Herod" this was a very ancient custom of kings of the East on festival occasions. John had the honesty and courage to say to the Tetrarch, "It is not lawful for thee to have Herodias to wife," although he could not but be ignorant of the danger incurred by such a measure; and it is a fine lesson to all to do their duty, and take the consequences. We have in the relation of this story a fatal proof of the extreme barbarities to which that most diabolical sentiment, revenge, will drive the natural tenderness, even of a female mind. Herodias had a passion to gratify, stronger, perhaps, than any other when it takes possession of the human heart. She had been mortally injured, as she conceived, by the Baptist, who had attempted to break her present infamous connexion with Herod; and, accordingly, "the mother instructs her daughter Salome to ask the king, as her reward, to receive John Baptist's head in a charger." The savage request appalled even the unfeeling heart of Herod himself: he was unprepared for such a request; and, though displeased with John, did not like to proceed to this extremity against him'. Instead, however, of retreating, and of retracting a promise he had rashly made, Herod was induced, by a false point of honour, to commit an atrocious murder, rather than Bishop Porteus.

' Dr. Beausobre.

violate a mad oath ;-an oath which could never make that right which was intrinsically wrong; which could never bind him to any thing in itself unlawful, much less to the most unlawful of all things, the destruction of a virtuous and innocent man'. Thus when a deed of extraordinary wickedness was to be perpetrated, he made religion an accomplice; "for his oath's sake," he fulfilled his rash promise, as if wrong became less wrong, when acted in the name of God; and as if it were more acceptable in His sight to massacre a prophet, than to repent of a rash oath at a drunken entertainment 2. Had the oath been lawful, undoubtedly he would have been bound by it, and could not have observed it too sacredly. David praises the man who "sweareth to his neighbour, and disappointeth him not." But if one has been led by rashness, or by another's deceit, to make an unlawful oath, the evil is in keeping it, not in breaking it: he was bound, by a previous natural obligation to his Maker, not to transgress His commands. In like manner, Darius, who had been betrayed by his courtiers pass a rash decree, which led to the condemnation of Daniel, whom they hated, "was sore displeased with himself;" yet, because "the law of the Medes and Persians altereth not," he commanded, and they brought Daniel, and

to

1

Bishop Porteus.

2

Bishop Horne.

cast him into the den of lions. So Pilate, in the case of our blessed Lord, most unwillingly consented to His execution,-" was exceeding sorry," yet, for their sakes, who sat with him, when they asserted that, "If he let the Man go, he was not Cæsar's friend," "he brought forth Jesus, and delivered Him to be crucified." The conduct of all these three governors is the same;—fear and regret to do what they saw was wrong; yet, to gratify the people, they obeyed man rather than God, and preferred present interest to every future consideration3. Herod had feared the persuasiveness of John with the people, and that it might tend to a revolt; for he was held in high estimation among them so he thought it best to lay hold of him before any insurrection took place; and the Baptist was, upon this suspicion, sent prisoner, at that time, to Machærus Castle, where he continued upwards of a year; so that the story of his death, which we have just described, as it is recorded by St. Matthew and St. Mark, did not take place until long after the period of time we are now considering. The speedy termination of the Baptist's ministry was, according to St. Chrysostom, designed by Providence, that the people might not be divided in opinion between him and Jesus; but, after spending above a year in prison, we find the holy man sacri3 Archbishop Sumner.

ficed to the long-retained hatred and implacable vengeance of a woman, to the licentious fascinations of a mother, and to the rash oath of a worthless and merciless prince, which had far better been broken than kept. How mysterious are the ways of Providence, which permitted such a life to be cut short in the midst, and by means so ignominious! But we have no right to reply against God, even though we may ourselves be called upon to suffer bonds, and imprisonment, or martyrdom, for the sake of Him and his Gospel,-that stroke could not be unwelcome which instantly transmitted John from a gloomy dungeon to everlasting glory'! SECT. XXII.-Christ talketh with a Woman of Samaria.John iv. 1-42.

PERHAPS No Christian scholar ever read the fourth chapter of St. John without being struck with the numerous instances of truth which crowd upon the mind in its perusal; within so small a compass it is impossible to find in another writing so many sources of reflection and of interest. Independently of its importance as a theological document, it concentrates so much information, that a volume might be filled with the illustrations it reflects on the history of the Jews, and on the geography of their country. All that can be gathered on these subjects from Josephus seems but a com

4 Dr. Hales.

3 Dr. Robinson.

ment to illustrate this chapter. The journey of our Lord into Samaria and Galilee, the cause of it; His approach to the metropolis of this country, its name; His arrival at the Amorite field which terminates the narrow valley of Sichem, the ancient custom of halting at a well, the female employment of drawing water; the disciples sent into the city for food, by which its situation out of the town is obviously implied; the question of the woman referring to existing prejudices which separate the Jews from the Samaritans, the depth of the well, the oriental allusion contained in the expression "living water," the history of the well and the customs thereby illustrated, the worship upon Mount Gerizim, -all these occur within the space of twenty verses; and if to these be added what has already been referred to in the same chapter, we shall perhaps consider it as a record which, in the words of Him who sent it, we may lift up our eyes and look upon, for it is white already with harvest"."

66

Before going into Galilee, it is probable that our Lord had continued at Jerusalem and in the neighbouring parts of Judæa for some months after His conference with Nicodemus. The expression of the Evangelist that "when the nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum, heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa

Dr. Clarke.