dations, 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*," 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*."

Thus awfully complete, and severe 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 never shall be!" Such was the prediction: the language in which Josephus declares its fulfilment 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, days of vengeance," "that all things which are written (especially by Moses, Joel, and Daniel) might be fulfilled.” 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 carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” After the destruction Mat. xxiv. 21. † Luke xxi. 22.

"the

Mat. xxiv. 28,

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 Cæsarea, he there, with great splendour, celebrated the birthday 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 and 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 this 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 plunged his sword into his own boNevertheless, two women and five children successfully successfully concealed themselves, and witnessed the whole transaction. When the Romans advanced to the

som.

attack in the morning, one of the women gave them a distinct account of this melancholy affair; which struck them with amazement at the contempt of death that 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 2 melancholy and death-like silence reigned.

I