• Dissertation XVIII - Part I
• Dissertation XVIII - Part II
• Dissertation XVIII - Part III
• Dissertation XVIII - Part IV

Our Saviour's Prophecies Relating to the Destruction of Jerusalem

Which Have Remarkably Been Fulfilled

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By Thomas Newton D.D.

Late Lord Bishop of Bristol (London 1700)

Dissertation XVIII

THE Jewish church consisting only of a single nation, and living under a theocracy or the immediate government of God, experienced continual interpositions of a particular extraordinary providence in its favour and protection, and was from time to time instructed by prophets raised up and sent one after another as occasions required. But the Christian church being designed to comprehend the whole world, was like the world at first erected by miracle, but like the world too is since governed by a general ordinary providence, by established laws, and the mediation of second causes. This difference in the nature and constitution of the two churches, is the reason why prophecies, and miracles, and other supernatural powers, which were continued so long and repeated so frequently in the Jewish church, were in the Christian church confined to the first ages, and limited chiefly to the persons of our blessed Saviour, and his disciples, and their companions. There were “prophets,” Acts 11:27, who “came from Jerusalem unto Antioch. One of them, named Agabus,” ver. 28, foretold the ’great dearth, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.’ The same prophet foretold likewise, Acts 21:10, 11, the bonds and imprisonment of St. Paul. Philip the evangelist had also, ver. 9, ’four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.’ Prophetic as well as other spiritual gifts abounded in the primitive church; their sons and their daughters did prophesy,’ Acts 2:17, ’their young men saw visions, and their old men dreamed dreams.’ But the only prophecies, which the Spirit of God hath thought fit to record and preserve, are some delivered by our blessed Saviour himself, and by his apostles, particularly St. Paul and St. John.

Our blessed Saviour, as he was the great subject of prophecy, so was an illustrious prophet himself; as he excelled in all other spiritual gifts and graces, so was eminent in this also, and gave ample proofs of his divine commission by his prophecies as well as by his miracles. What he said upon one occasion, is equally applicable to all his predictions, that their accomplishment is a sufficient attestation of his being the Messiah; John 13:19,— ’ Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.’ He foretold not only his own passion, death, and resurrection, but also the manner and circumstances of them, that he should be betrayed by one of the twelve, even by Judas Iscariot the son of Simon; that all the rest should be offended because of him that very night, and, notwithstanding their protestations to the contrary, should forsake him and fly: that Peter particularly, who was more zealous and eager than the rest, before the cock crew twice, should deny him thrice; that he should be betrayed to the chief priests, and be delivered to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, to spit upon, and to kill him; that he should be crucified, and the third day should rise again, and appear to his disciples in Galilee. He foretold that his apostles should be enabled of plain fishers to become fishers of men; that they should be endued with power from on high to speak with new tongues and to work miracles ; that they should go forth into all nations, and publish the glad tidings of the gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth. He foretold the persecutions and sufferings which his disciples should undergo and particularly by what manner of death Peter in his old age should glorify God, and that John should survive till after the destruction of Jerusalem. He foretold the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles; that the kingdom of heaven should be taken away from the former, and be given to the latter, who should bring forth the fruits thereof; that the number of his disciples from small beginnings should increase wonderfully, as a little seed groweth into a tree, and a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; that his church should be so founded upon a rock, that it should stand for ever, and all the powers of hell should not prevail against it. These things were most of them contrary to all human appearances and impossible to be foreseen by human prudence, or effected by human power; and he must be thoroughly acquainted with the hearts of men, and with the direction and disposition of future events, who could foretel them with such certainty and exactness and some of them are actually accomplishing in the world at this present time.

