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in from all quarters, and amongst them, the most "bold and turbulent spirits of the kingdom."

In this manner was the nation of the Jews depopulated by the Romans, and Jerusalem subdued and totally destroyed by Titus, in the second year of Vespasian, his father.2 Upon taking his last view of the

at one million three hundred and thirty-seven thousand four hundred and ninety; but if those be added who died in cayes, woods, wildernesses, in banishment, and as prisoners, the amount cannot be less than a million and a half. Isaiah, Ixiv. 10.

THE HOLY CITIES ARE A WILDERNESS.

AND YE SHALL BE LEFT FEW IN NUMBER, WHEREAS YE WERE AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN FOR MULTITUDE. Deut. xxviii. 62.

EXCEPT THE LORD OF HOSTS HAD LEFT UNTO US A VERY SMALL REMNANT, WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN AS SODOM, AND WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE UNTO GOMORRAH. Isaiah, i. 9.

AND

THY MEN SHALL FALL BY THE SWORD, AND THY MIGHTY IN THE WAR. HER (Zion's) GATES SHALL LAMent and mourn; and she being DESOLATE, SHALL SIT UPON THE GROUND. Isaiah iii. 25, 26.

IN THE LAST DAYS, IT SHALL COME TO PASS THAT THE MOUNTAIN OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD SHALL BE ESTABLISHED IN THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS, AND SHALL BE EXALTED ABOVE THE HILLS, AND PEOPLE SHALL FLOW UNTO IT. Micah, iv. 1.

THEY SHALL FALL BY THE EDGE OF THE SWORD, AND SHALL BE LED AWAY CAPTIVE INTO ALL NATIONS. Luke xxi. 24.

1 Magna colluvie et cæterarum urbium clade aueti: nam pervicacissimus quisque illuc perfugerat, eoque seditiosius agebant. Tacit. Hist. v. 12.

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2 YOUR COUNTRY IS DESOLATE, YOUR CITIES ARE BURNT WITH FIRE; YOUR LAND, STRANGERS DEVOUR IT IN YOUR PRESENCE, AND IT IS DESOLATE, AS OVERTHROWN BY STRANGERS. Isaiah, i. 7.

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So literally were these words accomplished in the ruin both of the city and the Temple, that well might Eleazar say; "that God had delivered his most holy city to be burned, and to be subverted by their enemies," and wished that they had all died before they saw that holy city demolished by the hands of their enemies, and the sacred Temple so wickedly dug up from the foundations (Bell. Jud. 7, viii. 6.)—The Babylonian Talmud thus mentions the destruction of the Temple-" Go and see how the blessed and holy God helped “Barkamtza, and he destroyed his house and burned up his Temple, and "made Jerusalem desolate."-(Vide Lardner's Works, vol. 7.)—The siege lasted about five months, computing from the 14th April to the 8th of September, A. D. 70,

MANY

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the ruins of this once glorious city, the works, the fortifications, and especially the towers, which he had left standing, as memorials of his triumph, and of the glory of the Roman name: "when," says Josephus, "he was contemplating the vast designs and workmanship of those Forts; and was reflecting on the beauty "and wonderful contrivance of the whole city, now "laid in ashes; he broke out in these words-" We "have fought under the auspices of a God!? it was "God who drew the Jews away from these strong holds; for what could the hands of men, or the effect "of machines have done, against such towers as "these."

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MANY PASTORS" (Princes and Leaders) " HAVE DESTROYED MY VINEYARD, THEY HAVE TRODDEN MY PORTION UNDER FOOT, THEY HAVE MADE MY 66 PLEASANT PORTION A DESOLATE WILDERNESS, THEY HAVE MADE IT DESO"LATE." Jer. xii. 10.

1 Bell. Jud. 6, ix. 1.

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Titus, as we have already stated, commanded the three forts, Phasælus, Hippicus, and Mariamne, to be left, that posterity might know the wonderful strength of that city which had been made to yield to the Roman arms(Bell. Jud. 7, i. 1.) And Pausanias, who lived in the second century, and wrote A. D. 180, speaks of "a monument of Queen Helena (of Adiabene) at Jerusalem, which city an Emperour of the Romans had destroyed to the foundations”Εβραιος δε Ελενης γυναικος ἐπιχωριάς τάφος ἐςὶν εν πολει Σολύμοις ήν ες εδαφος καλεβαλεν ο Ρωμαιων Βασιλευς.

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Paus. viii. 16.

It is mentioned also by Eusebius. Ecc. Hist. ii. 12.

2 Cicero, because it served his purpose, had inferred from the calamities which in his days befel the Jews, that they were a nation not acceptable to the Deity." Stantibus Hierosolymis peccatisque Judæis tamen istorum religio sacrorum a splendore hujus imperii gravitate nominis nostri, majorum institutis, abhorrebat: nunc vero hoc magis, quod illa gens quid "de imperio nostro sentiret, ostendit armis, quam cara Diis immortalibus esset, docuit, quod est victu, quod elocata, quod servata.”

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Cicero pro Flacco.

3 Bell. Jud. 6, ix. 1.—Even here once more the besieged themselves helped to fulfil the prediction of Christ-" EXCEPT THOSE DAYS BE SHORtened,

THERE SHALL BE NO FLESH SAVED."

