The Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD - Part 3
Proof of the Divine Origin of Christianity. By George Peter Holford, 1812
Reproduction of wall relief on the Arch of Titus showing Roman soldiers victoriously carrying off the menorah, shewbread table, and silver trumpets from the temple. https://bible-history.com/archaeology/the-arch-of-titus
Original booklet available here: https://archive.org/details/thedestructionofjerusalemin70adbyromanswrittenin1805georgepeterholford/page/n7/mode/2up
Notes:
- The text below is from the original scan in the link above, with corrections, such as where the lowercase 'L' looks like 'f', 'w' looks like 'xv', and random punctuation make reading difficult.
- Some of Holford's British English is antiquated, and modern spellings are in [ ] in some cases.
- 'Vide' is Latin for: refer to, see; to point the reader to a reference.
- {pg. #} refers to the page number in the original booklet.TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 3 • Sufferings of the Jews, Subsequent to the Destruction of Jerusalem {pg. 102} • Jerusalem Trodden Down {pg. 104} • Julian’s Attempt Defeated {pg. 105} • Objections Answered {pg. 108} • Address to Christians {pg. 123} • Address to the Unbeliever {pg. 124} • Address to the Deist {pg. 125} • Address to the Jew {pg. 126} • Remarks, &c. {pg. 133} • Remarks on the Moral Character, &c. Of Britain {pg. 136} • Conclusion {pg. 143} Link to Part 1 - Description of Jerusalem, the temple; Jesus' predictions fulfilled; signs from heaven... Link to Part 2 - Foundation of the war to its termination. Character of Titus.
SUFFERINGS OF THE JEWS, SUBSEQUENT TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM {pg. 102}
The history of the Jews, subsequently to the time of Josephus, still further corroborates the truth of our Saviour’s prophecies concerning that oppressed and persecuted people. Into this inquiry, however, the limits of the present essay will not allow us to enter particularly. Our Lord foretold, generally, that they should "fall by the edge of the-sword, and be led away captive into all nations; and that Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled;" (Luk 21:24) and these predictions may be regarded as a faithful epitome of the circumstances of the Jews, and also of their city, from the period in which it was delivered, down even to our own times.
In order to demonstrate the accomplishment of these predictions, we appeal, therefore, to universal history, and to every country under heaven.*
* "In the reign of Adrian," say Bishop Newton, "nine hundred and eighty-five of their best towns were sacked and demolished, five hundred and eighty thousand men fell by the sword, in battle, besides an infinite multitude who perished by famine, and sickness, and fire; so that Judea was depopulated, and an almost incredible number, of every age and of each sex, were sold like horses, and dispersed over the face of the earth*." (Neuten, vol. ii, Diss. xviii) The war which gave rise to these calamities, happened about sixty-four years after the destruction of Jerusalem; during which time the Jews had greatly multiplied in Judea. About fifty years after the latter event [about 129/130 A.D.], Ælius Adrian built a new city on Mount Calvary, and called it Ælia, after his own name; but no Jew was suffered to come near it. He placed in it a heathen colony, and erected a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, on the ruins of the temple of Jehovah. This event contributed greatly to provoke the sanguinary war to which we have just alluded. The Jews afterwards burnt the new city; which Adrian, however, rebuilt, and re-established the colony. In contempt of the Jews, he ordered a marble statue of a sow to be placed over its principal gate, and prohibited them entering the city under pain of death, and forbad them even to look at it from a distance. He also ordered fairs to be held annually for the sale of captive Jews, and banished such as dwelt in Canaan into Egypt. Constantine greatly improved the city, and restored to it the name of Jerusalem; but still he did not permit the Jews to dwell there. To punish an attempt to recover the possession of their capital, he ordered their ears to be cut off, their bodies to be marked as rebels, and dispersed them through all the provinces of the empire as vagabonds and slaves. Jovian having revived the severe edicts of Adrian, which Julian had suspended, the wretched Jews even bribed the soldiers with money, for the privilege only of beholding the sacred ruins of their city and temple, and weeping over them, which they were peculiarly solicitous to do on the anniversary of that memorable day, on which they were taken and destroyed by the Romans. In short, during every successive age and in all nations, this ill-fated people have been constantly persecuted, enslaved, contemned, harassed, and oppressed; banished from one country to another, and abused in all; while countless multitudes have, at different periods, been barbarously massacred, particularly in Persia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt; and in Germany, Hungary, France, and Spain.
