lntter Yiew .. nut it mny be better to accept the saying as an intimation that, delibe- rately and ":1thout hurry, be would Accomplish his task-" not to-day nor to-morrow, but on II third day be would be perfected, or finished." 2. The clause, "it cannot be that a. prophet pe1·ish out of Jerusrilem." Ah I there is a sad irony in it, " Herod kill me here? No; I must reach the holy city. That is the sl:iugbter-house of the prophets. It would never do that I, the Prophet of Galilee, should perish elsewhere." Sublime, serene, we have tho sentences, "Behold, I cast out devils, and do oures" (ver. 32); •;r 1:1ust 'Yalk to-day and to-morrow_,and the day_following" (ver. 33). A good man s m1ss1on 1s a concern of God; God will take care of 1t and of him, so fnr as be 1s essential to it. It may be said that no person is indispensable; yet, to a certain extent, persons are indispensable. And every one who is consciously sti·ivina- after tho best and noblest, and who is giving himself to some labour of love, may bebsure that there is a Divinity hedging him around through which no fox can break. The Herods of the world, with all their scheming, cannot shorten the times of God. As he wills, and while he wills, we must walk. Until he wills that we walk no longer, we are immortal. Reposing in his heavenly Father's love, straitened until his baptism of blood is accomplished, "journeying towards Jerusalem," the Christ of the Eternal is lifted above the region of selfish fears. Tyrant cannot harm him, threat cannot ruffle him: " Walk and work to-day and to-morrow, and a third day to boot, I must and shall." II. IlUT onSERVE HOW A1'"D WHY THE EMOTION OF "THAT SAME HOUR" DURST& FOltTH. These Pharisees could not scare him from his purpose, but they touched the fountain of a Divine sensibility in his breast. And now, as at a later stage, a cry of intense sorrow escapes him-the sorrow of wounded, but agonizing love. The feeling of patriotism combines with the tenderness of Saviour-longing in the wail, more than wail, which begins (vers. 34, 35), "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee!" The cry naturally follows the ~adly ironical reference to Jerusalem as the slaughter-house of the prophets I What are the thoughts which fill the mind of Christ as he utters it? 1. The conscious opposition between a love that would save and an obstinate dulness tliat will not be saved. Note the figure, so often employed in the Psalms and prophetical books of the Old Testa- ment-the wings stretched out for the shelter and warmth, the peace and safety, oft.he brood (see Deut. x:uii. 11, 12). "How often," says the Lord Jesus (ver. 34), "would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings, and ye would not I" Is this, "How often would I I" merely a reference to previous vif.its to the capital and ministrations in it? Nay, it is the Lord of the prophets who is speaking ; the allusion, in its full meaning, is to the often-made effort to gather the children together through the prophets whom Jerusalem killeJ, the messengers whom Jerusalem stoned. It ill the truth afterwards brought out in the parable of the wicked husbandmen (see eh. xx). The protest is wrung from the patient, see~g, yet often baffled will to save and bless. It is the protest which reverberates through mfinite space concerning men-the protest whose subject-matter is, slighted overtures, unheeded calls, grace resisted, gifts sent away, knocks heard yet doors unopened; the "I would" of God defied by the " I will not " of men. 2. The knowledge of opportunity for ever gone. "If thou hadst known even in this thy day the tl?,ings that belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." Tb.is is spoken on the same day, at the same hour, as that in which the warnings connected with the entering in at the strait gate were uttered. Observe the connection with ver•. 25. So~e!Dn, ~wful words! The things were open to the eyes during the day, the time of D1v1ne v1s1ta- tion ; then the eye would not regard them. It was fixed on_ other thmgs-the blac~ dust of earthly care, or the glittering dust of earthly vamty. Now the story 1s reversed. The eye would fain behold. Oh for a day of the Son of man I Oh for the moments that have been thrown away I Ilut the :Masterofthe house has risen u~, and has shut to the door. The vision now (ver. 35) is a desolate house-a house lelt to itself, God-forsakeu. "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, all thy palaces swallowed up, thy strongholds destroyed, thy solemn feasts and sabbatbs forgotten, thine altar cast off, thy sanctuary abhorred, tby gates sunk, thy bars broken; tho1:1 th~t wast called ~he perfection of b1:auty, the joy of the whole earth, abandoned, as 1t might seem, by him who sought to gather thee, and thou wouldst not I O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, bleak., 011. xm. 1-:JG.] 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 13
baro, stripped I <lost thou not sit in thy lonely place among the silent lonely hill~, spreading forth thy hands, but there is none to comfort thee; yet ever in thy desol:t- tion witncsijing, 'The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against his command- monts'?" Jesus weeps I My soul, are these tears wept over thee? Dost thon know the things that belong to thy peace? Hast thou received the One who seekq to gather thee, and whose goodness and severity urge thee to repentance? O my so,il, remember that he who shed tears, from the en.me fountain of love and mercy sher\ blood also, Lot the tears of compassion and remonstrance send thee to the blood of cleansing. "Foul, I to the fountain fly; We.eh me, Savion.r, or I die."