The Destruction of Jerusalem
An Absolute and Irresistible
PROOF OF THE DIVINE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY INCLUDING
A NARRATIVE OF THE CALAMITIES WHICH BEFEL THE JEWS
So far as they tend to verify
OUR LORD'S PREDICTIONS Relative to that event.
By George Peter Holford
(Written in 1805)
"I consider the Prophecy relative to the destruction of the Jewish nation, if there were nothing else to support Christianity, as absolutely irresistible
(Mr. Erskine's Speech, at the Trial of Williams, for publishing Paine's Age of Reason)
PREFACE
History records few events more generally interesting than the
destruction of
Upon the
execution of the tract, generally, the public will determine.
Usefulness is the writer's main object ; and if a perusal of it
shall contribute, under the DIVINE BLESSING, to confirm the wavering
faith of only one Christian, or to shake the vain
confidence of a single Unbeliever, his labour will be
abundantly rewarded.
G.H. LONDON 1st. month, 1805.
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
THE
goodness of God stamps all his proceedings. It has pleased Him not
only to communicate to mankind a revelation, which, to the pious
mind, bears in its internal
texture its own evidence and recommendation, but also to accompany
it with such external proofs of a sacred origin, as seem
calculated to strike, with irresistible conviction, even those who
are least disposed to admit the truth of the Holy Scriptures. In
order to evidence their divine authenticity, God has done as much as
man could possibly have required.
1 For, supposing that it had
been referred to mankind to have prescribed for their own
satisfaction, and that of their prosperity, the credentials which
His messengers should bring with them, in order to authenticate the
divinity of their mission, could the wisest and most skeptical
amongst men have proposed, for this purpose, any thing more
conclusive than,
st. Demonstrations of
power, surpassing every possible effect of human skill and effort
-- and
2dly.
Intelligence relative to the future events and circumstances of
nations and individuals, which no human sagacity would ever pretend
to foresee or predict ?
If such
had been the evidences demanded, what addition to them could
possibly have been suggested ? Is it in the human mind to imagine
any tests of divine authority better adapted, sooner or later, to
expose the artifices, and frustrate the designs, of an imposter ? In
vain will the profoundest policy attempt to discover means more
suitable to this purpose, and, with respect to the reception of the
revelation itself, more perfectly fitted to banish all reasonable
doubt on the one hand, and to invalidate the charge of credulity on
the other. Now these, precisely, are the credentials with
which it has pleased God to sanction the testimony of his inspired
messengers, as recorded in the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testament. THEY WROUGHT MIRACLES : THEY FORETOLD FUTURE EVENTS. Thus
all that man himself could demand has been given, and objectors are
left entirely without excuse.
JESUS
CHRIST, the principal of those messengers, like his illustrious
types and predecessors Moses and Elijah, proclaimed and attested his
divine mission at once by miraculous acts, and by prophetic
declarations. His miracles were numerous, diversified, and performed
in various parts of his native country ; they were not frivolous
tricks, calculated merely to excite wonder and gratify curiosity,
but acts of substantial utility and benevolence. They were publicly,
but not boastingly and ostentatiously, displayed -- in the presence
not of friends only, but also of enemies -- of enemies exasperated
to malignity against him, because he had censured their vices and
exposed their hypocrisy, and who were actuated by every motive which
a spirit of revenge could suggest to incurable prejudice, to induce
them to detect the imposition of his miracles, if false,
and to deny and discredit them, if true. To deny
them they did not attempt, but they strove to sink them in
disrepute, and thereby furnished a striking specimen of those
embarrassing dilemmas, into which infidelity is continually
betraying her votaries. They ascribed them to the agency of Satan ;
thus representing him, "who was a liar from the beginning," as
contributing to the diffusion of the truth -- "the spirit that
worketh in the children of disobedience" as promoting the cause of
holiness and as co-operating in the overthrow of his own kingdom,
with HIM who "was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil!"
The
prophecies of our Lord, as well as his miracles, were many, and of
great variety. They were not delivered with pomp and parade, but
rose out of occasions, and seem to have resulted, for the most part,
from his affectionate solicitude for those who then were, or might
afterwards become, his disciples. While the fulfillment of some of
these predictions was confined to the term of his mission and the
limits of his country, the accomplishment of others extended to all
nations, and to every future age of the world.
Of the prophecies which have
already been fulfilled, few, perhaps, are so interesting in
themselves, or so striking in their accomplishment, as those which
relate to the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, and
the signal calamities which every where befel the Jewish nation. The
chief of our Lord's predictions, relative to these events,
are contained in Matt. 24 ch. Mark, 13 ch., Luke 21 ch., Ib. 19 ch.
41-44 ; Ib. 23 ch. 27-30 : and we may with confidence appeal to the
facts which verify them as conclusive and incontrovertible
proofs of the divinity of his mission. Before, however, we enter
upon this illustration, it may be gratifying to the reader, and add
considerably to the interest of many of the subsequent pages, to
give in this place a brief description of that renowned city and its
temple.
The tower
last mentioned commanded an excellent view of the whole temple, the
riches grandeur, and elegance of which it is not in the power of
language to describe. Whether we consider its architecture, its
dimensions, its magnificence, its splendor, or the sacred purposes
to which it was dedicated, it must equally be regarded as the most
astonishing fabric that was ever constructed. It
was erected partly on a solid rock, which was originally steep on
every side. The foundations of what was called the lower temple were
300 cubits in depth, and the stones of which they were composed,
more than sixty feet in length, while the superstructure contained,
of the whitest marble, stones nearly sixty-eight feet long, more
than seven feet high, and nine broad. The circuit of the whole
building was four furlongs ; its height one hundred cubits ; one
hundred and sixty pillars, each twenty seven feet high, ornamented
and sustained the immense and ponderous edifice. In the front,
spacious and lofty galleries, wainscoted with cedar, were supported
by columns of white marble, in uniform rows.In short, says Josephus,
nothing could surpass even the exterior of this temple, for its
elegant and curious workmanship. It was adorned with solid plates of
gold that rivaled the beauty of the rising sun, and were scarcely
less dazzling to the eye than the beams of that luminary. Of those
parts of the building which were not gilt; when viewed from a
distance, some, says he, appeared like pillars of snow, and some,
like mountains of white marble. The splendour of the interior
parts of the temple corresponded with its external magnificence. It
was decorated and enriched by every thing, that was costly, elegant
and superb. Religious donations and offerings had poured into this
wonderful repository of precious stores from every part of the
world, during many successive ages. In the lower temple were placed
those sacred curiosities, the seven branched candlestick of pure
gold, the table for the shew- bread, and the altar of incense ; the
two latter of which were covered with plates of the same metal. In
the sanctuary were several doors fifty-five cubits high and sixteen
in breadth which were all likewise of gold. Before these doors hung
a veil of the most beautiful Babylonian tapestry, composed of
scarlet, blue, and purple, exquisitely interwoven, and wrought up to
the highest degree of art. From the top of the ceiling depended
branches and leaves of vines, and large clusters of grapes, hanging
down five or six feet, all of gold and of most admirable
workmanship. In addition to these proofs of the splendour and riches
of the temple, may be noticed its eastern gate of pure Corinthian
brass more esteemed even than the precious metals -- the golden
folding doors of the chambers -- the beautiful carved- work,
gilding, and painting of the galleries -- golden vessels, &c. of the
sanctuary --the sacerdotal vestments Of scarlet, violet, and purple
--the vast wealth of the treasury-- abundance of precious stones,
and immense quantities of all kinds of costly spices and perfumes.
In short, the most valuable and sumptuous of whatever nature, or
art, or opulence, could supply _ was enclosed within the consecrated
walls of this magnificent and venerable edifice.
So much
concerning this celebrated city, and its still more celebrated
temple. We shall now consider our LORD's prophecies relating
to their destruction.
On the 2d.
day of the week, immediately preceding his crucifixion, our blessed
SAVIOUR made his public and triumphal entry into Jerusalem, amidst
the acclamations of a very great multitude of his disciples, Who
hailed him KING OF SION, and with palmbranches, the emblems of
victory, in their hands, rejoiced and gave praises to GOD for all
the mighty works they had seen, singing "Hosanna! blessed be the
KING that cometh in the name of the LORD ! peace in heaven, and
glory in the highest !" But while the people thus exulted, and
triumphantly congratulated the MESSIAH, he struggling with the
deepest emotions of pity and compassion for Jerusalem, beheld the
city and wept over it, saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at
least in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace
! but now they are hid from thine eyes; for the days shall come upon
thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass
thee around, and keep thee in on every side ; 'And shall lay thee
even with the ground, and thy children within thee and they shall,
not leave in thee one stone upon another ; because thou knewest
not the time of thy visitation."
2 On the 4th day of
the week following, being only two days before his death, he went
for the last time into the temple to teach the people : while He was
thus employed, the High Priests and the Elders, the Herodians, the
Sadducees, and Pharisees, successively came to him, and questioned
him with subtly, being desirous to "entangle him in his talk ; " to
whom, with his accustomed dignity and wisdom, he returned answers
which carried conviction to their hearts, and at once silenced and
astonished them. Then, turning to his disciples, and the whole
multitude, he addressed to them a discourse of very uncommon energy,
in which, with most exquisite keenness of reproof, he exposed and
condemned the cruelty and pride, the hypocrisy and sensuality of the
Pharisees and Scribes. Having next foretold the barbarous treatment
which his Apostles would receive at their hands be proceeded to
denounce against Jerusalem the dire and heavy vengeance, that had
for ages been accumulating in the vials of divine displeasure,
expressly declaring that it, should be poured out upon the then
existing generation, adding that inimitably tender and pathetic
apostrophe to this devoted city, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them- which are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings,, and ye would not ! Behold !
your HOUSE is left unto you desolate ; for I say unto you, ye shall
not see me henceforth, till you shall say, Blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord !"
3 Having said this,
he went out of the temple, and, as he departed, his disciples drew
his attention to the wonderful magnitude and splendour of the
edifice. -- They spake, "how it was adorned with goodly stones and
gifts ;" and said unto him, "Master see ! what manner of stones
and buildings are here ! And Jesus said unto them , See
ye not all these things ? Verily I say unto you, there shall
not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown
down." When we consider the antiquity and sanctity of the temple,
its stupendous fabric, its solidity, and the uncommon magnitude of
the stones of which it was composed, we may, in some measure,
conceive of the amazement which this declaration of our LORD must
have excited in the mind of his disciples. Nevertheless, this
remarkable prediction, as we shall see in the sequel, was literally
fulfilled, and, as our LORD had foretold, even during the existence
of the generation to which he addressed it.
