The three evangelists, one of
whom was his immediate companion, and the other two associated with his
companions, were, it is probable, not much younger than he was. They
must, consequently, have been far advanced in life when Jerusalem was
taken; and no reason has been given why they should defer writing their
histories so long.
3. (Le Clerc, Diss. III. de Quat. Evang. num. vii. p. 541.) If the
evangelists, at the time of writing the Gospels, had known of the
destruction of Jerusalem, by which catastrophe the prophecies were
plainly fulfilled, it is most probable that, in recording the
predictions, they would have dropped some word or other about the
completion; in like manner as Luke, after relating the denunciation of a
dearth by Agabus, adds, "which came to pass in the days of Claudius
Caesar;" (Acts xi. 28.) whereas the prophecies are given distinctly in
one chapter of each of the first three Gospels, and referred to in
several different passages of each, and in none of all these places does
there appear the smallest intimation that the things spoken of had come
to pass.
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