vented. Our Lord had commanded his disciples to make their escape, when they should see Jerusalem encompassed with armies. Accordingly it was so providentially ordered, that Jerusalem should be encompassed with armies, and yet, that they should have opportunities of escape.

In the twelfth year of Nero, Cestius Gallus, the president of Syria came against Jerusalem with a powerful army. "And if in the same hour," saith Josephus, "he had been inclined to break through the walls of the city by force he instantly would have taken it, and put an end to the war:" but without any just reason, and contrary to the expectation of all, he raised the siege and departed. "At this time," saith Josephus, many of the Jewish people forsook the city as men do a sinking ship." Vespasian was appointed in the room of Cestius Gallus, who having subdued all the surrounding country prepared to besiege Jerusalem, and invested it on every side. The news, however, of Nero's death, and soon afterwards of Galba's, and the disturbances that followed in the Roman empire, together with the civil wars be

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tween Otho and Vitellius, held Vespasian and his son Titus in suspense, thinking it unseasonable to engage in a foreign war, while they were anxious for the safety of their own country. By these means the expedition against Jerusalem was deferred for some time, and the city was not actually besieged in form till after Vespasian was confirmed in the empire, and Titus was appointed to command the forces in Judea. It was in these incidental delays that the Christians and many others provided for their safety by flight. Afterwards all possibility of escape was cut off; for, as our Saviour had said in St. Luke, "thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side;" so it came to pass. For we learn from Josephus, that the Romans having surrounded Jerusalem with their forces, and having made several assaults without success, Titus at length resolved to surround the city with a wall, which by the diligence and emulation of the soldiers, animated by the presence, and working under the continual inspection of the general, was completed with almost incredible dispatch. The wall was

from the city, brought into it.

thirty-nine furlongs in length, and was strengthened with thirteen forts, so that all hope of safety was cut off; none could make his escape and no provisions could be "But pray ye that your flight winter, neither on the sabbath day" that is, on account of the inclemency of the weather, and that ye may not, as Christians, raise the indignation of the Jews, by travelling on the sabbath.

be not in the

In the preceding verses, our Saviour had warned his disciples, to fly as soon as they saw Jerusalem besieged by the Romans; in those which follow, he assigns the reason for giving them this caution. "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world, to this time, no nor ever shall be." No history can furnish us with a parallel, to the calamities, and miseries of the Jews. Rapine, murder, famine, and pestilence within; fire and sword, and all the horrors of war without. Our Lord wept at the foresight of these calamities. St. Luke calls them, "the days of vengeance, that all things which were written might be fulfilled." These

were the days, in which all the calamities predicted by Moses, Joel, Daniel, and other prophets, as well as those predicted by our Saviour, met in one common centre; and were fulfilled on that generation. Nothing so violent, however, could be of long continuance. "Ex

cept those days, saith our Saviour, should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:" that is, were these wars, and desolations to continue, none of the Jewish nation would escape destruction. Josephus computes the number of those who perished in the siege at eleven hundred thousand, beside those that were slain in other places; and if the Romans had continued to destroy, the whole nation of the Jews would in a short time have been cut off," But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened;" that is, for the sake of the Jews, that they might not utterly be destroyed; and particularly for the sake of the Christians, the days shall be shortened. The besieged themselves helped to shorten the days, by their divisions and mutual slaughter; and by fatally deserting their strong holds, in which they never could have been subdued, but by

famine alone. So well fortified was Jerusalem, and so well provided to stand a siege, that the enemy without, most probably could not have prevailed, had it not been for the factions, and seditions within. Titus, himself, could not but ascribe his success to God, as he was viewing the fortifications, after the city was taken. His words were very remarkable. "We have fought," said he, " with God on our side; for what could machines, or the hands of men avail, against such towers as these." Our Lord had before cautioned the disciples against false Christs and false prophets; but from what follows he seems to intimate, that there would be especial necessity to attend to this caution at the time of the siege. "Then, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not; for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs, and wonders, insomuch, that if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect." And in fact, many such impostors did arise, and promised deliverance from God. "There were

many prophets," saith Josephus, "employed by the governors, among the common people, who