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of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words, and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem." (Zech. i. 1-17.) "I will be to her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her." (ii. 5.) Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation. And he shewed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee,

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O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among those that stand by. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch. For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes." (Zech. ii. 10-13; iii. 1, 2, 6--9.)

That this one stone with seven eyes was typical of God the Son, is plainly proved by the following relations. It is described on an equality in attributes and powers with the fountain bowl; for on this was conjoined the same number of lamps, or eyes, namely seven. God's servant the branch, and the stone laid before Joshua, alike typified the Messiah; for Messiah is uniformly denominated the foundation stone of the temple of the Lord: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation." (Isa. xxviii. 16.) "Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." (Eph. ii. 20, 21.)

The fourth chapter of Zechariah's prophecy has been already inserted, with the omission of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th verses, which

entirely correspond with the relation of Ezra, namely, that the elders of the Jews builded and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah. And the subject-matter of these verses, which we now proceed to transcribe, are distinctly delivered for the encouragement of Zerubbabel and those who had with him undertaken the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord; as also was this glorious typical revelation we have just contemplated, with which this encouraging prophecy was accompanied, and indeed involved. "Then the angel that talked with me, answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." "As the olive branches are supplied with oil in a secret invisible manner, (as we have just seen depicted,) so the temple shall be finished and the nation established, not by human power and force, but by the powerful operations of God's Spirit upon the hearts of the kings of Persia and of the Jewish people."* "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain :" all and the greatest obstacles, though they be huge as mountains, shall be removed from out of his way, and levelled to a plain :) "and he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof:" (and that Messiah was the head-stone, he himself identified," Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone

* Orton.

which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.") And he shall bring forth the typical head-stone thereof "with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it!"

It is recorded, Ezra iii. 8, 9, 10, that in the second year of the return of the children of Israel from the Babylonish captivity, "they," Zerubbabel and Joshua, and the remnant of their brethren, the priests and the Levites, " began to set forward the work of the house of the Lord." "And when the builders laid the foundation-stone of the temple of the Lord (on which, as Josephus informs us, was written Tetragammaton, or the ineffable name of God,) they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house was laid." Thus fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah unto Zerubbabel, namely, that he should bring forth the typical head-stone with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace, unto it! But when Almighty God brought forth the blessed true head-stone, then the celestial hierarchies enraptured pealed his praise. The glory of the Lord shone round about the shepherds of Judea, instructing the angel that talked with them, to speak good words and comfortable words unto them, (as before had the angel

distilled by the blessed Physician of souls, and his blessed coadjutor, into intelligents, can mollify the most obdurate nature, soften the hardest heart, and transform the most degenerate sinners into regenerate saints-fulfilling them with grace and heavenly benediction.

This most sublime and magnificent type appears to us eminently to illustrate how Deity can concentrate in himself three persons, forming one ever-glorious Trinity, one ever-blessed God, by exhibiting to the eye of the mind a portraiture, conveying ideas by material similitude, not only of his nature as Father of all lights and benignant source of good; but also of the manner of his existence, the agents to whom He is conjoined, and through whom He pours his blessings down. In it we behold the great I Am, whose open eyes in all directions watch over us for good-two branches branching forth, indissolubly joined by an eternal union to the parent root, whence they derive full participation of its nature, power, and virtue; branching upwards, branching downwards, shedding around them blessings, dividing amongst all their heavenly gifts and graces. The right hand Branch, who, in his divine nature, branches forth from God-in undissolved union vesting himself within the human nature, that branches forth from out the stem of Jesse, and which now, spiritualized and glorified, and thus conjoined to Deity, mediates with the Father; for it is through the blessed Redeemer, all who pray have an access by one Spirit to the Father;

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