instruction which it gave occasion to, unconnected with its symbolical import. The Lord's behaviour on the failure of his disciples to cast out the devils, and his permission to a stranger to effect what they could not, was noticed in its proper place. Here we are come to a renewal of the lesson then given to them. On the apostles expressing surprise at the effect of the curse pronounced on the fig tree, Christ intimates to them at once the extent of miraculous power with which they were to be invested, and the limitations and conditions of its exercise-limitations and conditions which were perpetually to distinguish their authority from his. His language contains, not only the promise elsewhere expressed by "these miracles, and greater than these shalt thou do;" but the caution also before given, that their miracles could not be wrought like his, by their own independent authority, but by prayer and the other forms to which he had attached his promise of success, and which formed the legal acknowledgment of the tenure by which they held their authority. He accordingly tells them-and this most solemnly-that if they bade the mountain remove and be cast into the sea, it should obey; but cautions them against the probable grounds of failure to which as dependent agents they were subject". They were to pray that their command may be effectual, and to trust that it would be so. CHRIST'S BEHAVIOUR IN THE TEMPLE. Ver. 11. 15-19. 27-33. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.- And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. And when even was come, he went out of the city.And they come again to Jerusalem and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, : It should be remarked, that for an offence in this respect, Moses was punished by being forbidden to enter the promised land. See Numbers xx. 7—13. 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. came 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 f, and was a custom 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. 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 |