Our Lord
now retired to the
"Tell us,
when shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign when all
these things shall be fulfilled ?" Such were the questions of the
disciples, in answer to which our LORD condescended to give them a
particular account of the several important events that would
precede, as well as of the prognostics which would announce, the
approaching desolations ; including suitable directions for the
regulation of their conduct under the various trials to which they
were to be exposed. He commences with a caution : "Take heed," says
be, "that no man deceive you ; for many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many." The necessity
for this friendly warning soon appeared ; for within one year after
our Lord's ascension, rose Dositheus the Samaritan, who had the
boldness to assert that he was the Messiah, of whom Moses prophesied
; while his disciple Simon Magus deluded multitudes into a
belief that he, himself, was the "GREAT POWER OF GOD." About three
years afterwards another Samaritan impostor appeared, and declared
that he would shew the people the sacred utensils, said to have been
deposited by Moses, in
If it be
objected that none of these impostors, except Dositheus, assumed the
name of Messiah, we reply, that the groveling expectations of
the Jews was directed to a Messiah who should merely deliver them
from the Roman yoke, and "restore the kingdom to Jerusalem ;" and
such were the pretensions of these deceivers. This expectation,
indeed, is the only true solution of these strange and reputed
insurrections ; which will naturally remind the reader of the
following prophetic expressions of our LORD : "I am come in my
Father's name, and ye receive me not ; if another shall come in
his own name, him ye will receive." " If they shall say unto
you, 'Behold he is in the desert !' go not forth. They will
shew
5 (or pretend to shew) great
signs and wonders,"' &c. Our Saviour thus proceeded : "And ye
shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars ; see that ye be not troubled
: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet,
for nation shall rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom,
and great earthquakes shall be in divers places,
and famines, and pestilences : all these are the
beginnings of sorrows. " -- Matt. xxiv. 7,8.
Luke
xxi. 11, "Wars and rumours of wars," &c. These commotions,
like distant thunder, that forebodes the approaching storm,
"At first
heard solemn o'er the verge of heaven,"
were so frequent from the
death of our Lord until the destruction of Jerusalem, that whole
interval might, with propriety, appealed to, in illustration of this
prophecy. One hundred and fifty of the copious pages of Josephus,
which contain the history of this period, are every where stained
with blood. To particularize in a few instances : About three years
after the death of Christ, a war broke out between Herod and Aretas,
king of Arabia Petraea, in which the army of the former was cut off.
This was kingdom rising against kingdom. Wars are
usually preceded by rumours. It may, therefore, appear absurd to
attempt a distinct elucidation of this part of the prophecy ;
nevertheless, it ought not to be omitted, that about this time, the
emperor Caligula, having ordered his statue to be placed in the
temple of Jerusalem, and the Jews having persisted to refuse him,
the whole nation were so much alarmed, by the mere apprehension of
war, that they neglected even to till their lands ! The storm,
however, blew over.
About this
period a great number of Jews, on account of a pestilence which
raged at Babylon, removed from that city to Seleucia, where the
Greeks and Syrians rose against them, and destroyed of this
devoted people more than five myriads ! "The
extent of this slaughter (says Josephus) had no parallel in any
former period of their history." Again, about five years after; this
dreadful massacre, there happened a severe contest between the Jews
at Perea, and the Philadelphians, respecting the limits of a city
called Mia, in which many of the former were slain. This was nation
rising up against nation. Four year afterwards, under Cumanus, an
indignity was offered to the Jews within the precincts of the
temple, by a Roman soldier, which they violently resented ; but,
upon the approach of the Romans in great force, their terror was so
excessive, and so disorderly and precipitate their flight, that not
less than ten thousand Jews were trodden to death in the
streets. This, again, was nation rising up against nation. Four
years more had not elapsed, before the Jews made war against the
Samaritans, and ravaged their country. The people of Samaria had
murdered a Galilean, who was going up to Jerusalem to keep the
Passover, and the Jews thus revenged it. At Caesarea, the Jews
having had a sharp contention with the Syrians for the government of
the city, an appeal was made to who decreed it to the Syrians. This
event laid the foundation of a most cruel and sanguinary contest
between the two nations. The Jews, mortified by
disappointment, and inflamed by jealousy, rose against the Syrians,
who successfully repelled them. In the city of Caesarea alone
upwards of twenty thousand Jews were slain. The flame,
however, was not now quenched ; it spread its destructive rage
wherever the Jew and Syrians dwelt together in the same place :
throughout every city, town, and village, mutual animosity and
slaughter prevailed. At Damascus, Tyre, Ascalon, Gadara, and
Scythopolis, the carnage was dreadful. At the first of these cities,
ten thousand Jews were slain in one hour, and at Scythopolis
thirteen thousand treacherously in one night. At Alexandria
the Jews, aggrieved by the oppressions of the Romans, rose against
them ; but the Romans, gaining the ascendancy, slew of that
nation fifty thousand persons, sparing neither infants
nor the aged. And after this, at the siege of Jopata, not less than
forty thousand Jews perished.
While these destructive
contests prevailed in the East, the western parts of the Roman
empire were rent by the fierce contentious of Galba, Otho, and
Vertellis ; of which three emperors, it is remarkable that they all,
together with Nero, their immediate predecessor, died a violent
death, within the short space of eighteen months. Finally, the
whole nation of the Jews took up arms against the Romans, king
Agrippa, &c. and provoked that dreadful war which, in a few years,
deluged Judea in blood, and laid its capital in ruins.
If it be
here objected, that, because wars are events of frequent occurrence,
it would be improper to refer to supernatural foresight a successful
prediction respecting them, it is replied, that much of this
objection will be removed, by considering the incompetency of even
statesmen themselves to foretel the condition, only for a few years,
of the very nation whose affairs they administer. It is a well-known
fact, that the present minister of Great Britain, on the very eve of
the late long and destructive war with the French Republic, held out
to this country a picture of fifteen successive years of peace.
Indeed, the nice points on which peace and war often depend, baffle
all calculations from present aspects ; and a rumour of war, so
loud and so alarming, as even to suspend the operations of
husbandry, may terminate, as we have just seen, in nothing but
rumour. Farther, let it be considered, that
the wars to which this part of our LORD's prophecy referred, were to
be of two kinds, and that the event corresponded accordingly ; that
they occurred within the period to which he had assigned them ; that
they fell with the most destructive severity on the Jews, to whom
the prophecy at large chiefly related, and that the person who
predicted them was not in the condition of a statesman, but
in that of a Carpenter's son ! "On this subject more in
another place.
'And
great earthquakes shall be in divers places." Of these
significant emblems of political commotions, there occurred several
within the scene of this prophecy, and, as our SAVIOUR
predicted, in divers places in the reign of Claudius there
was one at Rome, and another at Apamea in Syria, where many of the
Jews resided. The earthquake at the latter place was so
destructive, that the emperor, in order to relieve the distresses of
the inhabitants, remitted its tribute for five years. Both these
earthquakes are recorded by Tacitus. There was one also, in the
same reign in Crete. This is mentioned by Philostratus, in his Life
of Apollonius, who says, that 'there were others at Smyrna, Miletus,
Chios, and Samos ; in all which places Jews had settled.'
In the reign of Nero there was an earthquake at Laodicea.
Tacitus records this also. It is likewise mentioned by Eusebius and
Orosius, who add that Hieropolis and Colose, as well as Laodicea,
were overthrown by an earthquake. There was also one in
Campania in this reign (of this both Tacitus and Seneca speak ;) and
another at Rome in the reign of Galba, recorded by Suetonius ; to
all which may be added those which happened on that dreadful
night when the Idumeans were excluded from Jerusalem, a short time
before the siege commenced. "A heavy storm (says Josephus) burst on
them during the night violent winds arose, accompanied with the most
excessive rains, with constant lightnings, most tremendous
thunderings, and with dreadful roarings of earthquakes. It
seemed (continues he) as if the system of the world had been
confounded for the destruction of mankind ; and one might well
conjecture that these were signs of no common events."
Our
LORD predicted "famines" also. Of these the principal
was that which Agabus foretold would happen in the days of Claudius,
as related in the Acts of the Apostles. It begun in the fourth year
of his reign, and was of long continuance. It extended through
Greece, and even into Italy, but was felt most severely in Judea,
and especially at Jerusalem, where many perished for want of bread.
This famine is recorded by Josephus also, who relates that "an
assaron of corn was sold for five drachmae" (i.e. about 3 1/2 pints
for 3s. 3d.) It is likewise noticed by Eusebius and Orosius. To
alleviate this terrible calamity, Helena, queen of Adiabena, who was
at that time in Jerusalem, ordered large supplies of grain to be
sent from Alexandria; and Izates, her son, consigned vast sums to
the governors of Jerusalem, to be applied to the relief of the more
indigent sufferers. The Gentile Christian converts residing in
foreign countries, also sent, at the instance of St. Paul, liberal
contributions, to relieve the distresses of their Jewish brethren.
(I Corin. xvi. 3.) Dion Cassius relates that there was likewise a
famine in the first year of Claudius which prevailed at Rome,
and in other parts of Italy ; and, in the eleventh year of
the same emperor, there was another, mentioned by Eusebius. To these
may be added those that afflicted the inhabitants of several of the
cities of Galilee and Judea, which were besieged and taken,
previously to the investment of Jerusalem, where the climax of
national misery, arising from this and every other cause, was so
awfully completed.
Our Lord
adds "pestilences" likewise. Pestilence treads upon the heels
of famine, it may therefore reasonably be presumed, that this
terrible scourge accompanied the famines which have just been
enumerated. History, however, particularly distinguishes two
instances of this calamity, which occurred before the commencement
of the Jewish war. The first took place at Babylon about A. D. 40,
and raged so alarmingly, that great multitudes of Jews
fled from that city to Seleucia for safety, as hath been
hinted already. The other happened at Rome A.D. 65, and carried off
prodigious multitudes. Both Tacitus and Suetonius also
record, that similar calamities prevailed, during this period, in
various parts of the Roman empire. After Jerusalem was
surrounded by the army of Titus, pestilential diseases soon
made their appearance there to aggravate the miseries, and deepen
the horrors of the siege. They were partly occasioned by the immense
multitudes which were crowded together in the city, partly by the
putrid effluvia which arose from the unburied dead, and partly from
spread of famine.
Our Lord
proceeded, "And fearful sights and great signs shall there be
from heaven."
