pointed from Heaven, after (a) the Posterity of Seleucus and Lagus should cease to reign; the latter of which ended in Cleopatra, not long before Jesus, was born. A third Token is in the forementioned Chap. ix. of Daniel; that after the Coming of the Messiah, the City of Jerusalem should be razed; which Prophecy of the Destruction of that City, (b) Josephus himself refers to his own Age. From whence it follows, that the Time limited for the Coming of the Messiah was then past. To this may be referred that of Haggai, Chap. ii. where God comforts Zerubbabel, a Heathen Prince, and Joshua the Son of Josedech, the High-Priest, upon their Sorrow, because the Temple built by them, did not answer the Greatness of the former Temple, with this Promise; that there should be greater Honour done to that Temple, than to the former: Which could be said, neither of the Bigness of the Work, nor of the Materials, nor of the Workmanship, nor of the Ornaments, as is very plain from the History of those Times, in the sacred Writings, and in Josephus, compared with that of the Temple of Solomon: To which we may add, which is observed by the Hebrew Teachers, that there were wanting two very great Endowments in the latter Temple, which were in the former, Rest of the Kingdoms, was the Kingdom of the Messiah. R. Levi Ben Gerson and Saaida affirm the Son of Man in Daniel, to be the Messiah.

(a) The Posterity of Seleucus and Lagus, &c.] See the Annotations upon this, in the First Book.

(b) Josephus himself refers to his own Age, &c.] Book X. Chap. 12. "Daniel wrote concerning this Time, and concerning the Roman Empire, and that (our Nation) should be destroyed by it. God" having discovered all these Things "to him, he left them us in Writing; so that whoever reads "them, and considers what has come to pass, cannot but ad"mire the Honour God did to Daniel." Jaccides also upon Dan. ix. 24. tells us, that the seventy Weeks of Years were. finished in the Destruction of Jerusalem.

viz. (a) a visible Light, as a Token of the Divine Majesty, and a Divine Inspiration: But wherein this latter Temple was to exceed the former, God briefly declares, when he says, (b) that he would establish his Peace, that is, his Favour and Good-will in that Temple, as it were by a firm Covenant: This is further prosecuted by Malachi, Chap. iii. Behold I will send my Messenger, who shall prepare my Ways; (c) and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his Temple (now Malachi lived after the latter Temple was built,) Even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in. Therefore the Messiah ought to come while the second Temple stood, (d) in which Account, is reckoned by the Hebrews, all the Time from Zerubbabel to Vespasian; for the Temple in the Time of Herod the Great, was not rebuilt from the Foundation, but only (e) gradually renewed by Parts; notwithstanding which Alteration, it might be called the same

(a) A visible Light as a Token, &c.] In the Title concerning Instruction, and the Jerusalem Gemara, Chap. 3.

(b) That he would establish his Peace, &c.] We must observe what goes before. "The Desire of all the Nations shall come " and I will fill this House with Glory." Which wonderfully agrees with what we have taken out of Malachi; so that these two Prophets may serve for Interpreters of each other. Rabba Akiba, and many others, as Rabbi Solomon testifies, were of Opinion, that the Messiah ought to come in the second Temple.

(c) And the Lord whom ye seek, &c.] This Place of Malachi, the Jews commonly explain of the Messiah.

(d) in which account is reckoned, &c.] As in the Talmud, Chap. the last, concerning the Council; and that entitled Jorna, and that entitled Roch. Hasschana.

(e) Gradually renewed by Parts, &c.] Philo, concerning the World: "That is not corruptible, all the Parts of which

corrupting gradually; but that all the Parts of which are destroyed together at the same Time." Add to this, L. proponebatur. D. de Judicis, & L. quid tamen. Sect. in navis D. quibus modis ususfructus amittatur.

Temple.

Temple. And indeed there was so firm an Expectation of the Messiah at that Time, amongst the Hebrews, and their Neighbours, (a) that Herod was thought by some to be the Messiah, (b) Judas Gaulonita by others, (c) and some more by others, who lived about the Time of our Saviour.

SECT. XV.

(With an Answer to what is alledged, that his Coming was deferred upon the Account of the Sins of the People.)

