the which they fhall 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.' Proverbial ex

preffions to fignify their defire of any fhelter or refuge: and fo very defirous were they of hiding themselves, that a fome thousands of them crept even into the commonfewers, and there miferably perifhed, or were dragged out to flaughter.

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the fabbath-day,' ver. 20. Pray that thefe evils be not farther aggravated by the concurrence of other natural and moral evils, fuch as the inclemencies of the feafons and your own fuperftitions. Pray that your flight be not in the winter;' for the hardness of the feafon, the badness of the roads, the fhortness of the days, will all be great impediments to your flight: neither on the fabbath-day;' that you may not raife the indignation of the Jews by travelling on that day, nor be hindered from doing it by your own fuperftition. It feemeth to be fpoken a good deal in condefcenfion to the Jewifh prejudices, a fabbath-day's journey among the Jews being but about a mile. In the parallel place of St Mark, xiii. 18. it is obfervable, that the evangelift faith only, And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter,' without any mention of the fabbath-day.

As our Saviour cautioned his difciples to fly, when they fhould fee Jerufalem encompaffed with armies; fo it was very providentially ordered, that Jerufalem fhould be compaffed with armies, and yet that they fhould have fuch favourable opportunities of making their efcape. In the twelfth year of Nero, Ceftius Gallus, the president of Syria, came against Jerufalem with a powerful army. He might as Jofephus affirms, if he would have affaulted the city, have presently taken it, and thereby have put an end to the war. But without any just reason, and contrary

n Ibid. Lib. 6. Cap. 9. Sect. 4.

• Jofephus de Bell. Jud. Lib. 2. Cap. 19. xxy ewig noiλnos xur2 αυτην εκείνην την ώραν εντός των τείχων βιασασθαι, παρ' αυτικα την πολιν έσχε, και τον πολέμον συνέβη καταλελύσθαι.. Et fi eadem ita hora volu. iffet vi muros perrumpere, e veftigio urbem cepiffet, bellumque ab ipfo confectum fuiffe contigiffet. Sect. 4. p. 1102. Edit. Hudson.

This

contrary to the expectation of all, he raised the siege, and
departed. Vefpafian was deputed in his room to govern
Syria, and to carry on the war against the Jews.
great general, P having fubdued all the country, prepa- -
red to befiege Jerufalem, and invested the city on every
fide. But the news of Nero's death, and foon after-
wards of Galba's, and the disturbances which thereu-
pon enfued in the Roman empire, and the cival wars
between Otho and Vitellius, held Vefpafian and Titus
in fufpenfe; and they thought it unfeasonable to engage
in a foreign war, while they were anxious for the fafe-
ty of their own country. By thefe means the expedition
againft Jerufalem was deferred for fome time; and the
city was not actually befieged in form, till after Vefpafi--
an was confirmed in the empire, and Titus was fent to
command the forces in Judea. These incidental delays ·
were very opportune for the Chriftians, and for thofe
who had any thoughts of retreating and providing for
their own fafety. Afterwards there was hardly any pof-
fibility of efcaping; for as our Saviour faid in St Luke's
Gospel, xix. 43. The days fhall come upon thee, that
thine enemies fhall caft a trench about thee, and compafs
thee round, and keep thee in on every fide.' Acccording-
ly the Romans having begirt Jerufalem with their forces,
and having made feveral affaults without the defired fuc-
cefs, Titus refolved to furround the city with a wall;
and by the diligence and emulation of the foldiers, ani-
mated by the prefence, and acting under the continual
infpection of the general, this work, which was worthy
of months, was with incredible speed completed in three
days. The wall was of the dimenfions of thirty-nine fur--
longs, and was ftrengthened with thirteen forts at pre-
per diftances: fo that, as the hiftorian faith, all hope
of fafety was cut off from the Jews, together with all
the means of efcaping out of the city. No provisions
could be carried in, and no perfon could come out un-
known to the enemy. But to return to St Matthew.

