pass away, but my words shall not pass away;" that is, the frame of the universe shall sooner or more easily be dissolved, than my words shall not be fulfilled. Accordingly we learn from Josephus, that the Jewish war began in the second year of the government of Florus ; in the twelfth year of Nero, and the seventeenth of the same Agrippa, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles: that is, the war began in the month of May, and in the year of our Lord sixty-six. The temple was burnt on the tenth of August, in the year seventy. And the city was taken in the same year, on the eighth of September, so that our Lord's prediction that the generation to whom he delivered the prophecy should not pass away till it was fulfilled literally came to pass.

Titus, after the overthrow of Jerusalem, in the

year of our Lord seventy, caused the golden table of the showbread, the golden candlestick, the silver trumpets, and the book of the law to be taken out of the temple and to be carried in triumph to Rome; and Vespasian, the emperor, lodged them in the temple which he had consecrated to the goddess of

peace. At

the foot of Mount Palatine, on the Via Sacra, leading from the Forum to the Amphitheatre, there still exist the ruins of a triumphal arch, on which the triumph of Titus for his conquest of the Jews is represented; and on which the several monuments above mentioned, carried in triumph by Titus to Rome are sculptured, particularly the golden candlestick, the table of the showbread, and the two silver trumpets : correct models of this arch are common in England. The inscription translated is as follows: "The senate, and people of Rome, to the divine Titus, son of the divine Vespasian; and to Vespasian the emperor. To behold, my brethren, things so sacred gracing the triumph of a heathen emperor, and at last consecrated to an idol, affords an awful illustration of the judgments of God. At the same time, how wonderful was the providence, that that very people who destroyed the holy city, carried away the spoils of the temple, and

* See some elegant engravings of the arch of Titus in a superb work, entitled The Architectural Antiquities of Rome, by G. L. Taylor, and Edward Cresy, published so lately as 1821; particularly at page 12, vol. 1.

dedicated them to the objects of their idolatry should be the first in the world to receive the preaching of the Gospel, the light of salvation, and the bread of life: those very blessings which had been for so many ages emblematically represented to the Jews, by the silver trumpets, the golden candlesticks, and the golden table of showbread. There is here a coincidence worthy of the most serious attention. The Jews had these, as well as other significant emblems, to lead them to, and to prepare them for, the things signified. They trusted in the former, and rejected the latter. God therefore deprived them of both, and gave up their temple to the spoilers, their land to desolation, and themselves to captivity and the sword. The heathens carried away the emblems of their salvation, and God soon afterwards gave to those heathens that very salvation of which these things were the emblems. And thus, according to another prediction of our Lord in the 21st chapter of St. Matthew, because of their unbelief and rebellion, "the kingdom of God was taken from the Jews, and

given to a nation," that is to the Gentiles, "that

brought forth the fruits thereof." Well might the apostle exclaim in the contemplation of this subject when writing to the Romans; "Behold the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but towards thee, goodness; if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shall be cut off. O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!"

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Besides the triumphal arch thus noticed, there is also an ancient inscription to the honour of Titus, which, after the usual introduction, concludes thus: Who, by his father's directions and counsels, had subdued the Jewish nation, and destroyed Jerusalem, which had never been destroyed by any generals, kings, or people before?" A medal likewise was struck on this occasion; presenting on the one side an inscription round the head of the emperor; and on the other, a palm tree, the emblem of the land of Judea; the emperor with a trophy standing on the left; and Judea, under the figure of a distressed woman, sitting and weeping at the foot of the palm tree with her head

The

bowed down and supported by her hand. exact time, however, of these judgments, our Lord declares was unknown to all creatures. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man ; no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.". In the 13th chapter of St. Mark this is expressed still stronger: " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels which are in heaven; neither the Son, but the Father." To understand this, as well as many other passages of scripture aright, it is necessary to consider our Saviour in two respects: in his human, and in his divine nature. As he was the great teacher and revealer of his father's will, he might know more than the angels, and yet he might not know all things. It is said in St. Luke, that "Jesus increased in wisdom, and stature, and in favour with God and man." He "increased in wisdom," consequently, in his human nature, he was not omniscient. In his human nature he was the Son of David; in his divine nature he was the Lord of David. In his human nature he was upon earth; in his divine nature he was in heaven, even while upon earth, as he himself