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At Alexandria fifty thousand lay dead in heaps: nor would the remainder have been spared if they had not petitioned for mercy.'

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: Not long after that, the men of Damascus having got the Jewish inhabitants into the place of exercise, To Yuvacia, they came upon them unarmed, and slew ten thousand in an hour's ην τῷ γυμνασίῷ, time.

These are what our Lord calls "the beginning of sorrows," when there were "wars and rumours of wars, one people and nation rising up against another. The end was not yet." Jerusalem was not yet besieged, nor the people in it shut up for universal destruction. But that period was nigh. See Matt. xxiv. 6-8; Mark xiii. 7, 8; Luke xxi. 9, 10.

VII. And now I think it may not be improper for us to take notice of Josephus's accounts of the occasion of the war.

Giving an account of the contentions of the Jews and Greeks, or Syrians, at Cæsarea, where the latter obtained a decree from Nero that the government of the city belonged to them, he says: And this occasioned the war which began in the twelfth year of Nero.' Soon after which the Jews at Cæsarea were treated very contemptuously and injuriously, till they were all destroyed, as he there proceeds to relate; and we have already in part transcribed from him. In the last chapter of the Jewish Antiquities he complains much of Albinus, and still more of Florus, who succeeded him, and exceeded him in avarice and cruelty: insomuch, that the Jews were ready to consider Albinus as a benefactor. Finally,' says he, without adding any thing more, it was Florus who compelled us to take up arms against the Romans, thinking it better to be destroyed all at once than by little and little.'

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In his own life he says: I have mentioned all these things to shew that the Jews' war with the Romans was not their own choice, but rather that they were compelled by necessity.' In another place he says: And at the temple Eleazar, son of Ananias the high-priest, a young man of a daring temper, and then governor, persuaded those who officiated in the divine 'service not to accept of the gift or sacrifice of a foreigner. That was the origin of the war 'with the Romans: for thus they rejected the sacrifice of Cæsar for them.' [That is, as I apprehend, they refused to offer prayers and sacrifices, as subjects ought to do, for the emperor, and for the prosperity of the Roman empire.] And though many of the high-priests, and of the principal men of the nation, earnestly entreated them not to omit the customary respect for their governors, they could not prevail.'

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Afterwards, near the conclusion of his History of the Jewish War, when the city was actually taken, he says: But that which principally encouraged them to the war, was an ambiguous oracle, found also in their sacred writings, that about this time some one from their country 'should obtain the empire of the world. This they understood to belong to themselves; and many of the wise men were mistaken in their judgment about it: for the oracle intended the government of Vespasian, who was proclaimed emperor in Judea.'

That is a very remarkable passage: some farther notice shall be taken of it by and by. That the Jewish people were uneasy under subjection to the Romans, even in our Saviour's time, long before the war broke out, appears from many things recorded in the gospels: as their great aversion to the publicans, though Jews, who were employed in collecting the Roman tribute; from the question brought to our Saviour "whether it was lawful to give tribute to Cæsar or not:" Matt. xxii. 15-22; Mark xiii. 13-17; Luke xx. 19-26; from the attempt of some who followed our Lord for a time to make him a king: John vi. 15: from their frequent and importunate demands that he would "shew them a sign from heaven," meaning some token that he intended to work out for them a temporal deliverance," that they might believe in him," and have full assurance of his being the Christ: Matt. xii. 38; xvi. 1-4; and elsewhere: and from divers other things, which must be obvious to all who have read the gospels with attention.

a Ibid. sect. 7, 8. b De B. J. 1. 2. c. xx. sect. 2. * Εν δε τετῳ καὶ οἱ Καισαρέων Έλληνες νικήσαντες παρα Νέρωνι της πολεως αρχήν, τα της κρίσεως εκόμισαν γραμ ματα. Και προσελάμβανε την αρχήν ὁ πολεμος δωδεκάτῳ μεν ετει της Νερωνος ἡγεμονιας. De B. J. 1. 2. c. xiv. 4.

