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from the Place, where they us'd to affemble in the inner Court of the Temple, and fate among the Shops counting back forty Tears from the Deftruction of the Temple, we fhall find, that this removal of the Sanhedrim was about three or four Years before this Action of our Saviour's happen'd; and, confequently, that in his Time there was a Place, called the Shops, which, according to the Defcription that the Jews give of them, were an open fpacious Place, where Goods were Sold, and Money exchanged.

But how convenient foever this Mer- This a chandife might be for the Ufe of the gros Pre fanation of Temple-Service, it was certainly a grofs the TemProfanation of the Place itself. For fince ple. the Court of the Gentiles was the only Place, wherein the Profelytes of the Gate (who came up to the Temple in great Numbers, especially at the Time of the Paffover) were permitted to worship the God of Ifrael, it can hardly be imagin'd, but that the Droves of Cattle, which were brought in there to be Sold, would not only crowd and incommodate the Place, (which is a great Indecency) but that, in the midft of the bleatings of the Sheep, the lowings of the Oxen, and the hurry and buftle, neceffarily occafion'd

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Dr. Pearce's Miracles Vindicated, part. 2. p. 10, Ex.

Lord to redress it.

by the other fort of Merchandise, the Profelytes would be fure to meet with no fmall Difturbance in their Devotions. f Nor wants there fomeReafon to perfume, that, the Captains of the Temple, and others, who had the Care and Direction of it, having let out part of the Court of the Gentiles for Profit and Advantage, and perhaps at exceffive Rents, the Sellers, to make themselves amends for what they paid for their Shops and Stalls, infifted upon unjuft and exorbitant Gains, for which we find them charg'd by our Saviour, as having made the Houfe of God, not a Place of Merchandife only, but a Den of Thieves.

Now if the Permiffion of fuch Abuses Why ¡roper fo our may be allow'd to be a Profanation of the Temple, whoever confiders what great Reverence was conftantly paid to it, and what Titles of Honour and Respect are given it by God himfelf; how, under the old Teftament, it is ftiled h his Sanctuary, his Dwelling, his Courts, and Palace; his Holy Mountain, and the Place which he had chofen out of all the Earth, to fet his Name there; and how the Apoftle, under the new, declares it to have been the Figure of the Heavens,

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Pearce's Miracles Vindicated, p. 13. Matth. ii. 13. h Pfa'. lxxxiv. 1, 10. Ifa. lvi. 7. 2 Chron. XX. 9. Deut. xvi. 16. Heb. ix.

i

and of that Seat, not made with hands, where the glorious Majefty of God more peculiarly refides: whoever confiders this, I fay, can, by no means, be induc'd to think, that a Reformation of fuch Abuses was any Inftance of an intemperate Zeal in our Saviour; or that the Thing was lefs prudent, or lefs neceffary to be done, because the Temple was Notwithfhortly to be deftroy'd, fince every its enfuftanding Place, which is fet apart for Divine Wor- ing DeShip, ought to be kept Sacred, and fit ftruction. for that Ufe, as long as it is fubfifting, In fuch a Cafe, we are to confider what Things are now, not what they are to be hereafter; for what would have been a Profanation of the Temple, had it been always to laft, was equally a Profana-. tion of it, tho' it was fhortly to be deftroy'd. The Action is the fame under both Events, nor is it in the leaft alter'd by the Fate of the Place, where it happens to be done. k As well therefore may we enquire, why Jefus conform'd to the legal Service of the Temple, which, tho' as yet establish'd, was foon to be abolifh'd, viz. by the more perfect Sacrifice of himself; as why he vindicated the Honour of God, that was profan'd in his own House, though that House was O 3 after

Bp. Smallbreke's Vind. p. 148.

after fome time, to be finally abandon'd and destroy'd.

Our Saviour, indeed, out of his Divine Knowledge, foretold the Destruction of Jerufalem, and, that the Time fhould come, when m the abomination of Defolation, (i. e. the Roman Army, which having for their Enfign the Emperor's Image, and coming with intent to lay waste their Country, could not but be deteftable to the Jews) Standing in the Holy Place: But by this ftanding in the Holy Place, from a parallel Paffage in | St. Luke, is fuppos'd, by *moft Interpreters, to be meant no more, than the "Army's encompaffing the Holy City. If we refer it however to the Deftruction of the Temple, the Prediction of the Event does not neceffitate its coming to pass; nor is our Saviour any more chargeable with the Confequence of it, than the Providence of God is with all the Slaughter, and Havock, and Devaftation, which a Victorious Army makes in an Enemy's Country. The Deftruction of the Jewif Nation was determin'd indeed in the Divine Counfel, but, according to the Account of their own + Hiftorian, they themselves were the Authors of their

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Mark xiii. 14. Luke xxi. 20. * Vid. Hammond and Whitby in locum. Dr. Pearce, p. 14. Fof. de Bell. Fud, L. 8.c. 5. 9.

their own Calamity: and, in the particular Inftance of the Burning of the Temple, not only themfelves fet fire to the Galleries thereof firft, but even, when Titus had left them in quiet, and order'd his Guards to extinguish the Fire, they fallied out upon them, and hinder'd them; and fo (as the Hiftorian tells us) wrought the final Deftruction of the Holy Place with their own Hands.

was able

to do it.

But be that as it will; fince the Tem- Why ple was, as yet, to ftand full forty Years, and upwards, there could be no Incongruity in our Saviour's endeavouring to correct this Abuse of it; and, confidering the present Situation of Things, no Impoffibility in him to effect it. For we muft remember, that he was juft now come up from Bethany to Jerufalem, in a fort of Royal and Triumphant Proceffion; that he was attended on the Road, and into the City, with a very great Multitude, nay, with Multitudes, that went before, and followed after; that these all went along with him into the Temple, and proclaimed (as they had done on the Road) Hofanna the Son of David; and that the Concourfe, in short, was fo great, that all the City was moved, and even the chief Priests were afraid

04

̧* Matt. xxi. 8, 9. Ver. 46. Mark xi. 18. Luke

xix. 48.

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