translated, ''towards themselTes." The margioal reading ia *' within" themselves, which seems less prohahle than either of of the other two senses. The general meaning of the whole sentence, which ever sense of the three we take, remains un- altered.
LUKE Vn. 31—35.
31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation ? and to what are the j like }
32 They are like unto children sit- ting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, una saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.
33 For John the Baptist came nei- ther eating bread nor drinking wine ; and ye say. He hath a deTil.
34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking ; and ye say, Behold a
Eluttonous man, ana a winebibber, a iend of Publicans and sinners !
35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.
We learn in the first place, from these verses, that the hearis of unconverted men are often desperately perverse as fcell as mcked.
Our Lord brings out this lesson in a remarkable com- parison, describing the generation of men among whom He lived while He was on earth. He compares them to children. He says, that children at play were not more wayward, perverse, and hard to please, than the Jews of His day. Nothing would satisfy them. They were always finding fault. Whatever ministry God employed among them, they took exception to it. Whatever messenger God sent among them, they were not pleased. First came John the Baptist, living a retired, ascetic, self-denying life. At once the Jews said, "he hath a devil." — ^After him the Son of Man came, eating aad drinking, and adopting habits of social life like the ordinary run of men. At once the Jews accused Him of being "a gluttonous man, and a winebibber." — In short, it became evident that the Jews were determined to receive