106 THE SACRED AND SECULAR
sephus, in the sccond book of the Jewish war, chapter
xix, informs us of the fulfillment of the sign given by
our Lord. Cestius, the Roman commander, encompassed:
the city with his army, and “had he continued the siege
a little longer, had certainly taken the city.” Dut ‘he
recalled his soldiers from the place, and . . . retired
from the city, without any reason in the world.” Here
was our Lord’s promised token by which the disciples
were to understand that the moment of flight had ar-
rived. And how evident that it was the hand of God
which caused the Roman general, as soon as he had
given the Saviour’s token, to withdraw from the city
“without any reason in the world.” And now the dis-
ciples must flee without a moment's delay. Let us ad-
mire the providence of God which opened their way in
manifest answer to prayer. First, we have the case of
those disciples who were in the country of Judea. Jo-
sephus informs wus that at this time, when Cestius
marched upon Jerusalem, he found the country desti-
tute of men; because, as the law of Moses required, all
the males were assembled at Jerusalem to keep tho feast
of tabernacles. Deut. 16:16. Thus it is manifest
that the people of God throughout the land of Palestine,
had no Jewish enemics to hinder their flight, even had
it been upon the Sabbath.
And now let us see how it was with those who were
in the city of Jerusalem itself. We find in the state-
ment of Josephus the most convincing proof that, had
they had occasion to flee upon the Sabbath, the circum-
stances were such that they might have done it on that
day with as little hindrance from the Jews as could
their brethren in the country. Josephus gives us the
remarkable information that, when Cestius was some six
or seven miles distant from Jerusalem, on his way to at-
tack the city, the Jews went out on the seventh day to
fight him, “although the Sabbath was the day to which
they had the greatest regard.” Certainly, the disciples
could have fled out of Jerusalem when that ¢ multitude
went in a sudden and disorderly manner to the fight,”