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THE ARGUMENT.

Reasoning on the Prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem --The prophecy must have come from God --The minute particulars which it describes could not have been declared through chance-Is allowed to have been divulged before the Event—It is a strong proof of the Truth of the Gospel-Of the internal evidence of the Gospel-Of the letter and spirit of the Gospel-The advantage of the latter-The Christian should be contented in every situation.

If he is rich, his prayers and alms should incessantly rise in witness to Heaven-If he is poor, like Lazarus, he should think of the future comforts he is to enjoy in Recompense for his poverty-Of the Meekness-The unshaken Resolution which is becoming in a Christian-Though he should obey legal and just authority, he is enjoined to be free, and not the servant of Mankind-Tyrants nearly as much reprobated by the Gospel as Blasphemers-The Worldling thinks upon his riches-The Christian should think of Celestial Wealth-On the propagation of the Gospel-Praise of Sharp, Clarkson, and Howard

On

On the delight the Gospel affords here-It promises e glorious Triumph over Death-And to those who prac tise its Rules supreme and never fading honor and happiness hereafter.

THE

CHRISTIAN.

BOOK THE SIXTH.

SCEPTIC! to reason now awhile attend,

Which with her melody the muse shall blend!
Reason, which vainly thou presum❜st to know,

Which ponders much, and which determines slow;
And then invet'rate prejudice will grant,

5

(As on the theme we pensively descant)

This fam'd prediction could be only giv'n,
By the supreme intelligence of Heav'n;

Line 7, &c. Dr. Whitby in his general prefacesays, "Our Saviour foretold the destruction of the Temple, after it had stood almost five hundred

years,

Which past and future as the present sees,
For with the prophecy th' event agrees.

Could chance (the thought is too absurdly bold!)
Have each minute particular foretold?

That in that very age

could chance have said,

ΙΟ

Ere some who heard were number'd with the dead,

years, in these words: "See'ft thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, which shall not be thrown down." And this prediction was completed by Titus, who, saith Josephus, commanded his soldiers "to dig up the foundations both of the Temple and the City." And both the Jewish Talmud and Maimonides add, that Terentius Rufus, the Captain of his army, did, with a plow-share, tear up the foundation of the Temple." The Jews madly meant to defeat this prophecy, from what is said of them by Tacitus. Per Avaritiam Claudianorum Temporum, emto Jure muniendi, fluxêre muros in Pace, tanquam ad Bellum.

Histor. Lib. 5. "Through the venality of the time of Claudius, they purchased a right to raise fortifications round the City, which were made so strong during peace, as if they had thought of nothing but war."-Tacitus calls the Temple of itself, egregium Propugnaculum," a magnificent for

tress.

When all her children were assembled there, 15
Against the wrath-doom'd city should appear,
The desolating foe with armies vast,

Who all around th' encircling trench should cast?
Could it minuter facts have prophesied,

Which all were most exactly verified ?
That 'twas a prophecy, that 'twas declar'd,
Before the awful fact itself appear'd,
With truth, with reason, is denied by none,
And faithful history the fact will own.

20

Line 21 &c. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, men→ tion the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, and it is allowed, that they all wrote their Gospels before the event. St. Matthew is said by some to have written his gospel six, and by others, forty four years, after the death of Christ. He and St.

Mark, are known however, to have died before the completion of the Prophecy. St. John, who wrote his Gospel after it's completion, mentions nothing of that nor of the prophecy.

It any one should pertinaciously object that the Evangelists wrote this prophecy after the event, in which objection there appears to be no reason, what will he say of the Prophecy of Moses, which we have quoted in the preface?

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