Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/391

 for good  and  all,  He  restored  everything  to  them,  their  country,  their temple, their  worship,  and  their  hope  in  the  coming  of  the  Messias. The whole  history  of  the  people  of  Israel  is  one  continuous  proof  of God’s  infinite  goodness  and  mercy,  one  long  chain  of  divine  favours bestowed on  a sinful  nation,  one  long  fight  between  divine  mercy  and human obduracy.

The Faithfulness  of  God  is  the  ground  of  all  our  hope. He promised, through Jeremias,  that  His  people  should  return  to  Jerusalem  after  a captivity  of  seventy  years,  and  this  promise  was  most  literally  fulfilled; for by  a miracle  God  inclined  the  heart  of  king  Cyrus  towards  the Jews, filling  him  with  the  fear  of  God,  so  that  he  issued  an  edict  for the return  of  the  Jews  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple. This instance of the  faithful  fulfilment  of  God’s  promises  ought  to  give  us  a great confidence that  He  will  perform  everything  that  He  has  said.

The thirteenth  promise  of  the  Messias  (through  Aggeus)  foretells the speedy  coming  of  the  Desired  of  all  nations,  and  gives  the  assurance that on  account  of  His  Presence  in  it,  the  new  Temple  would  be  made more glorious  than  the  splendid  Temple  of  Solomon. Jesus Christ, God made  Man,  was  presented  in  that  Temple  as  a Child,  stayed behind in  it  as  a Boy  of  twelve  years;  and  as  a Man,  He  prayed and taught  and  worked  miracles  therein.

The fourteenth  promise  of  the  Messias.  It  might  have  been  gathered from the  prophecy  of  Aggeus  about  the  glory  which  the  Messias  would shed on  the  Temple,  that  He  would  come  with  great  majesty  and pomp; but  the  prophecy  of  Zacharias  made  it  plain,  that,  though  the long-desired One  would  indeed  be  a king,  He  would  not  wield  an earthly  power,  but  would  enter  Jerusalem  in  poverty  and  simplicity (New Test.  LX).

The fifteenth  and  last  promise  of  the  Messias  is  that  of  Malachias (2, 11),  where  he  prophesies  that  Christ  shall  be  offered  as  a sacrifice and a clean  oblation  among  the  Gentiles  in  every  place  of  the  earth.

Unity is  strength. The  number  of  Jews  who  at  first  returned  from Babylon was  not  very  great,  but  they  held  faithfully  together,  and accomplished the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  and  of  the  walls  of Jerusalem.

Are you  not  ungrateful  to  God,  and  very often lukewarm  in  His  service,  and  negligent  in  prayer  and  in the  receiving  of  the  holy  Sacraments? In truth  you  owe  God much more  gratitude  than  did  the  Jews!