June 11

not some pain, some weakness was left; and he limped for life. There was doubtless a contraction of the muscle or tendon, for it is said, "therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew that shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank." Was this refusal founded in a superstitious conceit? It was rather the consequence of a divine appointment, analogous to a ceremonial and sensible dispensation of religion; or the disuse resulted from the veneration his posterity entertained for the patriarch, and their concern to memorialize this astonishing occurrence. It would be saying, Our father trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver him—Say not to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain.

But what a night was here! What a morning was here! With what confidence and peace would he now go forward, assured of a safe and pleasant meeting with his brother, and that goodness and mercy would follow him all the days of his life! And oh! what a relation would he have to communicate to his company as soon as he had overtaken them! They would wonder to see him halting as he approached; but they would marvel far more when he had told them of all that had happened unto him—of his wrestling! and of his success!

And how much shall we have to announce to our company who have crossed the river before us, and are waiting to receive us into everlasting habitations, when we have reached them, not in a yet unfinished and trying journey, but at home, in the rest that remains for the people of God.

"There, on a green and flowery mount, Our weary souls shall sit; And with transporting joys recount The labours of our feet."

JUNE 11.—"And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth."—Zechariah 13:3.

As in money transactions the sterling coin gives rise to the counterfeit, so in religious concerns, reality is followed by hypocrisy. From the beginning there were in Israel true prophets. Hence also there were false ones, wearing the attire, and assuming the manners of God's own servants; pretending to communications which they had never received; exercising and encouraging idolatry; and crying, Peace, peace, when there was no peace. When therefore God intended mercy to the country, he engages to sweep away from the earth these emissaries of the devil, and plagues and curses of the human race. "In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and I will cause the prophets, and the unclean spirits to pass out of the land." And so affected would the people be, and even their relations and their nearest relations, that rising above the feelings of nature, they would themselves execute the judgment threatened: "And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him, shall say

unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth." This would be very trying to flesh and blood; but we are to love God supremely, and creatures only in subordination to him. And this is no more than Moses required: "If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: but thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people." It is no more than Levi performed in the slaughter of the idolaters in the camp at Horeb: "He said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children." How unlike this was the conduct of Eli, who, when his sons made themselves vile, restrained them not, but only gave them a gentle rebuke. And what can we think of those parents who connive at the delinquencies of their children; and instead of opposing them with the authority and influence they possess, can rather cherish their inclinations, and accompany their steps? "He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

As the words from the immediately preceding and following context are allowed to refer to the evangelical dispensation, some have derived an argument from them in favour of compulsion and persecution in religion. But the Gospel sanctions nothing of this. When James and John would have called for fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans, the greatest schismatics of the age, and who had refused him a night's lodging, our Lord rebuked them, saying, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Some therefore have solved the difficulty by applying the prophecy exclusively to the conversion of the Jews; and supposing that when they become Christians they will at first act according to their former usages, just as at the beginning of the Gospel they for a while strove to bring in with Christ, circumcision, and the observance of meats and seasons. But the conjecture is improbable; and the confinement of the words to this people is groundless. The meaning is—that effects are here put for principles—Christians should not indeed act in the same manner, but have the same zeal the pious Jews had, when of old they showed themselves on the Lord's side, and obeyed his commands, however expensive or painful the service—they should display the most determined firmness and fidelity in opposing error, and in spreading divine truth—holding nothing dear but the glory of God their Saviour—and forsaking all they have to be his disciples. It is therefore another of the many instances in the Old Testament, in which things Christian are expressed by Jewish allusions. The Prophets could only use their own language, and employ their own ideas and terms, even when speaking of another and a future dispensation. Nothing, therefore, can be more unwise, than to build opinions and expectations upon so weak a foundation as the