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We see, therefore, with great propriety, the Lord could say immediately after those days of tribulation, passing over the interim of the Millennium as but a day. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn when they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The circumstance connected with the darkening of the sun, &c. as mentioned above, viz. that all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, accords but poorly with the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; because we cannot suppose but all the nations (and they were many) in the interest of Titus; and the Roman empire rejoiced, instead of mourning, when the Jews were destroyed. Therefore, if the Saviour did not refer to that time, it follows, that he spoke in reply to his disciple's question of the end of the world, the general judgment.

But in this place I will just remark, that the darkening of the sun in Matth. 24, 29, and the darkening of the sun in Rev. 6, 12, are by no means coincident, and the reason is plain. At the time when the Saviour's prediction shall be fulfilled, it is said the Son of Man "shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect (living saints) from the four winds, (the whole earth) from one end of heaven to the other." And why shall this be done at any period previous to the end of time. But in Rev. 6, 12, it is not stated, nor even intimated, that it should be a time of gathering the saints, but refers exclusively to the subversion of the Roman pagan em

pire by Christianity, through Constantine as an instrument. The sun, which was then darkened, and the moon, which became as blood, and the stars, which fell from heaven, and the great earthquake mentioned, were, first, the sun, the secular government-second, the moon, their ecclesiastical government, or idolatrous priesthood and third, their "gods, goddesses, demigods, and deified heroes, of the poetical and mythological heaven." Clark. The whole of which, when considered together, are majestically signified by the word earthquake, as a figure of that revolution. But neither St. Matthew nor St. Mark give any account of the Saviour's saying that there should be an earthquake at the time when the sun should be darkened immediately after the tribulation of the Jews. In the same chapter, however, there is mention made that there should be earthquakes, meaning, doubtless, as is meant in Rev. 6, 12, to signify commotions and revolutions of kingdoms and states, &c. ; but is exclusively connected with the signs of the coming destruction of the Jews, and not with the judgment or end of the world. The things foretold to take place at those times of darkening the sun, are totally dissimilar, and therefore allude to different periods, viz. the time of Constantine, and the judgment day.

The latitude of the language in St. Matthew is too great and general, to be restricted to that small portion of the globe called Palestine, and evidently refers to the time when the saints are to be changed in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trump. At which time the wicked shall stand to be judged, every man

according to the deeds they have done in the body, from the least of them to the greatest, from the horrid infidel to the least unregenerated one among them; and their sentence shall be written on the heart, and the date thereof eternity, put in characters of unspeakable despair.

But now the great assize is past. At this moment the energies of nature are let loose, and all the great solar vortex breaks forth in flames of fire, for now is come the day of God, wherein the heavens (of the whole solar system) being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up. 2 Pet. 3, 12, 20.

A philosophical description, by Dr. Clark, of the probable operation of the elements upon each other at that day, is highly interesting. See 2 Pet. 3, 10, and the comment.

The heavens shall pass away with a great noise."As the heavens in this place mean the whole atmosphere, in which all terrestrial vapours are lodged; and as water itself is composed of two gases, eighty-five parts in weight of oxygen, and fifteen of hydrogen, or two parts in volume of the latter, and one of the former (for if these quantities be put together, and sev eral electric sparks passed through them, a chemical union takes place, and water is the product; and, vice versa, if the galvanic spark be made to pass through water, a portion of fluid is immediately decomposed into its two constituent gases, oxygen and hydrogen) and as the electric or etherial fire is that which, in all

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likelihood, God will use in the general conflagration, the noise occasioned by the application of this fire to such an immense congeries of aqueous particles as float in the atmosphere, must be terrible in the extreme. When, therefore, the whole strength of those opposite agents is brought together into a state of conflict, the noise, the thunderings, the innumerable explosions (till every particle of water on the earth, and in the atmosphere, is, by the action of fire, reduced into its component gaseous parts) will be frequent, loud, confounding, and terrific, beyond every comprehension but that of God himself. The elements shall melt with fervent heat. When the fire has conquered and decomposed the water, the elements, the hydrogen and oxygen airs or gases (the former of which is most highly inflammable, and the latter an eminent supporter of all combustion) will occupy distinct regions of the atmosphere— the hydrogen, by its very great levity, ascending to the top, while the oxygen, from its superior specific gravity, will keep upon or near the surface of the earth, and thus, if different substances be once ignited, the fire which is supported in this case, not only by the ox ygen, which is one of the constituents of atmospheric air, but also by a great additional quantity of oxyget obtained from the decomposition of all aqueous va pours, will rapidly seize on all other substances, on all terrestrial particles, and the whole frame of nature will necessarily be torn in pieces, and thus the earth, and its works, be burnt up."

"It was an ancient opinion among the heathens,

that the earth should be burnt up with fire. So Ovid has expressed himself. Meta. lib. iv. 256.

"Remembering in the fates a time, when fire
Should to the battlements of heaven aspire ;
And all his blazing world above should burn,
And all the inferior globe to cinders turn."

"Minucius Felix tells us, xxxiv. 2 Dryden, that it was a common opinion of the Stoics, that the moisture of the earth being consumed, the whole world would catch fire. The Epicureans held the same sentiment; and indeed it appears in various authors, which proves that a tradition of this kind has pretty generally prevailed in the world. But it is remarkable that none have fancied that it will be destroyed by water. The tradition, founded on the declaration of God, was against this therefore it was not received." Clark.

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"Thunder and earthquake are the sons of fire, and we know nothing in all nature more impetuous, or more irresistibly destructive than these two; and accordingly in this last war of the elements, we may be sure they will bear their parts, and do great execution in the several regions of the earth. Earthquakes and subterraneous eruptions, will tear the body and bowels of the earth, and thunders and convulsive motions of the air, the skies. The waters of the sea will boil and struggle with streams of lava that run into them, which will make them fume, and smoke, and roar, beyond all storms and tempests, and these noises of the sea will be answered again from the land by falling

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