II. A fecond head of argument from prophecy, is founded upon our Lord's predictions concerning the deftruction of Jerufalem, recorded by three out of the four evangelifts.

Luke xxi. 5-25. "And as fome spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly ftones and gifts, he faid, As for thefe things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there fhall not be left one ftone upon another, that fhall not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what fign fhall there be when these things fhall come to pass? And he faid, Take heed that ye be not deceived, for many fhall come in my name faying, I am Chrift; and the time draweth near, Go ye not therefore after them. But, when ye fhall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified; for these things must first come to pass, but the end is not by and by. Then faid. he unto them, Nation fhall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and great

earth

earthquakes fhall be in divers places, and famines and peftilences and fearful fights, and great figns fhall there be from heaven. But before all these, they fhall lay their hands on you, and perfecute you, delivering you up to the fynagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for

my name's fake. And it fhall turn to you for a teftimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall anfwer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And And ye fhall be betrayed both by parents and brethren, and kinsfolk and friends; and fome of you fhall they cause to be put to death. And ye fhall be hated of all men for my name's fake. But there fhall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience poffefs ye your fouls. And when ye fhall fee Jerufalem compaffed with armies, then know that the defolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are

in the countries enter thereinto.

For thefe be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give fuck, in thofe days; for there fhall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the fword, and fhall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerufalem fhall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

In terms nearly fimilar, this discourse is related in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, and the thirteenth of Mark. The profpect of the fame evils drew from our Saviour upon another occafion, the following affecting expreffions of concern, which are preferved by St. Luke (xix. 41): "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, faying, If thou hadft 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

2

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 stone upon another, because thou kneweft not the time of thy vifitation." Thefe paffages are direct and explicit predictions. References to the fame event, fome plain, fome parabolical, or otherwise figurative, are found in divers other difcourfes of our Lord *.

The general agreement of the defcription with the event, viz. with the ruin of the Jewish nation, and the capture of Jerufalem under Vefpafian, thirty-fix years after Chrift's death, is most evident: and the accordancy in various articles of detail and circumftance has been fhewn by many learned writers. It is also an advantage to the enquiry, and to the argument built upon it, that we have

* Mat. xxi. 33—46. xxii. 1-7. Mark xii. 1-12. Luke xiii. 1-9. xx. 9-20. xxi. 5-13.

received

received a copious account of the transaction. from Jofephus, a Jewish and contemporary hiftorian. This part of the cafe is perfectly free from doubt. The only question which, in my opinion, can be raised upon the subject, is, whether the prophecy was really delivered before the event. I fhall apply, therefore, my obfervations to this point folely.

1. The judgement of antiquity, though varying in the precife year of the publication of the three golpels, concurs in affigning them a date prior to the deftruction of Jerufalem *.

2. This judgement is confirmed by a ftrong probability arifing from the course of human life. The deftruction of Jerufalem took place in the feventieth year after the birth of Chrift. The three evangelifts, one of whom was his immediate companion, and the other two affociated with his companions, were, it is probable, not much

*Lardner, vol. xiii.

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younger