Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!" But while the people thus exulted and triumphantly congratulated their Messiah, he, struggling with the deepest emotions of pity and compassion for Jerusalem, beheld the city and wept over it, saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes; for the days shall come upon thee, that 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 in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation*." On the Wednesday following, being only two days before his death, he went for the last time into the temple to teach the people; while he was thus employed, the High Priests and the Elders, the Herodians, Saducees, and Pharisees, succes* Luke, xix. 42-44

sively came to him, and questioned him with subtilty, being desirous to "entangle him in his talk;" to whom, with his accustomed dignity and wisdom, he returned answers which carried conviction to their hearts, and at once silenced and astonished them. Then, turning to his disciples, and the whole multitude, he addressed to them a discourse of very uncommon energy, in which, with most exquisite keenness of reproof, he exposed and condemned the cruelty and pride, the hypocrisy and sensuality of the Pharisees and Scribes. Having next foretold the barbarous treatment which his apostles would receive at their hands, he proceeded to denounce against Jerusalem the dire and heavy vengeance, that had for ages been accumulating in the vials of divine displeasure, expressly declaring, that it should be poured out upon the then existing generation, adding that inimitably tender and pathetic apostrophe to this devoted city, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem!

thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which 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!" Having said this, he went out of the temple, and, as he departed, his disciples drew his attention to the wonderful magnitude and splendour of the edifice. They spake, "how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts;" and said unto him, "Master, see what manner of stones and buildings are here! And 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." When we consider the antiquity and sanctity of the temple, its stupendous fabric, its solidity, and the uncommon

*Mat. xxiii. 37-39.

magnitude of the stones of which it was composed, we may, in some measure, conceive of the amazement which this declaration of our Lord must have excited in the minds of his disciples. Nevertheless, this remarkable prediction, as we shall see in the sequel, was literally fulfilled, and as our Lord had foretold, even during the existence of the generation to which he addressed it.

Our Lord now retired to the Mount of Olives, to which place the disciples followed him, in order to make more particular inquiries relative to the time when the calamitous events, foretold by him, would come to pass. We have already intimated, that the Mount of Olives commanded a full view of Jerusalem and the temple. No situation, therefore, could have been better adapted to give energy to a prediction which related chiefly to their total ruin and demolition; and if we suppose (and the supposition is highly

probable) that our Lord, while in the act of speaking, pointed to the majestic and stupendous edifices, whose destruction he foretold, every word which he then uttered must have been clothed with inexpressible sublimity, and derived, from the circumstances of the surrounding scenery, a force and effect, which it is not possible. adequately to conceive.

"Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?" Such were the questions of the disciples, in answer to which our Lord condescended to give them a particular account of the several important events that would precede, as well as of the prognostics which would announce the approaching the approaching desolations; including suitable directions for the regulation of their conduct under the various trials to which they were to be exposed. He commences with a caution: "Take heed," says he," that no man deceive you;