"Granny's Chapters" Part 30

Where St. Peter spent the next seventeen years, we do not know; but wherever he was, we may be quite sure that he zealously preached the Gospel, and endeavoured to bring all men to believe in Jesus Christ.

It is most likely that St. Peter came to Rome just before or after St.

Paul's martyrdom, in the year 66 (A.D.); and he then wrote his First Epistle. This Epistle was not written to the inhabitants of any particular place, but generally, to all the Jewish Christians, who had been forced by persecution to leave their own land and take refuge in heathen countries; and also to those Gentiles who had become Christians, and were now living in many different countries. In his Epistle, St. Peter entreats all to whom he writes, to keep steady to their religion, and suffer anything rather than give it up. He also shows them how necessary it is that they should lead holy and blameless lives, not only for their own sake, that they might obtain the blessing of G.o.d, but also to show all men, that Christians were in every respect better than any other men. St. Peter speaks of writing from "Babylon"; but by Babylon, he means the city of Rome, which in figurative language he calls Babylon, because in the idolatry and wickedness of its inhabitants, it resembled that ancient city. Besides this, the real Babylon was the place where the Jews, then the Church of G.o.d, suffered much during their long captivity; and now the Christian Church was suffering fearful things at Rome. St. Peter might well then use the figurative language so common amongst the Jews at that time, and speak of wicked, persecuting Rome, as "Babylon." It was prudent moreover to do so, for had the Christians spoken openly and plainly of Rome, they would have provoked the anger of the Romans; and though the Christians suffered patiently all that was laid upon them, they never provoked persecution unnecessarily. St. Peter did not long escape persecution; and with the prospect of a cruel death before him, he wrote his Second Epistle to the Jewish and Gentile Christians in all countries, to warn them not to listen to the doctrines of false teachers, but to keep firm in the faith of the holy Gospel, which he and the other Apostles had taught. In this Letter, he gives many directions for living a holy life; and reminds those to whom he writes, that the Lord Jesus Christ will one day come to judge the world, and that all who believe this, must try to be then found blameless, without spot of sin. This applies just as well to each one of us, as it did to those to whom St. Peter originally wrote: let us therefore watch and pray, that we may, as he says at the end of this Epistle, "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Very soon after he had written this Second Epistle, the death which St. Peter had expected came upon him. He who had once denied his Lord from fear, now boldly refused to give up his religion to purchase safety: he was therefore sentenced to be crucified, according to what the Lord had foretold to him long before; saying, "When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." From histories of that time, we learn that St. Peter, not thinking himself worthy to die in the same manner as his blessed Lord and Master, begged that he might be fastened to the cross with his head downward: this must greatly have increased his sufferings for the time they lasted, though it probably caused him to die sooner. St. Peter was thus crucified at Rome with his head downward, A.D. 68, when Nero had been Emperor for fourteen years; and, as we believe, about two years after St. Paul's death; though some people think that St. Peter was put to death first.

We cannot, of course be quite sure; but it is most probable as we have said, that St. Paul was beheaded A.D. 66, and that St. Peter was crucified A.D. 68. Nero died very soon after the crucifixion of St.

Peter, and in the short s.p.a.ce of one year, three different Emperors, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, succeeded each other.

We must now return to Jerusalem.

Chapter x.x.xIV.--VESPASIAN SENT INTO JUDaeA.

The decree of the Emperor giving Caesarea Philippi to Syria, was no sooner known, than the Jews in all parts of Judaea took up arms.

Agrippa happened at this time to be in Jerusalem, and he did his best to show the Jews the extreme folly of trying to fight against such a powerful people as the Romans, and begged and entreated of them not to rebel, and so bring misery upon themselves. Instead of listening to this wise and kind advice, the Jews were so enraged with Agrippa for giving it, that he was obliged to leave the city at once, to save himself from their violence. War now raged on every side, and fearful acts of cruelty were perpetrated by both parties. Thousands and thousands of Jews were ma.s.sacred at Caesarea, at Ptolemais, and even at Alexandria; and at Jerusalem, the soldiers of Florus put 3,500 to death in one day. The Jews acted in the same manner as far as they could, and murdered great numbers both of Syrians and Romans. Upon this general revolt of the Jews, Cestius Gallus the governor of Syria, marched with a large army into Judaea and Galilee; burning all the towns and villages in his way, and killing the inhabitants.

