Christ Himself. " There is no new thing under the sun.^' (Eccles. i. 9.)
Let us observe^ in the second place, the consummate ivisdom luith ivliich our Lord replied to the question put to Him. His enemies had asked Him for His authority for doing what He did. They doubtless intended to make His answer a handle for accusing Hira. He knew the drift of their inquiry^ and said, "I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it ? from heaven or of men ?''
We must distinctly understand, that in this answer of our Lord's there was no evasion. To suppose this is a great mistake. The counter question which He asked, was in reality an answer to His enemies' inquiry. He knew they dared not deny that John the Baptist was a man sent from God. He knew that, this being granted, he needed only to remind them of John's testimony to Himself — Had not John declared him to be " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world ?" Had not John pronounced Him to be the Mighty One, who was to " baptize with the Holy Ghost .^" — In short, our Lord's question was a home-thrust to the conscience of His enemies. If they once conceded the divine authority of John the Baptist's mission, they must also concede the divinity of His own. If they acknowledged that John came from heaven, they must acknowledge that He Himself was the Christ.
Let us pray that, in this difficult world, we may be supplied with the same kind of wisdom which was here displayed by our Lord: No doubt we ought to act on the
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