the traffickers as well as their property; but in this instance, he contented himself with expelling the flocks and herds and doves, and upsetting the money-stands. It was a violent proceeding, but it was a permissible assertion of zealotry, such as the authorized priests and prophets of God had more than once, in extreme cases, displayed (see Num. xxxv. 7; Ex. xxii. 26–28; I. Ki. xvii. 40). Indeed, the outrage, in this case, on the dignity and purity of the temple-worship was so gross and defiant, that the act of Jesus justified itself. No one presumed to impugn the righteousness of the proceeding. There was simply a doubt started as to the authority of this young Nazarene to assume the role of a zealot; but not even the Temple authorities presumed to deny that the stern rebuke of this outrageous sacrilegiousness was, in itself, praiseworthy.

Why there should have been so tame a submission to this assertion of authority, is a question often propounded. The answer is two-fold: 1. There was sometimes a conquering majesty shining forth from the person of Jesus which awed all beholders into submission. See John vii. 44-46; xviii. 4-6. We may well suppose that when the deep indignation of his soul blazed forth against these profaners of the temple, its might and terror were paralyzing. "The wrath of the Lamb" is terrible and this was a significant premonition of the divine retribution which was in store for these incorrigibly wicked men. 2. Conscious guilt smote these offenders with paralyzing fears. "T is conscience doth make cowards of us all." It is beautiful and inspiring to behold the strength and boldness of conscious integrity, and it cheers a virtuous heart to witness the

skulking cowardice, the pallid and flabby weakness of conscious guilt.

What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just;

And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.

We are reminded here of the prediction of Malachi (iii. 1-3): "The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." There is a double aspect to the work of Christ. His mission was one of mercy, but also one of judgment. He was to administer the baptism in fire as well as the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He was not only the Lamb of God, but also the Lion. of the tribe of Judah. He was all gentleness and mercy and love to the ignorant and sinful and wretched; but he was stern and terrible to the self-righteous and hypocritical who trifled with truth and mercy. His personal ministry foreshadowed the approaching powers of the age to come," in their bearings on both these classes. He stooped tenderly to bless little children, to speak peace to penitent publicans and harlots, to heal the leprous, to raise the dead, to bind up the broken-hearted, "to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for

mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." No guilty, wretched soul, however sunken in sin and crime, that longed for deliverance, feared to approach him. He had a heart to feel, and a hand to help, for all such. But to such as perversely and stubbornly closed their eyes and steeled their hearts against truth and mercy, he had only stern words and deeds of rebuke and condemnation. The great lesson taught us here, in the very outset of his ministry is, that fathomless as is his mercy, gentle and tender as is his spirit, marvelous as are his condescensions to the poor and the vile, it is yet a condescension, tenderness and mercy with which we must not trifle. His mercy

is to win us from our sins, not to give license to continue in sin; to bring us to walk in the light, not to encourage us to abide in darkness; to lead us to hate sin, not to give us contentment and security in fellowship with iniquity. Let the flashing eye and threatening hand that paralyzed with terror these hardened sinners in the temple, admonish us of the fate of all who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.

We were unable to complete, in one number, our study of the startling scene in the Temple, described in John ii. 13-22.

The tremendous earnestness that entered into this bold assault on priestly and Rabbinical authority is evidenced in the impression made on his disciples. "His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for thy house shall eat me up." The reference is to Psa. Ixix. 9. This psalm may be regarded as expressive of David's bitter experience in a time of adversity. "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me." Taking this as an instance of Hebrew parallelism, in which the sentiment uttered in the first line is expressed in other words and amplified in the second, it indicates a soul so sensitive to the honor of its God, that all impious acts directed against the majesty and authority of Jehovah were as keenly felt in the psalmist's heart as if they had been directed against himself. And thus, but much more keenly and sensitively, did Jesus feel the dreadful insults offered to his Father's authority by the impious crew of hypocritical officials that had control of the Temple. This gave birth to that "terrible life-staking earnestness" with which, against all human odds, Jesus assailed the power of these haughty rulers and threw down in their presence

the gauntlet of defiance-alarming his disciples for his safety, and causing them to fear as to the effects of such a consuming zeal upon his own life.

There was, in this proceeding, a sublime indifference to all considerations of policy. No cunning impostor would have ventured such on a demonstration, provoking against himself the hate and the resistless power of the rulers of the land. A fanatic might have done it; but, whatever else Jesus may have been, a fanatic he was not. It is impossible to reconcile the facts in his history with such a supposition. If his action was terribly earnest, it was nevertheless the result of deliberation. It was laid in a profound conviction. of an irreconcilable antagonism between himself and the desperately corrupt leaders of the people, and it was meant to proclaim an uncompromising war upon their personal wickedness and their official corruptions. It was the bold defiance of conscious truth and righteousness to conscious hypocrisy, selfishness and arrogance. It was the opening of a warfare never to close until this despised Nazarene should be seated on the throne of heavenly glory, and this temple, and city, and nation, so long defiant of the will of God, should be given up to destruction. An understanding of this will throw light on all the subsequent dealings of Jesus with the corrupt and hardened Jewish rulers.

Although for the time this terrible rebuke seems to have produced a reformation, and it is said that such strict rules were announced that "no one could henceforth go to the hill of the Lord' with a staff in his hand, or with shoes on his feet, or with money in his girdle, or with a sack on his shoulders, or even with dust on his feet, and no one might carry a bur