JERUSALEM TRODDEN DOWN {pg. 104}
The undisputed facts are, that Jerusalem has not since been in possession of the Jews, but has been successively occupied by the Romans, Arabic Saracens, Franks, Mamelucs, and lastly by the Turks, who now possess it. It has never regained its former distinction and prosperity. It has always been trodden down. The eagles of idolatrous Rome, the crescent of Mahomet, and the banner of popery, have by turns been displayed amidst the ruins of the sanctuary; and a Mahomedan mosque, to the extent of a mile in circumference, now covers the spot where the Temple formerly stood. The territory of Judea, then one of the most fertile countries on the globe, has for more than seventeen hundred years continued a desolate waste. The Jews themselves, still miraculously preserved a distinct people, are, as we see, scattered over the whole earth, invigorating the faith of the Christian, flashing conviction in the face of the infidel, and constituting a universal, permanent, and invincible evidence of the truth of Christianity.
JULIAN’S ATTEMPT DEFEATED {pg. 105}
In order to invalidate this evidence, the apostate emperor Julian, impelled by a spirit of enmity against the Christians, about A.D. 363, made an attempt to rebuild the city and temple of Jerusalem, and to recall the Jews to their own country. He assigned immense sums for the execution of this great design, and commanded Alypius of Antioch (who had formerly served as a lieutenant in Britain) to superintend the work, and the governor of the province to assist him therein. “But,” says Ammianus Marcellinus, "whilst they urged with vigor and diligence the execution of the work, horrible balls of fire, breaking out near the foundation, with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the place, from time to time, inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen; and the victorious element continuing, in this manner, obstinately and resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance, the undertaking was abandoned." Speaking of this event, even Gibbon, who is notorious for his skepticism, acknowledges, that "an earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, which overturned and scattered the new foundations of the Temple, are attested, with some variations, by contemporary and respectable evidence, by Ambrose, bishop of Milan, Chrysostom, and Gregory Nazianzen, the latter of whom published his account before the expiration of the same year."* To these may be added the names of Zemuch David, a Jew, who confesses that "Julian was hindered by God in the attempt;" of Ruffinus, a Latin, of Theodoret and Sozomen among the orthodox, of Philostorgius, an Arian, and of Socrates, a favourer of the Novatians, who all recorded the same wonderful interposition of Providence, while the eye-witness of the fact were yet living. The words of Sozomen to this purport are remarkable: "If it seem yet incredible,” says he, “to any one, he may repair both to witnesses of it yet living, and to them who have heard it from their mouths; yea, they may view the foundations, lying yet bare and naked.” Besides, it may be added, that no other reason has ever been alleged, why Julian should abandon his magnificent but impious design.
*Decline and Fall, vol. 4, Sec. page 107.
Thus was this celebrated Emperor "taken in his own craftiness," and his presumptuous attempt to frustrate the plans, and falsify the declarations of infinite omnipotence and wisdom, converted into a new and striking evidence of their certainty and truth.*
* This subject is discussed at length, with singular ingenuity and force of argument, by the learned bishop Warburton, in his work entitled Julian.
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED {pg. 108}
We shall now proceed to reply to two or three objections, which may be rashly opposed to the impregnable argument which the preceding account furnishes in defense of our religion.
I. It may be alleged, that the prophecies, whose fulfillment has been demonstrated, were not written until after the events to which they refer were past.
Assertion is not proof; and even a conjecture to this effect, in the face of the historic testimony, and general sentiment of seventeen ages, would be ridiculous. On the faith, then, of all antiquity, we affirm, that the gospels containing these predictions were written before the destruction of Jerusalem, and we confirm this assertion by particular proof. The book of St. Matthew, who died previously to that event, supposed to have been written about eight years after the ascension of our Saviour, was published before the dispersion of the apostles; for Eusebius says, that St. Bartholemew took a copy of it with him to India; and the dispersion of the apostles took place within twelve years after the ascension of our Lord. Mark must have written his book at the latest in the time of Nero, for he died in the eighth year of that emperor’s reign. The gospel by St. Luke was written before the Acts, as the first verses of that narrative prove; and the Acts were written before the death of St. Paul, for they carry down his history only to A.D. 63; whereas he was not crucified until the 12th of Nero, the very year before the Jewish war commenced. Of Luke’s death the time is uncertain. As to the Evangelist John, he both lived and wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem; "but then, as if purposely to prevent this very cavil, his gospel does not record the prophecies which foretold it! Learned men, indeed, differ with regard to the precise year in which the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote their respective books; but they universally agree, that they were both written and published before the destruction of Jerusalem. As to the gospel by St. John, some are of opinion that it was written before, and some after that event.
