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not, until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the

other left.

In these verses our Saviour declares that

Jerusalem's destruction, and the world's final dissolution at the great day, would be much like the destruction of the old world; and that in two respects: 1. In of security and sensuality. How sensual regard of unexpectedness. 2. In regard and secure was the old world before the flood! They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. That is, wholly given up to sensuality and debauchery, and did not know of the flood's coming; that is, did not consider it, till the flood swept them away. Thus was it in the destruction of Jerusalem, and so will it be in the end of the world. Learn hence, 1. That as the old world perished by infidelity, security, and sensuality, so will the same sins be prevailing before the destruction of this present world. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man cometh. 2. That the true reason why sinners are drowned in sensuality, and given over to security, is this, because they do not believe the certainty, or consider the proximity and nearness, of an approaching judgment, The old world knew not of the flood's coming. Strange! when Noah had told them of it an hundred and twenty years together. The meaning is, they did not consider it, and prepare for it. To such as are unprepared for, and unapprehensive of death and judgment, those evils are always sudden, although men be never so often warned of them. But to such as are prepared, death is never sudden, let them die never so suddenly.

for ye

42 Watch, therefore; know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Here we have the application made by our Saviour of the foregoing doctrine concerning the certainty and suddenness of a future judgment. Watch therefore always; not without intermission, but within an habitual but actual readiness for my out giving over; that ye may be not only appearance. Learn hence, That it is the indispensable duty, and ought to be the indefatigable endeavour, of every christian,