wicked than they. 4. For their false doctrine. He mentioned particularly their doctrine concerning oaths, and declared, in opposition to their execrable tenets, that every oath is obligatory, the matter of which is lawful; because when men swear by the creature, if their oath has any meaning, it is an appeal to the Creator himself. In any other light, an oath by the creature is absolutely ridiculous, because the creature neither has knowledge with respect to the matter of the oath, nor power to punish the perjury. 5. For their superstition. They observed the ceremonial precepts of the law with all possible axactness, while they utterly neglected the eternal, immutable, indispensable, rules of righteousness. 6. For their hypocrisy. They were at great pains to appear virtuous, and to have a decent external conduct, while they neglected to beautify their inward man with goodness, which, in the sight of God, is an orna ment of great price, and which renders men dear and valuabic to all who know them. 7. For the success of their hypocrisy. By their care of external appearances, the Pharisees and scribes made a fair shew, and deceived the simple. Like fine whited se-. pulchres, they looked very beautiful without, but within were full of all uncleanness, and defiled every one that touched them. They were publicly decent, but privately dissolute; and under the appearance of religion, were, in reality, the worst of men. 8. Because, by the pains they took in adorning the sepulchres of the prophets, they pretended a great veneration for their memory; and, as often as they happened to be mentioned, condemned their fathers who had killed them, declaring that if they had lived in the days of their fathers, they would have opposed their wickedness; while, in the mean time, they still cherished the spirit of their fathers, persecuting the messengers of God, particularly his only Son, on whose destruction they were resolutely bent. Therefore they were threatened, that upon them should come all the temporal judgments which were due in return for the righteous blood which had been shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, the son of Barachias, whom they slow between the temple and the altar. This passage is attended with difficulties, which a learned writer thus discusses and endeavours to remove.

"Now it appears from 2 Chron. xxiv, 20..22, that Zacharias who was slain between the temple and the altar was the son, not of Barachias, but of Jehoiada; consequently if the account in the Chronicles be accurate, the reading Barachias at Mat. xxiii. 35. cannot be the true reading. Some commentators have had recourse to the supposition, that Jehoiada and Barachias were different names of the same person; but this assertion is wholly incapable of proof, and is in itself highly improbable. Wetstein conjectures that St. Matthew purposely avoided the use of the word Jehoiada, because it contained in it the abbreviated name of Jehovah, and therefore substituted Barachia. But this caution was confined only to the number fifteen, which, it is true, the Jews never noted by Jod He, though Jod is ten, and He is five. And even if this reverence extended to proper names, Wetstein's solution would be unsatisfactory; for, in the Hebrew, these two letters occur together in Barachia as well as in Jehoiada. That Zacharias, the eleventh of the minor prophets, who was the son of Barachias, was murdered, we read no where; and it is not probable that two different persons named Zacharias should both of them have been murdered under the very same cireumstances. But if we admit that the eleventh of the minor prophets fell a sacrifice to the Jews as well as the son of Jehoiada, yet Christ would rather have instanced the son of Jehoiada, because the murder of this person was not only particularly known, but was supposed to call aloud for vengeance.. The blood, therefore, of this Zacharias was more properly mentioned with the blood of Abel, than the blood of another Zacharias, whose murder, even if he did fall a victim, was unknown. Now at this passage Jerom relates that the Hebrew gospel of the Nazarenes read Zacharia

the son of Jehoiada." Others suppose that neither of the names were inserted in the original, but that the name of Barachias was interpolated from the margin of the Greek, as that of Jehoiada might be into the Hebrew gospel.

Our Lord then renewed the lamentation over Jerusalem which has been recorded in a former chapter.

This, Dr. Macknight observes, is by far the most spirited of all our Lord's discourses; and being pronounced, no doubt, with an elevation of voice and vehemence of gesture suitable to the sentiments which it expressed, it could not but astonish the people, who had always looked upon their teachers as the holiest of men. Even the persons themselves against whom it was levelled were confounded, their consciences witnessing the truth of what was laid to their charge. They knew not what course to take; and so in the midst of their hesitation they let Jesus go away quietly, without attempting to lay hands on him, or stone him, as they had sometimes done before upon much less provocation.

Jesus, being now in the treasury, in which were placed thirteen chests to receive the offerings of the people, observed, with peculiar satisfaction, a certain poor widow who put in two mites, which was the whole of her earning for the day, or, perhaps, of the money which she had then at command.

