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CHAP. II.

Of the Treatment given to the primitive Christians by the unbelieving Jews.

JUSTIN, in his Dialogue with Trypho,' speaks to this purpose-For ye have killed the Just, and his prophets before him; and now you despise, and, as much as in you lies, disparage them who hope in him, and in God Almighty, Lord of the whole world who sent him, cursing in your 'synagogues those who believe in Christ. For it is not now in your power to lay hands upon us being hindered by them who have the chief government of things. But whenever you have had it in your power, you have done that also...For no other people are so averse to us, and Christ, as you, who are the authors of all the prejudices which others have against Him and us : for after that you had crucified Him, that one unblamable and righteous Man, by whose stripes they are healed, who come to the Father through Him; and when ye knew that he was risen from the dead, and was ascended into heaven, as the prophets had foretold; you not only did not repent of the evil that you had done, but you sent out chosen men from Jerusalem into all the earth, saying, that an atheistical sect, called Christians, had arisen among you: thus spreading abroad all those evil reports concerning us, which all who are ignorant of us now believe. So that you have been the causes not only of your own wickedness, but likewise of the wicked'ness of others."

Eusebius, rehearsing the works of Justin, has transcribed this passage from his Dialogue with Trypho.

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And afterwards, in the same dialogue, or the second part of it- Notwithstanding all that Christ said to you, you did not repent. So far from it, that after he was risen from the dead you sent forth chosen men into all the world, giving out, that a wicked and atheistical sect was risen, the author of which was one Jesus of Galilee, an impostor; whom, when you had cru'cified, his disciples stole out of the sepulchre by night, where he had been laid after his crucifixion; and that they deceived men, saying, that he was risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. Moreover you gave out, that he taught those wicked and impure and abominable things, which you every where charge upon all those who confess Him to be the Christ, and their master, and the Son of God. And though your city has been taken, and your country laid waste, you do not repent; but still pronounce curses upon him, and upon all who believe

• in him.'

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He has somewhat to the like purpose, once more afterwards, in the same dialogue; where he chargeth them with hating all who believed in God through Christ, and killing them wher they had power, and still continually devoting him and them to destruction.

Tertullian does not expressly say all this; but he often intimates, that the Jews were the principal authors of the reproaches cast upon the Christians: and he speaks of one calumny in particular, which had been then lately forged by them, in his own time. Origen says much the same that Justin does. says, that therein he acted much like the

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Dial. p. 335. Paris. sect. 108. p. 202. Bened. d. Dial. p. 363. Paris. sect. 133. p. 225. Bened.

Nova jam de Deo nostro fama suggessit. Adeo nuper quidam perditissimus in istà civitate, etiam suæ religionis desertor, solo detrimento cutis, Judæus... picturam in nos proposuit sub istâ proscriptione, Onochoetes. Is erat auribus canteriorum, et in togâ, cum libro, altero pede ungulato. Et credidit vulgus Judæo. Quod enim aliud genus seminarium est infamiæ nostræ ? Itaque in totâ civitate Onochoetes prædicatur. Adv. Nat. 1. i. cap. 14. p. 59. Vid. et Ap. cap. 10. P. 17. D. et conf. Minuc. Fel. cap. ix. et xxviii.

Having taken notice of some things in Celsus, Jews of old, who at the rise of the Christian

Dehinc, cum ex perseverantiâ furoris, et nomen Domini per ipsos blasphemaretur, sicut scriptum est: Propter vos blasphematur nomen meum in nationibus :' (ab illis enim cœpit infamia:) et tempus medium a Tiberio usque ad Vespasia num, non pœnitentiam intellexissent, facta est terra eorum deserta, civitates eorum exustæ igni; regionem eorum sub eorum conspectu extranei devorant. Adv. Marcion. 1. iii. cap. 23. p. 498. B.

* Και δοκεί μοι παραπλησιον Ιεδαίοις πεποιηκέναι, τοις κατα την αρχήν της το Χρισιανισμό διδασκαλίας κατασκεδάσασι δυσφημίαν το λόγο ώς αρα καταθύσαντες παιδιον, μεταλαμ βάνεσι αυτό των σαρκών και παλιν, ότι οἱ απο το λόγο, τα τα σκοτε πράττειν βελόμενοι, σβεννυεσι μεν το φως, έκαςος δε τη παρατυχωση μίγνυται. Contr. Cels. 1. 6. num. 27. p. 293,

religion spread abroad calumnies against it; as if the Christians killed a child, and ate it, and 'putting out the lights practised promiscuous lewdness. Which calumnies, though very absurd, were in former times believed by many.'

