than wars themselves; according to the say- ing, “ Pejor est bello timor ipse belli.” Be not troubled; be not troubled, that is, so as to let go your faith in me, through fear of the enemy, or through despair of any fruit of your apostolic labours; but persevere steadfastly to preach faith in me and in my gospel. These things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet. There would be a succession of calamities, one leading on to another. But they must take courage, and prepare themselves for greater evils, not hoping for lasting peace on earth, but by patient endurance of evils here, reach onwards to a blessed and eternal rest in heaven. Our Lord, when his disciples asked him, as in one breath, about the destruc. tion of their city, replied obscurely and ambiguously ; mingling together the two events, in order that his disciples and the faithful through all times might be pre- pared, and never taken by surprise. Some of our Lord’s predictions, however, clearly refer to the generation then living on the earth.
Ver. 10.—And the gospel must first be preached unto all the nations. St. Matthew (xxiv. 14) says it shall be preached “in the whole world, for a testimony unto all the nations” (év 8An Ti oikoumern, cfs wapTipioy). This literally took place, as far as the in- habited world was concerned at that time, before the destruction of Jerusalem. St. Paul (Rom. x. 18) reminds us that “their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the world; ” and he tells the Colossians (i. 6) that the gospel was come unto them, and was bearing fruit and increasing in all the world. But even if we regard these expressions as somewhat hyperbolio, it is unquestionable that before the armies of Titus entered Jerusalem, the gospel had been published through the principal parts and provinces of the then inhabited world (oixovuévn). And it is cere tainly a wonderful fact that within fifty years after the death of Christ, Christian Churches had been planted in almost every district of the earth as then known to the Romans. But if we extend these pro- phetical sayings so as to reach onwards te the end of all things, we must then under- stand the expression, ‘‘all the nations,” in its most unrestricted sense; so that the prophecy announces the universal proclama- tion of the gospel over the whole inhabited earth as an event which is to precede the time of the end. It is interesting to observe the difference in the amount of knowledge possessed by us of this earth and its popula- tion at the present time, as compared with the knowledge which men had of it at the time when our Lord delivered this predio- tion. It was not until the beginning of the
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sixteenth century, nearly fifteen hundred ears after Christ, that Christopher Colum- yaa and Amerigo Vespucci laid open that other hemisphere which takes its name from Amerigo; and there are few facts more interesting to a philosophic mind than the discovery of this new continent, now 80 important to us in England as the chief receptacle, together with Australia, of our redundant population. But this new world, as we call it, although there are material evidences that portions of it at least were occupied in very remote times by men of high civilization, was present to the mind of our Lord when he said that “the gospel must first be preached unto all the nations.” So that the prophecy expands, as the ages roll onwards and the population of this earth increases; and it still demands its ful- filment, embracing the vast multitudes now dwelling on the face of the earth to the number of about 1,450,000,000. Such a con- sideration may well lead us to the inference that we are now approaching sensibly nearer to the end of the world. There are no other new worlds like America or Australia now to be discovered. The whole face of the earth is now laid open to us; and there is now hardly any part of the world which has not at some time or other received the message of salvation. Ver. 11.—And when they lead you to judgment, and deliver you up, be not anxious eforehand what ye shall speak, Our Lord does not mean by this that they were not to premeditate a prudent and wise answer. But he means that they were not to be too anxious about it. In St Luke (xxi. 15) he says, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to withstand or to gainsay.” So here, it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost who *hall inspire you with wisdom and courage. The words “neither do ye premeditate” (undt pederare) are omitted in the Revised Version, as not having sufficient authority. Ver. 12.—Our Lord further warns his disciples that they would have to suffer persecution even from their own relations, their brethren, and their fathers, who, forget- ful of natural affection, would persecute the faithful even unto death. It is related of Woodman, a martyr in Sussex, in Queen Mary’s time, that he was betrayed and taken by hia father and his brother, and that he comforted himself with the thought that this very text of Scripture was verified in him. Bede says that our Lord predicted these evils, in order that his disciples, by a knowledge of them beforehand, might be the better able to bear them when they came. Ver. 13.—And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake (‘70 rdvrwv). The faith
and preaching of a crucified Saviour was a new thing. Hence everywhore, the Jews, accustomed to their own Law, and the Gentiles, to their own idols, set themselves against the preachers of the gospel, and agaiust those who were converted to it. “All men” means great numbers, perhaps the greater number. Just as, when we say, “The majority are doing anything,” we say, in popular language, “ Everybody does it.” But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved (6 3¢ Srouelvas eis réAos). What is “‘the end” here referred to? Not, I imagine, the end of the age, but the end of the moral probation of the individual. The Greek word for “endureth” is very signi- ficant; it implies ‘“‘a bearing up, and per- severing under great trials.” It is not enough once and again or a third time to have overcome, but, in order to obiain the crown, it is necessary to endure and to conquer, even to the end. “Be thou faith- ful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of patience is per- severance.