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Agrippa, mentioned Acts xxv. and xxvi. that is, in the month of May, in the year of our Lord 66.

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The temple was burnt on the tenth day of the month of August, [in the year of Christ 70] the same day and month on which it had been burnt by the king of Babylon.' Which Josephus repeats again afterwards.

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The city was taken on the eighth day of September, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, or the year of Christ 70.

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That was the end of the siege of Jerusalem, which began, as the same author observes several times, about the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, or our April.

The war therefore lasted four years and four months, computing from May 66, to September in the year 70: and the siege lasted about five months, computing from the fourteenth day of April to the eighth of September, in the year 70. If we carry on our computation to the taking of the castle of Massada, which happened in the year 73, (as we shall see hereafter) the war lasted

seven years.

V. I think it proper here also to take notice of our Lord's expressions concerning the sign whereby the approach of these calamities might be discerned, Matt. xxiv. 15, 16. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,stand in the holy place; then let them which be in Judea, flee to the mountains." Mark xiii. 14. "When ye shall see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not—then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains." Luke xxi. 20. " And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."

By the abomination of desolation, or the abomination that maketh desolate," therefore, is intended the Roman armies, with their ensigns. As the Roman ensigns, especially the eagle, which was carried at the head of every legion, were objects of worship, they are, according to the usual style of scripture, called " an abomination."

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

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There are several things in Josephus, which will confirm this interpretation.

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Pilate,' says

he, the prefect of Judea, sending his army from Cæsarea, and putting them into winter quarters at Jerusalem, brought the carved images of Cæsar, which are in the ensigns, into the city in violation of the Jewish laws; since our law forbids the making of images. For which reason the former governors were wont to come into the city with ensigns destitute of these ' ornaments. Pilate was the first who set up images in Jerusalem: and he did it privately, the 'army making their entrance in the night time: but, as soon as the people knew it, they went in a large body to Cæsarea, making earnest supplications that the images might be removed And at length Pilate gave orders for bringing back the images from Jerusalem to Cæsarea.' And not long after that, Vitellius, president of Syria, received orders from Tiberius, to attack Aretas, king of Petra; whereupon he was going to march through Judea: But some of their chief men waited on him, and entreated him not to lead his army through their country, because it was contrary to their laws that any images should be brought into it, whereas there were a great many in his army. And he hearkened to them, altered his intention, and marched his troops another way.'

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Our Lord's disciples and followers therefore might well be alarmed as soon as they saw Roman armies, with their idolatrous ensigns, appear in an hostile manner in any part of the land of Israel: but as they approached to Jerusalem the danger would be more imminent and pressing.

And as men unwillingly leave their native country, and their accustomed habitations, and removals are always attended with dangers and difficulties, our Lord recommends flight in very urgent terms, lest any of those who loved him, and respected his doctrine, should partake in the dreadful calamities of the siege.

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VI. We now observe some events spoken of by our Lord, which would precede the great calamity coming upon the Jewish nation.

1. One is, that "the doctrine of the gospel" should be preached throughout the Roman empire, and in other places adjoining to it.

"And this gospel of the kingdom," says he, "shall be preached in all the world, for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come:" Matt. xxiv. 14. "And the gospel must first be published among all nations." Mark xiii. 10.

And however unlikely that might seem when those words were spoken by our Lord, they were verified. The epistles of the New Testament, still extant, and written to Christians in divers cities and countries, are a standing monument of it; for they are sent to believers at Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, Thessalonica, and the Hebrews; all written by St. Paul. And the epistles of the apostle Peter are directed to Christians, residing in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. And the four gospels, and the Acts of the apostles, afford evidence, that there were numerous converts to the faith of Jesus; for they were written for the use of such. St. Paul says, Rom. xv. 19, that "from Jerusalem, and round about unto 'Illyricum, he had fully preached the gospel of Christ." He reminds the Romans, i. 18, "that their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world." To the Colossians he observes, "that the gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven;" ch. i. 23, and see ver. 6. The prediction therefore of that great event had been accomplished within the limits of the time assigned for it.

