to pass
we were to rejoice and lift up our heads, for our redemption was drawing
nigh. If he told us to look at the trees in spring; for, as surely as
their budding was a sign that summer was nigh, so was the coming to pass
of these terrible woes a sign that something was nigh, which he called
the Kingdom of God. If he told us, with a solemn asseveration, that this
generation should not pass away till all had happened. If he went on to
warn us against profligacy, frivolity, worldliness, lest that day should
come upon us unaware. If he bade us keep awake always, that we might be
found worthy to escape all that was coming, and to stand before Him, The
Son of Man. If he used throughout his address the second person,
speaking to us, but never mentioning our descendants; giving the signs,
the warnings, the counsels to us only, should we not, even if he had not
solemnly told us that the present generation should not pass away till
all was fulfilled--should we not, I say, suppose naturally that he spoke
of events which in his opinion our own eyes would see; which would, in
his opinion, occur during our lifetime?
Whether he were right in his expectation, or wrong, still it would be
clear that such was his expectation; that he considered the danger as
imminent, the warning as addressed personally to us who heard him speak.
We should leave his presence with that impression, in fear and anxiety.
But if we afterwards discovered that our fear and anxiety were
superfluous; that the events of which he spoke--the most awful and
wonderful of them at least--were not to occur for many centuries to come;
that, even if some calamity were imminent, the immediate future and the
very distant future were so intermingled in his discourse, that it would
require the labours of commentator after commentator, for many hundred
years, to disentangle them, and that their labours would be in vain; that
the coming of the Son of Man, and of the Kingdom of God, of which he had
spoken, were to be referred to a time thousands of years hence; though we
were told in the same breath to look to the fig-tree and all the trees as
a sign that it was coming immediately, and that our own generation would
not pass away before all had taken place:--would not such a discovery
raise in us thoughts and feelings neither wholesome for us nor honourable
to the prophet?
I cannot think otherwise. We may be aware of the difficulties which
beset this, and any other,
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