But none of our Saviour’s prophecies are more remarkable than those relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, as none are more proper and pertinent to the design of these discourses: and we will consider them as they lie in the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew, taking in also what is superadded by the other evangelists upon parallel occasions. These prophecies were delivered by our Saviour about forty years, and were committed to writing by St Matthew about thirty years, before they were to take effect. St Matthew’s is universally allowed to be the first of the four Gospels; ¹ the first in time, as it is always was the first in order was written, as most writers affirm, in the eighth year after the ascension of our Saviour. ² It must have been written before the dispersion of the apostles, because St. Bartholemew ³ is said to have taken it along with him into India, and to have left it there, where it was found several years afterwards by Pantaenus. If the general tradition of antiquity be true, that it was written originally in Hebrew, it certainly was written before the destruction of Jerusalem, for there was no occasion for writing in that language after the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews into all nations. It is asserted upon good authority, ⁴ that the Gospels of Mark and Luke were approved and confirmed, the one by St. Peter the other by St. Paul. So Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, and Clemens Alexandrinus say expressly that the Gospel of St. Mark was written at the desire of the new converts, and ratified by St. Peter. So the learned Origen affirms, that the second Gospel is that of Mark, who wrote as Peter dictated to him; and the third Gospel is that of Luke, which is commended by Paul. So Tertullian saith, that Mark’s Gospel is affirmed to be Peter’s whose interpreter Mark was; and Luke’s Gospel they are wont to ascribe to Paul. So Jerome saith, that the Gospel according to Mark, who was the disciple and the interpreter of Peter, is said to be Peter’s. These authorities are more than sufficient to weigh down the single testimony of Irenaeus to the contrary; but besides these, Gregory Nazienzen, Athanasius, and other fathers might be alleged to prove, that the Gospels or Mark and Luke received the approbation, the one of St. Peter, the other of St. Paul: and it is very well known, that both these apostles suffered martyrdom under Nero. The Gospel of St. Mark must have been written at latest in the reign of Nero, for he died in that reign, “in the eighth year of Nero,” ⁵ according to Jerome. The Gospel of St. Luke was written before the Acts of the Apostles, as appears from the preface to the latter; and the Acts of the Apostles concluding with St. Paul’s dwelling at Rome two years, it is probable that this book was written soon after that time, and before the death of St. Paul. It may be concluded then as certain, that three of the four Gospels were written and published before the destruction of Jerusalem; Dr. Lardner himself, who fixed the time of writing the three first Gospels later than most other authors, yet maintains that they were all published some years before the destruction of Jerusalem; ⁶ and in all probability the writers themselves were dead before that period; St. Matthew and St. Mark were certainly so: and consequently it cannot with any colour of reason be pretended that the predictions were written after the events. St. John is the only evangelist, who lived and wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem ; and he purposely omits these prophecies, to prevent this very cavil, as we may suppose with reason. Neither can it be pretended, that these predictions were interpolations made afterwards, ⁷ because they are inserted in several places, and woven into the very substance of the Gospels ; and because they are cited and alluded to by ancient writers as well as other parts; and because they were not to be accomplished all at once, but required several ages to their perfect completion and we see them, in some instances fulfilling to this very day.

In the conclusion of the twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew, our Saviour had, with the most merciful severity, with the most compassionate justice, pronounced the sentence of desolation upon Jerusalem; ver. 37, 38, — ’ 0 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.’ In like manner, upon another occasion, when he was approaching to Jerusalem, Luke 19:41, 42,— ’he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, if thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are bid from thine eyes.’ So deeply was our Saviour affected, and so tenderly did he lament over the calamities, which were coming upon his nation ! Such a generous and amiable pattern of a patriot spirit hath he left to his disciples: and so contrary to truth is the insinuation of a noble writer, ⁸ that there is nothing in the Gospels to recommend and encourage the love of one’s country.

When our Saviour uttered that pathetic lamentation, recorded in the twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew, he was in the temple, speaking to a mixed audience of his disciples and ’the multitude:’ and as he was departing out of the temple, ver. 1st, of the twenty-fourth chapter,— his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple,’ intimating, what a pitiable calamity they thought it, that so magnificent a structure should be destroyed. In the other gospels they are represented as saying, Mark 13:’Master, see what manner of stones, and what buildings are here;’ and as speaking of the temple, Luke 21:5, -’ how it was adorned with goodly stones, and gifts.’ The gifts of ages were reposited there, the presents of kings and emperors, as well as the offerings of the Jews : ⁹ and as the whole temple was built with the greatest cost and magnificence, so nothing was more stupendous than the uncommon measure of the stones. The disciples appear to have admired them particularly, and to have thought them very extraordinary; and indeed they were of a size almost incredible. “Those employed in the foundations, where, in magnitude, forty cubits,” that is, above sixty feet, a cubit being somewhat more than a foot and a half: “and the superstructure was worthy of such foundations.” ¹⁰ There were some stones of the whitest marble, forty-five cubits broad, five cubits high, and six cubits broad, as a priest of the temple hath described them.