II. If it be objected, that, although the gospel narratives might be written and published before the destruction of Jerusalem, yet that the predictions relating to that event may be subsequent interpolations; we reply, that this cannot but be considered as a preposterous supposition, because those predictions are not confined to the particular chapters to which we have chiefly referred, but are closely and inseparably interwoven with the general texture of the history -- because the character of the style is uniform -- because there is no allusion, in conformity to the practice of the sacred historians (Vide, particularly, Acts 11:28), to the fulfillment of these prophecies -- because such an attempt must have destroyed the cause it professed to serve, and lastly, because "no unbeliever of the primitive times (whether Jew or Gentile), when pressed, as both frequently were, by this prophecy, appear to have had recourse to the charge of forgery or interpolation." It may be added also, that, in modern times, no distinguished unbeliever (not even the arch-infidels Voltaire and Gibbon) has had the temerity so much as to insinuate a charge of this nature.
III. It may be alleged, that the accomplishments of our Lord’s predictions relative to the destruction of Jerusalem, ought not to be deemed supernatural, inasmuch as the distresses of all great cities, during a siege, are similar, and because it is probable that, sometime or other, such should be the fate of every city of this description; and that, since the obstinacy of the Jews was great, and their fortifications were strong, when war did come, Jerusalem was more likely to suffer under that form of it than any other.
In answer to this objection we remark, that it was not merely foretold that Jerusalem was to be destroyed, but that it was to be destroyed by the Romans; and so it was. But was this then a likely event? When our Lord delivered his predictions, Judea was already completely in their hands. Was it a probable thing that it should be desolated by its own masters? Or was it a natural thing that they should be indifferent to the revenue which was derived from a country so populous and so fertile? Again, was it likely that this petty province should provoke the wrath and defy the power of the universal empire? Or was it to be supposed that the mistress of the world, irresistible to all nations, instead of controuling [controlling], should deem it worthy of her utterly to exterminate a state comparatively so insignificant? Or did it accord with the disposition or custom of the Romans, like Goths, to demolish buildings famed for their antiquity and magnificence? Rather was it not to have been expected that they would preserve them, to maintain the renown and glory of their empire? Nevertheless, as we have seen, they did destroy them, and even the illustrious temple of Jerusalem, the chief ornament of Asia, and the wonder of the world. But it was predicted that "thus it must be;" and therefore Titus himself, with all his authority and exertions, could not preserve it.
But there are a number of very material circumstances closely interwoven with the prophecy, that still further identify the events which fulfilled it, and demonsrate that the prophecy itself was something very different from a happy conjecture, suggested by the aspect of the times, or conclusions from past experience. For,
1. Our Lord foretold, as “the beginning of sorrows,” and as alarming harbingers of his “coming,” as “the Son of Man” to destroy Jerusalem, that terrible calamities would prevail in various parts of the world, during the intermediate period: and, unquestionably, this was the case. But it is very material to remark here, that our Lord did not describe these calamities in general terms merely, as an imposter might have done, but distinctly specified them thus: rumours of wars – actual wars – nation rising against nation – kingdom rising against kingdom – famines - pestilences – and earthquakes, in divers places: which all came to pass accordingly, and nearly in the very order in which they were foretold. False prophets, also, werenot merely to arise – but to personate the Messiah, to pretend to miraculous powers, and to deceive many, and such were the characters and success of those which actually appeared. Again, the prognostics are not described as “sights” merely, but as “fearful sights;” not generally, as “signs,” but as “great signs from heaven;” and such they were. These wonderful appearances stand last in the prophecy, and they occurred, according to Jospheus, on the very even of the Jewish war. (Vide page 34-40.)
2. The investment of Jerusalem was to take place “suddenly,” “as a snare,” which predictions, as we have seen, were accomplished in the most surprising and extraordinary manner.
