upon he set out for Damascus, with authority and commission from the chief priests." But in his way thither he met with a check, received new light, to which he submitted, and became a true penitent and sincere convert; and then preached the faith, which for some while he had endeavoured to destroy. Compare Gal. i. 13-24; 1 Cor. xv. 8, 9; Eph. iii. 8; 1 Tim. i.

12-14.

How he was treated by the Jews, after his conversion, we know from the history in the Acts, and from his own epistles. For when he began to preach the gospel at Damascus, "the Jews laid wait for him, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. But the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket." Acts ix. 24, 25. Of which great danger, and his wonderful escape, he speaks himself in an affecting manner: 2 Cor. xi. 31-33. When he came to Jerusalem from Damascus," and disputed with the Grecians," or Jewish proselytes, "they went about to slay him," Acts ix. 29. For which cause the disciples found it prudent to bring him down to Cæsarea, that he might go to Tarsus.

The Jews out of Judea acted in the like manner. At Antioch in Pisidia, Paul having preached there with some success, both among Jews and Gentiles, "the Jews, moved with envy, stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts:" Acts xiii. 50, and see ver. 45. They therefore went to Iconium, where also they had some converts among Jews and Gentiles. "But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected towards the brethren...But the multitude of the city was divided...And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles and of the Jews, with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, they were aware of it, and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about. And there they preached the gospel:" ch. xiv. 1-7. At Lystra a great miracle was wrought by Paul, upon a "lame man, who had been a cripple from his mother's womb, and never had walked." And the people of the place wcre disposed to give divine honours to Paul and Barnabas, which they refused to accept. "But there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people. And, having stoned Paul, they drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe:" chap. xiv. 1-20. And having passed through several places they returned to Antioch in Syria, from which place they had been sent out with special recommendations to the grace of God: ver. 21-28. All which things therefore happened in what is sometimes called the first peregrination of Paul and Barnabas.

4

How the Jews acted at Thessalonica, may be seen Acts xvii. 1-9; at Berea, may be seen ver. 10-15. How they behaved at Corinth, may be seen ch. xviii. ver. 5—20. And when Paul came to Jerusalem, afterwards, in the year of Christ 58, as we compute, he was very hard pressed by the Jews there, where was their great council, and where the whole nation was gathered together at the feast of Pentecost, as is related Acts xxi. and xxii. Nor was there any visible means of his escaping out of their hands with his life, but by appealing to the emperor himself, notwithstanding the favourable dispositions of the Roman governors, Felix and Festus, to shew him equity: by which appeal he obtained leave to go to Rome, where he lived two whole years in a kind of free custody, "receiving all that came in unto him, and preaching the kingdom of God, and those things which concern the Lord Jesus, with all confidence, no man forbidding him:" chap. xxviii. 30, 31. And then he was set at liberty, and went abroad again.

Thus the Jews resisted the council of God, and went on accumulating guilt, and laying up a store of vengeance to fall upon them, when God saw fit, and when the measure of their iniquity was full. As St. Paul says to the Thessalonians, 1 ep. ii. 14, "For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered the like things of your countrymen, even as they have of the Jews; who have killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost."

For certain, such things cannot be overlooked by the Sovereign Lord and Governor of all nations, and of the Jewish nation especially. For he has said, and it is agreeable to reason, and to all the rules of right government, that "if he raiseth up a prophet, and putteth his

words in his mouth, and he speaks all that he has commanded him, it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him: " Deut. xviii. 18, 19. This rule was laid down and promulgated by Moses himself, the great lawgiver of the Jews; and, as before observed, it was to be a standing rule. If faithful messengers, who deliver truly the message they have received from God, are rejected, and not only not hearkened to, but abused, the God of the prophets will resent it, and shew his displeasure. Accordingly, soon after the events before related, wrath did come upon the Jewish people to a very remarkable degree. And the numbers of those who perished at Jerusalem and in Judea, by the famine and by the sword, and by intestine feuds and divisions, or otherwise, was very extraordinary, and even unparalleled, as we know from Josephus, a con, temporary writer of their own nation, and from Josippon, a Jew likewise, and from others.

