earth is the theme of many prophecies,* while it is also clearly implied in others, that a long period was to elapse before the reign of darkness was to cease, or the veil to be taken off all nations. After the Messiah was to be cut off, and the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary to be destroyed, desolations, even to the consummation, and until judgment should come upon the desolator, were determined; the children of Israel were to abide many days, without a king, or ephod, or sacrifice; desolations of many generations were to pass over the land of Judea; Jerusalem was to be trodden down of the Gentiles, and blindness in part was to happen to Israel, till the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled; and a great apostacy was to arise, and to prevail for a long, but limited period, before the stone that was to be cut out without hands was to become a great kingdom, and fill the whole earth, or the last days should arrive wherein the mountain of the Lord's house would be finally established, and exalted above all, and all nations flow into it.t But already, far beyond the conception of man to have harboured the thought, hath the light which has come out of Judea enlightened the nations; already have the scriptures been made known in a tenfold degree more than any other book; long has He been a light to the Gentiles,

Rom. xi. 25. 2 Thess. ii.1-12. Dan. ii. 45, Isa. ii, 2. Micah iv.1.

and long have kings seen and arisen, and princes rendered worship to Him, whom man despised, and whom the Jewish nation abhorred. The christian faith made at first its bloodless way throughout the world. And, though many a conspiracy has been formed, and many a bloody warfare waged against it, it not only stands unsubdued and unshaken after every assault, but the vain rage of its adversaries has been subservient to its extension and its triumphs. As a matter of history the progress of christianity is at least astonishing; as the fulfilment of many prophecies it is evidently miraculous.

In closing even this brief and very imperfect summary of the prophecies relative to the christian faith and to its Author, are we not authorized to consider the following subjects of ancient prophecy, as bearing testimony to Jesus as the Saviour, the time and the place of the birth of Christ, the tribe and family from which he was descended, his life, his character, his sufferings, and his death, the nature of his doctrine, and the fate of his religion; that it was to proceed from Jerusalem; that the Jews would reject it; that it would be opposed and persecuted at first; that kings would, nevertheless, acknowledge its divine authority; and that it would spread throughout many a nation, even to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Why, then, were so many prophecies delivered? Why, from the calling of Abraham to the present time, have the Jews been separated, as a peculiar people, from all the nations of the earth? Why,

6

from the age of Moses to that of Malachi, during the space of a thousand years, did a succession of prophets arise, all testifying of a Saviour that was to come? Why was the Book of Prophecy sealed for nearly four hundred years before the coming of Christ? Why is there still, to this day, undisputed, if not miraculous, evidence of the antiquity of all these prophecies, by their being sacredly preserved, in every age, in the custody and guardianship of the enemies of christianity? Why was such a multitude of facts foretold that are applicable to Christ and to him alone? Why?-but that all this mighty preparation might usher in the gospel of righteousness, and prepare the way for the kingdom of God; and that christians also, in every age, might add to their peace and joy in believing' the perfect trust, that however great the promises of God may be, they still are sure; and that he who spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will with him also, if his we be, freely give us all things. And if we ever read a book for any object, ought we not diligently to search the scriptures, to see how clearly they testify of Christ? And ought not every word of such testimony to be, like all scripture besides, profitable for doctrine and for instruction in righteousness ? And may it not be profitable for reproof and for correction' to all who mind only earthly things-who are eager to seek after unprofitable knowledge-who could talk, with all volubility, of the temporal concerns of others or their own--who could expatiate freely, perhaps,

on the properties of a beast, the quality of their food, or the beauty of a garment-and who, although they have had the Bible constantly beside them, have, for many a year, remained ignorant of the value of the treasure it contains, or of the fulness of the testimony which God has given of his Son? None, surely, would any longer wilfully refrain from searching the scriptures to see how they testify of Jesus, or from seeking the words of eternal life which may be found in them, were they to lay to heart the thought that the second coming of Christ, to judge the quick and the dead, is as certain as that the prophetic tidings of his first advent-once heard afar off— have already proved true.

CHAPTER III.

The Destruction of Jerusalem.

THE Jews remain to this day not only the guardians of the Old Testament scriptures, but living witnesses of the truth of many prophecies, which, in the first ages of their history, unfolded their fate until the latest generations. Jewish and heathen historians fully describe the dreadful miseries which they suffered when all their cities were laid waste, when Jerusalem itself was destroyed in the seventieth year of the Christian era, and the remnant of their race, after an almost uninterrupted possession of Judea by their forefathers for fifteen hundred years, were driven from their country, and scattered throughout the world. A brief detail of the unparalleled miseries which they then endured may serve to connect their former history with their subsequent alike unparalleled fate, and to show that the prophecies respecting the destruction of Jerusalem are

as

as

circumstantial and precise, and were minutely fulfilled, as those in which their more recent and present history may now be read.

The Israelites were chosen to be a peculiar people. The worship of the only living and true God was maintained among them alone for many ages, while idolatry and polytheism (or the worship of many gods) otherwise universally prevailed. But the Father of the universe is no