3. Our Lord declared also, that , “except those days (i. e., the “days of vengeance”) should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s* sake (said he) those days shall be shortened.” And they were shortened accordingly: 1st, by the determination of Titus vigorously to push the siege by assault, in opposition to the opinions of his officers, who recommended the more tedious plan of blockade: 2ndly, by the conduct of the Jews themselves, who accelerated the capture of their city by intestine divisions and mutual slaughters, contrary to what is usual upon such emergencies, in which a common sense of danger ordinarily tends to unite contending parties against the common foe: 3dly, by the madness of the factions in burning storehouses full of provisions, and thus wasting the strength which was necessary for the defense of the place: 4thly, by the extraordinary panic by which the Jews were seized when the Romans made their final attack on the higher city, in consequence of which they fled affrighted out of their strong holds, which Titus afterwards pronounced to be impregnable: and lastly, by the crowded state of the city during the siege, which, as we have before remarked, occasioned pestilential disorders, and hastened the approach of famine. *i. e. for the *”sake” of the christians, who, no doubt, prayed ardently for the termination of these calamities.
4. Our Lord likewise foretold that his followers should escape the destruction of Jerusalem; and, accordingly, whilst countless multitudes of unbelieving Jews were fatally involved in this calamity, not a single christian perished therein; for he that “knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished,” (2 Peter 2:9) had said, that “not a hair of their heads should perish.” (Luke 21:13) Who, that seriously meditates on these equitable arrangements of Providence, can help exclaiming, with the devout psalmist – “Verily, there is a reward for the righteous; verily, he is a God that judgeth in the earth!”
5. Our Lord declared also that the extreme miseries of the Jews should be without a parallel: and they certainly were, as Josephus himself repeatedly testifies, and as his history abundantly proves.
6. Again, our Lord foretold, that before the destruction of Jerusalem, the “gospel should be preached in all the world as a witness unto all nations.” This prediction, as we have seen already, was fully accomplished also; and yet, considering the character and condition of the instruments, the nature of the truths which they promulgated, the malignant opposition of their own countrymen, and the contempt with which, as Jews, they were regarded by the Gentile nations – nothing could scarcely have been conceived less probable than such an event.
7. Our Lord further predicted, that the then existing generation should not “pass away before all these things were fulfilled;” (Mat 24:34) and, in conformity hereto, they were fulfilled within forty years from the date of prophecy. This is a very different thing from their being accomplished some time or other. Our Lord had intimated also, that the Evangelist John should survive the destruction of Jerusalem; and he survived it, accordingly, more than twenty-five years, and died at Ephesus nearly one hundred years old. How it came to pass that he who foresaw the persecutions of his disciples, and was therefore sensible of the dangers to which their lives would be exposed, should venture to predict that one of the most distinguished and zealous among them should escape martyrdom, and demonstrate, so long after the accomplishment of the prophecy, that the generation to which he addressed it had not even then “passed away?”
Now, if the destruction of Jerusalem were a subject of human conjecture merely, how came so great a variety of remarkable and improbable circumstances, as we have enumerated to be unnecessarily interwoven with the prophecy? And how happened it that, in relation to those circumstances, as well as all others, of which the number is not small, the prophecy should be exactly fulfilled?
IV. If this prophecy be ascribed to political sagacity, we would ask, on the supposition of the infidel, how it happened that a carpenter’s son, living nearly the whole of his life in privacy, associating chiefly with the poor, without access to the councils of princes, or to the society of the great, should possess a degree of political discernment to which no statesman would deem it less than folly to lay claim? Besides, how came he to predict the ruin of his own country, and at that very season, too, when all his countrymen turned their eyes to a deliverer, who should restore its sovereignty, consolidate its power, and extend both its boundaries and its renown? And lastly, how came he even to conceive, much more cherish, such an idea, diametrically contrary as it was to all his stubborn and deep-rooted prejudices as a Jew?
