4. I have hitherto left unnoticed the epithet which Daniel applies to this desolating war, though it is highly deserving of our attention: he styles it a war firmly decided upon or absolutely and irrevocably predetermined. The phraseology here adopted alludes, if I mistake not, to the prophecies which were so awfully accomplished in the course of the Jewish war, particularly those of Moses and our Lord. The prediction of Moses is so wonderfully minute in its detail of circumstances, that it resembles a history of past events rather than a prophecy of what was then future. The prediction of our Lord refers to former prophecies; and declares, that the impending calamities of the Jewish nation were so irrevocably predetermined (to use the language of Daniel), that the universe itself might sooner be dissolved than they should fail of taking place. "When ye "shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies," says he, "then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. "Then let them which are in Judèa flee to the

mountains; and let them which are in the midst "of it depart out; and let not them that are in the "countries enter thereinto. For these be the days "of vengeance, that all things which are writteu "may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are

* Deut. xxviii, xxix. See Bp. Newton's Dissertation on this prophecy,

"with child, and to them that give suck in those

days, for there shall be great distress in the land, "and wrath upon this people. And they shall "fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all nations-And, when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up

your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh"Behold the fig-tree, and all the trees: when they "now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own"selves, that summer is now nigh at hand. So "likewise, when ye see these things come to pass, A know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto unto you, This generation shall not ་་ pass away till all (these) things shall be. Heaven "and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away*." Thus it appears, that this war, being the appointed punishment for the heinous sin of the Jews in killing the Messiah, was, in an especial manner, firmly decided upon, or irrevocably predetermined, in the divine counsels. Heaven and earth might have sooner passed away, than the words of Christ. The days of vengeance were absolutely doomed to come, in order that all things which had been written might be fulfilled †.

It

Luke xxi. 20-24, 28-33. Comp. Matt. xxiv. 34. + "Let the Jews," says Abp. Tillotson, "give us any pro "bable account, for what great sin it was that God first gave

"them

It is a remarkable circumstance, that Josephus the Jew, and Titus the Roman, alike bear their testimony to the propriety of the epithet which Daniel bestows upon this war. Josephus was so struck with the tremendous calamities which befell his countrymen, that he sometimes ascribes them to the fatal influence of some irreversible decree, and at other times to the particular overruling Providence of God. "They were blinded," says he, "by that fate, which was impending over their city and "themselves *-The vast multitude (in Jerusalem) was collected together from without; for the "whole nation was by fate shut up as in a "prison, the war having beleaguered the city "when it was crouded with men: wherefore the "multitude of the slain exceeded any calamity whe"ther inflicted by human or divine agency t

"them up to that great judgment of an industrious endeavour 66 to destroy one another. If they cannot, let them believe the "account which the history of the New Testament gives of it; and the truth whereof was so well confirmed by the fulfilling our Saviour's predictions against them. The Apostle gives a clear account of their sin in 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16. That it was "because they had killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, "and persecuted the Apostles." Sermons. Vol. xii. p. 35.

ચૂંટ

* Πεπηρωνίο γαρ ύπο το χρεων, ὁ σητε πολει και αυτοις ηδη παρην. Joseph. de bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. xii, § 7. p. 1256.

1

+ Ibid. lib. vi. cap. 9. § 4. p. 1291. His expression in this passage is ύπο της ειμαρμένης,

." Hence

Hence we may learn both the power of God over "the wicked, and the fortune of the Romans." So again, addressing himself to John and his countrymen, he exclaims, he exclaims, "I am exhorting you in oppo"sition to fate, I am forcibly attempting to save "those who are condemned by God. Who is igno"rant of the writings of our ancient prophets? Who "knows not, that an oracle is now impending over "this wretched city? God truly, God himself,

brings by the agency of the Romans expiatory "fire to consume your temple, and is on the point "of subverting your city full of so many abomina"tions." In a similar manner he elsewhere declares, that "it was God, who had condemned the "whole people, and who was turning to their de"struction every attempt to save them ." As for Titus, pagan as he was, when he viewed the immense strength of the fortifications after the city was taken, he could not refrain from exclaiming "We have fought with God on our side; and it is "God, who hath dragged the Jews out of these “ strong holds; for what could either the hands of men or warlike machines do against those "towers" And, as if a single exclamation were in

Joseph. de bell. Jud. lib. vi, cap. 8. § 4. p. 1289. + Ibid. lib. vi. cap, 2. § 1. p. 1267,

Ibid. lib. v. cap. 13. § 5. p. 1255.

sufficient

sufficient to describe the impression made upon his mind, he continued, as we are informed by the historian, to converse repeatedly with his friends on the same subject*.

V. YET HE SHALL MAKE FIRM A COVENANT

WITH MANY FOR ONE WEEK.

Daniel had brought us to the end of the sixty nine weeks, when the mention of Messiah's divorcing the city and sanctuary at that time naturally led him to account for the circumstance, on the score of the extreme corruption and wickedness of the people; and the specification of their corruption no less naturally carried him on to predict their punishment. As yet however he has left unnoticed the last week of the seventy. He now therefore, for the purpose of shewing us how the seventieth week would be employed, returns to the end of the sixty nine weeks, from which the mention of the divorce had led him to make an anticipatory digression. We might indeed already have concluded, that this week would be devoted to the ministry of the Gospel: for, since the sixty nine weeks bring us unto the Messiah by which expression (as it has been shewn) we must understand unto the commencement of the Gospel ministry, and since the events with which the seventy weeks expire synchronize with the cruci

Joseph. de bell. Jud. li!, vi. cap. 9. § 1. p. 1290.

fixion;