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Saviour Christ: "the desire of all nations," the great Deliverer; whose coming was expected, though without a clear knowledge of his character, by both Jew and Gentile; whom, now that he is known, his faithful people seek daily, where he reigns in heaven, with the never satisfied desire of humbly adoring love; to whom hereafter, when he appears in glory, all nations of the world shall flock together, every tongue shall confess, and every knee shall bow.* This Lord, as said also the prophet Malachi, came suddenly to his temple,"† first as an infant, then as a child, lastly as a full-grown and perfect man, a teacher of heavenly wisdom, he appeared within its courts. When at Jerusalem he was daily there; the zeal of God's house did even eat him up ; he claimed for it, and enforced with pious indignation, the respect due to its awful holiness, and would not suffer that to be made a house of merchandise, far less of thievery and cheating, which God had hallowed to himself. Apply this, my christian readers, to the temple of your hearts; observe that God who has promised to dwell there looketh not on the outward appearance, chooseth not the most comely in the eyes of man, but requireth that the place of his habitation should be clean and pure within. Think not that you are less fitted for the indwelling of your Lord, because you are poor, or deformed, or maimed, or in any other way devoid of personal grace or beauty, but tremble lest you be found unfit for it, because you are worldly minded, hardened in heart, obstinate, selfish, given to serve divers lusts and appetites, envying, or belying, or beguiling, or hating one another. Pray him to make you fit, by destroying in you, through his gracious power, all such evil habits, ungodly thoughts, and wicked practices; pray

Rom. xiv. 11.

+ Mal. iii. 1.

‡ John ii. 17.

him to purify you, if it seem good, even in the furnace of affliction; take all that he does to you, however it may sting and wound your hearts, and thwart your yet undisciplined tempers, as the correction of a tender father, as matter for sure rejoicing in the end, as working in you repentance not to be repented of, and the things which accompany salvation.

But it is time to return to the history of the Jewish people, whom we left commencing the good work of building up their temple, with a degree of zeal which promised that it would speedily be brought to a conclusion. An unforeseen hindrance, however, arose, in the conduct of their neighbours,—the inhabitants of that part of the country which, after the captivity of the ten tribes, had been re-peopled by the subjects of the Assyrian king. These men, as I have before noticed, possessed a sort of imperfect worship of the true God, in conjunction with their own idols; and, hearing of the work in which the Jews were engaged, they made them offers of assistance, intending to worship in common with them in the temple about to be erected. This, however, Zerubbabel and the other rulers of the Jews refused, disclaiming all connexion with men of such loose principles with regard to a main article of religion, as they had shown themselves to be, and consequently brought upon themselves the hatred of that people, who thenceforth devoted their efforts, and not without effect, to hindering, by every means in their power, the progress of the work. Their influence, thus exerted, was sufficient to prevent it from going on during a period of fourteen years, to the second year of Darius, king of Persia: at which time the Jews, being sharply reproved by Haggai for their indolence, bestirred themselves vigorously again, and at length succeeded, in spite of all opposition, in finishing the building, Darius having caused search

to be made in the records of his kingdom, and having found the decree of the great Cyrus, which authorized and enjoined it. It was not, however, the encouragement of earthly rulers only, which enabled them to go on: the promises and assurances of Him whose house they were building were largely vouchsafed to them, as their most certain stay. "Not by might nor by power," said the Lord of hosts to Zerubbabel by his prophet Zechariah, "but by my Spirit," would the undertaking be completed: "the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of the house; his hands shall also finish it, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you." Animated by these, and similar expressions, to be found in the writings of the prophets, they dedicated with joy to their great Protector the finished building; and soon afterwards experienced another proof of his care for their well-being, in the arrival of Ezra, the priest, from Persia, bringing with him more than a thousand of their countrymen, and furnished with authority from the king to lay out considerable sums of money upon the necessary expenses of the house of God, and to rule the people according to his law. For this latter service he was eminently qualified: he was one of those priests who knew that their "lips should keep knowledge, and that the people should seek the law at their mouth, because they were the messengers of the Lord of hosts :" and therefore he had taken care to make himself, through God's grace, a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord had given; he had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments:" to instruct those who knew them not, and to compel those who did know, to observe them, by the exercise

* Zech. iv. 6, 9.

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of that lawful authority committed to him by God and the king. He travelled to Judea, without any soldiers to guard him and his companions, though they carried with them much silver and gold, and the robbers, as well as enemies, who infested the country through which they had to travel, rendered such a journey dangerous. The only weapons which he used for his protection were prayers and fastings; and these God graciously admitted to prevail. He arrived safely at Jerusalem, and paid over the monies which he brought with him into the hands of the officers, who were appointed to apply it to every needful purpose and this done, he betook himself in the next place, to bring about a reformation, no less needful, in the manners of the people. For they, regardless of the fall of Solomon, which had been caused by his connexion with strange women, and of the many evils which throughout their history were seen to have arisen from a similar cause, as well as the direct prohibition of the law of Moses, had intermarried to a very great degree with the daughters of the heathen-their principal men, far from putting a stop to this, having been chief in the trespass. The righteous spirit of Ezra was sorely grieved at this— he humbled himself before God, weeping and lying prostrate before his holy house, and did not cease, till by such conduct he had awakened a similar feeling of remorse and sorrow in the bosoms of the transgressors. They came before him from all quar→ ters, oppressed with a sense of guilt, and listened with attention and obedience to his commandments, to put away these foreign wives, who would soon otherwise have seduced them to idolatry, and to walk thenceforward more strictly, and therefore more securely, according to the law of God. Happy are they, who, when the sins which they cherish are made manifest to their conscience by some faithful messenger of the

and reso

Lord of hosts, have thereupon the courage lution to renounce them,-to strike off spiritually the right hand, and pluck out the right eye, which has offended; to forego without a murmur those sources of worldly comfort, from which spring hindrances to their christian course; to count as loss what others count as gain, that they may win Christ, and sharing in his fellowship of suffering now, may be partakers of his glory.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

HISTORY OF ESTHER AND NEHEMIAH.

WHILE Ezra, the priest, was engaged at Jerusa

lem, in reforming the manners of his countrymen, and especially in engaging them to put away the foreign women whom they had married in contravention of the law of Moses, an event which seems an exception to the rule that he was labouring to enforce, occurred in Persia, and, as far as we can judge from the beneficial consequences to which it led, received the approbation of God. Ahasuerus, king of that country, called also Artaxerxes, having divorced his wife Vashti, who had given him offence by refusing to make her public appearance at a banquet which he was giving to his nobles, commanded search to be made for a fit successor to her among the maidens of the land. Among the Jews then living at Shushan, the place of the king's residence, was one named Mordecai, of a family which had many years before been brought from Jerusalem, at the time when Jechoniah was made captive, and who had now under his guardianship a damsel named Esther, his uncle's

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