Thus we perceive that the very objections which infidelity opposes to our argument, instead of invalidating, tend only more fully to illustrate and confirm it. And such, indeed, must always be the happy effects of that hostility which is directed against the evidences of the christian faith, since, the more carefully and attentively we examine the foundations upon which it rests, them more perfectly must we be convinced of the immovable stability of the superstructure. Of that evidence the prophecy which we have reviewed most certainly constitutes a very striking and prominent part; from every light and position in which it can be contemplated it constantly derives new lustre and effect; and it may safely be considered as an unquestionable proof of the divine foreknowledge of our Lord, and the divine authority of the gospel: and on this ground only, were it necessary, we might securely rest the whole fabrick [fabric] of our religion. Indeed, this remarkable prediction has always been considered, by every impartial person, as one of the most powerful arguments in favour of Christianity; and in our own times, more particularly, a man of distinguished talents, and acknowledged eminence in his profession, and in the constant habit of weighing, sifting, and scrutinizing evidence with the minutest accuracy in courts of justice, has publicly declared, that he considered this prophecy, if there were nothing else to support Christianity, as absolutely irresistible.” (See the Bishop of London’s “Lectures on the gospel of St. Matthew;” and Mr. Erskine’s eloquent speech at the trial of Williams, for publishing Paine’s Age of Reason.)
Let us, then, if we are christians indeed, offer up our grateful acknowledgments to the Almighty, who hath laid such a firm foundations for our faith. Let us exult in the inviolable certainty of his holy word, and assure ourselves that his promises are as infallible as his predictions: to "the witness" within us (1Jn 5:10) and to an acquaintance with the interior excellence of the gospel, let us labour to add a more perfect knowledge of the historical and moral evidence which defends it; that thus we may be better qualified to convince gainsayers. More particularly, let us attend to that “sure word of prophecy, whereunto we shall do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” (2 Peter 1:19)
ADDRESS TO CHRISTIANS {pg. 123}
If we are christians in name only, let us receive a salutary admonition from that exemplary vengeance which was inflicted by the Almighty upon the whole Jewish nation; who, while "they professed that they knew God, in works denied him;" and while they boasted that they were his peculiar people, remained "strangers to the covenant of promise." Let us also seriously reflect, that, as then he was not a Jew who was only one "outwardly," "in the letter" merely, and whose praise was of men - so now, in like manner, he only is a christian who is one " inwardly," whose religion is seated in the heart; "in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men but of God." (Rom 2:28-29.)
ADDRESS TO THE UNBELIEVER {pg. 124}
Let the unbeliever, for whose benefit, chiefly, the preceding pages were written, seriously ponder their contents. Should the evidence which they contain in favour of Christianity fail to convince him of its divine origin, it may be important for him to ask himself the following questions: “Can I reasonably require, for that purpose, stronger moral evidence than this? Can I conceive it possible that stronger evidence of this king should be afforded? Am I capable of forming a scheme, of historical and moral proof, which shall not be liable to greater and more numerous objections? If I imagine myself equal to a task, at once so comprehensive and profound, have I also the resolution to enter upon it, to publish the scheme, which I shall construct, for the decision of the world, and to stake the credit of my infidelity upon it?”
ADDRESS TO THE DEIST {pg. 125}
But it may be proper to inform the deist, that the faith which we wish him to possess is not merely an admission upon evidence, that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God" (which, standing alone, has no higher value than the faith of education which he ridicules), but a vital, active principle, a faith that will “purify his heart;" that "works by love;” that will enable him to "fight the good fight," "to overcome the world," and to obtain "a crown of life," and an "incorruptible inheritance" in heaven. (Acts 15:9; Gal 5:6; 2 Tim 4:7; 1 John 5:4, 5; James 1:3, 12; 1 Peter 1:4, 5. It may be proper also to remind the unbeliever, that the evidence which has been adduced constitutes one only of those numerous bulwarks, more impregnable than the towers of Jerusalem, which encompass and defend Christianity. But if this be the fact – and is it not? how great must be his temerity! how hopeless his warfare! how certain his defeat!