6 - Josephus has
collected the chief of these portents together, and introduces his
account by a reflection on the strangeness of that infatuation,
which could induce his countrymen to give credit to impostors, and
unfounded reports, whilst they disregarded the divine admonitions,
confirmed, as he asserts they Were, by the following extraordinary
signs :
1. "A
meteor, resembling a sword,
7 hung over Jerusalem during
one whole year." This could not be a comet, for it was stationary,
and was visible for twelve successive months. A sword too, though a
fit emblem for destruction, but ill represents a comet.
2. "On the
eighth of the month Zanthicus, (before the feast of unleavened
bread) at the ninth hour of the night, there shone round about the
altar, and the circumjacent buildings of the temple, a light equal
to the brightness of the day, which continued for the space of half
an hour." This could not be the effect of lightning, nor of a vivid
aurora borealis, for it was confined to a particular spoil
and the light shone unintermittedly thirty minutes.
3. "As the
High Priest were leading a heifer to the altar to be sacrificed, she
brought forth a lamb, in the midst of the temple." Such is
the strange account given by the historian. Some may regard it as a
"Grecian fable," while others may think that they discern in this
prodigy a miraculous rebuke of Jewish infidelity and impiety, for
rejecting the ANTITYPICAL Lamb, who had offered Up Himself as an
atonement, "once for all," and who, by thus completely
fulfilling their design, had virtually abrogated the Levitical
sacrifices. However this may be, the circumstances of the prodigy
are remarkable. It did not occur in an obscure part of the city, but
in the temple ; not at an ordinary time, but at the
passover, the season of our LORD'S crucifixion in the presence,
not of the vulgar merely, but of the High Priests and their
attendants, and when they were leading the sacrifice
to the altar.
4. "'About
the sixth hour of the night, the eastern gate of the temple was seen
to open without human assistance." When the guards informed the
Curator of this event, he sent men to assist them in shutting it,
who with great difficulty succeeded. -- This gate, as hath been
observed already, 'Was of solid brass, and required twenty men to
close it every evening. It could not have been opened by a "strong
gust of wind," or a slight earthquake;" for Josephus says, it
was secured by iron bolts And bars, which were let down into a large
threshold; consisting of one entire stone."
8
5. "Soon
after the feast of the Passover, in various parts of the country,
before the setting of the sun, chariots and armed men were seen in
the air, passing round about Jerusalem." Neither could this
portentous spectacle be occasioned by the aurora borealis,
for it occurred before the setting of the sun ; or
merely the fancy of a few villagers, gazing at the heavens, for it
was seen in various parts of the country.
6. "At the
subsequent feast of Pentecost, while the priests were going,
by night, into the inner, temple to perform their customary
ministrations, they first felt, as they said, a shaking, accompanied
by an indistinct murmuring, and afterwards voices as of a multitude,
saying, in a distinct and earnest manner, "LET US DEPART HENCE."
This gradation will remind the reader of that awful transaction,
which the feast of Pentecost *as principally instituted to
commemorate. First, a shaking was heard ; this would naturally
induce the priests to listen : an unintelligible murmur succeeds;
this would more powerfully arrest their attention, and while it was
thus awakened arid fixed, they heard, says Josephus, the voices as
of a multitude, distinctly pronouncing the words "LET US
DEPART HENCE." -- And accordingly, before the period for celebrating
this feast returned, the Jewish war had commenced, and in the space
of three years afterwards, Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman
army, the temple converted into a citadel, and its sacred courts
streaming with the blood of human victims.
7. As the
last and most fearful omen, Josephus relates that one Jesus, the son
of Ananus, a rustic of the lower class, during the Feast of
Tabernacles, suddenly exclaimed in the temple, "A voice from the
east a voice from the west -- a voice from the four winds- a voice
against Jerusalem and the temple -- a voice against bridegrooms and
brides -- a voice against the whole people !" These words he
incessantly proclaimed aloud both day and night, through all the
streets of Jerusalem, for seven years and five months together,
commencing at a time (A. D. 62) when the city was in a state of
peace, and overflowing with prosperity, and terminating amidst the
horrors of the siege. This disturber, having excited the attention
of the magistracy, was brought before Albinus the Roman governor,
who commanded that he should be scourged. But the severest
stripes drew from him neither tears nor supplications. As he never
thanked those who relieved, so neither did he complain of the
injustice of those who struck him. And no other answer could the
governor obtain to his interrogatories, but his usual denunciation
of "Woe, woe to Jerusalem !" which he still continued to proclaim
through the city, but especially during the festivals, when his
manner became more earnest, and the tone of his voice louder. At
length, on the commencement of the siege, he ascended the walls,
and, in a more powerful voice than ever, exclaimed, "Woe, woe to
this city, this temple, and this people !" And then, with a
presentment of his own death, added," Woe, woe to myself "' he had
scarcely uttered these words when a stone from one of the Roman
engines killed him on the spot.
Such are
the prodigies related by Josephus, and which, excepting the first,
he places in the year immediately preceding the Jewish war. Several
of them are recorded also by Tacitus. Nevertheless, it ought to be
observed, that they are received by Christian writers cautiously,
and with various degrees of credit. Those, however, who are most
skeptical, and who resolve them into natural causes, allow the
"superintendence of GOD to awaken his people by some of these
means." Whatever the fact, in this respect, may be, it is clear that
they correspond to our LORD'S prediction of "fearful sights, and
great signs from heaven;" and ought to be deemed a sufficient
answer to the objector, who demands whether any such appearances are
respectably recorded.
The next
prediction of our LORD related to the persecutions of his disciples
: "They shall lay their hands on you (said he), and
persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into
prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my
name's sake :" Luke xxi. 12. "and they shall deliver you up
to councils, and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten :" Mark
xiii. 9. "and some of You shall they CAUSE TO BE PUT TO
DEATH."- Luke xxi. 16. In the very infancy of the Christian church,
these unmerited and unprovoked cruelties began to be inflicted. --
Our LORD, and his forerunner John the Baptist, had already been put
to death ; the Apostles Peter and John were first imprisoned, and
then, together with the other Apostles, were scourged before the
Jewish council ; Stephen after confounding the Sanhedrim with
his irresistible eloquence, was stoned to death ; Herod
Agrippa "stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church,"
beheaded James the brother of John, and again imprisoned
Peter, designing to put him to death also ; St. Paul pleaded
before the Jewish council at Jerusalem, and before Felix the
Roman governor, who trembled on the judgment-seat, while the
intrepid prisoner "reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and
judgment to come !" Two years afterwards he was brought before
the tribunal of Festus (who had succeeded Felix in the
government,) king Agrippa the younger being present, who, while the
governor scoffed, ingenuously acknowledged the force of the
Apostle's eloquence, and, half convinced, exclaimed, "Almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian." Lastly, he pleaded before
the emperor Nero at Rome ; he was also brought with Silas
before the rulers at Philippi, where both of them were scourged
and imprisoned. Paul was likewise imprisoned two years
in Judea, and afterwards twice at Rome, each time for the space of
two years. He 'was scourged by the Jews five times, thrice
beaten with rods, and owe stoned ; nay, he himself, before his
conversion , was an instrument of fulfilling the predictions. St.
Luke relates of him that "he made havoc of the church, entering into
every house, and hating men and women, committed them to
prison ; when they were put to death he gave his voice
against them ; he punished them oft in every synagogue, and,
persecuted them even into strange cities and to this agree
his own declarations. (Vide Acts xxvi. 10, 11. Gal. i. 23.) At
length, about two years before the Jewish war, the first general
persecution commenced at the instigation of the emperor Nero, "
who," says Tacitus, "inflicted upon the Christians punishments
exquisitely painful ;" multitudes suffered a cruel martyrdom, amidst
derision and insults, and among the rest the venerable Apostles St
Peter and St. Paul.
Our LORD
continues-"And ye shall be hated of all nations for my
name's sake." Matt. xxiv. 9. The hatred from which the
above-recited persecutions sprang, was not provoked on the part of
the Christians by a contumacious resistance to established
authority, or by any violations of law, but was the unavoidable
consequence of their sustaining the name, and imitating the
character of' their MASTER. "It was a war," says Tertullian,
"against the very name : to be a Christian was of itself
crime enough." And to the same effect is that expression of Pliny in
his letter to Trajan : "I asked them whether they were Christians ;
if they confessed it, I asked them a second and a third time,
threatening them with punishment, and those who persevered I
commanded to be led away to death." -- It is added, "Of all
nations." Whatever animosity or dissensions might subsist between
the Gentiles and the Jews on other points, they were at all times
ready to unite and co-operate in the persecution of the humble
followers of Him, who came to be a LIGHT to the former, and
the GLORY of the latter.
"And then
shall many be offended, and shall betray one another." Matt. xxiv.
10. Concerning this fact, the following decisive testimony of
Tacitus may suffice : speaking of the persecutions of the Christians
under Nero, to which we have just alluded, he adds " several were
seized, who confessed, and by their discovery a great multitude of
others were convicted and barbarously executed."
"And this
Gospel of the kingdom shall be. preached in all the world, for a
witness unto all nations, and then shall the end (i.e. of the Jewish
dispensation) come." Matt. xxiv. 14. Of the fulfillment of this
prediction of the Epistles of St. Paul, addressed to the
Christians at Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi,
Colosse, Thessalonica ; and those of Peter to such as resided in
Pontus, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, are monuments now standing ; for
neither of these Apostles were living when the Jewish war commenced.
St. Paul, too, in his Epistle to the Romans, informs them that
'their faith was spoken of throughout the world ;' and in that to
the Colossians he observes that the " Gospel had been preached to
every creature under heaven." Clement, who was a fellow-labourer
with the Apostle, relates of him that "he taught the whole world
righteousness, travelling from the East westward to the borders of
the ocean." Eusebius says that "the Apostles preached the Gospel in
all the world, and that some of them passed beyond the bounds of the
ocean, and visited the Britannic isles :"
9 so says Theodoret
also.
"It
appears," says Bishop Newton, "from the writers of the history of
the church, that before the destruction of Jerusalem the Gospel was
not only preached in the Lesser Asia, and Greece, and Italy,
the great theatres of action then in the world , but was likewise
propagated as fax northward as Scythia, as far southward as
Ethiopia, as far eastward as Parthia and India, as far
westward as Spain and Britain." And Tacitus asserts that "the
Christian religion, which arose in Judea, spread over many parts of
the world, and extended to Rome itself, where the professors of it,
as early as the time of Nero, amounted to a vast multitude,"
insomuch that their numbers excited the jealousy of the government.
