Now Serra, CLXXXV. of the Chri/1ian el:gion._ gq in this Prophecy, that the Calamity of the yews fhould be fo' range and ueiparallel'd lit,neVer was in the World before : for tho' it might eafily have been foretöid knit''the temper of the People, which was prone to Sedition, that they Werevery like to provoke the Romans againft them ; yet there was no probability-that all things fhould have come to that extremity : for it was not thedefign of the Roman Government to deftroy any of thofe Provinces which were under them, but only to keep them in fubjeEhion, and reduce them by reafonable feverity in cafe of revolt. But that fuch a Calamity Should have happened to them under Titus, who was themildeff, and fartheft from feverity of all Mankind, nothing was more unlikely ; aid that any Peo- ple fhould confpire together to their own ruin, and fo blindly and obflinately run themfelves intofuch Calamities; as made them the pity of their Enemies, was the moll incredible thing; fo that nothing lefs than a Prophetical Spirit could have foretold fo contingent and improbable a thingas this was. St. Luke expreffeth the difmal Calamity that fhould happen to them in' other words, but much to the fame fenfe, Luke 21. 21, 2;. For thefe le the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fu/ filled. But mu unto them that are with child, and to them that give fck, in theft days : for there (hall be great diflrefs in the land, and wrath upon this' People. And to this 7,lipbus fully gives Teflimony, as will appear both by what he lays in general concerning their Calamity, and by the particular account of their Mifèries and Sufferings. (n.) In general he tells us, That never was any Age fofruitful of mifery as this was; and aln.oft in our Saviour's words, in his Preface to his Books of the Siege of ferufalem., he lays, That all the calamities that hadfallen upon any Nation from the beginning ofthe World, were but fmall, in comparifen of what happened to the Nation of the Jews in that Age. And in his Sixth Book, he fays, That as there was never any Nation fo Wicked, fo never any Nation /offered fuch calamitous Accidents. But this will belt appear. (z.) By a brief and particular enumeration of their Calamities. Not to mention the burning and deflroying of feveral of their chief Cities, as Za- bulon, Gadara, fapha, jotopatah, lappa, and feveral others ; I [hall infift chiefly upon the Sufferings of the People themfelves, by their Tumults and Seditions againfl the Romans. Before the coming of refpagan, there were flain at ferufalem and in Syria Icon, at Askolon 250o, at Ptolemais z0o0, at Alexandria 50000,St fappa 84e0,atMount Afamen 2000,at Dama/eus locoo, and afterward at Askalon by Antonius a liomas Commander 1800o y in all almoft a hundred thoufand. By Pefpafan in Galilee and other parts, very great numbers ; at fapha ig0005 at Mount Gerizim 11600, at fotapeta (the City of which fofephus our Hiftorian was Governour) 40000, at foppa 4000, at Tarichma near upon Soon ; at Gamala 9000, at Gif-ala zoo() ; in all fourfcore and ten thou- fand Afterward by their own Seditionsat ferufalem 8500 at feveral times; and afterward by the fa&ion of the Zealots, rz000 of the chiefeft and noble/} of the Citizens were flain at one time ; at the River Jordan by Placidus r3oo0, befides many thoufands drowned, fo that the River was fill'd up almoft with Dead Càrcaflès. At two Towns in Idumea by Pefpatian r0000, at Gerafa loon ; in all, forty five thoufand. Whilft Vefpatian was thus wafting the Cities of Judea, the FaEtion of the Zealots fiil'd all places of yerufalem, even the Temple it felt, with continual flaughters; and after they bad conqucr'd Ananas, who flood for the People ñoParties, and Zealots, made (laughter of one another hands oneeParty let in Sid-' men, who headed a Seditious Multitude, which he brought out of the Coma- try 5
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