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And Eusebius, in his commentary upon Is. xviii. 1, 2. • We find in the writings of the 'ancients,' says he, that the priests and elders of the Jewish nation, who dwelt at Jerusalem, wrote letters which they sent to the Jews abroad in all countries, traducing the doctrine of Christ, as a new and strange heresy, and exhorting them not to embrace it.'

Whether the Jews did send out men in this manner, before the destruction of Jerusalem, to asperse the followers of Jesus, is not quite certain. The question is particularly considered by the Benedictines in their preface to Justin Martyr. The origin of the early calumnies upon the Christians is somewhat doubtful. Some have supposed them to have been occasioned by the absurd doctrines, and vicious lives, of those called heretics. However, I formerly proposed some observations, tending to shew that they are not to be accounted for in that way.

It is certain that the Christians were very early aspersed with crimes of which they were not guilty. When St. Paul was come a prisoner to Rome, he sent for the chief of the Jews of that city to come to him, who say to him" As for this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against," Acts xxviii. 22. Those words might be spoken in the year of Christ 61, and not far from the beginning of it. And Tacitus, giving an account of Nero's persecution of the Christians which seems to have begun in the year 64, intimates, that the Christians were generally hated for the crimes imputed to them.'

Whether the Jewish rulers did, before the destruction of Jerusalem, send abroad messengers and letters on purpose to defame the doctrine of Christ and his followers, or not, it must be allowed to be true, which Justin says, that no other people were so averse to Christ and his followers as the Jews. It must be allowed to be very true, which he likewise says of them, that they continued to anathematize Jesus Christ and his followers.

In the authentic account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, at Smyrna, when he was condemned to be burnt, it is said, that presently the people brought together dried wood, and branches of trees from their shops, and from the baths; in which the Jews especially, as is usual with them, readily assisted.'

We are assured by Jerom, that the Jews anathematized the Christians under the name of Nazareans, in their synagogues, thrice every day. So he writes in his commentary upon Is. v. 18, 19. And again in like manner upon Is. xlix. 7, and upon the first chapter of the prophecy of Amos.

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Epiphanius says, that the Jews three times every day anathematized the Nazareans in their synagogues. For they were more especially displeased with them, because, though they were Jews, they believed in Jesus as the Christ.'

All which may be very true. The Jews, as Jerom says, anathematized in their synagogues all Christians under the denomination of Nazareans; and yet, as Epiphanius says, they were more especially displeased with those believers who were of the seed of Israel.

These passages of ancient Christian writers do sufficiently attest the early and continued

enmity of the unbelieving Jews, to all Christians of every denomination.

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There are still some other things to be here taken notice of. For some time after our Saviour's

Εύρομεν εν τοις παλαίων συγγραμμασιν, ὡς οἱ την Ιερεσαλημ οικέντες τε των Ιεδαίων εθνες ιερείς και πρεσβύτεροι γραμ ματα διαχαράξαντες εις παντα διεπέμψαντο τα εθνη τοις πανταχε Ιεδαίοις, διαβάλλοντες την Χρισε διδασκαλίαν, ὡς αἱρεσιν καινην και αλλοτρίαν το Θε8, παραγγέλλοντες δι επιτολών μη wapadεğaclaι aury. Euseb. in Es. c. xviii. p. 424.

Pr. Part. 3. c. iv. p. 76, &c.

Credib. P. ii. ch. xxix. Vol. i. p. 452.

Ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos, et quæsitissimis pœnis affecit, quos, per flagitia invisos, vulgus Christianos appellabat. Tac. Ann. 1. 15. c. 44.

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. . μάλισα Ιεδαίων προθύμως, ως εθος αυτοίς, εις τετο Swapyavτwv. Ap. Euseb. H. E.1. 4. cap. 15. 133. A.