Thus
completely was fulfilled a prediction contrary to every conclusion
that could have been grounded on moral probability, and to the
accomplishment of which every kind of impediment was incessantly
opposed. The reputed son of a mechanic instructs a few simple
fishermen in a new dispensation destitute of worldly
incentives, but full of self-denials, sacrifices, and sufferings,
and fells them that in about forty years it should spread over all
the world. It spreads accordingly ; and, in defiance of the
exasperated bigotry of the Jews, and of all the authority, power,
and active opposition of the Gentiles, is established, within that
period, in all the countries into which it penetrates. Can any one
doubt but that the prediction and its fulfillment were equally
divine ?
Such,
briefly, is the account that history gives of the several events and
signs, which our Lord had foretold would precede the destruction of
the Holy City. No sooner were his predictions accomplished,
than a most unaccountable infatuation seized upon the whole Jewish
nation ; so that they not only provoked, but seemed even to rush
into the midst of those unparalleled calamities, which at length
totally overwhelmed them. In an essay of this sort it is impossible
to enter into a minute detail of the origin and progress of these
evils ; but such particulars as illustrate the fulfillment of the
remaining part of the prophecy, and justify the strong language in
which it is couched, shall be presented to the reader.
From the
conquest of their country by Pompey, about sixty years B. C. the
Jews had, on several occasions, manifested a refractory spirit ; but
after Judas the Gaulonite and Sadduc the Pharisee had taught them,
that submission to the Roman assessments would pave the way to a
state of abject slavery, this temper displayed itself with
increasing malignity and violence. Rebellious tumults and
insurrections became fame and more frequent and alarming ; and to
these the mercenary exactions of Florus, the Roman governor, not a
little contributed. At length Eleazer, son of the High Priest,
persuaded those who officiated in the temple to reject the
sacrifices of foreigners, and no longer to offer up prayers for
them. Thus an insult was thrown upon Caesar, his sacrifice rejected,
and the foundation of the Roman war laid. The disturbances among the
Jews still continuing, Cestius Gallus, president of Syria, marched
an army into Judea, in order to quell them, and his career was every
where marked with blood and desolation. As he proceeded, he
plundered and burnt the beautiful city of Zabulon, Joppa, and all
the villages which lay in his way. At Joppa he slew of the
inhabitants eight thousand four hundred. He laid waste the
district of Narbatene, and, sending an army into Galilee, slew there
two thousand of the seditious Jews. He then burnt the city of
Lydda; and after having repulsed the Jews, who made a desperate
sally upon him, encamped, at length, at the distance of about one
mile from Jerusalem. On the fourth day he entered its gate and burnt
three divisions of the city, and might now, by its capture, have put
a period to the war ; but through the treacherous persuasions of his
officers, instead of pursuing his advantages, he most unaccountably
raised the siege, and fled from the city with the utmost
precipitation. The Jews, however, pursued him as far as Antipatris,
and, with little loss to themselves, slew of his army nearly six
thousand men. After this disaster had befallen Cestius, the more
opulent of the Jews (says Josephus) forsook Jerusalem as men do a
sinking ship. And it is with reason supposed, that on this occasion
many of the Christians, or converted Jews, who dwelt there,
recollecting the warnings of their divine Master, retired to Pella,
a place beyond Jordan, situated in a mountainous country,
10 whither (according to
Eusebius, who resided near the spot) they came from Jerusalem, and
settled, before the war (under Vespasian) began. Other providential
opportunities for escaping afterwards occurred, of which, it is
probable, those who were now left behind availed themselves ; for it
is a striking act, and such as cannot be contemplated by the pious
mind without sentiments of devout admiration, that history does not
record that even one CHRISTIAN perished in the siege of Jerusalem.
Enduring to the end faithful to their blessed MASTER, they, gave
credit to his predictions, and escaped the calamity. Thus were
fulfilled the words of our Lord, Matt. 24. 13. "He that shall endure
unto the end (i. e. of the scene of this prophecy) shall be saved,"
i. e. from the calamities which wilt involve all those who shall
continue obstinate in unbelief.
Nero,
having been informed of the defeat of Cestius, immediately appointed
Vespasian, a man of tried valour, to prosecute the war against the
Jews, who, assisted by his son Titus, soon collected at Ptolemais an
army of sixty thousand men. From hence, in the spring of 67
A. D. he marched into Judea, every where spreading the most cruel
havoc and devastation ; the Roman soldiers, on various occasions,
sparing neither infants nor the aged. For fifteen months Vespasian
proceeded in this sanguinary career, during which period he reduced
all the strong towns of Galilee, and the chief of those in Judea,
destroying at least one hundred and fifty thousand of the
inhabitants. Among the terrible calamities which at this time
happened to the Jews, those which befel them at Joppa, which had
been rebuilt, deserve particular notice. Their frequent piracies had
provoked the vengeance of Vespasian. The Jews fled before his army
to their ships ; but a tempest immediately arose, and pursued such
as stood out to sea, and overset them, while the rest were dashed
vessel against vessel, and against the rocks, in the most tremendous
manner. In this perplexity many were drowned, some were
crushed by the broken ships, others killed themselves, and such as
reached the shore were slain by the merciless Romans. The sea for a
long space was stained with blood ; four thousand two hundred
dead bodies were strewed along the coast, and, dreadful to relate,
not an individual survived to report this great calamity at
Jerusalem. Such events were foretold by our LORD, when he said,
"There shall be distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea
and the waves roaring." Luke xxi. 25.
Vespasian,
after proceeding as far as Jericho, returned to Caesarea, in order
to make preparation for his grand attempt against Jerusalem. While
he was thus employed, he received intelligence of the death of Nero
; whereupon, not knowing what the will of the future emperor
might be, he prudently resolved to suspend, for the present, the
execution of his design. Thus the Almighty gave the Jews a second
respite, which continued nearly two years ; but
they repented not of their crimes, neither were they in the
least degree reclaimed, but rather proceeded to acts of still
greater enormity. The flame of civil dissension again burst out and,
with more dreadful fury. In the heart of Jerusalem two factions,
contended for the sovereignty, raged a against each other with
rancorous and destructive animosity. A division of one of these
factions having been excluded from the city (vide page 26,) forcibly
entered it during the night. Athirst for blood, and inflamed by
revenge, they spared neither age, sex, nor infancy ; and the morning
beheld eight thousand five hundred dead bodies lying in the
streets of the holy city. They plundered every house, and having
found the chief priests Anaius and Jesus, not only slew them, but,
insulting their bodies, cast them forth unburied. They slaughtered
the common people as unfeelingly as if they had been a herd of the
vilest beasts. The nobles they first imprisoned, then scourged, and
when they could not by these means attach them to their party, they
bestowed death upon them as a favour. Of the higher classes twelve
thousand perished in this manner ; nor did any one dare to shed a
tear, or utter a groan, openly, through fear of a similar fate.
Death, indeed, was the penalty of the lightest and heaviest
accusations , nor did any escape through the meanness of their
birth, or their poverty. Such as fled were intercepted and slain :
their carcasses lay in heaps on all the public roads : every symptom
of pity seemed utterly extinguished, and with it, all respect for
authority, both human and divine.
While
Jerusalem was a prey to these ferocious and devouring factions,
every part of Judea was scourged and laid waste by bands of robbers
and murderers, who plundered the towns; and, in case of resistance,
slew the inhabitants, not sparing either women or children. Simon,
son of Gioras, the commander of one of these bands, at the head of
forty thousand banditti, having with some difficulty entered
Jerusalem, gave birth to a third faction, and the flame of civil
discord blazed out again, with still more destructive fury. The
three factions, rendered frantic by drunkenness, rage, and
desperation, trampling on heaps of slain, fought against each other
with brutal savageness and madness. Even such as brought sacrifices
to the temple were murdered. The dead bodies of priests and
worshippers, both natives and foreigners were heaped together, and a
lake of blood stagnated in the sacred courts. John of Gischala, who
headed one of the factions, burnt storehouses full of provisions ;
and Simon, his great antagonist, who headed another of them, soon
afterwards followed his example. Thus they cut the very sinews of
their own strength. At this critical and alarming conjuncture,
intelligence arrived that the Roman army was approaching the city.
The Jews were petrified with astonishment and fear ; there was no
time for counsel, no hope of pacification, no means of flight:-- all
was wild disorder and perplexity :- nothing was to be heard but "the
confused noise of the warrior," -- nothing to be seen but garments
rolled in blood," -- nothing to be expected from the Romans but
signal and exemplary vengeance. A ceaseless cry of combatants was
heard day and night, and yet the lamentations of mourners were still
more dreadful. The consternation and terror which now prevailed
induced many inhabitants to desire that a foreign foe might come,
and effect their deliverance. Such was the horrible condition of the
place when Titus and his army presented themselves, and encamped
before Jerusalem ; but, alas ! not to deliver it from its miseries
but to fulfill the prediction, and vindicate the benevolent warning
of our Lord : "When ye see (he had said to his disciples) the
abomination of desolation, spoken or by the prophet Daniel,
standing in the holy place,
11 and Jerusalem surrounded
by armies (or camps,) then let those who are in the midst of
Jerusalem depart, and let not those who are in the country enter
into her," for " then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."
Matt. xxiv. 15, 21 ; Luke xxi. 20, 1-11. These armies, we
do not hesitate to affirm were those of the Romans, who now invested
the city. From the time of the Babylonian captivity, idolatry had
been held as an abomination by the Jews. This national
aversion was manifested even against the images of their gods and
emperors, which the Roman armies carried in their standards ; so
that, in a time of peace, Pilate, and afterwards Vitellius, at the
request of some eminent Jews, on this account avoided marching their
forces throu' Judea. Of the desolating disposition which now
governed the Roman army, the history of the Jewish war, and
especially of the final demolition of the holy city, presents an
awful and signal example. Jerusalem was not captured merely, but,
with its celebrated temple, laid in ruins. Lest, however, the army
of Titus should not be sufficiently designated by this expression,
our LORD adds, "Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles
be gathered together." Matt. xxiv. 28. The Jewish state, indeed,
at this time, was fitly compared to a carcass. The sceptre of Judah,
i.e. its civil and political authority, the life of its religion,
and the glory of its temple, were departed. It was, in short,
morally and judicially dead. The eagle, whose ruling instinct
is rapine and murder, as fitly represented the fierce and sanguinary
temper of the Romans, and, perhaps, might be intended to refer also
to the principal figure on their ensigns, which, however obnoxious
to the Jews, were at length planted in the midst of the holy city,
and finally on the temple itself.