ADDRESS TO THE JEW {pg. 126}
To the Jew we would say – Suspend, if it be practicable, the prejudiced which you inherit from your forefathers, whilst you ponder, for one hour, the important and interesting subject of these pages – to you peculiarly interesting and important. Is it possible that you can attentively reflect upon the destruction of “the beloved city,” the dispersion of your nation into all countries – the terrible calamities which have every where pursued them, for nearly 1800 years, even unto this day – and not trace therein the condign and predicted punishment of their original rejection, and continued contempt of that very Messiah whose character your own scriptures so faithfully pourtray [portray, Isaiah 53], and whose advent, precisely at the time of his actual appearance, they as clearly foretold? (Dan 9:26, 27) But your ancestors did not only reject, they also slew their Saviour. “Hut [sic] blood,” said they, when calling upon Pilate to crucify him, “his blood be on us and upon our children.” “A most fatal imprecation, and most dreadfully fulfilled upon them at the siege of Jerusalem, when the vengeance of heaven overtook them with a fury unexampled in the history of the world; when they were exposed at once to the horrors of famine, of sedition, of assassination, and the sword of the Romans.” (See Bishop of London’s Lectures, vol. ii. Page 284i and Bishop Newton on the prophecies, Diss. 21.) Observe, too, the striking correspondence which marked their crimes in their punishment: “They put Jesus to death when the nation was assembled to celebrate the passover; and when the nation was assembled for the same purpose, Titus shut them up within the walls of Jerusalem. (Page 63 of this Treatise.) The rejection of the Messiah was their crime, and the following; of false Messiahs to their destruction was their punishment. (Ibid. 22) They bought Jesus as a slave; and they themselves were afterwards sold and bought as slaves at the lowest prices (Ibid. 19); they preferrred a robber and a murderer to Jesus, whom they crucified between two thieves; and they themselves were afterwards infested with bands of thieves and robbers (Ibid. 57): they put Jesus to death, lest the Romans should come and take away their place and nation; and the Romans did come and take away their place and nation (See page 59 of this Treatise); and what is still more striking, and still more strongly marks the judgment of God upon them, they were punished with that very kind of death which they were so eager to inflict upon the Saviour of mankind, the death of the cross; and that in such prodigious numbers, that Josephus assures us, there wanted wood for crosses, and room to place them in. (See Bishop of London’s Lectures, and Bishop Newton, as before quoted; and this Treatise, page 63.)
Now, according to your own scriptures, that fatal catastrophe which involved your ancestors in all these miseries, was not to take place until after the coming and crucifixion of their Messiah: for thus spake the prophet Daniel, prophesying almost five hundred and forty years before the birth of the Messiah: “Know and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem (i. e. after its destruction by the Babylonians) unto Messiah the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks*: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war destolations are determined.” (Dan 9:25-26)
*In prophetical language, a day is reckoned for a year, or seven years to every prophetical week. This key is given us by Moses, Lev. 25:8, and Numbers 14:34, and also by Ezekiel 4:5, 6; and by this it appears, that from the commission granted to Ezra to rebuild Jerusalem, until the complete restoration of the city, there were exactly 49 years or seven weeks. From this period until the first proclamation of the Messiah by John the Baptist, there were exactly 434 years, or sixty-two weeks. John’s ministry terminated at the end of 3 years and a half, when our Lord began to preach “the kingdom of God,” and thus virtually, “in the midst of the week, caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease” (see Daniel 9:27); for he himself declared that “the law and the prophets (i. e. the ceremonial law – or law of sacrifices, &c. and the prophets under it) were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached.” And exactly at the end of this prophetical week, i. e. at the expiration of the remaining 3 years and a half, he confirmed the abolition of the Levitical law by the “one offering of himself” upon the cross. This ever-memorable event happened precisely in the very month which completed the 490 years, or whole period of seventy weeks, mentioned by Daniel in the 24th verse of the above cited chapter; and it deserves the particular attention of the reader, that Ferguson, the celebrated astronomer, who applied the principles of his favourite science to this very prediction of Daniel, declares, as the result of his calculations, that the “prophetic year of Messiah’s being cut off was the very same as the astronomical.”
Such is the prediction of one of your own prophets; which not only proves that the appearance and death of the Messiah were to precede the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, but also marks the precise time when, in the person of Jesus Christ, he actually did appear. The same prophet also thus describes the great purpose of his advent, viz. “ viz. to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.” And are not these precisely the very purposes for which, according to the writers of the New Testament, Jesus Christ came into the world, and which, before his departure out of it, he fully accomplished? Daniel predicted, moreover, that the Messiah should "cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease:" and accordingly, still to use his language, has not "the daily sacrifice been taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate been set up?” and has not your nation (to use the words of another of your prophets) abode "many days without, a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim?” (Hosea 3:4) It was likewise foretold by Daniel, that the Messiah would “seal up the vision and prophecy;” and accordingly this prediction, like all the rest in your scriptures relating to the Messiah, was accomplished in Jesus Christ; for is it not clear that his favourite disciple St. John as the last inspired prophet? Did not the prophetic vision close with his “Revelations?” and hath any one since prevailed to unloose the mysterious and inviolable seal? It may further be proper to remind you, that precisely at the period of Christ’s advent, a lively expectation of the appearance of your Messiah in Judea, was not only current throughout your own nation, but even obtained in many parts of the Roman empire. Hence the rise of those “false Christs” and “false prophets,” which we have described, and the credulity of your ancestors in believing their declarations. They promised temporal deliverance, dominion, and glory; therefore they were regarded. The true Messiah offered a release from the captivity of sin and Satan, a spiritual salvation, and everlasting glory.
