whereby they might know, when it should be time to get out of that reprobate city. He founded these, according to his custom, upon the ancient prophecies, whereof he was the interpreter, as well as the end; and referring to the passage, wherein the final ruin of Jerusalem was so clearly shewn to Daniel, he said, "When ye shall see the "abomination of desolation spoken of by

Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy

place (whoso readeth let him under"stand)," or as St. Mark hath it," in the

place where it ought not; then let them "that be in Judea flee to the mountains *." St. Luke relates the same thing in other words: "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 t."

One Evangelist explains another, and by comparing these passages together, it is easy to understand, that that abomination foretold by Daniel, is the same thing with the armies encompassing Jerusalem. The holy fathers have so understood it, and reason convinces us that it is sot. The word Abomination, in the sacred style, signifies idol and who does not know that the Roman armies bore in their ensigns the images of their Gods, and of their Cesars, who were more reverenced than all their Gods. These ensigns were to the soldiers an object of

· Mat. xxiv. 15. Mark xiii. 14. Dan. ix. 26, 27. Luke xxi. 20, 21.

Orig. Tr. 23. in Mat. Aug. Ep. 80. ad Hesych,

worship; and because idols, according to the commands of God, were never to appear in the Holy Land, the Roman ensigns were banished from it. And therefore we find in history, that so long as the Romans retained any degree of regard for the Jews, they never displayed their banners in Judea. It was on this account, that Vitellius, when he passed into that province in order to carry the war into Arabia, caused his troops to march without ensigns*; the Jewish religion was still had in reverence, and even the enemies of the Jews would by no means force that people to suffer things so contrary to their law. But in the time of the last Jewish war, we may well believe that the Romans did not spare a people, whom they were resolved to exterminate. Accordingly, when Jerusalem was besieged, it was encompassed with as many idols as there were imperial ensigns; and the abomination never appeared so much where it ought not, that is, in the Holy Land, and round about the temple.

Is this, then, will it be said, that great sign which JESUS CHRIST was to give? Was it time to fly, when Titus besieged Jerusalem, and so closely blocked up its avenues, that there was no more any mean of escaping? Here lies the wonder of the prophecy. Jerusalem was twice besieged in those days: the first time by Cestius +, governor of Syria, in the 68th year of our

*Joseph. Ant. xviii. c. 7.

+ Joseph. ii. de Bell. Jud. c. 23, 24. Id. lib. vi. vii.

Lord; the second, by Titus, four years af ter, that is, in the year 72. In the last siege there was no possibility of fleeing; Titus waged the war too hotly for that: he surprised the whole nation assembled in Je rusalem, at the feast of the passover, with out suffering a soul to escape; and that dreadful circumvallation which he drew round the city, left no more any hope to its inhabitants. But there was nothing like this in the siege of Cestius; he lay encamped 50 furlongs, that is, six miles from Jerusalem *. His army was spread all around,. but without making any intrenchments; and he conducted the war so negligently, that he missed the opportunity of taking the city, when terror, sedition, and even intelligence, opened the gates to him. At this juncture, so far was a retreat from being impracticable, that history expressly notes, that many Jews did retire t. It was then therefore they should have gone out; and this was the signal the Son of God gave to his followers. So likewise did he most plainly distinguish the two sieges: the one, wherein the city shall be compassed round with trenches and towers then there should be nothing but death for all who were shut up in it the other, wherein it should be. only compassed with armies §, and rather invested than besieged in form; then was it, they were to flee to the mountains.

The Christians obeyed the direction of

Joseph. lib. ii. c. 23,

‡ Luke xix. 43.

24.

+.Ibid.

§ Luke xxi. 20, 21.

their Master. Though there were thousands in Jerusalem and Judea, we do not read, either in Josephus, or in any of the other histories, that there was one found in the city, when it was taken *. On the contrary, it is certain, from ecclesiastical history, and all the monuments of our forefathers, that they retreated to the little city Pella, in a mountainous country, not far from the wilderness, on the confines of Judea and Arabia.

From this we may be sensible, how precisely they had been warned; nor is there any thing more remarkable than that separation of the unbelieving Jews from the Jews converted to Christianity: the former having stayed in Jerusalem, there to undergo the punishment of their infidelity; and the latter having retreated, as Lot did out of Sodom, into a little city, where they beheld with trembling the effects of the divine vengeance, from which God had been pleased to secure them.

Beside the predictions of JESUS CHRIST, there were predictions of many of his disciples; among others, those of St. Peter and St. Paul. As those two faithful witnesses of JESUS CHRIST risen were dragged to execution, they denounced to the Jews, who were delivering them to the Gentiles, their approaching ruin. They told them, "That Jerusalem was going to be utterly "destroyed; that they should perish by "hunger and despair; that they should be

Euseb. iii. Hist. Eccl. 5. Epiph. Hær. vii. Nazar. & lib. de pond. & mens.

"for ever banished from the land of their

fathers, and sent into captivity through"out the whole earth; that the time was "not far off when all those evils should be"fal them, for having insulted with such "cruel mockings, the well-beloved Son of "God, who had declared himself to them

by so many miracles *." Pious antiquity hath preserved to us this prediction of the apostles, which was to be followed with so speedy an accomplishment. St. Peter had made many others, whether by a particular inspiration, or in explaining his Master's words; and Phlegon †, an heathen author, whose testimony Origen produces, has recorded, that every thing that apostle had foretold, was punctually accomplished.

Thus nothing befals the Jews, .that had not been prophesied to them. The cause of their misery is clearly pointed out to us in their contempt of JESUS CHRIST and his disciples. The time of Grace was past, and their destruction was inevitable.

In vain then, Sir, did Titus desire to save Jerusalem and the temple. Their sentence was gone forth from above, there was not one stone to be left upon another. But if one Roman emperor vainly attempted to prevent the demolition of the temple, still more vainly did another Roman emperor attempt to rebuild it. Julian the apostate, having declared war against JESUS CHRIST, thought himself sufficient* Lact. div. Inst. lib. iv. c. 21.

Phleg. lib. 13 & 14. Chron. apud Orig. lib. 2.

cont. Cels.