Dicuntur autem hæc ad principes Judæorum, qui supra arguti sunt in avaritiâ et luxuriâ; quod, provocati a Domino ad pœnitentiam, et postea ab apostolis ejus, usque hodie perseverant in blasphemiis; et ter per singulos dies in omnibus

synagogis sub nomine Nazarenorum anathematizant vocabulum Christianum. In Is. cap. v. T. 3. p. 53.

Ipse enim bonus pastor posuit animam suam pro ovibus suis, et contempsit eam; qui abominationi est genti Judæorum, cui ter per singulos. dies sub nomine Nazarenorum maledicunt in synagogis suis. Id. in Is. c. xlix. T. 3. p. 353...

hantiquumque furorem et iracundiam tenentes, usque hodie in synagogis suis sub nomine Nazarenorum blasphemant populum Christianum, et, dummodo nos interficiant, volunt igne comburi. In Amos. cap. i. p. 1378. fin.

: Ου μόνον γαρ οἱ των Ιεδαίων παίδες προς τέτες κεκτηνται μισος, αλλ' ανισάμενοι έωθεν, και μεσης ἡμέρας, και περι ἔσπε ραν, τρις τῆς ἡμέρας, ότε ευχας επιτελεσιν εν ταις αυτών συναγωγαίς, επαρώνται αυτοίς, και αναθεματίζεσι, φασκοντες, ότι επικατάρασαι ὁ Θεός της Νασωραιες. Και γαρ τάτοις περισσό τερον ενέχεσι, δια το απο Ιεδαίων αυτές οντας, Ιησεν κηρύσσειν εiyal Xgisov. x. λ. Epiph. H. 29. sect. ix. p. 124.

ascension, they aspersed the character of Mary, our Lord's mother, and reproached him with a spurious nativity. When these aspersions were first given out, we cannot say exactly; but they are in Celsus, who wrote against the Christians about the middle of the second century; and doubtless he had them from the Jews: they are also in the Talmudical writings, as we shall see hereafter.

In order to disparage our Lord's miracles, they gave out that they were performed by magical arts, such as he had learned in Egypt. This calumny also is in Celsus; and doubtless he had it from the Jews. It is also in the Talmudical writers, as we shall see hereafter.

In the time of the emperor Adrian, about the year of Christ 132, the Jews rebelled under the conduct of the impostor Barchochebas, who set up himself for the Messiah, who inflicted heavy penalties upon the Christians, to induce them to deny and blaspheme Jesus Christ; and if they did not, he ordered them to be put to death.' So writes Justin Martyr, who lived at that time. Some have censured Justin for saying that Barchochebas tortured Christians only; but without reason, as seems to me. For certain, the Christians were, above all men, objects of his and his followers enmity: nor could any be called upon to deny Jesus Christ, but such as had received him for the Messiah. Of the sufferings of the Christians at that time, Eusebius speaks in his Chronicle, and in his Ecclesiastical history: not now to refer to any others.

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CHAP. III.

JOSEPHUS, WITH HIS TESTIMONY AT LARGE TO THE FULFILMENT OF OUR SAVIOUR'S PREDICTIONS CONCERNING THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE AND THE CITY OF JERUSALEM, AND THE MISERIES COMING UPON THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

I. His time, works, and character. II. The state of things in Judea in the time of our Saviour, and some while before. III. Our Lord's predictions concerning the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem, and the miseries to be endured by the Jewish people—with the several signs preceding those calamities, as recorded in the gospels. IV. The dates of several events: viz. the commencement and the duration of the war, and the siege of Jerusalem-when the temple was burnt, and the city taken. V. Of the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. VI. The actual accomplishment of our Saviour's predictions concerning divers events that should precede the great calamities coming upon the Jewish people-the gospel preached all over the world— the disciples of Christ persecuted in many places-declensions among his followers-famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places-wars and commotions. VII. The occasion of the Jewish war with the Romans, as represented by Josephus. VIII. The history of the Jewish war from Josephus, with his account of the siege of Jerusalem, and the miseries endured therein, and the demolition of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the desolation of the land of Judea, being his testimony to the fulfilment of our Lord's predictions of those events. IX. Reflections upon the preceding history, and the value of the testimony of Josephus. X. Other ancient writers, who have borne witness to the accomplishment of our Lord's predictions in the conquest of Judea by Vespasian and Titus-Justus of Tiberias-Pausanias-Antonius Julianus Suetonius-Tacitus -Dion Cassius-Philostratus-The arch of Titus.

