perfecutions, fhall become apoftates from their religion, and renounce their faith; for that is the meaning generally of the word offend in the New Testament. That this would sometimes happen under fuch trials and calamities as the first Chriftians were expofed to, we may easily believe, and St. Paul particularly mentions a few who turned away from him, and forfook him; namely, Phygellus, Hermogenes, and Demas*. The other circumstance here predicted, "that the difciples fhould betray one another," is remarkably verified by the teftimony of the Roman hiftorian Tacitus, who, in difcribing the perfecu tion under Nero, tells us, "that several Christians were at first apprehended, and then, by their difcovery, a multitude of others, were convicted, and cruelly put to death, with derifion and infultt. It is a natural confequence of all this, that the ardor of many in embracing and profeffing Chriftianity fhould be confiderably abated, or, as it is expreffed in the twelfth verfe, that the love of many should wax cold; and of this we find several instances mentioned by the facred writers. It "But he that fhall endure unto the end (adds our Lord in the thirteenth verfe) the fame fhall be faved." He that shall not be difmayed by these perfecutions, but shall continue firm in his faith and unshaken in his duty to the laft, fhall be faved, both in this world and the next. is, we know, the uniform doctrine of fcripture, that they who perfevere in the belief and the practice of Christianity to the end of their lives, fhall, through the merits of their Redeemer, be rewarded with everlasting life. And with refpect to the prefent life, and the times to which our Saviour here alludes, it is remarkable, that none of his difciples were known to perifh in the siege and destruction of Jerufalem. Another fign which was to precede the demolition of the temple and the city of Jerufalem was, that the Chriftian religion was first to be propagated over the greater part of the Roman empire, which in scripture, as well as by the Roman writers, was called the world. "This gof * 2 Tim. i. 15. iv. 10. Tac. Ann. 1. 15. 2 Tim. iv. 16. Heb x. 25, pel of the kingdom fhall be preached in all the world, for a witnefs unto all nations; and then fhall the end come.” Then shall come what is called in the third verse the end of the world; that is, the Jewish world, the Jewish state and government. And accordingly St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Colof fians, fpeaks of the Gospel "being come unto all the world, and preached to every creature under heaven*.” And we learn from the most authentic writers, and the most ancient records, that the Gospel was preached within thirty years after the death of Chrift, in Idumæa, Syria, and Mefopotamia; in Media and Parthia, and many parts of Afia Minor; in Egypt, Mauretania, Ethiopia, and other regions of affrica; in Greece and Italy; as far north as Scythia, and as far weftward as Spain, and in this very island which we inhabit; where there is great reafon to believe Chriftianity was planted in the days of the apoftles, and before the deftruction of Jerufalem, And this, it is faid, was to be "for a teftimony againft them;" that is, againft the Jews; for a teftimony that the offer of falvation was made to them in every part of the world where they were difperfed; and that, by their obftinate rejection of it, they had merited the fingal punifhment which foon after overtook them. h "Our Lord then goes on to ftill more alarming and more evident indications of the near approach of danger to the Jewish nation. "When ye therefore fhall fee the abomination of defolation fpoken of by Daniel the prophet, ftand in the holy place (let him that readeth understand); then let them that be in Judæa flee into the mountain." The meaning of this paffage is clearly and fully explained by the parallel place in St. Luke: "when ye shall fee Jerufalem compaffed with armies, then know that the defolation thereof is nigh." The abomination of defolation therefore denotes the Roman army which befieged Jerufalem, and which Daniel alfo, in the place alluded to, calls the abomination which makes defolate. The Roman army is here called an abomination, because upon their standards were depicted the images of their emperor and their tutelary gods, whom they worshipped: and it is well known that idols were held by the Jews in the utmost abhorrence; and the very name they gave them was the expreffion here made ufe of, an abomination. The word defolation is added for an obvious reason, because this mighty army brought ruin and defolation upon: Jerufalem. This city and the mountain on which it ftood, and a circuit of feveral furlongs around it, were accounted holy ground; and as the Roman standards were planted in the moft confpicuous places near the fortifications of the city, they are here faid to stand in the holy place, or, as St. Mark expreffes it, " to stand where they ought not." And Jofephus tells us, that after the city was taken, “the Romans brought their enfigns into the temple, and placed one of them against the eastern gate, and facrificed to them there; which was the greateft infult and outrage that could poffibly be offered to that wretched people*." When therefore this defolating abomination, this idolatrous and destructive army appeared before the holy city,. "then, fays