356 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD glorified the bleffed JESUS, and openly proclaimed, "Hofanna to the Son of Da,, vid." Hereupon-the Scribes and pharifees per- ceived that they had aced foolifhly; that, infteadof reclaiming, they had confirmed the people in their error ; and that there was no way left but to difpatch him im- mediately, in order to warn others, by his fufferings, not to believe in JESUS of Nazareth : accordingly they fuddenly cried out, That Julius himfelf was feduced and become an impoftor; and immediately threw him from the pinnacle on which he Rood, into the court below; but not being killed on the fpot, he recovered himfelf fo far as to rife on his knees, and pray fer- vently to heaven for his murderers : but malice is too diabolical to be pacified with kindnefs, or fatisfied with cruelty : little portions of revenge ferve only to enflame it, and roufe It up to greater afs ofcruelty. Accordingly, his enemies vexed that they had not fully accomplifhed their work, they poured a fhower of ftones upon him, while he was imploring their forgivenefs at the throne ofgrace ; and one of them, more merciful than the reft, with a fuller's club put an end to his mifery. This great and good man thus finifhed his courfe in the ninety-frxth year of his age, and about twenty-four years after our bleffed Saviour's afcerifion into heaven. His death was lamented by all good men, even by the fober and.jull perfons amonglt the Jews themfelves, as Jofephus himfelf confeffes. He was buried, according to Gregory of Tours, on Mount Olivet, in a tomb he had built for himfelf, and inwhich he had buried Zacharias and old Simeon. Hejefippus fays, he was buried in the court of the temple, where he fuffered martyr- dom, and that a monumentwas there ereEt- ed to his memory : but the former feems more agreeable to reafon; for the Jews very rarely buried any perfon in the city, much lefs in the courts of the temple ; and, therefore, it is not natural to think they would permit that honour to be paid 3 to him they had fo lately put to death as an impoflor and deceiver: St. James was a man ofexemplary piety and devotion, educated under the ftriEleft rules and inftitutions ofreligion, a prieítof the ancient order of the Rechabites, or ra- ther, as Epiphanius conjeétures, according to the molt ancient order and form of priefthood, when the facerdotal office was the prerogative of the firfl-born : but whe- ther this kind of prieflhood was at any time obferved under the Mofaic difpenfa- don, we are no where told in Sacred Writ; but, however that be, it is certain that he had the privilege of entering the fanauary, or holy place, when he pleafed, though none but priefts of the order of Aaronwere permitted to enter there befides himfelf. Prayer was his confiant bufinefs and de- light; he feemed to live upon it, and to have continually his converfation in hea- ven ; . and, therefore, ufed confiantly to repair into the temple to pray, which he always performed kneeling, and with the greateft reverence, till by his daily devo- tions, his knees were become hard and callous like thofe ofa camel. And hewho has told us, that theprayer of a righteous man availetit much, found it fo by his own experience, heaven lending a more imme- diate ear to his petitions ; fo that in a time of remarkable drought, on his praying for rain, the clouds melted into fruitful flowers, and relieved the neceífities of the people. His charity towards men was not lets fingular than his piety towards God ; he did good to all, watched over the fouls of men, and ftudied to advance their eternal welfare ; his daily errand into the temple was to pray for the happinefsof the people, and that God would not feverely reckon with them ; he could forgive his moil in- veterate enemies, and overcome evil with" good : when thrown from the top of the temple, he made ufe of his lateft breath in fending up petitions to heaven for the pardon of his murderers, " I befeech thee, OAlmighty Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." This
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