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of the Pfalmift.

For thou wilt not leave my foul in hell, neither wilt thou fuffer thine holy one to fee corruption. Thus the angel affures the woman, "that Jefus which was crucified is rifen as he said." David fpake of the refurrection of Chrift, "whom God raised whereof," faid St. Peter when he applied this Prophecy to our Lord, “ "we are all witneffes."

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The manner in which the Evangelists fhewed the fulfilment of the prophecies by Christ is remarkable, for they applied them not with hesitation, as if they were doubtful as to their fenfe, or undecided as to their object. Their boldnefs of affertion bore the ftamp and character of truth. They had the moft clear proofs, more particularly from miracles, that their divine Mafter was the promised Meffiah, and therefore were fully perfuaded that all the prophecies centered in him. They appear to have had no concep→ tion, that this evidence could in the nature of things be referable to any one else, and therefore they preffed the arguments drawn from the Old Testament upon the minds of the

Pfalm xvi, 10. Matt. xxviii. 6. Acts ii. 31, 32.

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unconverted, with all the fincerity of conviction, and all the authority of truth.

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All perfons are encouraged, by the gracious example of our Lord himself, to feek the light, and the evidence thus brought to illuftrate the character, and the miffion of Chrift, the Meffiah of the Jews, and the Saviour of the world. For, when he was about to take his final leave of his Difciples after his refurrection, and was defirous of pointing out to them the cleareft teftimonies, that, in addition to his miracles and his precepts, could confirm his divine miffion, 66 BEGINNING AT MOSES AND ALL THE PROPHETS, HE EXPOUNDED UNTO THEM IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES, THE THINGS CONCERNING HIMSELF,

• Luke xxiv. 27.

CLASS

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CLASS I.

CHAPTER THE TENTH.

The Destruction of the City and Temple of Jerufalem, and the Subverfion of the Jewish Government according to the prediction of Chrift.

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THE awful catastrophe of the deftruction of Jerufalem, was a fubject prefented to the minds of the most diftinguished Prophets. Mofes faw, from a remote distance of time, the peculiar calamities that would refult from the disobedience of his people. And to clofe the wonderful series of predictions, our Lord denounced in terms of pity and affection the approaching fall of the holy city, and fixed the period of its complete deftruction, and the total fubverfion of the Jewish government. Upon this fignal event the authority of Chrift as a Prophet very materially depended; and as it took place within the time

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he prefcribed, with all its previous, concomitant, and fubfequent circumstances, exactly as he had foretold, the whole train of occurrences confpired to prove his infallible,

truth.

This Prophecy, which must fill every mind that confiders it attentively with the most exalted conceptions of its divine author, forms an effential part of the Gospel history, and is

interwoven with the texture of its moft important contents. It is recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In regard to the precife year in which their refpective Gofpels were written, there is a difference of opinion among the learned; but it is univerfally agreed that they were all written and published some years before the deftruction of Jerufalem. And it is probable that thefe Evangelifts were dead before that event took place. No unbeliever, either of ancient or modern times,

a The earliest account I have met with is that of Dr. Owen, who ftates the Gofpel of St. Matthew to have been written A. D. 38. The lateft account brings it down to A. D. 63. St. Mark wrote his Gospel about the year 61. St. Luke a little after, probably in 63. Percy's Key, p. 47. Calmet, vol. ii. p. 155. Du Pin's Hiftory of the Canon, vol. ii. p. 26, 41, &c. Townfon on the Gofpels, p. 4, 116, 153, 166, &c.

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Jew or Gentile, neither Julian, nor Celfus, nor Porphyry, neither Voltaire, nor Gibbon, has ever had the temerity to infinuate, much lefs to maintain, that it was forged, or inter polated after the event.

It appears from the narrative of St. Mark, that our Lord's declaration concerning the buildings of the Temple, "There fhall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down," had excited confiderable alarm and anxiety among his followers; and that as foon as he was feated on the Mount of Olives, whither he immediately went, four of his Difciples privately entreated him to give them farther information relative to the time when all these things should be fulfilled, and the figns which should precede their accomplishment." The parallel paffages in Matthew and Luke plainly indicate that this enquiry refpected the destruction of Jerufalem, the Second Coming of our Lord, and the End of the world-events which they poffibly expected to happen together-and to which the reply of our Lord evidently refers.

The Mount of Olives commanded a full view of the City and the Temple, the

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