and populous city of Jerusalem, laid in complete ruin, so lately the wonder and admiration of the world!'

Well might the Prophet exclaim-" Lord! who "hath believed our report!" when the Almighty had sent him thus to declare the punishment to be inflicted on the Jews for their disobedience and infidelity. "Go, and tell this people-Hear ye indeed, but un"derstand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with "their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand "with their heart, and convert, and be healed.-Then, "said I, Lord! how long? And he answered, Until the "cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses "without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And "the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a

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great forsaking in the midst of the land." For now was "the arm of the Lord revealed," when the Romans, by this final destruction, made an end of "wasting "inhabitants, and had made "the land utterly desti"tute,"

(1) The prophecy of our Saviour," As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so also shall the coming of the son of man be," as it relates to the destruction of Jerusalem, was also fulfilled: "for," says Bishop Pearce," the Roman army entered into Judea on the east side of it, and carried on their conquests westward, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army should take, was intended in the comparison of the lightning coming out of the east, and shining unto the west."

(2) Isaiah, liii. 1.

(3) Isaiah, vi. 9—12.

The former part of this Prophecy evidently related to the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews, as our Saviour himself explained it (Matt. iii. 15), but the denunciation contained in the latter part of it was clearly established, by the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, and not less so by this complete overthrow of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the remnant, carried and sent away by Titus.

"tute," not only of its people, but in its forlorn appearance: when they "removed" the captives far away, and had left this place, so recently the magnificent and boasted habitations of his chosen, forsaken and desolate.' Well might our benign and blessed Lord, reflecting upon the causes which would bring down this destructive judgment, weep over it, and with excessive grief justly pronounce this sentence of desolation"Oh Jerusalem! Jerusalem! thou that killest the Prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, "how often would I have gathered thy children to"gether, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under "her wings, and ye would not? Behold! your house "is left unto you desolate,"

CHAP.

(1) SEE YE NOT ALL THESE THINGS? VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THERE SHALL

NOT BE LEFT HERE ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER, THAT SHALL NOT BE THROWN
DOWN.
Matt. xxiv. 2.

SEEST THOU THESE GREAT BUILDINGS? THERE SHALL NOT BE LEFT ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER, THAT SHALL NOT BE THROWN DOWN.

Mark, xiii. 2.

AS FOR THESE THINGS WHICH YE BEHOLD, THE DAYS WILL COME, IN THE WHICH THERE SHALL NOT be left one STONE UPON ANOTHER, THAT SHALL NOT BE THROWN DOWN. Luke, xxi. 6.

It must be remembered that these words of our Saviour were spoken in a time of profound tranquillity.

BEHOLD! THE DAY COMETH THAT SHALL BURN AS AN OVEN, AND ALL THE PROUD, YEA, AND ALL THAT DO WICKEDLY, SHALL BE STUBBLE; AND THE DAY THAT COMETH SHALL BURN THEM UP, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, THAT IT SHALL LEAVE THEM NEITHER ROOT NOR BRANCH. Malachi, iv. 1.

(2) Matt. xxiii. 37, 38.

FOR A NATION IS COME UPON MY LAND, STRONG, AND WITHOUT NUMber, WHOSE TEETH ARE THE TEETH OF A LION, AND HE HATH THE CHEEK TEETH OF A GREAT LION. HE HATH LAID MY VINE WASTE, AND BARKED MY FIGTREE: HE HATH MADE IT CLEAN BARE, AND CAST IT AWAY; THE BRANCHES THEREOF ARE MADE WHIte. Joel, i. 6, 7.

THY HOLY CITIES ARE A WILDERNESS, ZION IS A WILDERNESS, JERUSALEM A DESOLATION. Isaiah, Ixiv. 10.

CHAPTER IX.

1

THE COMPLETION OF THE PROPHECIES RELATING TO EVENTS IMMEDIATELY SUCCEEDING THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY AND THE FALL OF THE NATION.... THE NAZARENES....HADRIAN BUILDS ELIA CAPITOLINA UPON THE RUINS OF JERUSALEM, AND ERECTS TEMPLES FOR HEATHEN WORSHIP....THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH ESTABLISHED....HELENA'S VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND....DISCOVERS THE TRUE CROSS....CONSTANTINE BUILDS CHURCHES UPON SPOTS CONSECRATED BY THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST, AT THE INSTIGATION OF HIS MOTHER.....JULIAN, THE APOSTATÈ ENDEAVOURS TO RE-BUILD THE TEMPLE OF THE JEWS ....HIS FAILURE....ALEXANDER'S SIMILAR ATTEMPT AND FAILURE TO TURN THE CHANNEL OF THE EUPHRATES ...REFLECTIONS ARISING FROM THE SUBJECT OF THE WORK..