our Lord, let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains; let him which is on the house top not come down to take any thing out of his houfe, neither let him that is in the fields return back to take his clothes." Thefe are allufions to Jewish customs, and are defigned to impress upon the disciples the neceffity of immediate flight, not fuffering themselves to be delayed by turning back for any accommodations they might wish for. "And woe unto them that are with child, and to thofe that give fuck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the fabbath-day :" that is, unfortunate will be it for those who, in fuch a time of terror and distress, fhall have any natural impediments to obftruct their flight, "and who are obliged to travel in the winter season, when the weather is fevere, the roads rough, and the days short; or on the fabbath-day, when the Jews fancied it unlawful to travel more than a mile or two. These kind admoni * De Bell. Jud. 1. vi. c. 6. f. 1. p. 1283. tions were not loft upon the disciples. For we learn from the best ecclefiaftical hiftorians, that when the Roman armies approached to Jerufalem, all the Chriftians left that devoted city, and fled to Pella, a mountainous country, and to other places beyond the river Jordan. And Jofephus alfo informs us, that when Vefpafian was drawing his forces towards Jerufalem, a great multitude fled from Jericho into the mountainous country for their fecurity*. And happy was it for them that they did fo, for the miferies experienced by the Jews in that fiege were almost without a parallel in the hiftory of the world. « Then,” fays our Saviour," shall be great tribulation, fuch as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." This expreffion is a proverbial one, fre quently made ufe of by the facred writers to express fome very uncommon calamity, and therefore it is not necessary to take the words in their strictest sense. But yet in fact they were in the prefent instance almost literally fulfilled; and whoever will turn to the hiftory of this war by Jofephus, and there read the detail of the horrible and almost incredible calamities endured by the inhabitants of Jerufalem, during the fiege, not only from the fire and sword of the enemies without, but from famine and 'peftilence, and continual maffacres and murders from the fiend-like fury of the feditious zealots within, will be convinced, that the very strong terms made ufe of by our Lord, even when literally interpreted, do not go beyond the truth. Indeed Jofephus himself, in his preface to his hiftory, expreffes himself almoft in the very fame words: "our city, fays he, of all thofe fubjected to the Romans, was raised to the highest felicity, and was thrust down again to the loweft gulph of mifery; for if the misfortunes of all from the beginning of the world were compared with those of the Jews, they would appear much inferior upon the comparisont." Is not this almoft precisely what our Saviour fays, "there fhall be great tribulation, fuch as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever fhall be." It is impoffible *De Bell. Jud, 1. iv. c. 8 f. 2. p. 1193. Ed. Huds. A one would think, even for the most stubborn infidel, not to be ftruck with the great fimilarity of these two paffages; and not to fee that the prediction of our Lord, and the accomplishment of it, as defcribed by the hiftorian, are exact counterparts of each other, and feem almost as if they had been written by the very fame perfon. Yet Jofephus was not born till after our Saviour was crucified; and he was not a Chriftian, but a Jew; and certainly never meant to give any teftimony to the truth of our religion. 66 The calamities above mentioned were fo fevere, that had they been of long continuance the whole Jewish nation must have been destroyed; except those days fhould be fhortened, there should no flesh be faved, fays Christ, in the 23d verfe; but (he adds) for the elect's fake, those days fhall be fhortened." They were fhortened for the fake of the elect, that is, of thofe Jews who had been converted to Christianity; and they were shortened by the befieged themselves, by their feditious and mutual flaughters, and their madness in burning their own provisions. "Then, continues Jefus, if any man fhall fay unto you, Lo; here is Chrift, or there, believe it not :- for there fhall arife falfe Chrifts and falfe prophets, and fhall fhew great figns and wonders, infomuch that (if it were poffible) they fhall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they fhall say unto you he is in the defert; go not forth: behold he is in the fecret chambers: believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the the weft, fo fhall the coming of the Son of man be. For wherefoever the carcafe is, there fhall the eagles be gathered together." Our Lord had already cautioned his difciples against believing the falfe Chrifts and false prophets who would appear before the fiege, and he now warns them against those that would rise up during the fiege. This, Jofephus, tells us, they did in great abundance; and flattered the Jews with the hope of feeing their Meffiah coming, with great power, to refcue them from the hands of the Romans*. And they also pretended to * Jof. de Bell. Jud. 1. vi. c. 5. f, 2. p. 1281. and Eufeb. Hift. Eccles. 1. iv. c. 6. |