The day on
which Titus encompassed Jerusalem, was the feast of the Passover ;
and it is deserving of the very particular attention of the reader,
that this was the anniversary of that memorable period in which the
Jews crucified their Messiah ! At this season multitudes came up
from all the surrounding country, and from distant parts, to keep
the festival. How suitable and how kind, then, was the prophetic
admonition of our LORD, and how clearly he into futurity when he
said "Let not them that are in the countries enter into Jerusalem."
Luke xxi. 21.
Nevertheless, the city was at this time crowded with Jewish
strangers, and foreigners from all parts, so that the whole nation
may be considered as having been shut up in one prison, preparatory
to the execution of the Divine vengeance ; and, according to
Josephus this event took place suddenly ; thus, not only
fulfilling the predictions of our LORD, that these calamities should
come, like the swift-darting lightning "that cometh out of the east
and shineth even unto the West," and " as a snare on all of
them (the Jews) who dwelt upon the face of the whole earth " (Matt.
xxiv. 27, and Luke xxi 35,) but justifying, also, his friendly
direction, that those who fled from the place should use the utmost
possible expedition.
On the
appearance of the Roman army, the factious Jews united, and, rushing
furiously out of the city repulsed the tenth legion, which
was with difficulty preserved. This event caused a short suspension
of hostilities, and, by opening the gates, gave an opportunity to
such as were so disposed to make their escape ; which before this
they could not have attempted without interruption, from the
suspicion that they wished to revolt to the Romans. This success
inspired the Jews with confidence, and they resolved to defend their
city to the very uttermost ; but it did not prevent the renewal of
their civil broils. The faction under Eleazer having dispersed, and
arranged themselves under the two other leaders John and Simon,
there ensued a scene of the most dreadful contention, plunder, and
conflagration : the middle space of the city being burnt, and the
wretched inhabitants made the prize of the contending parties. The
Romans at length gained possession of two of the three walls which
defended the city, and fear once more united the factions. This
pause, to their fury had, however, scarcely begun when famine made
its ghastly appearance in the Jewish army. It had for some time been
silently approaching, and many of the peaceful and the poor had
already perished for want of necessaries. With this new calamity,
strange to relate, the madness of the factions again returned, and
the city presented a new picture of' wretchedness. Impelled by the
cravings of hunger, they snatched the staff of life out of each
other's hands, and many devoured the grain unprepared. Tortures were
inflicted for the discovery of a handful of meal ; women forced food
from their husbands, and children from their fathers, and even
mothers from their infants, and while sucking children were wasting
away in their arms, they scrupled not to take away the vital drops
which sustained them ! So justly did our LORD pronounce a woe on
"them that should give suck in those days." (Matt. xxiv. 19.) This
dreadful scourge at length drove multitudes of the Jews out of the
city into the enemy's camp, where the Romans crucified them in such
numbers, that, as Josephus relates, space was wanted for the
crosses, and crosses for the captives ; and it having been
discovered that some of them had swallowed gold, the Arabs and
Syrians, who were incorporated in the Roman army, impelled by
avarice, with unexampled cruelty ripped open two thousand of the
deserters in one night Titus, touched by these calamities, in person
entreated the Jews to surrender, but they answered him with
revilings. Exasperated by their obstinacy and insolence, he now
resolved to surround the city by a circumvallation, (a trench of 39
furlongs in circuit and strengthened with 13 towers,) which with
astonishing activity was effected by the soldiers in three days.
Thus was 'fulfilled another of our LORD 's predictions, for he had
said, while addressing this devoted city, "Thine enemies shall cast
a trench about thee, and compass thee round about, and keep
thee in on every side." Luke xix. 43. As no supplies whatever
could now enter the walls, the famine rapidly extend, itself, and,
increasing in horror, devoured whole families. The tops of houses,
and the recesses of the city, were covered with the carcasses of
women, children, and aged men. The young men appeared like spectres
in the places of public resort, and fell down lifeless in the
streets. The dead were too numerous to be interred, and many expired
in the performance of this office. -- The public calamity was too
great for lamentation. Silence, and, as it were, a black and deadly
night, overspread the city. -- But even such a scene could not awe
the robbers ; they spoiled the tombs, and stripped the dead of their
grave- clothes, with an unfeeling and wild laughter. They tried the
edges of their swords on their carcasses, and even on some that were
yet breathing ; while Simon Goras chose this melancholy and awful
period to manifest the deep Malignity and cruelty of his nature in
the execution of the High Priest Matthias, and his three sons, whom
he caused to be condemned as favourers of the Romans. The father, in
consideration of his having opened the city gates to Simon, begged
that he Might be executed previously to his children ; but the
unfeeling tyrant gave orders that he should be dispatched in the
last place, and in his expiring moments insultingly asked him,
whether the Romans could then relieve him.
While the
city was in this dismal situation, a Jew named Mannaeus fled to
Titus, and informed him, that from the beginning of the siege (4th
mo. 14th) to the 1st of 7th mo. following, one hundred and
fifteen thousand eight hundred and eighty dead bodies had been
carried through one gate only, which he had guarded. This man had
been appointed to pay the public allowance for carrying the bodies
out, and was therefore obliged to register them. Soon after, several
respectable individuals deserted to the Romans, and assured Titus
that the whole number of the poor who had been cast out at the
different gates was not less than six hundred thousand. The
report of these calamities excited pity in the Romans, and in a
particular manner affected Titus, who, while surveying the
immense number of dead bodies which were piled up under the walls,
raised his hands towards Heaven, and, appealing to the Almighty,
solemnly protested that he had not been the cause of these
deplorable calamities ; which, indeed, the Jews, by their unexampled
wickedness rebellion, and obstinacy, had brought down upon their own
heads.
After
this, Josephus, in the name of Titus, earnestly exhorted John and
his adherents to surrender ; but the insolent rebel returned nothing
but reproaches and imprecations, declaring his firm persuasion that
Jerusalem, as it was GOD'S own city, could never be taken : thus
literally fulfilling the declaration of Micah, that the Jews, in
their extremity, notwithstanding their crimes, would presumptuously
"lean upon the LORD, and say, 'Is not the LORD among us ? none evil
can come upon us." (Micah iii. 11 )
Meanwhile
the horrors of famine grew still more melancholy and afflictive. The
Jews, for want of food were at length compelled to eat their belts,
their sandals, the skins of their shields, dried grass, and even the
ordure of oxen. In the depth or this horrible extremity, a Jewess of
noble family urged by the intolerable cravings of hunger, slew her
infant child, and prepared it for a meal ; and had actually eaten
one half thereof, when the soldiers, allured by the smell of food,
threatened her with instant death if she refused to discover it.
'Intimidated by this menace, she immediately produced the remains of
her son, which petrified them with horror. At the recital of this
melancholy and affecting occurrence, the whole city stood aghast,
and poured forth their congratulations on those whom death had
hurried away from such heartrending scenes. Indeed, humanity at once
shudders and sickens at the narration, nor can any one of the least
sensibility reflect upon the pitiable condition to which the female
part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem must at this time have been
reduced, without experiencing the tenderest emotions of sympathy, or
refrain from tears while he reads our SAVIOUR'S pathetic address to
the women who "bewailed him" as he was led to Calvary, wherein he
evidently refers to these very calamities : "Daughters of Jerusalem,
weep not for me, but for yourselves and for your children ; for,
behold, the days are coming in which they shall say, 'Blessed are
the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that
never gave suck." Luke xxiii. 29.
The above
melancholy fact was also literally foretold by Moses : "The
tender and delicate women among you (said he, addressing Israel)
who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground
for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil . . . toward
her young one . . . which she shall bear," and "eat for
want of all
things, secretly, in the siege and straitness
wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates." (Deut.
xxviii. 56, 57.) This prediction was partially fulfilled, when
Samaria the capital of the revolted tribes, was, besieged by
Benhadad ; and afterwards at Jerusalem, previously to its capture by
Nebuchadnezzar ; but its exact and literal accomplishment in
relation to a lady of rank, delicately and voluptuously educated,
was reserved for the period of which we are now speaking. And it
deserves particular regard, as a circumstance which very greatly
enhances the importance of this prophecy, that the history of the
world does not record that a parallel instance of unnatural
barbarity ever occured during the siege of any other place, in any
other age or nation whatsoever. Indeed, Josephus himself declares
that, if there had not been many credible witnesses of the fact, he
would not have recorded it, "because," as he remarks, "such a
shocking violation never having been perpetuated by any Greek or
barbarian," the insertion of it might have diminished the
credibility of his history.
While
famine continued thus to spread its destructive rage through the
city, the Romans, after many ineffectual attempts, at length
succeeded in demolishing part of the inner wall, possessed
themselves of the great tower of Antonia, and advanced towards the
Temple, which Titus, in a council of war had determined to preserve
as an ornament to the empire, and as a monument of his success ; but
the Almighty had determined otherwise ; for now, in the revolution
of ages, was arrived that fatal day, (the 10th of 8th mo.)
emphatically called "a day of vengeance," (Luke xxi. 21.) on which
the Temple had formerly been destroyed by the king of Babylon. A
Roman soldier, urged, as he declared, by a divine impulse,
regardless of the command of Titus climbed on the shoulders of
another, and threw a flaming brand into the golden window of the
Temple, which instantly set the building on fire. The Jews, anxious
above all things to save that sacred edifice, in which they
superstitiously trusted for security, with a dreadful outcry,
rushed in to extinguish the flames. Titus also, hoping to extinguish
the conflagration, hastened to the spot in his chariot, attended by
his principal officers and legions ; but in vain he waved his hand
and raised his voice, commanding his soldiers to extinguish the fire
; so great was the uproar and confusion, that no attention was paid
even to him. The Romans, wilfully deaf instead of extinguishing the
flames, spread them wider and wider. Actuated by the fiercest
impulses rancour and revenge against the Jews, they rushed furiously
upon them, slaying some with the sword, trampling others under their
feet, or crushing them to death against the walls. Many, falling
amongst the smoking ruins of the porches and galleries, were
suffocated. The unarmed poor, and even sick persons, were
slaughtered without mercy. Of these unhappy people numbers were left
weltering in their gore. Multitudes of the dead and dying were
heaped round about the altar, to which they had formerly fled for
protection, while the steps that led from it into the outer court
were literally deluged with their blood.
