doubt but that the prediction and its fulfil ment 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 accom plished, 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 unpa ralleled 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 fulfilment 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 60 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 more 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 Cæsar, 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 plun

dered 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 gates, 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*, 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 fact, and as such cannot be contemplated by the pious mindwithout 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

Such was our Lord's admonition: "Let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains," &c. Vide Mat. xxiv. 16--22.

blessed Master, they gave full credit to his predictions, and escaped the calamity. Thus were fulfilled the words of our Lord, "He that shall endure unto the end (i. e. of the scene of this prophecy) shall be saved*," i. e. from the calamities which will 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 pro, secute the war against the Jews, who, as. sisted 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 pe riod he reduced all the strong towns of

* Mat. xxiv. 13.