to find the road taking an unexpected turn, and holding on its own level way. And to such a point I think every sincere inquirer will come, who is willing to follow the right path so far as he can find it, and to wait, putting up the petition, and adopting the resolution, of Elihu,—“That which I see not, teach thou me; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.” I have the fullest conviction, not only of the truth, but of the philosophical profoundness, of that saying of our Saviour," If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."

But, leaving this, I observe, in the first place, that we are not to have our confidence in the Christian religion shaken, from the mere fact that objections can be made against it. There are those who seem to think that, if an objection can be made, some degree of uncertainty is introduced at once, and that there comes to be a balance of probabilities. But this is not so. When once a thing is fairly proved, all objections must go for nothing. Very plausible objections may be made to many things which we yet know to be true. Thus objections have been made to the existence of matter, and to the truth of the evidence of the senses, which a plain man would find it difficult to answer, and which yet would have no weight with him whatever. We all believe there is such a thing as motion, and yet there may be some here who would find it difficult to answer the common logical objection against it. Let me put that objection. You will, I suppose, all agree that, if any thing moves, it must move either where it is, or where it is not. But certainly nothing can move where it is, for that would not

despised, and rejected, and oppressed! A Messiah who is to be slain, and yet is to reign forever! These assertions might, indeed, have been received separately, by faith, as the word of God; a reasonable Jew would have so received them; but, before the event, he could not have understood and reconciled them with each other; and yet the demand made by each of these aspects of the prophecy is fully met in Christ.

How, then, can the conclusion be avoided, that these prophecies were given by inspiration of God? Not by the supposition that they were fulfilled by human contrivance, for the enemies of Christ, far more than his friends, contributed to that fulfilment. As was said by Paul, (Acts xiii. 27,) "They that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." It was they that smote him, and hung him on a tree, and parted his garments among them, and cast lots, and pierced his side. It was they who paid the thirty pieces of silver, the goodly price at which they valued him, and who bought, with the price of blood, the potter's field. Nor can this conclusion be avoided on the supposition of chance; for, as has already been said, it would surpass the power of numbers to express the extreme improbability of the fulfilment of such prophecies.

Nor is this all; for it would be easy to show that the whole of the Old Testament dispensation, the ark of the covenant, with all its arrangements, the passover, the sacrifices, the ceremonies, the priesthood, were all typical, and therefore prophetic; and that the

true import and substance of all these is to be found. in the Christian dispensation. This, however, is a great subject, and I cannot enter upon it.

We now come to the fourth point mentioned namely, that Christ and his apostles uttered prophecies which have been fulfilled since their time, and which are in the process of fulfilment now. Fully to illustrate this position, would require a lecture. I can only glance at it.

As the prophecy of Christ respecting the destruction of Jerusalem had for one of its objects to warn his followers to escape from that city, it was delivered in the most direct and explicit terms. Before the time of Christ, and during his life, no false Christ arose ; there was no war, and no prospect of one; and the Temple, and Jerusalem, were standing in all their strength. But he foretold that false Christs should arise, and should deceive many; that there should be earthquakes and famine, and fearful sights in heaven, and wars and rumors of wars, and great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever should be; and that Jerusalem should be compassed with armies; and that a trench should be cast round about it; and that one stone of the Temple should not be left upon another; and that the Jews should be carried captive among all nations. Paul also prophesied of the great apostasy, and the coming of the man of sin; and John, in the Revelation, has spoken of the course of events till the end of time.

To verify the prophecies of Christ respecting the destruction of Jerusalem, and the events preceding it, we have a history of those times, written by Josephus,

an eye-witness and a Jew; and nothing can be more striking than a comparison of the history and the prophecy. Josephus gives particular accounts of the false Christs and false prophets, and of their deceiving many. He speaks of the distracted state of those countries, corresponding to the prophecy; of wars and rumors of wars; and says that the "disorders of all Syria were terrible. For every city was divided into parties armed against each other, and the safety of one depended on the destruction of the other; the days were spent in slaughter, and the nights in terrors." He speaks also of famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, and especially of "fearful sights, and great signs from heaven." He tells us that just before the war, a star, resembling a sword, stood over the city, and a comet that continued a whole year. That "before sunsetting, chariots, and troops of soldiers in their armor, were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding cities." He says, also, “At the feast of Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner court of the Temple, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and, after that, they heard the sound as of a multitude, saying, 'Let us depart hence!"" Nor is Josephus alone in giving these accounts. Tacitus, also, says, "There were many prodigies presignifying their ruin, which was not averted by all the sacrifices and vows of that people. Armies were seen fighting in the air with brandished weapons. A fire fell upon the Temple from the clouds. The doors of the Temple were suddenly opened. At the same time there was a loud voice declaring that the gods were removing, which was accompanied with a sound as of a multitude going out. All which things

were supposed, by some, to portend great calamities." He speaks, also, of the fact that Jerusalem was compassed by an army at the beginning of the war, and that, owing to the state of parties, many of the principal men were about to open the gates; but says that the Roman general recalled the soldiers from the place without having received any defeat, and retired from the city, without any reason in the world. He then mentions that, when the Roman armies approached again, a great multitude fled to the mountains. Thus a way was made for the disciples of Christ to escape, and it is not known that a single one of them perished in that destruction. It really seems to have prefigured the final destruction of the wicked, when the righteous shall all have been gathered from among them. Josephus also speaks particularly of the trench and wall which were made about Jerusalem by Titus. This was done with great difficulty, and, except for the purpose of a little more speedy reduction of the city, without necessity, and was contrary to the advice of the chief men of Titus. But so it was written. In respect to the tribulation of those days, of which our Saviour speaks so strongly, if the purpose of Josephus had been to confirm the words of the prophecy, he could have said nothing more to the point. "No other city," says he, "ever suffered such miseries; nor was there ever a generation more fruitful in wickedness from the beginning of the world." Again; "It appears to me that the misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the world, if they be compared to those of the Jews, are not so considerable. For in reality it was God who condemned the whole nation, and turned every course that was taken