I. JOSEPHUS, son of Matthias, of the race of the Jewish priests, and of the first course of the four and twenty, by his mother descended from the Asmonean family, which for a considerable time had the supreme government of the Jewish nation, was born in the first year of the reign of Caligula, of our Lord 37.

a Vid. Orig. Contr. Cels. 1. i. num. 28, et 32. p. 22, et 26. b Vid. Orig. Contr. Cels. 1. i. sect. 28. p. 22.

• Και γαρ εν τῷ νῦν γεγενημένῳ Ιεδαϊκῳ πολέμῳ, Βαρχοχε βας, ὁ της Ιεδαίων αποφασεως αρχηγέτης, Χρισιανός μόνες εις τιμωρίας δεινας, ει μη αρνοιντο Ιησεν τον Χρισον, και βλασφη μόνεν, εκελεύσατο απάγεσθαι. Αp. i. p. 72. E. Par. p. 62. Bened.

d Cochebas dux Judaïcæ factionis nolentes Christianos adversum Romanum militem ferre subsidium omnimodis cruciatibus necat. Chron. p. 167.

A. E. 1. 4. c. 6.

f Vid. Moshem. de reb. Christianor. ante Const. p. 238, 239.

Joseph. in Vita sua. cap. i.

He was educated together with Matthias, who was his own brother by father and mother, and made such proficience in knowledge, that when," he was about fourteen years of age the high priests, and some of the principal men of the city, came frequently to him to consult him about the right interpretation of things in the law. In the sixteenth year of his age he retired into the wilderness, where he lived three years an abstemious course of life, in the company of Banus. Having fully acquainted himself with the principles of the three sects, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes, he determined to follow the rule of the Pharisees. And being now nineteen years of age, he began to act in public life.

Felix, when procurator of Judea, sent some priests of his acquaintance for a trifling offence to Rome, to be tried before Cæsar. Josephus, hearing that they behaved well, resolved to go to Rome to plead their cause: but he had a bad voyage; the ship was wrecked; and out of six hundred persons, not more than eighty were saved. Soon after his arrival at Rome he became acquainted with Aliturius, a Jew by birth, but a stage-player, in favour with Nero. By him he was introduced to Poppaa, the emperor's wife; by whose interest he procured that the priests should be set at liberty. Josephus, who never omits what may be to his own honour, adds, that beside that favour, he also received from Poppaa many valuable presents; and then he returned home. This voyage was made, as he says, in the 26th year of his age, which must have been in the 62d or 63d year of Christ.

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Upon his return to Judea he found things in great confusion, many being elevated with hopes of advantage by a revolt from the Romans. He says, he did what lay in his power to prevent it, though in vain.

Soon after the beginning of the war, in the year of Christ 66, (when he must have been himself about thirty years of age) he was sent from Jerusalem to command in Galilee; where, having ordered matters as well as he could, and made the best preparations for war, by fortifying the cities in case of an attack from the Romans, he was at length shut up in the city of Jotapata which, after a vigorous defence, and a siege of seven and forty days, was taken by Vespasian," on the first day of July, in the 13th year of Nero and the 67th of our Lord.

When that city was taken, by Vespasian's order strict search was made for Josephus; for if that general was once taken, he reckoned that the greatest part of the war would be over. However, he had hid himself in a deep cavern, the opening of which was not easily discerned above ground. Here he met with forty persons of eminence, who had concealed themselves, and had with them provisions enough for several days. On the third day the Roman soldiers seized a woman that had been with them. She made a discovery of the place where they were; whereupon Vespasian sent two tribunes, inviting him to come up, with assurances that his life should be preserved. Josephus, however, refused. Vespasian therefore sent a third tribune, named Nicanor, well known to Josephus, with the like assurances. Josephus, after some hesitation, was then willing to surrender himself. But the men who were with him exclaimed against it, and were for killing him and themselves rather than come alive into the hands of the Romans. Hereupon he made a long speech to them, shewing that it was not lawful for men to kill themselves, and that it was rather a proof of pusillanimity than courage: but all without effect. He then proposed an expedient; which was that they should cast lots, two by two, who should die first. He who had the second lot should kill the first, and the next him, and so on, and the last should kill himself. It happened that Josephus and another were preserved to the last lot. When all the rest were killed, he without much difficulty persuaded that other person to yield up himself to the Romans. So they two escaped with their lives. This has been judged to be a remarkable providence, by which Josephus was preserved to write the history, of which we are now able to make so good use.

