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in the west, that he taught the whole world righteousness, and travelled as far as to the utmost borders of the west; and if such were the labours of one apostle, though the chiefest of the apostles, what were the united labours of them all? It appears indeed from the writers of the history of the church, that before the destruction of Jerusalem the gospel was not only preached in the Lesser Asia, and Greece, and Italy, the great theatres of action then in the world; but was likewise propagated as far northward as Scythia, as far southward as Ethiopa, as far eastward as Parthia and India, as far westward as Spain and Britain. Our ancestors of this island seem to have lain as remote from the scene of our Saviour's actions as almost any nation, and were a rough inhospitable people, as unlikely to receive so civilized an institution as any people whatever. But yet there is some probability," that the gospel was preached here by St. Simon the apostle; there is much greater probability, that it was preached here by St. Paul; and there is absolute certainty, that Christianity was planted in this country, in the days of the apostles, before the destruction of Jerusalem. Agreeably to this, Eusebius informs us that the apostles preached the gospel in all the world; and some of them passed beyond the ocean to the Britannic isles. Theodoret likewise affirms, that the apostles had induced every nation and kind of men to embrace the gospel, and among the converted nations he reckons particularly the Britons. St. Paul himself, in his Epistle to the Colossians, (i. 6, 23,) speaketh of the gospel's being "come into all the world, and preached to every creature under heaven:" and in his Epistle to the Romans (x. 18) very elegantly applies to the lights of the church what the Psalmist said of the lights of heaven, "their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." But how improbable, and in all human appearance impossible was it, that a few poor fishermen and such inferior illiterate persons should propagate and establish a new religion, in so short a space of time, throughout the world? Doubtless it was not man's but God's work, and from the same Divine Spirit proceeded both the prophecy and the completion!

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"See Stillingfleet's Origines Britannice, c. 1. Collier's Eccles. Hist. b. 1. Usserii

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We have deduced the prophecies as low as to the siege of Jerusalem; and now let us stop to make a few short reflections upon what hath been said.

The first reflection that naturally occurs, is the strange and surprising manner in which these prophecies have been fulfilled, and the great argument that may thence be drawn from the truth of our Saviour's divine mission: but we shall have a fitter opportunity for enlarging upon this hereafter.

Another reflection we may make on the sincerity and ingenuity of Christ, and the courage and constancy of his disciples. Had Jesus been an imposter, he would, like all other imposters, have fed his followers with fair hopes and promises: but on the contrary we see, that he denounced persecution to be the lot of his disciples, he pointeth out to them the difficulties they must encounter, the fiery trials they must undergo; and yet they did not therefore stagger in their faith, they did not therefore like faint-hearted soldiers forsake their colours and desert his service. One hardly knoweth whom to admire most, him for dealing so plainly with them, or them for adhering so steadily to him. Such instances are rarely found of openness on one side, and of fidelity on the other.

A third reflection we may make on the sudden and amazing progress of the gospel, that it should spread so far and so wide before the destruction of Jerusalem. The greatness of the work that was wrought, the meanness of the instruments which wrought it, and the short time that it was wrought in, must force all considering men to say, (Psal. cxviii. 23,) "This is the Lord's doing, it is marvellous in our eyes." The Mohammedan religion, indeed, in less than a century overran a great part of the world; but then it was propagated by the sword, and owed its success to arms and violence. But the Christian religion was diffused over the face of the earth in the space of forty years, and prevailed not only without the sword, but against the sword; not only without the powers civil and military to support it, but against them all united to oppress it. And what but the Spirit of God could bid it thus go forth (Rev. vi. 2) "conquering and to conquer ?" "Had this counsel or this work been of men," as Gamaliel argued, (Acts v. 28,) "it would have come to nought; but being of God, nothing could overthrow it."

A fourth reflection we may make (and it is the last that I shall make) that seldom any state is ruined, but there are evident signals and presages of it. Few people have their fate particularly foretold by prophets, like the Jews; nor indeed can the fate of any people be so particularly foretold, the time, the manner, and all the circumstances preceding and succeeding, without divine inspiration. So many passages and cir

cumstances cannot be particularly foretold unless particularly revealed: but in the general, without the spirit of prophecy, it is no difficult matter to perceive when cities and kingdoms are tending towards their final period and dissolution. There are as certain tokens and symptoms of a consumption and decay in the body politic, as in the body natural. I would not presage ill to my country; but when we consider the many heinous and presumptuous sins of this nation, the licentiousness and violation of all order and discipline, the daring insolence of robbers and smugglers in open defiance of all law and justice, the factions and divisions, the venality and corruption, the avarice and profusion of áll ranks and degrees among us, the total want of public spirit and ardent passion for private ends and interests, the luxury, and gaming, and dissoluteness in high life, and the laziness, and drunkenness, and debauchery in low life, and above all, that barefaced ridicule of all virtue and decency, and that scandalous neglect, and I wish I could not say contempt of all public worship and religion; when we consider these things, these signs of the times, the stoutest and most sanguine of us all must tremble at the natural and probable consequences of them. God give us grace, that we may "know, (Luke xix. 42,) at least in this our day, the things which belong unto our peace, before they are hid from our eyes." Never may such blindness happen to us, as befell the Jews; but may we (Isa. lv. 6, 7) "seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near; and return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon us, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

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XIX.- -THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

PART II.

