Simon Magus the man of fin and the wicked one.

From the hif

tory of the Acts we know, that Simon had of a long time bewitched the Samaritans with his forceries, when Philip preached the gospel to them. After leaving Samaria he went, according to Grotius and Hammond, to Rome, and was honoured as a god, in the beginning of the reign of Claudius. Now, seeing in the second epiftle to the Theffalonians, which was written in the end of the reign of Claudius, the revelation of the man of fin is spoken of as an event to happen in fome future period, it is plain that neither Caius, who was then dead, nor Simon, who is said to have revealed himself at Rome, as a god, in the beginning of the reign of Claudius, can be the man of fin, and wicked one, whofe coming and revelation are foretold in that epistle.

SECT. III. Shewing that none of the Apostles believed the Day of Fudgment was to happen in their Lifetime.

Grotius, Locke, and others, have affirmed, that the apostles of Chrift believed the end of the world was to happen in their time; and that they have declared this to be their belief in various paffages of their epiftles. But thefe learned men, and all who join them in that opinion, have fallen into a most perni cious error. For thereby they deftroy the authority of the gofpel revelation, at leaft fo far as it is contained in the difcourfes and writings of the apoftles; because if they have erred in a matter of such importance, and which they affirm was revealed to them by Christ, they may have been mistaken in other matters alío, where their infpiration is not more strongly afferted by them than in this inftance. In imputing this mistake to the apoftles, the deifts have heartily joined the learned men above. mentioned; because a mistake of this fort effectually overthrows the apoftle's pretensions to inspiration. It is therefore neceffary to clear them from fo injurious an imputation.

And, first, with respect to Paul, who was an apoftle of Christ, and Silvanus, who was a prophet and chief man among the brethren, and Timothy, who was eminent for his fpiritual gifts, I obferve, that the epiftle under our confideration, affords the

cleareft

cleareft proof that these men knew the truth concerning the coming of Chrift to judge the world. For in it they expressly affured the Theffalonians, That the perfons who made them believe the day of judgment was at hand, were deceiving them : That before the day of judgment, there was to be a great apoftafy in religion, occafioned by the man of fin, who at that time was restrained from fhewing himself, but who was to be revealed in his season: That when revealed, he will fit, that is, remain a long time, in the church of God, as God, and hewing himself that he is God: And that afterwards he is to be destroyed. Now as thefe events could not be accomplished in the courfe of a few years, the perfons who foretold, that they were to happen before the coming of Chrift, certainly did not think the day of judgment would be in their lifetime. And, as for the expreffions in the former epiftle, which have been thought to imply that Paul believed the day of judgment at hand, we have fhewed in note 1. on 1 Theff. iv. 15. that they are mere rhetorical forms of expreffion, which ought not to have been made the foundation of a doctrine of this magnitude. Befides, St. Paul, Rom. xi. 23.—36. by a long chain of reasoning having fhewed, that after the general converfion of the Gentiles, the Jews in a body are to be brought into the Christian church, can any person be so abfurd as to persevere in maintaining, that this apoftle believed the end of the world would happen in his own lifetime?

Next, with respect to the apostle Peter, I think it plain, from the manner in which he hath spoken of the coming of Christ, that he knew it was at a great diftance; 2 Pet. iii. 3. Knowing this first, that fcoffers will come in the last of the days, walking after their own lufts: 4. And faying, Where is the promife of his coming? For from the time the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as at the beginning of the creation. 8. But this one thing, let it not escape you, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9. The Lord who hath promised, doth not delay, in the manner fome account delaying. Now, feeing Petér hath here foretold, that in the laft age, the wicked will mock at the promise of Chrift's coming, on account of its being long delayed; and from the ftability and regularity of the course of

nature, during fo many ages, will argue that there is no probability that the world will ever come to an end; it is evident that he alfo knew the coming of Chrift to judgment was at a very great distance, at the time he wrote that epistle.

The fame may be faid of James. For in the hearing of the apoftles, elders, and brethren, affembled in the council of Jerufalem, he quoted paffages from the Jewish prophets, to fhew, that all the Gentiles were, in fome future period, to seek after the Lord, Acts xv. 17. But if James looked for the general conversion of the Gentiles, he certainly could not imagine the end of the world would happen in his time.

Laftly the apostle John, in his book of the Revelation, having foretold a great variety of important events, respecting the political and religious ftate of the world, which could not be accomplished in a few years, but required a series of ages to give them birth, there cannot be the leaft doubt that he likewife knew the truth concerning his mafter's fecond coming. And therefore, to fuppofe that he imagined the day of judgment was to happen in his own lifetime, is a palpable mistake.