P Jofeph. ibid. Lib. 4. Cap. 9. Sect. 1, 2, &c.
Jofeph. ibid. Lib. 5. Cap. 12. Sect. 1. et 2. -

In

μετα των εξόδων απέκοπη πασα σωτηρίας ελπις. Judais autem cum egrediendi facultate fpes quoque omnis falutis præcifa e-rat. Sect. 3. p. 1252. Edit. Hudfon.

In the preceding verfes our Saviour had warned his difciples to fly, as foon as ever they faw Jerufalem befieged by the Romans; and now he affigns the reason of his giving them this caution, ver. 21. For then shall be great tribulation, fuch as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever fhall be.' St mark expreffeth it much in the fame manner, xiii. 19. For in thofe days fhall be affliction, fuch as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created, unto this time, neither fhall be.' This feemeth to be a proverbial form of expreffion, as in Exodus, x. 14. • And the locufts were very grievous, before them were no such locufts as they neither after them fhall be fuch:' and again in Joel, ii. 2. A great people and a strong, there hath not been ever the like, neither fhall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.' Of the fame kind is that in Daniel, xii. 1. There fhall be a time of trouble, fuch as never was fince there was a nation, even to that fame time:' and that in the first book of Maccabees, ix. 27. There was great affliation in Ifrael, the like whereof was not fince the time that a prophet was not feen among them. Our Saviour therefore might fitly apply the fame manner of fpeaking upon the prefent occafion: but he doth not make use of proverbial expreffions without a proper meaning, and this may be understood even literally. For indeed all history cannot furnish us with a parallel to the calamities and miferies of the Jews; rapine and murder, famine and peftilence within; fire and fword, and all the terrors of war without. Our Saviour wept at the forefight of these calamities, and it is almoft impoffible for perfons of any humanity to read the relation of them in Jofephus without weeping. too. That hiftorian might therefore well fay, as he doth in the preface to his hiftory, "Our city of all those which have been fubjected to the Romans, was advanced to the higheft

S πολιν γαρ δη των υπο Ρωμαίες πασων την ημετεραν επι πλειςον τε ευδαί μονίας συνέβη προελθείν, και της σ' έσχατον συμφόρων αυθις καταπέσειν, τα γεν πάντων απ' αινο ατυχήματα, προ τα Ιεδαίων, ἡστασθαι μοι δοκει κατα Guyngi, nam ex omnibus civitatibus, quæ Romanorum jugum fubierunt, noftræ fane contigit ad fummum felicitatis perveniffe, ac deinde in extremam calamitatem incidiffe, namque omnium ab omnis ævi memoria res adverfae, fi cum iis conferantur quae Judaeis acciderunt, longe ab illis fuperari mihi videntur. Jofephi Proem. Sect. 4. P. 955.

highest felicity, and was thruft down again to the extremest mifery: for if the misfortunes of all from the beginning of the world were compared with thofe of the Jews, they would appear much inferior upon the comparison :" and again in another place he faith, "To fpeak in brief, no, other city ever fuffered fuch things, as no generation from the beginning of the world was ever more fruitful of wickedness." St Luke expreffeth the reafon thus, xxi. 22. For these be the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Thefe be the days of vengeance,' wherein the calamities foretold by Mofes, Joel, Daniel, and other prophets, as well as those predicted by our Saviour, fhall all meet as in one common centre, and be fulfilled with aggravation on this generation. Thefe be the days of vengeance' too in another fenfe, as if God's vengeance had certain periods and revolutions, and the same days were fatal to the Jews, and destinated to their destruction. For it is very memorable, and matter of just admiration according to " Jofephus, that the temple was burnt by the Romans in the fame month, and on the fame day of the month, as it was before by the Babylonians.

