Page images
PDF
EPUB

That the defolation might be more general, and that their fufferings might begin where the cause of them fubfifted, among themselves, the fuccefs of the enemy for a while was not rapid; nor was the war pushed to the heart of the kingdom. But the day of flaughter was at laft to come as a snare on the victims of wrath; and when they were affembled at Jerufalem, from all quarters of the globe, to celebrate the paffover, on a fudden the gallant Titus appeared before the walls, and fhut them up as in a prifon.

The days were to be shortened for the elect's fake; and the two contending parties laboured without ceafing, one by confummate skill and fortitude, the other by their madness in cutting the nerves of their own ftrength, to fulfil the prophecy, of which both were ignorant.

A trench was to be thrown up, encircling the city, and keeping in the befieged on every fide. The extent and nature of the ground, which was uneven and rocky, might seem to forbid fuch an attempt, or prevent its execution; but the work was completed in three days.

A woe

A woe was denounced upon those that were with child and gave fuck in those days. More alive to pain and less able to bear it, they endured more; they faw their children expire before their eyes, and were even compelled, in the extremity of hunger, to eat the fruit of their own body.

The tribulation was to be fuch as had not been from the beginning of the world, nor ever should be. The blended horrors of war and fedition, of famine and peftilence, were grievous and aftonishing, beyond example and beyond conception; and if we except the days when the deluge overwhelmed a whole world of finners, never did there perish fo many of the human race in so short a time.

The city, it was foretold, fhould be laid even with the ground. Her palaces were overthrown, her bulwarks demolished, and the feat of her glory could fcarcely be known.

Of the house of the Lord, ample as were her courts and strong as was her border, not a ftone was to be left, that was not thrown down. The conflagration, which was kindled contrary to the will of Titus and in

creased

creafed in direct oppofition to his command, raged with fuch fury, as if it would confume not only the temple itself to its lowest bafe, but the very foundations of the mount whereon it ftood; and the place received afterwards. the customary marks of hoftile fubjection, and "Zion," according to the prediction of the prophet," was ploughed as a field "".

Such, in brief, are the prophecies which we have contemplated; and fuch, so exact and circumftantial, was their wonderful completion. In this great variety of particulars, the illuftration of some few points may perhaps be doubtful, or the application wrong. But the general outline is clearly marked; and the fimilitude is, in many the minutest features, ftriking and unquestionable.

Befides the paffages which have been brought forward and examined in the course of these lectures, many others occur in holy scripture relating to the fame days of bitter

78

e Mic. iii. 12.

f By Terentius Rufus. See the authorities in Whitby, &c. δ' ή μεγάλη πολις ή τοσέτοις μεν εξυμνη τείχων περιβόλοις, μόλις de χωρεσα τας εις τον πόλεμον παρασκευας,—πα γεγονεν ἡμῖν ἡ τον Θεον έχειν οικισην πεπιτευμένη ; προρρίζος εκ βάθρων ανήρπασαι. Eleazarus ap. Jof. B. J. L. VII. c. viii. §. 7. p. 1322.

nefs

nefs and forrow. On thefe, which it seemed neither necessary to adduce, nor poffible within our limits properly to difcufs, we may remark in general, That they confirm the authenticity of this clafs of prophecies. Take away from each of the three Gofpels our blessed Saviour's difcourfe refpecting these events, the substance nevertheless will still remain. It is couched in metaphors, and taught in parables; it is conveyed in the bold and animated ftrains of oriental poetry, and delivered in clear and exprefs predictions. That which forms fo confiderable a part of the facred volume, which is the fubject of its prophecies and ground of its hymns, which is inserted in its hiftories and introduced among precepts and moral inftructions, never could be forged by friends or by enemies.

If in the difcourfe of our Lord, to which our meditations have chiefly been confined, there are one or two paffages, where the intention of the holy Speaker may be doubtful; if it does not appear whether he had in view times that are paft or days ftill to come, or whether he adapted his language to both; this circumftence by no means invalidates the argument drawn from those other paffages, far more numerous, of which the meaning is

clear

"

clear and the object certain. The perfections of the Almighty pafs man's understanding. He covers round about, with the majesty of darkness, the bright and unapproachable effulgence of his throne. His will he hath revealed to us in the holy fcriptures; and they speak, in general, a language that is equally plain and divine. The parts now obfcure may minifter more abundant comfort and inftruction to future generations; nor will they, at prefent, be altogether unprofitable, if where they fhew us to be ignorant, they teach us to be humble, and filently to adore, in the word of GOD as well as in his works, the wisdom which we cannot fully comprehend.

With regard to the events, by which these prophecies have been fulfilled, the foundations of the earth have been moved to produce them, and the creatures have been weapons in the hands of providence. The unruly elements and the tribes of men have confpired together, and performed the commands of the Lord of all things; nor have the blesfed inhabitants of the world of fpirits been unconcerned fpectators, but fuftained part in the wondrous drama, and fhewn themselves the ready minifters of heaven.

When

« PreviousContinue »