The Baptism of John! Was it from Heaven? or of Men? Answer Me!" And they reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we shall say, From Heaven! he will Say, 'Why then did ye not believe him? But if we shall say, Of Men! they feared the People: for all Men counted John, that he was a Prophet indeed:" and they answered, and said unto JESUS, "We cannot tell." And JESUS Answering, Saith unto them, "Neither do I Tell you by What Authority I Do These Things."-Chap. xi, 27 to 33.

The testimony thus indirectly borne, by these cavilling and arrogant Elders of the Jewish Church, to the Prophetic Mission of the Baptist John, is, virtually, corroborative of The DIVINE Character of JESUS, of Whom John predicated that He would Baptize with The HOLY GHOST; and in comparison with Whom he counted himself as nothing; though of All born of Women, None had arisen greater than John. This Address of our SAVIOUR is a practical Illustration of that happy union in the Christian Character of the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove.

St. Luke's narrative is thus: And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as JESUS Taught the People in the Temple and Preached The Gospel, the Chief Priests and the Scribes came upon Him with the Elders, and spake unto Him, saying, "Tell us by what Authority doest thou these things? or, Who is He, that gave thee this Authority?" And He Answered, and Said unto them, “I will also Ask you one thing, and answer Me! The baptism of John, Was it from Heaven? or of Men?" And they reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we shall say From Heaven! he will say, 'Why then believed ye him not? But and if we say, Of Men! All the People will stone us; for they be persuaded that John was a Prophet:" and they answered, "That they could not tell whence it was." JESUS Said unto them, “Neither tell I you by What Authority I Do These Things!"-Luke xx, 1 to 8.

And

As their stubborn and rebellious Forefathers questioned the Authority, by which Moses acted in his opening attempts to effect, instrumentally, the deliverance of his Countrymen from Egyptian bondage, saying, "Who made thee a Prince and a Judge over us?"-Exod. ii, 14 [See also Acts vii, 27.], so, though A Greater than Moses was here, and, both from the Miracles Wrought, and the Wisdom and Goodness Associated with All That was Taught, an internal evidence flashed on the minds of the Unprejudiced that the Authority, under Which JESUS Acted, could not but be of DIVINE Origin, the still more stubborn and rebellious Descendants of those factious Disputants with The DIVINELY Appointed Law-Giver, in the pride and obduracy of their hearts, dared to call It in question. The same fatal system of infatuated hostility to their own Eternal welfare, in preferring the corruptible crown of Worldly Superiority, to the Crown of Glory, Which fadeth not away, but is Eternal in the Heavens, led them to reject, as evidence of DIVINE Appointment, the goodly works and words of the Disciples and Followers of CHRIST; for on Peter and John, the Apostles, having cured the impotent Man, through faith in the Name and Power of JESUS, the High Priest, his Kindred, and Others questioned the Disciples, By what power, or by what name they had done it, councilling among themselves what they should do unto them, admitting that a notable Miracle had been done, which they could not deny, as it was manifest to them that dwelt in Jerusalem; and to prevent, as they hoped, its spreading further among the People, they commanded the Disciples, with threats, that they should speak no more in That Name. But Peter and John answered, and said unto them, "Whether it be right in the Sight of GOD to hearken unto you, more than unto GOD, judge ye! for we cannot but speak the Things Which we have seen and heard."-Acts iv, 6, 7. 15. 21.

Thus are often the Unlearned in the depths of Human science, but taught in

the Word of GOD, and treasuring Its Truths in singleness and simplicity of heart, admitted within the Pale of Salvation, when the Gate is closed against the Spiritually Proud and the Wise in their own conceit.

On the Popular opinion entertained of John the Baptist, as a Prophet, see the observations at Chapter xiv, 5.

The hypocrisy here exhibited before The SEARCHER of all hearts, is but too generally practised even at this day, notwithstanding the Ear of The ALMIGHTY is not Averted that He cannot Hear, nor His Arm Shortened that He cannot Punish. The folly, as well as wickedness, of thus attempting to lie unto GOD, must be obvious to every One on a moment's serious reflection: and yet, what is the act of attempting to quiet our consciences, when we are disobeying their admonitions, but wilfully furthering the deceivableness of our sin, and the devices of Satan? for it is contrary to The DIVINE NATURE to be otherwise than Omniscient; and to aim at any evasion of His Penetration is as weak as it is fruitless. But, alas! how rarely do we shape our actions, or regulate our Lives and conversation, as though we lived and moved under the Ever-Watchful Eye of Him, from Whom we have our Being! To belie ourselves to GOD is, in effect, to deny Him; and them will GOD Deny in Heaven, who denied Him on Earth.

