predicted destruction to be final. But now as the abolition was necessary, that alone would suffice to fix the precise meaning of general terms. And as the use of general terms would oblige us to have recourse to those circumstances on which the necessity was founded, and the constant view of those circumstances is highly useful for religious purposes, therefore were general terms very wisely employed. It may perhaps be further objected, "That the reasons here given for the necessity of abolishing Judaism, on the coming of Christianity, reach no farther than to a virtual abolition: whereas it is an actual abolition only that can serve our purpose." To this I reply, That the abolition of a preparatory religion, on the appearance of that which was to follow, is not a matter of every day's experience. There is but this one instance in the world, and never will be another. Let us divest ourselves, therefore, of all those common notions we form from analogies, and we shall see that reason leads us to expect an actual abolition. Indeed, according to our ideas of the general nature of religion, an actual abolition could not be certainly had, without a force upon freewill; hence, in such cases, a virtual abolition is all we are to expect; and, from a consideration of the general nature of religion, we are misled into this objection. But the religion in question was of a peculiar kind. The essential part of it was a local worship. This might be actually abolished without any force upon the will. When therefore an abolition was foretold, and the necessity of it seen, must we not conclude such a one to be meant? On the whole, a virtual abolition of circumcision, purification, distinction of meats, &c. which regarded particulars directly, and the body, only obliquely, was all that could be be expected but the nature of things seems to require an actual abolition of what concerned only the body as such; which was the temple-worship. To these many other reasons might be added, such as the apparent necessity of shewing, that this nation was no longer God's peculiar; which could hardly be done while they were in possession of a worship, that was the characteristic mark of God's peculiarity: and such as the transferring the kingship of the Jews from God to Christ; which would not appear to be done while the temple-worship, the specific act of allegiance, was in being. There are various considerations besides of equal weight. But we may seem perhaps to have already exceeded the proportion that the parts of this discourse should bear to one another....And yet I am tempted to make one observation more, which, I hope the importance of the subject will excuse. The prophecy of Jesus, concerning the approaching destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, is conceived in such high and swelling terms, that not only the modern interpreters, but the ancient likewise, have supposed that our Lord interweaves into it a DIRECT prediction of his second coming to judgement*. Hence arose a current opinion of those times, that the consummation of all things was at hand; which hath afforded a handle to an infidel objection in these, insinuating that Jesus, in order to keep his followers attached to his service, and patient under sufferings, flattered them with the near approach of those rewards which compleated all their views and expectations. To which, the defenders of religion have opposed this answer, That the distinction of short and long, in the duration of time, is lost in eternity; and, with the Almighty, a thousand years are but as yesterday, &c. *See Divine Legation. But and if what But the principle both go upon is false; hath been said be duly weighed, it will appear, that the parts of this prophecy which mark a speedy advent, do not respect God's second coming to judgement, bụt his first; in the abolition of the Jewish policy, and the ESTABLISHMENT of the Christian; that kingdom of Christ, which commenced on the total ceasing of the theocracy. For as God's reign over the Jews entirely ended with the abolition of the temple-service, so the reign of Christ, in spirit and in truth, had then its first beginning. This was the true ESTABLISHMENT of Christianity, not that effected by the donations or conversions of Constantine. Till the Jewish Law was abolished, over which the Father presided as King, the reign oft he Son could not take place; because the sove reignty of Christ over mankind, was that very sovereignty of God over the Jews, transferred, and more largely extended. This therefore being one of the most important æras in the economy of grace; and the most awful revolution in all God's religious dispensations; we see the elegance and propriety of the terms in question, to denote so great an event, together with the destruction of Jerusalem, by which it was effected: for in the old prophetic language* the change and fall of principalities and powers, whether spiritual or civil, are sig nified by the shaking heaven and earth; the darkening the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars; as the rise and establishment of new ones are by processions in the clouds of heaven, by the sound of trumpets, and the assembling together of hosts and congregations t. Thus much, therefore, being premised, we enter * See The Divine Legation, Books III. & IV. directly directly on our subject; it being now seen, that the truth of Christianity must stand or fall with the ruin or the restoration of the temple at Jerusalem; for if that temple should be rebuilt for the purpose of Jewish worship, Christianity could not support its pretensions; nor the Prophets, nor Jesus, the truth of their predictions. СНАР. II. THERE was a time when the powers of this world were all opposed to the progress of the gospel; and as they continued thus opposed for some ages, it would have been a miracle, as rare as most of those by which it was supported, if, amongst the various attempts to suppress and discredit it, there had not been a project formed to give the lie to those prophecies which denounced lasting ruin and desolation to the Jewish Temple. The first attempt upon Christianity was such as was most natural to this power, the suppressing it by brutal force and the subjection of the whole civilized world to the despotic will of one blind persecutor, gave that force its utmost moment. The violence of its effort was TEN times repeated; and as often, by the blood of the martyrs, victoriously repelled. Though this may be justly reckoned amongst the marks of its divinity, yet it must be owned, that brutal force was not the most artful or dangerous way of procuring the ruin even of what they thought it, a mere human contrivance. The utmost which force can do (and that it often fails in) is to stop the progress of a profession: while the same advantages of power, employed towards a rational conviction of its falsehood, proceed proceed more fatally to its subversion. But this method of attack required a comprehensive knowledge of human nature, and of the doctrines to be suppressed. Few of the persecuting emperors had either. M. Antoninus had the one; Julian only, who closed the scene, had both. Till his time, the sole engine was simple force. Antonine himself used no other. And yet his knowledge of men might have shewn him the folly of so unmanly a proceeding. But then he knew no more of Christianity than the most ignorant of his courtiers. Philosophy, which should have led him to inquire into a religion that all were running eagerly to embrace, was the very thing that restrained his curiosity. For Stoical pride (of which sect he was) would confess no need of the knowledge of falsehood to perfect its followers in truth: It despised the oblique genius of the Academy, which made all truth to depend on the knowledge and detection of falsehood. Julian was the first who got enough acquainted with the Gospel to apply such arms against it as must have ended in its ruin, had it been nothing more than what he affected to think it, a human invention. And here we shall be forced to confess, that Providence seems to have raised up this extraordinary man on set purpose to do the last honours to the Religion of Jesus; to shew the world what human power, with all its advantages united, was able to oppose to its establishment. For we find in this emperor all the great qualities that a projector could conceive, or an adversary would require, to secure success to so daring an opposition. He was eloquent and liberal; artful, insinuating, and indefatigable; which, joined to a severe temperance, an affected love of justice, and a courage superior to all trials, first gained him the affections, and, soon after, the peaceable possession of the whole empire. VOL. VIII. E He |