Finding it
impossible to restrain the impetuosity and cruelty of his soldiers,
the Commander in chief proceeded, with some of his superior
officers, to take a survey of those parts of the edifice which were
still uninjured by the conflagration. It had not, at this time,
reached the inner Temple, which Titus entered, and viewed
with silent admiration. Struck with the magnificence of its
architecture, and the beauty of its decorations, which even
surpassed the report of fame concerning them ; and perceiving that
the sanctuary had not yet caught fire, he redoubled his efforts to
stop the progress of the flames. He condescended even to entreat his
soldiers to exert all their strength and activity for this purpose,
and appointed a centurion of the guards to punish them if they again
disregarded him : but all was in vain. The delirious rage of the
soldiery knew no bounds. Eager for plunder and for slaughter, they
alike contemned the solicitations and menaces of their General. Even
while he was thus intent upon the preservation of the sanctuary, one
of the soldiers was actually employed in setting fire to the door-
posts, which caused the conflagration to become general. Titus and
his officers were now compelled to retire, and none remained to
check the fury of the soldiers or the flames. The Romans,
exasperated to the highest pitch against the Jews, seized every
person whom they could find, and, without the least regard to sex,
.age or quality, first plundered and then slew them. The old and the
young, the common people and the priests, those who surrendered and
those who resisted, were equally involved in this horrible and
indiscriminate carnage. Meanwhile the Temple continued burning,
until at length, vast as was its size, the flames completely
enveloped the whole building ; which, from the extent of the
conflagration, impressed the distant spectator with an idea that the
whole city was now on fire. The tumult and disorder which ensued
upon this event, it is impossible (says Josephus) for language to
describe. The Roman legions made the most horrid outcries ; the
rebels, finding themselves exposed to the fury of both fire and
sword, screamed dreadfully ; while the unhappy people who were pent
up between the enemy and the flames, deplored their situation in the
most pitiable complaints. Those on the hill and those in the city
seemed mutually to return the groans of each other. Such as were
expiring through famine, were revived by this hideous scene, and
seemed to acquire new spirits to deplore their misfortunes. The
lamentations from the city were re-echoed from the adjacent
mountains, and places beyond Jordan. The flames which enveloped the
Temple were so violent and impetuous, that the lofty hill on which
it stood appeared, even from its deep foundations, as one large body
of fire. The blood of the sufferers flowed in proportion to the
rage of this destructive element ; and the number of
the slain exceeded all calculation. The ground could not be seen
for the dead bodies, over which the Romans trampled in pursuit of
the fugitives ; while the crackling noise of the devouring flames
mingled with the clamor of arms, the groans of the dying and
the shrieks of despair, augmented the tremendous horror of a
scene, to which the pages of history can furnish no parallel.
Amongst
the tragical events which at this time occured, the following is
more particularly deserving of notice : a false prophet, pretending
to a divine commission, affirmed that, if the people would repair to
the Temple, they should behold signs of their speedy deliverance.
Accordingly about six thousand persons, chiefly women and
children, assembled in a gallery, that was yet standing, on the
outside of the building. Whilst they waited in anxious
expectation of the promised miracle, the Romans with the most wanton
barbarity, set fire to the gallery ; from which, multitudes;
rendered frantic by their horrible situation, precipitated
themselves on the ruins below, and were killed by the fall : while,
awful to relate, the rest, without a single exception, perished in
the flames. So necessary was our Lord's second premonition
not to give credit to "false prophets," who should pretend "to shew
great signs and wonders." In this last caution, as the connexion of
the prophecy demonstrates, he evidently refers to the period of the
siege, but in the former to the interval immediately preceeding the
Jewish war. (Vide Matt. xxiv. Compare 5, and 23, 24, 25, 26,
verses.)
The Temple
now presented little more than a heap of ruins ; and the Roman army
as in triumph on the event, came and reared their ensigns against a
fragment of the eastern gate, and, with sacrifices of thanksgiving,
proclaimed the imperial majesty of Titus, with every possible
demonstration of joy.
Thus
terminated the glory and existence of this sacred and venerable
Edifice, which from its stupendous size, its massy solidity, and
astonishing strength, seemed formed to resist the most violent
operations of human force, and to stand, like the pyramids, amid the
shocks of successive ages, until the final dissolution of the globe.
[12]
For five
days after the destruction of the Temple, the priests who had
escaped, sat, pining with hunger, on the top of one of its broken
walls; at length, they came down, and humbly asked the pardon of
Titus, which, however, he refused to grant them, saying, that, "as
the Temple, for the sake of which he would have spared them, was
destroyed, it was but fit that its priests should parish also:"
-whereupon he commanded that they should be put to death.
The
leaders of the factions being now pressed on all sides, begged a
conference with Titus, who offered to spare their lives, provided
that they would lay down their arms. With this reasonable condition,
however, they refused to comply ; upon which Titus, exasperated by
their obstinacy, resolved, that he would hereafter grant, no pardon
to the insurgents, and ordered a proclamation to be made to this
effect. The Romans had now full license to ravage and destroy. Early
the following morning they set fire to the castle, the
register-office, the council-chamber, and the palace of the queen
Helena; and then spread themselves throughout the city, slaughtering
wherever they came, and burning the dead bodies which were scattered
over every street, and on the floors of almost every house. In the
royal palace, where immense treasures were deposited, the seditious
Jews murdered eight thousand four hundred of their own
nation, and afterwards plundered their property. Prodigious numbers
of deserters, also, who escaped from the tyrants, and fled into
enemy's camp, were slain. The soldiers, however, at length, weary of
killing, and satiated with the blood which they had spilt, laid down
their swords and sought to gratify avarice. For this purpose they
took the Jews, together with their wives and families, and publicly
sold them, like cattle in a market, at a very multitude were
exposed to sale, while the purchasers were few in number. And now
were fulfilled the words of Moses : "And ye shall be sold for
bond-men and bond-women, and no man shall buy you." (Deut.
xxviii 68.)
The Romans
having become masters of the lower city, set it on fire. The
Jews now fled to the higher, from whence, their pride and
insolence yet unabated, they continued to exasperate their enemies
and even appeared to view the burning of the town below them with
tokens of pleasure. In a short time, however, the walls of the
higher city were demolished by the Roman engines and the Jews,
lately so-haughty and presumptuous now, trembling and panic-struck,
fell on their faces, and deplored their own infatuation. Such as
were in the towers, deemed impregnable to human force, beyond
measure affrighted, strangely forsook them, and sought refuge in
caverns and subterraneous passages ; in which dismal retreats no
less than two thousand dead bodies were afterwards found.
Thus, as our Lord had predicted, did these miserable creatures, in
effect, say "to the mountains, 'Fall on us;' and to the rocks, '
Cover us." (Luke xxiii. 20.) The walls of the city being now
completely in possession of the Romans, they hoisted their colours
upon the towers, and burst forth into the most triumphant
acclamations. After this, all annoyance from the Jews being at an
end, the soldiers gave an unbridled license to their fury against
the inhabitants. They first plundered, and then set fire to the
houses. They ranged through the streets with drawn swords in their
hands, murdering every Jew whom they met, without distinction ; till
at length, the bodies of the dead choked up all the alleys and
narrow passes while their blood literally flowed down the channels
of the city in streams. As it drew towards evening, the soldiers
exchanged the sword for the torch, and, amidst the darkness of this
awful night, set fire to the remaining divisions of the place. The
vial of divine wrath, which had been so long pouring out upon this
devoted city was now emptying, and JERUSALEM, once "a praise in all
the earth," and the subject of a thousand prophecies, deprived of
the staff of life, wrapt in flames, and bleeding on every side sunk
into utter ruin and desolation. This memorable siege terminated on
the eighth day of the ninth month, A.D. 70 : its duration was nearly
five months, the Romans having invested the city on the fourteenth
day of the fourth month, preceeding.
Before
their final demolition, however, Titus took a survey of the city and
its fortifications ; and, while contemplating their impregnable
strength, could not help ascribing his success to the peculiar
interposition of the ALMIGHTY HIMSELF. "Had not God himself
(exclaimed he) aided out operations, and driven the Jews from their
fortresses, it would have been absolutely impossible to have taken
them ; for what could men, and the force of engines, have done
against such towers as these ?" After this he commanded that the
city should be commanded razed to its foundations, excepting only
the three lofty towers Hippocos, Phasael, and Mariamne, which he
suffered to remain as evidences of its strength, and as trophies of
his victory. There was left standing, also, a small part of the
western wall; as a rampart for a garrison, to keep the surrounding
country in subjection. Titus now gave orders that those Jews only
who resisted should be slain ; but the soldiers, equally void of
pity and remorse, slew even the sick and the aged. The robbers and
seditious were all punished with death : the tallest and most
beautiful youths, together with several of the Jewish nobles were
reserved by Titus to grace his triumphal entry into Rome. After this
selection, all above the age of seventeen were sent in chains into
Egypt, to be employed there as slaves, or distributed throughout the
empire to be sacrificed as gladiators in the amphitheatres ; whilst
those who were under this age, were exposed to sale.
During the
time that these things were transacted, eleven thousand Jews,
guarded by one of the generals, named Fronto, were literally starved
to death. This melancholy occurrence happened partly through the
scarcity of provisions, and partly through their own obstinacy, and
the negligence of the Romans.
Of the
Jews destroyed during the siege, Josephus reckons not less than
ONE
MILLION AND ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND,
to which must be added, above
TWO-HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN THOUSAND
who perished in other places, and
innumerable multitudes who were swept away by famine, and
pestilence, and of which no calculation could be made. Not less than
two thousand laid violent hands upon themselves. Of the
captives the whole was about
NINETY-SEVEN
THOUSAND. Of the two
great leaders of the Jews, who had both been made prisoners, John
was doomed to a dungeon for life ; while Simon, together with John,
in triumph at Rome was scourged, and put to death as a malefactor.
In
executing the command of Titus, relative to the demolition of
Jerusalem, the Roman soldiers not only threw down the buildings, but
even dug up their foundations, and so completely levelled the whole
circuit of the city, that a stranger would scarcely have known that
it had ever been inhabited by human beings. Thus was this great
City, which only five months before, had been crowded with
nearly two millions of people, who gloried in its impregnable
strength, entirely depopulated, and levelled with the ground. And
thus, also was our
LORD'S
prediction, that her enemies
should "lay her even with the ground," and "should not leave
in her one stone upon another, " (Luke xix. 44.) most
strikingly and fully accomplished ! -- This fact is confirmed by
Eusebius, who asserts that he himself saw the city lying in ruins ;
and Josephus introduces Eleazer as exclaiming "Where is our great
city, which, it was believed,
GOD
inhabited ? It is altogether
rooted and torn up from its foundations ; and the only
monument of it that remains, is the camp of its destroyers pitched
amidst its reliques !"