He now went out of the temple; when his disciples shewed him with what large and beautiful stones the eastern wall, which fronted mount Olivet, was built. And Jesus answering, said unto them, the days will come, in which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Accordingly Josephus informs us, that Titus, having held a council of his generals who were for burning the temple, declared that he would, by all means, save that edifice as an ornament to the empire. But one greater than Titus had determined and declared that it should be destroyed. Accordingly the soldiers burnt it without paying any regard to his orders So Josephus informs us, Bell. 7. 10, where giving a particular account of the destruction of the temple, which was the first part of the city that was taken by the Romans, he says. that "one of the soldiers, moved by a divine impetus, caught some burning materials, and, mounting the shoulder of his companion, thrust the fire in at one of the windows." The fire, spreading itself, was observed by Titus, who cried to the soldiers to extinguish it; but they regarded neither his voice, nor the beckoning of his hand. God had determined to destroy this temple, and therefore the counsels and designs even of Titus himself, the instrument of this destruction, availed nothing to preserve it. The Jewish Talmud and Maimonides add, "that Turnus (i. e. Terentius) Rufus, one of Titus's captains, did, with a plough-share, tear up the foundations of the temple." So exactly was this passage of our Lord's prophecy ful

filled.

He now delivered a prediction of considerable length concerning the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, which has been very circumstantially fulfilled. The most complete elucidation we can give of it is to recite the text, and annex to it certain notes from Macknight which tend greatly to illustrate it.

[Mat. xxiv. 3.] And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world.

Because the disciples joined their Master's coming and the end of the world with the demolition of the temple, this prophecy has commonly been thought to foretel the destruction of the world also. And, in support of this opinion, it is alleged, that the disciples connected the two events together, because they fancied the temple could not fall unless in the ruins of the world; but they must certainly have known that

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Solomon's building had been destroyed by the Babylonians, though erected by the appointment of God, and dignified with the Shechinah, or visible symbol of the divine presence. If so, they could hardly think that a temple so much inferior, both in the greatness of its privileges and the beauty of its fabric, was not to perish uuless in the desolation of the world. In the second place: according to this interpretation of the prophecy, Jesus hath declared, with the greatest solemnity, a thing which no person could be ignorant of. For who did not know that, with the world, Herod's temple and all other buildings should crumble into pieces? In the third place our Lord himself has forbidden us to understand any part of this prophecy primarily of the destruction of the world: having connected all its parts in such a manner, that the things foretold, whatever they are, must have happened in close succession. [Mat. xxiv. 29.] "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened," &c. [Mark xiii. 24.] But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened," &c. Besides, at the conclusion of the whole, he declared that the generation of men then in being should not die till it was fulfilled. [Mat. xxiv. 34.] "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all be fulfilled." For any interpreter to correct Christ's language here, and say that in the former passage immediately after signifies two or three thousand years after; and that in the latter, all these things signify only some of them, is a liberty which cannot be safely taken with his words. It ought also to be remarked, that the passage here translated end of the world, may be rendered the end of the age or dispensation preceding the Messiah.

And he said, take heed that ye be not deceived, for many, referring to Simon Magus, Dositheus, and others, shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, such as that which terrified. the Jews when they were threatened with destruction by Caligula, for not admitting his image within the temple; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. Luke adds, that there should be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. The prediction that nation should rise up against nation was fulfilled by the wars of the Jews among themselves, and of the Romans with the Syrians, Samaritans, and other neighbouring nations, before Jerusalem was destroyed.

In the time of Claudius and Nero, there were great earthquakes at Crete, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse, in all which places the Jews lived. Thus were there earthquakes in divers places. Moreover, there were judgments of this kind in Judea likewise; for Josephus tells us, Bell. 4. 7. There happened there an immense tempest and vehement winds, with rain, and frequent lightnings, and dreadful thunderings, and extreme roarings of the quaking earth, which demonstrated to all that the world was disturbed at the destruction of men."

The famine in the reign of Claudius, which afflicted Judea in particular, is well known. It is mentioned Acts xi. 28. It is taken notice of likewise by Suetonius Claudius, c. 18; and by Dio. Josephus tells us many perished in it, Ant. xx. 2. That Judea was afflicted with pestilence likewise, we learn from Josephus, who tells us, Bell, 5. 1, that one Niger, being put to death by the seditious, imprecated pestilence upon them, which came to pass. Farther, concerning the pestilence and famine Josephus writes thus: " Being assembled together from all parts to the feast of unleavened bread, presently, and on a sudden, they were environed with war; and, first of all, a plague fell upon them by reason of the straitness of the place, and immediately after a famine worse than it." Besides, in the progress of the siege, the number

of the dead, and the stench arising from their unburied carcases, must have infected the air, and occasioned pestilence. For Josephus tells us that there were no less than six hundred thousand dead bodies carried out of the city and suffered to lie unburied.

