" of grace and of supplications be poured upon "them, and they shall look" with penitent sorrow " and genuine faith on him whom they pierced," and have crucified afresh through all succeeding generations. But then the "fountain for sin and " uncleanness shall be opened for them." For in that day, when God shall restore Israel, they shall thus look unto him whom they pierced. 1 66 Another prophecy of Zechariah must here again be adduced.." Awake, O sword, against my "Shepherd, against the Man that is my Fellow, "saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the Shepherd, " and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn my hand upon the little ones. And it shall "come to pass, that in all the land two parts "thereof shall be cut off and die, but the third "shall be left therein. And I will bring the "third part through the fire; and I will refine "them as silver is refined, and will try them as "gold is tried; and they shall call on my name, " and I will hear them. I will say, It is my "people, and they shall say, The Lord is my "God.-Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and "thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee: " and I will gather all nations against Jerusalem "to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the "houses rifled, and the women ravished; and " half the city shall go forth into captivity; and "the residue of the people shall not be cut off " from the city." 2 This passage begins with the death of the Messiah, the Shepherd and Fellow of JEHOVAH; by the Zech. xii. 10-14. xiii. 1. * Zech. xiii. 7-9. xiv. 1, 2. sword of his avenging justice, yet by the wicked hands of the Jews. It proceeds to shew the terrible vengeance of God on the nation; "two " thirds shall die:" it points out "the remnant "according to the election of grace; " their trials, preservation, and sanctification. It goes on to represent the dreadful siege and taking of Jerusalem; and to intimate that half would be destroyed in the siege, or carried into captivity, and disposed of in different ways. Difficulties may rest on some expressions; but this is the undeniable outline: namely, the sword of JEHOVAH shall first "awake against his Shepherd:" and then against those who murdered his Shepherd; against the nation of the Jews, except a tried remnant; against Jerusalem, where his blood was shed; and finally, against the Roman empire, who had been the instruments, both of crucifying his Shepherd, and destroying Jerusalem and the Jews; not from regard to him, but from ambition, rapacity, revenge, and enmity to the true God and true religion. And can any reflecting and impartial man doubt, whether the past and present sufferings of the Jews were the consequences of rejecting and crucifying their Messiah, and that these events were here predicted? The Psalmist also concludes a doleful account of his sufferings, in which there is sufficient proof that he spake as the type of the Messiah, by saying, "Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am "full of heaviness: and I looked for some to "take pity, but there was none; and for com"forters, but I found none. They gave me also " gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave " me vinegar to drink." He then proceeds, in this awful manner: "Let their table become a "snare before them; and that which should have "been for their welfare, let it become a trap. "Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; "and make their loins continually to shake. "Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let "thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let " their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell " in their tents. For they persecute him whom "thou hast smitten," (the Messiah ;) " and they "talk to the grief of those whom thou hast "wounded" (his disciples). "Add iniquity to " their iniquity; and let them not come into thy " righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the " book of the living, and not be written with the " righteous." 1 Many of the passages in the Psalms, which appear as imprecations, may perhaps more properly be rendered as prophecies: yet in either way they should not be understood as pertaining to the personal enemies of the Psalmist, but to those of the Lord and his Messiah, of whom David was an eminent type. But the passage here quoted is strictly an imprecation; several of the verbs being in the imperative: and there is scarcely room for a doubt, but that they denounce sentence against the Jewish nation for rejecting and crucifying their Messiah, and persecuting his apostles and disciples. If, indeed, these words stood alone in this argument, some doubt might be entertained; and an immense difficulty must remain, Ps. Ixix. 20-28. concerning the speaker, (supposing him inspired by the Holy Spirit ;) and the persons intended, and the manner in which the prediction has been fulfilled. Certainly David, according to the history, was, during Absalom's rebellion, by no means disposed thus to curse his opponents; and, after its termination, no special judgments fell upon Israel, answerable to such language: and when, on his numbering the people, wrath was upon them, he considered it as the punishment of his own sin, and prayed, "Lo, I have sinned, and "done wickedly: but these sheep, what have "they done? Let thine hand be against me, " and against my father's house." 1 But, when we view the words of the Psalm, in connexion with the clear and express predictions, before considered; their import and fulfilment are evi dent; and the application of them in the New Testament is fully satisfactory. 2 Several other prophetical indications to the same effect might be adduced: 3 but these are the most clear and decisive; and they are quite sufficient. I shall however adduce again the words of God by Moses. " I will raise them up a Pro"phet from among their brethren, like unto "thee; and will put my words in his mouth ; " and he shall speak unto them all that I shall "command him: and it shall come to pass, that "whosoever will not hearken unto my words " which he shall speak in my name, I will require "it of him." 4 If the Messiah be meant, and if 12 Sam. xxiv. 17. * Acts i. 20-22. Rom. xi. 7-11. * Mal. iii. 1-4. iv. 1, 4, 5. • Deut. xviii. 18, 19. Comp. Acts iii. 22, 23. vii. 35-37.51-53. Jesus were the Messiah; there can be no longer any doubt concerning the consequences of the Messiah's coming, and his rejection by the Jews ; or concerning the real cause of the long continued calamities of the nation. "Do not think that I "will accuse you to the Father: there is one " that accuseth you; even Moses, in whom ye "trust. For, had ye believed Moses, ye would " have believed me; for he wrote of me. But, " if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye be"lieve my words?" 1 Thus, I trust, it has been shewn, that the prophecies of the Old Testament, if read attentively and repeatedly, and carefully compared with each other, by any competent person, who could (if that may be supposed possible,) consider himself wholly unconcerned in the result; would appear to him to predict a Messiah, who would meet with a contemptuous and hostile reception from his own nation; who would, notwithstanding his wisdom, holiness, meekness, and numerous miracles of love and mercy, lead an afflicted and suffering life, and this closed by a violent and ignominious death; by that kind of punishment, which the law pronounced accursed; 2 as a malefactor, in man's estimation, as an atoning sacrifice for sin, in the judgment of God: that, while he died with malefactors, he would be buried in the tomb of a rich man: that, according to the prophets, he would arise from the dead, before his body "began to see corruption:" that "he would 'John v. 45-47. 49-51. xiii. 33-37. 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16. 2 Gal. iii. 13. See also Matt. xxiii. 34-37. Luke xi. |