to unprincipled companions: he may be carried on, as Herod was, to the most aggravated acts of rebellion against God.

LECTURE XXXVI.

HEROD CONSENTS TO PUT JOHN THE BAPTIST TO DEATH.

MARK VI. 21-29.

21. And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;

22. And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.

23. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.

24. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.

25. And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.

26. And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him he would not reject her.

N

Herodias had now an opportunity of revenging herself on John. For so, no doubt, she intended; though in truth, by demanding his death, she was providing for his blessedness and hastening his reward. He would leave his prison walls, and enter the palace of the great King whom he had faithfully served. She, wretched woman, was "heaping up for herself wrath against the day of wrath." Her ready reply to her daughter's question, discloses the state of her mind. Probably she wore on her countenance the smiles and outward gaiety which belonged to a birthday festival. But beneath that gaiety, and covered by those smiles, hatred, revenge, and malice were rankling within. From the midst of a convivial.banquet, whilst "the tabret and the harp, the viol and the pipe, and wine were in the feast," she breathes out the demand of murder and revenge. To such lengths can the heart be led, when "taken captive by Satan," and abiding under wilful sin, as was Herodias.

Herod's licentiousness had betrayed him into a snare from which he would gladly have escaped. And there was a way of escape; but it required what he had not; it required a principle stronger than any that he recognized. He had promised, rashly promised, and impiously sworn, to give whatsoever should be asked of him. But he had not contemplated a cruel, unjust act; and his duty was, to say So. Ask whatsoever thou wilt, which I have a right to bestow, and I maintain my promise and my oath, unto the half of my kingdom: but "how can I do this great wickedness," and sin against that God whom this good and holy man has brought to my knowledge?

So he should have answered: conscience told him that he should, for he was exceeding sorry: he was no less unwilling to commit this wrong deed, than Pilate afterwards to consent to the death of Jesus.' But with Pilate, the desire of popular favour; and with Herod, the fear of his company, his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee, prevailed against conscience, prevailed against his better feelings; so that for his oath's sake and for their sakes that sat at meat with him, he would not reject her.

27. And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought and he went and beheaded him in the prison,

28. And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel and the damsel gave it to her mother.

29. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

We condemn the weakness, we shudder at the wickedness of Herod, who, instead of complying with the suggestions of his conscience, complied with the demand of a licentious woman, and was more afraid of offending his company than of sinning against God. But we shall not make a proper use of the narrative, unless we consider the motive which actuated Herod, and led him, by one bad deed, to put the finishing stroke to his character, and quench whatever light had ever shone within him. We are told the motive. It was not Herodias's motive, hatred of John :-it was no feeling of anger, because he had told him the truth:-it was not that love of blood which sometimes unhappily attends the power

1 John xix. 4—12.

of shedding it; but for his oath's sake, and for their sakes that sat at meat with him, he sent an executioner who beheaded him in the prison.

It is not common to be hurried into wickedness like Herod's but it is very common to be swayed by the motive which betrayed him: very common to be deterred from obeying the dictates of conscience by that "fear of man," which proverbially, "bewrayeth a man."

Those are not

All persons are governed, more or less, by the opinions of those with whom they live. We naturally like to be approved by others and to a certain extent we are justified in desiring it. commonly the best people, who set the opinion of their neighbours at defiance; and it completes the bad character of the unjust judge in the parable, that he "neither feared God, nor regarded man.” 3

But this desire of being thought well of, and spoken well of, must be carefully guarded and restrained. It often stands in the way of duty towards God; and prevents his being " followed fully," loved "with all the heart, and soul, and mind:" it keeps men short of that earnest endeavour after heaven, which seeks first the kingdom of God." It keeps them short of that decided piety, that determined "walk with God," to which alone belong the promises of Scripture. It makes them "halt between two opinions," and try to " serve God and mammon." And the persons injured by it, are not those who never think about any other world than this, who never seriously undertake to live " righteously, so

2 Prov. xxix. 25.

3 Luke xviii. 3.

berly, and godly," but those who are awakened in their consciences, but not yet decided in their lives.

There may be those, for instance, who are convinced of the duty of domestic prayer, and of promoting in their families the knowledge of God's word:-but may be withheld from the practice by a sort of false shame, an unwillingness to begin what is not common, and has not been the custom among their friends. Like Herod, they are at times exceeding sorry to neglect a habit which marks the sincere Christian; and which conscience tells them, must be a duty in the sight of God: but for customs' sake, and for their sakes who live with them, the duty is delayed.

Others, no doubt, have been convinced of the danger of those assemblies where the thoughtless and ungodly meet, and in pursuit of what is called pleasure, too often forget all that is due to themselves and to God. They feel that by mixing in these, nothing can be gained, and everything may be lost: they would willingly give up the gratification to be free from the danger. But their friends solicit them and how strange it would appear if they were to reply," We can no longer join in these things, which withdraw our minds from God and unfit us for eternity." They are exceeding sorry, to mix with persons who have no seriousness in their hearts; they are exceeding sorry to be where God is set at nought but for the world's sake, they consent to forego their better principles, and trust, perhaps, that God will be more forgiving than the world.

One strong feeling can only be counteracted by