Such a structure as this is, one would have expected, might have endured for many generations, and was indeed worthy of the highest admiration: but, notwithstanding, our Saviour assures his disciples, ver. 2,— ’ There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’ Our Saviour in his prophecies frequently alludes to phrases and expressions used by the ancient prophets; and as the prophet Haggai, 2:1.5, expresseth the building of the temple by ’a stone being laid upon a stone,’ so Christ expresseth the destruction of it by ’one stone not being left upon another.’ In the same manner he speaketh of, and to, the city, Luke 19:44.— ’They shall lay thee even with the ground, and shall not leave in thee one stone upon another.’ It is a proverbial and figurative manner of expression, to denote an utter destruction : and the prophecy would have been amply fulfilled, if the city and temple had been utterly ruined, though every single stone had not been overturned. But it happened in this case, that the words were almost literally fulfilled, and scarce ’one stone was left upon another.’ For when the Romans had taken Jerusalem, “Titus ordered the soldiers to dig up the foundation, both of all the city and the temple.” ¹¹ The temple was a building of such strength and grandeur, of such splendour and beauty, that it was likely to be perserved, as it was worthy to be preserved, for a monument of the victory and glory of the Roman empire. Titus was accordingly very desirous of preserving it, and protested to the Jews who had fortified themselves within it, “that he would perserve it, even against their will.” ¹² He had expressed the like desire of preserving the city too, and sent Josephus and other Jews again and again to their countrymen, to persuade them to a surrender.¹³ But an over-ruling Providence directed things otherwise. The Jews themselves first set fire to the porticos of the temple, and then the Romans.¹⁴ “One of the soldiers, neither waiting for any command, nor trembling for such an attempt, but urged by a certain divine impulse, ¹⁵ threw a burning brand in at the golden window, and thereby set fire to the buildings of the temple itself.” Titus ran immediately to the temple, and commanded his soldiers to extinguish the flame. ¹⁶ But neither exhortations nor threatenings could restrain their violence. They either could not hear, or would not hear ; and those behind encouraged those before to set fire to the temple. He was still for preserving the holy place. He commanded his soldiers even to be beaten for disobeying him: but their anger, and their hatred of the Jews, and a certain warlike vehement fury overcame their reverence for their general and their dread of his commands. A soldier in the dark set fire to the doors : and thus, as Josephus says, “the temple was burnt against the will of Caesar.” ¹⁷ Afterwards as we read in the Jewish Talmud and in Maimonides, ¹⁸ Turnus Rufus, or rather “Terentius Rufus, who was left to command the army at Jerusalem,” ¹⁹ did with a ploughshare tear up the foundation of the temple; and thereby signally fulfilled those words of Micah, 3:12, 12, — ’ Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field.’ Eusebius too affirms, “that it was ploughed up by the Romans, and he saw it lying in ruins.” ²⁰ The city also shared the same fate, and was burnt and destroyed as well as the temple.²¹ “The Romans burnt the extremest parts of the city, and demolished the walls.” ²² Three towers only, and some parts of the wall were left standing, ²³ for the better encamping of the soldiers, and to show to posterity what a city, and how fortified, the valour of the Romans had taken. And the rest of the city was so demolished and levelled with the ground, that they who came to see it, could not believe that it was ever inhabited. After the city was thus taken and destroyed, great riches were found among the ruins; and the Romans dug it up in search of the treasures, which had been concealed and buried in the earth. ²⁴ So literally were our Saviour’s words accomplished in the ruin both of the city and of the temple: and well might Eleazar say, that ” God had delivered his most holy city to be burnt, and to be subverted by their enemies:” ²⁵ and ” wish that they all had died, before they saw that holy city demolished by the bands of their enemies, and the sacred temple so wickedly dug up from the foundations.” ²⁶

