Stain r XXXVI. of the Lhri,`tian `.L?eliion. 10.,_. as the yrmh the:,uelaes ought td have b:ctt, if it had been fo profaned by the Rorna-.t 5 the very words of yofrphrrs.. And tho' Titus gave ex- prffs orde" and tïed great endeavours to have faved the Temple, and La- zarded h.i;nfeif tohave. qucnehed it when it was on fire 5 yet he could not do it, brit it was burs: to the ground ; and afterward when the Pricfts carne t, him, and ;u;zplicatcd to him for their Lives, contrary to his ufnal clemen- cy,. he commanded them to be (lain, laying they came too late ; that it was fit t hey,(hould peri!h with the Temple, and now that was deftroyed, for the fake of which they should have been faved, he law no reafon ro fpare them: Afterward the Roman Enfigns were let up upon the ruins of the Temple, and the Soldiers facrificcd ro them 5 and their Law was carried in Triumph at Rome before Vcjpatian and Titus. Thefe were as great Signs as could he that God had á defign to abrogate and put a period to that Adminifttation; efpecially if we take in this, which Amì;:iwes 1Warcellinus a Heathen Hiftorian tells us, that this Temple could never be rebuilt, tho' it wss attempted by the yews leveral times, and that whenever they went about to. lay the Foundation, Fire broke out of the Foundation and eonfumed the Workmen. I will but add one Circumflance mare, to thew that that Difpenfation was at an end. God teemed to have whollygiven over his particular care of that People, and to have no longer regard to the Covenant made with them, in which he had prcmif.d, that when they came up three times a Year, from ail parrs of the Land, to ferve the Lord, he would fo order things by his Providence, that the Enemy Ihould make no advantage of their abfence from their Borders ; nay the Enemy fnould not then defire their Land : and yet notwithtanding this, at the time of the Palfover, when the whole Na- tion were met at yrufalem, Titus came upon them, and enclofed them all in the City. Vif. And laf.;ly, Confider how God bath purfued the Jews with great fe- verity ever lince, making them to be ftigmatized and hated in all Nations 5 great Cruelties and Oppreflions have frequently been exercifed toward them 5 and by a ftrange Providence, God hath kept them diftin& from other People, that they might remain as a Monument of his difpleafure: and confidering how other Colonies of People have fallen in, and been mixt with the Inha- bitants in an Age or two, fo as they could never bekept diBin& for any long time 5 that the ferns for 0600Years, Ihould (till remain fo, as it is an Ar- gument of the fpccial Providence of God, fo it is one of the molt: material and Banding Evidences of the Truthof our Religion, that they should remain Bill as Wirneffes of the Old Teftament 5 and as Monuments of the Deftru&i- on of yerufatem, and the fierce wrath which God executed upon them for the crucify.ng of Chrift. Upon the whole matter, if fo particular a Predi&ion as this of our Savi- our's concerning the Deftru&ion of 7erufalem, fo pun&ually anfwer'd by the Event, be not an Argument of Divine Infpiration, then there can be no Evi- dence of any fuch thing as a Spirit of Prophecy. For what greater Evidence of a true Prophet, than to foretel lo many things, fo contingent and impro- bable, all which have accordingly afterward fallen out, jut' as they were foretold ? Suppofe the yeas fay true, that yefau Chrifi was an Impotor, and confe- quently juflly put to Death by them; What greater refle&ion upon thePro- vidence of God can be imagined, than that this Pcrfon fhould be permitted to foretel, that (lath and fuck Calamities Ihould befal thofe that had put hint to Death, as a punilhment upon them for that fin 5 and afterward all this fhould happen in fo remarkable a manner, as the World cannot. give the like inflame a Is it in the leaf' credible, that the Divine Providence fhould per- mit 567
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