9, &c.

And, as he must have been about seventy Years old when they were carried away captive, he could, not without divine Inspiration, ascertain the Duration of their Captivity to juft feventy Years. But hear what he says. Behold I will fend and Jer. xxv. take all the families of the north, faith the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my fervant; and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about; and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hif fing, and perpetual defolations: and these nations fhall ferve the king of Babylon Seventy Years. And it shall come to pass when Seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, faith the LORD, for their iniquity. And again; Thus faith the LORD, then ib. xxvi. will I make this boufe like Shiloh; and will make this city a curfe to all the nations of the earth. And again; For thus faith the ib. xxix. LORD, that after feventy years be accomplish'd at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word towards you, in caufing you to return to this place.

I

Agreeably

6.

10.

Agreeably to these Prophecies therefore, Ezra i. 1. Cyrus, the first Year after his Conqueft of Babylon, was stirred up by the Spirit of the LORD to make a Proclamation throughout all his dominions, and alfo to put it in writing; which runs thus: Thus faith Cyrus King of Perfia, &c. The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerufalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Ifrael, &c.

There return'd therefore, under the Conduct of Zerubbabel, forty and two ib. ii. 64. thousand three hundred and threescore; befides Servants and other Attendants amounting to above seven Thousand more: who, in a very fhort Time after, built the Altar of the God of Ifrael, and offer'd Burnt-Offerings thereon, Morning and Evening, under the Administration of Jeshua the High-Prieft. And, in the ib. iii. 8. fecond year after their coming, they began the Foundation of the fecond Tem

ple;

ple; with much folemn Joy and Exultation; after the Ordinance of David King of Ifrael.

12.

3.9.

But, according to a Design fo far short of Solomon's, that many of the Priests and Ezra iii. Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had feen the first house, when the foundation of this house, was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. And the Prophet Haggai, at the fame Time that he excites them to the Building, asks, Who is left a- Haggai ii. mong you that faw this house in her first glory? and how do ye fee it now? is it not in your eyes, in comparison of it, as nothing? And yet, in confideration that the fecond Temple was to be honour'd with the Presence of the Meffiah, the fame Prophet, presently after, writes thus, The glory of this latter houfe fhall be greater than of the former, faith the LORD of bofts.

Whether the Delineation of the Temple Ezekiel faw in a Vifion, in the 25th Ezek. xl. Year of the Captivity, were a Copy af- &c. ter the first, or a Model for the fecond, or intended to typify fomething different I 2

from

from both, is not any where determin'd. Tho' fome Jews have pretended the latter Temple was built after Ezekiel's Plan.

After having been fix and forty Years in building, thro' the frequent Interruptions caus'd by the Samaritans, it was finifh'd, as before obferv'd, in the fixth Year of the Reign of Darius, King of Perfia: And remain'd the fame, except the Pollutions and Indignities with which the Infide of it was violated by Antiochus Epiphanes King of Syria, to our Saviour's Time. For I think no Credit is to be given to the Report Jofephus makes; of its having been rebuilt from the very Foundations, and enlarg'd by Herod, in the Time of Auguftus: of which we have not the leaft Hint in the Gofpel, where Mention is so often made of the Temple; and where it is exprefly faid to have been fix John ii. and forty years in building. It is probable therefore that Herod only repair'd and Hegefip- beautified it; as another Author of good Credit affirms. However, when our LORD was crucified, the veil of it, that which xxvii. 51. ted off the Holy of Holies from the rest,

20.

pus.

Matt.

par

Was

was rent in twain from the top to the bot

tom.

Afterwards the Emperor Caligula ordered an Image of himself to be fet up in it, and divine Honours to be paid to it: which we may look upon as a just Judgment upon the Jews, when they difown'd our LORD, and faid they had no King but Cæfar.

SE C T. XII.

The Second Temple finally destroy'd.

It was not long after, together with the City, burnt by Titus; and the very Foundations of it utterly demolish'd by Adrian: who is faid to have caus'd a Temple to be erected in the fame Place, to the heathen Goddess Venus. The firft of which Things verified that Prediction of our Saviour, when he was viewing the Buildings of the Temple; There shall not Matt be left here one stone upon another that xxiv. 1. Shall not be thrown down: and the latter ib. 15. might probably be the abomination of defolation Spoken of by Daniel the Prophet.

Matt.