Christ's compassion and man's obstinacy contrasted.
Matt, xxiii. 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them lohich 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!
THE enmity of the human heart against God, visible as it is in all our conduct, is discoverable in nothing more than in the treatment which has been shewn in all ages to his faithful servants. One might well expect, that persons commissioned by the Go- vernor of the Universe to instruct and reform man- kind, should be welcomed with every expression of love and gratitude. But historic fact precluded a possibility of reply to that pungent question of our Lord, " Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" Nevertheless, God in infinite mercy, after a host of messengers had in succession been cruelly put to death, vouchsafed to send his only dear Son, with credentials indisputable, with autho- rity unparalleled, with compassion infinite. Yet was not even his ministry successful. The obduracy of man withstood all his kind solicitations ; and con- strained him, with his dying breath, to testify against his devoted country as self-ruined and self-condemned.
The words before us will naturally lead us to con- sider,
I. The tender compassion of Christ —
The simile by which our Lord illustrates his own tenderness, is admirably calculated to impress and edify our minds. It is familiar to all, and therefore intelligible to the meanest capacity : at the same time it gives us as just an idea of parental anxiety as any image can convey. A hen, observing a bird of prey hovering over her young, instantly sounds an alarm, and calls them to her for protection. Thus our blessed Lord warned sinners in the days of his flesh : and thus he still warns them.