Christianity to the end of the world. The destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, the first great event of the New Dispensation, is brought prominently forward, to be, as it were, a voucher for the correctness of the whole representation, to such as lived in those times. And therefore it is given with more of detail, than any other part of the prophecy: so that when it should come to pass, the men of that generation, beholding the wonderful agreement of the event with the prediction, might be forced to confess, that all was indeed being fulfilled, exactly as Jesus Christ had foretold". The destruction therefore of Jerusalem stands in order of time rather as the beginning, than as the termination, of this awful prophecy.

In support of this it should be considered, that the prediction, when first delivered, was a private one: not heard by the Jewish nation, but by four only of the chosen Apostles. We must then look upon it as addressed to Christians, not to Jews. And one should expect it to turn principally upon

d Cf. v. 34. in which, on any interpretation of the prophecy, (except it be wholly confined to the destruction of Jerusalem,) the phrase áντа Tavra must mean "this entire state of things," rather than " each particular thing mentioned." See S. Chrys. in loc. who explains yeveà to mean “ this kind of generation ;" a constant succession of believers : “ οἶδε γὰρ γενεὰν οὐκ ἀπὸ χρόνου χαρακτηρίζειν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τρόπου θρησκείας καὶ πολιτείας.”

the fortunes of Christianity, not to terminate in those of the Jewish Church.

The question likewise of the Apostles, to which it was an answer, referred primarily indeed to the downfall of the temple, but principally to the establishment and fortunes of the New Dispensation. "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of

the end of the world?"

The Apostles seem to have imagined, not unnaturally, that when once the Jewish city and temple were destroyed, the old things passed away, and the days of the Messiah begun, all would be peace, righteousness, and mercy, and the sin and miseries of mankind would cease for ever. Jesus Christ, therefore, is careful to explain to them, on this as on many other occasions, that although they judged quite rightly of the natural and essential tendencies of the Gospel, they were greatly mistaken as to its real results in this world. "Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to divide a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughterin-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household'." On

St. Matt. x. 34-37. coll. St. Luke xi. 49, 51-53. Perhaps what is said of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and the accompanying parable of the relapsed dæmoniac, in that chapter of St. Luke, and in the 12th of St. Matthew, has some reference of this kind.

G

another occasion, when the approaching reign of the Messiah had been the topic of discourse with the Pharisees, He turned to His disciples with an admonition, well calculated to check any too sanguine expectations, which the bare mention of His reign would be likely to excite within them.

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"Days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man," (i. e. to recall the times when I was with you visibly on earth,)" and shall not see it." "As the days of Noe were, and as the days of Lot were, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man." He will not shew Himself again, till the world is sunk into such a state of irreligion and iniquity, as can only be paralleled by the sinners just before the flood, or by Sodom before the fire and brimstone fell upon it from heaven.

It is reasonable to understand this later and not less solemn denunciation, of which the text forms a part, as addressed in great measure to the same state of mind in His Apostles. "You think all is going to be rectified, and the world to become a Paradise again. But I forewarn you to expect no such thing. There will still be false Christs, i. e. false religions, wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, troubles in the world at large and what is worse, and more contrary to

St. Luke xvii. 17-37: continued, apparently, with special reference to the duties most essential in an apostate world, in c. xviii. 1-14.

your expectations, there will not only be persecution against the Church from without, but all sorts of apostasy and iniquity within. Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another: and many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of the many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 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." The whole, I say, of the prophecy down to this point, appears to convey a general description of the latter times, or days of the Messiah, intended, amongst other purposes, to counteract the too flattering hopes of the disciples: which being provided for, the direct and immediate sign of the destruction of Jerusalem, (itself possibly a type of something to precede in like manner the end of the world",) is distinctly specified: i. e." the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place."

From this it appears, that in describing the condition of mankind under the New Dispensation, which Jesus Christ was about to bring into the world, He expressly inserted this circumstance, that in it "iniquity should abound." Iniquity, or

Cf. Dan. xi. 31. xii. 11. ix. 27. (coll. Es. x. 23.) and perhaps 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. N.B. also, the same caution given in St. Matt. xxiv. 16, &c. is given in St. Luke xvii. 31, &c.

transgression of the law, means sin, or immorality in general. This we know by St. John's definition: "Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression of the lawi:" ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐστὶν ἡ ἀνομία. This transgression Christ declares should be "multiplied:" the word is as strong as possible, to express almost unlimited increase and repetition. And it is added, that in consequence of this, "the love of many"-it should be, of "the greater part"-would "wax cold." That is, the prevailing immorality of the times would gradually extinguish charity, or the love of God, in the generality of mankind. They would no longer consent to forego their own wishes for His sake; they would no longer make it the business of their lives to please Him. And this, not from ignorance of the great things He had done for them: for it is not of dark ages that our Lord is speaking, but of times, in which "the Gospel is to be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations'."

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Now that iniquity, in this sense of plain disobedience to God's laws, does positively " abound" to a great extent among us: this seems so very evident, that one should hardly know how to go about to prove it, if it were denied. One or two

i 1 St. John iii. 4.

*Acts vii. 17. Heb. vi. 14. 1 St. Pet. i. 2. 2 Cor. ix. 10. 1 Cf. Dan. xii. 4.