Upon the whole, feeing the apofties, and other inspired teachers of our religion, certainly knew that the coming of Chrift to judgment was at a great distance, every impartial perfon must be fenfible they have been much injured, not by the enemies of revelation alone, but by fome of its friends; who, upon the ftrength of certain expreflions, the meaning of which they evidently misunderstood, have endeavoured to perfuade the world, that the apostles ignorantly believed the day of judgment was at hand. Thefe expreffions may all be applied to other events, as fhall be fhewed in the next fection; and therefore they ought to be fo applied; becaufe candour requires that fenfe to be put. on an author's words, which renders him moft confiftent with himfelf.

SECT. IV. Different Comings of Christ are spoken of in the New

Teftament.

In this Article I propofe to fhew, that there are other comings of Christ spoken of in fcripture, befides his coming to judgment;

and

and that there are other things befides this mundane fyftem, whofe end is there foretold: and that it is of these other matters the apostles speak, when they represent the day of their master, and the end of all things, as at hand.

1. First then, in the prophetic writings of the Jews, (2 Sam. xxii. 10.-12. Pfal. xcvii. 2.-5. Ifa. xix. 1.) great exertions of the divine power, whether for the falvation or destruction of nations, are called the coming, the appearing, the prefence of God. Hence it was natural for the apoftles, who were Jews, to call any Gignal and evident interpofition of Chrift, as governor of the world, for the accomplishment of his purposes, his coming, and his day. Accordingly, those exertions of his power and providence, whereby he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, abrogated the Mofaic inftitutions, and established the gofpel, are called by the apostles, his coming and day: not only in allufion to the ancient prophetic language, but because Christ himself in his prophecy concerning thefe events, recorded Matt. xxiv. hath termed them the coming of the Son of Man, in allufion to the following prophecy of Daniel, of which his own prophecy is an explication; Dan. vii. 13. I faw in the night vifions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days. And they brought him near before him. 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should ferve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. This prophecy, the Jewish doctors with one confent interpreted of their Meffiah, and of that temporal kingdom which they expected was to be given him. Farther, they fuppofed he would erect that temporal kingdom by great and vifible exertions of his power, for the destruction of his enemies. But they little fufpected, that themselves were of the number of thofe enemies whom he was to deftroy; and that his kingdom was to be established upon the ruin of their state. Yet, that was the true meaning of the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven. For while the Jewish nation continued in Judea, and obferved the inftitutions of Mofes, they violently oppofed the preaching of the gospel, by which Meffiah was to reign over all people, nations, and languages.

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languages. Wherefore, that the everlasting kingdom might be effectually established, it was neceffary that Jerufalem and the Jewish ftate fhould be deftroyed by the Roman armies. Now, fince our Lord fotetold this fad catastrophe, in the words of the prophet Daniel, Matt. xxiv. 30. And they fhall fee the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory; and, after defcribing every particular of it with the greatest exactness, seeing he told his difciples, ver. 34. This generation Shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled; can there be any doubt that the apoftles (who, when they wrote their epiftles, certainly understood the true import of this prophecy,) by their mafler's coming, and by the end of all things, which they represent as at hand, meant his coming to deftroy Jerufalem, and to put an end to the inftitutions of Mofes? It is no objection to this, that when the apostles heard Chrift declare, There fhall not be left here one fione upon another, that shall not be thrown down, they connected the end of the world, or age, with that event. Matt. xxiv. 3. Tell us when fhall these things be, and what shall be the fign of thy coming, naι outletas te asaros, and of the end of the age. For, as the Jewish doctors divided the duration of the world into three ages; the age before the law, the age under the law, and the age of the Meffiah; the apostles knew that the age under the law was to end when the age under Messiah began. And therefore, by the end of the age, they meant, even at that time, not the end of the world, but the end of the age under the law, in which the Jews had been greatly oppressed by the heathens. And although they did not then understand the purpose for which their mafter was to come, nor the true nature of his kingdom, nor fufpect that he was to make any change in the inftitutions of Mofes ; yet when they wrote their epiftles, being illuminated by the Holy Ghoft, they certainly knew that the inftitutions of Mofes were to be abolished, and that their mafter's kingdom was not a temporal, but a spiritual dominion, in which all people, nations, and languages, were to be governed, not by external force, but by the operation of truth upon their minds, through the preaching of the gospel.

Farther, that the apostles, by the coming of Chrift, which they represented as at hand when they wrote their epiftles, meant his

coming