66

"designing to fix the seat of his empire at Babylon, projected the bringing back of the Euphrates into "its natural and former channel, and had actually set "his men to work. But the Almighty, who watched

over the fulfilment of his prophecy, and who had "declared he would destroy even to the very remains "and footsteps of Babylon,' defeated this enterprise "by the death of Alexander, which happened soon afterwards."

The prediction, therefore, that Jerusalem should be subject to the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, has been thus far established. It might easily be shewn that the Holy Land, from the time of Julian to the present day, has been subject to the government of various foreign powers, to that of the Romans, the Saracens, the Egyptians, Mamelukes, Franks, and Turks, but never to the Jews since this destruction and the testimony of many travellers might be brought in confirmation of the emptiness and uncultivated appearance of the country, from the time of Titus almost to the present day. But neglected as

.3

it

(1) For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of Hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, and son and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of Hosts. Isa. xiv. 22, 23.

(2) Rollin's An. Hist. Cyrus. sec. iii.

(3) The eagles of idolatrous Rome, the crescent of the impostor Mahomet, and the banner of Popery, carried by the Crusaders, have been successively displayed amidst the ruins of the sanctuary of Jehovah, for nearly eighteen > hundred years. Kett on the Prophecies.

(4) AND IF YE WILL YET FOR ALL THIS NOT HEARKEN UNTO ME, THEN I WILL

§ PUNISH YOU SEVEN TIMES MORE FOR YOUR SINS; YOUR LAND SHALL NOT YIELD HER

it has been, the fertility of that which is in cultivation shews clearly that it was, and by industry might yet be, a land of corn and wine, flowing with milk and honey." With equal facility might it be proved, that the Jewish people have been and still continue according to the sure words of the prophecy, "to be scattered among all people from one end of the earth unto the other. But as the truth and fulfilment of this and similar prophecies are well established by the works of so many writers, as well as by the histories of every nation with which we are conversant; any other consideration of this nature than that connected with Jerusalem as first " trodden down by the Gentiles," would be foreign to the design of these pages.

2

Here then the History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, as connected with the prophecies of Scripture, terminates; and when we consider the various circumstances of their antiquity, the peculiar conditions of those by whom they were spoken, and the precision

with

HER INCREASE, NEITHER SHALL THE TREES OF THE LAND YIELD THEIR FRUITS: AND I WILL BRING THE LAND INTO DESOLATION; AND YOUR ENEMIES WHICH DWELL THEREIN SHALL BE ASTONISHED AT IT. AND YOUR LAND SHALL BE DESO

LATE, AND YOUR CITIES WASTE. Levit. xxvi. 18-33.

(1) Tacitus says, " the climate is dry and sultry; rain is seldom seen, and the soil is rich and fertile." Rari imbres, uber solum.-Hist. v. 6.

Under a wise and beneficent Government, the produce of the Holy Land would exceed all calculation. Its perennial harvests; the salubrity of the air; its limpid springs; its rivers, lakes, and matchless plains; its hills and vales; -- all these, added to the serenity of its climate, prove this land to be, indeed, a field which the Lord hath blessed:" God hath given it of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Clarke's Travels, vol. 2, p. 521. See also the Travels of Sandys, Maundrel, and Shaw, in proof of the fertility of Judea.

(2) Deut. xxviii. 64.

with which they were all accomplished: we cannot fail to admire the august and sacred characters of these Messengers of God, and the foreknowledge "they were endued with from on high."-How much more striking then, must the minute predictions of HIM appear, whose prescience was derived from his own Divinity; and the wonderful accomplishment of whose words was the punishment of that obdurate and unbelieving race, who rejected the gracious offer of his Gospel, and imbrued their hands in the sanctified blood of its author.

In contemplating the accomplishment of all the prophecies connected with this subject, but more particularly of those of the Saviour himself; how naturally do we feel prompted to exclaim: "THIS IS THE LORD'S DOING, AND IT IS MARVELLOUS IN OUR EYES!"

CON

CONCLUSION.

THE evidence made use of and applied to the establishment of the important points now discussed, is such as cannot be rejected by the scruples of any rational or thinking mind. No other has been adduced than that of writers in no way connected or interested in the matter, but such indeed, as if they were not inimical to the Christian Religion, were at least perfectly indifferent, or altogether ignorant of it.

Josephus, the Jewish Historian, from the pharisaical notions in which he was educated, as well as from the crude system of polytheism of the Romans whom he befriended, was the least inclined to be a favourer of that religion which he speaks of as insignificant; and whose divine author, if he mention him at all, he considers only as the leader of an inconsiderable sect of deluded and infatuated Jews1

With

(1) The passage here referred to (Antiq. 18, iii. 3) in which Josephus speaks of our Saviour, has not been generally received as genuine, being considered by some writers as an interpolation long after his time.

Bp. Newton observes, that "he" (Josephus) “doth not so much as once " mention the name of false Christs, though he hath frequently occasion to "speak largely of false Prophets; so cautious was he of touching upon any "thing, that might lead him to the acknowledgment of the true Christ. "His silence here is as remarkable, as his copiousness upon other subjects:" Paley, in his Evidences of Christianity, considers either the passage as genuine, or the silence of Josephus designed. Vol. 1, p. 121.

Vide Marsh's Michaelis and Gibbon's Roman Hist. vol. ii. p. 40, and notes. Also, Whiston's Dissertation on this subject, prefixed to his translation of Josephus. From these it will appear, that the genuineness of this passage has been given up by Christians upon very inadequate grounds.—Vide alse Bryant's Vindiciæ Flavianæ.

With respect to the testimony afforded by Heathen authours who flourished soon after the Christian æra, as they were still less acquainted with the propagators of Christianity, or the grounds upon which their principles were founded, so are they less concerned about the doctrines and precepts they had taught; so that the truth of the fulfilment of the predictions of Christ, to which we have more particularly alluded, rests upon authorities no way bearing reference either to Jesus Christ, or to his religion.

In tracing, therefore, the accomplishment of those prophecies relating to the destruction of the city and people of the Jews, two material points may have been obtained: the one establishing the authenticity of the Gospel, the other confirming the divine character of Him who is the subject of it: for as we trust it has been shewn by sufficient testimony in the Introduction to this History, that the Gospel Prophecies were delivered at the time there mentioned; and that it has now been proved, by the History itself, that they were afterwards "in the fulness of time," accomplished; it necessarily follows, that He who is the subject of them must have been endued with that Divine power and wisdom his followers have uniformly ascribed to him.'

(1) Take ye heed: behold! I have foretold you all things. Matt. xiii. 23. Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. John, xiii. 19.

We may then safely consider this prophecy as an unquestionable proof of the divine foreknowledge of our Lord, and the divine authority of the Gospel; and on this ground only (were it necessary), we might securely rest the whole fabric of our religion. Bp. Porteus' Lect. xx.