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they deliver you up to be afflicted, and fhall kill you. "will be hated of all nations for my name fake. And then will 66 many be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one "another; and many falfe prophets will arife, and will deceive

many. And because iniquity fhall abound, the love of many will 66 wax cold. But he that fhall endure to the end, fhall be faved. "And this Gospel of the kingdom fhall be preached in all the world, "for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come. "When ye therefore fhall fee the abomination of defolation, spoken "of by Daniel the prophet, ftand in the holy place, (whofo readeth, "let him underftand) then let them which are in Judea flee to "the mountains. Let him which is on the house-top, not come "down to take any thing out of his house. Neither let him that is "in the field return back, to take his cloaths. And wo unto them "which are with child, and to them that give fuck in those days. "But pray ye, that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the "fabbath-day. For then fhall be great tribulation, fuch as was not "from the beginning of the world to this time: no, nor ever fhall "be. And except thofe days fhould be fhortened, there fhould not "flesh be faved. But for the elects fake those days fhall be short"ened. Then, if any fay unto you, Lo, here is Chrift, or there; "believe it not. For there will. arife falfe Chrifts, and falfe Pro

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phets, and fhall fhew great figns and wonders, infomuch that (if "it were poffible) they fhould deceive the very elect. Behold, I "have told you before. Wherefore, if they fhall fay unto you," "Behold, he is in the defert, go not forth: Behold, he is in the "fecret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out "of the cafe, and fhineth even unto the weft, fo fhall alfo the co"ming of the Son of man be. For wherefoever the carcass is, there "will the eagles be gathered together... Verily, I fay unto you, "This generation fhall not pafs, till all these things be fulfilled. "Heaven and earth fhall pafs away; but my words' fhall not pafs "away."

Thofe inquiries of the difciples, and our Lord's anfwers to them, are made in private. But they plainly refer to things faid by our Lord publicly in the courts of the temple. We may do well, therefore, to look back to what precedes, as related in St. Matthew's Gofpel efpecially; where are recorded the many woes pronounced by our Lord upon the Scribes and Pharifees, and the people in general, who were under their influence and direction. Matt. xxiii. 29-39. "Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharifees, hypocrites; because ye "build the tombs of the Prophets, and garnifh the fepulchres of the "righteous. And ye fay, if we had been in the days of our fathers, "we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the "Prophets. Wherefore* ye be witneffes unto yourselves, that ye are "the children of them that killed the Prophets. Fill ye up then the "measure of your fathers. Ye ferpents, ye generation of vipers, "how can ye escape the damnation of hell! Wherefore, behold Í "" fend

* Compare Luke xi. 47, 51.

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"fend unto you prophets, and wife men, and scribes. And fome of "them ye will kill and crucify: and fome of them ye will scourge "in your fynagogues, and perfecute from city to city that upon you may come all the righteous blood, fhed upon the earth, from the "blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, fon of Barachias, whom ye flew between the temple and the altar. Verily "I fay unto you, All these things fhall come upon this generation. "O Jerufalem, Jerufalem, thou that killeft the Prophets, and stonest "them that are fent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy "children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her "wings! and ye would not! Behold, your houfe is left unto you "defolate. For I fay unto you, ye fhall not fee me henceforth, "till ye fhall fay, Bleffed is he that cometh in the name of the "Lord."

The like things are recorded by St. Luke, ch. xxi. 5-28. a part of which I fhall also transcribe here. "And as fome fpake of the "temple, how it was adorned with goodly ftones, and gifts, he said: "As for thefe things, which ye behold, the days will come, in the which fhall not be left one stone upon another, that fhall not be "thrown down. And they asked him, faying, Mafter, but when fhall these things be? and what figns will there be when these "things fhall come to pafs? And he faid: Take heed, that ye be not « deceived. For many will come in my name, faying, I am Chrift, " and the time draws near. Go ye not therefore after them... But << when ye fhall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified; for "these things must come to pafs. But the end is not by and by. "Then faid he unto them: Nation fhall rise against nation, and king"dom against kingdom; and great earthquakes fhall be in divers places; and famines, and peftilences, and fearful fights, and great "figns fhall there be from heaven. But before all these things they fall lay their hands upon you, and perfecute you, delivering you "up to the fynagogues, and into prifons, being brought before "kings and rulers for my name fake. And it fhall turn to you "for a teftimony....And ye fhall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends. And fome of you fhall they "cause to be put to death. And ye fhall be hated of all men for my name fake. But there fhall not an hair of your head perifh. In your patience poffefs ye your fouls. And when ye fhall fee Jeru"lem compafied with armies; then know, that the defolation thereof is nigh, Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains: and let them which are in the midft of it, depart out. And let not them which are in the country, enter thereinto. For these .. are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be "fulfilled. But wo unto them that are with child, and to them "that give fuck in those days. For there will be great diftrefs in "the land, and wrath upon this people. And they fhall fall by the "edge of the fword, and fhall be led away captive into all nations. "And Jerufalem fhall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the "times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