* Και τι δει πλείω λεγειν ; Τον γαρ προς Ρωμαίος πολεμον ὁ καταναγκάσας ήμας αρασθαι, Φλώρος ην, κρείττον ἡγεμένες αθμούς, η κατ' ολίγον απολεσθαι. Antig. 1. 20. xi. 1.

ότι 8 προαίρεσις εγενετο το πόλεμο προς Ρωμαίος Ιεδαίοις, αλλα το πλεον αναγκη. Vit. sect. 6.

ξαναπείθει μηδενος αλλόφυλα δωρον η θυσίαν προσδε χεσθαι. Τωτο δε ην το προς Ρωμαίος πολεμε καταβολή. Την γαρ ύπερ τέτων θυσιαν Καίσαρος απέρριψαν. De B. 1. 2. xvii. 2. De B. J. 1. 6. cap. v. 4.

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This uneasiness under the Roman yoke continued and increased. Observable here is the answer which was made by Titus, after the temple was burnt, to the petition of Simon and John, the two great leaders of the factions in Jerusalem: You have never ceased rebelling since Pompey first made a conquest of your country: and at length you have declared open war against the Romans.-Our kindness to you has encouraged your enmity against us; who ⚫ have let you live in your country in peace and quietness. In the first place we gave you your ' own country to live in, and set over you kings of your own nation; and farther, we preserved to you your own laws: and withal we have permitted you to live either by yourselves, or among others, as you liked best. And, which is the greatest favour of all, we have given you leave to gather up that tribute which you pay to God, together with all such other gifts as are • dedicated to him. Nor have we called those to account who carried such donations, nor given ⚫ them any obstruction: till at length you became richer than ourselves, even when you were * our enemies, and you have made preparations for the war against us with our own money.

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There are other things likewise in Josephus, which deserve to be taken notice of in this place. Giving an account of the assessment made in Judea after the removal of Archelaus, he says: Atthe persuasion of Joazar the high-priest, the Jews did generally acquiesce. However, Judas the Gaulanite, of the town called Gamala, associating to himself Sadduc a pharisee, excited the people to rebellion, telling them that an assessment would bring in downright slavery, and exhorting the whole nation to assert their liberty. The whole nation heard their discourses with incredible pleasure. And it is impossible to represent the evils the • nation has suffered, which were owing to these men: for Judas and Sadduc brought in among us this fourth sect: and there being many who embraced their sentiments, they not only 'caused disturbances in the government at that time, but laid the foundation of those evils which followed: which indeed are owing to this principle, till then unknown among us.' He then delivers the character and principles of the three chief and more ancient sects of the Jews, as he calls them: and after that returns again to the men of whom he had been speaking before. 6 Judas the Galilean was the leader of the fourth sect. In all other points they ⚫ hold the same sentiments with the pharisees: but they have an invincible affection for liberty, ⚫ and acknowledge God alone their Lord and governor. From that time the nation became in•fected with this principle: and Florus, by abusing his power when he was governor, threw them ⚫ into despair, and provoked them to rebel against the Romans.'

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Those two passages were cited by me formerly; and divers observations were made upon them, which still appear to me not impertinent. But I am unwilling to repeat them here: and I think that, in the connection in which they are now cited by me, it must be apparent from them, without farther remarks, that the nation in general was infected with the doctrine of Judas of Galilee. They had an invincible zeal for liberty, scorned subjection to the Romans, their masters, and took up arms against them. As Capellus says, Florus, by his exactions, 'forced them against their consent, or rather drove them who were already disposed to it, and 'wanted no incitement to rebel against the Romans.'

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I would now take farther notice of the passage above cited, wherein our Jewish historian says, what principally encouraged them to the war was an ambiguous oracle found in their ⚫ sacred writings, that about that time some one from their own country should obtain the empire of the world.'