REMARKS, &C. {pg. 133}
Finally, the catastrophe which we have described is pregnant with the most important instruction to the whole world. From amidst the ruins of Jerusalem, a voice may be heard calling loudly and incessantly in the ears of all nations, and saying, “Beware that ye depart not from the living God!” whilst the insulted descendants of Abraham, scattered over the face of the earth, re-echo, in despite of themselves, the solemn admonition, and, in effect, exclaim, “Behold! Pictured in our fate the awful consequences of apostacy [apostasy], and especially of our rejection of the Messiah, the Redeemer of the world!”
REMARKS ON THE MORAL CHARACTER, &C. OF BRITAIN {pg. 136}
To the British nation, between which and the kingdom of Israel, during the period of its prosperity and glory, there are so many striking features of resemblance, these solemn warnings come with peculiar emphasis and import. May the Almighty mercifully incline us, as a people, to regard them with due seriousness and attention, lest, after having been exalted like the Jews, by our civil and religious privileges, to the highest distinction among the nations, we at length fall, like them, into proportional ruin and disgrace. The progress of iniquity in our country is already sufficiently great, notwithstanding a variety of encouraging considerations*, to excite in the mind of the serious christian very alarming apprehensions concerning the final issue of the contest in which we are at present engaged. Alternately he trembles and weeps while he contemplates the impiety and dissoluteness of our national manners, and the dreadful insensibility which every where prevails, both as it respects our deserts, and the successive manifestations of the divine displeasure against us. Without any invidious [of an unpleasant or objectionable nature] comparison between the moral state of the present and that of former generations, we would ask, what is the fact concerning ourselves? Can any one say, that a pious, devout, and humble demeanour is the characteristic of our times, or that every species of wickedness does not alarmingly prevail throughout the land? So far from the pure spirit of Christianity animating, directing, and governing our conduct, is there a principle or maxim of common morality that is not generally and habitually outraged among us? What is the national feeling upon sacred things? How beats the pulse of society here? Talk of religion; make only a distant allusion to it; what is the effect? A repulsive silence, a frown, a sneer, perhaps an insult. What is the national sentiment? What are the constant topics of discourse? To what principles do we make our appeal? By what maxim do we regulate our actions? Are they the principles and maxims of a spurious philosophy, or an arbitrary system of morals, of public opinion, of custom, or the fashion of the day? Or are they the principles and maxims of the religion of Jesus? Let daily experience reply to these questions. What, also, is our colloquial phraseology? Are not words and phrases prophane [profane], immoral, and antichristian in their spirit and tendency, interwoven in its very texture? And are not such as convey ideas of the first importance to mankind almost totally excluded from it? The world holiness, for instance, which is description of the “highest style of man” here, and the brightest jewel in his crown of glory hereafter, is almost banished from conversation; and the appropriate expressions by which the progress of Christianity in the heart (and what is a Christianity that does not obtain dominion here?) are contemned [condemned] and ridicules as fanatical! Nay, even an allusion to a general or particular providence, if it be made with becoming seriousness, is frequently conceived to indicate an offensive degree of religion. If these remarks are unfortunately but too applicable to the community at large, it is at least consolatory to reflect, that in all classes of it there are many bright and excellent examples of genuine piety and virtue. Still it may be said, what are these among so many? Yet few as they comparatively are, they constitute the salt (Mat 5:13) of our country; and
This “salt preserves us; more corrupted else,
And therefore more obnoxious at this hour
Than Sodom in her day had pow’r to be,
For whom God heard his Abra’m plead in vain.” (Cowper’s Task, book iii.)