In this plain manner our Saviour, now drawing near to his fatal hour, foretold the absolute ruin and destruction of the city and temple. The disciples were curious to know more of these events, when they should be, and how they should be; but yet thought it not proper to ask him at present, the multitude probably still flocking about him : and therefore they take an opportunity of coming unto him ’privately, as he was sitting upon the mount of Olives,’ from whence was a good prospect of the city and temple, and there prefer their request to him, ver. 3, — ’Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world ?’ These are only different expressions, to denote the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem ; for when they conceived would be the destruction of Jerusalem, then they conceived would be the coming of Christ; and when they conceived would be the coming of Christ, then they conceived would be “the end of the world,’ or rather (as it should be rendered) ’ the conclusion of the age.’ ²⁷ ’The end of the world,’ or ’ the conclusion of the age,’ is the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem; for there being two ages (as they were called) among the Jews, the one under the law, the other under the Messiah; when the city and temple were destroyed, and the Jewish polity in church and state was dissolved, the former age must of course be concluded, and the age under the Messiah be commenced. It is true, the phrase ounteleia ts aiwnos most usually signifies ’the end of the world,’ properly so called; as in the parable of the tares, Matt. 13:39, — ’ the harvest is ounteleia tj aiwnoj the end of the world ; ’ ver. 40, — ’ As therefore the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire, so shall it be en th sonteleia tj aiwnoj in the end of this world.’ And again, ver. 49, — ’ So shall it be en th ounteleia aiwnoj at the end of the world, the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.’ In like manner our Saviour says to his disciples, Matt. 28:20, — ’ Lo, I am with you alway, ewj Tin ounteleiaj aiwnoj even unto the end of the world.’ But here the phrase appears to be used much in the same manner as in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 9:26,— ’ But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; in the end of the world,’ epi ounteleia A wn aiwnwn, in the conclusion of the Jewish age or ages: and these, I think, are all the places where the phrase occurs in scripture. ’The coming of Christ’ is also the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem, as may appear from several places in the Gospels-, and particularly from these two passages There are some standing here,’ saith our blessed Lord, ’who shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom,’ —Matt. 16:28, that is, evidently, there are some standing here, who shall live, not till the end of the world, to the coming of Christ to judge mankind, but till the destruction of Jerusalem, to the coming of Christ in judgment upon the Jews. In another place, John 21:22, speaking to Peter concerning John, he saith, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?’ what is it to thee, if I will that he live till the destruction of Jerusalem ? as in truth he did, and longer. ’The coming of Christ,’ and ’the conclusion of the age,’ being, therefore, only different expressions to denote the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem, the purport of the question plainly is, when shall the destruction of Jerusalem be, and what shall be the signs of it?’ In the parallel place of St. Mark 13:4, the question is put thus: ’When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled ?’ In the parallel place of St. Luke, 21:7, the question is put thus.: ’When shall these things be, and what sign will. there be when these things shall come to pass ?’ So that the disciples ask two things, first, the ’time’ of the destruction of Jerusalem, ’when shall these things be;’ and secondly, the ’signs’ of it, ’and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled,’ as it is in St. Mark; ’and what will be the sign when these things shall come to pass,’ as it is in St. Luke; ’and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the conclusion of the age,’ as it is in St. Matthew. The latter part of the question our Saviour answereth first, and treateth of the ’signs’ of his coming and the destruction of Jerusalem, from the 4th to the 31st verse inclusive; and then passeth on to the other part of the question concerning the ’time’ of his coming: and these two heads of our Saviour’s answer shall likewise, in the same method and order, be made the subject of this, and some subsequent discourses.

Our blessed Saviour treateth of the signs of his coming and the destruction of Jerusalem from the 4th to the 31st verse inclusive by ’signs’ meaning the circumstances and accidents, which should forerun, usher in, and attend this great event : and I am persuaded the whole compass of history cannot furnish us with a prophecy more exactly fulfilled in all points than this hath been.

False Christs our Saviour mentions as the first sign of his coming, ver. 4 and 5 ,— ’Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.’ With this he begins in all the evangelists, and in all useth almost the very same words; only in St. Luke, 21:8, he addeth ’the time draweth near;’ and indeed within a little time this part of the prophecy began to be fulfilled. For very soon after our Saviour’s decease appeared Simon Magus, Acts 8:9, 10,— ’ and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying This man is the great power of God! He boasted himself likewise among the Jews, as the Son of God. ²⁸ Of the same stamp and character was also Dositheus the Samaritan, who pretended that he was the Christ foretold by Moses. ²⁹ In the reign of Claudius, about twelve years after the death of our Saviour, when Cuspius Fadus was procurator of Judea, a certain impostor, named Theudas, persuaded a great multitude with their beat effects to follow him to the river Jordan; for he said that he was a prophet, and promised to divide the river for their passage, and “saying these things he deceived many,” ³⁰ saith Josephus. But Fadus sent a troop of horse against them, who falling unexpectedly upon them, killed many, and made many prisoners; and having taken Theudas himself alive, they cut off his head, and brought it to Jerusalem. A few years afterwards, in the reign of Nero, and under the procuratorship of Felix, these impostors arose so frequent, that “many of them were apprehended and killed every day.” ³¹ They seduced great numbers of the people still expecting the Messiah; and well therefore might our Saviour caution his disciples against them.

The next signs be giveth of his coming are several terrible calamities, as, wars and rumours of wars, famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places, ver. 6 and 7,— ’ And ye shall hear of wars and rumours 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 against nation, arid kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.’ Accordingly there were wars and rumours of wars,’ as appears in the historians of those times, and above all in Josephus. To relate the particulars would indeed be to transcribe great part of his history of the Jewish wars. There were more especially ’rumours of wars,’ when Caligula the Roman emperor ordered his statue to be set up in “the temple of Jerusalem, ³² which the Jews refused to suffer, and persisted in their refusal : and having therefore reason to apprehend a war from the Romans, were in such a consternation that they omitted even the tilling of their lands: but this storm was soon blown over, and their fears were dissipated by the timely death of that emperor.

