"The prophecies of our Saviour, however, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, are more clear and striking than any thing else we have of the kind; and if it were certain that these were written before the event took place, it would be a very strong proof of something more than what any one can suppose could have been the result of human foresight. There must, at least, on such a supposition, have been a faculty of seeing which we do not possess. These predictions, however, if made by Jesus, must have been made in the hearing of John, as well as Matthew; and of course, he must have known them with more certainty than Mark or Luke; who, in consequence of not being personally acquainted with Jesus, could have known them only from hear say; and as it is pretty generally agreed, that John wrote his gospel more than twenty years after the event took place, it is very remarkable that he should be entirely silent on this subject! John, as we must suppose, knowing of this prediction; knowing also that it had been recorded by all three of the other Evangelists, (though Luke is not very particular on the subject) and knowing also that they had all written before the event took place; and he living to see the whole verified, and then wrote his gospel afterwards, how natural it would have been for him, first to have recorded this prediction, at least, in substance, and then to have mentioned its fulfillment, as a confirmation of the prophecy! But not a word on the subject. "This, however, is no evidence that Jesus did not deliver those predictions, and that they were not written by Matthew and Mark, and also hinted at by Luke before the events took place; yet still it raises a doubt and a query in the mind whether these are not interpolations, or else the books wholly written after the events took place, and of course these predictions put into the mouth of Jesus by the historian. When the copies were few in number, and those kept by the Christians only, interpolations might have been made without much danger of detection. The heretics were early accused of interpolating, altering, and forging the scriptures; and although they, i. e. the majority of the believers, as it is likely would be very careful to detect any thing which contradicted their views in point of doctrine, yet whether they would be equally careful respecting those interpolations which favoured the Christian faith is a question worthy of consideration.