THE preceding discourse was concerning the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, the circumstances and accidents, which were to be the forerunners and attendants of this great event. Those are already specified which passed before the siege, and now we proceed to treat of those which happened during the siege and after it. Never was prophecy more punctually fulfilled, and it will be very well worth our time and attention to trace the particulars. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand,) Then let them which be in Judea, flee into the mountains," (Matt. xxiv. 15, 16.) Whatever difficulty there is in these words, it may be cleared up by the parallel place in

St. Luke, (xxi. 20, 21:)" And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains." So that "the abomination of desolation" is the Roman army, and "the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place" is the Roman army besieging Jerusalem. This, saith our Saviour, is "the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet," in the ninth and eleventh chapters; and so let every one who readeth those prophecies, understand them. The Roman army is called the abomination for its ensigns and images which were so to the Jews. As Chrysostom affirms' every idol and every image of a man was called an abomination among the Jews. For this reason as Josephus * informs us, the principal Jews earnestly entreated Vetellius, governor of Syria, when he was conducting his army through Judea against Aretas king of the Arabians, to lead it another way; and he greatly obliged them by complying with their request. We farther learn from Josephus, that after the city was taken, the Romans brought their ensigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and sacrificed to them there. The Roman army is therefore fitly called the abomination, and "the abomination of desolation," as it was to desolate and lay waste Jerusalem: and this army's besieging Jerusalem is called "standing where it ought not," as it is in St. Mark, (xiii. 14;) or “standing in the holy place," as it is in St. Matthew; the city and such a compass of ground about it being accounted holy. When therefore the Roman army shall advance to besiege Jerusalem, then let them who are in Judea consult their own safety, and fly into the mountains. This counsel was wisely remembered, and put in practice by the Christians afterwards. Josephus informs us, that when Cestius Gallus came with his army against Jerusalem,* many fled from the city as if it would be taken presently: and after his retreat, many of the noble Jews departed out of the city, as out of a sinking ship: and a few years afterwards, when Ves-` pasian was drawing his forces towards Jerusalem, a great multitude fled from Jericho (sis Tv opsv) into the mountainous country for their security. It is probable that there were some

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4 Ηδε δὲ πολλοὶ διεδίδρασκον ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως, ὡς ἁλωσομένης αὐτίκα. Jamque multi ex civitate diffugiebant, ac si continuo esset expugnanda. Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 19, § 6.

5 Πολλοὶ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὥσπερ βαπτιζομένης νεῶς, ἀπενήχοντο τῆς πόλεως. Nobilium Judæorum multi, quasi in eo esset navis ut mergeretur, e civitate veluti natando egressi sunt. Ibid. c. 20, § 1.

Ibid. 1. 4, c. 8, § 2.

Christians among these, but we learn more certainly from ecclesiastical historians," that at this juncture all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem, and removed to Pella and other places beyond the river Jordan, so that they all marvellously escaped the general shipwreck of their country, and we do not read any where that so much as one of them perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Of such signal service was this caution of our Saviour to the believers!

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He prosecutes the same subject in the following verses. "Let him which is on the house-top, not come down to take any thing out of his house," (ver. 17.) The houses of the Jews, as well as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, were flat on the top for them to walk upon, and had usually stairs on the outside, by which they might ascend and descend without coming into the house. In the eastern walled cities these flat-roofed houses usually formed continued terraces from one end of the city to the other, which terraces terminated at the gates. He therefore who is walking and regaling himself upon the house-top, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house; but let him instantly pursue his course along the tops of the houses, and escape out at the city gate as fast as he possibly can. "Neither let him which is in the field, return back to take his clothes," (ver. 18.) Our Saviour maketh use of these expressions to intimate, that their flight must be as sudden and hasty as Lot's was out of Sodom. And the Christians escaping just as they did was the more providential, because afterwards all egress out of the city was prevented.

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"And wo unto them that are with child, and unto them that give suck in those days," (ver. 19.) For neither will such per sons be in a condition to fly, neither will they be well able to endure the distress and hardships of a siege. This wo was sufficiently fulfilled in the cruel slaughters which were made both of the women and children, and particularly in that grievous famine, which so miserably afflicted Jerusalem during the siege. For as Josephus reports,' mothers snatched the food from their infants out of their very mouths: and again in another place, the houses were full of women and children, who perished by famine. But Josephus still relates a more horrid story; and I make no question, that our Saviour with his spirit. of prophecy had this particular incident in view. There was

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