Near Jerusalem he was met by a great number of Jews, who attacked him with such fury, that his whole army was in the greatest danger.

Agrippa, who with a body of troops had joined Gallus, now again attempted to stop further bloodshed, and sent two of his officers to speak to his countrymen, the Jews, and propose terms of peace. The enraged Jews, however, killed one of the officers, whilst the other escaped wounded: Gallus then advanced with his whole army, defeated the rebellious Jews, and took possession of the lower parts of Jerusalem. Had he at once attacked the upper part of the city, and laid siege to the forts, it is probable that he would have taken the whole, and then the war must have ended. But, as a writer of that time says, "it seems as if G.o.d, being angry with the Jews, had determined that they should expiate their sin by the most severe suffering, and would not therefore allow the war to end so soon."

Some say, Gallus was advised to retire by some of his own officers, who had been bribed to do so by Florus. However that maybe, Gallus suddenly went away with his army: his retreat gave the Jews fresh hopes, and they pursued him even to his camp at Gibeon, about six miles from Jerusalem: here, the Jews attacked the Syrians with the greatest fury, and killed more than 5,000 of them; whilst Gallus escaped by night.

Leaving the history of this terrible war for a few minutes, we must speak of another Epistle to be found in the New Testament, where it is called "The General Epistle of Jude." The writer of this Epistle was, the "Judas (not Iscariot)" mentioned by St. John; whom St. Luke tells us (ch. vi.) was the brother of James; and he appears to have been the same person whom St. Mark (ch. iii.) calls "Thaddeus," and of whom St.

Matthew (ch. x.) speaks as "Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus."

In the Gospels, therefore, we have four names for this Apostle, Jude, Judas, Thaddeus, and Lebbeus. The Book of Acts makes no mention of him. From other histories we have reason to believe, that this Apostle was a husbandman, or cultivator of the earth, and not a fisherman, as so many of the twelve were. After Jude became an Apostle, he, of course, followed the Lord as long as he lived; and then we have reason to believe that he went eastward, and preached the Gospel in Mesopotamia and other countries. He then returned to Syria, from whence he wrote his Epistle, about the same time as St. Peter wrote his First Epistle from Rome, that is, A.D. 66; just when Nero gave that decree concerning Caesarea, that led to the war of which we have been speaking. St. Jude's Epistle is very short, and was written to warn the Christians in general not to listen to false teachers; but to take care to believe only such truths as had been taught by Jesus Christ and His Apostles. After writing this Epistle, it is supposed that St. Jude travelled again eastward, and preached the Gospel in Persia, where he suffered martyrdom.

To return to the Jews: their defeat of Gallus made them more obstinate in their determination not to submit to the Romans, and they accordingly made very great preparations for carrying on the war with vigour. At this time all the Christians quitted Jerusalem. They remembered how Jesus had told His disciples, that when they should see Jerusalem surrounded with armies, and "the abomination of desolation,"

they would know that the destruction of the city was near at hand, and that they must leave it, and take refuge in the mountains. The prophecy had now been fulfilled; for the armies of the heathen Romans had compa.s.sed or surrounded the city, and these armies were fitly called "the abomination of desolation," because they not only spread desolation and misery wherever they went, but they were abominable and hateful to the Jews, because on their standards and flags they had images and pictures of the false G.o.ds of the Romans, and also of their emperors, to whom, as well as to the G.o.ds, they offered sacrifices.

The Christians, seeing that the time of which Jesus had warned them was now come, left Jerusalem, and crossing the river Jordan journeyed on about one hundred miles, and took refuge in a city called Pella, belonging to King Agrippa: the inhabitants of Pella were Gentiles.

Nero, who was still alive when the Jews defeated Gallus, ordered Vespasian, one of his bravest and most skilful generals, to march at once into Judaea with a large army. Vespasian set to work to collect soldiers, and his son t.i.tus went into Egypt to fetch from Alexandria two Roman _legions_, or "regiments," as we should call them. An immense army thus entered Galilee: one town after another fell into the hands of the Romans, and thousands of the Jews were slain. At Joppa, large numbers of the wretched inhabitants took refuge on board their ships, hoping thus to escape; but a violent storm dashed the vessels back upon the rocks; many of the people were drowned or crushed by the broken ships; and many, seeing no further hope of escape, killed themselves: such as did reach the sh.o.r.e, were slaughtered without mercy by the Romans. It is said that for a long s.p.a.ce the sea was red with the blood of these poor creatures, and that not a man remained alive to carry these terrible tidings to Jerusalem.

