They were also the church of God; and he was now entering into judgment with his church, as a community the measure of whose iniquity was full.  This was nearly their situation when the Savior addressed them, as in our context—­“Fill ye up the measure of your fathers.”  THIS was not a command, but a prediction of what was then nearly accomplished; and he told them how it would be completed—­by their killing and crucifying the messengers of heaven, at whose head was the divine messenger who then addressed them—­that when they should have done these things, God would enter into judgment with them, and avenge on them “all the righteous blood which had been shed in his church from the foundation of the world.” Verify I say unto you, all these things shall come on this generation.  And he assured them that it would desolate their country, and that it would remain destitute of those religious privileges which they then enjoyed, till they should become of another spirit—­“Behold your house is left unto you desolate.  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

As soon as Christ was alone with his disciples he gave them a description of those desolations which is recorded in the following chapter, and is so plain, and made such an impression on the Christians of that day, who were mostly Jews, that they fled at the approach of the Roman armies and escaped the calamities which overwhelmed their nation.  Whoever reads the history of that age will be convinced of the truth of that prediction—­Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to that time, no, nor ever shall see.  “Those were the days of vengeance, that all things which were written might be fulfilled.”

Another of the seasons of divine judgments occurred at the subversion of the Roman empire by the Northern barbarians.  That mighty empire comprehended a very large portion of the then known world.  It had become exceedingly populous.  Italy, in particular was chiefly covered with the dwellings of men, like one continued city; and almost the whole empire swarmed with inhabitants, and many parts were cultivated like a garden.  But when those savages broke into it, they carried fire and sword wherever they went.  Like the armies of God’s judgments described by the prophet Joel, they carried terror and destruction —­“A fire devoured before them, and behind them a flame burned:  The land was as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; and nothing escaped them.” * The most populous and fruitful parts of that vast empire were literally made desolate, and became a wilderness; and many places have never recovered their former lustre, and few become equally populous to this day.

* Joel ii. 3.

Waving the particular mention of other periods in which the judgments of God have been made manifest, would only observe, that we are taught by the prophets, to expect desolating judgments before the beginning of the latter day glory, and that they will be very general—­that the sins, not of this, or that community, but of the world will come into remembrance before God; and that the full vials of his wrath will be poured out, not barely to avenge the sins of that generation, but the sins of the world, the measure of their iniquity being then full.