“ Jerome writes that in his time, on that day of the year wherein Jerusalem was taken by the Romans, you might have seen aged men and women, and several other wretched people, who with blubbered cheeks and dishevelled hair, went howling and lamenting for the ruin of the temple and sanctuary, wearing and bearing in their habits and bodies the sad character of divine veangeance, of whom the soldiers exacted a fee for liberty of weeping: and they who formerly sold the blood of Jesus, were now forced to buy their own tears, without being pitied. ”

“ What is here chiefly remarkable is this, that no foreign nation ever came thus to destroy the Jews at any of their solemn festivals from the days of Moses till this time; but came now upon their apostacy from God, and disobedience to him. Nor is it possible, in the nature of things, that in any other nation such vast numbers should be gotten together, and perish in the siege of any one city whatsoever, as now happened in Jerusalem. ”

“ At Christ's birth, the temple at Rome, dedicated to the god Pan, fell to the earth; and when it was built, the Romans addressed the oracle of Appolla, to know how long it should endure; who answered, "Till a Virgin should bring forth a son," which they judged impossible, therefore they believed that their temple should last eternally. ”

“ On the 7th of September Titus commanded all the lower city to be set on fire, and assaulted the upper city, breaking over their fences, and destroying all before him with fire and sword, then he commanded the city and temple to be razed to the foundation, and the ground to be forthwith ploughed. And Jehohanan and Simon were sent prisoners to Rome, with 700 of the Jews: the book of the law and the purple veil of the sanctuary were taken in triumph to Rome, at that time neither sun nor moon appeared for fifteen days, as Christ foretold. ”

“ The Romans after this burnt the remainder of the city, and threw down the walls.
The power of God on the one hand; and his goodness on the other, was very remarkable on this occasion: for the tyrants ruined themselves, by quitting those holds of their own accord, that could never have been taken but by famine; and this after the Jews had spent so much time to no purpose upon other places of less value. ”

“ JERUSALEM.
JERUSALEM was a principal city in Joshua's time, when Adonizedek was king, who was slain by him; yet the Jebusites held it for four hundred years after, till David won it; though the inhabitants boasted that their blind and their lame would defend it, 2 Sam. v. 6. David strengthened it with a castle, and beautified it with palaces; after this Solomon enlarged it; the palace gates and walls could not be matched in all the world. It had within the walls one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, besides women and children. ”

“ In the first year of the reign of Vespasian, Titus mustered his army, and found them sufficient for the siege of Jerusalem. He then marched to Samaria, and from thence to Atelonia, thirty furlongs from Jerusalem, where he pitched his camp, and the next day he brought his whole army to Jerusalem a little before the feast of unleavened bread, which was April the 14th, so that an infinite number of people, who came to celebrate, were all shut up in the city, which raised a famine ”

“ The number of the prisoners in this war was 97000. The number of the dead was 110000; the greater part of them Jews by nation, though not natives of Judea, for it was only a general meeting of them at Jerusalem, gathered together from all quarters to celebrate the feast of the passover; who were then surprised into a war. There was such a prodigious multitude, and they so straitened for lodgings, that the crowd first brought the plague into the town, and then quickly made way for a famine. ”

“ The temple was built upon a rocky mountain, and the place at the top, was not at first big enough for the temple and court, the hill being very steep, but the people every day brought earth thither, and they at last made it plain, and large enough, with wonderful curiosity and labour, inclosed with three walls, which were many days labour, with the cost of all the holy treasure offered to God from all parts ”

“ As for the ruffians and the seditious, that impeached one another, he had them all put to death; but for men of comely and graceful persons, and in the prime of their youth, he reserved them for the triumph; sending away all above seventeen years of age to the remainder of them in chains in Egypt, to be employed in servile offices and drudgery, besides those that were distributed up and down the provinces for the use of the theatres in the quality of swords-men or gladiators, all under seventeen he exposed to sale. ”

“ Justice is blind, it is the power of God on earth, it has no regard to father or son, God and our neighbour's right, are above the ties of nature, you had offended against the laws of justice, you deserved this punishment, you would in the end have received it from some other. ”

“ Titus drew his sword to save the holy place, but the flames rushed through all parts of the temple in a moment, so that none could save it. The Jews seeing all go to destruction before their eyes, they then threw themselves into the flames, "Why should we live any longer? ”

“ Yet all the losses the temple and city sustained, were repaired by Herod the Great, who enlarged the city, newbuilt the temple, and left it both stately and glorious; It was compassed with three strong walls, the third wall had ninety towers, the second wall had fourteen, and the old wall had sixty. Agrippa built a fourth wall ten cubits high, but did not finish it, lest Claudius Caesar should think he designed to rebel; yet the Jews afterwards built it twenty cubits high, and raised a battlement two cubits ”

“ After eighteen months siege, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the ninth day of the fourth month which was in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, the princes of Babylon surprized and took this brave city: presently after Nebuzar-aden, general of the Babylonian army, commanded by Nebuchadnezzar, spoiled the temple, carrying away the vessels of gold and silver, and the great laver, given by king Solomon, and burnt the temple the first day of the next month, which was twenty-one days after the surprisal, 470 years, six months, and ten days after the foundation ”

“ He raiseth the dead, cureth all manner of diseases; a man of stature, somewhat tall and comely, with a reverend countenance, such as the beholders may both fear and love; his hair is of the colour of a chestnut full ripe, and plain down almost to his ears, but from thence downward some-what curled, but more orient of colours, waving about his shoulders ”

“ Our Saviour was born in the year of the world 4004, and in the 43d year of Augustus Cæsar; many remarkable things were seen in the heavens, which caused the wise men to conclude, that some more than an ordinary person would appear on the earth ”