[1.] The shaking here intimated by the apostle, was then when he wrote under the promise, not actually accomplished, as were the things by them recounted : for he holds it forth as an issue of that great power of Christ, which he would one day exercise for the farther establishment of his king- dom.
[2.] This that now is to be done must excel that which formerly was done at the giving of the law, as is clearly in- timated in the inference : ' Then he shook the earth, but
' Nescioatif.icilior liic locus fuissct.si iiciiio euni oppobuissct. Maid, ad Luc. ii.o4.
346 THE SHAKING AND TRANSLATING
now the heavens also.' It is a gradation to a higher de- monstration of the power of Christ, which that the things of this interpretation are, is not apparent.
[3.] It is marvellous these learned men observed not, that the * heavens and the earth shaken/ ver. 26. are ' the things to be removed;' ver. 27. Now how are angels and men removed by Christ ? Are they not rather gathered up into one spiritual body and communion ?e Hence, ver. 27. they interpret the shaken things to be Judaical ceremonies, which, ver. 26. they had said to be men and angels.
(2.) Others by heaven and earth understand the material parts of the world's fabric, commonly so called : and by their shaking, those portentous signs and prodigies, with earthquakes, which appeared in them at the birth and death of the Lord Jesus. A new star, preternatural darkness, shaking of the earth, opening of graves, renting of rocks, and the like, are to them this shaking of heaven and earth.'' So Junius, and after him most of ours. But this interpretation is obnoxiouo to the same exceptions with the former, and also others: For,
[1.] These things being past before, how can they be held out under a promise ?'
[2.] How are these shaken things removed, which with their shaking they must certainly be, as in my text?
[3.] This shaking of heaven and earth is ascribed to the power of Christ as mediator, whereunto these signs and pro- digies cannot rationally be assigned ; but rather to the so- vereignty of the Father, bearing witness to the nativity and death of his Son : so that neither can this conception be fastened on the words.
(3.) The fabric of heaven and earth is by others also in- tended, not in respect of the signs and prodigies formerly wrought in them ; but of that dissolution, or as they suppose alteration, which they shall receive at the last day. So Pa- rous, Grotius, and many more. Now though these avoid the rock of holding out as accomplished what is only pro- mised, yet this gloss also is a dress disfiguring the mind of God in the text. For,
C Ephes. i. 10. 'Ava)u<pa\aica<raa-^at, i. e. fxiav Ke<pa\r)V tra,fa(7yttv ayy'ikoiq xai atQo'Ji- •rroij Toy Xjiftov aitiiDi.iirfJi.kyoi ya.^ n^av oi ayyiXoi xai avd^wrroi. CEcunicn. in Loc. •' Matt. ii. 2. xxvii. 4.S. Luke xxiii. 41, 45. Matt, xxvii. 51, 52. '"Oyaf ^\EW£i Tif, Ti xtti tXtr-i^ei, Ron), viii. 24. ' '
OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 347
[1 .] The things here said to be shaken, do stand in a plain opposition to the things that cannot be shaken nor removed ; and therefore they are to be removed, that these may be brought in. Now the things to be brought in, are the things of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus. What opposition, I pray, do the material fabric of heaven and earth stand in to the kingdom of the Lord Jesus ? doubtless none at all, being the proper seat of that kingdom,
[2.] There will on this ground be no bringing in of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus, until indeed that kingdom in the sense here insisted on is to cease ; that is, after the day of judgment, when the kingdom of grace shall have place no more.
Those are the most material and likely mistakes about the words. I could easily give out, and pluck in again three or four other warping senses, but I hope few in these days of accomplishing will once stumble at them.
(4.) The true mind of the spirit, by the help of that spi- rit of truth, comes next to be unfolded. And first, what are the things that are shaken ?
[1.] As the apostle here applies a part of the prophecy of Haggai, so that prophecy even in the next words gives light into the meaning of the apostle. Look what heaven and earth the prophet speaks of, of those and no other speaks the apostle. The Spirit of God in the Scripture is his own best interpreter."* See then the order of the words as they lie in the prophet : Hag. ii. 6, 7. * I will shake heaven and earth : I will shake all nations.' God then shakes heaven and earth, when he shakes all nations ; that is, he shakes the heaven and earth of the nations. * I will shake heaven and earth, and I will shake all nations,' is a pleonasm, for ' I will shake the heaven and earth of all nations.' These are the things shaken in my text.
The heavens of the nations, what are they ? even their political heights and glory, those forms of government which they have framed for themselves and their own interest, with the grandeur and lustre of their dominions. The nations' earth is the multitudes of their people, their strength and