Theudas, an impostor, persuaded a great multitude to follow him to the river Jordan, promising to divide the river, and give them an easy passage across it; but Fadus, the Roman governor, sent a troop of horse against them, who slew many, dispersed the rest, and beheaded Theudas, about A.D. 48, Joseph. Ant. ΧΧ. 4, 1.

Several impostors and deceivers persuaded the people to follow them into the desert, where they proposed to shew them manifest signs and wonders, but Felix, the Roman governor, punished, and brought them back, about A.D. 57, Ant. xx. 7, 6.

Soon after, about A.D. 58, an Egyptian false Prophet, led 4000 of the Sicarii, or "Assassins" into the desert, and from thence to Mount Olivet, promising, that they should see the walls of Jerusalem fall down at his command, and that they should then destroy the Roman garrison, and recover their liberty. But the citizens joined Felix, who slew 400 of them, and took 200 prisoners; the Egyptian himself escaped, and was seen no more, Acts xxi. 38, Antiq. xx. 7, 6, Bell. Jud. ii. 13, 5. For these public services, Felix was complimented by the orator Tertullus, Acts xxiv. 3.

Festus, his successor, sent, soon after, an armed force against a deceiver, who had led several persons into the desert, promising them deliverance; and destroyed the deceiver and his adherents, Ant. xx. 7, 10.

During the burning of the temple itself, A.D. 70, a false Prophet seduced about 6000 persons to go up on the portico of the outer temple, promising, that God would send them signs of deliverance; but the Roman soldiers, in their fury, set fire to the portico, and destroyed them all. And Josephus further remarks, that many false Prophets, during the siege, were suborned by the seditious tyrants, to promise the people assistance from God, in order to prevent them from deserting; in which they were but too successful; for as he judiciously remarks, "When the deceiver promises relief from pressing calamities, then the sufferer becomes full of hope," Bell. Jud. vi. 5, 2.

The last and most mischievous of these false Christs or impostors, was the noted Barchochab, "Son of the Star," a title which he assumed, as fulfilling Balaam's famous prophecy, Numb. xxiv. 17; and was patronized by the celebrated Rabbi Akiba. His bloody rebellion, in which he and his abettors were

destroyed by Adrian, brought about the desolation of Judea, and total expulsion of the Jews, A.D. 135.

2. The second sign was, wars and rumours of wars, and unsettlements. Accordingly, a war broke out about A.D. 36, between Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, and Aretas, king of Arabia Petrea, in which Herod's army was destroyed, Ant. xviii. 6, 1. This was in their neighbourhood. The great Roman and Parthian empires and their dependencies, were engaged in constant wars with each other during this turbulent period. See Usher's Annals, A. D. 51. In Nero's reign there was a rumour that the Parthians intended to invade Syria and Palestine, and the presidents and tetrarchs of both were ordered to obey the Roman general Corbulo, Sueton. Nero, 39. And most remarkable were the unsettlements of those two great empires; no less than four Roman emperors, Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius being slain in the course of eighteen months.

3. The third sign was no less exactly fulfilled. A remarkable famine, foretold by the prophet Agabus, prevailed throughout Judea, in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, A.D. 44, Acts xi. 28; and it lasted till the administration of Tiberius Alexander, the successor of Fadus, about A.D. 50, Joseph. Ant. xx. 4, 2.

A remarkable pestilence was noticed by Tacitus at Rome, in the autumn of A.D. 65, after the martyrdom of Paul and Peter, which swept away 30,000 persons, according to Suetonius, Nero, 39.

There were also great earthquakes in divers places. Tacitus speaks of an earthquake at Rome, and another at Apamea in Syria, A.D. 51; another, which threw down Laodicea, and shook Colosse and Hierapolis, in Asia Minor, A.D. 60; another, which overthrew Pompeii and Herculaneum, in Campania, accompanied with a tremendous eruption of lava and ashes from Mount Vesuvius, A.D. 62, Annal. xii. 43, 58, xiv. 27, xv. 22.

Some extraordinary signs in the heavens, and other portents are noticed by Josephus and Tacitus*, as immediately preceding the war: 1. A star resembling a sword, or a comet, ap

• Evenerant prodigia, quæ neque hostiis neque votis piare fas habet gens superstitioni obnoxia, religionibus adversa. Viæ per cœlum concurrere acies, rutilantia arma, et subito nubium igne collucere templum. Expassæ repente delubri fores, et audita major humana "excedere Deos :" simul ingens motus excedentium. Quæ pauci in metum trahebant, &c. Hist. v. 13.

vox,

peared over the city for a year together. 2. At the feast of the passover, April 8, A.D. 65, at the ninth hour of the night, or three hours after midnight, so great a light shone round the altar and the temple, that it seemed to be clear day; and this continued for half an hour. 3. A few days after that festival, on May 21, before sunset, chariots and troops in armour were seen carried upon the clouds, and surrounding cities; which, says he, almost exceeds belief, and might seem fabulous, had it not been related by the eye-witnesses. This could not have been an aurora borealis, as some have imagined, because it was seen in the day time. 4. At the ensuing feast of Pentecost, as the priests, during their watch, were going by night into the inner court of the temple, they first felt, as they said, a shaking, accompanied with a noise, and after that, a voice of a multitude, saying, Let us pass over from hence, (uɛraßaivwμɛv evtevÕev.) "Some of these prodigies," says Josephus, "the people interpreted as they liked, others they set at nought, until they were convicted of infatuation, both by the capture of their country, and by the destruction of themselves," Bell. Jud. VI. 5, 3, 4. What a critical commentary does Josephus furnish upon OUR LORD'S prophecies, though he does not name them! iv. 5, vi. 8. These several signs were also fulfilled with equal exactness, as shewn in the foregoing history.

