)
The general agreement of the description with the event, viz. with the
ruin of the Jewish nation, and the capture of Jerusalem under Vespasian,
thirty-six years after Christ's death, is most evident; and the
accordancy in various articles of detail and circumstances has been
shown by many learned writers. It is also an advantage to the inquiry,
and to the argument built upon it, that we have received a copious
account of the transaction from Josephus, a Jewish and contemporary
historian. This part of the case is perfectly free from doubt. The only
question which, in my opinion, can be raised upon the subject is,
whether the prophecy was really delivered before the event? I shall
apply, therefore, my observations to this point solely.
1. The judgment of antiquity, though varying in the precise year of the
publication of the three Gospels, concurs in assigning them a date prior
to the destruction of Jerusalem. (Lardner, vol. xiii.)
2. This judgment is confirmed by a strong probability arising from the
course of human life. The destruction of Jerusalem took place in the
seventieth year after the birth of Christ.
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