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The truth and importance of that observation, as I apprehend, may be confirmed and illustrated by the accounts which Josephus has given of numerous impostors or false prophets, which arose among them about this time, agreeably to our Lord's predictions, as I shall now shew. Whilst Fadus was procurator of Judea, a certain impostor, called Theudas, persuaded a very great multitude, taking their effects with them, to follow him to the river Jordan : assuring them that he was a prophet, and that, causing the river to divide at his command, he ⚫ would give them an easy passage over: by such speeches he deceived many. But Fadus was 'far from suffering them to go on in their madness; for he sent out a troop of horse, who,

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coming upon them unexpectedly, slew many, and took many prisoners. Theudas himself was among the last mentioned. They cut off his head and brought it to Jerusalem. These things happened in Judea whilst Cuspius Fadus was procurator.'

Fadus was sent into Judea by the emperor Claudius, after the death of Herod Agrippa. This affair of Theudas therefore must be rightly placed in the year of Christ 45 or 46.

That is transcribed from the twentieth and last book of the Antiquities. In the same book afterwards, in another chapter, in the history of transactions in the time of Nero, Josephus says: • But* affairs in Judea went on continually growing worse and worse. The country was again filled with robbers and impostors, who deceived the people; but Felix time after time apprehended and put to death many of them.' A little lower: And indeed, by means of the crimes 'committed by the robbers, the city was filled with all sorts of impiety: and impostors and deceivers persuaded the people to follow them into the wilderness; where, as they said, they 'should see manifest wonders and signs performed by the providence of God. And many heark⚫ening unto them, at length suffered the punishment of their folly: for Felix fetched them back ⚫ and punished them. About the same time there came a man out of Egypt to Jerusalem, who 'said he was a prophet: and having persuaded a good number of the meaner sort of people to follow him to the mount of Olives, he told them that thence they should see the walls of Jeru salem fall down at his command, and promised through them to give them entrance into the city. But Felix being informed of these things, ordered his soldiers to their arms; and, marching out of Jerusalem with a large body of horse and foot, he fell upon the Egyptian, and ⚫ killed four hundred of them, and took two hundred prisoners: but the Egyptian getting out of the fight escaped.'

This same story is also in The War, with some differences in the numbers, which were considered formerly.

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There the account concludes in this manner: When they came to engage the Egyptian fled, followed by a few only.. A large part of those who were with him were either slain or taken prisoners. The rest of the multitude, being scattered, shifted for themselves as they

could.'

This is supposed to have happened in the year of Christ 55.

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In the War, in the paragraph preceding his account of the Egyptian impostor, having just before related how Judea then abounded with robbers, called Sicarii, he says: Beside them, 'there was another body of wicked men, whose hands indeed were cleaner, but their intentions 'were as impious; who disturbed the happy state of the city no less than those murderers. For deceivers and impostors, under a pretence of divine inspiration, aiming at changes and innovations, made the people mad; and induced them to follow them into the wilderness, pretending that God would there give them signs and wonders. Felix judging these proceedings to be no ⚫ less than the beginning of a revolt, sent out his soldiers, both horse and foot, and destroyed 'great numbers of them.'

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In the forecited chapter of the twentieth book of the Antiquities, speaking of the robbers in the time of Porcius Festus, about the year of Christ 60, he says that he also sent out both horse and foot to fall upon those who had been seduced by a certain impostor, who had promised them deliverance and freedom from the miseries under which they laboured, if they • would but follow him into the wilderness. The forces destroyed him that had deceived them, and those that followed him.'

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Josephus speaks of six thousand who perished in the outer courts of the temple after it had been set on fire. The soldiers,' says he, set fire to the portico; whereupon some threw ⚫ themselves headlong down the precipice, others perished in the flames: and not one out of so 'great a number escaped. A false prophet was the occasion of the ruin of those people, who on that very day had made proclamation in the city, assuring them that God commanded them to 'go up to the temple, where they would receive signs of deliverance. And indeed there were then many prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose upon the people, and telling them that they ought to wait for help from God."

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And presently after, proceeding to relate the omens and prodigies foresignifying the calamities coming upon the Jewish people, and the city of Jerusalem, which shall be recited by and by, he

b Ib. sect. 6.

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Antiq. 1. 20. cap. viii. 5. • Vol. i. p. 225, &c.

d De B. J. 1. 2, c. xiii. 5.

