thee most precious in my Bight (oomp. e.ngels, e.nd e.ll oree.tures " (Oorn. i-. Le.plde, Cant. viii. 6). Among Orientals the ngnet- ap. Pusey). I han choaen thee, This is ring we.a an article of gree.t importe.noe e.nd not e. persona.I e.esure.nco only to Zerubbe.bel, va.lue (see Rev. v. 1 ; ix. 4; and' Diot. of the for neither he nor his ne.ture.l aeed reigned Bible,' art. "Se11.l "). The e.llusion is pe.r- in J eruee.lem, or rose to e.ny spooie.l emi- tioululy approprie.te here, beoe.use Zerub- nence in the kingdoms of this world. The be.bel is set e.t the hee.d of the nation in the fulfilment must be looked for in his spiritue.l place of his grandfather(?) Jeoonie.h, whose progeny e.nd in Christ. Promises a.re often rejection from the mone.rohy he.d been me.de in Scripture to individuals whioh a.re oouched in these terms : "As I live, ee.ith e.coomplished only in their descendant&; the Lord. though Conie.h the son of Jehoie.- witness those me.de to Abre.he.m and the kim King of Jude.h were the signet upon other patriarchs, the prophecies of Ja.ooh to my right he.nil. yet would I pluok thee his BODS, e.nd many others of e. eimile.r thence" (Jer. xxii. 24). The Son of Sire.oh, ne.tnre in the Old '.reste.ment. Those le.rge in his pre.ise of great men, refers to this promises made to David in old time, that promise, " How she.11 we me.gnify Zorobe.bel? his seed should endure for ever, that his even he we.a e.s e. signet on the right be.nd" throne should be as the sun before God (Ps. (Eccl us. xlix. 11 ). The signet, too, is the h:xxix. 86, 87 ; 2 Sam. vii. 16), were now sign of authority (Gen. :di. 42; Esth. iii. passed on to Zerubbabel and to hie line, 10); so Zernbbe.bel he.a authority delegated bece.use of him we.s to spring Messiah, in to him from God, the type of him who se.id, whom a.lone these wide predictions find their "All things a.re delivered unto me of my fulfilment. "He shall be great, and shall be Father" (Matt. xi. 27). "The true Zerub- oe.lled the Son of the Highest: and the Lord ba.bel, i.e. Christ, the Son and Antitype of God shall give unto him the throne c,f bis Zerubbabel, is the signet in the he.nd of the fe.ther David : and he shall reign over the Father, both passively e.nd aotively, where- house of Ja.ooh for ever; e.nd of his kingdom by God impresses his own me.jesty, thought, there shall be no end" (Luke i 82, 88). and worda, a.nd his own image, on men,
HOMILETICS. Vers. 3-6.-Past and present. L A SUGGESTION-of the continuity of hwma;n history. Haggai's question assumes that the structure then erecting was not a new edifice (which it really was), but the old building set up again, thouii:h in faded spleudour, which also it was, inasmuch as it was based on the foundations of the tarlier pile. "This house in its former glory" meant that the prophet looked on the two houses as one, and the two eras represented by these houses, not as two distinct and separate periods, but as one continuous period. As it were the national life, for seventy years interrupted by the exile, again flowed on, restoring the temple, reinstituting the religion of Jehovah, and pervading the whole fabric of society. '.rhe present was not so muc_h a fresh c~m~encement as a prolon~at!o~ of t~e pa~t. A~d this is true of human history and life m general. No age or 1nd1v1dual 1s entirely dis- connected from and independent of the ages and individuals that have gone before. A perfectly new beginning in human history or in individual life has never yet taken place. Even in the Incarnation, the second Adam was connected with the first through bis human nature. The civilization of the nineteenth century is built upon the foundations laid by preceding centuries. The maturity of manhood in wisdom or virtue is developed from the gains in knowledge and goodness made in youth. II. ~ ILLUSTRA'l'ION--o/ the tendency to glmify the past at the e:,;peme of the preBent. " Who is left among you that ea"'. t~is hou~e in its former glory_? and how do you see it now?" asks _th~ prophet; "1s 1t _n?t m your _eyes as n~thmg?" In certain respects this deprec1at1on of the post-ex1hc temple, m comparison with the t:>ulomonic, was justifiable-the material splendour of the second building was vastly inferior to that of the first; but in other respects t~e glory of the latter house would ultimately far eclipse that of the former (ver. 9)-it would be the centre and scene the instrument and support of a purer worship than had been maintained in the formdr, and would be honomed by the visit of a greater potentate than Solomon himself, even by the Messenger of the covenant and the Lord of the temple, after whom were going out the desires, nut u[ Is~·ael alone1 but of all nations (ver: 7). _.A:nd jw;t as t.L.ese aged temple-builders were 1Uclmcd to d1eparage the meaner edifice ris1n" OB. ll, 1-28.) THE BOOK OF HAGGAI. 28