An account of apparitions and supernatural appearances, which were seen round about the city of Jerusalem, just previous to its overthrow by the Romans; as given by Josephus, the Jewish historian.

OUR LORD said in reference to the ruin of that nation-" And fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven."

1. He says; "On the 8th of the month Zanthicus, (before the feast of unleavened bread,) at the ninth hour of the night, there shone round about the altar, and the circumjacent buildings of the temple, a light equal to the brightness of the day; which continued for the space of half an hour."

2. "About the sixth hour of the night, (says Josephus,) the eastern gate of the temple was found to open without human assistance." This gate was of solid brass; and so large and heavy, as to require twenty men to close it. And Josephus says, "it was secured by iron bolts and bars, that were let down into a large threshold consisting of one entire stone." The Jews themselves concluded, from the miraculous nature of this event, that the security of their temple had fled. When the procurator was informed of this event, he sent a band of men to close the door; who with great difficulty executed their orders.

3. Again, the same celebrated Jewish author says: "At a subsequent feast of Pentecost, while the priests were going by night into the inner temple, to perform their customary ministrations, they first felt (as they said) a shaking, accompanied by an indistinct murmuring; and afterwards voices as of a multitude, saying in a distinct and earnest manner: "Let us depart hence." How striking was this miraculous premonition. It commenced with a shaking; to call and fix the attention of the Jewish priests. Then was heard an indistinct murmur. This would make them listen with all possible heed. Then they heard the distinct voices, as of a multitude in great earnestness and haste ;"Let us depart hence!" And their last fatal war with the Romans commenced before the next season for celebrating this feast.

4. Another sign was the following. The same author says : "A meteor resembling a sword hung over Jerusalem, during one whole year." This could not have been a comet, for it was stationary a whole year, and seems from the words of Josephus, to have been much nearer than a comet, and appeared to be appropriated to that city. This reminds one of the sword of the destroying angel, stretched out over Jerusalem, 1 Chro. xxi. 16. This stationary position of the sword for a year, was a lively indication that the impending rain was fatal.

5. Josephus says again: "As the high priests were leading a heifer to the altar to be sacrificed, she brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple." Most striking rebuke to those infidel priests who had rejected the Lamb of God, who had shed his blood once for all, and abrogate the Levitical sacrifices; which yet they were impiously continuing. This wonder was exhibited in the temple, the type of the body of Christ, and at the passover, when at a preceding passover Jesus was arrested and sacrificed; and it took place before the high priests and their attendants; so that they could never complain for want of evidence of the fact.

6. This author says: "Soon after the feast of the passover, in various parts of the country, before the setting of the sun, chariots and armed men were seen in the air passing round about Jerusalem:" This strange sight occurring before sunset, and being seen in various parts of the country, must have been a miraculous portent; a sign from heaven. The Jews had said, "what sign showest thou, that we may see and believe." Now they had their signs in abundance, yet they would not believe.

7. The last and most fearful sign Josephus relates; that one Jesus, son of Ananus, a rustic of the lower class, appeared in the temple at the feast of tabernacles, and suddenly exclaimed, "A voice from the east-a voice from the west-a voice from the four winds--a voice against Jerusalem and the temple—a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides a voice against the whole people!" These words he continued to exclaim through the streets of Jerusalem by day and by night, with no cessation (unless what was needed for the support of nature) for seven years! He commenced in the year 63, while the city was in peace and prosperity, and terminated his exclamations only in his death, amidst the horrors of the siege in the year 70. This strange thing, when it commenced, soon excited great attention: and this Jesus was brought before Albinus, the Roman governor, who interrogated him, but could obtain no answer except the continuation of his woes. He commanded him to be scourged, but to no effect. During times of festivals, this cry of his was peculiarly loud and urgent. After the commencement of the siege, he ascended the walls, and in a voice still more tremendous than ever, he exclaimed, "Wo, wo to this city, this temple, and this po And he then added, (for the first time for the seven years,) "Wo, wo to myself!" The words were no sooner uttered, than a stone froin a Roman machine without the walls, struck him dead on the spot!

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Such were the signs in the heavens and in the earth, which just preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. Several of them are recorded by Tacitus as well as by Josephus. The veracity of Josephus as a historian is probably allowed by all. Scaliger

affirms that he deserves more credit as a writer, than all the Greek and Roman historians put together.

HISTORY OF GIANTS.

A curious memorandum of the opinions of various writers upon this subject.

THE romances of all ages have furnished us with so many extravagant accounts of giants of incredible bulk and strength, that the existence of such people is now generally disbelieved. It is commonly thought that the stature of man hath been, at least very nearly, the same in all ages; and some have even pretended to demonstrate the impossibility of the existence of giants mathematically. Of these, our countryman M'Laurin hath been the most explicit. "In general, (says he) it will easily appear, that the efforts tending to destroy the cohesion of beams arising from their own gravity, only increase in the quadruplicate ratio of their lengths; but, that the opposite efforts tending to preserve their cohesion increase only in the triplicate proportion of the same lengths. From which it follows that the greater beams must be in greater danger of breaking than the lesser similar ones and though a lesser beam may be firm and secure, yet a greater similar one may be made so long that it will necessarily break by its own weight. Hence Galielo justly concludes, that what appears very firm and succeeds very well in models, may be very weak and infirm, or even fall to pieces by its own weight, when it comes to be executed in large dimensions according to the model. From the same principle he argues, that there are necessary limits in the operations of nature and art, which they cannot surpass in magnitude. Were trees of a very enormous size, their branches would fall by their own weight. Large animals have not strength in proportion to their size; and if there were any land animals much larger than those we know, they could hardly move, and would be perpetually subject to the most dangerous accidents. As to the animals of the sea, indeed, the case is different; for the gravity of the water in a great measure sustains those animals; and in fact these are known sometimes to be vastly larger than the greatest land animals. Nor does it avail against this doctrine to tell us that bones have sometimes been found which were supposed to have belonged to giants of immense size; such as the skeletons mentioned by Strabo and Pliny, the former of which was sixty cubits high, and the latter forty-six for naturalists have concluded on just grounds, that in some cases these bones have be