THE Jews see themselves put to Difficulties by these Arguments: That they may elude the Force of them; therefore, some say that their Sins were the Cause why he did not come at the promised Time. Now not to mention, (d) that in the fore

ટુર

cited

(a) That Herod was thought by some, &c.] These were the Herodians, Matt. xii. 16. Mark iii. 6. viii. 13. xii. 15. Tertullian, in his Enumeration of Heretics; Amongst these were "the Herodians, who said that Herod was the Christ." And Epiphanius says the same of them: Agreeable to which, is that of the ancient Scholiast on Perseus; "Herod reigned amongst "the Jews, in the Time of Augustus, in the Parts of Syria; "therefore the Herodians keep the Birth-day of Herod, as "they do the Sabbath, upon which Day they put lighted Candles crowned with Violets on their Windows."

66

(b) Judas Gaulonita by others, &c.] See Josephus XVIII. 1.

(c) And some more by others, &c.] Acts xxi. 38. Josephus has many Instances in the Time of Felix, and some after the Destruction of Jerusalem.

(d) That in the forecited Prophecies, &c.] This is expressly affirmed by R. Jochnaan in Schemoth Rabbi, and R. David Kaimchi, on Psalm cviii. 5. Josephus, Book X. towards the End, says well of Daniel: "That in his Prophecies, he "not only foretold what was to come, like the other Pro"phets; but he determined the Time in which those Things "should come to pass. That the Decree of the Messiah's

cited Prophecies, what is determined by them, has no Signs of being suspended upon any Conditions; how could his Coming be deferred on the Account of their Sins, when this also was foretold, that for the many and great Sins of the. People, (a) the City should be destroyed, a little after the Time of the Messiah? Further, the Messiah was to come for this very Reason, (b) that he might bring a Remedy for the most corrupt Age; and together with the Rules of reforming their Lives, assure them of Pardon of their Sins. Whence it is said in Zachary, Chap. xiii. concerning his Time; that a Fountain should then be opened, to the House of David and to all in Jerusalem, to wash away their Sins; and it is a common Thing among the Jews, to call the Messiah, (c) ISCH COPHER, that is, the Appeaser. It is therefore very repugnant to Reason to say, that that was deferred upon the Account of the Disease, which was directly appointed for that Disease.

SECT. XVI,

Also from the Present State of the Jews, compared with the Promises of the Law.

AS to what we said, that the Messiah is long since come upon Earth, even Experience might

being sent at that Time was not suspended upon any Conditions, appears also from Malachi iii. 1. Besides, seeing that the Messiah was to be the Author of the New Covenant, as Malachi in that Place, and other Prophets shew; his Coming could not be suspended on the Condition of observing that Covenant he came to abolish.

(a) The City should be destroyed, &c.] Dan. ix. 24.

(b) That he might bring a Remedy, &c.] Isaiah, liii. 4. and following Verses. Jeremiah xxxi. 31. and what follows, Ezekiel xi. 19. 21.

(c) Isch Copher, 101] See the Chaldee Paraphrase on Cant. i. 14. R. Judas in Chasidim, and on R. Simeon in Bereschith Rabbah, say, that the Messiah should bear our Sins. convince

7

convince the Jews. (a) God promised them, in the Covenant made with Moses, a quiet Possession of the Land of Palestine, so long as they conformed their Lives to the Precepts of the Law: And on the contrary, (b) if they sinned grievously against it, he threatened to drive them out; and such like Evils: Yet, notwithstanding this, if at any Time, when under the Pressure of these Calamities, and led by Repentance of their Sins, they returned to Obedience, he would be merciful towards his People, and cause them to return into their own Country, though dispersed into the farthest Parts of the World; as you may see in many Places, particularly Deut. xxx. and Nehemiah i. now it is above fifteen hundred Years since the Jews have been out of their own Country, and without a Temple: And if at any Time they (c) attempted to build a new one, they were always hindered. (d) Nay, Ammianus Marcellinus, who was not a Christian Writer, reports that Balls of Fire broke out of the Foundation, and destroyed their Work. When of old, the People had defiled themselves with the greatest Wickedness, every where sacrificed their Children to Saturn, looked upon Adultery as nothing, spoiled the Widows and the Orphans, shed innocent Blood in

But

(a) God promised them in the Covenant, &c.] Exodus xv. Levit. xviii. Levit. vi. vii. xi. xxviii.

(b) If they sinned grievously against it, &c.] Levit. xxvi. Deut. iv. xi. xxviii.

(c) Attempted to build a new one, &c.] In the Times of Adrian, Constantine and Julian. Chrysostom II. against the Jews.

(d) Nay, Ammianus Marcellinus, &c.] Book xxiij. Chrysostom II. against the Jews. "Fire immediately broke out of "the Foundation, and burnt many Men, and also the Stones "of that Place." The whole Place is worth reading. The same Author has the like Words in his Fourth Homily upon Matthew, and in his Discourse of Christ's being God.