names the specific signs which must precede, saying, "When ye shall see all these things (signs), know that it is near, even at the doors." When on His way to Calvary, He said to the great company of people and women who followed Him bewailing and lamenting, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children; for behold the days are coming in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps that never gave suck." He thus told them that they would be the witnesses, and some of them the participants of these miseries. Within the natural lifetime of some of those who heard Him all that He had predicted would certainly come to pass.

The Witness.-It is a matter of devout gratitude that the principal witness for the fulfilment of this remarkable prophecy is Flavius Josephus, a trustworthy Jewish historian. He was born A.D. 37, and died A.D. 93, thus living through the whole of the siege. He was from his childhood intimately acquainted with the localities, with the position, the walls, the towers, the bulwarks, and all the defences of the city. Being a priest, of the sect of the Pharisees, he was familiar with the views and expectations of the Jews. He had a thorough knowledge of the temple,-its extent, its various buildings, and their uses, the massiveness of its structure, and its immense strength as a defensive fortress. Thus, as no other historian, he was competent intelligently to know and to record the facts. His advantages for knowing what took place were peculiar, for he was in the favour of

Vespasian, the Roman emperor. He accompanied him during part of the war, and was present at the siege. He continued with the army when Titus took the command. He was employed in several important embassies, and strove by all proper means to save the city and his countrymen from ruin. Soon after the destruction of the city and the temple, he returned with Titus to Rome, and there published his history of the Jewish wars. In this is found the most minute and circumstantial account of the siege, and the destruction of the city and the temple. This history was written virtually in the presence of the army of Titus, who had been with him on the spot, were personally acquainted with the localities, and were competent to detect any misstatements. This history supplies the most ample materials. Under the influence of patriotism he may have exaggerated some of his statements. Still, in no instance would he be tempted to understate the facts. It formed no part of his purpose to confirm the prediction made by Christ. Yet in his account of the siege his testimony is ample that our Lord's prediction was in every particular perfectly fulfilled. This is done, not by referring to the prophecy, or tracing out its accomplishment, but simply by a circumstantial record of the facts. He tells us who were the leaders,how the different factions arose,-how the provisions, sufficient for a siege of three years, were destroyed, -how the inhabitants were plundered,-how the miseries of famine and pestilence, superadded to the war, intensified their sufferings,-how the fightings by

day and by night wore out the people,-how the corridors and other structures, with the temple, were burnt, despite all the efforts to save them, and how the city lay in ruins. These, and many more incidents, fill up his history. As we gather them up, and place them in order alongside the multiplied and various items of the prediction, we notice how they fit into each other, the history answering to the prophecy.

Had such a history been written by a Christian, there would have been room for suspicion that friendly feelings gave a colouring to the facts. But when a Jew, a priest, and a Pharisee writes the history of his own nation, and states the facts which confirm the prophecy, we cannot see how evidence of a more unquestionable character could be secured.

Concerning Josephus, Dr. Robinson makes the following statement: "Having sketched the progress of the Roman conqueror in his advance to the very gates, and recounted his disposition for the siege, this writer stops short in his narration, in order to lay before his readers a topographical sketch of the city and temple, as they then existed, before the tremendous overthrow to which they were soon subjected. This account is to us invaluable, and could not be supplied from any other sources." 1

It is from the writings of this historian, whose knowledge was so ample and complete, and whose testimony is so free from suspicion, that we shall draw our narrative of the fulfilment of prophecy in the siege of Jerusalem.

1 Biblical Researches, vol. i. p. 409.

IV.

he Causes of the War,

AND

THE SAFETY OF THE CHRISTIANS.

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand :) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: let him which is on the house-top not come down to take anything out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. them that give suck in those days! neither on the Sabbath day."

And woe unto them that are with child, and to But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, MATT. xxiv. 15-20.

"But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls. And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." LUKE XXI. 18-22.

HE causes of the war which issued in the destruction of Jerusalem had been accumulating for a long time. The pride of the nation was deeply wounded by the presence in Judea and Jerusalem of a Roman governor, attended with a strong military force. They were restive also under the exaction of taxes levied upon them by the Romans. Theydoubted whether their submission, and their payment of taxes, was not unlawful for them, and whether the assertion of their independence was not a duty. Hence the

question, "Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar or not?" The influence of Pilate, who came to Judea as procurator A.D. 26, and continued twelve years, was not calculated to allay their irritation. He was a man of stern temperament, and careless of the peculiar characteristics of the people. By his utter disregard for their religious feelings he gave much offence, and frequently disturbed the repose of the country.

How the causes for revolt were thus intensified, a few facts may illustrate. When he sent troops to winter at Jerusalem, he caused their ensigns, on which were the idolatrous images of the emperor, to be carried into the city. This no previous governor had allowed, through fear of exasperating the people, who regarded the presence of such idolatrous symbols as an insult to their religion. The ensigns, being covered, were brought in by night. Being discovered the next day, many of the Jews hastened to Cæsarea to entreat Pilate to withdraw them. He kept them waiting five days and nights before his palace. On the sixth he sent for them, when he caused them to be surrounded by soldiers, and, threatened them with instant death unless they returned home. Throwing themselves upon the ground, and baring their necks, they declared that they would sooner die than that the idolatrous standards should remain in the holy city, contrary to the law. Pilate, astonished at the firmness and determination of their resolution, and fearing the consequences of a revolt, gave an order for the standards to be brought back to Cæsarea.

On another occasion a great tumult arose when