Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

account of sufferings beyond what we usually find in the histories of sieges. Our Saviour had foretold, that then shall be tribulation such as was not from the beginning of the world; no, nor ever shall be. If there be any truth in history; if any credit may be attached to an eye-witness; to one who saw their affliction, and who laboured to relieve it; who endeavoured, both by his advice and intercession, to alleviate their distress ;-the prophecy was most awfully accomplished, in a manner which, establishing the truth of the prophecy, marked the hand of the Almighty taking vengeance on his rebellious people. But as the completion of the prophecy depends on a comparison of facts, let us judge for ourselves. In the first place, the cruelties exercised by the Roman soldiers were greater than usual; they had been irritated by the continuance of the war, and by mutual acts of cruelty; whomsoever therefore they found, whether in arms, or collecting provisions, they tortured them with the utmost barbarity. "They first whipped them," says Josephus, " and tortured them with all kinds of torments, and then crucified them; and their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses for their bodies." History may perhaps afford examples equal to what has been related; whole garrisons butchered in cold blood; women and children murdered without remorse ;—but misery never equalled the wretchedness of Jerusalem. Besides the cruelty of their declared enemies, the besieged were at enmity with themselves: two parties raged within the city; and though united in their effort against the Romans, they seemed to delight in the exercise of cruelty against each other; murdering their opponents without mercy, and rivalling each other in the tortures they inflicted; in hopes that by these means they might extract from them something beneficial to their adherents. The ravages of famine began to desolate the city-whole families fell victims to its fury-nor did the tender feelings of compassion alleviate their distress. The ties of blood, the mutual duties of parental and filial affection were at an end; and while the young were forcing the last morsels from their aged parents; while mothers were snatching the last drops from their expiring infants, and even sacrificing their own offspring to satisfy their hunger; the soldiers would interrupt their repast, torture the elder to obtain provision, and dash the infants to the ground, who hung in the agonies of hunger to the half-devoured morsels. In vain they attempted to fly; the soldiers prevented them ;-in vain they attempted to bury their dead; their number rendered it impossible ;and when Titus beheld the rampart filled with the carcases which were thrown over the wall, he lifted up his hands to heaven, and called his gods to witness that he had not brought this misery upon them, since he had offered them terms. Such was their wretched state, that an eye-witness declared, that neither did any other city suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness from the beginning of the world. Here then we have an express prophecy, improbable from the apparent exaggeration, yet literally accomplished. The Jews, however, continued

to use every method of defence; buoyed up by the predictions of their false prophets, who continued to promise a miraculous deliverance from the Temple, and who endeavoured to silence all those fears which naturally arose in the minds of the inhabitants from the evident marks of divine vengeance, which made them feel that the visitation was from the Lord. During this time the conduct of Titus was admirable, both for his diligence as a soldier, and mercy towards the Jews: he was anxious for the preservation of the Temple, celebrated through the world for its beauty and riches; yet the prophecy had declared that not one stone should be left on another. Though the conduct of the Roman general was deserving of the greatest praise, and therefore we may hope acceptable in the sight of a merciful God, yet the decrees of the Almighty will be brought to pass. During one of the last attacks, a soldier, more out of wantonness than disobedience, threw a torch against the window of the Temple; the whole edifice was consumed,` and the orders of Titus superfluous. The city was soon taken; the foundations of the temple were dug up; and the plough, which marked its total destruction, bore testimony to the exact accomplishment of the prophecy.

"Oh! long foretold, yet slow-accomplished fate!
Her house is left unto her desolate ;'

Proud Cæsar's ploughshare o'er her ruins driven,
Fulfils at length the tardy doom of Heaven."

From the beginning to the end not one jot or tittle has passed away, but all been fulfilled.

But it may be asked, since the utility was adduced as an argument in favour of scriptural prophecy, wherein are these prophecies beneficial? In the first place, the completion of any prophecy establishes our faith; and with regard to these in particular, it must be remembered, that the prophecies relative to Jerusalem are only the beginning of a prophecy of much greater import: the final judgment of man, according to the deeds done in the flesh. We learn from the completion of the first part, that heaven and earth shall pass away, but his words shall not pass away. We believe, therefore, that the Son of Man shall come in the clouds with power and with great glory; and that he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds. We believe, likewise, from the same prophecy, that the faithful servant will be rewarded with eternal happiness; but that the portion of the evil servant will be with the hypocrites, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is our own fault if this is not beneficial to us. Our Lord has taught us how we may render it so :-"Take heed to yourselves," says our Saviour, "lest your hearts be at any time overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. Watch and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." It is our own faults if these prophecies

are not beneficial to us. Our Saviour, who died for us-who will hereafter be our judge-who is willing and anxious to guide us to eternal happiness-gives us this example of his power, and of the vengeance which awaits the rejection of his advice. It is our own faults if we do not attend to his admonitions, and become partakers of eternal happiness.

