should bring destruction on the evil spirit. Two thousand years after, it was also foretold to Abraham, that this person should be of the posterity of Isaac, and a blessing to all nations; and it was afterwards predicted, that he should be of the tribe of Judah, and family of David, and be born of a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem : it was likewise foretold by the patriarch Israel, that till he should come, the Jewish government should not be subverted; and by the prophet Daniel, that at such a time, he should certainly die. It was also foretold, that the Messiah, this triumphant Saviour, should suffer the violent death of a malefactor, not, indeed, for sin of his own, but for the sins of mankind; and that soon after his death, the city and temple of Jerusalem should be destroyed. It was even finally foretold, that notwithstanding this ignominious death, his dominion should be over all nations, and without end; that he should speak peace to the heathen, and introduce a new dispensation of things, tending to, and terminating in salvation, and happiness eternal.*

any

It was foretold, moreover, that he should preach good tidings to the poor, and perform many miracles for the alleviation of human calamity;

VOL. VI.

B

Gerard's Sermons.

lamity; particularly, that he should give sight to the blind, speech to the dumb, hearing to the deaf, and the perfect use of their limbs to the lame. It was also distinctly predicted, that he should be sold for thirty pieces of silver, and that with this money a potter's field should be bought; that he should be scourged, buffeted, and spit upon; that he should be meek and silent before his accusers; that his hands and feet should be pierced, but that his bones should not be broken; that gall and vinegar should be of fered him to drink; that lots should be cast for his garments; that he should be buried in a rich man's sepulchre, and that he should rise again without seeing corruption. Now, how far these predictions have been verified in Jesus, no, person needs be informed, who has read the New Testament; and in him alone they have been verified, and in no other man that ever appeared upon earth.*

Those other predictions, indeed, which have been supposed to allude to the subsequent errors of his church, or to the Mahommedan imposition, it is not altogether so material for us to touch upon; because the world has not yet seen entirely their completion. But that of the destruction

Beattie.

struction of Jerusalem, is not, on any account, to be over-looked; as it was so soon, and in so signal a manner verified, although this city had flourished under the peculiar direction of heaven, upwards of two thousand years; and as it related to an event, which, when our Saviour foretold it, the Jews being then at peace with the Romans, and apparently reconciled to their yoke, no human wisdom could possibly have foreseen. So great, in truth, is the resemblance between the prophecy and the calamity, as recorded by Josephus, who had the best opportunities of information, being himself an officer in the Jewish army, and present at the siege, that one would not be surprised, were the freethinker to suspect the event to have been prior to the prediction. But it is certainly known, and is extremely remarkable, that Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who have recorded this prophecy, were dead before the destruction of Jerusalem; and that John, who survived it, has not recorded the prophecy.

Daniel, centuries before, had predicted, that after three score and two weeks, the Messiah should be cut off, and the people of the prince that should come, should destroy the city, and the sanctuary; and the end thereof should be with a flood, and unto the end of the war, desolations.

B. 2

lations.

"Seest thou these great buildings ?"

says our Saviour, speaking of the temple. "There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. upon thee, O Jerusalem,

The days shall come when thine enemies

shall cast a trench about thee, and shall keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and shall not leave thee one stone upon another. And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences, and fearful sights; and great signs shall there be from heaven. There shall be great tribulation, such as never happened from the beginning of the world, to this time. They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles. This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

66

Titus,' says the historian,*" commanded his soldiers to dig up the foundations of both the city and the temple. His army compassed the city round about with a wall of thirty-nine furlongs, having on it thirteen towers; hemming them in on every side, and so making it impossible for the Jews within to escape. He also commanded

Josephus.

commanded his soldiers to dig up the city, which they did so completely, by levelling the whole compass of it, except three towers, that they who came to see it afterwards, were persuaded it could never be re-built."

In the times of Claudius and Nero, and a few years before the destruction of Jerusalem, it is recorded in history, and this by Gentile as well as Jew, that there happened in Judea a prodigious tempest, and vehement winds, with rain, and dreadful lightening and thunder, and roarings of the trembling earth. "The great gate of the temple was seen to open of its own accord a sword appeared hanging over the city; a comet was seen pointing down upon it, for a whole year together. Before the sun went down, there appeared armies in battle array, and chariots compassing the country and investing the cities: a thing so strange, that it would pass for fable, were there not men living to attest it." Thus far Josephus. Mark, however, the corroboration of Tacitus. Armies," says he, “seemed to encounter, and weapons to glitter in the sky; the temple seemed to blaze with fire issuing from the clouds; and a voice more than human, was heard, declaring that the deities were quitting B 3*

the