9 And think not to say within recorded. Acts v. 34. Perhaps also, Mark xv. 43. Luke ii. 25; xxiii. 51. John xix. 38. 39-42, iii. 1. vii. 50. yourselves, We have Abraham to company, except on the Sabbath, when they partook of their coarse fare, bread and salt only, together. They prac tised dancing in their worship. Few of them were married; they were opposed to oaths; and asserted that slavery was repugnant to nature. In regard to doc.. trine, they did not differ materially from the Pharisees, except that they objected to the sacrifices of slain animals, and of course did not visit the temple, and were not, therefore, likely to come into public contact with the Saviour. They perpetuated their sect by proselytes, and by taking orphan children to train up. II. THE SADDUCEES are supposed to have taken their name from Sadok, who flourished about 260 years before the Christian era. He was a pupil of Antigonus Sochæus, president of the sanhedrim, or great council of the nation. He had taught the duty of serving God disinterestedly, without the hope of reward, or the fear of punishment. Sadok, not properly understanding the doctrine of his master, drew the inference that there was no future state of rewards or punishments; and on this belief he founded the sect. The other notions which they held, all to be traced to this leading doctrine, were: 1st. That there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit (Matt. xxii. 23. Acts xxiii. 8); and that the soul of man perishes with the body. 2d. They rejected the doctrine of fate. 3d. They rejected all traditions, and professed to receive only the books of the Old Tes-great propriety, therefore, in John's tament. They were far less numerous than the Pharisees, but their want of numbers was compensated, in some degree, by their wealth and standing in society. Though they did not generally seek office, yet several of them were advanced to the high-priesthood. III. THE ESSENES, a third sect of the Jews, are not mentioned in the New Testament. They differed from both the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were Jewish monks or hermits, passing their time little in society, but mostly in places of obscurity and retirement. It is not probable, therefore, that our Saviour often, if ever, encountered them; and this, it is supposed, is the reason why they are not mentioned in the New Testament. They were a contemplative sect, having little to do with the common business of life. The property which they possessed they held in common. They denied themselves generally of the usual comforts of life, and were exceedingly strict in the observance of the duties of religion. They were ge erally more pure than the rest of the Jews, and appear to have been aranambitious, a modest, and retiring wort of people. The two sexes wer t in The other sects of the Jews were too insignificant to demand any particular notice here. It may be said of the Jews generally that they possessed little of the spirit of religion; that they had corrupted some of the most impor tant doctrines of the Bible; and that they were an ignorant, proud, ambitious, and sensual people. There was proclaiming the necessity of repentance. Generation of vipers. Vipers are a species of serpents. They are from two to five feet in length, and about an inch thick, with a flat head. They are of an ash or yellowish color, speckled with long brown spots. There is no serpent that is more poisonous than their bite. The person bitten swells up almost immediately, and falls down dead. See Acts xxviii. 6.—The word serpent, or viper, is used to denote both cunning and malignancy. In the phrase, be ye wise as serpents, it means be prudent, or wise, referring to the account in Genesis iii. 1-6. Among the Jews the serpent was regarded as the symbol of cunning, circumspection, and pru dence. He was so regarded in the Egyptian hieroglyphics. In the phrase generation of vipers," Matt. xii. 34 the viper is the symbol of wickedness, of envenomed malice a symbol drawn from the venom of the serpent. It is not quite certain in which of these senses the phrase is used in this place; probably to denote their malignancy and wickedness. See Matt. xii. 34; xxiii. 33. Wrath to come. John expresses his astonishment that sinners so hard. ened and so hypocritical as they were should have been induced to flee from our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. coming wrath. The wrath to come means the divine indignation, or the punishment that will come on the guilty. See 1 Thess. i. 10, 2; i. 8, 9. 