tors, who should assume the name of the Messiah, and who should seek to avail themselves of the hopes and expectations of the Jews.

Accordingly, we have Simon Magus and Dositheus the Samaritan; each of whom claimed to be a manifestation of the Christ or of the great Filial Power of God: we have likewise Theudas; who, in the reign of Claudius, drew many after him by the promise that he would divide Jordan as in the days of old: and, in the reign of Nero, we find similar impostors starting up in such numbers, that they were even daily apprehended and put to death 1.

(2.) During the same period, there were to be wars and rumours of wars.

Agreeably to this part of the prediction, there was a long series of bloody wars, before the final destruction of Jerusalem, between the Jews and the Romans and, even when a short-lived peace prevailed, its permanence was interrupted, as in the time of Caligula who ordered his statue to be set up in the temple, by the apprehension of a speedy

renewal of hostilities 2.

(3.) Nation also was to rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

As these signs were for the information of the disciples, we must obviously look for their occurrence in the immediate neighbourhood of Jeru

1

Bp. Newton's Dissert. on the Proph. vol. ii. p. 216, 217. 2 Ibid. p. 218, 219.

salem. In strict accordance with this natural opinion, we find tetrarchy rising up against tetrarchy and the most violent feuds taking place between the Jews and their neighbours the Syrians. The consequence of such a state, when (as Josephus forcibly expresses it) every city was divided into two armies, was; that vast multitudes perished, and that the whole land was polluted with incessant slaughter.

(4.) Synchronically with these calamities were to occur numerous earthquakes, not only in the region of Judea, but (as our Lord specially predicts) in diverse places.

Accordingly, as we learn from the historians of the times, such concussions happened in Crete, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Rome, Laodicèa, Hierapolis, Colosse, Campania, and Judèa 2.

(5.) There were likewise to be dreadful famines and pestilences.

Thus there was the famine in the days of Claudius, which is mentioned by Suetonius and other historians, and which is said in the Acts to have been foretold by Agabus: and thus there were the concomitant pestilences, which famine never fails to bring in its train 3.

(6.) Fearful sights and great signs from heaven also enumerated by our Lord among the indications of approaching vengeance.

are

Bp. Newton's Dissert. on the P roph, vol. ii. p. 219-221.

These are mentioned, not only by Josephus, but likewise by the Pagan historian Tacitus. A comet or meteor, in form resembling a sword, hung over Jerusalem for a whole year: a great light shone, during the space of half an hour, round the altar and the temple, when the people were assembled to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread: a cow brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple: the massy eastern gate of the sacred edifice, which twenty men could scarcely shut and which was fastened by strong bars and bolts, was in the night time seen to open spontaneously: before the setting of the sun, chariots and armies, fighting and besieging cities, appeared in the clouds over the whole country: and, at the feast of Pentecost, as the priests were going into the inner temple by night to perform the wonted service, they heard, first a motion and a noise, and then the voice as of a multitude exclaiming Let us depart hence1.

(7.) Previous, however, to all these matters, the Christians were to begin to be persecuted for the sake of their religion, to be brought before rulers and councils, and to be imprisoned and slain.

These trials, accordingly, commenced immediately after the miraculous communication of the Holy Ghost, when Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrim, when the Apostles were cast into the common prison, when Stephen and James were murdered, and when the fires of persecution raged successively under the guidance of Paul and

1

Bp. Newton's Dissert. on the Proph. vol. ii. p. 224–228.

Herod'. Thus early did the troubles of the faithful begin and all history, whether ecclesiastical or secular, testifies, how long they continued, and how minutely they corresponded with our Lord's description of them.

(8.) Grievous as such varied calamities should be, Christ, nevertheless, declares them to be the mere beginning of sorrows: the end, says he, is not yet.

To understand the purport of this declaration, we must advert to the question put by the disciples: for the whole prophecy is, in fact, more or less an answer to that question. The disciples had asked: What is the sign, when all things relative to the subversion of the temple shall be fulfilled; and what is the sign, of Christ's coming, and of the end of the age? Now they supposed, as we have seen, that the subversion of the temple would synchronise with the coming of Christ and with the end of the great prophetic age mentioned by Daniel: but in this supposition they were mistaken, so far as concerned the subversion of the temple foretold by our Lord. Here, accordingly, he corrects their error, by teaching them, that the calamities which ushered in the sack of Jerusalem were but the beginning of sorrows, and that the end respecting which they had inquired or the end of the great prophetic age was not yet.

1 Acts iv. 1-21. v. 17, 18. vii. 54-59. viii. 1-4. ix. 1, 2. xii. 1-5.

2

Bp. Newton's Dissert. on the Proph. vol. ii. p. 229-233..

The troubles, which I am announcing, we may paraphrase his language, are but the beginning of sorrows, and are merely the signs which announce the approaching ruin of Jerusalem. Do not, therefore, hastily and erroneously conclude from their occurrence, that the end of the great prophetic age is near: so far from it, THE END IS NOT YET. Much must be done, before that awful season shall arrive. This Gospel of the kingdom must first be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; not merely throughout the Roman Empire, but unto every nation of the habitable globe. Then, and not till then, shall come that end of the age, and with it the advent of the Son of man, respecting which you inquire.

Now, according to such an explanation of the language used by Christ, it is evident, that an universality of the preaching of the Gospel is an indication, that the end of the great prophetic age is near at hand: and, with this indication, both the calendar of prophecy, and the present state of the world, exactly agree.

From whatever precise chronological point the latter three times and a half ought to be computed, we cannot, as it is well remarked by Bishop Hurd, be very far removed from their termination: because a corrupt spiritual Power, which minutely corresponds with the symbolical little horn of the Roman Empire both in time and in place and in character, has been in action at the least twelve