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and, through his unfailing mediation, our prayers are ever answered by one Spirit, ministering consolation to our oft-afflicted hearts.

This glorious triune symbol is most aptly and beautifully illustrative of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, diffused through the intellectual system of the boundless universe. That this magnific symbol was designed as illustrative of the Trinity, and of the manner of God's existence, is also confirmed by considering the occasion on which it was displayed, and the consequence it was intended to produce; for it is highly probable, that Deity would illuminate his favoured servant, the prophet Zechariah, with the knowledge of his nature and the manner of his existence. He and the prophet Haggai were the instruments whom God employed for the encouragement of Zerubbabel, Joshua the high priest, and the elders of the Jews, (Ezra v. 2; vi. 7,) in the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, (which had been destroyed,) after the restoration of the Israelites from the Babylonish captivity. And as Moses had, without doubt, been enlightened with a knowledge of God's nature, and the manner of his existence, previous to the formation of the portable temple in the wilderness; and also David and Solomon, previous to the erection of the permanent one at Jerusalem it was in perfect consonance with God's former dispensations, and must indeed have been essential to the success of the undertaking, to very fully illumine those prophets, through

whose prophesying the elders of the Jews builded and prospered. And the history informs us, that the elders of the Jews builded and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo. (Ezra vi. 14.)

This book commences by stating the fulfilment of the prophecy of Jeremiah, by the Lord stirring up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, to proclaim throughout all his kingdom, and also to put it in writing, saying, "Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him; and let him go up to Jerusalem, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Then stood up Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt-offerings thereon; and they also kept the feasts, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters, and meat and drink, and oil unto them of

Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia. Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites. And the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord." (Ezra iii. 1-10.)

"Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him. But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, You have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building; and hired counsellors

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against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even unto the reign of Darius king of Persia." (Ezra iv. 1-5.) "Then ceased the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of Darius, king of Persia. Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them." (Ezra iv. 24; v. 1.)

"In the second year of Darius the king, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel, and to Joshua the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house to lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. And the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Haggai, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel, and to Joshua the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, and all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts according to the word that I cove

nanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For

thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts," (Hag. i. and ii. ;) this day will I bless you." (ii. 19.)

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Can we peruse these prophecies, without feeling assured, that the prophet Haggai had been fully illuminated with a knowledge of the divinity of the Saviour; for as Prideaux observes, "When the desire of all nations, the Lord, whom they sought, came to this his temple, and Christ our Saviour, who was the truest Shekinah of the divine Majesty, honoured it with his presence, in this respect the glory of the latter house did far exceed the glory of the former house; and herein the prophecies of the prophet Haggai, which foretold it should be so, had a very full and thorough completion."

Furthermore: "In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, (the same year as to Haggai,) came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, Behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities

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