Page:Light and truth.djvu/220

218 their rejecting him. a new addition of these fatal denunciations, which we find in Matt, xxiv Mark xiii. Luke xix. 41—44. chap. xxi. and xxiii. 27—30. These were to have a primary fulfilment in the desolation of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish commonwealth. This primary fulfilment, Christ assured them, should take place in that generation; and the denunciation wasflulfilled. This fulfilment, inasmuch as it demonstrated the truth and divinity of our Savior, exhibited a type of the destruction of Antichrist, and of the wicked at the end of world; and shows the danger of rejecting the Son of God, and ought to be duly noted in the church and frequently contemplated. It is a subject too much neglected and forgotten in the present Christian world. I design then to give a concise description of the event in which Jesus Christ came in awful judgment upon the infidel Jews, and vindicated his cause against his persecutors and murderers.

This noted city was owned by the warlike Jebusites, when the Israelites entered Canaan, and contained two parts called the upper and lower city, built on two mountains, Zion and Acra. In the higher city they long defended themselves against the Hebrews. Here they remained till king David subdued them, and called their city the City of David.

Herod the Great, when he repaired or rebuilded the Temple, added vast strength and embellishments to this city; which accounts for its superb state and strength when it was destroyed.

The Hebrew nation possessed this city for many centuries; it was the cradle of the true and only church of God on earth. There, glorious things were wrought for her salvation; patriarchs had there prayed, sacrificed and praised; there prophets had prophesied; and the Almighty had often made bare his holy arm. There his people had too often apostatized and were expelled from their Canaan, and again mercifully restored. There the Ten tribes of Israel renounced the House or City of David, and their Clod, and wore hence banished to some unknown region of the world, while the Jews were still retained in the covenant of their God. There, God manifest in the flesh, made his appearance on earth; performed his public ministry; atoned for the sins of the