OUR SAVIOR'S PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

"And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation."

LUKE xix. 41-44.

WHETHER We consider this passage as a proof of the divine authority and mission of the Messiah, or as a prophetical description of historical events, its importance is remarkable, and nowhere surpassed. In reading it the mind stands aghast at the horrors it predicts, sinks into awe at the foreknowledge by which it was dictated. These sentiments are only heightened by reading the historians of the Jewish war; and the pity, which the calamities of the Jews cannot fail to excite, mingles with the profoundest sentiments of humiliation before the judgments of a retributive and inscrutable Providence.

If it be really true, that a circumstantial prophecy was delivered by our Savior at the time and in the manner which the evangelists have declared, nothing more is wanting to establish the truth of his religion. If it be true, that, forty years before these terrible calamities, and the final overthrow of the Jewish state, Christ forewarned his disciples in the words of this prophecy, the work is done;

nothing more need be adduced in support of his mission and the cause of revelation. "If they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

Matthew, Mark, and Luke severally record the prediction of the ruin of Jerusalem; and their Gospels contain numerous references of our Savior to the predicted calamity. After some preliminary observations, I shall attempt to show the fulfilment, not merely of the general prediction, but of the most important of the minuter circumstances.

A conversation of our Savior with the Pharisees immediately preceded the prophecy; in which, after the most moving lamentations over their corruptions, he concluded with the pathetic exclamation, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! - How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"

Full of these commiserating thoughts, he went to the Mount of Olives, and sat down in full view of the metropolis of Judea. Before him rose the impregnable walls of the Holy City, and the massy structures with which it was filled. There stood, in all its glory, the temple and its spacious courts, the pride of every Jew, and the admiration even of the Romans. It stood in all the lustre of decoration, in all the grandeur of religion. It was thought by the nation, to be as secure as the throne of God, who filled it with his presence, and as lasting as the eternal hills. The zeal of the nation, and of successive kings, had enriched it beyond the puny magnificence of modern times, and even the conceptions of modern architects. The land of Judea was then at peace. Under the sway of the Romans, everything promised to this tributary nation a tranquillity as

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great and as lasting as that of their conquerors. The idea of the ultimate destruction of the Jewish state, or the utter razure of that temple, guarded by Jehovah, had, perhaps, never entered the mind of an uninspired Jew. So far from this, the people were then impatiently looking out for a predicted deliverer, who, as they imagined, would raise the nation to a summit of greatness before unknown, and deposit the spoils of the world, and the trophies of the Roman conquerors themselves, before the altar of the God of Israel.

Such were the prevailing sentiments of the nation; and they had rejected Jesus, because, without the characteristics which they had expected, he claimed the dignity of the Messiah. One of his disciples having desired him to observe the magnitude of the stones of which the temple was built, he replied, "Seest thou these great buildings? The days will come, in which there will not be left one stone upon another, which will not be thrown down." The disciples, astonished at this remark, afterward asked him privately, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign, when all these things shall be accomplished?” In another place the question is stated thus: "What will be the sign of thy appearance, and the end of the age?"

It may be proper to remark, that the common translation, "end of the world," leads into error as to the meaning of some parts of the prediction. Nothing can be more explicit than our Savior's assertion, that the generation then living should not pass away, before all the events, which he had predicted, should be accomplished. From this it would be natural to infer, that the whole prediction referred to the subversion of the Jewish commonwealth, to the destruction of the city and temple, without any reference to the last

judgment, or to the end of the world. The phrase, which is translated "end of the world," may as properly be rendered "end of the age," that is, of the Jewish dispensation.

Our Savior proceeded to reply to the question respecting the signs. In those days of increasing distresses, and impatient expectation of a deliverer, it was natural, that many impostors should appear, claiming this character; and that men oppressed by difficulty and suffering should greedily listen to their promises. To secure, therefore, the fidelity of his disciples, and to keep them from being wrought upon by the pretensions of demagogues assuming the name of the Messiah, Christ forewarned his followers, and said to them explicitly, "Take heed that ye be not deceived. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and the time draweth near. Go ye not, therefore, after them."

In conformity with this prediction, it is certain from history, that, in the times preceding the calamities of Judea, deceitful men and seducers, under the pretence of a divine impulse, inflamed the expectations of the people, and drew many of them into the desert, asserting that God would there show them signs of deliverance. Josephus mentions several of these impostors, who collected thousands of followers, under the promise of miraculous deliverance. Some of them are mentioned in the speech of Gamaliel, which we have recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.

Our Savior goes on to say, "Be not alarmed, when ye hear of wars and commotions, for the end-the final subversion of the Jewish state-is not yet. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes in many places, and famines, and pestilences, and fearful sights, and great signs from heaven."

-Before the siege of Jerusalem, Judea was divided into several kingdoms, and was the scene of great commotions, insurrections, bloodshed, and war. Famines and pestilences are mentioned even by Tacitus, and the whole history of those times is a record of insecurity and misery. It would be easy to refer to particular parts, and to quote authors, but these things must have been observed by those who have read the history of that period. Observe, however, that our Savior says, "These are but the beginnings of sorrow ;" and, indeed, they were but a prelude to the greater sorrows which were experienced during the siege of Jerusalem.

In order still farther to secure the fidelity of his disciples, our Lord forewarned them, that, before the destruction of the city, they would be severely persecuted; they should be delivered up, and brought before kings and rulers, for a testimony to the truth of the gospel. Is not the whole history in the Acts of the Apostles a commentary on this?

Our Savior predicted the divisions and animosities which would occur on account of the profession of Christianity, and adds these remarkable words: "Ye shall be hated of all men, for my name's sake." ."- Let any one compare with this the expressions in the Roman historians, by which the Christians were described, and remember that they were persecuted solely because they bore the name of Christ.

"Iniquity will abound, and the love of many will wax cold."- Compare with this the horrible assertions of Josephus respecting the wickedness of that period, by which he attempted to account for the miseries suffered by his nation.

"Yet," adds our Savior to his disciples, "not a hair of your heads shall perish; by your perseverance ye shall preserve