Upon the whole then let not either the finner triumph, or the virtuous repine, at the apparent impunity or even profperity of the wicked in the prefent life. To the au dacious finner we apply thofe most oppofite and most awful words of the fon of Sirach. "Say not who shall control me for my works, for the Lord fhall furely avenge thy pride. Say not I have finned, and what harm hath happened unto me; for the Lord is indeed long-fuffering, but he will in no wife let thee go. Say not, his mercy is great, he will be pacified for the multitude of my fins; for both mercy and wrath come from him, and his indignation refteth upon finners. Make therefore no tarrying to turn unto the Lord, and put not off from day to day; for fuddenly fhall the wrath of the Lord come forth, and in thy fecurity fhalt thou be destroyed, and perish in the day of vengeance*."

To the religious and virtuous on the other hand we fay, "Fret not thyfelf because of the ungodly, neither be thou envious against the evil doers. Hold thee ftill in the Lord, and abide patiently upon him; but grieve not thyfelf at him whofe way doth profper, against the man that doeth after evil counfels. Wicked doers fhall be rooted out; and they that patiently abide the Lord, those shall inherit the landt." "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye alfo patient for the coming of the Lord draweth night.”

It is not indeed always an easy tafk to exercise this pa tience, when we fee confpicuous inftanees either of individuals or of nations, notorious for their profligacy, triumphant and profperous in all their ways. We can scarce reprefs our discontent, or forbear joining with the prophet in his expoftulation with the Almighty, "Righteous art thou, O Lord! yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments. Why do the ways of the wicked profper? Why are all they happy that deal very 'treacherously?" To

this we can now anfwer in the words of Job: "Knowest thou not this, fince man was placed upon the earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is fhort, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. Though his excellency mount unto the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he fhall perish for ever, and they that have feen him fhall fay, where is he?”

In fact it has been proved, in the courfe of this enquiry, that in fuch an immenfe and complicated fyftem as that of the univerfe, there are many reasons which we can difcern, and a thousand others perhaps totally unknown to us, which render it neceffary that the virtuous fhould fuffer a temporary depreffion, and the wicked enjoy a tempo. rary triumph. But let not these apparent irregularities difpirit or difcourage us: for whenever the purposes of Providence in thefe myfterious difpenfations fhall have been accomplished, every disorder fhall be rectified, and every appearance of injustice done away. The time and the feafon for doing this God has reserved in his own power: and we must not presume to prescribe rules to the wifdom of the Almighty. To men excruciated with pain, every moment seems an age; and to men groaning under oppreffion, their deliverance, if it come not inftantly, may seem extremely diftant. But let them not difpair: in due feason they fhall reap if they faint not. At the period marked out by infinite wisdom, and which it is their duty to await with patience, God fhall caufe his judgment to be heard from heaven, and the earth fhall tremble and be ftill. He fhall then demonftrate to the whole world "that his hand is not fhortened that it cannot redeem, and that he ftill retains the power to favet.”— He shall prove, in a manner the most awful and most satis factory, "that verily there is a reward for the righteous, and a punishment for the wicked; that doubtless there is a God that judgeth the eartht.”

Job xx. 5. ↑ Kaiah, 1, 2.

Pfalm lviii. 10.

MATTHEW xiv.

W

E are now, in the courfe of thefe Lectures, arrived at the fourteenth chapter of St. Matthew, which begins in the following manner:

"At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jefus, and faid unto his fervants, this is John the Baptift; he is rifen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do fhew forth themselves in him; for Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison, for Herodias fake, his brother Philip's wife; for John faid unto him, it is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the mul titude, because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birth-day was kept, the daughter of Hero. dias danced before them, and pleafed Herod; whereupon he promised with an oath, that he would give her whatsoever she would afk; and she, being before instructed of her mother, faid, give me here John Baptift's head in a charger. And the king was forry; nevertheless, for the oath's fake, and them which fat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her, and he sent and beheaded John in the prifon; and his head was brought in a charg er, and given to the damfel; and fhe brought it to her mother; and his difciples came and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Jefus."

Before we enter upon this remarkable and affecting narrative of the murder of John the Baptift by Herod, it will be proper to take notice of the two firft verses of this chapter, which gave occafion to the introduction of that tranfaction in this place, although it had happened fome time before.

"At that time, fays the evangelift, Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jefus, and faid unto his fervants, this is John the Baptift; he is rifen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do fhew forth themselves in him."

It is not eafy to meet with a more striking instance than this of the force of confcience over a guilty mind, or a ftronger proof how perpetually it goads the finner, not only with well-grounded fears and appehenfions of impending punishment and vengeance, but with imaginary terrors and vifionary dangers.

No fooner did the fame of Jefus reach the ears of the tyrant Herod, than it immediately occurred to his mind that he had himself, not long before, most cruelly and wantonly put to death an innocent, virtuous, and holy man, whofe reputation for wisdom, integrity, and fanctity of manners, ftood almost as high in the estimation of the world as that of Jefus; and who had even declared himself the herald and the forerunner of that extraordinary person. This inftantly fuggefted to him an idea the most extravagant that could be imagined, that this very person who affumed the name of Jefus was in fact no other than John the Baptift himself, whom he had beheaded, and who was now rifen from the dead, and was endowed with the power of working miracles, though he never performed any when living. It is evident that nothing could be more improbable and abfurd than thefe fuppofitions, nothing more contrary even to his own principles; for there is reafon to believe that Herod, like most other people of high rank at that time, was of the fect called the Sadducees, a fect which rejected the immortality of the foul, and the doctrine of a refurrection, and must therefore be perfectly adverse to the strange imagination of John the Baptist being rifen from the dead.Yet the fears of Herod overruled all the prejudices of his fect, and raised up before his eyes the femblance of the murdered Baptift armed with the power of miracles, for the very purpofe (he perhaps imagined) of inflicting exemplary vengeance upon him for that atrocious deed, as well as for his adultery, his inceft, and all his other crimes: which now probably presented themselves in their

moft hideous forms to his terrified imagination, purfued him into his moft fecret retirements, and tortured his breaft with unceafing agonies.

The evangelift having thus introduced the mention of John the Baptift, goes back a little in his narrative, to make the reader acquainted with that part of the Baptift's history which brought down upon him the indignation of Herod, and was the occafion of his death..

This flagitious prince had, it feems, in the face of day, and in defiance of all laws, human and divine, committed the complicated crime of adultery and inceft, attended with every circumftance that could mark an abandoned and unprincipled mind.

He had been married a confiderable time to the daugh ter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petræa, but conceiving a violent paffion for his brother Philip's, wife, Herodias,. he first feduced her affections from her husband, then difmiffed his own wife, and married Herodias, during the life-time of his brother. It was impoffible that fuch portentous wickedness as this could escape the obfervation or the reproof of the holy Baptift. He had the honesty and the courage to reproach the tyrant with the enormity of his guilt, although he could not be ignorant of the danger he incurred by such a measure; but he determined to do his duty, and to take the confequences. The confe quences were, "that Herod laid hold of John, and bound him, and threw him into prifon*." And undoubtedly his wifh was to have put him immediately to death, but he was restrained by two confiderations. The first was, because John was held in fuch high esteem and veneration by all the people, that had any violence been offered to him by Herod, he was apprehenfive that it might have occafioned a general infurrection against his government; for we are informed by St. Matthew that "he feared the multitude, because they counted John as a prophett.”

The other reason was, that although he felt the utmost indignation and resentment against John for the freedom he had used in reproaching him for his licentious conduct,.

* Matth. xiv, 3. + Matth. xiv. 5.