was heard, "that the gods were departing;" and soon after, a great motion, as if they were departing *. The sign next specified by our Saviour, in the ninth and the four following verses, relates to the disciples themselves: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." The parallel passages in St. Luke and St. Mark are still stronger, and more particular. St. Mark says, "They shall deliver you up to the councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them." St. Luke's words are, "They shall lay their hands on and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake." That every circumstance here mentioned was minutely and exactly verified in the sufferings of the apostles and you, * Tacitus, l. v. p. 25. Ed. Lips. ‡ Luke, xxi. 12. disciples disciples after our Lord's decease, must be perfectly well known to every one that has read the Acts of the Apostles. You will there see that the lives of the apostles were one continued scene of persecution, affliction, and distress of every kind: that they were imprisoned, were beaten, were brought before councils and sanhedrims, and kings; were many of them put to death, and were hated of all nations, by the heathens as well as by the Jews, for the sake of Christ; that is, for being called by his name. The very name of a Christian was a crime; and it exposed them to every species of insult, indignity, and cruelty. To all these calamities was to be added another, which we find in the tenth verse: "Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." The meaning is, that many Christians terrified with these persecutions, shall become apostates from their religion, and renounce their faith; for that is the meaning generally of the word offend 2 That this offend in the New Testament. would sometimes happen under such trials and calamities as the first Christians were exposed to, we may easily believe: and St. Paul particularly mentions a few who turned away from him, and forsook him; namely, Phygellus, Hermogenes, and Demas *. The other circumstance here predicted, "that the disciples should betray one another," is remarkably verified by the testimony of the Roman historian Tacitus, who in describing the persecution under Nero, tells us, "that several Christians were at first apprehended, and then, by their discovery, a multitude of others were convicted, and cruelly put to death with derision and insult†.”" It is a natural consequence of all this, that the ardour of many in embracing and professing Christianity should be considerably abated, or, as it is expressed in the twelfth verse, that the love of many should wax cold; and of this we find several instances mentioned by the sacred writers + “ But 2 Tim. i. 15. iv. 10. + Tac. Ann. I. xv. 2 Tim. iv. 16. Heb. x. 25. of Jerusalem. And this, it is said, was to be "for a testimony against them;' that is against the Jews; for a testimony that the offer of salvation was made to them in every part of the world where they were dispersed; and that, by their obstinate rejection of it, they had merited the signal punishment which soon after overtook them. Our Lord then goes on to still more alarming and more evident indications of the near approach of danger to the Jewish nation. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet*, stand in the holy place (let him that readeth understand); then let them that be in Judæa flee into the mountain." The meaning of this passage is clearly and fully explained by the parallel place in St. Luke: "when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." The abomination of desolation therefore denotes the Roman army * Chap. ix. 27. which besieged Jerusalem, and which Daniel also, in the place alluded to, calls the abomination, which makes desolate. The Roman army is here called an abomination, because upon their standards were depicted the images of their emperor and their tutelary gods, whom they worshipped; and it is well known that idols were held by the Jews in the utmost abhorrence; and the very name they gave them was the expression here made use of, an abomination. The word desolation is added for an obvious reason, because this mighty army brought ruin and desolation upon Jerusalem. This city, and the mountain on which it stood, and a circuit of several furlongs around it, were accounted holy ground; and as the Roman standards were planted in the most conspicuous places near the fortifications of the city, they are here said to stand in the holy place, or, as St. Mark expresses it, "to stand where they ought not." And Josephus tell after the city was taken, "the Romans brought us, that |