8. His days fhall be few, and another hall take his office.

This is the verfe which St. Peter hath cited and applied, in his difcourfe to the difciples, at the election of Matthias into the place of Judas. "Men "and brethren, this fcripture muft needs have been "fulfilled, which the Holy Ghoft by the mouth of "David fpake before concerning Judas, who was "guide to them that took Jefus. For he was num→ "bered with us, and had obtained part of this mi

niftry. Now this man purchased a field with the "reward of iniquity, and falling headlong, he burst "afunder in the midft, and all his bowels gushed "out-For it is written in the book of Pfalms, Let "his habitation be defolate, and let no man dwell "therein and, His bishoprick let another take." The former of these two citations is made from Pf. Ixix. 25. the latter is a part of the verfe now before us. If Judas, therefore, be the perfon whofe deftruction the sufferer foretelleth, the person speaking in this prophetical Pfalm muft of neceffity be our Lord himself, who fuffered by the treachery of Judas. In Pf. lxix. 25. the prediction is in the plural number, "Their habitation fhall be void;" yet St. Peter applies it, in the fingular number to Judas. The paffage in our Pfalm is fingular, yet applicable not to Judas only, but to the whole nation of the Jews; whofe "days," after they had crucified the Lord of glory, r were few;" who were difpoffeffed of the place and "office" which they held as the church of God, and to which, with all its honours and privileges, the Gentile Chriftian

church

church fucceeded in their ftead, when the Aaronical priesthood was abolished, and that of the true Mel. chizedek established for ever.

9. His children shall be fatherless, and his wife a widow. 10. His children fhall be continually vagabonds, and beg; they shall feek their bread also out of defolate places.

If, by the wretched death of Judas, his wife became a widow, and his children orphans, vagabonds, and beggars, their fate was but a prelude to that of thousands and ten thousands of the fame nation, whofe hufbands and fathers came afterwards to a miferable end, at the deftruction of Jerufalem. Their children, and children's children, have fince been "continually vagabonds" upon the earth, in the ftate of Cain, when he had murdered his righteous brother, not cut off, but marvelloufly preferved for punishment and woe. Having nothing of their own, they roam through all parts of the world, civilized or barbarous, the fcorn and contempt of mankind. And even if they are able to amafs wealth, their unparalleled avarice ftill keeps them poor and beggarly in the midft of it. Thus Dr. Hammond, in his Annotation on these verses-" By this is defcribed, in a very lively manner, the condition of the

cr

Jewish pofterity, ever fince their ancestors fell "under that fignal vengeance, for the crucifying of "Chrift. First, their defolations and vaftations in "their own country; and being ejected thence;

Secondly, their continual Wanderings from place. "to place, scattered over the face of the earth; and, "Thirdly, their remarkable Covetoufnefs, keeping VOL. II.

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"them

"them always Poor and Beggarly, be they never fo rich, and continually labouring and moiling for gain as the poorest are wont to do; and this is "continually the conftant curfe attending this people, wherefoever they are scattered."

11. The extortioner, or, creditor fhall catch, or, feize all that he hath, and the ftranger fhall Spoil his labour. 12. There shall be none to extend mercy to him: neither fhall there be any to favour his fatherless children.

Since the destruction of Jerufalem, how often hath this race been feized, pillaged, ftripped, and impoverished by prince and people, in all the nations of the known world, none appearing, as in other cafes, to" favour and extend mercy" to them* ! "They "have had no nation, none to avenge their grievous

wrong, which the Lord God of their forefathers "had ordained they fhould fuffer, at all times, and "in all places, wherefoever they have come, without "redrefs. Nay, their general carriage hath been fo "odious and prepofterous, that albeit the Chriftian

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magistrates had confpired together for their good,

they would themselves have certainly provoked "their own mifery." Thus that excellent Divine, the learned and pious Dr. Jackson, Vol. I. p. 142, and 135. whofe reflections upon the hiftory of the Jews, at and fince their difperfion, it were to be wifhed that every Christian could perufe. For, as he himself ob

Thou shalt be only oppreffed and spoiled evermore, and no man fhall fave thee-The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, fhall a nation which thou knoweft not, eat up, and thou shalt be only oppreffed and crushed alway. Deut. xxviii. 29. 33.

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ferves,

ferves, "Christian parents, whether bodily or spiritual, "fhould be as careful to instruct their children what "the Lord hath done to thefe Jews, as the Ifraelites "should have been to tell their fons what God had "done to Pharaoh." Ibid. p. 152.

13. His pofterity fhall be cut off, and in the generation following, their name fhall be blotted out. 14. The iniquity of his fathers fhall be remembered with the LORD, and the fin of his mother fhall not be blotted out. 15. They shall be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

The traitorous and rebellious posterity" of traitorous and rebellious parents fuffered an "exci"fion" by the Roman fword, and "in the genera"tion following, their name," as a church and civil polity, was "blotted out" of the lift of ftates and kingdoms upon earth. "The iniquity of their fa"thers," which they had filled up, was remem"bered with Jehovah, and the fin of their mother," that is, perhaps, of the fynagogue of Jerufalem, now in bondage with her children," was not blotted out; "that upon them might come all the righteous blood

shed, froin the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, whom they flew between the "temple and the altar." Matt. xxii. 25. The blood of the prophets cried for vengeance against those who crucified the Lord of the prophets. God hid not his face any longer from all thefe horrible tranfgreffions, but "they were before him continually," and occafioned him to "cut off the memory" of his people, once precious and fragrant," from the "earth;" fo that while apoftles and martyrs are S 2 annually

annually commemorated with honour, and their good deeds, bloffoming out of the duft, perfume the church, and delight the fouls of the faithful, the names of Judas" and "Jew," are never mentioned but with contempt and abhorrence.

16. Because that he remembered not to fhew mercy, but perfecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even flay the broken in heart.

The crime which brought upon it's perpetrators all the abovementioned judgments and calamities, is here pointed out too plainly to be miflaken. They "remembered not to fhew mercy" to him, who fhewed it to all the world; they "perfecuted" him who for our fakes became " poor," and who condeftended to afk of his creatures water to drink; they betrayed and murdered the lowly and afflicted Jefus, whofe "heart" was "broken" with forrow for their fins, and with a fenfe of the punishment due to them. How long will it be, ere the brethren of this moft innocent and most injured Jofeph "fay "one to another, We are verily guilty concerning "our brother, in that we faw the anguith of his foul, "when he befought us, and we would not hear: "THEREFORE is' this diftrefs come upon us!" Gen. xlii. 21.

17. As he loved curfing, fo fhall it come unto him: as he delighted not in bleffing, fo fhall it be far from him. 18. As he clothed himself with curfing, like as with his garment, fo fhall it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. 19. It fhall be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. 20. This fhall be the reward

of