9. The ninth sign, the preaching of the Gospel throughout the known world, before the catastrophe of Jerusalem, is noticed by Paul, Col. i. 23, Romans x. 18, and shewn in the foregoing history.

II. SIGNS OF CHRIST'S PRESENCE AT THE

REGENERATION.

These naturally follow the false signs proposed by the false prophets, saying, that CHRIST was actually come, and hiding in the desert, or in the secret chambers.

1. The true presence of CHRIST in glory, as Daniel's SON OF MAN, in his day of revelation, is to be sudden, and universally conspicuous; like lightning shining from the east to the west, from one end of heaven to the other, Matt. xxiv. 27, Luke xvii. 24.

2. Before he is to be revealed, there is to be an immense and

general slaughter of all apostate and wicked nations, by the ministers of divine vengeance; resembling "the eagles in swiftness and voracity, gathered together wheresoever the carcase is," or the mass of the people become corrupt, to devour, to destroy, and to make an end, Matt. xxiv. 28, Luke xvii. 37.

3. This is foretold to take place immediately, or suddenly, "after the tribulation of those days," or near the close of the second Jewish captivity, among all the nations, during the desolation of Jerusalem and is to be accompanied with signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and upon earth distress of nations in perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men shuddering with fear, and expectation of the woes coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken;" all intimating dreadful natural and political convulsions throughout the world, Matt. xxiv. 29, Luke xxi. 24-26.

4. And then shall appear the sign of THE SON OF MAN; for they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and great glory. And then shall all the tribes of the land, [when they look on him whom they pierced,] mourn, (Zech. xii. 10,) Matt. xxiv. 30, Luke xxi. 27.

5. And HE shall send forth his angels with a trumpet of great sound, and gather his elect from one end of the heaven to the other, from the four winds, or four quarters of the earth, [at the first resurrection.]

6. Our BLESSED LORD graciously proposed these signs, destined to precede his second appearance at the regeneration, for the comfort and support of his faithful disciples in those latter times. "When these signs begin to happen, then look up, and lift up your heads with joyful assurance, for your redemption draweth nigh," Luke xxi. 28. And he happily illustrated this by a similitude, "When the fig-trees and all the trees put forth leaves, it is a sign that the summer is nigh; so when all these are seen to happen, it shall be a sign that the kingdom of GOD is now nigh," Matt. xxiv. 32, 33; Mark xiii. 28-30; Luke xxi. 29-31.

7. He next critically distinguishes the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, from the time of his second appearance: 1. The former; "This generation shall not pass away till all these happen (heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words

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shall not pass away.”) 2. The latter, “ But of that day * and hour knoweth no one, neither the angels of heaven, nor THE SON, but THE FATHER; no one, but MY FATHER only," Matt. xxiv. 34-36; Mark xiii. 30-32; Luke xxi. 32, 33. Compare Acts i. 7.

8. From the uncertainty of the time, and the suddenness of his coming to execute vengeance upon all the ungodly of the earth, resembling the universal deluge in Noah's days, and the destruction of Sodom, in Lot's days, OUR LORD warns the faithful to take heed to themselves, lest their hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and worldly cares, and so that day + [of vengeance] come upon them unawares. For as a net or snare shall it come upon all the dwellers upon the face of the earth ; of whom some, the good, shall be taken,

There is a chasm in Luke's account of an entire verse, though hitherto unnoticed by commentators and critics, which has chiefly contributed to embarrass the harmony of the Evangelists. It may be thus supplied from Matthew and Mark:

Mark xiii.

30. Αμην λεγω ύμιν, ότι ου μη παρέλθη ἡ γενεα αύτη, μέχρις ού παντα ταυτα γένηται.

31. (Ο ουρανος και ἡ γη παρελεύσονται, οἱ δε λογοι μου ου μη παρελθωσι.)

32. Περι δε της ήμερας εκείνης και της ώρας, ουδείς οίδεν, ουδε οἱ αγγελοι οἱ εν ουρανῳ, ουδε ὁ υἱος, ει μη ὁ πατήρ.

1 Thessal. v. 2, 3. Αυτοι γαρ ακριβώς οιδατε, ὅτι ἡ ἡμερα κυρι ου, ὡς κλεπτης εν νυκτί, ούτως ερχεται-αιφνίδιος αυτοις εφισταται όλεθρος.

In the 32d verse of Luke, the omission of ταυτα, is supplied by the Syriac, Arab. Persic, Armen. and Slavon. versions, and by several MSS. it is absolutely required by the context, on account of the limitation of παντα, to the passing generation.

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+ The 36th verse of Matthew is absolutely required by the context to be inserted between the 33d and the 34th of Luke, in order to furnish an antecedent to ή ήμερα εκείνη, *s that day,” in the latter verse, which, in the present text, has none; and is to be day of judgment on the wicked,” according to Peter; in which “sudden destruction shall come upon them," according to Paul.