thing is against you, and a curse is upon all your blessings; but if you will be on the Lord's side all is for you.

Believe that God is your Father in Jesus Christ; and believing, pray, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

Meditate on his goodness and power, till you perceive it to be as much your interest, for so indeed it is, as your duty, that God in all things should be glorified, and by all people be obeyed; and as much your duty as your interest. Let it be the first desire of your hearts and constant study of your lives, to honour the Father through the Son; "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and God will take care of you: "he will give you day by day your daily bread; forgive you your trespasses; save you from temptation, and deliver you from all evil." He will take care to order every thing to these ends respecting you. And if you walk by faith in the Son of God, believing during this life, that, for his Son's sake, he does so, and possess your souls in patience. the last day shall interpret all things. Then ye shall know in whom ye have believed, and see what good cause ye had to trust him; and thence

forth it shall be your joy to unite with holy angels, and all spirits of just men made perfect, in proclaiming, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."

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SERMON XIV.

MARTYRDOM OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

MATT. xiv. 10.

"And he sent and beheaded John in the prison."

THE history of the martyrdom of John the Baptist is related incidentally in explanation of a circumstance which occurred respecting our blessed Saviour.

"Herod the Tetrarch," it seems, "had heard of the fame of Jesus."* All that country must have heard of it; and such as knew him not for the Messiah, must have been much perplexed as to what was to be thought or said of him. Accordingly some supposed him to have been Elias, others took him for one of the ancient prophets : But," said Herod, "this is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth them* Matt. xiv. 1, 2.

selves in him." And then the Evangelist, for illustration of this declaration, gives us an account of the fact of John's having been put to death by Herod, as it had happened some time before.

The record is submitted to our consideration by the infallible Spirit of God; and therefore, by his help, good instruction may surely be drawn from it. In this dependence, I shall proceed to bring the whole passage before you; noting also such additional circumstances as are related by St. Mark, and subjoining such observations and reflections for practice as shall appear naturally to suggest themselves.

John preached in the wilderness of Judea: but, by some means or other, he was brought to Herod's court-or at least he had, in some way, opportunity and occasion to preach to him; and he did preach to him with such acceptance that, as St. Mark tells us, "Herod heard him gladly, and observed him;”* and even went so far as to do many right things, which otherwise he would not have done, at his suggestion. "But at length Herod laid hold on John and bound him, and put him in prison; and this he did for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife."

* Mark vi.

Before we go farther, it will be best to give some account of these persons.

There are three Herods mentioned in the New Testament. The one, of whom we are going to speak, was the second of them; the same who is usually called Herod Antipas, and the son of Herod the Great, who reigned at the period of our Saviour's birth. At his death, his kingdom was divided into four parts; and when the word of God came to John the Baptist in the wilderness, this Herod Antipas had one of these parts, being tetrarch of Galilee ; * and his brother Philip had another of them, being tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis. Herod married the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petrea, but conceiving a violent passion for the wife of his brother Philip, whose name was Herodias, he put his own lawful wife away, and took her instead; and when she came to his court, she brought with her a daughter, of whom we shall have occasion to speak more bye-andbye, whom she had by Philip, and whose name was Salome.

At, or not long after, the period of this incestuous marriage, John had access to Herod, and nothing daunted by the personal risk he ran, like a faithful man of God as he was, he

*Luke iii. 1.