Details of the Temple in Jurusalem being destroyed

Titus finding the fire had not r eached the inner temple, entered it with his superior officers, and survey ed its magn ificence with silent admiration. H e found it to exceed all he had heard. T his vi ew l ed him to renew his efforts to save this stupendous pile of building, though so many of the out-buildi ngs wer e gone. H e even entreated his soldiers to extinguish the flames, and appoint ed an officer to punish any wh o should disobey . But all h is renew ed efforts wer e still in vain. The feelings of his soldiery wer e utterly unmanageabl e. Plunder, revenge, and slaught er had combined to render them deaf and most furious. A soldier succeeded in firing the door posts of the inner t empl e, and the conflagr ation soon became general . [p.36 - p.37] One needs a heart of steel to contemplate the scenes wh ich followed. The triumphant Roman soldiers were in a most ungovernable r age and fur y .--They wer e indeed instruments prepared for their work , to execute the most signal vengeance of Heaven; the flame of which was now reaching its height! The Romans slew of the Jews all before them; sparing neither age, sex or r ank . They seemed determined to annihil ate th e Jewish race on the spot. Priests and common people; those who surrendered, and those who still fought; all were alik e subjects of an indiscriminate slaugh ter. The fire of the temple at length completely enveloped the stupendous pil e of building. The fury of the flames exceeded description. It impressed on distant spectators an idea that the whole city was in flames. The ensuing disorder and tumult, Josephus pronounces to have been such as to baffle all description. The outcr y of the Roman legions was as great as they could mak e. And the Jews finding themselves a prey to the fury of both fir e and swor d, exerted themselves in the wildest accents of screaming. The people in the city , and those on the hill, mutually responded to each other in groans and scr eeches. People wh o had seemed just expiring through famine, derived new strength from unprecedent ed scenes of horror and death, to deplore their wretchedness. From mountain to mountain, and from places distant, lamentations echoed to each other. [p.37] As the temple was sinking under the fury of the raging element, the mount on wh ich it stood seemed in th at part of it, (says the historian) to “impress the idea of a lake of liquid fire!” The blood of the slain ran i n rivu lets. The earth around became covered with the slain; and th e victorious Romans trampled over those piles of the dead, in pursuit of thousands who were fleeing from the points of their sw ords. In a word, the roar and crackl ing of fire; the shrieks of thousands in despair; the dy ing groans of thousands, and the sights which met the eye where-ever it was turned, were such as never before had any parallel on earth. They probably as much exceeded all antecedent scenes of horror, as the gui lt which occasioned them, in their tr eatment of the Lord of Glory, exceeded all guilt ever before known among men. A tragical event had transpired worthy of particular detail. Before the templ e was wr apped in flames, an importer appeared among th e Jews, asserting a divine commission; and that if the people w ould follow him to the templ e, they would see signs, wonders and deliverance. About six thousand (mostly w omen and children) follow ed him, and were in the galleries of the temple, waiting for this promised deliverance, wh en fire w as set to that building. Not one escaped. All were consumed in the conflagr ation of the secret edifice! What multitudes are by false prophets plunged in et ernal fire! [p.37 - p.38] The place of the temple now presented a vast pile of ruins. Here terminated the glory and existence of this stupendous building, this type of the body of Christ and of his church; this ty pe of the Mil lennium, and of heaven. Here it reached its close, after the period of one thousand and thirty y ears, from the time of its dedication by Solomon; and of six hundred and thirty-nine years, from its being built in the days of Haggai; after the seventy y ears captivity . It is singular, that it should be reduced to ashes not only soon after the feast of the passover, which convened so many thousands of Jews to Jerusalem to meet the ruins of their city and nation; but that it should be consumed on the same month, on the same day of the month, on wh ich the Baby lonians had before destroy ed it by fire. [p.38] Josephus records another striking event, whi ch seemed a sign of the destruction of Jerusalem. He say s; (addressing the Jews who survi ved this ruin) “The fountain flows copiousl y for Titus, which to you were dried up. For before he came, y ou know that both Siloam and all the springs without the city failed; so that water was brought by the amphor a, (a vessel.)--But now they are so abundant to y our enemies, as to suffice for themselves and their cattle. T his wonder you also formerly experienced, when the king of Babylon laid siege to your city.” The pri ests of the temple, after the destruction of their sacr ed edifice, betook themselves (those who had thus far escaped the general slaught er) to the top of one of its broken walls, w here they sat mourning and famishing. On the fifth day necessity compel led them to descend, and humbly to ask pardon of the roman general. But Titus at this l ate period r ejected their petition, say ing; “ As the temple, for the sake of wh ich I woul d have spared you, is destroy ed; it is but fit the priests should perish also” All wer e put to death. [p.38 - p.39