and the scribes, and the elders, and say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 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.

In literal accordance with Christ's avowal, that he taught daily in the temple, we find him there the three first days of his final visit to Jerusalem. On the first, he merely makes his appearance; on the second, he exercises an authority which implied his having come, as the prophet expresses it, into his temple; on the third, the Jewish rulers demand of him the grounds of so unheard of an assumption of authority.

To explain why the temple should have become the resort of money changers, and persons who sold doves, it must be observed, that all who

e Malachi iii. 1.

tame up to the great festivals, contributed a small sum to the treasury of the temple. Now as many came from abroad from Alexandria and Asia Minor, for instance-it was found a convenience, and worth the while of merchants, to provide the current coin of Judæa, which alone was received for the treasury, and to exchange it at some little discount with those who had only the foreign coin. The offering of doves is alluded to in the account of Jesus's circumcision, and was a cus tom which sufficiently explains why the traffic in doves also should have been carried on even within the courts of the temple. As both the money and the doves were designed for sacred purposes, the traffic was doubtless on this account thought to be no violation of the sanctity of the house of God.

That Jesus should take on himself to pronounce authoritatively that it was, and to expel these merchants, was naturally regarded by the chief priests, as an action which could only be warranted by an extraordinary divine commission. Had they come to Christ with minds disposed candidly to examine whether this were Luke ii. 24. N

so, they would most assuredly have met with such an answer as might have satisfied and converted them. They came however in a very different temper, and they received therefore a different reply.

This custom of framing his reply according to the temper and design of the questioner, is a feature in Christ's discourses which deserves to be considered; because it has given rise to an objection, that his answers to the Pharisees were not always what we might expect from the author and promulgator of the truth. To those then who came to him with a desire to learn, his words always conveyed, at least, some hint which would enable them to satisfy themselves; a hint doubtless proportioned in its clearness to the candour and faith which it rewarded; a hint not always indeed profited by, but still always given, agreeably to the promises. "To him that hath shall be given." "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." To those, on the other hand, who came to him without any disposition to learn, his replies were not, it would seem, designed to instruct; nor has the Christian reader of the account which contains these replies, any

ground therefore to apply them as if addressed to himself. They were merely designed to silence, to confound, and to rebuke; and were often accordingly mere arguments ad hominem. On this principle should be interpreted his answer to the Jews recorded in the tenth chapter of St. John, and others, besides this now under consideration, in which apparently no instruction was intended. On other occasions-as, for instance, in the account given at the beginning of the preceding chapter, and that in the chapter next to this-although the applicants who are represented as putting questions to him, were of the same kind as these priests scribes and Pharisees, and as the Jews mentioned by St. John, we may presume that, for the sake of others who were likewise present, he so framed his answer to them, as not only to silence the cavillers, but to instruct the docile amongst his audience.

Ver. 34, 35.

CHAPTER XII.

PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD,

Ver. 1-12.

And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vine yard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our's. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.