Thessalonica. In the epistle to the Romans, he
asserts that the Christian faith was then, ten years
before "the end," "spoken of throughout the whole
world." To the Colossians, about three years after,
he asserts that the gospel had been "preached to
every creature which is under heaven;" meaning,
that to all nations, without distinction, it had been
published. Tacitus bears witness, that in the sixth
year before the destruction of Jerusalem, during
Nero's persecution, the religion of Christ had not only
extended over Judea, but through Rome also; and
that its followers were then so numerous, that "
"a
vast multitude" were apprehended and condemned to
martyrdom." Thus, impossible as such an event
must have seemed at the time when this prophecy
was uttered, the end did not come until the gospel
of the kingdom of Christ was preached "in all the
world." We know not which should be considered
the most impressive evidence that God was with the
gospel, this wonderful fact, brought to pass by such
means, and in the face of such universal and deadly
opposition, or the prophetic eye by which the Saviour
predicted, in circumstances so unpromising, that thus
it would be.

8. The next prophetic sign brings us almost to the awful catastrophe. "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies;" or, as the expression is in Matthew, "When ye shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place," "then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."

"Then let them

Tac. Ann. b. 15.

r

which be in Judea flee into the mountains; let him which is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes."

By "the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place," Matthew expresses the same thing as when Luke speaks of Jerusalem being "compassed with armies." The standards of the Roman armies had on them images to which idolatrous worship was paid, and which were therefore an abomination to the Jews. On this account, we read that a Roman general, when conducting his army through Judea towards Arabia, was besought by the principal Jews to lead it another way. "Every idol and every image," says Chrysostom, "was called an abomination among the Jews." These idolatrous ensigns being connected with a desolating army, constituted them "the abomination of desolation ;" and when the Roman army planted its standards around the holy city, the abomination of desolation literally stood "in the holy place," or on holy ground. This the Saviour predicted. It was to be the signal to Christians that the desolation of Jerusalem was nigh. Then they were to escape with haste to the mountains. The warning implied, that even after the city was encompassed with armies they would have an opportunity of escape; but, at the same time, that the opportunity would be brief. All this came to pass. One would suppose that the Christians, in having delayed till the city was surrounded with a besieging host, would thus have * Luke 21: 20; Mat. 24: 15-18. ↑ Ant. b. 18, ch. 6, sec. 3.

waited till all escape was cut off. But a remarkable providence took care that they should await the sign, and yet obey the admonition to flee. Cestius Gallus the Roman general, at the commencement of the war, besieged the city, took possession of the suburbs, encamped over against the royal palace, and might easily, Josephus says, have got within the walls and won the city. Indeed, "many of the principal men were about to open the gates to him." But although the abomination of desolation was thus in the holy place, the followers of Christ were there also. The time of the end, therefore, was not yet come. An opportunity must be found for them to flee. The Lord sees to this. Just as the city was ready to open its gates to the Roman chief, "he recalled his soldiers from the place without having received any disgrace, and retired from the city without any reason in the world." This the Jewish historian expressly ascribes to a special interposition of Providence, though he knew not its object. It could be accounted for on no military or prudential considerations. Josephus relates that many principal men of Jerusalem embraced this opportunity to depart from the city as from a sinking ship. A short time after, when the Roman armies were again approaching with the abomination of desolation towards the holy place, our historian states that a great multitude fled to the mountains.* Among these were probably the disciples of Christ. But we learn more certainly from ecclesiastical historians of the early centuries, that at this crisis all

* Wars, b. 2, ch. 20, sec. 1. † Ibid. b. 4, ch. 8, sec. 2.

the followers of Christ took refuge in the mountainous regions beyond Jordan, thus obeying the prophetic warning of their Lord; so that there is nowhere any mention of a single Christian having perished in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.* But as the Saviour forewarned them, what they were to do they had to do quickly. For as soon as Jerusalem was again encompassed with armies, it was surrounded entirely with a wall, so that, in the words of the historian, "all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews."

Who the enemy would be, and what the power and fury and universal spread of his desolations, the Saviour foretold by the use of this proverbial expression, "Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together." Prophecy often speaks a great deal in a few words. The carcass was the Jewish nation, given over, as thoroughly corrupt and forsaken of God, to be devoured as by birds of prey. An army is distinguished by its banners. They constitute its characteristic insignia. The banners of the Roman army were surmounted by eagles, emblems of strength, of swiftness, and ferocity. By these the Saviour described it as that which would desolate Jerusalem. Literally, wherever the carcass was, these eagles were gathered. Josephus testifies that all parts of the land participated in the desolations of Jerusalem. The legions of Rome, like flocks

Lardner, vol. 3, p. 507; Newton, ch. 2, p. 266. † Wars, b. 5, ch. 12, sec. 2, 3.

Matt. 24: 28.

Wars, b. 4, ch. 8, sec. 1.

of birds of prey, flew from city to city, spreading devastation and slaughter wherever they planted their standards. With eagle-swiftness they descended upon the unprepared population; with eagle-strength they triumphed over every opposition; with eaglefierceness they devoured and tore in pieces, sparing neither age nor sex, sending into hopeless slavery the few who escaped the sword. The melancholy record of Jotapata relates that all its population were slain, but infants and women. These were carried into bondage. The rest, forty thousand, were slaughtered. Joppa was demolished; the neighboring villages were destroyed; the whole region was laid waste. Of all the population of Gamala, two women alone escaped. Here, not even infants were spared the sword. Such was the extreme awfulness of the slaughter, that many Jews in preference threw their children, their wives, and themselves, from the hill on which the citadel was built, into the deep abyss below. The number that perished thus was computed at five thousand. These are but a few cases out of the many which illustrate the perfect accomplishment of the prediction before us.*

9. But our Lord foretold not only the enemy by whom Jerusalem would be destroyed, but the means

How minutely were the enemy and his desolations described by Moses as much as one thousand five hundred years before the war. "The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young: and he shall eat the fruit of thy