upon

Of the fearful sights and great signs from heaven Josephus has given us a particular account. "There was a comet in the form of a fiery sword, which, for a year together, did hang over the city. Before the first revolt and war, the people being gathered together to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth of April, at the ninth hour of the night there was as much light about the altar and temple as if it had been bright day. This remained half an hour. At the same festival, the inner gate of the temple on the east-side, being of massy brass, which required at least twenty men to shut it, was seen, at midnight, to open of its own accord. Not long after the feast-days, on the twenty-first of May, there was seen a vision beyond all belief; and perhaps what I am going to relate might seem a fable, if some were not now alive who beheld it, and if the subsequent calamity had not been worthy of such a presage. For before the sun set, were seen in the air chariots and armies in battle array, passing along in the clouds, and investing the city. And the feast of Pentecost, at night, the priests, going into the inner temple to attend their wonted service, said they first felt the place to move and tremble, after that they heard a voice which said, let us depart hence. But that which was most wonderful of all was, one Jesus, the son of Ananus of the common people, four years before the war began, when the city flourished in peace and riches, coming to the celebration of the feast of tabernacles at Jerusalem, suddenly began to cry out thus: A voice from the east and from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against men and women newly married, a voice against all this people. And thus crying day and night, he went about all the streets of the city Josephus adds, that he was scourged by some of the nobility; but without speaking a word for himself, he persevered crying as before; that he was carried before Albinus the Roman general, who caused him to be beaten till his bones appeared, but that he reither intreated nor wept; but as well as he could, framing a weeping voice, he cried at every stroke, woe to Jerusalem;" that he went thus crying, chiefly upon holy days, for the space of seven years and five months, till in, the time of the siege, beholding what he had foretold, he ceased. And that once again, going about the city on the wall, "he cried with a loud voice, woe, woe, to the city, temple, and people; and lastly he said, woe also to myself: which words were no sooner uttered, than a stone thrown out of an engine smote him, and so he yielded up the ghost, lamenting them all."

"

All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake: and then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. Luke has it, But before all these they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake, and it shall turn out to you for a testimony; settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what ye shall answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. How fully the particulars foretold in this verse were accomplished, we learn even from the Romnns historians, Tacitus and Suetonius, who have given an account of the persecution raised against the Christians by Nero. But the history of the Acts will throw the greatest light on this passage. For there we are told, that immediately after our Lord's ascension, Peter and John were called before the Jewish senale,

:

[iv. 6, 7.] and beaten. [v. 40.] That Stephen was brought before the same court, [vi. 12.] and put to death. [vii. 58.] That Saul made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison, [viii. 3.] and punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, persecuted them unto strange cities. [xxvi 11.] That James was brought before Herod, and by him put to death. [xii. 2.] That the same prince laid Peter in prison, intending to kill him likewise. [xii. 4.] That Paul, formerly himself a persecutor, but now converted, was, in his turn, frequently persecuted: that he and Silas were imprisoned and beaten in the synagogue of Philippi. [xvi. 23.] That he was brought before the great synagogue or senate of the Jews in Jerusalem, [xxii. 30.] before king Agrippa and his wife; before the Roman governors, Gallio, Felix, and Festus; and last of all, before the emperor Nero in Rome, and his præfect, Helius Caesarianus.

And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, as was particularly the case in Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end of this dispensation come. The fulfilment of this part of the prophecy we learn chiefly from the writings of the New Testament, which informs us that the gospel was preached by St. Paul in Arabia, and through the vast tract from Jerusalem to Iconium, in Lyconia, and in Galatia, and through all Asia Minor, and in Greece, and round about Illyricum, and in Crete and Italy; probably, also, in Spain and Gaul. Besides, the gospel reached much farther than this apostle carried it; for we find him writing to Christians who had never seen his face. Also we have still remaining Peter's epistles to the converted Jews in Pontus, Asia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia. Probably the gospel was preached in these and many other countries by the Jews who sojourned there, and who, having come up to Jerusalem at the passover, were converted on the day of Pentecost. The Ethiopian eunuch converted by Philip would carry it likewise into his country. But whatever way it happened, the fact is certain, that in most of these countries churches were planted within thirty years after Christ's death, or about ten years before the destruction of Jerusalem. Hence we find the apostle telling the Romans, [x. 18.] that the sound of the preachers of the gospel "had gone forth into all the world, and their word to the end of the earth." Hence, likewise, he tells the church in Rome, chap. i. that their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world," and the church at Colosse, [i. 6, 23.] that "the truth of the gospel was come not to them only, but to all the world, being preached to every creature." Hence, also, when Mark wrote his gospel, the apostles had gone forth, and preached every where. [xvi. 20.] The preaching of the gospel through the whole world by twelve illiterate fishermen, and the destruction of Jerusalem, were events extremely improbable, and therefore the prediction and accomplishment of them deserve to be particularly taken notice of; and the rather that they were both absolutely necessary for bringing about the conversion of the world to Christianity, and are mentioned in this prophecy as

such.

Our Lord, having foretold both the remote and the more immediate signs of the end of the Jewish economy, proceeds to describe the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation, the Roman armies with their idolatrous standards, stand in the holy place, or, as Luke expresses it, When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judca flee to the mountains, and let them which