Concerning
the Temple, our
LORD
had foretold, particularly,
that, notwithstanding their wonderful dimensions, there should "not
be left one stone upon another that should not be thrown down ;"
and, accordingly, it is recorded, in the Talmud, and by Maimonides,
that Terentius Rufus, captain of the army of Titus, absolutely
ploughed up the foundations of the Temple with a ploughshare.
Now, also, was literally fulfilled that prophecy of Micah-
"Therefore shall Zion, for your sakes (i. e. for your wickedness,)
be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and
the mountain of the LORD's house as the high places of the forest."
(Micah iii. 12)
Thus
awfully complete an ever, beyond example, were the calamities which
befel the Jewish nation, and especially the city of Jerusalem. With
what truth, then, did our LORD declare, that there should "be great
tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world,
no, nor ever shall be !" (Matt. xxiv. 21.) Such was the prediction
: the language in which Josephus declares its fulfillment is
an exact counterpart to it : "If the misfortunes," says he, "of
all nations, from the beginning of the world, were compared
with those which befel the Jews, they would appear far less in
comparison ;" and again, "No other city ever suffered such
things, as no other generation, from the beginning of the
world, was ever more fruitful in wickedness." These were,
indeed, "the days of vengeance," that all things which are written
(especially by Moses, Joel, and Daniel,) might be fulfilled." Luke
xxi. 22. Nor were the calamities of this ill-fated nation even now
ended ; for there were still other places to subdue ; and our LORD
had thus predicted, "wheresoever the carcass is, there
will the eagles be gathered together." (Matt. xxiv. 28.)
After the destruction of Jerusalem seventeen hundred Jews who
surrendered at Macherus were slain, and of fugitives not less than
three thousand in the wood of Jardes. Titus having marched
his army to Caesarea, he there, with great splendour, celebrated the
birth-day of his brother Domitian ; and according to the barbarous
manner of those times, punished many Jews in honour of it. The
number who were burnt, and who fell by fighting with wild beasts,
and in mutual combats, exceeded two thousand five hundred. At
the siege of Massada, Eleazer, the commander, instigated the
garrison to burn their stores, and to destroy first the women and
children, and then themselves. Dreadful as it is to relate, this
horrid design was executed. They were in number nine hundred and
sixty. Ten were chosen to perform the bloody work : the rest sat
'on the ground,' and embracing their wives and children stretched
out their necks to the sword : one was afterwards appointed to
destroy the remaining nine, and then himself. The survivor,
when he had looked round to see that all were slain, set fire to the
place, and plugged his sword into his own bosom. Nevertheless, two
women and five children successfully concealed themselves, and
witnessed the whole transaction. When the Romans advanced to the
attack in the morning, one of the women gave them a distinct account
of this melancholy affair, and struck them with amazement at the
contempt of death which had been displayed by the Jews. After this
event, if we except the transitory insurrection of the Sicarii,
under Jonathan, all opposition on the part of the Jews every where
ceased. It was the submission of impotence and despair. The peace
that ensued was the effect of the direst necessity. The rich
territory of Judea was converted into a desolate waste. Every
where ruin and desolation presented itself to the solitary
passenger, and a melancholy and death-like silence reigned over the
whole region.
The
mournful and desolate condition of Judea, at this time, is exactly
described by the prophet Isaiah, in the following of his prophecy :
"The cities were without inhabitant, and the houses without a
man, and the land was utterly desolate, and the LORD had removed men
far away, and there was a great forsaking in the midst of the land."
(Isa. vi. 11, 12.)
The
Catastrophe which has now been reviewed, cannot but be deemed one of
the most extraordinary that has happened since the foundation of the
world ; and as it has pleased the Almighty to make it the subject of
a very large proportion of the prophecies both of the Jewish and
Christian Scriptures, so he has ordained that the particular events
which accomplished them should be recorded, with very remarkable
precision, and by a man most singularly preserved,
[13]
qualified, and circumstanced for this purpose. But with respect to
this latter point, he shall speak for himself: "At first," says
Josephus, "I fought against the Romans, but was afterwards forced
to be present in the Roman camp. At the time I surrendered,
Vespasian and Titus kept me in bonds, but obliged me to
attend them continually. Afterwards I was set at liberty, and
accompanied Titus when he came from Alexandria to the siege of
Jerusalem. During this time nothing was done that escaped my
knowledge. What happened in the Roman camp I saw, and wrote
down carefully. As to the information the deserters brought
out of the city, I was the only man that understood it.
Afterwards I got leisure at Rome ; and when all my materials
were prepared, I procured the help of one to assist me in writing
Greek. -- Thus I composed the history of those transactions, and I
appealed both to Titus and Vespasian for the truth of it ; to which
also Julius Archelaus, Herod, and king Agrippa, bore their
testimony." All remark here is needless ; but it should not be
forgotten, that Josephus was a Jew, obstinately attached to his
religion ; and that, although he has circumstantially related every
remarkable event of that period, he seems studiously to have avoided
such as had any reference to JESUS CHRIST, whose history, and
even the genuineness of this is disputed, he sums up in about twelve
lines. No one, therefore, can reasonably entertain a suspicion, that
the service he has rendered to Christianity, by his narrative of the
transactions of the Jewish war, was at all the effect of design. The
fidelity of Josephus, as an historian, is, indeed, universally
admitted ; and Scaliger even affirms, that, not only in the affairs
of the Jews, but in those of foreign nations also, he deserves more
credit than all the Greek and Roman writers put together.
Nor is the
peculiar character of Titus, the chief commander in this war,
unworthy of our particular regard. Vespasian, his father, had risen
out of obscurity and was elected emperor, contrary to his avowed
inclination, about the commencement of the conflict ; and thus the
chief command devolved upon Titus, the most unlikely man throughout
the Roman armies to become a scourge to Jerusalem. He was eminently
distinguished for his great tenderness and humanity, which he
displayed in a variety ,of instances during the siege. He repeatedly
made pacific overtures to the Jews, and deeply lamented the
infatuation that rejected them. In short, he did every thing which a
military commander could do to spare them, and to preserve their
city and temple, but without effect. Thus was the will of God
accomplished by the agency, although contrary to the wish, of Titus
; and his predicted interposition, to punish his rebellious and
apostate people, in this way rendered more conspicuously evident.
The
history of the Jews, subsequently to the time of Josephus, still
further corroborates the truth of our SAVIOUR'S prophecies
concerning that oppressed and persecuted people. Into this inquiry,
however, the limits of the present essay will not allow us to enter
particularly. Our LORD foretold, generally, that they should "fall
by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations ;
and that Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the
times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled" (Luke xxi. 24.) and these
predictions may be regarded as a faithful epitome of the
circumstances of the Jews and also of their city, from the period in
which it was delivered, down even to our own times.
In order
to demonstrate the accomplishment of these predictions, we appeal,
therefore, to universal history, and to every country under heaven.
"In the
reign of Adrian," say Bishop Newton, "nine hundred and
eighty-five of their best towns were sacked and demolished ,
five hundred and eighty thousand men fell by the sword, in
battle, besides an infinite multitude who perished by, famine, and
sickness, and fire ; so that Judea was depopulated, and an almost
incredible number of every age and of each sex, were sold like
horses and dispersed over the face of the earth-" (Newton,, vol. I ,
page xviii.) The war which gave rise to these calamities happened
about forty-four years after the destruction of Jerusalem ; during.
which time the Jews had greatly multiplied in Judea. About fifty
years alter the latter event, Ælius Adrian built a new city on Mount
Calvary, and called it Ælia, after his own name; but no Jew
was suffered to come near it. He placed in it a heathen colony, and
erected a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, on the ruins of the temple
of JEHOVAH. -- This event contributed greatly to provoke the
sanguinary war to which we have just alluded. The Jews afterwards
burnt the new city ; which Adrian, however, rebuilt, and
re-established the colony. In contempt of the Jews, he ordered a
marble statue of a sow to be placed over its principal gate, and
prohibited them entering the city under pain of death, and forbad
them even to look at it from a distance. He also ordered fairs to be
held annually for the sale of captive Jews, and banished such
as dwelt in Canaan into Egypt. Constantine greatly improved the
city, and restored to it the name of Jerusalem, but still he did not
permit the Jews to dwell there. To punish an attempt to recover the
possession of their capital, he ordered their ears to be cut off,
their bodies to be marked as rebels, and dispersed them through all
the provinces of the empire as vagabonds and slaves.
Jovian
having revived the severe edicts of Adrian, which Julian had
suspended, the wretched Jews even bribed the soldiers with money,
for the privilege only of beholding the sacred ruins of their city
and temple, and weeping over them, which they were peculiarly
solicitous to do on the anniversary of that memorable day, on which
they were taken and destroyed by the Romans. In short, during every
successive age and in all nations, this ill-fated people have been
constantly persecuted, enslaved, contemned, harassed, and oppressed
; banished from one country to another, and abused in all ; while
countless multitudes have, at different periods, been barbarously
massacred, particularly in Persia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt ; and
in Germany, Hungary, France, and Spain.
The
undisputed facts are, that Jerusalem has not since been in
possession of the Jews, but has been successively occupied by the
Romans, Arabic Saracens, Franks, WawaInes, and lastly by the Turks,
who now posses it. It has never regained its former distinction and
prosperity. It has always been trodden down. The eagles
of idolatrous Rome, the crescent of Mahomet, and the
banner of Popery, have by turns been displayed amidst the ruins
of the sanctuary ; and a Mahomedan mosque, to the extent of a mile
in circumference, now covers the spot where the Temple formerly
stood. -- The territory of Judea, then one of the most fertile
countries on the globe, has for more than seventeen hundred years
continued a desolate waste. The Jews themselves, still
miraculously preserved a distinct people, are, as we see, scattered
over the whole earth, invigorating the faith of the Christian,
flashing conviction in the face of the infidel, and constituting an
universal, permanent, and invincible evidence of the truth of
Christianity.
In order
to invalidate this evidence, the apostate emperor Julian, impelled
by a spirit of enmity against the Christians, about A. D. 363, made
an attempt to rebuild the city and temple of Jerusalem, and to
recall the Jews to their own country. He assigned immense sums for
the execution of this great design, and commanded Alypius or
Antioch (who had formerly served as a lieutenant in Britain) to
superintend the work, and the governor of the province to assist him
therein. But (says Ammianus Marcelianus) "whilst they urged with
vigour and diligence the execution of the work, horrible
balls of fire, breaking out near the foundation, with frequent and
reiterated attacks, rendered the place, from time to time,
inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen ; and the
victorious element continuing in this manner obstinately and
resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance, the
undertaking was abandoned." Speaking of this event, even Gibbon,
who is notorious for his scepticism, acknowledges, that "an
earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, which overturned and
scattered the new foundations of the Temple, are attested,
with some variations, by contemporary and respectable evidence, by
Ambrose bishop of Milan, Chrysostom, and Gregory Nazianzen, the
latter of whom published his account before the expiration of the
same year."