During this time Vespasian had taken prisoner a man, who is famous for having written a History of the Jews, and of the destruction of Jerusalem. This man, whose name was Josephus, was a Jew, born in Jerusalem, a few years after the Crucifixion of our Lord. When he was quite young he showed a great fondness for learning, and was so very clever and sensible, that when he was only sixteen years old, the Chief Priests and rulers often asked his advice. Josephus adopted the opinions of the Pharisees; and as he grew up he took an active part in the management of public affairs.

When the wars broke out, Josephus showed so much knowledge and skill in military matters, that he was made governor, and acted as general of the Jewish armies.

Amongst other places which the Romans besieged, was a small town called Jotapa, or Jotaphata. Josephus defended it for nearly two months, but at last the Romans took it, and slew all the inhabitants except Josephus and forty of his men who escaped, and took refuge in a cave. Some one told Vespasian where Josephus was concealed; and the Roman general sent to offer life and safety to him and his companions, upon certain conditions, which they might have accepted without any disgrace. Josephus wished to accept these terms; but when he spake of submitting to the Romans, his companions threatened to murder him.

Determined not to live to become prisoners to the Romans, and unwilling to be guilty of the great crime of self-murder, these wretched people drew lots to decide who should kill his companion: in this way one fell after another, until one man only remained alive besides Josephus, who had of course taken no share in this transaction. Josephus easily persuaded his companion to submit to the Romans: Vespasian treated the Jewish general with the greatest kindness: he kept him with him more as a friend than as a prisoner, and often consulted him, and asked his advice.

Mean time, Vespasian in one part of the country, and his son t.i.tus in another, carried on the war with vigour; taking one city after another: in vain they besought the Jews to submit; these miserable people persisted in their useless resistance, and thus enraged the Romans, who treated them with great barbarity. Mult.i.tudes were destroyed, and a vast number were sold as slaves.

After the whole of Galilee had been thus subdued, t.i.tus joined his father at Caesarea, and there their armies had a little rest.

The troubles in Rome after the death of Nero, A.D. 68, prevented Vespasian having the means of carrying on the war with vigour; and indeed he was in no hurry to begin the siege of Jerusalem, because the Jews were daily rendering his task more easy, by fighting amongst themselves, and so wasting that strength which should have been kept to resist the enemy.

The city of Jerusalem was at this time in a most dreadful state of confusion and tumult. The inhabitants were divided into two parties: one party, seeing that a continuance of war would totally ruin their country, wished to submit to the Romans; the other party, the Zealots, would not hear of submission; and as they were the worst of men, they committed the most horrid crimes, often under pretence of religion. No person's life was safe, and the whole city was distracted by acts of violence and cruelty. The leader of the party of Zealots within the city was a man named John; another man named Simon, of equally bad character, headed a party outside, and collecting a band of ruffians, encamped with them before the city. Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who suffered severely from the tyranny of John, fearing that he would burn the city, unhappily determined to let Simon and his troops come in, by way of defending them against John. But this step only increased their miseries; for they now suffered from the violence and wickedness of two parties, instead of one. Thus a third party was formed in Jerusalem; and these three parties, instead of joining to defend themselves against the Romans, fought against each other, and many were killed, even in the temple, and before the very altar itself.

Chapter x.x.xV.--DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

We have said that after the death of Nero, A.D. 68, there were great troubles in Rome, where three different Emperors succeeded each other in the s.p.a.ce of one year; but this state of things was put an end to in A.D. 69, when the Romans chose Vespasian to be their Emperor. The next year, the Emperor Vespasian sent his son t.i.tus to force the rebellious Jews into obedience, and so put an end to this destructive war. t.i.tus and his army marched towards Jerusalem, which to look at was a most magnificent and glorious city, though it had unhappily become the habitation of violence and all that is bad and wicked. The city was built upon two mountains, enclosed with walls, and surrounded by deep valleys. The walls were guarded by towers; and altogether the place was well able to resist the attacks of an enemy. But, instead of preparing to defend themselves, the Jews hurried on their own destruction; for at the very time when a formidable army was rapidly approaching the city, the contending parties within the walls were continually occupied in inventing new ways of destroying each other; and in their fury, they wasted and destroyed considerable quant.i.ties of provisions, of which they had afterwards great reason to repent.

