He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, "You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
This was addressed to the insincere, those who were willing to submit to a rite, but whose lives bore no fruit of repentance.  Farrar is credited with the statement that "Only teachers of transcendent holiness, immediately inspired by God with fervency and insight, may dare to use such language."