Bible Christian Magazine.

SEPTEMBER, 1864.

Dibinity.

THE MARTYRDOM OF ZECHARIAH.

"And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it." 2 Chronicles xxiv. 20-22.

In the preceding verses there are two things which strike our attention. The long-suffering of God, and the folly and wickedness of men. The king and his people "left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols." Though God punished them for their wickedness, he did not destroy them. He used means for their restoration. "He sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them : but they would not give ear." God sought their happiness; he was not willing that they should perish; he was loth to execute his vengeance; but they would not hearken unto their Maker. So does God deal with men still. He warns them by his servants; urges them to forsake their evil ways, and to accept of free and full forgiveness through his Son. He sometimes afflicts men, but it is always in mercy. He is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The proofs of this are manifold. Why else does he not cut us off in our sins? Why else does he crowd our path with blessings, give us opportunity after opportunity to repent, repeat again and again his offer of mercy and salvation? But sinners frequently will not listen to, will not obey, the voice of God; but they will harden their hearts against the truth and love of God, and pursue their own evil courses. They foolishly and wickedly reject the overtures of divine love, and, by despising his mercy, insult their Maker! Not

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withstanding their obstinacy, God sent Zechariah unto the people, who remonstrated with them kindly and faithfully; but "they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord." It is generally supposed that this is the Zechariah mentioned by Christ, Matt. xxiv. 35. His being spoken of in one place as the son of Jehoiada, and in the other as the son of Barachias, has its explanation in the fact that the Jews frequently had two names. Thus, Matthew is called Levi; Lebbeus is called Thaddeus; and Simon is called Cephas. It is probable, therefore, that the Jehoiada of the Old Testament, and the Barachias of the New, are the same person, and the father of Zecharias, whose martyrdom is to be the subject of our present meditation. We have here,

I. THE PICTURE OF A TRULY GREAT MAN. We hear much about pictures and great men, though opinions differ widely as to what constitutes true greatness. To have right ideas of what true greatness consists in is most important; else our efforts may be wrongly directed, and the result will be disappointment and ruin to ourselves, and injury and mischief to others. None liveth unto himself. Our conduct, whether it be right or wrong, will find imitators; some will walk in our steps, breathe our spirit, copy our example. Every man who goes astray leads others astray also. The world's standard of true greatness greatly differs from the standard of the Bible.

Worldly wealth, whatever the world may say, does not make a man truly great. "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." True greatness is oftener found in the cottage of the poor than in the palace of the rich. A man is not necessarily great because he is clothed in purple and fine linen, and fares sumptuously every day; ornaments of gold and silver and sparkling gems, gorgeous palaces and extensive possessions, do not make a man great. Some of the princes of this world are intellectually and morally among the very poorest. And a man may be truly great, though poverty be his lot. Ahab, and Herod, and Nero, and others, the mention of whose names ought to make humanity blush, must be classed among the meanest, vilest, and most contemptible of their race, notwithstanding their high position in this world. And some of the noblest, truest, holiest that ever lived, to bless the world, and glorify God, have been men destitute of all worldly possessions and honours. Jeremiah, Paul, Luther, Wesley, and a host of others, were despised and hated in their day, "made as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things." True greatness does not depend on any outward circumstances

whatever.

Worldly wisdom does not make a man truly great. You may have