en; and glory in the highest. Our Lord (superior to all their adulation, and knowing how soon the hosannas of some of them would turn to, "Crucify him;"-and being touched with sympathy and pity for a devoted city, now going to fill up their guilty measure of iniquity) "beheld the city, and wept over it." He said; "If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes! For the days shall come when thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round; and keep thee in on every side; and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee. And they shall not leave thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." The day but one after, Christ went into the temple for the last time, to instruct the people. While he was thus employed, the high priest, elders, Herodians, Sadducees, and Phari-sees, gathered in turn around him, with a malicious view, to entangle him in his talk. Christ returned such answers, spake such parables, and set home such reproof and conviction to their souls, as not only to astonish and silence them; but to give them some awful prelibation of the fi nal judgment, which awaited them at his bar. He thus, in a most free and pungent address to the disciples, administered the most dignified and keen reproofs for the cruelty, hypocrisy and pride. of the Scribes and Pharisees. He foretold the malicious treatment the disciples would meet with at their hands; and then denounced the vengeance on that falling city, which for ages their crimes had been accumulating. He forewarned that this cup of divine indignation should be poured on that generation. His tender feelings

of soul then melted in a most moving apostrophe: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Upon this our Saviour left the temple. The disciples took an occasion to speak to Christ of the magnificence of the sacred edifice ;-how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts. "Master, (said they,) see what manner of stones and buildings are here.' "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." How very unlikely must such an event have seemed! But it was indeed

fulfilled upon that generation.

Jesus and his disciples retired to the mount of Olives. Here the temple rose before them in all its majestic elegance. The surrounding scenery naturally suggested the conversation which followed. The disciples petitioned;" Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?" Their minds seem to have been impressed with the preceding discourse; and they fell most readily upon the same subject, and wished to know when such awful events should come; and what warnings should announce their approach. Our Lord replied: "Take heed that no man deceive you; for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." As though he had said: This shall be one signal

token of the event, both as my denunciations relate to a primary accomplishment in the destruction of Jerusalem; and to a more general and dreadful fulfilment in the destruction of Antichrist in the last days. Impostors shall abound. False religionists shall deceive and ruin many. This was fulfilled in relation to Jerusalem. Not long after Christ's ascension, the Samaritan Dositheus appeared and declared himself the Messiah predicted by Moses. Simon Magus also declared himself" the Great power of God." Soon after, another impostor appeared from the mongrel Samaritans. The church has ever been annoyed by such kind of Samaritans, who have ever been fruitful in vile impostors, crying" Lo, here: and lo, there." This impostor promised to exhibit to the people sacred utensils said to be deposited by Moses in Mount Gerazim. Here a

new decision must be given from heaven, to the question between the Jews and Samaritans, as to the place of worship; a thing of which schismatics have ever been exceedingly fond; to derive some new light upon their party question directly from above; as though decisions already given were insufficient.

Armed multitudes sallied forth to follow this Messiah, confident their Great Deliverer had at last made his appearance. But Pilate, the Roman governor, checked their fanaticism with the sword, and put their fancied Messiah to death.

Another impostor, Theudas, arose. He had the address to persuade inultitudes to follow him into the wilderness, under his promise that he would cause the river Jordan to divide. The Roman procurator, Fadus, with a troop of horse, pursued them; slew the impostor, and many others; and dispersed the faction. Deceivers, un

der the government of Felix, were multiplied, leading off people into the wilderness under the promise and fanatical' expectation that they should there, see sigus and wonders. The old Serpent often leads fanatical people into wildernesses of error and delusion, under similar expectations. The vigilant age of the Roman governor rested on these impostors, and was sure to frustrate their designs, as oft as they appeared. In the year 55, arose a notable Egyptian impostor, named Felix. Thirty thousand followed him, under the persuasion that from mount Olivet they should see the walls of Jerusalem fall to the ground at his command, for their easy capture of the Roman garrison there; and their taking possession of Jerusalem. They were attacked by the Roman governor four hundred were slain and the rest dispersed. The Egyptian

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impostor escaped for his life. In the year 60, another pretended Messiah appeared, engaging to break the Roman yoke, if they would follow him into the wilderness; but the deceiver and his followers soon fell a sacrifice to the vigilance of Festus, the governor. It would be too unwieldy to mention all the vile impestors of this period. They were a just retribution of righteous Heaven upon the Jews, for having rejected and put to death the true Messiah: and they fulfilled the warning of our Lord, of a host of deceivcrs at that period. How prone are men to court deception. Christ had said to the Jews, I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another should come in his own name, him will ye receive.' This was fulfilled: and not only then, but in every age to this day. Those who give the best evangelical evidence of their being ambassadors of Christ, many will reject;

while the confident and noisy claims of egotists are by them fully allowed. As in water face answers to face; so the heart of man to man."

Our Lord proceeds: "And ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars : see that ye be not. troubled for all these things shall come to pass; but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation; and kingdom against kingdom; and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; all these are the beginning of sorrows."

The portentous thunders of wars and rumours of wars may be said to have occupied most of the time from the death of our Saviour, to the destraction of Jerusalem. The historic pages, which treat of these times, are stained with blood. A war between Herod and Aretas, king of Arabia, opened the bloody scene, after a short season of peace. In Selucia the Grecks and Syrians rose against the Jews, who fled thither from the pestilence in Babylon, and slew 50,000 of them. Five years ater, the Jews in Perea, and people of Philadelphia, contended about the limits of a city; when many of the Jews were slain. Four years after this, an insult being offered to the Jews within the precincts of the temple, by a Roman soldier; and being violently resented; a Roman force rushed upon them; which so terrified the Jews, that they fled in vast disorder; and 10,000 of them lost their lives in the streets. After another four years, the Jews ravaged the country of the Samaritans, in consequence of their having murdered a Galilean, who was going to keep the passover. Many were slain. Soon after, a contention arose between the Jews in Cesarea and the Syrians, relative to the government of Cæsarea. In the first encounter more