the context, it is not perhaps neceffary to confine it to the believers refiding in one land. The whole body of the faithful, in this as in other inftances, after the bleffed example of their Lord, prayed for their enemies; that if it were the gracious will of heaven, the judgements inflicted upon thofe who had killed the Prince of life, and were the most active and fanguinary among the perfecutors of his church, might not however cut off the entire houfe of Ifrael; but that a remnant might survive the general overthrow; fome of whom, taught by what they had beheld, and what they had fuffered, might repent of their fins, and be converted and faved. At the fame time nevertheless we may reafonably fuppofe, that those who were themfelves of the ftock of Ifrael, would, above others, be frequent and fervent in fupplications to heaven for their unbelieving kindred. And if the comfort and safety, and perhaps even the lives, of fome of thofe Chriftians who had lately fled from Judea, but still were on the borders, depended, under providence, on the speedy termination of the Jewish troubles; these confiderations of perfonal fecurity might allowably blend themfelves with thofe which concern for their brethren suggested; might inflame the heart, and prompt the lips, which would not otherwife have been uninterested or filent. To return to Jerufalem, and fettle there, could be no object of defire, even to thofe who were natives of the place. To have gone thither, where not a tree, not a veftige of beauty, for twelve miles in circuit, was now to be feen; the city itself fo totally demolished, that a late inhabitant could fcarcely have known the place where it stood, save perhaps from the fight of three solitary towers, the filent monuments of former magnificence; to have vifited the feat of their fathers' fepulchres, thus fpoiled of its honours and laid level with the ground, could only have excited fevere regret, and unavailing forrow. Befides we are informed, in regard to fact, that half a century afterwards, before the city was rebuilt by Adrian, and received a new name from him, there were only a few houfes, and one fmall church, on the fpot which was once the glory of Ifrael, and the praise of the earth . f B. J. L. VI. c. i. §. 1. c. ii. §. 7. L. VII. c. 1. §. 1. Epiphan. de Ponder. et Menfur. c. xiv. But But if the Chriftian exiles did not go back, at leaft not in numbers, to Jerufalem itself, unless it were to view and weep over the ruins; they might however, when the war was ended, return and dwell in other parts of Judea, which had fuffered less than the rebellious city. During their retirement likewife, though they were exempt from the horrors of war, their fituation probably was fuch as, on many accounts, rendered the restoration of peace greatly defirable. When Judea was the theatre of contending armies, provifions may be prefumed to have been scanty on the confines". The ground must have been cultivated in fear; and the conveyance of fupplies from a distance, at all times inconvenient, muft then have been extremely infecure and hazardous; especially to those, who, as Jews, were obnoxious to the Romans, and, as Christians, were still more abhorred by the Jews. Moreover had the Romans, by a prolongation of the war, been further exasperated, The Roman army was fupplied with neceffaries from Syria and the adjacent provinces. B. J. L. V. c. xii. §. 4. they they might, in conclufion, have carried their victorious arms to exterminate thofe, whom, at Pella and elsewhere, they before had fuffered to dwell in quiet. For though at prefent they appeared to be friends to the Romans, and ftudious of peace, this conduct might be attributed to the impulse of fear, rather than to principles of duty; and as their language, and habit, and exterior manners, marked them for Jews, fufpicions might arise, that they would be prone to rebel, when no longer intimidated by superior force. For thefe or for other reafons, which, if lefs obvious now, were apparent at the time; it might concern the welfare of the Christians themselves, that the flames, which defolated the country from which they had fled, but ftill were in fight of, fhould not be fuffered to rage there long; left they fhould extend to the mountains, and burn up their Zoar. But to us at this day perhaps the reasons of the cafe are not fuch interefting objects of inquiry, as the fact itself. Was that, which was foretold, literally verified? It was indeed; and the circumstances are not a little remarkable. The The country of Judea, mountainous and rocky, though not large in extent, did not promife, even to the most experienced commander, an eafy victory, or fpeedy triumph. Not long before the Roman war, a public robber, protected doubtless by the strength of his holds as well as the defperate valour of his affociates, committed depredations with uncontrouled fuccefs for twenty years; and was taken at length only by ftratagem. But though nature had done much, she had not done all. The affiftance therefore of art was called in, to complete what was imperfect, or correct what was wrong. In the reign of Claudius, Agrippa had projected, in defence of Jerufalem, walls of such strength and fuch altitude as might bid defiance to human force; and though he was not suffered to finish his defigns, no means or opportunity was afterwards neglected, to put both the metropolis and the other cities in a posture to make a vigorous refiftance. . Upon the defeat-of Ceftius, when the war was inevitable, the engines and weapons i A. J. L. XX. c. vii. §. 5. comp. B. J. L. I. c. xvi. §. 4. And fee Judges vi. 2. 1 Sam. xiii. 6. k A. J. L. XIX. c. vii. §. 2. Tacit. Hift. L. V. c. 12. taken N |