right? Is it just that men should honor him for his words and deeds? Is it proper to cleanse the temple of traders and money-changers?' but, Who gave you authority to do these things?' They wished to be thought very religious, very zealous for the honor of God, and the purity of his worship: they would not, therefore, blame the things themselves, especially the cleansing of the temple, because the people evidently looked upon it as a good and pious deed: they asked him for his warrant for what he had done. In his reply he gave them to understand that his authority was from God; but he did not plainly tell them so, because they would not receive his declarations, nor properly interpret any of the many proofs which he gave that God was with him. In doing what he had done, he had broken no law, he had merely sought to reform a bad custom, which had grown up by degrees until it had become a great nuisance. They wished for no reform, and sought to destroy the messenger of God: but they could not then find the way; for the people were astonished at his doctrine, and were very attentive to hear him. After this, Jesus related the parables of the man who desired his two sons to go and work in his vineyard, and of the man who planted a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen. Then the Pharisees took measures to entrap him into saying something which they might make use of against him. But he saw what they wanted, and answered them in such a manner as completely to defeat their object. Then some of the Sadducees came, thinking to puzzle him with difficult questions about the resurrection; but he silenced them also, by referring them for an answer to their scriptures, which ought to have proved to them that their fancied difficulty arose only out of their own narrow and earthly notions. Some of the Pharisees were much pleased at the manner in which he had put the Sadducees to silence; and one of them, with greater earnestness and sincerity than there had been before in their questions, said, 'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?' Jesus answered, 'The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:' : And the this is the first commandment. second is like it, namely this, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.' The Scribe said unto him, 'Well, teacher, thou hast spoken truth; for there is one God, and there is none other but he: and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and, with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as one's self, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw how earnestly and truly he had answered, he said unto him, 'Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.' And no one durst question him any more. As Jesus was sitting near the temple treasury, he saw people putting money into it. These were voluntary gifts for the service of the temple, and were meant to show a desire to do honor to God. Among them many rich men cast in large gifts, and a poor widow two mites, about one farthing of our money. The rich cast in what they could well spare, the poor widow all that she possessed: and our Lord said that she had cast in more than they all; that is, her self-denial was immeasurably greater than theirs. It does not follow that the poor man's penny must always be thus weighed against the rich man's pound; but the beautiful and holy lesson to be learned is this, that it is not the nature or the amount of outward good which is considered by our heavenly Father, but the degree of pious and kind feeling by which it is produced. After some strong condemnation of the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus went out of the temple: as he went, some of his disciples called his attention to its magnificence, and the massive stones with which it was built. The reply of Jesus was a prediction that the time was coming when it should be utterly destroyed, not one stone being left upon another. This prediction was fulfilled forty years afterward, when Jerusalem was taken by Titus, the son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian. Titus made every effort to save it; but in vain: its destruction was ordained by God, and was effected by the fury of the Roman soldiers, excited beyond control by the fanatical obstinacy of the Jews. CHAPTER XXI. THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. THIS hill was a little way out of Jerusalem, on the east, facing the temple. It was a favorite resort of Jesus when he wished to retire from the tumult and fatigue of the city. It commanded a fine view of the place in its whole extent. Thither he went when he left the temple, as related at the close of the last chapter: and, as he was sitting there with his disciples, the city and the temple being full before them, and his prediction being strongly impressed upon their minds, they asked him when those things should take place. He told them not immediately; but that first there should be many wars and commotions, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places that they themselves would be bitterly persecuted, and driven from place to place, some of them even suffering death: that they must labor, suffer, and watch, till they saw the Roman armies, with their idolatrous ensigns, planted around Jerusalem, and |