eat calamities that were to come upon his tion, that he was exceedingly moved and cted with the confideration of them, and

always expreffed himself with the greateft tenderness and compaffion whenever he mentioned them; as Mat. xxiii. 37, 38. O Jerufalem, Jerufalem, thou that killeft the prophets, and ftoneft them which are fent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your houfe is left unto you defolate.

Upon his approaching Jerufalem for the last time, it is faid, Luke xix. 41, &c. that when he came near, he beheld the city, and wept over it; faying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days fhall come upon thee, that thine enemies fhall caft a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every fide, and fhall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one fione upon another, becaufe thou kneweft not the time of thy vifitation.

Ff2

When

When he was going to be crucified, the expectation even of his own immediate fuffering did not fo far engrofs his thoughts, but that he felt the moft lively compaffion on the profpect of the future miferies of his countrymen. For, being followed by a great company of people, Luke xxiii. 27, &c. and, of women, who bewailed and lamented him; Jefus, turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerufalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourfelves, and for your children. For behold the days are coming, in the which they fall fay, Bleffed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave fuck. Then shall they begin to fay to the mountains, Full on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

But the most circumftantial of the prophecies of our Lord, concerning the deftruction of Jerufalem and the temple, was delivered to his difciples, when they defired him to attend to the magnificence of that celebrated ftructure, as they were fitting in the full view of it, on the mount of Olives. He immediately replied, Mat. xxiv. 2. See

ye

ye not all these things? Verily I fay unto you, There fhall not be left here one ftone upon another, that shall not be thrown down; and this was even literally fulfilled about forty years after, when the city was taken by Titus, to the great regret of that Roman general, who would gladly have preferved fo glorious a structure.

Several things that preceded and accompanied this dreadful overthrow of the Jews were diftinctly recited by our Lord, as fignals to his difciples to flee from the place, in order to escape the impending calamities. For when they asked him when those things fhould be, he replied, Mat. xxiv. 4. Take heed, that no man deceive you, for many fall come in my name, faying, I am Chrift: and Shall deceive many. And ye shall bear of wars and rumours of wars: fee that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation fball rife against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there fhall be famines, and peftilences,. and carthquakes in divers places. Now, according to the teftimony of Jofephus, and Ff3

other

other historians, all these things did, in ą very remarkable manner, precede the deftruction of Jerufalem. Indeed the whole of that work of Jofephus, concerning the wars of the Jews, is the cleareft, and most unexceptionable evidence of the fulfilment of our Saviour's prophecies. The particulars of the prophecies and the event have been compared by feveral chriftian writers, but more especially by bishop Newton, Dr. Lardner, and Mr. Jortin.

Our Lord alfo mentions the perfecution of his followers, as what would precede that event, Mat. xxiv. 9. Then fl.all they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye fhall be hated of all nations for my name's fake. And then fhall many be offended, and fhall betray one another, and shall hate one another. But he that shall endure unto the end, the fame fhall be faved.

In connection with this perfecution and difperfion of his difciples, our Lord foretold that his religion would be preached in all the world, meaning, probably, the Ro

man

man empire, before this great catastrophe ; and this appears from history to have been accomplished. Mat. xxiv. 14. And this gofpel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then fhall the end come.

The more immediate fignal for the chriftians to flee out of the country was the appearance of Roman armies, with their ftandards, and images (which were held in abomination by the Jews) in the holy land of Judea and in Jerufalem, Mat. xxiv. 15. When ye, therefore, fhall fee the abomination of defolation, Spoken of by Daniel the prophet, Standing in the holy place (whofo readeth, let him understand) then let them who be in Judea, flee unto the mountains. Let him who is on the house top, not come down to take any thing out of his houfe: neither let him who is in the field, return back to take his clothes. And wo unto them that are with child, and to them that give fuck in thofe days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the fabbath-day: for then shall be great tribulation, fuch as was not fince the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.