.• Ib.sect. 4.
! Ant. 1.20, cap. viii. sect. 10.
De B. J. l. 6, cap. v.sect. 2.

says: Impostors,' who spake lies in the name of God, deceived this miserable people. They 'neither attended to, nor believed, the manifest signs foresignifying the coming desolation : but like infatuated men, who have neither eyes to see, nor minds to perceive, they neglected the • divine denunciations.'

So truly did our Lord say: "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:" John v. 43.

Our blessed Lord says, Matt. xxiv. 24. "For there will arise false Christs, and false prophets, and will shew great signs and wonders, insomuch that (if it were possible) they will deceive the very elect." But our Lord does not intend to say that any of those false prophets would exhibit or perform great wonders. The original word is dwes, they will give the same word that is in the Septuagint version of Deut. xiii. 1. "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he giveth thee a sign, or a wonder; var da con Tepas, that is, shall propose, or promise, some sign or wonder, as the sequel shews. Parallel with the text just cited from St. Matthew is Mark xiii. 22. "For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will shew signs and wonders," the same word again, ne dwoc onμɛia nai tepata," in order to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect."

The accounts which Josephus has given of the impostors in his time, shew the exact accomplishment of these predictions of our Lord: "They persuaded the people to follow them into the wilderness, where, as they said, they would see manifest signs and wonders, performed by the power of God:" or, assuring them," that God would there give them signs and wonders:" or, that "they should there receive signs of deliverance," and the like.

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The passages of Josephus bear witness to the fulfilment of our Lord's prediction, "that many false prophets would arise, and deceive many." Matt. xxiv. 11.

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Our Lord does also say there, at ver. 5. "And many will come in my name saying, I am Christ and will deceive many." And it is easy to believe that some of the many false prophets did expressly take to themselves that title, though Josephus does not say it. But whether they did or not, our Saviour's predictions are verified in the appearance of those false prophets. Josephus,' says archbishop Tillotson, mentions several of these; of whom, though he does not expressly say that they called themselves the Messias, ye the says that which is equivalent-that they undertook to rescue the people from the Roman yoke. Which was the thing which the 'Jews expected the Messias would do for them. And therefore we find that the disciples who were going to Emmaus, and knew not that Christ was risen, and were doubtful what to think of him, say: "We hoped this had been he that should have redeemed Israel:" that is, they hoped this had been the Messias; that being, it seems, a common periphrasis of the Messias, that he was "he that was to deliver Israel." Which is agreeable to a note of Grotius upon the place. All they therefore, who pretended that they were inspired, and sent by God to deliver the Jewish people, were indeed "false Christs." They took upon themselves the character of the Messiah.

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We may now readily admit the truth of what Josephus says in the passage transcribed not long ago: That what principally excited the Jewish people, the wise men, as he calls them, as well as others, to the war with the Romans, was the expectation of a great deliverer to arise among them, who should obtain the empire of the world." This great deliverer was the Messiah. The numerous "false prophets" and "false Christs," of whom Josephus speaks so frequently and so distinctly, are full proofs of it.

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The expectation of the coming of the Messiah, about the time of the appearance of Jesus, was universal, and had been so for some while. But with the idea of a prophet, or extraordinary teacher of religion, they had joined also that of a worldly king and conqueror, who should deliver the Jewish people from the burdens under which they laboured, raise them to a state of independence, and bring the nations of the earth into subjection to them, to be ruled and tyrannized over by them; and because our Lord did not perform, nor attempt this, they rejected and crucified him. If he would but have assumed the state and character of an earthly prince, scribes and

a Ibid. sect. 3.

b See Tillemont Ruine des Juifs, art. 36. A. D. 52. Vol. 3. p. 552.

d Christi nomine populus Judaïcus intelligebat vindicem libertatis. Nam illud, ήμεις δε ελπίζομεν, ότι αυτος εσιν ὁ ο μέλλων λυτρασθαι τον Ισραηλ, descriptio est nominis Christi.

Quare quicumque se missos divinitus liberatores populi Judaïci dicebant, eo ipso Christos se profitebantur, et erant euX81501. &c. Grot. in Matt. xxiv. 5.