"But what think ye? A certain Man had two Sons; and he came to the First and said, 'Son, go work to-day in my vineyard!' He answered, and said, 'I will not!' but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the Second, and said likewise: and he answered, and said, 'I go, Sir:' and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his Father?" They say unto Him, "The First." JESUS Saith unto them, "Verily I Say unto you, That the Publicans and the Harlots go into The KINGDOM of GOD before you! For John came unto you in the way of Righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the Publicans and the Harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”—

28 to 32.

The mode of communicating instruction by Parables, Adopted, as it very extensively was, by our Blessed SAVIOUR, and illustrating, as it powerfully does, the object of a Preacher, is peculiarly calculated to impress the doctrine lastingly on the memory and the heart. The Scribes and Pharisees, amidst their loud and oft-asserted professions of true religion, and their claiming the guidance of the People in matters of Faith, were, in fact, themselves destitute of that inward purity and holiness, without which the profession of Religion is vain; for without those qualities, we are told, that not Ône shall see The LORD in the Brightness of His Glory, to experience His Mercy and His Love. Theirs was mere lip-service; and even in their prayers and proffered worship they sought more the admiration of Men than the praise and Glory of The MOST HIGH: or they strove to overawe their Fellow-Creatures into a submissiveness to their rule and governance, that the gratification of earthly ambition in power and influence, if not in sensual indulgence, might be their own. These are they, who, professing themselves to be wise, and being so in their own esteem, become Fools in a Spiritual sense, and who, weighed in the Balance of DIVINE Justice, are found miserably wanting. On the contrary, the Publicans and Sinners, being Strangers to the blinding influence of Spiritual pride, and discarding the cloak of hypocrisy, erring, in some degree, from thoughtlessness, and misled by ignorance and evil example, being as sheep without a Shepherd, left to the uncontrouled pursuit of their own sensual inclinations, when The Great SHEPHERD of Israel Called to them with a Voice of Kindness and of Truth, Inviting them to come into His Fold, to partake of His Pastures and to drink of the Water of Life freely, obeyed the Call with gladness, and continued faithful to the Call unto the end; hailing the Graciously Offered Mediation of The SON with

The FATHER, to Effectuate their Pardon and Reconciliation, by His Own Obedience unto Holiness, to Atone for their wanderings and Self-willedness. The conduct of the two Sons, that of Each so opposite to profession, was a lively exemplification of The SAVIOUR'S Reasoning: the Publicans and Harlots, by their open avowal, or the undisguised practice of their delinquency from the paths of Righteousnees and true Holiness, in effect, to mere Human calculation, might seem to shut out all hope of any impression being produced on them favourable to such an amendment, as would render them acceptable Disciples of their Immaculate LORD and MASTER: whereas the outward sanctity of the Chief Priests and Scribes would, to superficial Observers, convey the idea that they would not only be obedient to the Call to higher Holiness and true Happiness, but that they would continue therein, and manifest both zeal and gratitude for the welcomed change.

Though to refuse obedience in word, and afterwards, repenting of the fault, to enter upon the duty, is the Dealing towards our Heavenly FATHER, Which He Experiences from too many of His Sons of Earth, and though, in His Forbearance and Mercy, He is Ready to Receive even this broken measure of our obligations to Him, if offered in the spirit of faith in His Beloved and AllObedient SON'S Interceding Merits, as the ground of their Acceptance; yet we should remember, with the wise Son of Sirach, that if a Servant (and are we not all Servants to our Heavenly LORD and MASTER?) say to his Master, “I will not do, as it pleaseth thee;" though afterwards he do it, he angereth him, that nourisheth him.-Ecclus. xix, 21. Thus we are not to do sin, that Grace may abound: for who can tell, whether the Long-Suffering of The LORD may not, in the next instant, be Succeeded by an Infliction of His Just Vengeance and too-long Tried Forbearance; and the Soul be at once cut off, or steeped still more in the depths of disobedience and iniquity. As it is unwise in a Servant to excite the displeasure of an Earthly Master, who, though he may punish the Offender, and, in uncivilized States, even to the destruction of the body, and after that hath no more that he can do, surely in an infinitely greater degree should the Servants of The MOST HIGH GOD avoid offending Him, Who can not only Inflict Punishment to the body, by sickness, accident, or otherwise, but can Destroy both body and Soul in Hell. Therefore, although the highest consolation and encouragement are thus held out to the contrite and penitent heart, however deep the dye of its past transgressions, yet is there no sanction afforded to a presumptuous perseverance either in doing evil, or neglecting to do good.

