Agreeably to these Prophecies therefore, Ezra i. 1. Cyrus, the first Year after his Conqueft of Babylon, was fiirred up by the spirit of the LORD to make a Proclamation throughout all his dominions, and also to put it in writing; which runs thus: Thus faith Cyrus King of Perfia, &c. 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 Jerufalem which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerufalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Ifrael, &c.

There return'd therefore, under the Conduct of Zerubbabel, forty and two ib. ii. 64. thousand three hundred and threefcore; befides Servants and other Attendants amounting to above seven Thousand more: who, in a very fhort Time after, built the Altar of the God of Ifrael, and offer'd Burnt-Offerings thereon, Morning and Evening, under the Administration of Jeshua the High-Priest. And, in the ib. iii. 8. fecond year after their coming, they bethe Foundation of the fecond Tem

gan

ple;

ple; with much folemn Joy and Exul-
tation; after the Ordinance of David
King of Ifrael.

12.

But, according to a Defign fo far short of Solomon's, that many of the Priests and Ezra iii. Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had feen the first house, when the foundation of this house, was # laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. And the Prophet Haggai, at the fame Time that he excites them to the Building, asks, Who is left a- Haggai ii. mong you that faw this house in her first glory? and how do ye fee it now? is it not in your eyes, in comparison of it, as nothing? And yet, in confideration that

3.9.

J the second Temple was to be honour'd

f

i with the Prefence of the Meffiah, the

fame Prophet, presently after, writes thus,
The glory of this latter houfe fhall be great-
er than of the former, faith the LORD
of hosts.

Whether the Delineation of the Tem

ple Ezekiel faw in a Vifion, in the 25th Ezek. xl. ? Year of the Captivity, were a Copy af- &c. ter the first, or a Model for the fecond,

or intended to typify fomething different

I 2

from

from both, is not any where determin'd. Tho' fome Jews have pretended the latter Temple was built after Ezekiel's Plan.

(

After having been fix and forty Years in building, thro' the frequent Interruptions caus'd by the Samaritans, it was finifh'd, as before obferv'd, in the fixth Year of the Reign of Darius, King of Perfia: And remain'd the fame, except the Pollutions and Indignities with which the Infide of it was violated by Antiochus Epiphanes King of Syria, to our Saviour's Time. For I think no Credit is to be given to the Report Jofephus makes; of its having been rebuilt from the ¡very Foundations, and enlarg'd by Herod, in the Time of Auguftus: of which we have not the least Hint in the Gospel, where Mention is so often made of the Temple; and where it is exprefly faid to have been fix John ii. and forty years in building. It is probable therefore that Herod only repair'd and Hegelip beautified it; as another Author of good Credit affirms. However, when our LORD was crucified, the veil of it, that which parxxvii. 51. ted off the Holy of Holies from the reft,

20.

pus.

Matt.

Was

Afterwards the Emperor Caligula ordered an Image of himself to be fet up in it, and divine Honours to be paid to it: which we may look upon as a as a juft Judg1 ment upon the Jews, when they difown'd our LORD, and faid they had no King but Cæfar.

was rent in twain from the top to the bot

tom.

SECT. XII.

The Second Temple finally destroy'd.

It was not long after, together with the City, burnt by Titus; and the very Foundations of it utterly demolish'd by Adrian: who is faid to have caus'd a Temple to be erected in the fame Place, to the heathen Goddefs Venus. The first of which Things verified that Prediction of our Saviour, when he was viewing the Buildings of the Temple; There shall not Matt. be left here one stone upon another that xxiv. 1. Shall not be thrown down: and the latter ib. 15. might probably be the abomination of deD folation fpoken of by Daniel the Prophet.

Matt,

f

I 3

SECT,

SECT. XIII.

Temples in Samaria and Egypt.

There was a Temple likewise built by Sanballat upon Mount Gerizim, for the Ufe of the Samaritans; who pretended (upon the Return of the Jews from their Captivity) that they were of the Stock of the true ancient Hebrews, and that their Mountain was the most proper Place of Worship: upon which Principle the Samaritan Woman in the Gospel, argues with CHRIST: but that was destroy'd by Hyrcanus, as Jofephus teftifies.

The fame Author mentions another Temple the Jews had built in Egypt, when they were perfecuted by Antiochus: and that it was destroy'd much about the fame Time with that at Jerufalem. In the Apocrypha indeed, there is a Letter from the Jews at Jerufalem to those in Egypt.

SECT. XIV.

• Mac. i.

SYNAGOGUES.

So much for the Temple. They had other Places of Worship mention'd in

Scripture