[14]
To these may be added the names of Zemuch David, a Jew (who
confesses that "Julian was hindered by GOD in the attempt,") of
Ruffinus a Latin, of Theodoret and Sozomen among the orthodox, of
Philostorgius an Arian, and of Socrates a favourer of the Novatians,
who all recorded the same wonderful interposition of Providence,
while the eye-witness of the fact were yet living. The words of
Sozomen to this purport are remarkable : " If it seem yet incredible
(says he) to any one, he may repair both to witnesses of it yet
living, and to them who have heard it from their mouths ; yea, they
may view the foundations, lying yet bare and naked. Besides, it may
be added, that no other reason has ever been alleged why Julian
should abandon his magnificent but impious design.
Thus was
this celebrated Emperor "taken in his own craftiness," and his
presumptuous attempt to frustrate the plans, and falsify the
declarations of infinite Omnipotence and Wisdom, converted into a
new and striking evidence of their certainty and truth.
We shall
now proceed to reply to two or three objections which may be rashly
opposed to the impregnable argument which the preceding account
furnishes in defence of our religion.
1. It may
be alleged, that the prophecies, whose fulfilment has been
demonstrated, were not written until after the events, to which they
refer, were past.
Assertion
is not proof ; and even a conjecture to this effect, in the face of
the historic testimony, and general sentiment of seventeen ages,
would be ridiculous. On the faith, then, of all antiquity, we
affirm, that the books in the Scriptures, containing these
predictions were written before the destruction of Jerusalem, and we
confirm this assertion by particular proof. The book of St. Matthew,
who died previously to that event, supposed to have
been written about eight years after the ascension of our Saviour,
was published before the dispersion of the Apostles ; for
Eusebius says, that St. Bartholemew took a copy of it with him to
India; and the dispersion of the Apostles took place within
twelve years after the ascension of our Lord. St. Mark must have
written his book at the latest in the time of Nero, for he died in
the eighth year of that emperor's reign. The book by St. Luke was
written before the Acts, as the first verses of that narrative prove
; and the Acts were written before the death of Paul, for they carry
down his history only to A.D. 63 ; whereas he was not crucified
until the 12th of Nero, the very year before the Jewish war
commenced. Of Luke's death the time is uncertain. As to the
Evangelist John, he both lived and wrote after the destruction of
Jerusalem ; "but then, as if purposely to prevent this very cavil,
his book does not record the prophecies which foretold it ! Learned
men, indeed, differ with regard to the precise year in which
the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote their respective books
; but they universally agree, that they were both written and
published before the destruction of Jerusalem. As to the book
by St. John, some are of opinion that it was written before, and
some after that event.
II. If it
be objected, that, although the narratives might be written and
published before the destruction of Jerusalem, yet that the
predictions relating to that event may be subsequent interpolations
; we reply, that this cannot but be considered as a preposterous
supposition, because those predictions are not confined to the
particular chapters to which we have referred, but are closely and
inseparably interwoven with the general texture of the history --
because the character of the style is uniform -- because there is no
allusion, in conformity to the practice of the sacred historians, to
the fulfilment of these prophecies (vide, particularly, Acts xi.
28.) -- because such an attempt must have destroyed the cause it
professed to serve, and lastly, because "no unbeliever of the
primitive times, whether Jew or Gentile, when pressed, as both
frequently were, by this prophecy, appear to have had recourse to
the charge of forgery or interpolation." It may be added also, that,
in modern times, no distinguished unbeliever (not even the arch
infidels Voltaire and Gibbon) has had the temerity so much as to
insinuate a charge of this nature.
III. It
may be alleged, that the accomplishment of our Lord's predictions
relative to the destruction of Jerusalem, ought not to be deemed
supernatural, inasmuch as the distresses of all great cities, during
a siege, are similar, and because it is probable that, some time
or other, such should be the fate of every city of this
description ; and that since the obstinacy of the Jews was great,
and their fortifications strong, when war did come, Jerusalem
was more likely to suffer under that form of it than any other.
In answer
to this objection, we remark, that it was not merely foretold that
Jerusalem was to be destroyed, but that it was to be destroyed by
the Romans: and so it was. But was this then a
likely event ? When our LORD delivered his predictions, Judea
was already completely in their hands. Was it a probable
thing that it should be desolated by its own masters ? Or was it a
natural thing that they should be indifferent to the revenue
which was derived from a country go Populous and so fertile ? Again,
was it likely that this petty province should provoke the
wrath and defy the power of the universal empire ? Or was it to be
supposed that the mistress of the world, ir resistible to all
nations, instead of controlling, should deem it worthy of her
utterly to exterminate a state comparatively so insignificant?
Or did it accord with the disposition or custom of the Romans, like
Goth to demolish buildings famed for their antiquity and
magnificence ? Rather was it not to have been expected that they
would preserve them, to maintain the renown and glory of their
empire ? Nevertheless, as we have seen, they did destroy
them, and even the illustrious Temple of Jerusalem, the chief
ornament of Asia, and the wonder of the world. But it was predicted
that "thus it must be;" and therefore Titus himself with all
his authority and exertions, could not preserve it.
IV. If
this prophecy be ascribed to political sagacity, we would ask, on
the supposition of the infidel, how it happened that a
Carpenter's Son, living nearly the who of his life in privacy,
associating chief with the poor, without access to the councils of
princes, or to the society of the great should possess a degree of
political discernment to which no Statesman would deem less
than folly to lay claim ? Besides, how came he to predict the ruin
of his own country, and at that very reason, too, when all
his countrymen turned their eyes to a Deliverer, who should
restore sovereignty, Consolidate its power, and extend both its
boundaries and its renown ? And lastly, how came he even to
conceive, much more cherish, such an-idea, diametrically contrary as
it was to all his stubborn and deep rooted prejudices as a Jew ?
Thus we
perceive that the very objections which infidelity opposes to our
argument, instead of invalidating tend only more fully to illustrate
and confirm it.
Let us,
then, if we are Christians indeed offer up our grateful
acknowledgments to the ALMIGHTY, who has laid such a firm foundation
for our faith. Let us exult in the inviolable certainty of the Holy
Word, viz. CHRIST, (John i.) and assure ourselves that his
promises are as infallible as his predictions : To "the
witness" within us (I John v. 10.) and to an acquaintance with the
interior excellence of the gospel, let us labour to add a more
perfect knowledge of the historical and moral evidence which defends
it ; that thus we may be better qualified to convince gainsayers.
If we are
Christians in name only, let us receive a salutary
admonition from that exemplary vengeance which was inflicted by the
ALMIGHTY upon the whole Jewish nation ; who, while "they
professed that they knew God, in works denied
him;" and while they boasted that they were his peculiar people,
remained "strangers to the covenant of promise" Let us also
seriously reflect, that as he was not a Jew who was only one
"outwardly," "in the letter" merely, and whose praise was of men --
so now, in like manner, he only is a Christian who is one "
inwardly," whose religion is seated in the heart ; "in the spirit
and not in the letter" ; whose praise is not of men, but of God."
(Rom. ii. 128, 29.)
Let the
Unbeliever, or the professed Deist, for whose benefit,
chiefly, the preceding pages were written, seriously ponder their
contents. It may be proper to state, that the faith which we wish
him to possess is not merely an admission upon evidence, that " all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God," (which, standing alone,
has no higher value than the faith of education,) but a VITAL,
ACTIVE PRINCIPLE, A FAITH that will purify the heart ;" that "works
by love that will enable him to " fight the good FIGHT," " to
overcome the world," and to obtain "a crown of life," and an "in
corruptible inheritance" in heaven.
Footnotes :
1.
This assertion is sufficient for
the writer's purpose. -- The fact, however, is that the Almighty
hath, in this respect, as well as in every other, done for man
"exeeding abundantly above that 'he' can ask or think."
-- The scheme of that evidence which demonstrates the divine
authority of the Bible could only have been constructed by Him "who
knoweth all things," and who seeth the end from the beginning.
2. Luke 19, 42-44
3. Matt. xxiii, 37---39.
4. This is not the Theudas
mentioned in Acts v. 36.
5. The original word signifies
that, in Scripture language, there is a clear distinction betwixt
giving a sign and the sign itself, is sufficiently proved by
Deut. xiii. 1,2
6. Luke xxi. 11.
7. Vida I Chron. xxi. 16.
8. The conclusion which the
Jews drew. from this event was, that the security of the temple was
gone.
9. It is admitted that the
phrase "to all the world," "every creature," &c. are hyperbolical,
but then, taken in their connexion, they evidently import the the
universality of the preaching and spread of the. Gospel,
previously to the destruction of Jerusalem, which is the
point to be proved.
10. Such was our Lord's
admonition ... : "Let them which be in Judea flee into the
mountains," &c. Matt. 16,22.
11. Mot only was the temple
and the mountain on which it stood accounted holy, but also the
whole city of Jerusalem, and several furlongs of land round about
it. Vida Neh. xi. I, Isaiah liii. I; Daniel ix. 24; and Matt. xxvii.
53.
12. From its first foundation
by king Solomon, until its destruction tinder Vespasian, were one
thousand and thirty years, seven months, and fifteen days ; and from
its re-erection by Haggai, to the same period, six hundred and
thirty-nine years and forty five days. It has been already hinted,
that, by a very singular coincidence, it was now reduced to ashes in
the same month, and on the same day of the month, on which it had
formerly been burnt by the Babylonians. These two, eras are
distinguished also by another extraordinary coincidence, which
Josephus, in one of [its addresses to the Jews, pointed out to them
as one of the signs which foreboded the destruction of their city.
"The fountains," said he,
"flow copiously for Titus, which to you were dried up ; for, before
he came, you know that both Siloam failed, and all the springs
without the city, so that water was bought by the amphora [a vessel
containing about seven gallons;] but now they are so abundant to
your enemies, as to suffice, not only for themselves and their
cattle, but also for their gardens. This wonder you also formerly
experienced when, the king of Babylonians laid siege to your city."
13. Three times his life was
preserved as by a miracle.
14. Decline and Fall, vol. 4,
Sec. page 107.
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