CHAPTER IV.

A REVIEW OF THE COMPARATIVE STRENGTH AND CONCLUSIVENELSS OF THE FACTS AND ARGUMENTS ADVANCED IN THE TWO IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING CHAPTERS, FOR AND AGAINST THE TRUTH OF THE PROPHECIES OF CHRIST, SO FAR AS THEY HAVE HITHERTO BEEN DISCUSSED.

SECTION I.-THE STRENGTH OF THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF THE FULFILMENT OF CHRIST'S PREDICTIONS CONSIDERed. THE REPORTS GIVEN OF HIS PREDICTIONS BY THE EVANGELISTS EXAMINED.

In the chapter just closed, the writer is not conscious of having omitted any fact or argument tending to confirm the views therein taken of Christ's prophecies, any more than he is sensible of having done so in the preceding chapter, which maintains opposite views on the same subject. But he thinks, on cool reflection, that he has argued each side of the question with all the ability and zeal that he could command. It becomes now his duty to fulfil what-in Section III. of his introductory remarks— he promised to do; namely, to sum up the evidence on both sides, with the most rigorous impartiality, and regardlessly of any prepossessions of his own,-determine the side on which the preponderance of evidence lies, -state the reasons leading to this determination,-and point out the inferences deducible from such a conclusion, touching the reality of Christ's Deity. The important duties he has now to perform are similar to those of a judge, in summing up the evidence he has heard on both sides of a case, civil or criminal; and then to those of a jury, in deciding on what side the preponderance of evidence lies. The inferences promised to be drawn from the conclusion to which the evidence given will lead, shall, probably, form the subject of a separate chapter.

Now, the evidence on both sides having been given, it remains, at present, only to determine, from that evidence, whether Christ-in uttering the predictions in question-intended to foretell only the Destruction of Jerusalem, or the Destruction and End of the World at large, and the Final Judgment, together with their concomitant events; and also to state the reasons which influence the determmation to which the preponderance of evidence will lead. On several considerations, this is by no means a post to be envied. It is no other than that of sitting as judge, or umpire,

to decide between the Christian and Deistical world; and the writer must say that,―did his love of truth, as well as the prescribed conditions of this work permit, he would rather let both sides of the question remain as they are, leaving the reader to judge for himself, and draw his own conclusions; especially as he perceives the strength of evidence so unequal. The wording of the given subject of this Essay, however, being in an interrogative form,* and requiring a decisive answer-either negative or affirmative to the question it propounds, the task must not be eschewed.

The explanations given of the prophecies of Christ.t-as applicable to the Destruction of Jerusalem,-although plausible, are by no means conclusive. As to the argument built upon the signification of the wordav, translated world, in connection with end, where it is maintained that ay means only age or time, and here means the end of the time of the Jewish Dispensation, it must be admitted that this word is frequently used in the New Testament to designate not only the physical world, but also "the world to come," and eternity, wherein it must, on all hands, be granted that it signifies, literally, a world. The connection in which it occurs, in the passage here in question, shows that it means the end of time, or of the present system of nature; and the arguments advanced to show that it means this, undoubtedly, are incomparably stronger than those adduced to show that it means the "end of the Jewish Dispensation."§

See the Advertisement, prefixed to the Preface of this work.
† See chap. II. s. 2.

pp. 16, 17.