We have now seen in what a remarkable manner the memorable words of Christ and the Prophets have been fulfilled by the signal overthrow of the Jewish church and nation. We have seen the Romans unexpected spectators of the dissensions of the people, and the ambition of their leaders witnessing the sparks of faction, kindled to a blaze, and unchecked by the hostile aspect of a warrior army marching to their gates-we have seen them enduring distress and anguish, calamity, and torture, unequalled in the annals of history, and never

to

to be paralleled again. "Their blood has been shed out like water;" their Temple "consumed with fire," their city depopulated, and their country laid desolate.1

Such has been the exemplary punishment inflicted on this disobedient people, who having rejected the Lord's Messiah and slain his servants, have themselves been forsaken by their God, and destroyed by famine and the sword.

"Soon after the tribulation of these days," saith our Saviour to his disciples, when taking a prophetic view of those sufferings which many of his zealous servants should endure; "soon after the tribulation of these days, the violence of persecution shall abate.3 When the nation of the Jews shall be brought to utter destruction,

(1) FOR THEN SHALL BE GREAT TRIBULATION, SUCH AS WAS NOT FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THIS TIME, NO: NOR EVER SHALL BE. Matt. xxiv. 21.

(2) BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF THEY WERE BROKEN OFF. Rom. xi. 20. Jesus said to Peter when he had drawn his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the High Priest―" Put up again thy sword into its place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." (Matt. xxvi. 52.) The truth of -this was severely felt by the Jews in this siege, most of whom, strangers to the use of arms, were either instigated or compelled to fight against the Romans. (3) IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION OF THOSE DAYS SHALL THE SUN BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON SHALL NOT GIVE HER LIght, and the STARS SHALL FALL FROM HEAVEN, AND THE POWERS OF HEAVEN SHALL BE SHAKEN. Matt. xxiv. 29.

Maimonides calls this metaphorical expression" proverbial, importing (as it often does in the Old Testament and other writings) the destruction and utter ruin of a nation, and the downfall of their great powers." The destruction of Egypt is thus represented by Ezekiel,-I will cover the Heavens and make the stars thereof dark, I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give her light, and the bright lights of Heaven will I make dark over thee. xxxii. 7, 8.

: See

destruction and a more than Egyptian darkness shall come upon them when their kingdom shall have been left desolate, and their religious light obscured→→→ when the people shall have fallen, and the powers of their kingdom shaken when these tokens of my appearance to execute this judgment shall have happened, and there shall have been great lamentation, "and the tribes of the earth have mourned-when the fulfilment of all these things shall have been as apparent as if I came in the clouds of heaven to give the world the assurance that this judgment was authorised by me-when thus the Jewish power, and their opposition to the Gospel shall have been brought to an end; then will I commission my servants to proclaim and publish salvation to the world at large, and they shall raise an army of believers from the four quarters of the world, from one end of the earth to the other. When these things begin to come to pass, be confident and joyful behold! your deliverance from persecution is rapidly approaching, and the kingdom of heaven is drawing near at hand!"

Little

See the fall of Babylon foretold by Isaiah, xiii. 10, also xxxiv. 4, 5. Joel's fall of Jerusalem, ii. 30, 31. Also Haggai, ii. 21, and Dan. viii. 10. -In hieroglyphic writing, the sun, moon, and stars were used to represent states and empires, kings, queens, and nobility, and their eclipse and extinction denoted temporary disasters, or entire overthrows. Atticus writing to Cicero on the wretchedness of the times, says, "The sun seems to me to have been taken from the world. Sol mihi e mundo excidisse videtur."

Virgil alluding to the eclipse which happened at the time of Cæsar's death, says,

Ille etiam exstincto miseratus Cæsare Romam

Cum caput obscurâ nitidum ferrugine texit. Geo. 1, 466.

(1) AND THEN SHALL APPEAR THE SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN IN HEAVEN: AND THEN SHALL ALL THE TRIBES OF THE EARTH MOURN, AND THEY SHALL SEE THE

SON