pray, that our Minds may be brought to his holy Frame. So that, in all our Afflictions, but especially in any which it shall please God to call us to, for the Teftimony of bis Truth, we may ftedfaftly look up to Heaven, and by Faith behold the Glory which shall be revealed; And, being filled with the Holy Ghoft, whofe neceffary Graces are never wanting, to any who diligently feek and use them, may, attain to that eminent Inftance of Charity, to love and bless our Perfecutors. Thus fhall we find the Help and Favour of Him, who ftandeth at the right band of God, to fuccour all them that fuffer for him; and who, if not appointed to fuffer for, yet do their utmost to live and die in, his true Faith and Fear, the Bleffed Jefus, our only Mediator and Advocate.

See Acts vii. 60. xii. 1.

v. 40. xiii. 50. xiv. 5, 6, 19. 2 Cor. xi. 24, 25.

PARAPHRASE.

B

The GOSPEL.

St. Matth. xxiii. 34.

Ebold, I fend unto you Prophets, and wife Men, and Scribes, and fome of them ye fhall kill and crucify, and fome of them shall ye fcourge in your Synagogues, and perfecute from city to

34. A Proof of all that 34.1 Hypocrify and obftinate Wickedness, which I have laid to your Charge, you will fhortly give, in city. the barbarous Treatment

of all forts, which the Persons, inspired by God, Preachers and Expounders of the Chriftian Law, fhall receive at your merciless Hands.

35, 36. Which incorrigible Malice and Obftinacy will provoke God not only to punish this prefent Age of the Jews, for the Sins and Murders committed by their own

35. That upon You may come all the righteous blood fhed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, Son of Barachias, whom ye flew between the Temple and the Altar.

36. Verily I fay unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Perfons; but also to bring upon them the Vengeance due for those, committed by their Ancestors. Whofe Wickedness they have been fo far from being reformed by, that they have imitated, repeated, and far exceeded it all.

37, 38. Oh wretched People (of which Jerufalem is the Metropolis and common Mother) who thus perfift in mur

37. Ob Jerufalem, Jerufalem, thou that killeft the Prophets, and ftoneft them which are fent unto thee, bow often would I have gathered thy children together, even as an ben gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not :

38. Behold

38. Bebold your Houfe is left unto you defolate.

dering those who are fent to teach and to re

claim you! How many Inftances of the tendereft Affection, how many Offers of Converfion and Grace, of Protection and Defence, from the Calamities now approaching, have I over and over laid before you? but ye have rejected them all. Therefore these happy Opportunities are about to be taken away from you, and your deserved Destruction is irreversibly decreed.

39. For I fay unto you, Ye fhall not fee me henceforth, till ye fhall fay, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

39. For, take my Word, the time of my present Manifeftation among you will laft but a little lon

ger; and after that, thofe Words of David, which, when applied to me, by the Acclamations of the Multitudes, provoked your Indignation, fhall then in vain be in your Mouths, expecting your Meffiah as a Deliverer, whom you fhall find a juft Avenger of your Crimes against him. Or, (as fome Interpreters) this heavy Displeasure of God fhall continue upon You, and Your Pofterity, till you fhall be converted, and acknowledge me for the true Meffias (prophefied of by David) at my Second Coming.

COMMENT.

E have here a remarkable Prediction of Two W Things. (1.) The unparallel'd Cruelty of the Hypocritical and Unbelieving Jews, upon the Preachers of the Christian Faith. (2.) The Severity of those Judgments, which were, by that Provocation, drawn down upon this inflexible People, and their City, polluted with fo much innocent Blood. The Former of thefe Predictions began to be fulfilled in the Martyr of this Day. The Latter was charged upon him, as Blafphemy against God, the Law, the Temple, and the Holy City, and made a Pretence for gratifying their Malice by his Death.

Acts vi. 11, 13,

14.

In treating of this Scripture, I will first very briefly explain one or two Difficulties, for the better understanding of it; and then raise fome practical Obfervations, which may help us to improve by it.

1. The First Difficulty I fhall take notice of, is that, which learned Men have thought fo differently about, The Perfon meant in the 35th Verfe, by the Name of

Zacharias

Sce 2 Chron. xxiv. 20. to 26.

Zacharias the Son of Barachias. Concerning whom They feem to judge very probably, who think him that Zechariah, mentioned to be flain by the Command of King Joah. The Occafion of his Death was the Freedom he took, in reproving a wicked People; The Place agrees with that mentioned here; The Sin of it is exprefly faid to be vifited upon the King and the People; Vengeance was imprecated by his laft dying Breath; and the Name of Barachiab, being of the fame Sense with that of Jeboiada, 'tis thought, might in common ufe be put for it, in Reverence to that Name of Jehovah, which the later Jews, efteeming it unlawful to utter, where the Letters of that Name occurred, are faid to have fubftituted another, of like Signification, in its stead.

