a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree, the Lord hath said unto me. Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

This Psalm was interpreted by the Jews almost universally of the Messiah, and the more readily as the title Anointed is translated in the Septuagint Christos, so that it there reads "against the Lord and against his Christ." The Messiah therefore was to reign in Mount Zion, one of the mountains on which Jerusalem was built, and reign over the Jews, and by God's assistance subdue the heathen by war and conquest, break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces as a potter's vessel. Such was the kingdom which the great majority of the Jews expected their Messiah to set up.

The phrase, "kingdom of heaven," is taken from

the second chapter of the Book of Daniel. After foretelling that there should arise four great monarchies, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman, the last of which should be a kingdom of iron, he goes on to say, "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." In another passage: "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given unto him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him, his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." From this last passage was probably derived the opinion once glanced at in the New Testament, that the Messiah should never die. Jesus said on a certain occasion, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." The people answered him, "We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest thou the Son of Man must be lifted up. Who is this Son of Man?" The new dispensation under the figure of a kingdom was the subject of the commencing petition of one of the chief prayers recited

in their synagogues, from sabbath to sabbath, and had been so for ages. There was a time specified in the Book of Daniel of seventy weeks, which was to intervene between the building the second temple and the times of the Messiah, which, interpreting according to the prophetic style, a day for a year, would bring the period of his appearance some where near this time, at which John the Baptist began to preach. So prevalent had this expectation become that it had spread beyond the Holy Land. Tacitus, a historian who wrote in Italy, records the fact, that among many "there was a persuasion, that in the ancient books of the priesthood it was written, that at this precise time the East should become mighty, and that those issuing from Judea should rule the world." Suetonius, another Latin historian writes, "that in the East an ancient and constant opinion prevailed, that it was fated there should issue at this time from Judea those who should obtain universal dominion."

This confident expectation of the Jews had already caused no little political disturbance. It was this proud anticipation of universal conquest, which made them so restive under the government of the RoThat they, who were destined to reign over the world, and whose King Messiah was to have the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession, were to break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a

mans.

potter's vessel, should be in vassalage to a foreign power, was more than they could bear. Josephus relates that about the time of the birth of Christ, when Cyrenius was sent to take a census of Judea, Judas, a native of Gamala in Galilee, rose up, and resisted the Roman commissioner, and raised a great rebellion. He is mentioned likewise by Gamaliel, in his speech before the Jewish Sanhedrim, when the apostles were brought before them for preaching Jesus as the Messiah immediately after his ascension. "After this man rose up Judas of Galilee, in the days of taxing, and drew away much people after him; he also perished, and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed." Josephus speaks generally of the troubles of those times, without specifying their causes. "And now Judea was full of robberies, and as the several companies of the seditious would light upon any one to head them, he was created a king immediately, in order to do mischief to the public." This was exactly the state of the country during the ministry of Jesus, and it explains his caution in proclaiming himself the Messiah, and his withdrawal as soon as a multitude collected about him and manifested any tendency to sedition or disturbance. It is recorded of him that after the miracle of feeding the five thousand, and the declaration made concerning him; " This of a truth is that prophet that should come into the world." "When Jesus therefore per

ceived that they would come and take him by force, and make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone." In another instance likewise, when he had healed the man at the pool of Bethesda : "And he that was healed wist not who it was; for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place."

Such being the expectation of the Jews, as we learn, both from the New Testament and from profane history, a man of singular habits and appearance began to preach in a retired part of Judea, where there were but few large towns, not literally a desert as it is rendered in our Bible, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This man was of the sacerdotal tribe, and had been consecrated to God from his infancy by the vow of the Nazarite. His habits and dress were those of a hermit, his food such as he could pick up in the fields and woods. He was literally the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." He professed to have been moved by divine impulse to proclaim the immediate approach of the Messiah. A man of such singular appearance, and bearing such an important message, produced a great sensation, and excited the strongest curiosity. Crowds from all parts of Judea flocked together to see and hear him. Some thought that he was the Messiah. His