It is said, moreover, that ’nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom., Here, as Grotius well observes, “Christ declares, that greater disturbances than those which happened under Caligula, should fall out in the latter times of Claudius, and in the reign of Nero. That of ’nation against nation’ portended the divinations, insurrections, and mutual slaughter of the Jews and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Caesarea,” ³³ where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which contention at length proceeded so far, that above twenty thousand Jews were slain, and the city was cleared of the ’Jewish inhabitants.³⁴ At this blow the whole nation of the Jews were exasperated; and dividing themselves into parties, they burnt and plundered the neighbouring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense slaughter of the people. ³⁵ The Syrians in revenge destroyed not a less number of the Jews, It and every city,” as Josephus expresseth it, was divided into armies.” ³⁶ At Scythopolis the inhabitants compelled the Jews who resided among them to fight against their own countrymen, and after the victory basely setting upon them by night, murdered above thirteen thousand of them, and spoiled their goods. ³⁷ At Ascalon they killed two-thousand and five hundred, at Ptolemais two thousand, and made not a few prisoners. ³⁸ The Tyrians put many to death, and imprisoned more. The people of Gadara did likewise, and all the other cities of Syria, in proportion as they hated or feared the Jews. At Alexandria the old enmity was revived between the Jews and Heathens, and many fell on both sides, but of the Jews to the number of fifty thousand. ³⁹ The people of Damascus too conspired against the Jews of the same city, and assaulting, them unarmed, killed ten thousand of them. ⁴⁰ That of ’kingdom against kingdom’ portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against one another; as that of the Jews who dwelt in Peraea against the people of Philadelphia concerning their bounds, while Cuspius Fadus was procurator: ⁴¹ and that of the Jews and Galilaeans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galilaeans going up to the Feast at Jerusalem while Cumanus was procurator: ⁴² and that of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa and other allies of the Roman empire, ⁴³ which began while Gessius Mortis was procurator. But as Josephus saith, “there was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judea, but likewise in Italy,” ⁴⁴ Otho and Vitellius contending for the empire.

It is further added, ’and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.’ There were famines, as particularly that prophesied of by Agabus, and mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, 11:28, and by Suetonius and other profane historians ⁴⁵ referred to by Eusebius, ’which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar,’ and was so severe at Jerusalem, that, as Josephus saith, “many perished for want of victuals."— And ’pestilences,’ for these are the usual attendants upon famines. Scarcity and badness of provisions almost always end in some epidemical distemper. ⁴⁶ We see many died by reason of the famine in the reign of Claudius : and Josephus farther informs us, that when Niger was killed by the Jewish zealots, he imprecated besides other calamities famine and pestilence upon them, (Limonie kai loimon the very words used by the evangelist) “all which, (saith he,) God ratified and brought to pass against the ungodly.” ⁴⁷ — ’And earthquakes in diverse places,’ as particularly that in Crete in the reign of Claudius, mentioned by Philostratus in the life of Apollonius, and those also mentioned by Philostratus at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos.” ⁴⁸ in all which places some Jews inhabited; and those at Rome mentioned by Tacitus ; ⁴⁹ and that at Laodicea, in the reign of Nero, mentioned by Tacitus, ⁵⁰ which city was overthrown, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse; and that in Campania, mentioned by Seneca; ⁵¹ and that at Rome in the reign of Galba, mentioned by Suetonius; ⁵² and that in Judea, mentioned by Josephus. ” For by night there broke out a most dreadful tempest, and violent strong winds with the most vehement showers, and continual lightenings, and horrid thunderings, and prodigious bellowings of the shaken earth: and it was manifest, (as he saith,) that the constitution of the universe was confounded for the destruction of men; and any one might easily conjecture, that these things portended no common calamity.” ⁵³

