of God will be seen in its true light; the imagined length of distance between guilt and its punishment will totally disappear; and offenders will lament in vain that sentence is executed so speedily as it is against evil works. But with peculiar severity will it be executed on them, who, despising the riches of. that goodness which would lead them to repentance, "treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgement of God."

Upon the whole then let not either the sinner triumph, or the virtuous repine, at the apparent impunity or even prosperity of the wicked in the present life. To the audacious sinner we apply those most apposite and most awful words of the son of Sirach:

Say not, who shall control me for my works? for the Lord will surely avenge thy pride. Say not, I have sinned, and what harm hath happened unto me? for the Lord is indeed long-suffering, but he will in no wise let thee go. Say not, his mercy is great, he will be pacified for the multitude of my sins; for both mercy and wrath come from him, and his indignation resteth upon sinners. Make therefore no tarrying to turn unto the Lord, and put not off from day to day; for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth, and in thy security shalt thou be destroyed, and perish in the day of vengeancet.

To the religious and virtuous on the other hand we say, "Fret not thyself because of the ungodly, neither be thou envious against the evil doers. Hold thee still in the Lord, and abide patiently upon him; but grieve not thyself at him whose way doth prosper, against the man that doeth after evil counsels. Wicked doers * Rom. ii. 5. + Eccles.v. 3-7.

shall be rooted out; and they that patiently abide the Lord, those shall inherit the land*." "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient; for the coming of the Lord draweth night."

It is not indeed always an easy task to exercise this patience, when we see conspicuous instances either of individuals or of nations, notorious for their profligacy, triumphant and prosperous in all their ways. We can scarce repress our discontent, or forbear joining with the prophet in his expostulation with the Almighty, Righteous art thou, O Lord! yet let me talk with thee of thy judgements: Why do the ways of the wicked prosper? Why are they all happy that deal very treacherously? To this we can now answer in the words of Job: "Knowest thou not this, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, 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 shall perish for ever, and they that have seen him shall say, Where is he§?"

In fact it has been proved, in the course of this inquiry, that in such an immense and complicated system as that of the universe, there are many reasons which we can discern, and a thousand others perhaps totally unknown to us, which render it necessary that the virtuous should suffer a temporary depression, and the wicked enjoy a temporary triumph. But let not these apparent irregularities dispirit or discourage us:

* Psalm xxxvii. 7-9.
Jerem. xii. 1.

+ James v. 7, 8.
§ Job xx. 5, 6,

7.

for whenever the purposes of Providence in these mysterious dispensations shall have been accomplished, every disorder shall be rectified, and every appearance of injustice done away. The time and the season for doing this, God has reserved in his own power: and we must not presume to prescribe rules to the wisdom of the Almighty. To men excruciated with pain, every moment seems an age; and to men groaning under oppression, their deliverance, if it come not instantly, may seem extremely distant. But let them not despair: in due season they shall reap, if they faint not. At the period marked out by infinite wisdom, and which it is their duty to await with patience, God shall cause his judgement to be heard from heaven, and the earth shall tremble and be still. He shall then demonstrate to the whole world "that his hand is not shortened that it cannot redeem, and that he still retains the power to save*." He shall prove, in a manner the most awful and most satisfactorily, "that verily there is a reward for the righteous, and a punishment for the wicked; that doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth†.'

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LECTURE XIV.

MATTHEW XIV.

WE are now, in the course of these 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 Jesus, and he said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birth-day was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod whereupon he promised with an oath, that he would give her whatsoever she would ask; and she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. And the king was sorry; nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her, and he sent, and beheaded John in the prison; and his head was brought in a charger,

and given to the damsel; and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus."

Before we enter upon this remarkable and affecting narrative of the murder of John the Baptist by Herod, it will be proper to take notice of the two first verses of this chapter, which gave occasion to the introduction of that transaction in this place, although it had happened some time before.

"At that time, says the Evangelist, Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and he said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist: he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.”

It is not easy to meet with a more striking instance than this of the force of conscience over a guilty mind, or a stronger proof how perpetually it goads the sinner, not only with well-grounded fears and apprehensions of impending punishment and vengeance, but with imaginary terrors and visionary dangers.

No sooner did the fame of Jesus 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, whose reputation for wisdom, integrity, and sanctity of manners, stood almost as high in the estimation of the world as that of Jesus; and who had even declared himself the herald and the forerunner of that extraordinary person. This instantly suggested to him an idea the most extravagant that could be imagined, that this very person who assumed the name of Jesus was in fact no other than John the Baptist himself, whom he had beheaded, and who was now risen from the dead, and was endowed with the power

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