structed as, in their accomplishment, to add strength to the evidence which confirms the Christian revelation, they are by no means confined to the delineation of his character and claims. They occupy a range most extensive, and carry the mind over the eventful history of the Jewish nation, and of almost all the nations of heathen antiquity. Let it never be forgotten, that Nineveh's predicted ruin has come upon it ;*- that Babylon, in all its boasted splendour, has been "swept with the besom of threatened destruction ;"+-that Tyre, the great port of the ancient world, has become, according to the warnings of Ezekiel, a place only for the drying of fishermen's nets;+-that Egypt, the mother of arts, has become "the basest of kingdoms," and has never since been able "to exalt herself among the nations," as if to shew that all the events of futurity are naked and open to that omniscient Spirit who foretold her doom, and predicted her permanent humiliation.§ * Nahum i. ii. iii. + Isa. xiii. xiv. Nor, in contemplating the great scheme of prophecy, and the support which it yields to the truth of Revelation, must we lose sight of the destinies of the Jewish nation.* In the fearful destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army, in the dispersion and long-continued peculiarity of the seed of Abraham,-in the contempt, per "The great lawgiver of the Jews," observes Mr. Horne, (in his Introduction, vol. i. p. 327,) "foretold that they should be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, -scattered among all people, from one end of the earth, even unto the other, find no ease or rest,-be oppressed and crushed always, be left few in number among the heathen,—pine away in their iniquity in their enemies' land,and become an astonishment, a proverb, and a bye-word unto all nations. These predictions were literally fulfilled during their subjection to the Chaldeans and Romans; and, in later times, in all the nations where they have been dispersed. Moses foretold that their enemies would besiege and take their cities; and this prophecy was fulfilled by Shishak, King of Egypt; Shalmaneser, King of Assyria; Nebuchadnezzer, Antiochus, Epiphanes, Sosius, and Herod; and finally by Titus. Moses foretold that such grievous famines should prevail during those sieges, that they should eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. This prediction was fulfilled about six hundred years after the time of Moses, when Samaria was besieged by the King of Syria; also, about nine hundred years after that time, among the Jews, during the siege of Jerusalem, before the Babylonish captivity; and finally, fifteen hundred years after, at the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. Though the Hebrews secution, and infamy which they have so long endured, in the promulgation of the gospel among Gentile tribes,-in the many and hateful corruptions of the religion of Jesus which have been introduced through the medium of Anti-Christian powers, and in the preservation and growing triumphs of the Christian faith, we were to be as the stars of heaven for multitude, Moses predicted that they should be few in number, and his prophecy was fulfilled: for, in the last siege of Jerusalem, Josephus tells us that an infinite multitude perished by famine; and he computes the total number who perished by it, and by the war in Jerusalem, and other parts of Judea, at one million two hundred and forty thousand four hundred and ninety, besides ninety-nine thousand two hundred who were made prisoners, and sold unto their enemies for bondmen and bondwomen; and after their last overthrow by Hadrian, many thousands of them were sold; and those for whom purchasers could not be found (Moses foretold that no man would buy them) were transported into Egypt, where they perished by shipwreck or famine, or were massacred by the inhabitants. Since the destruction of Jerusalem, they have been scattered among all nations; among whom they have found no ease, nor have the soles of their feet had rest; they have been oppressed and spoiled ever more, especially in the east, where the tyranny exercised over them is so severe, as to afford a literal fulfilment of the prediction of Moses,-Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have no assurance of thy life. Yet, notwithstanding all their oppressions, they have still continued a separate have such indubitable fulfilments of the prophetic record, that he who refuses to embrace, as divine, the wondrous volume of which it forms such a distinguished part, sins against all the laws of moral evidence, and, at the same time, risks his eternal salvation by rejecting the counsel of God against himself. 4. The Evidence of Christianity derived from a correct estimate of its early success. It would be most inconclusive to infer the super people, without incorporating with the nations; and they have become an astonishment and a bye-word among all the nations whither they have been carried since their punishment has been inflicted. The very name of a Jew has been used as a term of peculiar reproach and infamy. Finally, it was foretold, that their plagues should be wonderful, even great plagues, and of long continuance. And have not their plagues continued more than seventeen hundred years? In comparison of them, their former captivities were very short; during their captivity in Chaldea, Ezekiel and Daniel prophesied; but now they have no true prophet to foretel the end of their calamities. What nation has suffered so much, and yet endured so long? What nation has subsisted as a distinct people in their own country so long as the Jews have done in their dispersion into all countries? And what a STANDING MIRACLE is thus exhibited to the world in the fulfilment, at this very time, of prophecies delivered considerably more than three thousand years ago! What a permanent attestation is it to the divine legation of Moses !" natural origin of Christianity from the mere fact of its success; inasmuch as some of the greatest impostures the world ever knew have obtained, for many ages, a most powerful and extensive dominion over the human mind. The early prevalence of the gospel is, in itself, no decisive proof of its divine origin. Ere it can be regarded as such, a number of circumstances must combine with the fact of its success, which admit of no just or rational solution but the admission of the finger of God. The question then is, did such circumstances evince themselves in the early triumphs of Christianity? And, if they did, wherein did they consist? and how do they admit of being exhibited in the shape of a conclusive argument for the truth and divinity of the gospel? 'It is then a fact that Jesus of Nazareth was put to death in the reign of Tiberius, by the order of Pontius Pilate, his Procurator.* It is a fact that as early as the time of Claudius, who died within twenty years of the crucifixion, the religious assemblies of the Christians were pro * See Tacitus, Annal. xv. 44. |