To these St, Luke addeth, 21:11, that ’there shall be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.’ Josephus, in the preface to his history of the Jewish war, undertakes to relate ” the signs and prodigies, which preceded the taking of the city;” ⁵⁴ and he relates accordingly, that “a star hung over the city like a sword, and the comet continued for a whole year ;” ⁵⁵ that “the people being assembled to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, at the ninth hour of the night there shone so great a light about the altar and the temple, that it seemed to be bright day, and this continued for half an hour;” ⁵⁶ that ” at the same feast a cow, led by the priest to sacrifice, brought forth a lamb in the middle of the temple;” ⁵⁷ that ” the eastern gate ⁵⁸ of the temple, which was of solid brass and very heavy, and was scarcely shut in an evening by twenty men, and was fastened by strong bars and bolts, was seen, at the sixth hour of the night, opened of its own accord, and could hardly be shut again;” that “before the setting of the sun there were seen over all the country chariots and armies fighting in the clouds, and besieging cities ;” ⁵⁹ that ” at the feast of Pentecost, as the priests were going into the inner temple by night as usual to attend their service, they heard first a motion and noise, and then a voice as of a multitude saying, Let us depart hence;” ⁶⁰ and what be reckons as the most terrible of all, that one Jesus, an ordinary country fellow, four years before the war began, when the city was in peace and plenty, came to the feast of tabernacles, and ran crying up and down the streets day and night, ’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 the bridegrooms and the brides, a voice against all the people.’ ⁶¹ The magistrates endeavoured by stripes and tortures, to restrain him; but he still cried with a mournful voice, ’Woe, woe to Jerusalem!,’ This he continued to do for seven years and five months together, and especially at the great festivals; and he neither grew hoarse nor was tired; but went about the walls, and cried with a loud voice, ’Woe, woe to the city, and to the people, and to the temple;’ and as he added at last, ’ Woe, woe also to myself,’ it happened that a stone from some sling or engine immediately struck him dead. These were indeed fearful sights and great ’signs from heaven:’ and there is not a more creditable historian than the author who relates them, and who appeals to the testimony of those who saw and heard them. But it may add some weight to his relation, that Tacitus, the Roman historian, also gives us a summary account of the same occurrences. He saith that “there happened several prodigies, armies were seen engaging in the heavens, arms were seen glittering, and the temple shone with the sudden fire of the clouds, the doors of the temple opened suddenly, and a voice greater than human was heard, that the gods were departing, and likewise a great motion of their departing.” ⁶² Dr. Jortin’s remark is very pertinent. “If Christ had not expressly foretold this, many, who gave little heed to portents, and who know that historians have been too credulous in that point, would have suspected that Josephus exaggerated, and that Tacitus was misinformed ; but as the testimonies of Josephus and Tacitus confirm the predictions of Christ, so the predictions of Christ confirm the wonders recorded by these historians.” ⁶³ But even allowing all that incredulity can urge that in the great calamities of war, and famine, and pestilence, the people always grow superstitious, and are struck with religious panics;— that they see nothing then but prodigies and portents, which in happier seasons are overlooked ;— that some of these appear to be formed in imitation of the Greek and Roman historians as particularly the cow’s bringing forth a lamb ;— that armies fighting in the clouds, seen in calamitous times in all ages and countries, are nothing more than meteors, such as the aurora borealis ;— in short allowing that some of these prodigies were feigned, and others were exaggerated, yet the prediction of them is not the less divine on that account. Whether they were supernatural, or the fictions only of a disordered imagination, yet they were believed as realities, and had all the effects of realities, and were equally worthy to be made the objects of prophecy. ’Fearful sights and great signs from heaven’ they certainly were, as much as if they had been created on purpose to astonish the earth.

But notwithstanding all these terrible calamities, our Saviour exhorts his disciples not to be troubled. The Jews may be under dreadful apprehensions, as they were particularly in the case of Caligula above mentioned; but ’ be not ye troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet,’ but the destruction of Jerusalem is not yet. ’All these are only the beginning of sorrows,’- ver. 8, aroch wsinwn.. Great troubles and calamities are often expressed in scripture-language metaphorically by the pains of travailing women. All these are only the first pangs and throes, and are nothing to that hard labour which shall follow.

From the calamities of the nation in general, he passeth to those of the Christians in particular: and indeed the former were in great measure the occasion of the latter ; famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and the like calamities being reckoned judgments for the sins of the Christians, and the poor Christians being often maltreated and persecuted on that account, as we learn from some of the earliest apologists for the Christian religion. Now the calamities which were to befal the Christians were cruel persecutions, ver. 9, — ’Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations,’ not only of the Jews but likewise of the Gentiles, ’for my name’s sake.’ St. Mark and St. Luke are rather more particular. St. Mark saith, 13:9, 11 — ’They shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.’ St. Luke saith, 21:12.- 15,— ’But before all these they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer. For I will give you a mouth, and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist ! We need look no farther than the Acts of the Apostles for the completion of these particulars. There are instances enough of the sufferings of some Christians, and of the death of others. Some are ’delivered to councils,’ as Peter and John, 4:5, &100. Some are ’brought before rulers and kings,’ as Paul before Gallio, 18:12 ; Felix, 24; Festus and Agrippa, 25:Some have ’a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries were not able to gainsay, or resist,’ as it is said of Stephen, 6:10, that ’they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake,’ and Paul made even Felix to ’tremble,’ 24:25, and the gospel still prevailed against all opposition and persecution whatever. Some are imprisoned, as Peter and John, 4:3. Some are beaten, as Paul and Silas, 16:23. Some are to put to death, as Stephen, 7:59, and James the brother of John, 12:2. But if we would look farther, we have a more melancholy proof of the truth of this prediction in the persecutions under Nero in which (besides numberless other Christians) fell those two great champions of our faith, St. Peter and St. Paul. ⁶⁴ And it was nominis praelium, as Tertullian calleth it; ⁶⁵ It was a war against the very name. Though a man was possessed of every human virtue, yet it was crime enough, if he was a Christian; so true were our Saviour’s words, that they should be hated of all nations ’for his name’s sake.’