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And before this, when he was making his public entrance into Jerufalem, fays St. Luke, xix. 41–44. "And when he was come near, "he beheld the city, and wept over it, faying: If thou hadst known, “even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! But now they are hid from thy eyes; for the days will come << upon thee, that thy enemies fhall caft a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every fide, and will lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee. And they "will not leave in thee one ftone upon another, because thou knewest 66 not the time of thy vifitation."

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And afterwards, when they were leading him away to be crucified, Luke xxiii. 25-31. "And there followed him a great company of "people, and of women; which also bewailed, and lamented him. "But Jefus turning unto them said: Daughters of Jerufalem, weep "not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. "For behold the days are coming, in the which they will fay: "Bleffed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the "paps which never gave fuck. Then fhall they begin to fay to the "mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us. For if "they do fuch things in a green tree, what fhall be done in the dry!"

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Our Lord delivers thefe predictions, of which he had the forefight, with marks of great and undiffembled compaffion and tenderness. If all these defolations and calamities had been now prefent, and before his eyes, and if they had been the calamities of his best friends, he could not have been more affected. He is particularly touched with the forefight of the difficulties of fuch as are most helpless, the diftreffes of women with child, or who have infants at their breasts. This is true compaffion, the effect of the fenfibility of the human nature; which he is not afhamed of, and does not diffemble. And that the apprehenfion of these calamities impending on the Jewish people lay much upon his mind, is manifeft from his fo often speaking of them.

And there are references likewife to the calamities coming upon the Jewish people in divers parables. Luke xiii. 69. Matt. xxii. 1-12. Luke xiv. 17-24. Matt. xxi. 33-46. Mark xii. 1-12. Luke xx. 9-19. Luke xix. 11-27. Compare Matt. xxv. 14-30. and alfo in the miracle upon the barren fig-tree. Matt. xxi. 18, 19. Mark xi. 12, 13, and 20, 21.

In what has been tranfcribed from the Evangelifts, are obfervable these several things.

1. Our Lord foretells the deftruction of the temple and city of Jerufalem.

2. He fpeaks of great and extraordinary afflictions and diftreffes, which the Jewish people would fuffer at that time.

3. He fays, that the doctrine of the Gospel should be preached in all the world, or all over the Roman empire, before the final ruin and overthrow of the Jewish nation.

VOL. V.

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4. He

4. He foretells, that his difciples and followers would be brought before Kings and Governors for his name fake, and would fuffer many hardships, and that fome of them would be put to death.

5. He intimates, that among his followers there would be great declenfions, and that they would betray each other.

6. He foretells, that there would be famines, and peftilences, and earthquakes in divers places.

7. He fpeaks of wars and tumults in many places, preceding the final ruin of the Jewish nation, and as preludes of it.

8. He likewife fays, that at that time, and before it, would appear many false prophets and impoftors, by whom many would be deceived; and he warns men against hearkening to them.

9. He declares, that all these things would come to pafs, before the end of that age, or generation of men.

10. He forewarns and advises those who regarded their own welfare, to flee out of Judea and Jerufalem, when they perceived the near approach of the calamities which had been spoken of by him. Which they might know, when they should fee the Roman armies, with their idolatrous enfigns, ftanding where they ought not, that is, near Jerufalem, or in the land of Judea.

Of all these several things I propofe to fhew the fulfilment: though not exactly in the order in which they have been just now mentioned.

IV. THE DATES OF SOME EVENTS; NAMELY, THE COMMENCEMENT AND DURATION OF THE WAR, AND OF THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM, &c.

Before I enter upon the hiftory of the fulfilment of thefe predictions, it may be of ufe to obferve, in general, the dates of fome

events.