Proofs of this, together with divers remarks, may be seen in Vol. i. p. 73, &c.

pharisees, priests and people, would all have joined themselves to him, and have put themselves under his banner. Of this we see many proofs in the gospels. This disposition prevailed to the last. The people therefore, though they had already met with many disappointments, when our Lord entered into Jerusalem, in no greater state than riding upon an ass, accompanied him with loud acclamations, and other tokens of respect, saying: "Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is the king that cometh in the name of the Lord." And Jesus, our Lord, not assuming then the character of an earthly prince was a fresh disappointment, and left deep resentments; which rendered them susceptible of the worst impressions from the chief priests, and their other rulers. And at their instigation they desired Pilate, the Roman governor, to set Barabbas at liberty, and crucify Jesus. With which clamorous and importunate demand he at length complied, still bearing testimony to the innocence of him whom he unwillingly condemned. The account of St. Matthew alone, without any other, will suffice for shewing this amazing transaction: "Pilate saith unto them: What shall I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ? They all say unto him: Let him be crucified. The governor said: Why! what evil has he done? But they cried out the more, saying: Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he prevailed nothing, and that rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying: I am innocent from the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people: His blood be upon us, and upon our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them. he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified:" Matt. xxvii. 22—26.

And when

The continued expectation of the Messiah, as a worldly king and conqueror, as we have just seen in Josephus, and their uneasiness under the Roman yoke, were the immediate occasions of their rebelling against the authority to which they were then subject. And the same principles that induced them to reject and crucify Jesus, brought upon them their utter and final ruin.

As the sin of the Jewish people in rejecting and crucifying Jesus, after a life of perfect innocence and consummate virtue, after speaking as no man had done before, and doing works which no other man had done, at Jerusalem, and in every part of the land of Israel; after such preparations as had been made for his reception by the prophets, and by the testimony of John the Baptist, his forerunner; was very great and aggravated: and as they rejected the renewed offers of mercy, and repeated and earnest calls to repentance, made by Christ's apostles, and went on increasing in wickedness; God at length suffered the Romans to come upon them with an armed force, demolished their temple, and made desolate their city, and their whole country, with many circumstances of uncommon and even unparalleled distress. All which having been foreseen and often foretold by the Lord Jesus, in his public discourses; the accomplishment of these predictions, in the event, is an argument of great force in favour of his divine mission, and of his being indeed the Messiah, additional to the excellent doctrine and wonderful works of his ministry.

VIII. Having shewn the occasion and causes of the war, and having also observed the several things foretold by the Lord Jesus, as preceding it, I now proceed to The history of the War itself, collecting it from Josephus, and making my extracts in his own words.

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The disturbances still increasing at Jerusalem, and the animosity against Florus being very great, Cestius Gallus,' president of Syria, judged it not proper for him to lie still any longer; he therefore determined to march into Judea: whereupon he took out of Antioch the twelfth legion entire, and out of the rest two thousand chosen men, with six cohorts of foot, and four troops of horse, beside the auxiliaries which were sent by the kings: of which Antiochus sent two thousand horse, and three thousand foot, all archers. Agrippa sent a thousand horse and 6 two thousand foot. Sohemus followed with four thousand. He then marched to Ptolemais. Agrippa accompanied Cestius as a guide in the journey, and as capable of being useful to him in other respects. After he was come thither, Cestius took a part of his army and marched hastily to Zabulon, a strong city of Galilee, which separates the country of Ptolemais from our nation that he found destitute of its men, the multitude having fled to the mountains, but full of all good things, which he allowed the soldiers to seize as plunder: and he set fire to the city, though its buildings were very beautiful, resembling those of Tyre and Sidon, and Berytus. . After that he overran the neighbouring country, seizing whatever came in his way, and setting a "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now you say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth :" John ix. 41. "If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin : but now they have no cloak for their sin. If I had not done

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VOL. III.

among them the works which no other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen, and hated, both me and my father" John xv. 22.-24.

b De B. J. 1. 2. cap. xviii. sect. 9.

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