gnals of victory." Compare 2 Peter 2:1;
1 John 2:18; 4:1. That the love of many did wax cold, both before and
after the destruction of Jerusalem, is attested by the facts of the
world-wide apostasy, which was the result of corruption within and
persecution from without the Church (see _The Great Apostasy_, chaps.
3-9).

The preaching of the gospel of the kingdom "in all the world" was no
less truly an essential characteristic of the apostolic period than it
is of the current or last dispensation. The rapid spread of the gospel
and the phenomenal growth of the Church under the direction of the
apostles of old, is recorded as one of the marvels of history (_Great
Apostasy_, 1:21, and citation of Eusebius). Paul, writing about thirty
years after Christ's ascension, affirms that the gospel had already been
carried to every nation, and "preached to every creature under heaven"
(Col. 1:23, compare verse 6).

The "abomination of desolation" cited by the Lord from the prophecy by
Daniel was strictly fulfilled in the investment of Jerusalem by the
Roman army (compare Luke 21:20, 21). To the Jews the ensigns and images
of the Romans were a disgusting abomination. Josephus (Wars vi, ch. 6)
states that the Roman ensigns were set up inside the temple and that the
soldiery offered sacrifices before them.

The warning to all to flee from Jerusalem and Judea to the mountains
when the armies would begin to surround the city was so generally heeded
by members of the Church, that according to the early Church writers not
one Christian perished in the awful siege (see Eusebius, _Eccles.
Hist._, book iii, ch. 5). The first siege by Gallus was unexpectedly
raised, and then, before the armies of Vespasian arrived at the walls,
all Jews who had faith in the warning given by Christ to the apostles,
and by these to the people, fled beyond Jordan, and congregated mostly
at Pella (compare Josephus, Wars ii, ch. 19).

As to the unprecedented horrors of the siege, which culminated in the
utter destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, see Josephus, Wars vi,
chaps. 3 and 4. That historian estimates the number slain in Jerusalem
alone as 1,100,000 and in other cities and rural parts a third as many
more. For details see Josephus, Wars ii, chaps. 18, 20; iii, 2, 7, 8, 9;
iv, 1, 2, 7, 8, 9; vii, 6, 9, 11. Many tens of thousands were taken
captive, to be afterward sold into slavery, or to be slain by wild
beasts, or in gladiatorial combat in the arena