his coming. Hence, he says, "When they persecute you in this city, flee into another; for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come;' that is, you shall not have been driven by the hand of persecution through all the cities of Israel, before I will come and end your persecutions.

You cannot say, the cities of Israel mean the whole world; for the commission of the apostles was, "Go not in the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." After his resurrection, Christ gave them a different commission. Then he said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Hence the coming spoken of cannot be yet future, one which shall take place when the gospel shall have been preached throughout every nation; it was a coming in that age, and before his apostles should have gone through all the cities of Israel..

In St. Matthew, xvi. 27, 28, we read, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." This testimony is incontrovertible. A man may as well argue against the sun, as to say, that the coming here spoken of is yet future. Terms could not be employed, which could more clearly and positively confine it to the age of Christ, than those here used. Hear it again,-"There be some standing here, which

shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

In what way has Mr. Miller in his Lectures disposed of this text? You will naturally conclude, that he has offered some comment upon it; that he has attempted to reconcile it with his theory in some manner; that he has not passed it in entire silence. Well, strange as it may appear, he has passed it in silence. Yea, he has done worse than this; he has quoted one part, and left out the other part. Yes, the verse which says Christ shall come in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels, to reward every man according to his work, he has quoted; but that fixing the time of his coming, he has omitted. He has handled the text just as Dr. Beecher did in a discourse delivered in this town, to prove a future judgment. He gave the first verse, "For the Son

of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." So far all was well, and the proof to his mind satisfactory. He commenced on the next verse, and read, "Verily I say unto you, there be some hem, hem!" Here he stopped; it would not do to go further, and he sought to hide his dilemma by adding, “And an

other Evangelist says, 'Whosoever shall deny me, him will I also deny.'"

"There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." Christ, then, came at the destruction of Jerusalem.

In St. Matthew, xxiv. 29-34, we have the following, respecting the coming of Christ. "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: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven 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. 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. 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, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled."

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These words are part of our Lord's answer to the following questions, - Tell us when shall these things be? What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world, or age?

The apostles were led to ask these questions, by the declaration of the Saviour, that Jerusalem should be destroyed. This they could hardly believe; and they went to him to show him the buildings of the temple, that he might see how utterly improbable it appeared. But he replied, "See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not be thrown down."

The disciples were still more astonished, and as Jesus sat upon the Mount of Olives, where he had a full view of the city, they came with the questions, When shall these things be? What

shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

He proceeds to reply, and his answer occupies all the remainder of the twenty-fourth chapter, and the whole of the twenty-fifth. He begins by describing the signs of this great event. First, he mentions the appearance of false Christs; but says, the end of the world or age is not yet. Next, he mentions wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. These are, however, only the beginning of sorrows. Then he speaks of the appearance of false prophets, the prevalence of iniquity, and the falling away of many from the faith.

These, then, were the signs of his coming; of the destruction of Jerusalem; of the end of the Jewish dispensation. After having described these, he says, "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), then let them which be in Judea flee unto the mountains; let him which is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day; for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but, for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." Here he tells them when to flee unto the mountains, and urges them to make

all possible haste in their flight. Then he adds what we have quoted respecting the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars; the mourning of mankind, and the coming of the Son of man; after which, he says, "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, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Here we ask, All what things were near, even at their doors? The answer is unavoidable, All the things of which he had been speaking, among which was his own coming. To whom does he refer when he says, "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors"? Does he refer to people who will live on the earth at the time of its final conflagration? If so, what does he mean by saying, "Let those which be in Judea flee to the mountains"? Why they flee to the mountains more than we? Why more safe in the mountains than in Judea, if the whole world is to be destroyed? What too does he mean, when he says, "Let him that is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out of his house”? Houses are not built here with flat roofs, as in Judea. We could not escape from one of our cities by going along on the tops of the houses, as the Jews could; for we have no such walks leading from house to house as they had. Hence, when he says, "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors," he was telling his primitive disciples (not us, or any who