a

g

f

6

с

Josephus, who was a witness of that awful scene, often acknowledgeth the hand of God in it. Cestius Gallus, president of Syria, made a successful attempt upon Jerusalem, and then withdrew: whereupon he says, If Cestius had continued the siege a little longer, he would have taken the city; but God, as I think, for the wickedness of the people, abhorring his own ⚫ solemnities, suffered not the war to come to an end at that time.' When John of Gischala escaped from out of the hands of Vespasian, and got to Jerusalem, he says, It was the work of God who saved John for the destruction of Jerusalem.' In another place he says that God had blinded their minds for the transgressions which they had been guilty of." And Never did any city endure so great calamities: nor was there ever from the beginning of the world any time more fruitful of wickedness.' Again, Indeed it was God who had con demned the whole nation, and defeated every method taken for their preservation.' When the temple was burning, he says, Certainly the divine sentence had long ago condemned it to the fire.' He also observes that they did not attend to the prodigies which evidently fore'told their desolation; but like men infatuated, who have neither eyes to see, nor minds to consider, they disregarded the divine denunciations.' He also observes that the whole nation * was then shut up as in a prison; and the Romans encompassed the city when it was crowded ⚫ with inhabitants. Accordingly, the multitude of them who perished therein exceeded all the 'destructions that ever men or God brought upon the world. And the whole circumference of the city was so thoroughly laid even with the ground, by them who dug it up to the foundation, that there was nothing left to make those who came thither believe it had ever been ' inhabited.' So writes Josephus, in the Greek language, in the face of the whole world, not many years after the Jewish war was ended. And says Eleazar, in his speech at Massada, recorded by the same historian, The metropolis of the whole nation, the city, which we believed to have God inhabiting it, has been rooted up to the foundation, and the holy temple has been profanely dug up to the foundation.'

k

Such was the end of the siege of Jerusalem in the second year of Vespasian, and the year of Christ 70. And thus were accomplished the predictions of Jesus concerning the city of Jerusalem, and the temple, and the Jewish people, if they did not repent.

Here I might conclude: but if any should be desirous to see this argument in all its force, and in its full light, it will be requisite to look farther back, and ascend up to the origin of this people; and then trace their history through the several periods of it: for they are a people separated from all other nations, chosen of God, for very great ends and purposes, to uphold the belief of the Divine Unity, the doctrine of a Divine Providence concerning itself in the affairs of mankind, upon the belief of which all religious worship depends, and to preserve the expectation of the coming of a great person to redeem the human race from error and vice, and the bad consequences of their deviation from truth and virtue: Gen. iii. 15.

For these ends God chose Abraham, and brought him out of "Ur of the Chaldees. When he called him out of his country, and from his kindred, and from his father's house, he said: I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing- -And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed:" Gen. xii. 1-3. The fulfilment of which magnificent promise was limited to Isaac, or his seed by Sarah: Gen. xvii. and afterwards to Jacob: Gen. xxvii. xxviii. And when his posterity was greatly increased, after their sojourning a while in Egypt, where they had been treated in a servile manner, God brought

them out of that country, with a " mighty hand and an out-stretched arm," working many great and conspicuous miracles for their safety. Whilst they were in the wilderness he gave to them a system of laws, the ten principal of which were delivered from mount Sinai with great solemnity, and then engraved on tables of stone by the finger of God. God then brought them into the land of Canaan, where they became a flourishing and powerful nation, according to the promise made to Abraham concerning Sarah, when she was yet barren, that "she should be a mother of nations, and kings of people should be of her:" Gen. xvii. 16.

a

David intended to build a house for the name of the Lord; but that honour was reserved for his son Solomon: the divine approbation of David's design is manifest; and God, by inspiration, gave him the form and dimensions of the house, and the order of the worship to be performed there; 1 Chr. xxviii. 11-13: "Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof [or of the house, and the apartments thereof] and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat; and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, and of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the delicate things. Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord-ver. 19. All this," said David, "the Lord made me to understand in writing [as if it were inscribed on his mind] by his hand upon me, even all the words of this pattern.'

When the house was finished, and dedicated by a prayer suitable to the great occasion, 2 Chr. v. vi. we are informed, ch. vii. 12, "that the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him: I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. 15, 16. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine eyes attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever, and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually-19-22. But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and serve other gods, and worship them, then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them. And this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and make it to be a proverb, and a by-word among all nations. And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it, so that he shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus unto the land, and to this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them; and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them."

And though God is ever merciful, and full of compassion," and forgave their iniquity, and many a time turned away his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath," [Ps. lxxviii. 38, and what follows, and Neh. ix.] yet at length the provocation of their repeated idolatries, and gross immoralities, after the renewed admonitions of his prophets, was such, that God gave them up into the hands of their enemies. So this is related 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15-20. "And the Lord God of their fathers sent unto them by his messengers, rising up early, and sending them, because he had compassion upon his people, and his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword, in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand: and all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these things brought he to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he to Babylon: where they were servants to him, and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia.”

That was the overthrow of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Judah at that time. All which is related at large, and rather more particularly, in the fifty-second and last chapter of the book of Jeremiah: and may be seen also in 2 Kings, ch. xxiv. xxv.

• Dedit autem David Salomoni filio suo descriptionemid est, dedit ei formam conspicuam, qualem Deus animo inscripserat, ut dicitur infra, ver. 19. Grot.

