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these days may take example from the haughty Pharisees, for they were ashamed of their cavilling, and durst no more ask questions.

CHAP. XXIII.

V. 37.-O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.

Ps. xci. V. 3.-Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

How pathetically does our Saviour lament over the crimes and hardness of heart of the inhabitants of Jerusalem! and he unequivocally declares his individual power and willingness to have gathered them under his protecting wing, if they had merited deliverance. Read over the whole of this beautiful Lamentation, and may its Divine Author influence you with his Holy Spirit, to enable you to trust in him with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your

mind.

CHAP. XXIV.

And JESUS said, 2. See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.

MICAH, Ch. iii. V. 5.—Thus said JEHOVAH concerning the prophets that make my people err, 6. Therefore night shall be unto you, that shall not have a vision. 7. Then shall the seers be ashamed, ye they shall all cover their lips, for 12. Therefore shall Zion, for your

and the diviners confounded, yea there is no answer of ELOHIM. sake, be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house, as the high places of the forest.

Can even the infidel deny that this awful prophecy has been minutely fulfilled? This fulfilment alone ought to intimidate and shake his confidence, for at least it teaches him to fear the God to whom he may see that vengeance belongeth.

With such inducements to faith and repentance as holy writ offers, O why will ye die, O house of Israel?

V. 5.—And many shall come in my name, saying, I am CHRIST, and shall deceive many. 6. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet: 7. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.

JER. Ch. xiv. V. 14.-Then JEHOVAH said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them.

2 CHRON. Ch. xv. V. 6.—And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city, for ELOHIM did vex them with all adversity.

Compare these prophecies with Josephus's account of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.

V. 15.—When, therefore, ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth let him understand;) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains; 21. For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be.

DAN. Ch. ix. V. 25.-Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. The streets shall be built again, and the walls, even in troublous times. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end

thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined; and he (the Messiah) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate.

If any one will attentively study the Jewish history till Jerusalem was totally destroyed, this prophecy will prove to have been minutely and even miraculously fulfilled, and yet enemies had no intention to verify the prophet's denunciations against this devoted city.

V. 23. Then if any man say to you, Lo here is CHRIST, or there, believe it not; 24. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken.

DEUT. Ch. xiii. V. 1.—If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he giveth thee a sign or a wonder; 2. And the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: For JEHOVAH your God proveth you, to know whether love JEHOVAH heart and with all

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JOEL, Ch. ii. V. 10.-The earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining; 31. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of JEHOVAH come.

How exactly do Christ's denunciations against Jerusalem resemble those of the prophets, and no wonder; for the latter were pronounced by JEHOVAH ADONI, whom St. Paul and other inspired men declare to be our Blessed Redeemer.

CHAP. XXV.

V. 31.-When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. 32. And before him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them, one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.

EZEK. Ch. xxxiv. V. 17.—And as for you, O my flock, thus saith ADONI JEHOVAH: Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he-goats. 20. Therefore saith ADONI JEHOVAH Unto them, Behold I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.

Here we may observe again a perfect coincidence between the account given of our Saviour's future separation of the good from the bad, and that of the ADONI JEHOVAH. Can this agreement be merely accidental, or rather must it not be considered a most confirmatory circumstance.

CHAP. XXVI.

V. 3. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, 4. And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him.

Ps. ii. V. 2.-The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against JEHOVAH and against his anointed.

All the Evangelists refer to this remarkable fulfilment of David's prophetic Psalm, and by so doing they identify CHRIST with JEHOVAH.

V. 28. For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many, for the remission of sins.

EXOD. Ch. xii.-JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, and said, 3. Take every man a lamb, a lamb for a house. 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, and ye shall kill it in the evening, 7. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side-posts, and on the upper door

ST. MATTHEW.

post of the houses wherein they shall eat it.

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13. The blood shall be

to you for a token upon the houses where ye are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

JER. XXXI. V. 31.-Behold the days come, saith JEHOVAH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.

The sacrifice of the Lamb without blemish was instituted to defend the Israelites from temporal death, but the blood of CHRIST was shed for the remission of the sins of the whole world, and to procure for us eternal life.

V. 53. JESUS saith, Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be?

Isa. Ch. liii. V. 4.—Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of ELOHIM, and afflicted. 6. JEHOVAH hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

LAMENT. Ch. iv. V. 20.-The breath of our nostrils, the Anointed of JEHOVAH, was taken in their pits. Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

I quote the above parallel passages, because they forcibly point out the sufferings consequent on guilt, and in the hopes they may excite reflections, which will teach us how greatly we stand in need of a merciful Redeemer and Advocate.

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V. 63.-JESUS held his peace. And the High Priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the Living God that thou tell us whether thou be the CHRIST, the Son of God? 64. And JESUs saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 65. Then the High-Priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy-what think ye? They answered, He is guilty of death.

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