fiege; and the fhortening of those days of vengeance on account of the Christians.

The third head is, the actual capture of Jerufalem by : the besieging army.

And here it is foretold," that not one stone of its magnificent buildings fhould be left upon another;" that the temple, the government, the ftate, the polity of the Jews, fhould be utterly fubverted and laftly, that all these things fhould happen before the then prefent race of men fhould be extinguished.

If now we collect together the feveral particulars here Specified, they amount to no less than twenty-two in number. A larger detail of minute circumftances than is to be found in any other of our Lord's prophecies; and all thefe we see actually fulfilled in the hiftory of Jofephus, and other ancient writers; and it is extremely remarkable that his defcription of the fiege of Jerufalem, like this prophecy, is more minutely circumftantial and more spread out into detail, than the account of any other fiege that we have in ancient history. It fhould feem therefore as if this hiftorian was purpofely raised up by Providence to record this memorable event, and to verify our Saviour's predictions. And indeed no one could poffibly be better qualified for the task than he, from his fituation and circumftances, from his integrity and veracity, and above - all from the opportunities he had of being perfectly well acquainted with every thing he relates.

He was born at Jerufalem, under the reign of the emperor Caligula, and about seven years after our Lord's crucifixion. He was of a noble family; on his father's fide defcended from the most illuftrious of the high priests; and on his mother's fide, from the blood royal. At the age of nineteen, after having made a trial of all the dif ferent fects of the Jews, he embraced that of the Pharifees; and at the age of twenty-fix he made a journey to Rome, to obtain from Nero the release of fome Jewish priests, who had been thrown into bonds by Felix the procurator of Judæa. He fucceeded in this bufinefs; and on

his return to Jerufalem found his countrymen refolved on commencing hoftilities against the Romans, from which he endeavored to diffuade them, but in vain. He was foon after appointed by the Jewish government to the command of an army in Galilee, where he fignalized himself in many engagements; but at the fiege of Jotapata was taken prisoner by Vefpafian, and afterwards carried by Titus to the fiege of Jerufalem, where he was an eye-witnefs of every thing that paffed, till the city was taken and deftroyed by the Romans. He then composed his history of the Jewish war, and particularly of the fiege and capture of Jerufalem, in feven books; which he first wrote in Hebrew, and afterwards in Greek, and presented it to Vefpafian and Titus, by both of whom it was highly approved, and ordered to be made public. And it is in this history that we find the accomplishment of all the feveral facts and events relative to the fiege and the destruction of Jerufalem, which our Saviour foretold forty years before they happened, and which have been above recited. This history is fpoken of in the highest terms by men of the greateft learning and the foundeft judgment, from its first publication to the present time.

The fidelity, the veracity, and probity of the writer, are universally allowed; and Scaliger in particular declares, that not only in the affairs of the Jews, but even of foreign nations, he deferves more credit than all the Greek and Romon writers put together*. Certain at least it is, that he had that moft effential qualification of an historian, a perfect and accurate knowledge of all the tranfactions which he relates; that he had no prejudices to mislead him in the reprefentation of them; and that, above all, he meant no favor to the Chriftian cause. even allowing the fo much controverted paffage, in which he is fuppofed to bear teftimony to Christ, to be genuine, it does not appear that he ever became a convert to his religion, but continued probably a zealous Jew to the end of his life.

For

From this account it is evident, that we may most securely rely on every thing he tells us refpecting the fiege of

* In Prolegom. ad opus de Emendatione Temporum.

Jerufalem and that nothing can more completely demonftrate the truth of our bleffed Lord's predictions, than the uncorrupt, impartial, and undesigned teftimony given to their completion by this justly celebrated hiftorian.

Here then we have a proof, which it is impoffible to controvert, of our Saviour's perfect knowledge of future events, which belongs folely to God, and to those inspired and fent by him; which of course establishes, in the cleareft manner, the divine miffion of Christ, and the divine erigin of our religion.

The only pretence that can poffibly be set up against this prophecy is, that it was not delivered by our Saviour previous to the deftruction of Jerufalem, but inferted af terwards by St. Matthew and the other evangelifts, fubfequent to that event. This may undoubtedly be faid, and any thing may be faid by thofe whofe trade is objection and cavil: but can it be faid with the fmalleft appearance of truth? Is there the flightest ground to fupport it? Moft certainly not. It is a mere gratuitous affertion without the leaft fhadow of proof; and an opposite affertion is a fufficient anfwer to it. We deny the fact; and call upon our adverfaries to prove it, if they can: they have never so much as attempted it. Not even the earliest enemies of our faith, thofe who were much nearer the primitive ages, and much more likely to detect a fraud in the evangelical writers (if there were any) than modern infidels, even thefe never intimate the flightest fufpicion that this prophe cy was inferted after the event.