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When Josephus had surrendered, Vespasian gave strict orders that he should be kept carefully, as if he had intended to send him to Nero. Josephus then presented a request that he might speak to Vespasian in private, which was granted. When all were dismissed, except Titus and two friends, he spoke to Vespasian after this manner. You think, Vespasian, that 'you have in Josephus a mere prisoner. But I am come to you a messenger of great tidings. Had I not been sent to you by God, I know what the law of the Jews is, and how it becomes ' a general to die. Do you intend to send me to Nero? Are they, who are to succeed Nero before you, to continue? You, Vespasian, will be Cæsar: you will be emperor. So will like• wise this your son. Bind me therefore still faster, and reserve me for yourself. For you are lord, not of me only, but of the earth, and the sea, and all mankind. And I for punishment ' deserve a closer confinement if I speak falsehood to you in the name of God.' Vespasian, as he says, at first paid little regard to all this; but afterwards his expectations of empire were raised. Besides,' as he goes on to say, he found Josephus to have spoken truth upon other 'occasions: for when one of his friends, who was admitted to be present at that interview, said, It appeared strange to him that Josephus should not have foretold to the people of Jotapata 'the event of the siege, nor have foreseen his own captivity, if all he now said was not invention 'to save his own life; Josephus answered, that he had foretold to the people of Jotapata, that the place would be taken upon the forty-seventh day of the siege, and that himself should be • taken alive by the Romans. Vespasian having privately inquired of the prisoners concerning these predictions, found the truth of them.'

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All these things I have inserted here for shewing the character of this writer; though the prolixity of my narration be thereby increased.

It is very likely, that he often thought of Joseph in Egypt, and of Daniel at Babylon; and was in hopes of making a like figure at the court of Rome. But I suppose it to be no disparagement to Josephus to say, that he was not equal to them in wisdom, or in virtue and integrity. And the circumstances of things were much altered: the promised Messiah was come; and the Jewish people were no longer entitled to such special regard, as had been shewn them in times past. Nor was it then a day of favour and mercy for them, but the day of the Lord's vengeance against them, as Josephus himself saw: and they were entering into a long captivity, of which they have not yet seen the end, after a period of almost seventeen hundred years, though they are still wonderfully preserved.

Josephus was still a prisoner: but when Vespasian had been proclaimed emperor, he ordered his iron chain to be cut asunder. When Vespasian went to Rome, Josephus continued to be with Titus, and was present at the siege of Jerusalem, and saw the ruin of his city and country.

After the war was over, when Titus went to Rome, he went with him; and Vespasian allotted him an apartment in the same house in which himself had lived before he came to the empire: he also made him a citizen of Rome, and gave him an annual pension; and continued to shew him great respect so long as he lived. His son Titus, who succeeded him, shewed him the like regard. And afterwards Domitian, and his wife Domitia, did him many kind offices.

Josephus, however, does not deny that he had many enemies: but the emperors, in whose times he lived, protected him. Indeed, it is very likely that the Jews should have little regard for a man who was with the Romans in their camp during the siege of their city. He particularly says, that upon the first tidings of the taking of Jotapata, the people of Jerusalem made great and public lamentations for him, supposing that he had been killed in the siege :

a De B. 1. 3. c. 8. sect. 8.

b Ibid. sect. 9.

That is, that a Jewish general should make away with himself, rather than be taken prisoner alive by heathen people. We know not of any such law in the books of the Old Testament. And it seems to be a manifest contradiction to what he says in the speech before referred to.

d Josephus's address to Vespasian is very precise and formal, predicting things then future. Possibly, this speech was improved afterwards, and at the time of writing this history made more clear and express, and more agreeable to the event, than when first spoken.

Among other presages of Vespasian's empire, Suetonius