marvellous in our eyes.' The Mohammedan religion in- A fourth reflection we may make (and it is the last that I fhall make) that seldom any ftate is ruined, but there are evident fignals and prefages of it. Few people have their fate particularly foretold by prophets like the Jews; nor indeed can the fate of any people be fo particularly, foretold, the time, the manner, and all the circumftances preceding and fucceeding, without divine infpiration. So many paffages and circumftances cannot be particularly foretold unlefs particularly revealed: but in the general, without the fpirit of prophecy, it is no difficult matter to perceive when cities and kingdoms are tending towards their final period and diffolution. There are as certain tokens and symptoms of a confumption and decay in the body politic, as in the body natural. I would not prefage ill to my country; but when we confider the many heinous and prefumptuous fins of this nation, the licentioufnefs and violation of all order and difcipline, the daring infolence of robbers and fmugglers in open defiance of all law and juftice, the factions and divifions, the venality and corruption, the avarice and profufion of all ranks and degrees among us, the total want of publicfpirit, and ardent paffion for private ends and interefts, the luxury and gaming and diffoluteness in high life, and the laziness and drunkennefs and debauchery in low life, and above all that bare-faced ridicule of all virtue and decency, and that fcandalous neglect, and I wish I could not fay contempt of all public worship and religion; when we confider these things, thefe figns of the times, the ftouteft and most fanguine of us all must tremble at VOL. II. C the at the natural and probable confequences of them. God give us grace, that we may know,' Luke xix. 42. leaft in this our day, the things which belong unto our peace, before they are hid from our eyes. Never may fuch blindness happen to us, as befel the Jews; but may we, Ifa. lv. 6, 7. feek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near; and return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon us, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.' XIX. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. PART II. Tthe of the deftruction of Jerufalem, that is the circumftances and accidents, which were to be the fore-runners and attendants of this great event. Thofe are already fpecified which paffed before the fiege, and now we proceed to treat of those which happened during the fiege and after it. Never was prophecy more punctually fulfilled, and it will be very well worth our time and attention to trace the particulars. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of defolation, fpoken of by Daniel the prophet, ftand in the holy place, (whofo readeth let him understand): Then let them which be in Judea, flee into the mountains,' ver. 15 and 16. Whatever difficulty there is in these words, it may be cleared up by the parallel place in St Luke, xxi. 20, 21. And when ye fhall fee Jerufalem compaffed with armies, then know that the defolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains.' that the abomination of defolation' is the Roman army, and the abomination of defolation ftanding in the holy place' is the Roman army befieging Jerufalem. This, faith our Saviour, is the abomination of defolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,' in the ninth and eleventh chapters; and fo let every one who readeth thofe prophecies, understand them. The Roman army is called the abomination' So b a c nation' for its enfigns and images which were fo to the Jews. As Chryfoftom affirms every idol and every image of a man was called an abomination' among the Jews. For this reafon, as Jofephus informs us, the principal Jews earneftly intreated Vitellius, governor of Syria, when he was conducting his army through Judea against Aretas king of the Arabians, to lead it another way; and he greatly obliged them by complying with their request. We farther learn from Jofephus, that after the city was taken, the Romans brought their enfigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and facrificed to them there. The Roman army is therefore fitly called the abomination,' and 'the abomination of defolation,' as it was to defolate and lay wafte Jerufalem and this army's befieging Jerufalem is called 'ftanding where it ought not,' as it is in St Mark; xiii. 14. or ftanding in the holy place,' as it is in St. Matthew; the city and fuch a compafs of ground about it being accounted holy. When therefore the Roman army fhall advance to befiege Jerufalem, then let them who are in Judea confult their own fafety, and fly into the mountains. This counsel was wifely remembered, and put in practice by the Chriftians afterwards. Jofephus informs us, that when Ceftius Gallus came with his army against Jerufalem, d many fled from the city as if it. would be taken prefently: and after his retreat, e many of the noble Jews departed out of the city, as out of a finking fhip: and a few years afterwards, when Vespasi an was drawing his forces towards Jerufalem, a great multitude fled from Jericho s T into the mountainous C 2 f Η άπαν είδωλον, και παν τύπωμα ανθρωπε παρα τοις Ιεδαίοις βδελυγμα Exahero. omne fimulacrum et hominis effigies apud Judaeos appellabatur abominatio. Adverf. Judaeos V. Orat. p. 645. Vol.1. Edit. Benedict, b Jofeph. Antiq. Lib. 18. Cap. 6. Sect. 3. Edit. Hudson. C κομισαντες τας σημαίας εις το ιερον. και θέμενοι της ανατολικής πυλης avrixçus, slucav te aurais auroli. fignis in templum illatis positifque. contra portam orientalem, et illis ibi facrificarunt. Jofeph. de Bell. Jud. Lib 6. Cap. 6. Sect. 1. p. 1283. Edit. Hudson. 