How ready are we to point out the mote in our Neighbour's eye, though heedless of the beam that obscures the Spiritual vision of our own. This greater readiness of the Publicans than of the Pharisees to a belief in JESUS, was, on various occasions, actually evinced, and particularly after the interview between CHRIST and the Disciples of John the Baptist, and from the Impressive Discourse then Delivered by JESUS; for in the Gospel according to St. Luke, it is stated, that All the People that heard him, and the Publicans, justified GOD, being baptized with the baptism of John: but the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the Counsel of GOD against themselves, being not baptized of him.Chap. vii, 29, 30. Of all the evils, therefore, against which it is most vitally important for our Everlasting Interest to guard our hearts, by watching and inward prayer, Spiritual pride, which produces, unfailingly, the impoisoning fruits of unbelief and hypocrisy in our religious Calling, is the greatest. How galling to these Self-opinionated Priests, these Esteemers of themselves as the only Righteous, must have been a comparison of their state with that of Others, whom they had spurned and deemed as Outcasts from the Commonwealth of Israel; and still more so when that comparison terminated so triumphantly for

the Objects of their reviling and persecution, and so awfully confounding as to the Eternal Destinies of themselves. For to go into The KINGDOM of GOD, Faith in JESUS, in His Incarnation and Effectual Intercession, Who Keepeth the Door, and is the Watchman of That Spiritual Israel, and Who never Slumbereth nor Sleepeth, is essentially necessary; and they, who have it not, must remain without, amongst those fierce and unclean Ones, who are hostile alike to their own peace, as to the Spiritual prosperity of Others.

See the observations on Chapter vi, 33, 34, in reference to The KINGDOM

of HEAVEN.

The purity of the Baptist's life was such as to draw respect from All, who witnessed it; and was greatly instrumental in giving efficacy to his doctrines, except amongst the haughty and supercilious Pharisees; for JESUS, The SON of GOD, The ORACLE of Truth, Declared of John, that a Greater than he had not arisen amongst them. Repentance was the Primary doctrine which he practiced, and Righteousness he enforced by example as well as precept. Thus did he bring many a wandering Sinner home from the pit of destruction to the pale of Salvation. And though Others, to whom it was Offered, needed it not less, yet, as they disdained it, and would have none of it, they thereby lost, without hope of recovery, the Portion of Inheritance in the Land of Spiritual Promise. Nor, as it seems, did the effects of conversion in Others, by their manifesting the substitution of purity for profligacy, piety for blasphemy, order and sobriety for violence and intemperance, and self-government for licentiousness, operate to change the stony hearts of these Votaries of Spiritual pride; though before their eyes the once Slaves of sin and Captives of Satan were thus set at liberty, displaying their joy in The LORD and in the Strength of His Salvation: yet did the infatuated Scribes and Pharisees refuse to share in their joy, and to seek the Same Means of Salvation.

See the observations at Chapter iii, 1, 2.

In another passage St. Luke records, that There came Publicans to be baptized (of John,) and said unto him, "Master, what shall we do?" And he said unto them, "Exact no more than that which is appointed you!"-Chap. iii, 12, 13.