Although danger and misery now threatened the city from the factions within and the enemy without, mult.i.tudes of people unwisely crowded into it to keep the Pa.s.sover; thus adding sadly to the general confusion and distress. Miserable indeed was the state of Jerusalem when, in the year A.D. 70, t.i.tus marched towards it with a formidable army. The actual approach of the Romans, put a stop for the time to the fighting amongst the Jews; and joining together, they left the city, and forced t.i.tus and his soldiers to leave their camp and retire to the mountains: but no sooner had the Jews thus obtained an interval of quiet, than their quarrels began again. In the mean time the Romans were making every exertion to prepare for the siege of Jerusalem, which was surrounded by three walls, one within another, with a good s.p.a.ce between them, filled with buildings.

t.i.tus sent Josephus to speak to his countrymen, and offer them peace and safety if they would now submit and receive him into their city; but these offers were refused by the infatuated Jews. They were repeated with no better success; and after they had been several times rejected, the Romans made their first attack; and at length made a breach, or gap, in the first, or outermost, wall, and so entered into that part of the city, whilst the Jews retreated within the second wall.

The Romans having encamped within the first wall, now attacked the second wall, and forced their way through that also: and the Jews retired within the third wall, many of them taking refuge in the temple and in the Fort Antonia. The greater part of the wretched inhabitants would now have submitted to the Romans, and given up their city; but the Zealots murdered all who ventured to speak of such a thing. The great numbers of people now shut up within the walls of Jerusalem, soon devoured the provisions, and added the horrors of famine to the other terrible sufferings of the Jews. The Zealots forced their way into the houses of all whom they suspected of having any food, and carried away whatever they could find. The nearest relations s.n.a.t.c.hed food from each other, in the extremity of their hunger. Many of the starving Jews, who during the night ventured to go beyond the city walls, to collect roots and herbs, were seized by the Roman soldiers, and crucified in the morning: so that several hundreds were frequently seen at a time, suffering the same agony of body which had been endured by our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. It is impossible to describe what the Jews went through at this time. We shall remember that when they insisted on the crucifixion of Jesus, contrary to the wishes of Pilate himself, they had cried out, "His blood be on us and on our children"; and fearfully were they now punished for having shed His blood. Josephus, in his history of all that happened in Jerusalem at this time, writes: "Never did any other city suffer such woes, nor was there ever a more wicked generation since the beginning of the world."

At length the Romans broke through the third, or inner, wall, and got possession of the Fort Antonia, and pursued the Jews into the temple.

The Jews for a moment fled before their enemies; but the foremost soldier slipped upon the marble pavement and fell. Then the Jews turned, and killed him, and drove the rest of the soldiers back into the fort. Even now the Jews still refused to submit; and the temple, instead of being a place of worship, became a scene of battle and confusion.

At this time, when the famine pressed sore upon all the people, a most horrible thing was done; for a mother killed her infant child, roasted it, and actually ate part of it! t.i.tus was so shocked when he heard of this, that he declared that he would leave nothing but the ruins of a city, in which so horrible a crime had been committed. Again he attacked the temple, and got possession of the outer courts. He wished to preserve the temple itself, and gave orders for that purpose. But the Lord Himself had foretold the destruction of the temple, and a Roman soldier was the means of fulfilling this prophecy. Contrary to orders, this man threw a flaming brand, or stick, into one of the chambers: the flames quickly burst forth and spread on all sides: the Roman soldiers rushed into the sacred building, and all became a scene of plunder and murder.

The once glorious temple was soon nothing but a heap of smoking ruins, in spite of all the efforts made by the command of t.i.tus to stop the conflagration. This sad destruction of the second temple took place on the anniversary of that day upon which the first temple, built by Solomon, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, 587 years before Jesus Christ came upon earth.

Even whilst the temple was in flames, 6,000 people actually listened to an impostor, who led them to the roof of a part of the building, promising them a miraculous deliverance: they all of course perished in the flames. Thousands of Jews were now killed by the Romans, and every building in the city, excepting a few towers, was burned.