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And Tacitus bears witness that the Christian religion, which had its rise in Judea, had spread into many parts, and had reached Rome itself, where the professors of it were numerous, and many of them underwent grievous torments in the reign of Nero, about the year of our Lord 64, and afterwards.

2. Our Lord says to his disciples, in his prophetical discourses concerning the coming calamities upon Judea; "Before all these things they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name sake-And some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye will be hated of all men for my name sake." Luke xxi. 12; and 16, 17. And to the like the other evangelists.

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The full accomplishment of these things is well known to Christians, from the book of the Acts, and the epistles of the New Testament. The apostles of Jesus met with great difficulties in preaching the gospel: and the converts made by them were exposed to many sufferings. Peter and John, and all the apostles, were brought before the Jewish council, and were imprisoned, and beaten, and further threatened: Acts iv. Stephen, an eminent disciple and evangelist, suffered death by stoning; vi. vii. James, the brother of John, was beheaded by King Agrippa; who also shut up Peter in prison, with intention to put him to death also; but he was miraculously delivered; ch. xii. Paul was kept in prison two years in Judea, and afterwards as long at Rome. He pleaded before Felix and Festus, Roman governors in Judea, and King Agrippa the younger, as well as before the Jewish council at Jerusalem; xxi.-xxviii. And there is good reason to believe that he was brought before Nero himself. Many of his suffer. ings and dangers are enumerated in 2 Cor xi. 23—33.

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They who received the doctrine taught by the apostles, had also their share of afflictions and trials. Paul, whilst he was their enemy, "made havoc of the Church, entering into every house; and, haling men and women, committed them to prison: and when they were put to death, he gave his voice against them:- He punished them in every synagogue, and persecuted them even into strange cities:" Acts viii. 3, and xxvi. 10, 11. And in his epistle to the Hebrews, he observes to them, that "they had endured a great fight of afflictions; partly whilst they were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly whilst they became companions of those who were so used; and that they had joyfully taken the spoiling of their goods: ch. x. 32-34. And Agrippa, before-mentioned, began with "laying his hands upon certain of the church;" Acts xii. 1. And that the believers suffered afflictions in other places beside Judea, is manifest from 2 Thess. i. 3-6. James ii. 5-7. 2 Pet. iv. 12-19. And the Jews at Rome, whom Paul sent for to come to him, say; "As concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against."

• Ann. 1. 15. cap. 44.

VOL. III.

See that fully proved in The Supplement to the Credibility, &c. this Vol. Ch. xii. sect. 10.

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Tacitus confirms the truth of these predictions of our Lord. He has given a particular account of the suffering of many Christians at Rome, before the desolations of Judea. In the tenth year of Nero, the sixty-fourth of our Lord, there happened a great fire at Rome. Nero was suspected to have set it on fire himself. For suppressing that common rumour, Nero ⚫ procured others to be accused, and inflicted exquisite punishments upon those people, who ' were in abhorrence for their crimes, and were commonly known by the name of Christians.' And he says, that they were condemned, not so much for the crime of burning the city, as for their enmity to mankind.' Thus Tacitus bears witness, not only to their undeserved sufferings, but also to the reproaches they underwent, agreeably to what our blessed Lord had said, that "they would be hated of all men for his name sake." However, these innocent sufferers had their supports: for their unerring Master, all whose words were true, has said; "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."

3. Further, our Lord intimates, that, before the full accomplishment of his predictions concerning the miseries coming upon the Jewish nation, there would be declensions of zeal among his own professed disciples and followers.

"And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another and because iniquity will abound, the love of many will wax cold;" Matt. xxiv. 10. 12, and see Mark xiii. 12, 13, and Luke xxi. 16.

