Dark clouds, thundrings and lightnings filled the air. The hearts of the people, of the whole people, trembled likewife; and even Mofes himself faid, I exceedingly fear and quake. Then, as the apostle, referring to this paffage, obferves, The voice of the Lord fhook the earth *. But the prophet here speaks of another, a greater, a more important and extenfive concuffion. Yet, once a little while and I will fhake not the earth only, but the heavens. If we really believe that the scriptures are true, that the prophecies were delivered by holy men, who fpake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, and that they shall all be certainly fulfilled; how ftudious should we be to attain a right understanding of paffages and events in which we are fo nearly interefted, that our hearts may be duly affected by them? But, alas! experience and obfervation ftrongly confirm the remark of the poet, Men are but children of a larger growth. If you put a telescope into the hands of a child, he will probably admire the outfide, *Heb. xii. 26. efpe especially if it be finely ornamented. But the use of it, in giving a more diftinct view of diftant objects, is what the child has no conception of. The mufic of the Messiah is but an ornament of the words, which have a very weighty fenfe. This fenfe no music can explain, and when rightly understood, will have fuch an effect as no mufic can produce. That the mufic of the Messiah has a great effect in its own kind, I can eafily believe. The ancients, to defcribe the power of the mufic of Orpheus, pretend, that when he played upon his harp, the wild beafts thronged around him to liften, and feemed to forget their natural fiercenefs. Such expreffions are figurative, and defigned to intimate, that by his addrefs and inftructions, he civilized men of fierce and favage difpofitions. But if we were to allow the account to be true in the literal fenfe, I should still fuppofe that the wild beasts were affected by his music only while they heard it, and that it did not actually change their natures, and render lions and tigers gentle, as lambs, from that time forward. Thus I can allow, that they who heard the Meffiah, might be greatly impreffed. during the performance; but when it was ended, ended, I fuppofe they would retain the very fame difpofitions they had before it began. And many, I fear, were no more affected by this fublime declaration of the Lord's defign to fhake the heavens and the earth, than they would have been, if the fame mufic had been fet to the words of a common ballad. The Jews when they returned from captivity, and undertook to rebuild the temple of the Lord, met with many difcouragements. They were disturbed by the oppofition and arts of their enemies, who at one time fo far prevailed, as to compel them, for a feason, to intermit the work. And when the foundation of the temple was laid, the joy of those who hoped foon to fee the folemn worship of God restored, was damped by the grief of others, who remembered the magnificence of the firft temple, and wept to think how far the fecond temple would come fhort of it *. In thefe circumstances, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, were fent to animate the people by a promise, that inferior as the fecond temple might appear, compared with that which Solomon built, the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the * Hag, ii. 3, for former *. Had this depended upon a profufion of filver and gold, the Lord could have provided it, for the filver is mine, and the gold is mine, faith the Lord of hofts. But the glory fpoken of was of a different kind. The prefence of MESSIAH in the fecond temple, would render it far more honourable and glorious, though less pompous than the temple of Solomon; and would be attended with greater confequences, than even the manifestation of the God of Ifrael on Mount Sinai. Then he only shook the earth; but under the second temple, he would shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land, to introduce the kingdom of MESSIAH. We may confider from the words, I. A character of MESSIAH. all nations. The defire of II. The effects of his appearance. Shaking the heavens and the earth. III. His filling the house with glory. This clofe of ver. 7. is not in the passage set to mufic, but as it is an eminent part of the prophecy I fhall not exclude it. VOL. I. *Ezra iii. 12, 13, I. I. MESSIAH is ftyled, The Defire of all na tions. The propriety of this title may be illuftrated by two confiderations. 1. Before he came into the world to fave finners, an expectation prevailed in many nations that a great deliverer and friend of mankind was at hand. This was, perhaps, partly the effect of fome ancient traditions founded on the promises of God respecting the feed of the woman, the traces of which, though much corrupted by the addition of fables, were not worn out-but might be chiefly owing to several difperfions of the people of Ifrael, and imperfect notices derived from the fcriptures in their hands. The sense of many prophecies concerning MESSIAH, though misapplied, is remarkably expreffed in a fhort poem of Virgil, written a few years before our Saviour's birth. This eclogue, of which we have a beautiful imitation in our own language, by Mr. Pope, affords a fufficient proof that the heathens had an idea of fome illuftrious perfonage, who would shortly appear and restore peace, profperity, and all the bleffings of their imaginary golden age to mankind. The miferies and evils with which the world was filled, made the inter pofition |