which Jefus Chrift died: and all that Da- A. D. niel prophefied, is vifibly contained within the term prefcribed. There would even have been no neceffity for fo much exactnefs, nor does any thing oblige us to take in fo ftrict a fenfe the middle marked by Daniel. The moft difficult would be contented with finding it in any point between the two extremes. This I take notice of, that thofe, who may think they have rea fon to place a little higher, or a little lower, the beginning of Artaxerxes's reign, or the death of our Lord, may not straiten themselves in their calculation, and that those who would attempt to embarass a thing clear, by the quibbles of chronology, may lay afide their fruitless fubtlety.

&

The darknefs which covered the whole Matth. face of the earth at noon-day, and at the xxvii. 45 Phleg. 13. moment of JESUS CHRIST's crucifixion, Olymp. is taken for an ordinary eclipse by heathen Thal. Hift. writers, who have mentioned that memo- 3. Tertull. Apol. 21. rable event. But the primitive Chriftians, Orig. 2. who spoke of it to the Romans as a prodigy cont. Celf. recorded, not only by their own authors, Tr. 35. but even by the public regifters, have Eufeb. & fhewn, that neither at the time of the full Hieren. in Coron. Jul. moon, when JESUS CHRIST died, nor in the whole year, in which that eclipse was obferved, could any one have happened, that was not fupernatural. We have the very words of Phlegon, Hadrian's freed

man,

Afric. Ibid.

A. D.

37.

40.

man, quoted at a time, when his book was in every body's hands; as well as the Syriac hiftories of Thallus, who followed him; and the fourth year of the 2024 Olympiad, marked in Phlegon's annals, is that of the death of our Lord.

To complete the myfteries, JESUS CHRIST rifes from the grave the third day; The appears to his difciples; he afcends into heaven in their prefence; he fends them the Holy Ghoft; the church is formed; perfecution commences; St. Stephen is ftoned; St. Paul is converted. A little after Tiberius dies. Caligula his grand-nephew, his fon by adoption, and his fucceffor, aftonishes the world with his cruel and brutal folly: he claims adoration, and commands his ftatue to be fet up in the temple of Jerufalem. Chereas rids the world of this monfter. Claudius reigns, notwithftanding his ftupidity. He is difhonoured by Meffalina his wife, whom he demands back, after caufing her to be put to death. He is next married to Agrippina, daughActs xv. 6. ter of Germanicus. The Apoftles hold the council of Jerufalem, in which St. Peter fpeaks firft, as he does every where elfe. The converted Gentiles are there freed from the ceremonies of the law. The fentence is pronounced in the name of the Holy Ghoft, and of the church. Acts xvi. 4. St. Paul and St. Barnabas carry the decree

49.

of

58.

60. 62.

63.

&c. 66.

67.

68.

of the council to the churches, and teach A. D. the faithful to fubmit to it. Such was the form of the firft council. The stupid emperor difinherited Britannicus, and ad- 54 opted Nero the fon of Agrippina. She, in return, poifoned her too eafy husband. But her fon's government proved no less fatal to herself, than to all the reft of the empire. Corbulo gained all the honour of this reign by the victories he won over the Parthians and Armenians. Nero commenced at once the war against the Jews, and the perfecution against the Chriftians. He was the firft emperor who perfecuted the church. He caufed St. Peter and St. Paul to be put to death at Rome. But as he at the fame time perfecuted all mankind, they revolted against him on all fides. Understanding that the fenate had condemned him, he laid violent hands on him- 69. felf. Each army made an emperor': the dispute was decided hard by Rome, and in Rome itself, by dreadful engagements. Galba, Otho and Vitellius, all three perifhed in them the diftreffed empire found fome reft under Vefpafian. But the Jews were reduced to the laft extremity: Jerufalem was taken and burned. Titus, fon and fucceffor of Vefpafian, afforded the world a fhort-lived joy; and his days, which he counted loft, when they were not diftinguifhed by fome good action, hurried

оп

70.

79.

A. D.

93.

an.

on too faft to an end. And now we behold Nero revive in the perfon of DomitiThe perfecution broke out afresh. St. John having got fafe out of the boiling oil, was banished to the ifle of Patmos, where he penned his Apocalypfe or Revelation. A little after he wrote his Gofpel, at the age of 90, and joined the quality of an evangelift to that of an apoftle and pro95. phet. From this time the Chriftians were continually perfecuted, as well under the good, as bad emperors. These perfecutions were carried on, fometimes by command of the emperors, and by the particular fpite of the magiftrates; sometimes by an infurrection of the people; and fometimes by folemn decrees pronounced in the fenate upon the refcripts of princes, or in their prefence. Then the perfecution was more univerfal and bloody; and thus the malice of unbelievers, ever inveterately bent to destroy the church, was excited from time to time to new acts of fury. It is from these renewed fits of violence that ecclefiaftical hiftorians reckon ten perfecutions under ten emperors. Under fo long fufferings, the Chriftians never made the fmalleft fedition. Of all the faithful, the bishops were always the moft severely attacked of all the Chriftians, the church of Rome was perfecuted with the greatest violence; and thirty popes fealed with their

their blood that gofpel, which they de-A. D. clared to the whole earth. Domitian is killed: the empire begins to enjoy fome 96. refpite under Nerva. His great age does not permit him to retrieve the state of affairs but in order to render the public tranquillity permanent, he makes choice 97. of Trajan for his fucceffor. The empire 98. quiet at home, and triumphant abroad, cannot forbear admiring fo good a prnce. And indeed it was a maxim with him, that his citizens ought to find him fuch as he would have wifhed to find the emperor, had he been a private citizen. This prince 102. fubdued the Daci, and Decebalus their 106. king; extended his conquests in the Eaft; 115. gave a king to the Parthians, and made them 116. dread the Roman power: happy he whom drunkenness and infamous amours, vices fo deplorable in a great prince, have never made to attempt any thing contrary to justice! To times fo advantageous for the common-weal, fucceeded those of Hadrian blended with good and evil. This prince maintained military difcipline, lived himfelf in a foldiery way, and with much frugality, eafed the provinces, made the arts to flourish, and Greece, who was the mother of them. The Barbarians were kept 120. in awe by his arms and authority. He re- 123. built Jerufalem, to which he gave his 126. name, and from thence too it derives the 127

name