Matt. 11:16-17.

“But with what can I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the markets, and calling to their fellows, and saying, We have piped to you, and you have not danced; we have mourned to you, and you have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children”

Based on this letter, the expression, this generation, means the people who lived at that time in Judea; but according to its spiritual sense, it means the state of the church among that people, in regard to their reception of the eternal truth and eternal counsel.

These children, are represented as sitting in the markets, because by the markets are figured natural minds, or the common states of the life of natural men, which are therefore called markets, because all the goods and truths contained in the Word of God are there presented for purchase, and every one, who is so disposed, may there become a purchaser, and thus acquire the eternal possession of those heavenly blessings(a great battle going on in the mind of man to accept or reject the counsel of God). It is on this account that mention is again made of a market-place in the parable of the householder(Matthew 20: 1-16) who hired laborers into his vineyard, where it is written, that he saw others standing idle in the market-place, for by standing idle in the market-place, is signified, that they neglected to cultivate the natural mind, by preparing it for the insemination and growth of the Eternal Truth and Counsel from the word of God. In the present, parable (the parable of children sitting in the markets), however, it is not said that the children were standing idle in the markets, but that they were sitting there; because, the term sitting, may be expressed as a state of the will, as the term standing is uniformly applied to express a state of the understanding or thought.

It is further written of these children, that they were calling to their fellows (companions) and saying, we have piped to you, and you have not danced; we have mourned to you, and you have not lamented. It was a serious state of unbelief.

Jesus Christ explains the nature and quality of this kind of truth in his illustration of this parable, where he says. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he has a devil. For John, as a teacher of truth, represented the Holy Word, but then he represented it as to a lower or more external order of truth than what was afterward taught by the Incarnate God (Jesus Christ); on which account he bears this witness concerning himself, I indeed baptize you with water to repentance; but He that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire (Matt. 3:11). For it deserves well to be noted, that the written Word of God contains truth of several orders and degrees, adapted to different minds, and to different states of the same mind, answering to the several instruments in husbandry, by which also those orders and degrees are expressed in the Sacred Records, such as the plough, the harrow, the sickle, the threshing instrument, the fan; all of them useful in their several places, because all of them serviceable for the production of heavenly love, and its incorporation in human minds. John the Baptist was a representative figure of one of these orders of truth, namely, the lowest, or most external, adapted to the state of natural minds, to convince them of sin, and lead them to repentance, but not fitted to communicate any heavenly good with interior truth; on which account it is said of John that he came neither eating nor drinking, to denote that by this order of truth, no interior good of heavenly love, with its attendant truth, could be appropriated. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, opened a new order of interior truth, which, being more closely connected with heavenly love and charity, gained more interior admission into human minds, and communicated to them a measure of the heavenly Spirit in which it originated; on which account it is said of Him, that He came eating and drinking, to denote that both the good and its truth might be incorporated into the life of man.

It is written, that of John they say. He has a devil, and of Jesus Christ they say. Behold a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

These words are another proof how difficult it is to adapt heavenly truth to the general reception of mankind, and how prone men are to frame excuses against admitting it, by vilifying or slandering both it and its teachers. Thus, in the present instance, the apparent severity of the truths taught by John the Baptist, is imputed to a diabolical agency, while the more consolatory and cheering doctrines delivered by the Great Savior Jesus Christ, are reprobated as allowing too many indulgences, and giving too much liberty to offenders against its sanctities. Nevertheless, the Divine remark which closes this parable, that Wisdom is justified of her children, must for ever remain true; because the children of wisdom are all those who are born of wisdom, not according to a figure of speech only, but in the greatest truth and reality, inasmuch as they are born of God, or of what the Apostle calls incorruptible seed, by the word of God which lives and abides for ever (1 Peter 1:23). These children, therefore, are taught by their Divine Parent to see that truth is of several orders and degrees, which may, in general, be distinguished into two, namely, truth of judgment, and truth of comfort, or, to express it otherwise, truth opposed to, and combating, evil, and truth cherishing and communicating good; the former being apparently harsh and severe, thus apparently separated from good, while the latter is soft and consolatory, and thus apparently closer to good. Accordingly, as in the building of a house, there are variety of workmen or craft men, and an equal variety of tools or implements of workmanship employed; so in the building of that most magnificent of all houses, the House of God, or His Church here on earth, a like variety of spiritual artificers are employed, and likewise of spiritual tools and implements of building, agreeably to what is written in the Prophet, So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, and him that smoothes with the hammer him that beat the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering. He fastened it with nails that it should not be moved (Isaiah 41:7). The children of wisdom, therefore, justify their Divine Parent in this application of a variety of tools to effect her own blessed purposes, and especially in her adapting the two distinct dispensations of truth above referred to in this parable of children sitting in the markets, namely, the piping and the mourning; the one figurative of the consolatory doctrine delivered by the Great Redeemer Jesus Christ our Lord; and the other, of the apparently more severe and austere doctrine taught by His forerunner.

In summary this parable taught us, that God applies a variety of instruments to carry out His saving purposes, and that the bible is accordingly stored with a variety of heavenly truths, suited to different persons, and to the same person at different times. We learn, further, that this variety may be distinguished, in general, into two orders of truth and fact; one is attended with the love and joy in which it originates (piping), and which it is calculated to inspire; while the other appears harsh, austere, and, so far from promoting joy, is productive rather of sorrow and severe suffering(mourning). In the Church generally speaking, both these orders of truth are unattended to and rendered ineffectual, but that by the children of wisdom they are seen to be alike profitable, because proceeding from the same divine mercy, and productive of the same divine effects. The children of wisdom seized the opportunity and make use of it and spiritually benefit in it. Let us decide, therefore, to attend carefully to these two distinct orders of truth (piping and mourning), and to keep our ears ever open to their heavenly sound, whether it be that of piping or of mourning, that so, in the one case, we may be found dancing for obedience, and in the other lamenting for disobedience. Thus will each order of truth become a friend and benefactor, while by the piping we receive consolation and support, and by the mourning are led to a more vigorous repentance and sorrow for our sins and unbelief: and thus, finally, may we hope to rank among those pure and obedient ones, of whom it is written, Wisdom is justified of her children.

Prayer: Help us Lord Jesus  to belief in your word and accept your counsel. Open our understanding that we may decide to attend to the two distinct orders of truth in this parable of the children sitting in the markets. Father, give us the strength to accept your counsel. Amen.