But befides this, there are good grounds to believe, not only that the three Gofpels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where this prophecy is related, were written and published before the destruction of Jerufalem, but that the writers of them were all dead before that event. It is alfo well known, that both St. Peter, and St. Paul, who al lude in their Epiftles to the approaching ruin of Jerufalem* (which they learnt from our Lord's predictions,) and who had feen and approved the Gofpels of St. Mark and St.

* A&ts ii. 19. 1 Pet. iv. 7. Phil. iv. 5. 1 Thefs. ii. 16. Newton on Proph. v. 2. p. 225. Jortin's Remarks, vol. i. p. 49.

Luke, were put to death under Nero, and Jerufalem was not taken till the fucceeding reign of Vefpafian,

It should be observed further, that although this prophecy is by far the fulleft, and cleareft, and moft diftinct, that our Lord delivered refpecting the deftruction of Jerufalem, he plainly, though briefly alludes to it in several other parts of the Gofpels*. And thefe occafional predic tions of that event are fo frequent, and fo perfectly agree with this larger prophecy, they are introduced fo incidentally in the way of parables, or in answer to fome question; they arife, in fhort, fo naturally from the occafion, and are fo inartificially interwoven into the very effence and fubftance of the narrative, that they have every imaginable appearance of having formed an original part of it, and cannot poffibly be confidered by any good judge of compofition as fubfequent or fraudulent infertions.

Indeed fuch a fabrication as this would have been the filliest and most useless fraud that can be imagined. For it is very remarkable that the facred writers make no use of this prophecy as a proof of our Saviour's, divine pow ers, or of the truth of his religion. They appeal frequently to the ancient prophecies concerning him, to his miracles, and above all to his refurrection, as evidences that he was the Meffiah, and the Son of God; but they never appeal to the accomplishment of this prophecy in fupport of those great truths, though certainly a very nat ural and important proof to be adduced in favor of them.

But that which ought, with every reasonable man, to be decifive of the queftion, is this, that three of the evangelifts out of four concur in giving us this prophecy as a part of their history of our Lord, and as actu ally delivered by him at the period affigned to it, which we know was nearly forty years before the destruction of Jerufalem. Now we have no more reafon to doubt their veracity in this point than in any other; and if, on the ftrength of their character, on the evident marks of integrity, fimplicity, and truth, which appear in every

Matth. xxii. 1-7; xxiii. 33-39. Luke xix. 41-44; xiii. I-5; &c. &c.

page of their writings; and above all, if in confequence of their undergoing the bittereft fufferings as an evidence of their fincerity, we give implicit credit to what they tell us refpecting the life, the death, the doctrines, the miracles, and the refurrection of Chrift, there is the very fame reason for admitting the genuineness of this prophecy. It ftands on the fame folid grounds of their veracity and probity, as the reft of the Gofpel does; and when men lay down their lives, as they did, in confirmation of what they affert they have furely fome right to be believed.

an

We may then fafely confider this prophecy as unquestionable proof of the divine foreknowledge of our Lord, and the divine authority of the Gofpel; and on this ground only (were it neceffary) we might securely reft the whole fabric of our religion. Indeed this remarkable prediction has always been confidered, by every impartial perfon, as one of the most powerful arguments in favor of Christianity; and in our own times, more particularly, a man of diftinguished talents and acknowledged eminence in his profeffion, and in the constant habit of weighing, fifting, and fcrutinizing evidence with the minutest accuracy in courts of justice, has publicly declared, that he confidered this prophecy, if there were nothing else to fupport Christianity, as abfolutely irrefiftible*.

But our Lord's predictions refpecting this devoted city do not end even here. He not only foretels the entire deftruction of Jerufalem, but the continuance of its defo

See Mr. Erikine's eloquent fpeech at the trial of Williams, for publishing Paine's Age of Reafon; to which I must beg leave to add the weighty and important teftimony of that most able and upright judge, Lord Kenyon, who, in his charge to the jury on the fame occafion made this noble CONFESSION OF FAITH:

"I am fully impreffed with the great truths of religion, which, thank God, I was taught in my early years to believe; and which the hour of reflection and inquiry, instead of creating any doubt, has fully confirmed me in." How vain are all the idle cavils of the whole tribe of infidels put together, when contrafted with fuch a declaration as this from fuch a man!

1

Since this note was written, the public has to lament the lofs of this truly great man, But he is now at reft from his virtuous labors; and he will long be remembered and revered, not only by his own profeffion, but by all defcriptions of men, as the firm friend and intrepid protector of the laws, the conftitution, the morals, and the religion of this country.