§ See p. 63. et seq. In however varied a sense the word-atwv may be used, it is clear that the disciples, in their enquiries as to the time that Christ's prophecies should be accomplished, used it in reference to his coming, which coming must mean his second advent. "What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?" are the ipsissima verba of the question put by the disciples to Christ, as reported by Matth. xxiv. 3. And it is to this question, Christ, evidently, addresses himself, in the whole of the discourse which follows, and extends to the end of chapter xxv. The questions put by the disciples and the answers rendered to them, must be considered in connection with one another. To imagine that the answers do not bear upon the questions, or are not intended to bear upon them, and to serve as direct answers to them, is to suppose what the Gospel narrative does not warrant ;-is indeed absurd, and derogative to the mental and moral character of Christ. That the word-atov, when connected with the wordTeλoç (end) or oVVTEλela, (the very end) is repeatedly rendered into English by the wordworld, furnishes a strong presumptive proof that it means world; and is a positive proof, at least, that the English translators believed it to possess this meaning. But the contexts, in many of the places where these words are so rendered, preclude the shadow of a doubt that they actually mean the end of the present system of nature, or of the physical world. Take for example the following passages." The harvest is the end of the world, (OUNTEλELA TOV awvoc) and the reapers are the angels."-" And burned in the fire. So shall it be in the end of this world." (ovvreλeia tov alwvoc TOUTOV.)—"So shall it be at the end of the world: (ovvTeλɛia tov aιwvoç) the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."-Matth. xiii. 39, 40, 49, 50. These are the words

of the same writer as those in question,-found in the same Gospel; and are clearly used to designate the end of the physical world. It is, therefore, beyond the power of any kind of criticism to show that the words of the disciples, in their questions to Jesus, did not mean the end of the physical world; but that they meant the end of the Jewish Dispensation. Quite as clearly do the following expressions show that the word-atv means the physical world, and the inhabitants in the world." By whom also he made the worlds." (avac)" The worlds (atovac) were framed by the word of God."Heb. i. 2; xi. 3. Hence it would be quite as reasonable to contend that it is not the physical world, but the Jewish Dispensation is meant in Genesis, where the account of

If wars and rumours of wars-earthquakes-famines-pestilences-and persecutions-took place, before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian; still, as these things, in those times, were of frequent occurrence in the East, they are not events of sufficient singularity to identify, conclusively, the predictions of Christ, in their entirety, with the destruction of Jerusalem. Nor is the inference sound, that, because the apostles had become Christians, they had renounced the Jewish ritual and were not likely to be in Jerusalem with the rest of the Jewish nation, assembled from all parts of Judea and other countries, at the feast of the unleavened bread, when, suddenly, the Roman legions besieged the city;-for we are informed that Christ himself did eat the Passover the day before he was crucified; and the Acts and the Epistles prove that Christians, and even the apostles themselves, practised the Jewish ceremonies for a considerable period afterwards. The argument built upon this supposition, therefore, when scrutinized, must be felt untenable.t

The principal proof, however, is drawn from an alleged similarity between Josephus's narration of the destruction of Jerusalem and the

The same

the creation is given, as to assert that this is meant by atov in Matthew. word is also used for the world to come.-Matth. xii. 32. Eph. i. 21. Luke xx. 35. In the last place Christ says, in reference to a question put to him by the Sadducees, about the possession of a wife in the resurrection, that "they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, (auwvoc) and the resurrection from the dead," do not marry, but are equal to the angels. In such instances as these there can be no Jewish Dispensation meant by the word-αιων. The same may be said of such an expression as the following."The powers of the world to come." (Heb. vi. 5.)—aɩwv μɛλXwv. It is worthy of remark, that the same writer connects οικουμενη with μελλων, showing that both αιων and οικουμένη are used in the same sense, to denote a world.—Οικουμενην την μελλουσαν -the world to come. (Heb. ii. 5.) See the various applications of awv,-ante pp. 107, 108. The writer is fully aware of the secondary or metonymical sense in which atov is used in the works of the Greek philosophers, particularly of the Platonic school, to denote, apparently, imaginary beings, whose nature was supposed to be unchangeable or of immense duration, lasting for ages and ages; such as was supposed to be that of angels and demons. It acquired this sense also among the Gnostics and other Christians of the first three centuries of the Christian era. But there is no reason for even imagining that it is used in this sense in the New Testament, except, perhaps, in the following places-Eph. ii. 2. Heb. i. 2.

p. 19. et seq.