"Yes, 'mid yon angry and destroying sigus,
O'er us the rainbow of thy mercy shines;
We hail, we bless the covenant of its beam,
Almighty to avenge, Almightiest to redeem,"

Milman's Fall of Jerusalem.

N. P.

SONNET.

(From a small volume of Poems; by one of the Authors of "Poems for Youth.")

O why art thou disquieted, my Soul?

And why do human sufferings dim these eyes?

Is not yon azure heaven thy destined goal,

And thy sweet home of welcome in the skies?

Faint not upon thy weary path—arise!

Gird on the might of wisdom's pure control;
And in thy bosom hush all earthly sighs,

And check the tears that down thy wan cheek roll.
The Father of thy spirit guards its fate;

And the blest spark but for a time did fold
In the low mansion of an earthly mould,

Allied to angels in its native state!

Then faint not, O my Soul! on thy dark way
The light is near thee of eternal day.

STANZAS.

(From the same.)

WEEP not, though lonely and wild be thy path,
And the storms may be gathering round;
There is one who can shield from the hurricane's wrath,
And that one may for ever be found.

He is with thee, around thee,-he lists to thy cry,
And thy tears are recorded by him;

A pillar of fire he will be to thine eye,
Whose brightness no shadow can dim.

[blocks in formation]

O! follow it still through the darkness of night,
In safety 'twill lead to the morrow;
'Tis not like the meteor of earth's fickle light,
Often quench'd in delusion and sorrow:
For pure is the beam, and unfading the ray,
And the tempests assail it in vain ;

When the mists of this world are all vanish'd away,
In its brightness it still will remain.

And weep not though none are around thee to love, For a Father is with thee to bless;

And if griefs have exalted thy spirit above,

[ocr errors]

say, would'st thou wish for one less? He is with thee, whose favour for ever is life: Could a mortal heart guard thee so well? O hush the vain wish, calm thy bosom's wild strife, And forbid but a thought to rebel.

The British Patriot;

NO. VIII.

OF THE ORIGIN AND USE OF MONEY.

(From Smith's Wealth of Nations.)

WHEN the division of labour has been once thorougly established, it is but a very small part of a man's wants which the produce of his own labour can supply. He supplies the far greater part of them by exchanging that surplus part of the produce of his own labour, which is over and above his own consumption, for such parts of the produce of other men's labour as he has occasion for. Every man thus lives by exchanging, or becomes in some measure a merchant, and the society itself grows to be what is properly a commercial society.

But when the division of labour first began to take place, this power of exchanging must frequently have been very much clogged and embarrassed in its operations. One man, we shall suppose, has more of a certain commodity than he himself has occasion for, while another has less. The former consequently would be glad to dispose of, and the latter to purchase a part of his superfluity. But if this latter should chance to have nothing that the former stands in need of, no exchange can be made between them. The butcher has more meat in his shop than he himself can consume, and the brewer and the baker would each of them be willing to purchase a part of it. But if they have nothing to offer in exchange, except the different productions of their respective trades, and the butcher is already provided with all the bread and beer which he has immediate occasion for, no exchange can, in this case, be made between them. He cannot be their merchant, nor they his customers; and they are all of them thus mutually less serviceable to one another. In order to avoid the inconveniency of such situations, every prudent man in every period of society, after the first establishment of the division of labour, must. naturally have endeavoured to manage his affairs in such a manner, as to have at all times by him, besides the peculiar produce of his own industry, a certain quantity of some one commodity or other, such as he imagined few people would be likely to refuse in exchange for the produce of their industry.

Many different commodities, it is probable, were successively both thought of and -employed for this purpose. In the rude ages of society, cattle are said to have been the common instrument of commerce; and though they must have been a most inconvenient one, yet in old times we find things were frequently valued according to the

« AnteriorContinuar »