mon than for a Jew to have two or more names: for example, Peter, Paul; Judas, Lebbeus, &c. Matt. x. 2, 3; or 2dly, Zachariah the Prophet who was actually the son of Barachia (Zac. i. 1) and of whose death there is no account whatever. Matth. xxiii. 29-34. Or, lastly, The Lord may have alluded (prophetically) to Zachariah the son of Barachia, whose death occurred about thirty five years afterwards, and is accurately recorded by Josephus as having been slain in the temple. It is of no consequence whatever to which of them the Lord alluded.

ZEDEKIAH. The remarkable circumstances connected with this king's death, although accurately foretold by Jeremiah, yet are done in such a peculiar manner as would lead a superficial reader of the Bible to imagine the Prophet's declarations were not fulfilled: which is an evident proof that the prophecy was delivered before the things came to pass. In Jeremiah, xxxiv. 2, 3, 4, 5, the prophet announces the following particulars.

1. That Jerusalem should be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.

2. That he should burn it with fire.

3. That Zedekiah should not escape out of his hand. 4. That his eyes should behold the eyes of the king of Babylon.

5. That he should speak with the king of Babylon. 6. That he should go to Babylon.

7. That he should not die by the sword.

8. That he should die in peace.

9. That his people should bury him as they did his fathers.

10. That they should lament him, saying, Ah, Lord! Now on referring to the lii. of Jeremiah, we find this

prophecy fulfilled. Jerusalem is besieged and taken by the king of Babylon (5, 6, 7, 8.) Zedekiah himself is taken prisoner, but not killed (9.) He is brought before the king of Babylon to Riblah (not Babylon). Where judgment is passed on him-His eyes were then, but not till then, that is after he had seen the king of Babylon, put out (11.) He is then carried a prisoner (blind) to Babylon. Where he is put into prison-There he dies in peace; that is, not by the sword-and Daniel, being then, that is, at the time of Zedekiah's death, ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors of Babylon; and Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego, over the affairs of Babylon (Dan. ii. 58, 49.) there can be no doubt but they had the privilege and power of burying their king according to the manner of their fathers, and lamenting over him saying, ah, Lord! Ezekiel in his prophecy mentions some of these most remarkable circumstances. Ezekiel xii. 13. See Jeremiah.

APPENDIX.

THIS work having extended far beyond what the author anticipated, he is under the necessity of abridging the appendix materially, by only referring to those works, from which he had intended to have given extracts, explanatory, and corroborative, of various articles in the body of the book.

A.

For HEROD's infamous, and cruel character, see Josephus's Ant. of the Jews; lib. xvii. cap. 6,7 and 8.

B.

There is an interesting transaction between an Egyptian Prince, and Alexander the king, on record, in which the latter incontrovertibly proves, that the Egyptians are deeply in debt to the Jews.

C.

For the numerous authors which have quoted Josephus's account of Christ, from A. D. 110 to A. D. 1480, see Whiston's Josephus, Dissertation i. page 610.

D.

JERUSALEM. For a full account of the destruction of this city, by Titus, and the dreadful calamities of the Jews, connected therewith, see Josephus's Jewish Wars, book vi.

TAMED SERPENTS.

E.

For the manner in which these creatures are tamed by Indian Jugglers, see Dr. Shaw's

Account, as well as Mr. Forbes's "Oriental Memoirs," and M. Johnson's, " SKETCHES OF INDIA."

F.

STONES. Upwards of A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY showers of stones, are recorded in Ure's Chemical Dictionary under the article, "Meteorites," and, also by Dr. Adam Clark in his Commentaries.

G.

New Testament events corrobarated by HEATHEN history, collected by Dr. Lardner.

I. Matt. ii. 22. In this passage it is asserted, that Archelaus succeeded Herod in Judea; and it is implied, that his power did not extend to Galilee. Now we learn from Josephus, that Herod the Great, whose dominion included all the land of Israel, appointed Archelaus his successor in Judeu, and assigned the rest of his dominions to other sons; and that this disposition was ratified, as to the main parts of it, by the Roman emperor.*

Saint Matthew says, that Archelaus reigned, was king in Judea. Agreeably to this, we are informed by Josephus, not only that Herod appointed Archelaus his successor in Judea, but that he also appointed him with the title of King; and the Greek verb Baotλevet, which the Evangelist uses to denote the government and rank of Archelaus, is used likewise by Josephus.t

The cruelty of Archelaus's character, which is not obscurely intimated by the Evangelist, agrees with divers particulars in his history, preserved by Josephus:

In the tenth year of his government, the chief of the Jews and Samaritans, not being able to endure his cruelty and tyranny, presented complaints against him to Cæsar.'‡

II. Luke, iii. 1.

By the will of Herod the Great, and the decree of Augustus thereupon, his two sons were

* Antiq. lib. xvii. c. 8. sect. 1. Antiq. lib. xvii. c. 13. sect. 1.

+ De Bell. lib. i. c. 33. sect. 7.

appointed, one (Herod Antipas) tetrarch of Galilee and Peræa, and the other (Philip) tetrarch of Trachonitis and the neighbouring countries.* We have therefore these

two persons in the situations in which Saint Luke places them; and also, that they were in these situations in the fifteenth year of Tiberius; in other words, that they continued in possession of their territories and titles until that time, and afterward, appears from a passage in Josephus, which relates of Herod, "that he was removed by Caligula, the successor of Tiberius;† and of Philip, that he died in the twentieth year of Tiberius, when he had governed Trachonitis and Batanea, and Gaulanitis thirtyseven years."‡

III. Mark, vi. 17.§ With this compare Joseph. Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 6. sect. 1.-" He (Herod the tetrarch) made a visit to Herod his brother.-Here, falling in love with Herodias, the wife of the said Herod, he ventured to make her proposals of marriage."

Again, Mark, vi. 22. "And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in and danced

With this also compare Joseph. Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 6. sect. 4. "Herodias was married to Herod, son of Herod the Great. They had a daughter, whose name was Salome; after whose birth, Herodias, in utter violation of the laws of her country, left her husband, then living, and married Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, her husband's brother by the father's side."

IV. Acts, xii. 1. In the conclusion of the same chapter, Herod's death is represented to have taken place soon after this persecution. The accuracy of our historian, or, rather, the unmeditated coincidence, which truth of its own accord produces, is in this instance remarkable. There was no portion of time, for thirty years before, nor ever afterward, in which there was a king at Jerusalem, a person exercising that authority in Judea, or to whom that title could be applied, except the last

* Ant. lib. xvii. c. 8. sect. 1.

+ Ibid. lib. xviii. c. 8. sect. 2.
Ibid. c. 5. sect. 6.

§ See also Matt. xiv. 1-13. Luke iii, 19.