But they were not only to be hated of all nations, but were also to be betrayed by apostates and traitors of their own brethren, ver. 10,— ’And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.’ By reason of persecution - many shall be offended,’ and apostatize from the faith ; as particularly those mentioned by St. Paul in his second epistle to Timothy, 1:15,— ’ Phygellus and Hermogenes, who with many others in Asia turned away from him,’ and 4:10, — ’Demas who forsook him, having loved this present world.’ But they shall not only apostatize from the faith, but also ’shall betray one another, and shall hate one another! To illustrate this point we need only cite a sentence out of Tacitus, speaking of the persecution under Nero. “At first,” says he, “several were seized who confessed, and then by their discovery a great multitude of others were convicted and barbarously executed.” ⁶⁶

False teachers too, and false prophets, were to infest the church, ver. 11,— ’And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.’ Such particularly was Simon Magus ; and his followers, the Gnostics, were very numerous. Such also were the Judaizing teachers, false apostles, as they are called by St Paul, 2 Cor. 11:13, ’deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.’ Such also were Hymeneus and Philetus, of whom the apostle complains, 2 Tim. 2:17, 18, that they affirmed ’the resurrection to be passed already, and overthrew the faith of some.’

The genuine fruit and effect of these evils was lukewarmness and coolness among Christians, ver. 12,- ’And because iniquity shall abound, the love, of many shall wax cold.’ By reason of these trials and persecutions from without, and these apostacies and false prophets from within, the love of many to Christ and his doctrine, and also their love to one another, shall wax cold. Some shall openly desert the faith, as ver. 10 ; others shall corrupt it, as ver. 11 ; and others again, as here, shall grow indifferent to it. And (not to mention other instances) who can hear St. Paul complaining at Rome, 2 Tim. 4:16, that ’at his first answer no man stood with him, but all men forsook him;’ who can hear the divine author of the Epistle to the Hebrews exhorting them, 10:25,—’ not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is,’ and not conclude the event to have sufficiently justified our Saviour’s prediction ?

’But he that shall endure unto the end;’ ver. 13, but he who shall not be terrified by these trials and persecutions; he who shall neither apostatize from the faith himself, nor be seduced by others; he who shall not be ashamed to profess his faith in Christ, and his love to the brethren; ’the same shall be saved,’ saved both here and hereafter. ’There shall not an hair of your head perish,’ as it is in St. Luke, 21:18: and indeed it is very remarkable, and was certainly a most signal act of providence, that none of the Christians perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. So true and prophetic also was that assertion of St. Peter upon this same occasion, 2 Pet. 2:9,— ’The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.’

But notwithstanding the persecutions and calamities of the Christians, there was to be an universal publication of the gospel before the destruction of Jerusalem, ver. 14,— ’ And this gospel of the ’kingdom’ (this gospel of the kingdom of God) ’shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come;’ and then shall the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish polity come to pass ; when all nations shall be or may be convinced of the crying sin of the Jews in crucifying the Lord of glory, and of the justice of God’s judgments upon them for it. The Acts of the Apostles contain only a small part of the history of a small part of the Apostles; and yet even in that history we see, the gospel was widely disseminated, and had taken root in the most considerable parts of the Roman empire. As early as in the reign of Nero, the Christians were grown so numerous at home, as to raise the jealousy of the government, and the first general persecution was commenced against them under pretence of their having set fire to the city, of which the emperor himself was really guilty, but willing to transfer the blame and odium upon the poor innocent Christians.⁶⁷ Clement, who was a contemporary and fellow laborer with St. Paul, says of him in particular, that ’he was a preacher both in the east and in the west, that he taught the whole world righteousness, and travelled as far as to the utmost borders of the west :’ ⁶⁸ and if such were the labours of one apostle, though the chiefest of the apostles, what were the united labours of them all ? It appears indeed 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 far northward as Scythia, as far southward as Ethiopia, as far eastward as Parthia, and India, as far westward as Spain and Britain. Our ancestors of this island seem to have lain as remote from the scene of our Saviour’s actions as almost any nation, and were a “rough inhospitable people,” ⁶⁹ as unlikely to receive so civilized an institution as any people whatever. But yet there is some probability, that the gospel was preached here by St. Simon the apostle ; ⁷⁰ there is much greater probability, that it was preached here by St Paul; and there is absolute certainty, that Christianity was planted in this country in the days of the apostles, before the destruction of Jerusalem. Agreeably to this, Eusebius informs us, that “the apostles preached the gospel in all the world ; and some of them it passed beyond the ocean to the Britannic isles.” ⁷¹ Theodoret likewise affirms, that the apostles had induced every nation and kind of men to embrace the gospel, and among the converted nations he reckons particularly the Britons.⁷² St. Paul himself, in his Epistle to the Colossians, 1:6,23, speaketh of the gospel’s being ’come into all the world, and preached to every creature under heaven :’ and in his Epistle to the Romans, 10:18, very elegantly applies to the lights of the church what the Psalmist said of the lights of heaven, ’ their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.’ But how improbable, and in all human appearance impossible was it, that a few poor fishermen, and such inferior, illiterate persons should propagate and establish a new religion, in so short a space of time, throughout the world ! Doubtless it was not man’s but God’s work, and from the same divine spirit proceeded both the prophecy and the completion !