4 είδε δε πολλοι διεδρασμόν από της πόλεως, ὡς ἁλωσομένης αυτικα, jamque multi ex civitate diffugiebant,ac fic continuo effet expugnanda. Jofeph. de Bell. Jud. Lib. 2. Cap. 19. Sect. 6. p. 1103. ο πολλοι των επιφανων Ιεδαίων, ώσπερ βαττιζόμενης νέως, απηνέχοντα της woλews. nobilium Judaeorum multi, quafi in eo effet navis ut mergeretur, e civitate veluti natando egreffi funt. Ibid. C. 20. S. 1. p.1105. f Ibid. Lib.4. Cap. 8. Sect. 2. p. 1193. Edit. Hudson. tainous country' for their fecurity. It is probable that there were fome Chriftians among thefe, but we learn more certainly from 8 ecclefiaftical hiftorians, that at this juncture all who believed in Chrift left Jerufalem, and removed to Pella and other places beyond the river Jordan, fo that they all marvelloufly efcaped the general fhipwreck of their country, and we do not read any where that so much as one of them perifhed in the destruction of Jerufalem. Of fuch fignal fervice was this caution of our Saviour to the believers ! He profecutes the fame fubject in the following verses. Let him which is on the houfe-top, not come down to take any thing out of his houfe,' verfe 17. The houses of the Jews, as well as thofe of the ancient Greeks and Romans, were flat on the top for them to walk upon, and had ufually ftairs on the outfide, by which they might af cend and defcend without coming into the house. In the eastern walled cities thefe flat-roofed houses usually formed continued terraces from one end of the city to the other, which terraces terminated at the gates. He therefore who is walking and regaling himself upon the houfe-top, let him not come down to take any thing out of his houfe; but let him instantly pursue his course along the tops of the houses, and efcape out at the citygate as faft as he poffibly can. Neither let him which is in the field, return back to take his clothes,' vēr. 18. Our Saviour maketh use of these expreffions, to intimate, that their flight must be as fudden and hafly as Lot's was out of Sodom. And the Chriftians efcaping juft as they did was the more providential, becaufe afterwards i all egrefs out of the city was prevented. And woe unto them that are with child, and unto them that give fuck in thofe days,' ver. 19. For neither will fuch perfons be in a condition to fly, neither will they be well able to endure the distress and hardships of a fiege. This woe was fufficiently fulfilled in the cruel flaughters which were made both of the women and children, and particularly g Eufeb. Ecclef. Hift. Lib. 3. Cap. 5. cum notis Valefiii. Epiphanius Adverfus Nazaræos. Lib. 1. Tom. 2. Sect. 7. Vol, 1. Edit. Petavii. Idem de Menf. et Pond. Sect. 15. Vol. 2. h See Grotius on the place, and the miracles of Jefus vindicated by Bishop Pearce, Part IV. p. 27. 28. i Jofeph. de Bell. Jud. Lib. 4. Cap. 9. Sect. 1. et 10. Edit. Hud. ticularly in that grievous famine, which fo miferably afflicted Jerufalem during the fiege. For as Jofephus reports, mothers fnatched the food from their infants out of their very mouths and again in another place, the houses were full of women and children, who perifhed by famine. But Jofephus ftill relates a more horrid ftory; and I make no question, that our Saviour with his fpirit of prophecy had this particular incident in view. There m was one Mary, the daughter of Eleazer, illuftrious for her family and riches. She having been ftript and plundered of all her fubftance and provifions by the foldiers,. out of neceffity and fury killed her own fucking child, and having boiled him devoured half of him, and covering up the rest preferved it for another time. The fol diers foon came allured by the fmell of victuals, and threatened to kill her immediately, if the would not produce what she had dreffed. But the replied that she had referved a good part for them, and uncovered the relics of her fon. Dread and aftonifhment feized them, and they stood ftupified at the fight. "But this faid the, is my own fon and this my work. Eat, for even I have eaten. Be not you more tender than a woman, nor more compaffionate than a mother. But if you have a religious abhorrence of my victim, I truly have eater half, and let the reft remain for me. They went away trembling, fearful to do this one thing; and hardly left this food for the mother. The whole city was ftruck with horror, fays the hiftorian at this wickednefs; and they were pronounced bleffed, who died before they had heard or feen fuch great evils. So true alfo was what our Saviour declared on another occafion, when the women were bewailing and lamenting him, as he was led to execution; Luke xxiii. 28-30. Daughters of Je-rufalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourfelves, and for your children. For behold, the days are coming, in the C 3 k μητέρες νηπίων εξήρπαζον εξ αυτών των σημάτων τας τροφας. matres infantibus cibum ex ipfo ore rapiebant. Ibid. Lib. 5. Cap. 10. Sect. 3. p. 1245. 1 και τα μεν τελη πεπλήρωτη γυναικων και βρεφων λελυμένων. ac tecta quidem plena erant mulieribus et infantibus fame enectis. Ibid: Cap. 12. Sect. 3. p. 1252. Ibid. Lib, 6. Cap. 3. Sect. 4. · |