He

Indeed there is ample evidence in the New Testament that both Christ and his apostles adhered scrupulously to all the ritual of the Jewish religion, throughout their lives. Christ declares that he had not come to destroy the law, and that it was easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail. (Matth. v. 7. Luke xvi. 17.) He countenances circumcision,-a rite which he himself underwent. (John vii. 2.) justifies an unlawful act of his disciples, by a reference to David eating the shew-bread. (Matth. xii. 4.) It was his custom to frequent the Jewish synagogues; (Luke iv. 16.) and he attended the Jewish feasts. (John ii. 23; vii. 10. et al. loc.) The apostles, in like manner, attended these feasts. (Acts ii. 1; xviii. 21.) Although the rite of circumcision was a subject of much debate among them, and at length became an open question; yet, it was practised. Paul circumcised Timothy because of the Jews, and gloried in the fact that he himself had been circumcised. (Acts xv. 5-35; xxi. 21; xvi. 3. Phil. iii. 5.) The apostles made a practise of preaching in the Jewish synagogues. (Acts xiii. 5, 14; xiv. 1; xvii. 1, 2.) Paul so minutely adhered to the Jewish customs, that he shore his head at Cenchrea, because of his Jewish vow. (Acts xviii. 18.) As we read in the following verses, that he sailed from Ephesus to Jerusalem to be present at a feast, saying, as he departed, that he must by all means keep this feast, the natural inference is,-not that the apostles would be absent, but that they would be very likely to be present at the feast, during which Jerusalem was captured.

predictions of Christ,-especially as to Jerusalem being encompassed with armies, surrounded by a trench, and levelled with the ground.* Here it should first be observed, that-if what Josephus says of the destruction of Jerusalem came up to the criterion which Horne lays down for proving the fulfilment of a prophecy; namely, that "a prophecy is demonstrated to be fulfilled when we can prove, from unimpeachable authority, that the event has actually taken place, precisely according to the manner in which it was foretold"-then the prophecies of Christ could be proved to be predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem exclusively. But there is a great difference between what Josephus narrates and what Christ prophesies. Granting that these predictions refer, exclusively, to the destruction of Jerusalem, still, the event, according to Josephus, has not taken place precisely according to the manner in which it was foretold. Christ says that the enemy should cast a trench (xapag) about Jerusalem,—a very common thing done when besieging a city,-but Josephus says that the Roman soldiers built a wall (reixos) about it,-which is a very uncommon thing to be done in besieging a city;-such a wall as was about Damascus as a fortification, or such as the walls of Jericho, for which the same word (TEIXOS) is used. That this was a stone wall, appears from the use which Josephus elsewhere makes of the same word. Besides: before the Romans built this wall they had raised banks, or made trenches, in some parts.— Moreover, the Roman soidiers did not compass Jerusalem,-they only "guarded the known passages out of the place."§ These are important

differences, when it is considered that the modes of besieging all cities are very similar. It is true that there is a similarity between what Christ predicts regarding the Jews falling by the edge of the sword, carried away captive, and so on, and what Josephus relates to have befallen these people. But it must be borne in mind that these are things which would happen in the capture of any large city, like Jerusalem. Nor must this important difference be overlooked;-that Josephus narrates these things as having happened after the city was captured; but that Christ predicts them as things to take place before the end, of which he speaks, should come. When the disciples should see these things, they were to know that their redemption drew nigh, and the kingdom of God was at hand. Further than in the apparent similarity of the above points, Josephus and Christ do not at all accord. The former does not record that remarkable phenomenon,—the Son of man making his appearance in the clouds of heaven. He,-himself a Jew,-must have been well acquainted with the term, and supposed meaning of the "Son of man," as used in the prophecies of Daniel; for the whole of his writings,- supposing them to have descended genuinely to us,-prove that he was well versed in the sacred books of the Jews; from which, indeed, he has drawn a considerable portion of the

See PP.

23-29.

+ See Acts ix. 25. Heb. xi. 30.

Compare Jos. Bell. Jud. lib. v. c. 12. s. 1. with lib. vi. c. iv. s. 1.

Jos. Bell. Jud. lib. v. c. 12. s. 1. Indeed, whoever has seen Jerusalem must know that the Roman army could not do otherwise, owing to the steep ascents and deep valleys -of Jehosaphat and Hinnom-which encompass it on every side, except the north, close to the city walls.