What is said of this matter in the gospels may be verified from the epistles of the New Testament. The whole epistle to the Hebrews, is an argument to stedfastness, implying the great danger of apostasy from the faith, or of abatements of zeal for it: "Let us,"

says he, "hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering-And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; Heb. x. 23-25; and onwards to ver. 39. And ch. xii. 12. "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees." In ch. vi. 4-9, he shews the great guilt, and the deplorable condition, of such as apostatize. In his second epistle to Timothy, ch. i. 15; "This thou knowest," says he, "that all they which are of Asia [probably meaning such as were then at Rome] are turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes." And afterwards, ch. iv. 16, he complains of other Christians at Rome, who deserted him when he made his appearance there before Nero. "At my first answer [or apology] no man stood with me; but all men forsook me." And again, in the same epistle, ch. ii. 17, he speaks of Hymeneus and Philetus: "who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some:" and see 1 Tim. i. 19, 20. I allege nothing more from the books of the New Testament.

Tacitus, in his account of Nero's persecution of the Christians, already quoted more than once, does also confirm the truth of this prediction of our Lord: who says that at first they only were apprehended, who confessed themselves to be of that sect: afterwards, many more were taken up, whom they discovered to be of their number.'

Nor ought this to be thought exceeding strange, notwithstanding the perfection of the Christian doctrine, and the evidences of its truth. For, in a great number of men, it is very likely that some should be overcome by the difficulties and dangers attending the profession of it. So says the chief sower of his heavenly doctrine: "some seed fell in stony places. The same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it: yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended."

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4. Our blessed Lord said that before the great calamity, predicted by him, there would be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

We know, from the history in the Acts of the apostles, that there was a famine in Judea in the time of the emperor Claudius; ch. xi. 25-30. It was not an accidental scarcity at Jerusalem only, but it was a famine all over that country. It began in the fourth year of that emperor, and lasted several years. We have a particular account of it in Josephus. He also incendii, quam odio humani generis convicti sunt, &c. Ann.

Ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos, et exquisitissimis pœnis affecit, quos, per flagitia invisos, vulgus Christianos appellabat-Igitur primo correpti qui fatebantur; deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens, haud perinde crimine

15. c. 44.

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b Igitur primo correpti, qui fatebantur; deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens. &c. Ann. 15. c. 44.

Ant. 1. 20. ii. 6.

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says it was a very severe famine. And in another place he mentions the high price of corn at that season; and says that this famine happened in the reign of Claudius, not long before the war.

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That famine is also taken notice of by Eusebius in his Chronicle, and in his History, and by Orosius.

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There was also a famine at Rome, and in Italy, mentioned by Dion Cassius; which began in the first year of Claudius, and continued in the next year.

There was another famine in the same reign, mentioned by Tacitus and Eusebius; which seems to have been chiefly in the tenth or eleventh year of that emperor.

To all these Suetonius seems to refer, though he does not mention the years in which they happened.

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Concerning the famines in the reign of the emperor Claudius, some modern historians and chronologers might be consulted.

Our Lord speaks also of " pestilences." By Josephus we are informed that, about the year of Christ 40, there was a pestilence at Babylon, in which the Jews suffered.

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In the sixty-fifth year of the Christian æra there was a great mortality at Rome. At the same time there were other calamities in divers parts of the Roman empire, as we learn from * Tacitus and Suetonius, as well as from Orosius, who might transcribe from them.

-and "earthquakes."

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Tacitus speaks of an earthquake at Rome in the time of Claudius, and of another' at Apamea in the same reign.

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In the reign of Nero there was an earthquake at Laodicea, mentioned by Tacitus; and likewise by Eusebius in his Chronicle; who says that in Asia three cities, namely Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse, were overturned by an earthquake. And in like manner " Orosius. Possibly the earthquake, which was most violent at Laodicea, was felt in the other cities likewise.

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In the same reign there was an earthquake in Campania, mentioned by Tacitus and Seneca. By the former it seems to be placed in the year of Christ, 62, by the latter in the year 63. And there may have been other earthquakes in the time of the just mentioned emperors.

• Επι τέτοις δη και μεγαν λιμον κατα την Ιεδαίαν συνεβη γενεσθαι. Ib. cap. v. 2.

