' and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. • The glory of this latter house shall be greater 'than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts; ' and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.'

If the Jews, about the time that Jesus appeared, did not understand this prophecy as foretelling the advent of the Messiah while the second temple was standing; and if they did not understand Daniel's famous prophecy of the seventy weeks as Christians now do, it seems very difficult, if not impossible, to account for the universal expectation which they then indulged, of the immediate coming of the Messiah. That such an expectation was prevalent among them is evident, not only from the evangelical history, but also from the testimony of Seuetonius and Tacitus, who agree in affirming, that there was an opinion spread through the whole East, that at that very time some person was to arise in Judea, who should obtain the empire of the world. But, if such was the opinion of the Jews, it supports the pretensions of Jesus: and, if that was the time appointed for the appearance of the Messiah, no other person but Jesus did appear, who could have any pretensions to that character, and the Jews look in vain for the appearance of another Messiah now; and it is only by complying with the prediction of Zechariah xii. 10-14, that they will be enabled to discover the true Messiah.

The shaking of the heavens, and earth, and sea, and dry land, mentioned by the prophet Haggai, in the above passage, seems to refer to the overthrow of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great, which took place in about two centuries from the time of this prophecy; for it is by such symbols that the prophets describe the revolutions of states and empires. By the shaking of all nations, mentioned in the seventh verse, the Spirit of God seems to intend the overthrow of the Macedonian empire, and the conquest of Syria and Judea by the Romans, and those dreadful wars and commotions which accompanied these events, and took place im

6

mediately before the coming of Jesus. It was after this shaking that Jesus appeared in the world; and the evangelist, having related his entry into Jerusalem, riding upon an ass, (Matth. xxi.) thus describes his appearance in the temple. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that bought and ' sold in the temple; and overthrew the tables `` of the money-changers, and the seats of them 'that sold doves; and said unto them, It is ' written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in

6

' the temple, and he healed them. And when

' the chief priests and scribes saw the wonder

" ful things that he did, and the children crying

6

' in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son

' of David! they were sore displeased, and said ' unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And

Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never 'read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise ?'

Thus, by the appearance of Jesus, the Mes

1

siah, in the second temple, before his last sufferings and death, that temple acquired a greater glory than the one built by Solomon. There is no other way by which the second temple, which had not the Shechinah, or the Ark of the Covenant, or the Tables of the Law, or the Urim and Thummim, or the Holy Fire, can be shown to have had a greater glory than the first temple, which was glorified by all these emblems of the divine presence and favour; for it is not in the external ornaments of gold and silver that the glory of either temple did consist, but in the presence of the Almighty, and the visible emblems of his favour and protection.

CHAP. VI.

ARGUMENT THAT JESUS IS THE MESSIAH, FROM THE PRE

SENT STATE OF THE JEWS AND OF THE CHRISTIAN

GENTILES.

IF Jesus be the Messiah, then it follows, that all the Gentiles who believe on him are now the people of God; and that the Jews, by crucifying the Messiah, and still continuing to reject him, have ceased to be in a covenant relation with the God of their fathers.

On the other hand, if Jesus be not the Messiah, but either an enthusiast, or an impostor, then his followers, who acknowledge him as the Messiah, and worship him as God, one and equal with the Father, are, by so doing, guilty both of blasphemy and idolatry: and it follows,