20,X Wo unto you. Scribes and Phariſees, Hypo- ctiteS: becauſe ye build the rombs ot the prophets, and garniſh the ſepulchers of the righteous,
20 And ſay, If we had been in the days of our fithers, we ſhould not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Lube hath ir, chap. 11. 47- Wo unto you, for you build the Sepul- chers of the Prophets, and your Fathers killed them : Truly you bear witreſs, that you allow the Deeds of your Fathers, for they indeed killed them, and you build their Sepulchers. Ir 1s plain by our Saviour's Diſcourſe, chat che Phariſees were ar great Charge oft-times to re- build or adorn che Sepulchers of che Lord's Prophets, who had been ſlain by the Jews in former Ages, for reſftitying rhe Truth of God, and the Sepulchers of other Righteozs Men dying for their Rightewſne/s, This they did like a Company of Hypocrites, to perſivade the World of whar they alfo ſaid , That Had they lived in the times of thoſe Prophets, and other good Men, they would
hve had no Hand in their Blood, 21 Wherefore ye be witneſſes unto your ſelves,
| that * ye are the children of them that killed the
F prophets.
t: 22 Fillye up then the meaſure of your fathers. 23 Ye lerpents, * ye generation of vipers, how
F can ye eſcape the damnation of hell 2 -
You ( faith our Lord) confeſs that you are lineally deſcended | from choſe who killed che Prophets : You have not only their t Bb-4 communicared to you, bur their Spirit; your Behaviours - and Carriages rowards me, and my Diſciples have witneſſed, and * xillyer further teſtifie, char you are the Children of thoſe who Þ killedthe Prophets in a Moral,as well asa Natural Senſe; you inherit > theſame Spirit, and are full of the fame Malice and Rancor.They | killed them, and you bury them. Seeing there 1s no reclaiming & you, Go you on, { Fill up the meaſure of your Fathers Sins.) There | 1sſomerhing more ro be added, to make the Iniquity of this Nation E till; you are a Company of Serpents, Vipers, that cannot eſcape & the Damnation of Hell.
| 24 Wherefore behold, I ſend unto you prophets, | and wiſe men, and ſcribes, and * ſome of them ye \ {hall kill and crucifie, and * ſome of them ye ſhall þ icourge in your ſynagogues, and perſecute zhem from | City to City ; 25 That upon you may come all the righteous \ blood ſhed upon the earth , * from the blood of E lIghteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, the ſon E od Barachias, whom ye ſlew between the temple | and the altar. 36 Verily I fay unto you, All theſe things ſhall * Come upon this generation.
& Luke faith, chap. 11. 49, $0. Therefore alſo ſaid the Wiſdom of | Od, Twill ſend them Prophets and Apoſtles, and ſome of them they | ſoall fy, and perſecute. That the Blood of all the Prophets, which "45 ſhd from the Foundation of the World, may be required of this 'ee4:1m, From the Blood of Abel, to the Blood of Zacharias, who | "iſhed between the Altar and the Temple. Verily T ſay unto you, it 4 we be required of this Generation. Luke ſaith , Therefore alſo ſaid F ah am of God : Matthew faith, Behold T ſend, Chriſt is the 2 "Iidom of God; he here tells them, he would ſend chem Pro- ; " Wiſe Men, Scribes; Luke expounds it by Prophets and Apo- ; Men authorized by Chriſt to reveal unto Men the Will of Ml, and Men that ſhould be extraordinarily inſpired to inable pcm nereunto, Scribes, that is, Perſons inſtrufted ro the King- "a y ”9d; a_new ſort of Scribes, but much' ficrer for their y = che preſent Scribes. | And fome you ſhall kill ard cru- ; "Fang Our Lord in this onely foretels whar Uſage both = roy his Apoſtles ſhould meer wich from them ; which ? pray in whar the Scripture rellerh us of the Scourging of Hap 1c Sroning of Stephen, the Killing of Zames, &c. betide _ "ucitying of Himſelf, [That upon you; }] thar is, as he ex- OG It, ver. 38. | Upon this Generation may come all the Righteous P "\. Matis, the Blood of Rightens Men ; [ From the Blood of
&!o 'S.. of . "1 4% Blood of Zachariah, ſhed upon the Earth, &c.) Here
ef ww _ bk. hed
T H E W.
ariſe Tio Queſtioms : 1. Who this Zachariah the Son of Burs- chiah was? 2. Hw it could fland with God's Tuſtice, to bring the Guilt of the Bload of former Generations, upon that Generatim 2 As co the tirft, ſome have gueſt the Perſon ſpoken of, ro have been one Z:chariah the Son of Baruch, who was the laſt flain upon the raking of Feruſalem, as Foſephiss tells us ; bur our Saviour h-re ſpeaks of a thing paſt, nor to be atrerwards done : Others think.
ic was Zachariah che Father of Fobn B.pti, but we have no proot thar he died a violent Death : Others think, it was Zacha- riah, who was one cf the ſmall Prophets ; but there was no Temple in his time. Ir is moſt probably concluded to be Z.chariah the Son of Feh1jata, whom the Fews Stoned with Stones, at the Com- mandment of Toaſh, in the Court of the Fuſe of the Lord, 2 Chron: 24. 21. The Father's Name indeed doth not agree ; buc firſt, Jehjada ( as many of the Jews had ) might have two Names : ſome think 1t was the fame Zachariah who 1s called the Son of FA Berechiah, 1a. 8, 2. Our Saviour nameth Abel, who lived Be- tore the Law, and Zachariah, who lived under the Law, borh flain for Righteouſneſs fake ;. that under them he might compre- hend all the Martyrs flain in chofe two Periods. Ochers judge, that theſe two are named , becauſe we read of Abel's Blood cry- ing, Gen. q. 10. and Zachariah's praying (when he died) That the Lord would require his Blood, For the other Queſtion, It is but Righreous with God to puniſh the Sins of Parents vpon their Children; and tho' ſuch Vengeance doth nor ordinarily reach further than the Third and Fourth Generation, yer where ſucceed- ing Generations go on in the fame finful Courſes, ic mav reach turther, and oft does , Iſa. 65.6. I will (faith God) recompence into their Byſom your Iniquities, and the Iniquities of your Fathers toge- ther. That was the Cafe here ; they tilled up the meaſure of their Fathers Sins. Therefore Chriſt cells chem, rhart Vengeance ſhould ſleep no longer, but come upon that Generatim ; which happened in the utrer Deftruttion of 7erv/clem, within leſs than forty years after.” Our Lord concludes with a Pathetical La- mentation over Feruſalem,and a turcher Confirmation of what he had ſaid about their Ruin.
27 Q Jeruſalem, Jeruſalem, thou that killeſt the
thee, how often would I have gathered thy chil- 2:
28 Behold your houſe is lett unto you deſolate.