"Ipsi

After this, the army was commanded to dig beneath many of the walls, both of the Temple and the city, in search of those riches and treasures, which were supposed to have been buried for concealment in their foundations; in consequence of which, the whole circuit of the city was so levelled, as not to leave those who approached it the faintest proof that it had ever been inhabited: then, having left a small garrison behind him, Titus marched in triumph to Cæsarea.1

Thus were the magnificent Temple, and the great

and

"Ipsi Tito Roma, et opes, voluptatisque ante oculos; ac ni statim Hiero solyma conciderent, morari videbantur.-Titus had his private motives: Rome was before his eyes; wealth and magnificence dazzled his imagination; and pleasure presented its amusements. If the city was not to be taken by assault, a siege in form would have detained him too long from the splendid scene that lay before him." Tacit. Hist. v. 11.

"Philostratus tells us, when some of the nearer nations would have crowned Titus for his victories over the Jews, he refused, saying that he deserved nothing upon that account; for it was not his work, but God had made him an instrument of his wrath against that people."-Tillotson's Serm. clxxxvi,

We may say with Gamaliel," If this counsel, or this work, had been of men, it would have come to nought," but as it was of God, nothing could overthrow it.

1 Bell. Jud. 7, i. 12.

AND THEY SHALL LAY THEE EVEN WITH THE GROUND, AND THY CHILDREN WITHIN THEE; AND THEY SHALL NOT LEAVE IN THEE ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER; BECAUSE THOU KNEWEST NOT THE TIME OF THY VISITATION. Luke, xix. 44.

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Maimonides adds (Taanith, ch. 5.) that Rufus, a captain of the army Titus, did with a plough-share tear up the foundations of the Temple, and thereby signally fulfil the words of the prophet.

THEREFORE SHALL ZION FOR YOUR SAKE BE PLOUGHED AS A FIELD, AND JERU SALEM SHALL BECOME HEAPS, AND THE MOUNTAIN OF THE HOUSE AS THE HIGH

PLACES OF THE FOREST.—Micah, iii. 12.-The words of Jeremiah (xxvi. 18) almost exactly resemble these.

Oh God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance, thy holy Temple have they defiled, and MADE JERUSALEM AN HEAP OF STONES.

Psalms, lxxix. 1.

and populous city of Jerusalem, laid in complete ruin, so lately the wonder and admiration of the world!1

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Well might the Prophet exclaim-" Lord! who "hath believed our report!" when the Almighty had sent him thus to declare the punishment to be inflicted on the Jews for their disobedience and infidelity. "Go, and tell this people-Hear ye indeed, but un"derstand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with "their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand "with their heart, and convert, and be healed.—Then, "said I, Lord! how long? And he answered, Until the "cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses "without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And "the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land." For now was "the arm of the Lord revealed," when the Romans, by this final destruction, made an end of "wasting “inhabitant," and had made "the land utterly desti"tute,"

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1 The prophecy of our Saviour," As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so also shall the coming of the son of man be," as it relates to the destruction of Jerusalem, was also fulfilled: "for," says Bishop Pearce, "the Roman army entered into Judea on the east side of it, and carried on their conquests westward, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army should take, was intended in the comparison of the lightning coming out of the east, and shining unto the west."

2 Isaiah, liii. 1.

3 Isaiah, vi. 9-12.

The former part of this Prophecy evidently related to the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews, as our Saviour himself explained it (Matt. iii. 15), but the denunciation contained in the latter part of it was clearly established, by the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, and not less so by this complete overthrow of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the remnant, carried and sent away by Titus.

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tute," not only of its people, but in its forlorn appearance: when they "removed" the captives far away, and had left this place, so recently the magnificent and boasted habitations of his chosen, forsaken and desolate.1 Well might our benign and blessed Lord, reflecting upon the causes which would bring down this destructive judgment, weep over it, and with excessive grief justly pronounce this sentence of desolation-→→ "Oh Jerusalem! Jerusalem! thou that killest the "Prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, "how often would I have gathered thy children to"gether, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under "her wings, and ye would not? Behold! your house is " left unto you desolate."2

1 SEE YE NOT ALL THESE THINGS? VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THERE SHALL NOT BÉ LEFT HERE ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER, THẤT SHALL NOT BE THROWN DOWN.

Matt. xxiv. 2.

SEEST THOU THESE GREAT BUILDINGS? THERE SHALL NOT BE LEFT ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER, THAT SHALL NOT BE THROWN DOWN. Mark xiii. 2.

As for THESE THINGS WHICH YE BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COME IN THE WHICH THERE SHALL NOT BE LEFT ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER, THAT SHALL NOT BE THROWN DOWN. Luke xxi. 6.

It must be remembered, that these words of our Saviour were spoken in a time of profound tranquillity.

BEHOLD! THE DAY COMETH, THAT SHALL BURN as an oven; AND ALL THE PROUD, YEA, AND ALL THAT DO WICKEDLY, SHALL BE STUBBLE; AND THE DAY THAT COMETH SHALL BURN THEM UP, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, THAT IT SHALL LEAVE THEM NEITHER ROOT NOE BRANCH. Malachi, iv. 1.

2 Matt. xxiii. 37.

FOR A NATION IS COME UPON MY LAND, STRONG, AND WITHOUT NUMBER, WHOSE
TEETH ARE THE TEETH OF A LION, AND HE HATH THE CHEEK TEETH OF A GREAT LION.
HE HATH LAID MY VINE WASTE, AND BARKED MY FIG-TREE: HE HATH MADE IT CLEAN
BARE, AND CAST IT AWAY; THE BRANCHES THEREOF ARE MADE WHITE.—Joel i. 6, 7.
THY HOLY CITIES ARE A WILDERNESS, ZION IS A WILDERNESS, JERUSALEM A DESOLA-
TION.
Isaiah Ixiv. 10.

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