the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes. Therefore

say

I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." The Evangelist observes, "when the Chief Priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet."* Here our Saviour evidently predicts his own death, as preceding the vengeance that was to fall upon the wicked husbandmen, who would cast him out of the vineyard and slay him.

In the 23d chapter of St. Matthew, Jesus again cautions his disciples, and, with them, the multitude, against the doctrine and the evil examples of the Scribes and Pharisees; and points out, in many particulars, the errors of which they were guilty, and the manner in which they made void the law of God by their traditions. The woes denounced were forcible and alarming, but such as were called for by their hypocritical pretences to religion, whilst

* Matt. xxi. 37-46.

they omitted the weighty matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. I cannot deny myself the pleasure of transcribing the comment of Archbishop Newcome upon this part of the chapter. He says, ' In this last address of our Lord to the Scribes and Pharisees, every one must be struck with the severity of his reproofs. His reproofs were stern, but just; indignant, but dictated by virtuous indignation ; earnest and vehement, but the grave language of insulted majesty; of perfect goodness, detesting vice; and of perfect knowledge, penetrating all its disguises and aggravations.'

*

At the 34th verse, our Saviour foretels the fate of those men whom he should send to preach unto them. Behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill, and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city; that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto

*Note on Matt. xxiii. 1.-Mant.

you, all these things shall come upon this generation." Then comes our Lord's tender and beautiful apostrophe over the fate of Jerusalem: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chicken under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."*

Doubtless this last sentence contains both a judgment and a prophecy, and means that the time of mercy was past, and that their city and temple would be destroyed. It is added, "For

1

say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."+

This prophecy is supposed, by some commentators, to have been fulfilled when Christ came in the clouds of heaven to execute judgment on the unbelieving Jews by the destruction of their city and country; but it appears to me that it may, with more probability, be referred to their final restoration, which we know, from

* Matt. xxiii. 34-??

+ Matt. xxiii. 39.

the whole tenor of scripture, we are to expect, and when Christ will come, not to execute vengeance, but to bring again the sheep that were lost, when, with joyful and exulting hearts, they may cry out, "blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

The same may be said of that remarkable prophecy in the Prophet Zechariah: “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look on me whom they have pierced."* This passage is quoted by St. John in his gospel, who, speaking of Christ's crucifixion, says, "these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced."+ Archbishop Secker says, 'By the wonderful preservation of this one and only people, distinct from all others for so many ages, Providence has left room for the season here foretold; by looking on him whom they have pierced, and mourning, they shall rise again, and be as life from the dead.' St.

John, also, repeats the expression in the Revelation: "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they, also, that pierced him; and all kindred of the earth shall wail because of him.”*

This supplies a strong additional argument, for the passage under consideration having respect to the second coming of the Messiah, when "all Israel shall be saved," because the learned are agreed that the Revelation could not have been written sooner than twenty years after the destruction of Jerusalem. In the chapter we have been considering the Jews are sentenced to desolation, and in the 24th chapter, Christ describes particularly the manner in which this judgment would fall upon them.

The natural way in which the subject is introduced is worthy of notice. "Jesus went out, and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, 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.

* Rev. i. 6, 7.