centuries'. But, if we be thus demonstratively near the end of the latter three times and a half and therefore near the end of those seven times of the Gentiles which are mentioned by our Lord; we must also be near the end of that great prophetic age, respecting which the disciples inquired, and respecting which Christ declared to them that it was not yet. Hence, if we be near the end of the great prophetic age, we must expect, that the Gospel either has been preached or is now preaching to all nations of the habitable globe: because our Lord has declared, that, when this universal evangelisation shall have taken place, then shall come the end of the great prophetic age in question.

Accordingly, the fact perfectly tallies both with Christ's prediction and with the chronology of the prophetic calendar. It may, at present, I believe, be said, that there is scarcely a region upon the face of the habitable globe, where the Gospel has not, at one time or another, been preached either successfully or unsuccessfully: and it is impossible not to be struck with what may well be deemed one of the most prominent signs of the times, an extraordinary increase of the missionary spirit and an unexampled activity in conveying the Bible to all nations in their own various languages. Meanwhile, the prophetic calendar teaches us to believe, that we have approached very near to the expira→

1

See Bp. Hurd's Introd. to the study of Proph. serm. xi, vol. ii. p. 190-194.

tion of the seven times of the Gentiles and of the latter three times and a half, and therefore that we have approached very near to the end of that great age respecting which our Lord spoke and his disciples inquired.

Hence we have a two-fold evidence, that we cannot be very far removed from that end of the age or (as Daniel calls it) that time of the end, which, according to our Lord's prediction, is to come, when the Gospel shall have been preached to all nations and when the seven times of the Gentiles shall have expired.

2. The next particular after the signs, which announce the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, is the destruction itself: and this, Christ declares, shall be so complete, that not one stone of the temple shall be left upon another.

(1.) To the circumstances of this event Christ refers that abomination of desolation, which Daniel, in two of his prophecies, had foretold should stand in the holy place or where it ought not to stand: and its appearance he connects with the fact of Jerusalem being compassed with armies 1.

Here I need scarcely remark, that the armies alluded to were the Roman armies, and that the desolating abomination in the holy place denotes the eagles planted within the precincts of the temple. So amply has this part of the prophecy been discussed; the misery of the Jews, the special ca

Dan. ix, 27. xi. 31.

lamities undergone by the female population of Jerusalem, the remarkable escape of the Christians, and the complete dilapidation of the temple; that it is plainly superfluous for me to dwell more at large on the subject1.

(2.) Scarcely need I say more on the rising up of false Christs and false prophets during that disastrous period.

We learn from Josephus, that many such impostors then started up, who promised to the Jews deliverance through the intervention of the Deity: and Hegesippus in Eusebius mentions, that, about the same time, numerous false Christs and false prophets made their appearance. Some of these last led their followers into the desert: and others carried on their imposition within the recesses of secret chambers 2.

3. Great, however, as was the misery of the Jews during the siege of Jerusalem, their allotted period of tribulation is by no means limited to the mere continuance of the war. Our Lord, as his prediction is recorded by St. Luke, foretells, that wrath shall be upon this people, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword: and they shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled.

1

See my Dissert. on the Proph. of the lxx Weeks, chap. vi.

§ IV, V, VI, and Bp. Newton's Dissert. xix. part 2.

2

Bp. Newton's Dissert. on the Proph, vol. ii. p. 257-262.

This prophecy carries us far beyond the bare duration of the siege: since from it we learn, that the tribulation of the Jews was to be prolonged to the very end of a period, which Christ denominates the times of the Gentiles. Now the times of the Gentiles, as we have already seen, are the seven times of the four great Gentile Empires: and they expire synchronically with their own latter moiety of three times and a half. Consequently, the tribulation of the Jews is to continue to the end of that great chronological age or period: and therefore, when that grand period shall have expired, their tribulation will be accomplished, and a brighter day will open upon them.

The tribulation itself is to consist, first in their falling by the edge of the sword, and next in their being led away captive into all nations while, their chief city is successively occupied by various tribes of the Gentiles.

Of these particulars, the former was accomplished, in the dreadful wars which took place under Titus and Adrian: and the latter was equally accomplished, in the general dispersion of the Jews which (agreeably to the prediction) continues even to this day, and in the successive occupation of

This synchronism, as I have already observed, is demonstrated by the circumstance, that a mutually common event, namely the restoration of Judah, alike occurs, both at the end of the times of the Gentiles, and at the end of the latter three times and a half. Luke xxi. 24. Dan. xii. 1, 6, 7. See above, book i. chap. 2. in init. note.

their capital by the Romans and the Saracens and the Latins and the Turks. The Jews are still in captivity among all nations, and Jerusalem is still trodden down of the Gentiles. Therefore, as their tribulation still continues, the times of the Gentiles or the seven calendarian times, which are to bring that tribulation to an end, cannot yet have been fulfilled.

4. Christ has now brought his prophecy down to the close of the seven times of the Gentiles and to the synchronical end of the tribulation of the Jews: he next proceeds to describe the events, which are to occur about this important epoch ; that is to say, the events which are to occur imme diately before it and immediately after it.

In those days, and immediately after the tribulation of those days, there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars. The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And upon the earth shall be distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.

This passage has already been touched upon in settling the chronology of our Lord's prediction: but it is a passage of so much importance, a passage so directly bearing upon the times in which