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-8 μην άλλα και τα δε τε πολεμα μικρον εμπροσθεν, Κλαύδιο Ρωμαίων αρχοντος, και λιμε την χωραν ήμων καταλαβοντος, ὡς τεσσαρων δραχμών πολεισθαι τον ασσαρώνα. Ant. 1. 3. xv. 3. c Chr. p. 160.

d H. E. 1. 2. cap. xii.

f Dio. 1. 60, p. 671. al. 949.

e Or. 1. 7. cap. 6.

duo præcipua oppida, magnâ civium sociorumque cæde
direpta sunt: ignominia ad Orientem, legionibus in Armenia
sub jugum missis, ægreque Syria retenta. Sueton. Nero.
cap. 39.
P Oros. 1. 7, c. 7.

Multa eo anno prodigia evenere. Insessum diris avibus Capitolium; crebris terræ motibus prorutæ domus. Ann. 12. cap. 43.

Tributumque Apamiensibus, terræ motu convulsis, in

Frugum quoque egestas, et orta ex eo fames, in prodi- quinquennium remissum. Id. l. 12. c. 58. gium accipiebatur. Tac. Ann. 1. 12. c. 43.

Fames facta in Græciâ. Modius sex drachmis venumdatus est. Magna fames Romæ. Chr. p. 160, infr. m.

Arctiore autem annonâ propter assiduas sterilitates, &c.

Suet. Claud. c. 18. Vid. et cap. 19, et 20.

Vid. Pagi. A. D. 72. n. vii. Reimari annot. ad Dion. Cass. p. 948. See also Credib. P. i. B. i. ch. x.

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· φθορα εν Βαβυλώνι εγενετο αυτών. Ant. l. 18, ix. 8. m Vid. Pagi. A. D. 67. n. iii.

n Tot facinoribus fœdum annum etiam Dii tempestatibus et morbis insignivere. Vastata Campania turbine ventorum, qui villas, arbusta, fruges passim disjecit, pertulitque violentiam ad vicina urbi; in quâ omne mortalium genus vis pesti lentiæ depopulabatur, nullâ cœli intemperie, quæ occurreret oculis. Sed domus corporibus exanimis, itinera funeribus complebantur. Non sexus, non ætas periculo vacua. Servitia perinde ac ingenua plebes raptim exstingui, inter conjugum et liberorum lamenta; qui dum assident, dum deflent, sæpe eodem rogo cremabantur. Equitum, senatorumque interitus, quamvis promiscui, minus flebiles erant, tamquam communi mortalitate sævitiam principis prævenirent. Tacit. Ann. 16, cap. 13.

• Accesserunt tantis ex principe malis, probrisque, quædam et fortuita: pestilentia unius autumni, quo triginta funerum millia in rationem Libitina venerunt: clades Britannica, quâ

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* Iisdemque Consulibus gymnasium ictu fulminis confla. gravit, effigiesque in eo Neronis ad informe as liquefacta. Et motu terræ celebre Campaniæ oppidum Pompeii magnâ ex parte proruit. Ann. 1. 15, c. 22.

y Pompeios, celebrem Campaniæ urbem-desedisse terræ motu, vexatis quâcumque adjacentibus regionibus, Lucili virorum optime, audivimus: et quidem diebus hibernis, quos vacare a tali periculo majores nostri solebant promittere. Nonis Febr. fuit motus hic, Regulo et Virginio Consulibus, qui Campaniam nunquam securam hujus mali, indemnem tamen, et toties defunctam metu, magnâ strage vastavit. Nam et Herculanensis oppidi pars ruit, dubieque stant etiam quæ relicta sunt. Et Nucerinorum colonia, ut sine clade, ita non sine querela est. Neapolis quoque privatim multa, publice nihil amisit, leviter ingenti malo perstricta, Villæ vero præruptæ passim sine injuriâ tremuere. Adjiciunt his sexcentarum ovium gregem exanimatum, et divisas statuas, &c. Sen. Nt. Qu. l. 6, c. 1.

