the sensation which the public entry into Jerusalem, and the cleansing of the temple, had produced. At once they came about our Lord like bees, and endeavored to find occasion for an accusation against Him.
Let us observe, in the first place, how ready the enemies of truth are to question the authority of all who do more good than themselves. The chief priests have not a word to say about our Lord's teaching. They make no charge against the lives or conduct of Himself or His followers. The point on which they fasten is his commission : " By what authority doest thou these things ? and who gave thee this authority ?"
The same charge has often been made against the servants of God, when they have striven to check the progress of ecclesiastical corruption. It is the old engine by which the children of this world have often labored to stop the progress of revivals and reformations. It is the weapon which was often brandished in the face of the Eeformers, the Puritans, and the Methodists of the last century. It is the poisoned arrow which is often shot at city-missionaries and lay-agents in the present day. Too many care nothing for the manifest blessing of God on man's work, so long as he is not sent forth by their own sect or party. It matters nothing to them, that some humble laborer in God's harvest can point to numerous conversions of souls through his instrumentality. They still cry, " By what authority doest thou these things ?"
His success is nothing : they demand his commission. His cures are nothing : they want his diploma. Let us neither be surprised nor moved, when we hear such things. It is the old charge which was brought against