that an oath should be broken, it is still more displeasing to Him that it should be kept, when it can only be done by committing some positive act of sin. Herod made a rash oath, and to keep it, he was guilty of the murder of a good and holy man. Although Herod was angry with John, he had a high opinion of his holiness and goodness, and would not willingly have put him to death: but amongst men it was considered shameful to break an oath; and Herod, caring more for the praise of men than the praise of God, sacrificed John the Baptist at the request of a bad woman. When the disciples of John heard of their master's death, they came to the prison, and took up his body and laid it in a tomb, and went and told Jesus. After this, Herod heard of the fame of Jesus, and of all the wonderful things that He had done, and he was greatly troubled, and knew not what to think. Some people said, "That John was risen from the dead;" others, "That Elias, who was expected to come before the Messiah, had appeared;" and others, "That one of the old prophets was risen again." Amongst these different opinions, Herod was greatly perplexed: like most of the Jews of high rank, Herod belonged to the sect of the Sadducees, who denied that the body would rise again, or the soul live for ever. He would not, therefore, willingly allow the possibility of John the Baptist having returned to life; but his fears got the better of his opinions. His conscience told him that he had done wickedly in putting to death a true servant of God, and therefore, when he heard that there was One going about the country working miracles, he feared that John had returned to life, armed with power to punish all who had ill-treated him. Herod, disturbed by all he heard of Jesus, questioned his servants who told him these things, and said, "John have I beheaded; but who is this of whom I hear such things?" He could get no satisfactory answer, and his guilty conscience drove him to the conclusion, "It is John whom I beheaded; he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him." "And he desired to see Jesus." Herod's desire to see Jesus, does not appear to have been gratified until just before our Lord's death; and then the king derived no profit from the interview. Herod had had plenty of opportunities for learning the truths of the Gospel from John the Baptist. He would not make use of them. Our Lord has told us, that if we do not make a good use of all the opportunities given to us, He will take from us the blessings we will not use. In our country, the young are blessed with innumerable opportunities of learning their duty to God: make a proper use of them, and do not force the Lord to take them away, and leave you in wilful ignorance and sin.