The truly pious of the land, indeed, after all that can be said of our fleets and armies, and that is not a little, are the grand bulwarks of our national security; and the regard of Heaven to them and to their prayers, is the surest ground of hope that we shall be protected against the overwhelming destruction with which we are threatened by the great scourge of modern Europe. It becomes us, however, to “stand in awe,” to cease from sin, “to repent and do works meet for repentance;” for, although our existence as a nation, and our institutions, may be preserved, we have still just reason to apprehend the less signal marks of the divine displeasure. It is not, indeed, for blind and erring man to estimate the proportions of national delinquency, or to fix the time, the mode, or the severity of national chastisements. Generally, however, it may be observed, that the number, value, and duration of the moral advantages which a nation enjoys, constitute the equitable measure of its guilt. Judging ourselves upon this principle, how malignant does our depravity appear! how greatly aggravated our transgressions, how deeply stained our ingratitude! Still we seem insensible to our deserts. The sky gathers blackness; we hear ‘the distant thunder that forebodes approaching storms;’ but no salutary dread prevails, no radical, no general reformation is discernible. An atheistical dissipation of mind, a sensualizing gaiety of manners pervade, and awfully infatuate the country. Dark and threatening clouds, at intervals succeeding each other, have hung over us for a time, and then dispersed; and we flatter ourselves, therefore, that we shall continue to remain unpunished. (Eccles. 8:11) Nay, from a consideration of our national means of defense and security, we grow presumptuously confident; and, regardless of the divine judgments, which are so evidently “abroad in the earth,” we in effect say, like the Jews, “none evil can come upon us.” The finger of prophecy points to the destruction of a second Tyre, distinguished above the nations for her commercial grandeur and prosperity; and Britain, unawed, appropriates the description to herself, saying not merely “in her heart,” but by positive declarations, I sit as a queen, and shall see no sorrow! But how rash and presumptuous is such language! For shall not He who sustains and controuls [controls] the universe, “whose power no creature is able to resist,” and “who is the only giver of all victory;” shall not he make vain the strength even of the proudest and mightiest kingdoms? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he punish nations who apostatize from him, under countless obligations to love, duty, and allegiance, with which the heathen are totally unacquainted? From this vain-glorious spirit, so fatal to the stability of empires, may the Almighty mercifully deliver us! The evils of this spirit are incalculable. It dissipates that salutary fear of providential retribution, which keeps nations in awe. It generates that headlong presumption which rushes into dangers, and that haughtiness which precedes a fall. It throws wide open the flood-gates of iniquity, and paves the way to a radical and universal corruption of public morals. If, in the revolution of years, under the influence of such a principle of pride and vain confidence, this fast state of degeneracy become ours, it requires no spirit of divination to perceive, that the awful doom of all great and ancient empires, whose dissolution and ruin the voice of history deplores, must await us also. Then, indeed, the measure of our iniquities being once filled up, “He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,” and before whom “the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,” may render our national bulwarks, vainly deemed impregnable, as ineffectual for defense as “the small dust of the balance,” – and, as a final display of his vengeance against inveterate and incorrigible apostacy [apostasy], may send forth His commission to some great and powerful nation, which, copying the example, and emulating the fame of the ancient Romans, may convert our territory into a waste like Judea, and our capital into ruins like Jerusalem.
CONCLUSION {pg. 143}
For “that effeminacy, folly, lust, Enervates and enfeebles, and needs must, And that a nation shamefully debas’d, Will be despis’d and trampled on at last, Unless sweet Penitence her pow’rs renew, Is truth, if history itself be true. There is a time, and justice marks the date, For long forbearing clemency to wait; That hour elaps’d, th’incurable revolt Is punish’d, and down comes the thunderbolt.” “The word once giv’n,’ “and mutiny soon roars In all her gates, and shakes her distant shores; The standards of all nations are unfurl’d, She has one foe, and that one foe, the world. And if He doom that people with a frown, And mark them with the seal of wrath, press’d down, Obduracy takes place; callous and tough The reprobated race grows judgment-proof; Earth shakes beneath them, and heaven roars – But nothing scares them from the course To the lascivious pipe and wanton… [part missing] That charm down fear… With mad rapid…. Down… They… C… But all they trust in withers, as it must, When He commands, in whom they place no trust – Vengeance at last pours down upon their coast, A long despis’d but now victorious host; Tyranny sends the chain that must abridge The noble sweep of all their privilege, Gives liberty the last, the mortal shock, Slips the slave’s collar on, and snaps the lock.” COWPER.
FINIS