We have deduced the prophecies as low as to the siege of Jerusalem ; and now let us stop to make a few short reflections upon what has been said.

The first reflection that naturally occurs, is the strange and surprising manner in which these prophecies have been fulfilled, and the great argument that may thence be drawn for the truth of our Saviour’s divine mission: but we shall have a fitter opportunity for enlarging upon this hereafter.

Another reflection we may make on the sincerity and ingenuity of Christ, and the courage and constancy of his disciples. Had Jesus been an impostor, he would, like all other impostors, have fed his followers with fair hopes and promises: but, on the contrary, we see, that he denounced persecution to be the lot of his disciples, he pointed out to them the difficulties they must encounter, the fiery trials they must undergo ; and yet they did not therefore stagger in their faith, they did not therefore, like fainthearted soldiers, forsake their colours and desert his service. One hardly knoweth whom to admire most, him for dealing so plainly with them, or them for adhering so steadily to him. Such instances are rarely found of openness on one side, and of fidelity on the other.

A third reflection we may make on the sudden and amazing progress of the Gospel, that it should spread so far and so wide, before the destruction of Jerusalem. The greatness of the work that was wrought, the meanness of the instruments which wrought it and the short time that it was wrought in, must force all considering men to say, ’This is the Lord’s doing, it is marvellous in our eyes,’ -Psal. 118:23. The Mahommedan religion, indeed, in less than a century overran a great part of the world ; but then it was propagated by the sword, and owed its success to arms and violence. But the Christian religion was diffused over the face of the earth in the space of forty years, and prevailed, not only without the sword, but against the sword; not only without the powers civil and military to support it, but against them all united to oppress it. And what but the Spirit of God could bid it thus go forth ’conquering and to conquer ?’ — Rev. 6:2. ’ Had this counsel or this work been of men,’ as Gamaliel argued, ’it would have come to nought; but being of God, nothing could overthrow it,’ Acts 5:38.

A fourth reflection we may make, (and it is the last that I shall make,) that seldom any state is mined, but there are evident signals and presages of it. Few people have their fate particularly foretold by prophets, like the Jews; nor indeed can the fate of any people be so particularly foretold, the time, the manner, and all the circumstances preceding and succeeding, without divine inspiration. So many passages and circumstances cannot be particularly foretold unless particularly revealed ; but in the general, without the spirit of prophecy, it is no difficult matter to perceive when cities and kingdoms are tending towards their final period and dissolution. There are as certain tokens and symptoms of a consumption and decay in the body politic, as in the body natural. I would not presage ill to my country; but when we consider the many heinous and presumptuous sins of this nation, the licentiousness and violation of all order and discipline, the daring insolence of robbers and smugglers, in open defiance of all law and justice, the factions and divisions, the venality and corruption, the avarice and profusion of all ranks and degrees among us, the total want of public spirit, and ardent passion for private ends and interests, the luxury and gaming; and dissoluteness in high life, and the laziness and drunkenness and debauchery in low life, and, above all, that barefaced ridicule of all virtue and decency, and that scandalous neglect, and I wish I could not say contempt, of all public worship and religion ; when we consider these things, these signs of the times, the stoutest and most sanguine of us all ’must tremble at the natural and probable consequences of them. God give us grace that we may know, at least in this our day, the things which belong unto our peace,’ before ’they are hid from our eyes,’ — Luke 19:42. Never may such blindness happen to us, as befel the Jews; but may we ’seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near; and return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon us, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon,’ -Isa. 4:6, 7.