*

The war began, as Jofephus fays, in the fecond year of the government of Geffius Florus, who fucceeded Albinus, fucceffor of Porcius Feftus, mentioned in the Acts of the Apoftles, in the month of May, in the twelfth year of the Emperor Nero, and the seventeenth year of the reign of Agrippa, mentioned Acts xxv and xxvii. that is, in the month of May, in the year of our Lord 66.

"The † Temple was burnt on the tenth day of the month of "Auguft [in the year of Chrift 70], the fame day and month on "which it had been burnt by the King of Babylon." Which Jofephus repeats again afterwards. ‡

The

* Καὶ δὴ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβεν ὁ πόλεμος δευτέρῳ μὲν ἔτει τῆς ἐπιτροπῆς Φλώρες, δωδεκάτῳ δὲ τῆς Νέρωνος ἀρχῆς. Ant. l. 20. X. 1.

Καὶ προσελάμβανε τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁ πόλεμος δωδεκάτῳ μὲν ἔτει τῆς Νέρωνος ἡγεμονίας, ἑπτακαιδεκάτω δὲ τῆς Αγρίππα βασιλείας, Αρτεμισίε μηνός. De B. J. N 2. cap. xίν. 4.

† Παρἦν δ ̓ ἡ εἰμας μένη χρόνων περιόδος ἡμέρᾳ δεκάτη Λώς μηνός, καθ ̓ ἦν καὶ τὸ πρότερον ὑπὸ τῶ τῶν Bačunavíwy Bacinéws Everreno On. De B. J. 1. 6. iv. 5.

† Θαυμάσαι δ ̓ ἄν τις ἐν αὐτῇ τῆς περιόδε τὴν ἀκρίβειαν· καὶ μῆνα γῶν, ὡς ἔφην, καὶ ἡμέραν ἐπετήρησε τὴν αὐτὴν, ἐν ᾗ πρότερον ὑπὸ Βαβυλωνίων ὁ ναὸς ἐνεπρήσθη. . . ἡ γέγονεν ἔτει δευτέρῳ τῆς Οὐεσπσιανό ἡγεμονίας. Ib. § 8.

The City was taken on the eighth day of September, in the fecond year of the reign of Vefpafian, or the year of Chrift 70.

That was the end of the fiege of Jerufalem, which began, as the fame author observes several times, about the fourteenth day of the month Nifan, or our April.

The war therefore lafted four years and four months, computing from May 66, to September in the year 70. And the fiege lafted about five months, computing from the 14th day of April to the eighth of September, in the year 70. If we carry on our computation to the taking of the caftle of Maffada, which happened in the year 73 (as we Thall fee hereafter), the war lafted seven years.

V. THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION STANDING IN THE HOLY PLACE.

I think it proper here alfo to take notice of our Lord's expreffions concerning the fign, whereby the approach of these calamities might be difcerned. Matt. xxiv. 15, 16. "When ye there"fore fhall fee the abomination of defolation, ... ftand in the "holy place; then let them which be in Judea flee to the moun"tains." Mark xiii. 14. "When ye fhall fee the abomination of "desolation standing where it ought not... then let them which are "in Judea flee to the mountains." Luke xxi. 20. "And when ye "shall fee Jerufalem compaffed with armies, then know, that the defo"lation thereof is nigh.'

By "the abomination of defolation, or the abomination that "maketh defolate," therefore, is intended the Roman armies, with their enfigns. As the Roman enfigns, especially the eagle, which was carried at the head of every legion, were objects of worship; they are, according to the ufual ftyle of Scripture, called "an abo"mination."

By" ftanding in the holy place, or where it ought not," needs not to be understood the temple only, but Jerufalem also, and any part of the land of Ifrael.

There are several things in Jofephus, which will confirm this interpretation." Pilate," fays he," the Prefect of Judea, fending "his army from Cefarea, and putting them into winter-quarters at Jerufalem, brought the carved images of Cefar, which are in the "enfigns, into the city, in violation of the Jewish laws; fince "our law forbids the making of images. For which reafon the "former governors were wont to come into the city with en"figns deftitute of thefe ornaments. Pilate was the first who fet up images in Jerufalem. And he did it privately, the army making "their entrance in the night time. But as foon as the people knew "it, they went in a large body to Cefarea, making earneft fupplica"tions, that the images might be removed And at length "Pilate

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* Γαλῶ μὲν ὕτως Ἱεροσόλυμα ἔτει δευτέρῳ τῆς Οὐεσπασιανῇ ἡγεμονίας, Γορπιαίε μηνὸς ὀγδόη. 1b.

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