8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits, &c. That is, the proper fruits of reformation, the proper evidence that you are sincere. Do not bring your cunning and dissimulation to this work; carry not your hypocrisy into your professed repentance; but evince your sincerity by forsaking sins, and thus give evidence that this crowding to Jordan is not some act of dissimulation. No discourse could have been more appropriate or more cutting. Fruits. Conduct. See Matt. vii. 16-19. Meet for repentance. Fit for repentance; appropriate to it-the proper expression of repentance. 9. And think not to say, &c. They regarded it as sufficient righteousness that they were descended from so holy a man as Abraham. They deemed it as such an honor that it would go far to justify all his descendants. John viii. 33-37, 53. John assured them that this was a matter of small consequence in the sight of God. Of the very stones of the Jordan he could raise up children to Abraham. The meaning seems to be this: God, from these stones, could more easily raise up those who should be worthy children of Abraham, or be like him, than simply, because you are descendants of Abraham, make you, who are proud and hypocritical, subjects of the Messiah's kingdom. Or, mere nativity, or the privileges of birth, avail nothing where there is not righteousness of life. Some have supposed, however, that by these stones he meant the Roman soldiers, or the heathen, who might also have attended on his ministry; and that God could of them raise p children to Abraham. 10. The axe is laid at the root of the tree. Laying the axe at the root of a tree intended to denote that the tree is to be cut down. It was not merely to be trimmed, to be cut about the limbs, but the very tree itself was to be struck. That is, a searching, trying kind of preaching has been commenced. A kingdom of justice is to be set up. 10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth Principles and conduct are to be inves tigated. No art, no dissimulations, are to be successful. Men are to be tried by their lives, not by birth, or profession. They who are not found to bear this test, are to be rejected. The very root shall feel the blow, and the fruitless tree shall fall. This is a beautiful and very striking figure of speech, and a very direct threatening of future wrath. John regarded them as making a fair and promising profession, as trees do in blossom. But he told them, also, that they should bear fruit as well as flowers. Their professions of repentance were not enough. They should show, by a holy life, that their profession was genuine. 11. Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. The word here translated shoes, has a signification different from what it has in our language. At first, in order to keep the feet from the sharp stones, or the burning sand, small pieces of wood were fastened to the soles of the feet, called sandals. Leather, or skins of beasts dressed, afterwards were used. The foot was not covered at all; but the sandal, or piece of leather, or wood, was bound by thongs. The following cuts will give an idea of the early form of the shoe, or sandal, and of the thongs or latchets by which they were bound; and will serve to explain this and other passages of the New Testament, when reference is made to them. The first is taken from ancient Egyptian monuments. We subjoin other forms of leather sandals, and such as are still in common use in many countries of the east good fruit, is hewn down, and cast | cometh after me is mightier than I, into the fire. whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that a Jno.15.6. b Lu.3.16. Ac.19.4. The wooden sandal is much worn in Arabia, Judea, and Egypt. It has a raised heel and toe, as represented in the following cuts; and, though often expensive and neat, it was usually a cheap, coarse, and very clumsy article. The people put off these when they entered a house, and put them on when they left it. To loose and bind on sandals, on such occasions, was the business of the lowest servants; and their office was, to loose and carry about their masters' sandals. The expression here, then, was an expression of great humility; and John says that he was not worthy to be the servant of him who should come after him. Shall baptize you. Shall send upon you the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is frequently represented as being poured out upon his people. Prov. i. 23; Isa. xliv. 3; Joel ii. 28, 29; Acts ii. 17, 18. The baptism of c Ac.1.5. C the Holy Spirit is the same, therefore, as the sending of his influences to convert, purify, and guide the soul. ¶ The Holy Ghost. The third person of the adorable Trinity, whose office it is to enlighten, renew, sanctify, and comfort the soul. He was promised by the Saviour to convince of sin. John xvi. 8. To enlighten or teach the disciples. John xiv. 26; xvi. 13. To comfort them in the absence of the Saviour. John xiv. 18; xvi. 7. To change the heart. Titus iii. 5. To be baptized with the Holy Ghost