1

Nothing fo violent can be of long continuance. Thefe calamities were fo fevere, that like fire, they muft in time have confumed all, and have left nothing for themselves, to prey upon. 'And except thofe days fhould be fhortened, there fhould no flesh be faved,' ver. 22. If thefe wars and defolations were to continue, none of the Jews would efcape destruction, they would all be cut off root and branch. I think Jofephus computes the number of those who perifhed in the fiege at eleven hundred thou fand, befides thofe who were flain in other places: and if the Romans had gone on destroying in this manner, the

t συνέλοντα δ' ειπειν, μητε πολιν άλλην τοιαύτα πεπονθέναι, μήτε γενέαν ež aiw jegovevai naxias yoniμwtręav. iilud autém breviter dici poteft, neque aliam urbem talia perpefiam effe, neque hominum genus aliud ab omni aevo fceleratius extitiffe. Lib. 5. Cap. 10. Sect. 5. p. 1246.

u Lib, 6. Cap. 4. Sed. 5. θαυμασαι δ' αν τις εν αυτή της περιοδος την ακρίβειαν. και μηνα γεν, ὡς ἔφην, και ήμεραν επιτηρησε την αυτήν, εν η προ τερον ὑπὸ Βαβυλωνίων ή να ενιπρήσθη. eft autem ut nurari quis pofit in eo accuratam circumacti temporis rationem, nam cundem, ut dictum eft, menfem et diem fervavit, quo prius templum a Babyloniis exuftum fuerat. Sect. 8. p. 1279. Edit. Hudfon.

* Lib. 6. Cap. 9. Sect. 3.

the whole nation of the Jews would certainly in a little time have been extirpated. But for the elect's fake,' but for the fake of the Chriftian Jews, thofe days fhall be fhortened. But for the elect's fake, whom he hath chofen, the Lord hath fhortened the days,' as it is expreffed in St Mark, xiii. 20. The elect' is a well known appellation in fcripture and antiquity for the Christians; and the Chriftian Jews, partly through the fury of the Zealots on one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other, and partly through the difficulty of fubfifting in the mountains without houfes or provifions, would in all probability have been almost all destroyed either by the fword or by famine, if the days had not been shortened. But providentially the days were fhortened. Titus himself was defirous of putting a fpeedy end to the fiege, having Rome and the riches and the pleasures there before his eyes. Some of his officers propofed to him to turn the fiege into a blockade, and fince they could not take the city by storm, to ftarve it into a furrender: but he thought it not becoming to fit ftill with fo great an army; and he feared left the length of the time should diminish the glory of his fuccefs: every thing indeed may be effected in time, but celerity contributes much to the fame and fplendour of actions. The befieged too helped to fhorten the days by their divifions and mutual flaughters; by burning their provifions, which would have fufficed for many years; and by fatally deferting their strongest holds, where they could never have been

b

C

taken

y Ipfi Tito Roma, et opes, voluptatefque ante oculos; ac ni ftatim Hierofolyma conciderent, morari videbantur. Tacit. Hift. Lib. 5. p. 217. Edit. Lipfii.

αυτό

2 Jofeph. de Bell. Jud. Lib. 5. Cap, 12. Sect. 1. aUTN de TO pev-agγειν καθόλες μετα τοσαύτης δυναμεως και εδοκει πρέπειν. ipfi autem Tito ceffare quidem prorfus tanto cum exercitu honeftum non videbatur. δεδιέναι τε μη την δόξαν τις κατορθωματα αυτο το μηνα ελάττωση τη χρο να. τετῳ μεν γαρ είναι σαν ανυσιμων, προ δε της ευκλειας το ταχος. endumque ne fucceffus gloriam ipfi diminuat temporis longitudo, hac enim cuncta quidem effici poffe, fed ad gloriam facere celeritatem, p. 1251. Edit. Hudson.

a Ibid. Cap. 1, &c.

metu

b Sect. 4. δ, αν αυτοις εκ ετσ' ολίγα διήρκεσεν έτη πολιορκημένοις. quod non paucis annis illis fufficere potuiffet obfeffis, p. 1213.

c Lib. 6. Cap. 8. Sect. 4. εφ' ὧν βις μεν εδιποτ' άλωνας, μονῳ δ' έδω vavra Ayup. in quibus vi quidem nunquam, fola vero fame expugna ri poterant. p. 1289.