In this dreadful war, the greater part of the Jewish people perished: many of the rest were sold as slaves, and nothing could be more wretched than the state of all who were left. Jerusalem has ever since been "trodden down," or oppressed, by the Gentiles; and the Jews have remained in such a state as constantly to remind us of the prophecy of Moses (Deut. xxix.), where it is written, "Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger?" The answer is given to us, "_Because_ they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord G.o.d." Let us ever bear this in mind, and not provoke G.o.d by _our_ sins, to punish us as He punished the descendants of His chosen people, the Children of Israel.

t.i.tus commanded the whole city and its walls to be destroyed. This was done so completely, that not one stone was left upon another, as the Lord Himself had said.

When t.i.tus saw how strong the walls and forts of the city were, he made a remark worthy of a Christian; saying, "We have fought with the a.s.sistance of G.o.d: it was G.o.d Who drove the Jews out of these fortifications; for what can the hands of men, or the force of machines, effect against these towers?"

After the destruction of Jerusalem, t.i.tus went back to Rome, taking with him Josephus, to whom Vespasian gave the freedom of the city and a pension. Josephus immediately set to work to learn the Greek language, in which he wrote his History of the Wars of the Jews and of the Destruction of Jerusalem. He died A.D. 93, at the age of fifty-six: but we are now speaking of the year A.D. 70, when t.i.tus took him to Rome.

The Roman Senate decreed a Triumph to t.i.tus and Vespasian. "A Triumph"

was a grand procession, in honour of a general who had gained some great victory. A magnificent car was provided to convey the person for whom the honour was intended: his army, partly before, partly behind the car, marched with flags and banners, to the sound of music: any prisoners who had been taken in the war were made to follow the car, chained two and two together; and if any valuable spoils had been taken from the enemy, they were carried in the procession. In short, everything was done to make the Triumph a very grand affair; and it was considered the greatest honour that could be bestowed upon a military leader: it often cost an immense sum of money. The Senate now decreed, that a Triumph should take place in honour of t.i.tus and Vespasian, who were to share the chariot provided for the occasion.

Amongst the beautiful things carried in this procession, the most remarkable were the golden candlestick, and other precious things saved from the temple at Jerusalem: also the volume, or Book of the Law of Moses, which was indeed deserving of the greatest respect, though the heathens did not know its real value.

In remembrance of the great deeds of t.i.tus, a marble arch was erected at Rome, not far from the Forum. On the inside of the archway are carved representations of the golden candlestick, and of many other things brought from Jerusalem. This arch, called "The Arch of t.i.tus,"

still stands in Rome; and not one of the Jews, of whom there are now many thousands living in Rome, will ever pa.s.s under this archway, because it reminds them of the destruction of their once glorious temple, and of the ruin of their nation.

When Jerusalem was destroyed, there still remained in the almost desolate land of Judaea three strong castles, which resisted the Romans. Two were soon taken; but the third was so very strong both by nature and art, and was so well defended by a man of great courage, called Eleazer, that for some time the Romans could not succeed in getting possession of it. At last they built a high wall round it, so that no one could come out or go in: they then set fire to the gates, and prepared to storm, or attack, the castle the next day. The Jews now saw that there was no hope of defending the fortress, or of saving their own lives; and Eleazer therefore persuaded the garrison to burn all their valuable stores, kill the women and children that were with them, and then destroy themselves. Ten men were chosen to murder all the rest: after they had done this, they killed each other; and the last man who was left set fire to the place, and then killed himself.

The next day, when the Romans were preparing to climb the walls, two of the women who had hid themselves, and so escaped being murdered, came forth, and told all that had happened.

Chapter x.x.xVI.--ST. JOHN'S WRITINGS.

After the terrible event which has just been related, the Jews who still remained in the land, ceased for a time to oppose the Romans. It was the submission of despair; for they felt that they had no power to resist, and ruin and desolation surrounded them on all sides. The once flourishing fields and plains of Judaea were covered with dead bodies; most of the celebrated cities were merely heaps of ruins. All the fighting men were removed from Jerusalem, and only some women and old men were allowed to take up their abode amongst the ruins of their beloved city.