means that the Messiah would send upon the world a far more powerful and mighty influence than had attended the preaching of John. Many more would be converted. A mighty change would take place. His ministry would not affect the external life only, but the heart, the motives, the soul; and produce rapid and permanent changes in the lives of men. See Acts ii. 17, 18. With fire. This expression has been very variously understood. Some have supposed that he refers to the afflictions and persecutions with which men would be tried under the gospel; others, that the word fire means judgment or wrath. A part of his hearers he would baptize with the Holy Ghost, but the wicked with fire and vengeance. Fire is a symbol of vengeance. See Isa. v. 24, Ixi. 2, lxvi. 24. If this be the meaning, as seems to be probable, then John says that the ministry of the Messiah would be far more powerful than his was. It would be more searching and trying; and they who were not fitted to abide the test, would be cast into eternal fire. Some have supposed, however, that by fire, here, he intends to denote that his ministry would be refining, powerful, purifying, as fire is sometimes an emblem of purity. Mal. iii. 2. It is difficult to ascertain the precise meaning further than that his ministry would be very trying, purifying, searching. Mul. titudes would be converted; and those who were not true penitents should not be able to abide the trial, and should be driven away. made light, so that it might be easily carried about. The fan is a well-known agricultural instrument which was used by the Jews, as it is at the present day, to separate grain from the chaff. The usual custom was to throw the grain in the air by means of a large shovel, and suffer the wind to drive the chaff away, but it is probable that the fan was often employed. See my Note on Isa. XXX. 24. His floor. The threshing floor was an open space, or area, in the field, usually on an elevated part of the land. Gen. 1. 10. It had no covering or walls. It was a space of ground thirty or forty paces in diameter, and made smooth by rolling it, or treading it hard. A high place was selected for the purpose of keeping it dry, and for the convenience of winnowing the grain by the wind. The grain was usually trodden out by oxen. Sometimes it was beaten with flails, as with us; and sometimes with a sharp threshing instrument, made to roll over the grain, and to cut the straw at the same time. Isa. xli. 15. After being threshed it was winnowed. The grain was then separated from the dirt and coarse chaff by a sieve, and then still further cleansed by a fan, an instrument to produce an artificial wind. This method is still practised in eastern nations. Shall purge. Shall cleanse, or purify. Shall remove the chaff, &c. The garner. The granary, or place to deposit the wheat. Unquenchable fire. Fire that shall not be extinguished, that will utterly consume it. By the floor, here, is represented the Jewish people. By the wheat, the righteous, or the people of God. By the chaff, the wicked. They are often represented as being driven away like chaff before the wind. Job xxi. 18; Ps. i. 4; Isa. xvii. 13; Hos. xiii. 13. They are also represent ed as chaff which the fire consumes. Isa. v. 24. This image is often used to express judgments. Isa. xli. 15. “Thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff." By the unquenchable fire is meant the eternal suffering of the wicked in hell. 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. Mark ix. 48. Matt. xxv. 41. 14. John forbad him. Refused him. TI have need. It is more fit that should be baptized with thy baptism, the Holy Ghost, than that thou shouldest be baptized in water by me. I am a sinner, and unworthy to administer this to the Messiah. 15. Thus it becometh us. It is fit and proper. And though you may feel yourself unworthy, yet it is proper it should be done. All righteousness. There was no particular precept in the Old Testament requiring this, but he chose to give the sanction of his example to the baptism of John, as to a divine ordinance. The phrase "all righteousness," here, is the same as a righteous institution or appointment. Jesus had no sin. But he was about to enter on his great work. It was proper that he should be set apart by his forerunner, and show his connexion with him, and give his approbation to what John had done. Also, he was baptized that occasion might be taken, at the commencement of his work, for God publicly to declare his approbation of him, and his solemn appointment to the office of the Messiah. 16. Out of the water. This shows that he had descended to the river. It literally means, he went up directly FROM the water.' The original does not imply that they had descended inte the river. The heavens were opened |