There are indeed Three Circumftances, which incline to Zechariah, one of the Laft Prophets.

Zech. i. I. One, that he is exprefly the Son of Barachiab in Holy Writ; A Second, That he is, in one of the Jewish Targums, faid to be murdered in the Holy Place; A Third, That being later in Time, and but just before the Gift of Prophecy ceafed, his Blood is thought more properly to be fet, as the oppofite Term to that of Abel; the One as the First that ever was, the Other as the Laft Prophet under the Law; Both put to Death by wicked Men, merely because they were Themselves, and laboured to make Others, Righteous.

Either of these Opinions hath its probable Arguments; Each far Superior to That, which applies this Paffage to Zachary, the Father of John Baptift. Who does not appear, either to have been sent to the Jews under the Character of a Prophet; or to have been owned by them as fuch; or to be the Son of Barachias; or flain as is here mentioned (except by a Tradition of no Credit at all.) So likewife, for that other Zacharias mentioned by Josephus, it hath been thought not fo fufficiently made out, either that his Father's Name was the fame, though

near

near it; or that he was a Prophet; or that our Lord's Words can, without fome Violence, be referred to an Action, done after the Time of speaking them.

Mean while, though fomewhat might be expected on fo celebrated a Question, I content my felf with faying the lefs, because the Knowledge of this particular Perfon fignifies little to us; the general Senfe in the Paraphrafe fufficiently declaring our Lord's Intention, and ferving all the ufes, this Text is capable of.

2. Another thing I conceive to be neceffary upon this Occafion, which is, To fet before you the juft Extent of that kind Offer made by our Lord, to gather thefe Jews, as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings: An Expreffion that hath been thought conveniently enough interpreted, in either of the Two following Senfes.

Pfal. xci. 4.

1. This manner of Speech plainly fignifies Protection from Dangers. Thus David defcribes the good Man's Safety, by faying He fhall be covered under God's Wings, and reft fecure under his Feathers. A manifeft Allufion to Fowls, fheltering their Young, upon the Approach of Birds of Prey. And then by this People's Houfe being left unto them defolate, we are to understand the withdrawing that Protection. Which when deprived of, they would stand naked and alone; as liable to Destruction, as little Chickens are to be devoured by every ravenous Creature, when the Dam is not at hand to fuccour, and spread her self over them.

2. But Some place a peculiar Elegance in this Expreffion, with regard to the ancient Sanctuary, in which the Cherubs fhadowed the Mercy-Seat with their Wings. And, because this was an Emblem of God's efpecial Prefence; (a Prefence no where else fo vifibly exhibited) therefore the Admiffion of Profelytes into Covenant with the true God was called by the Jews, a Receiving, or Gathering, of fuch under the Wings of the Divine Majesty. And thus our Lord's Willingness to gather Jerufalem's

Children

Children under his Wings will mean all the kind Endeavours, to convince and inftruct them in the Gospel-Covenant, and to make them Partakers of thofe Privileges, and that Salvation, which they, with fo blind and unperfuadeable an Obftinacy, held out against.

I fee not, I confefs, any neceffity, for ftrictly confining the Words to either of thefe Senfes, in bar to the Other. For, fince it is ufual in every Language, by One eminent Inftance to intend All the Effects of any Paffion; this Expreffion may very well be extended to every Mark of Tenderness and Natural Affection, so visible in the Creatures alluded to toward their Young. And, in proportion, to all the Teftimonies of our Lord's Paternal Kindnefs and Care, whether relating to their Spiritual, or their Temporal, Preservation. If fo, the Punishment threatned to the Refusers of fuch Kindness, will include, not only a withdrawing his Defence from their City and Nation, but a depriving them of thofe Means of Grace, which had been fo long, and fo liberally, but withal, by reafon of their own Perverseness, fo unfuccefsfully, afforded, repeated, continued to them, before thofe dreadful Judgments were fuffered to take Place. The Romans could not demolish their House, till that invisible, but mighty, Force within the Walls was drawn off. The Devil could not abfolutely captivate their Minds, fo long as the Word and Spirit of Truth ftrove against him. But, when they refused to join in their own Defence, the Grace of God would depart, and give them over to that Blindness, in which they remain to this Day. And when their Hypocrify and Barbarity had made God their Enemy too, the Power of Man would then find it as easy, to feize and ravage, burn and destroy; as it is, to lay a Dwelling in Ruins, which is left perfectly empty, and forfaken of thofe Owners or Inhabitants, whose Concern it was formerly to fupport and defend it.

Thus much may fuffice for the Explanation of this Paffage. I now proceed to make Improvement of it,