It is, however, not a little remarkable that Josephus is frequently made to say that he had already treated of certain things, about which there is not a syllable to be found in his works, as they descend to us. Josephus's works, in the Hebrew or Chaldee,

materials with which he has compiled his Antiquities. Nor does Josephus say a word even of "the sign of the Son of man in heaven" appearing. It is true that he says that there stood over the city a comet for a whole year. But it is difficult to ascertain how much knowledge of comets he had,-in common with the Jews, and indeed the whole world in that age,*-to enable him to judge whether that phenomenon stood still for a year, or whether there was anything at all miraculous about it; or indeed whether it was a comet or a star. It is, however, certain that very little is known of comets, even in the present age; notwithstanding the rapid strides science has made, particularly in that noble and sublime

as well as his Greek History of the Jewish Wars, have long been lost; so that according to a Note made by his translator-Mr. Whiston, there is not implicit reliance to be placed on what we now have of his. (Note on sec. 1. c. 5. book 111.) Besides there are evident marks, pervading the works of Josephus, that he was very prone to exaggeration. The Jews generally,,-as their books amply prove,-were much given to exaggerate facts; and Josephus, as a writer, appears to form no exception. For example, the number of men he gives, in relating many occurrences, such as the slaughter and captivity when Jerusalem was taken, is incredibly great ;-is, in a word, evidently exaggerated. His statement regarding a wall of nearly five miles in length and of adequate height and strength to its intended purpose, with its thirteen towers, which he tells us was built around Jerusalem by the Roman soldiers in the short space of three days, (Jewish Wars, b. v. c. 12.) is a relation which is enough, per se, to throw discredit on his history in its most salient points. His statement, also, that Jerusalem was so completely demolished by the Roman army that it was levelled with the ground, except three towers, which, however, in 290 years afterwards were rased to the ground, (b. vII. c. 1.) is another exaggeration. Travellers in oriental countries, who are still living, state that they have seen portions of the ancient walls of Jerusalem, especially along those parts which skirt the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and near the site of the ancient temple, where the stones at the base of the wall are exceedingly large. Portions of the walls still remaining, Jerusalem therefore was not completely destroyed, as Josephus says. This fact is of the utmost importance, as it shows that Christ's prediction-that not one stone of the city should be left upon another-has not yet been verified. But there is another way of accounting for the exaggerations and the many incredible statements found in the works of Josephus, than by supposing him to have personally penned them; -a way which, if proved to be founded in fact, makes the passages cited from the writings that pass under his name to be of little value in proving the fulfilment of Christ's predictions. His works, like most other ancient writings which have descended to us through the hands of the Christian Fathers, have, unfortunately, undergone the ordeal of pious fraud. They are known, and now admitted by the most learned Christian writers of the age, to contain forged passages, especially passages which tend to prove the divine origin of Christianity. The most remarkable of these is a passage in reference to Jesus Christ, (Antiq. b. xviii c. 3. s. 3.) not found in any transcripts from the works of Josephus older than the time of Eusebius. This is declared by Dr. Lardner, Bishop Warburton, Le Clerc, Vandale, and a host of other Christian writers of note, to be a forgery. Since, therefore, there are in the works of Josephus forged passages, intended to prove the existence of Christ, what guarantee have we that the same works do not contain forged passages, intended, likewise, to prove the fulfilment of his predictions? At all events, a work of such character has very little weight, especially when uncorroborated by any other proof, in showing that Christ's predictions have been fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem; even if it contained historical passages narrating the occurrence of events exactly corresponding to these predictions. The historical details of the Jewish wars found in Josephus cannot, therefore, be received as positive proofs of the fulfilment of Christ's predictions.

* The ancients, for the greater number, thought comets to be real stars, and their appearance to porteud some national calamity. Hence Virgil calls them diri and sanguinei. -Geo. I. 488. Æn. x. 272. See also the ancient notions of comets in Suet. Ner. 36. Plin. 11. 25. ss. 22, 23. Cic. de Nat. Dei. II, 5. Lucan. 1. 529. Senec. Nat. Quæst. VII. 2, 22. Sil. VIII. 638.