occasion to accuse him, showed that evil was at the bottom of their hearts, and was bringing forth evil things. Pride was there, and made them jealous of his power. Self-interest was there, and made them dread his popularity. Love of sin was there, and made them hate his rebukes of sin. Love of this world was there, and led them to oppose him who was not of this world. And from the seat of these bad feelings their reproaches and calumnies issued. Their words were the outpouring of the pride, the self-interest, the impure desires, the worldliness which abounded in their hearts; which were like a treasury or magazine, out of which evil things were continually supplied.

Whereas a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. "One of themselves," Nicodemus, showed this; for whilst his brethren were reviling Jesus, and finding reasons to reject or accuse him, Nicodemus came to him and said, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher sent from God." And again, when they were commanding their officers to apprehend him, the same Nicodemus interposed, and asked, "Does our law judge any man before it hath heard him, and know what he doeth ?" 9

8

By their words, therefore, the Pharisees were as clearly known, as the tree by its fruit: and, at the great day of account, their words would be evidence against them; would show what their hearts had been. So that our Lord proceeds to give this awful warning;

8

John iii. 1-2.

9

John vii. 51.

36. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

37. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

The word idle here, must be interpreted by the occasion which introduced it. The Pharisees had been reproved for their rash, unfounded words; which words being rash and unfounded, and in that sense idle, had become calumnious and injurious. They had untruly confounded Jesus with publicans and sinners: they had unreasonably associated him with Satan or Beelzebub. For such words they must give account: and be answerable for the evil which they had caused. Just as a tale-bearer who circulates slander, must give account of the injury done to his neighbour. Just as those adversaries of truth must bear the consequences of their falsehood, who imputed to the preachers of the gospel, that they countenanced sin; accused them of saying, "Let us do evil that good may come :" "whose condemnation," says St. Paul, “is just.”1 Because such idle words, if traced to their source, will be found to proceed from some bad motive or evil passion: and therefore prove the unsoundness of the heart, and show that he who uttered them was not "renewed in the spirit of his mind;" had not "put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy:" allowed "corrupt communication to proceed out of his mouth, instead of that which is good for the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." "

2

3

1 Rom. iii. 8.

2 Col. iii. 8.

3 Ephes. iv. 29.

So justly is it declared, By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

66

Still, if this were the only text in Scripture, if there were nothing else revealed concerning the day of judgment, how grievous would our case be! Who could bear to let his final condition stand or fall by his words, or anything else of his own? Strictly speaking, by the merits of Christ we are justified; and according to our trust in him, we are "accounted righteous before God." 'Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ." But we are here, as every where, taught that the reality of our faith, the soundness of our heart, must be proved by its fruits and amongst its fruits, by our words. Make the faith good, and the fruit will be good. In this sense, by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. In this sense, "death and life are in the power of the tongue.' In this sense, "if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.'

"6

And desiring to be made thus perfect, the Psalmist prays, "Lord, there is not a word in my tongue, but thou knowest it altogether."

tongue from evil, and my lips that

guile!"

66

"O keep my

they speak no

Art. xi.

• Prov. xviii. 21.

James iii. 2.

LECTURE LVII.

SIGN OF JONAS.

MATT. xii. 38-45.

38. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

39. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.

40. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The Scribes and Pharisees were at liberty to ask for a sign, that Jesus was the Son of God. Our Lord said to them, "If I had not done amongst you the works which none other man did, ye had not had sin; but now ye have no cloke for your sin."1 Sufficient signs were daily given to them in the words of wisdom which were spoken, if they had ears to hear, and in the mighty works of power that were done, if they had eyes to see. One more sign remained to be shown, which as yet they could not comprehend. The Scriptures related, that when Jonah the prophet was sailing to Tarshish in opposition to the divine command, a tempest arose, and threatened to sink the ship in which he had embarked. Consciencestruck, he said to the sailors, "Take me up, and cast John xv. 24.

me forth into the sea so shall the sea be calm unto you." "So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her raging." "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." After which "the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”

To this sign our Lord compares his own death and resurrection. In one respect there was no resemblance. Jonah by his own disobedience occasioned the anger of God, which he expiated. The resemblance is in the event: Christ consented to be "cast forth," to "give his life a ransom for many. And Christ, like Jonah, should be three days hidden from the sight of men, should by all be given up as lost, and should rise again on the third day from the depths of the grave.

Let this be a sign to us also. Let us provide that when we go down to the grave, we who shall likewise rise again, at the appointed time, "to stand before the Son of man," he may prove a Saviour to us, who himself died, and was buried, and rose again.

In another respect there was a resemblance between the case of Jonah and of the Lord Jesus. Jonah went through the city of Nineveh, declaring, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." 3 And so Jesus went through the country of Judea, calling upon all men to "repent, for the kingdom of heaven was at hand." The warning was similar; but not the consequence of the warning.

2 Jonah i. 12.

3 See Jonah iii. 4-10.