And it may be worth the while to observe here, Jer. xxv. 1-11. "The word that came unto Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon: Which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day, (that is, the three-and-twentieth year) the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early, and speaking, but ye have not hearkened. And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given to you, and to your fathers for ever. And go not after other gods to serve and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands, and I will do you no hurt. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord, that ye might provoke me to anger, with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, because ye have not heard my words, behold I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant, and bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."

b

It ought to be here particularly observed by us, that this calamity is said to have been brought at length upon this people "because they had refused to hearken to the words of God, spoken to them by the prophets."

The vessels of the temple were carried to Babylon, and lodged in the temple there dedicated to Belus. 2 Chr. xxxvi. 7. "Nebuchadnezzar also carried off the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon." They are more particularly enumerated, Jer. lii. 17-23. This, undoubtedly, was intended by way of scorn and insult to the conquered people of Israel, and as a triumph over the God whom they worshipped. Nevertheless they were thereby preserved, and many of them were afterwards returned. That they were near the end of the captivity we learn from the profane and unseasonable feast made by Belshazzar, as related Dan. v. 1—4. "Who then commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple, which is at Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, and his wives and concubines, might drink therein." At the end of the captivity, when Cyrus permitted the people to return to their own country, he also gave orders for the restoring of these vessels, as related at the beginning of the book of Ezra, ch. i. 1-11. "Now, in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, (that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled) the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made proclamation, throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying: Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God which is at Jerusalem-Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his god. Even these did Cyrus king of Persia, bring forth by the hand of Mithredath, the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine-and twenty knives: thirty basons of gold: silver basons of a second sort, four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and sil ver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity, that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.”

The first thing that was done by them, after their return to Jerusalem, was restoring the altar for burnt-offerings. Ezra iii. 2. "Then stood up Joshua, the son of Josedech, and his

* Jeremiah seems there to intend, as prophets of former times, so also some who were contemporary with him, two of which are mentioned in scripture, Zephaniah, whose prophecies we have, and Urijah, mentioned here ch. xxvi. 20. See Lowth upon the place. And says Grotius upon ver. 1. A tertio anno regni Josia.Nam 31 annis regnavit Josias.

Ab his deme 12, et adde annos 4 Joakimi; fiunt ipsi anni 23. Per quos nullo labore et se et socios suos abstinuisse ait Jere mias, ut ad meliorem frugem populum reduceret.

b Prædictio insignis, ob ita exactam temporis designationem. Grot.

brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt-offerings thereon-From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid." The building of the temple met with opposition, and therefore it was several years before it was finished: which is mentioned Ezra vi. 14-16. “And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet, and Zachariah the son of Iddo, and they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. And the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house with joy."

At first they were discouraged by the little prospect they had of raising the temple suitably to their wishes. Ezra iii. 12. “ Ezra iii. 12. Many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, and many shouted aloud for joy." But God himself encouraged them to proceed with the most gracious assurances. Haggai ii. 1-7. "In the seventh month, in the one-and-twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying: Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech the high-priest, and to the residue of the people. Who is left among you that saw this house in its first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes, in comparison of it, as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the priest, and be strong all ye people of the land, saith the Lord of hosts, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you: fear For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet once a little whileAnd I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come. And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." See likewise ch. i. and Zech. i. ii. iii. and viii.

ye not.

And now they restored the worship of God at the temple, according to the prescriptions of the law of Moses for offering sacrifices. They kept the feast of the Passover, and other great feasts, according to the law of Moses, and the priests and Levites were set to officiate in their courses. So, after the setting up the altar of burnt-offering, and their beginning to lay the foundation of the temple, it is said, Ezra iii. 10, "And when the builders laid," or were laying, "the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David king of Israel." And afterwards, when the temple was raised, it is said, Ezra vi. 18, " And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses." Then it follows, ver. 19," And the children of the captivity," that is, who were returned from their captivity, "kept the Passover, upon the fourteenth day of the first month."

Thus the worship of God was again restored, and set up at his temple in Jerusalem. And though, undoubtedly, in the intermediate space the Jews met with various difficulties from surrounding enemies, and were now in subjection to the Romans, yet in the time of our Saviour and his apostles the Jewish people had free access to the temple, performed their sacrifices there, kept the Passover and Pentecost, and other great solemnities according to the appointments of the law of Moses; and the genealogies of their tribes were in being: Jesus, our Lord, was of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David, though then in low circumstances: Matt. i. and ii. Luke i. and ii. Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, was of the course of Abia, and his wife Elizabeth was of the daughters of Aaron: and he executed the priest's office before God at the temple, in the order of his course. Luke i. 5-12. "Anna, a prophetess," is said to have been "the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser, a widow of fourscore years of age, who departed not from the temple, and served God with fastings and prayers night and day."

But it is not needful to add any thing more, it being apparent from the books of the New Testament, and from Josephus, as well as from other writings, that the worship at the temple in Jerusalem subsisted till the second year of Vespasian, and the year of Christ 70, in which year they had come up in great numbers to keep the Passover, and were suddenly shut up in the city by the Roman army.

VOL. III.