5. Our Lord foretels "wars and commotions" preceding the final ruin: Matt. xxiv. 6; Mark xiii. 7; Luke xxi. 9.

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Josephus has a long story of a disturbance in Mesopotamia, occasioned by the ambition and indiscretion of two Jews, who were brothers. It seems to have happened about the year of Christ 40. Josephus says it was not inferior to any calamity which the Jews had suffered hitherto; and that it occasioned the death of more than fifty thousand people.

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When Cuspius Fadus came procurator into Judea, in the reign of Claudius, in the year of Christ 44 or 45, as Josephus says, he found the Jews in Peréa in a riot, fighting with the Philadelphians about the limits of the village Mia. And indeed the people of Peréa had taken up arms without the consent of their chief men, and had killed a good number of the Philadelphians. When Fadus heard of it, he was much displeased that they had taken up arms, and had not left the decision of the dispute to him, if they thought the Philadelphians had done them any injury. Three of the principal men, who were the causes of the sedition, were ⚫ apprehended and put in prison, one of whom was afterwards put to death, and the two others 'banished.'

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Afterwards, in the year of our Lord 49, whilst Cumanus was procurator of Judea, theref happened a tumult at Jérusalem at the time of the Passover. The number of Jews that perished in it was not less than twenty thousand, as it is in his Antiquities: but in the Jewish War the number is no more than ten thousand.

Whilst Cumanus was yet in Judea there happened a disturbance between the Jews and the Samaritans, in which many were killed on both sides.

Josephus also says that under Cumanus the troubles of the Jewish people began, and that in his time they suffered very much.

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These disturbances went on increasing. At Cæsarea there had long been contentions between the Jewish people and the other inhabitants. And,' as Josephus says, in one hour's time more than twenty thousand Jews were destroyed, and all Cæsarea was at once ⚫ emptied of its Jewish inhabitants. Some fled, whóm Florus caught, and sent them bound to the gallies: at which the whole nation was enraged. They therefore divided themselves into several parties, and laid waste the villages of the Syrians, and their neighbouring cities, Philadelphia, Sebonitis, Gerasa, Pella, and Scythopolis: and after them Gadara and Hippos: and falling upon Gaulanitis, some cities they demolished there, others they set on fire. Then they 'went to Kedasa, belonging to the Syrians, and to Ptolemais, and Gaba, and Cæsarea. Nor was Sebaste or Ascalon able to withstand the violence with which they were attacked. When

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' they had burnt these to the ground, they demolished Anthedon and Gaza. Many also of the villages round about these cities were plundered; and an immense slaughter was made of the men found in them.'

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The Syrians destroyed not a less number of the Jews: so that the disorders all over Syria 'were terrible. For every city was divided into parties armed against each other; and the 'safety of the one depended upon the destruction of the other. The days were spent in slaughter, and the nights in terrors, which were the worst of the two. It was common to see 'cities filled with dead bodies, lying unburied, those of old men mixed with infants, all dead, ⚫ and scattered about promiscuously, and women without covering for their nakedness.'

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• At Scythopolis the contention was carried so far, that above thirteen thousand Jews were 'killed.'

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After that other cities also rose up against the Jews that were among them. They of 'Ascalon slew two thousand and five hundred; they of Ptolemais two thousand, and put many

⚫ others into prison. The Tyrians acted in the like manner: as did also Hippos and Gadara, and divers other cities of Syria.

Antiq. 1. 18, cap. ix.

Vid. Usser. A. P. J. 4753. p. 864. Basnag. ann. 40. . xili. Tillem. Ruine des Juifs. art. xxviii.

• Γίνεται δε και περί τας εν τη Μεσοποταμία και μάλισα
την Βαβυλωνα οικοντας Ιεδαίες συμφορα δεινή, και εδεμιας ής
τίνος ελάσσων, φονος τε αυτών πολύς, και όποσος εχ ισορημένος
a Ib. sect 9.
wporεpov. Ib. sect. 1.

Ant. 1. 20. cap. i. 1.
Antiq. 1. 20. c. v. 3. De B. J. 1. 2. c. xii. 1.

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