Thus from the Text and from the foregoing reference, it is observable that the Publicans evinced early a teachable spirit, and a desire to be led from the error of their ways unto the Truth, exhibiting a faith that was associated equally with repentance and reformation: and to their faith, which they acquired by earnestly seeking for it, they sought also to have added Spiritual Knowledge, that they might cherish the Christian Graces in the love of them. But, on the contrary, the Scribes and the Pharisees, who had ever the Law and the Prophecies in their hands, and The DIVINE Word in their mouth, neglected the just Interpretation and Application of Them to the nurture of their heart; and, in their dedication of themselves to Worldly distinction, amidst their lust for power, they disdained a system of Religion, whose primary Principle was Selfabasement and Self-condemnation, These have now long since been dead, having been cut off in their iniquity, and sent to their awful account; and well would it have been for succeeding Generations, if the folly the former were thus guilty of, in neglecting so Great Salvation, had stood an isolated instance of Human weakness and depravity: but even now, Scribes and Pharisees in spirit, with hearts as obdurate and impenetrable, abound; and Publicans and Harlots are sooner won over than they. The Sceptic and the Infidel, in all the pride and arrogance of Self-sufficiency, set up their judgment, not only against the conse crated opinions of Ages, but also against the Revealed Word and Will of GOD, Who Made them, and by Whose Judgment on their Everlasting Destiny they must either stand or fall. With every thing either within or around him, that

should satisfy him of his own insufficiency and of the Higher Power of The CREATOR of the Universe, he, whose Life is suspended by a thread which in any instant may break, and which must ultimately give way; he, who cannot redeem his own Soul nor save his life from destruction, in the vanity of Selfapproving disposition, sets equally at nought the Mercies and the Vengeance of An Almighty GOD! Others there are too, who, not denying outwardly The GOD That Made them, have only faith without any correspondence in conduct, and, therefore, dead as being without the fruits of repentance unto Holiness: for faith without works, and such works as both the Precepts and Example of CHRIST Inculcate, is as an unprofitable Servant, and shall be cast out into utter darkness, and to whom JESUS, The JUDGE of All will Say, "Depart from Me, for I never Knew you!" Again, a third description of Indidviuals there is, who, without openly denying CHRIST, labour not in His Service, but, resting on their own righteousness, and counting much on their general observance of the moral duties, reject or think lightly of the humiliating and Self-condemning principles of the Christian Code, deeming themselves, through GOD'S Mercy, not unfit for the Society of the Saints in Light, and capable of enduring the vision of Those Glories, That Surround The MAJESTY of HEAVEN, and entitled to participate in those Joys, That Emanate from The DIVINE NATURE in the fulness of Their Purity and Perfection throughout the inconceivable expanse of Eternity. How unchildlike such arrogance! how infatuated such folly! how big with the apprehension of unutterable and unalterable ruin! since it seems to exclude any justifiable hope of pardon and propitiation, because it acknowledges not the indispensable necessity of Such A SAVIOUR; and attributes not the Accomplishment of Man's Redemption to The SON of GOD through His Incarnation and Sufferings and Death; and leaves Man to the dreadful condition of standing or falling in all Eternity by the Immaculate and Immutable Sentence of DIVINE Justice. And when GOD is Extreme only in His Justice to Mark what is done amiss, who shall be able to stand? Were Futurity to have a bound, and the duration of the life and condition of each Individual in that state, to depend on the proportion of evil or of good that Man, left altogether to himself, unaided by the Grace of The HOLY SPIRIT, had done in this life, and if no DIVINE Revelation of the duties Required of Man by GOD had been Delivered, this Self-reliance might have seemed natural. But since the Prize of our High Calling of GOD, in CHRIST JESUS, is to the most exalted elevation, to which Created Beings can attain, of pure and perfect Felicity in the knowledge of GOD and in the contemplation of the Love of His SON, and that without the remotest limit, how can Man justify to himself the hope or expectation of being advanced to such a State of inconceivable Glory and Blessedness, otherwise than by gratitude for the Sacrifice, and faith in the Merits and Mediation, of The SON of GOD.

St. Luke introduces a Parable by our SAVIOUR, Which has some affinity to the Text, thus: JESUS Said, "A certain Man had two Sons: and the younger of them said to his Father, Father, give me the portion of goods, that falleth to me! And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger Son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far Country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living: and when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that Land; and he began to be in want; and he went and joined himself to a Citizen of that Country: and he sent him into his fields to feed swine; and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no Man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, 'How many hired Servants of my Father's have bread enough and to spare; and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto him, 'Father, I have