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ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Beheaded Anno Domini 31.

IT is well known that just before the dawn of day the darkness is at its greatest pitch, and the air much colder than at any other time. In this state the morning star "sheds his beams" with peculiar lustre, and appears to call slumbering mortals to welcome the approach of day. But there are few who heed the invitation, or can bring themselves to renounce their downy luxury for the fragrant incense of the morning. A deeper torpidity then seizes the faculties, and it requires a strong degree of resolution to get the better of the pleasing lassitude.

Such was the moral condition of the world, when the day of human redemption was about to break, and the "sun of righteousness to arise with healing in his wings."

In the Jewish church there was a deadness to spiritual objects; gross darkness was spread over all its services; priests and people, generally speaking, were insensible to the life of religion, had unworthy notions of God's word, and were, moreover, sunk into Sadducean infidelity, or Pharisaic superstition.

In that dark and insensible state did the harbinger of the day of grace arise, and call a sleeping world to repentance, and to a due reception of him who was to disperse the clouds of doubt and error, and to bring life and immortality to light."

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There were, however, some, even in that gloomy state, who waited for the consolation of Israel; among whom were Zacharias and Elizabeth. He was a priest of the course of Abia;" she was "of the daughters of Aaron," and "they were both righteous before God, walking in all the command

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ments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Luke i. I, 2.

These religious Israelites, it is observed, "had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well stricken in years." They "who stand highest in the favour of God," says an admirable writer," may, during the greatest part of their lives, want the external and visible marks of it, and lie under the burthen of reproach among men," as was the case of childless women in Judea. But these two pious persons, when their condition seemed desperate, were upon the eve of felicity. For of parents at their time of life John was to be born, that so the miraculous manner of his birth might excite the attention of mankind, and dispose them to listen to his voice when it should be heard in the wilderness; and also that it might prepare them for that great event which was taking place, as the prophet Isaiah had foretold, "A virgin shall conceive and bear a son."*

As Zacharias was officiating in the temple, "in the order of his course, and according to the custom," a heavenly messenger stood before him, whose appearance filled him with terror.

These heavenly messengers came on purposes of love, without assuming any of those appearances calculated to excite terror and dismay in the beholder. What then will it be when they shall descend to execute Divine vengeance upon the guilty? Who will stand undaunted when the flaming ministers of wrath shall call mankind before the tribunal of GOD, and execute his sentence upon the workers of evil? If the most pious souls have been seized with fear when favoured with a heavenly vision, let us tremble in the consideration that the angels are constantly around us, observing all the actions we commit, and recording all the words that we utter.

There is something awful in the contemplation of

• Bishop Horne on the Life and Death of John the Baptist.

the celestial world, and of those pure spirits who minister before the throne of God; but what must it be to hold communion with them, especially in this state of weakness and imperfection? Eliphaz in Job, when describing an apparition which came on purpose to correct his notions of Providence, tells us what an impression it had upon him; fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face: and the hair of my flesh stood up."

When the angel saw the agitation which his appearance had occasioned in the mind of Zacharias, he bade him not to "fear," for that he was come to declare to him the Divine favour, and to promise him a son by his wife Elizabeth, whom he should call JOHN, and who should go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke i. 17.

Zacharias, though a descendant of Abraham, had not Abraham's faith. The patriarch believed the promise, "though against hope;" but this good priest staggered at the declaration made by an angel at the altar of God, and had the temerity to ask for a sign by which he should know whether it would come to pass, "seeing he was an old man, and his wife well stricken in years." His demand, indeed, was com plied with; but it was as a punishment for his unbe lief. He was struck speechless, and in that state he remained until the day that the promised child was circumcised, at which ceremony the tongue, which had been so long silent, was loosened; and Zacharias, filled with the Holy Ghost, delivered a sublime hymn, in which he celebrated the praises of God for "remembering his holy covenant." After describing the blessings to attend the coming of the Messiah, the transported father thus addressed his infant son---" And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of R

the Lord, to prepare his ways, to give knowledge o salvation unto his people for the remission of their sins."

Of the early part of the Baptist's 'life, we have scarcely any information. It is only observed, "that he grew and waxed strong in the spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.”

Though consecrated from the womb to the ministerial office, John did not enter upon it in the heat o. youth, but after several years spent in solitude, and a course of self-denial. He had gained the conquest of his own passions, and was mortified to the temptations of the world, before he went forth to preach repentance to others. Divine knowledge is not to be acquired in the busy scenes of life, amidst the noise of folly, the clamour of parties, the confusion of opinions, and the allurements of vice. In the world we may learn much of what is generally admired; but if we would gain spiritual wisdom, obtain the mastery of our passions, and an habitual love of holiness, we must, at least occasionally, retire from the world, to commune with our own hearts and be still."

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Various and striking are the prophetical descriptions of the Baptist in the Old Testament. That by Isaiah is direct: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high way for our God." (xl. 3.) The voice which was thus sounded in the prophet's ears before it was really heard upon the earth, was that of the Baptist, who, at a proper season, was sent to dispose the hearts of men for the reception of the Saviour.

Malachi has the following prediction: "Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.' Ch. iv. 5. That this was meant of the Baptist, we have the tes

timony of our Lord himself, who declared "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias who was to come." Matt. xi. 14.

The Jews fell into a strange error from a misconstruction of this prophecy, by conceiving that the real Elijah should descend from heaven before the advent of the Messiah. But it is common, in prophetic language, to compare one person with another, by giving him the same name; so John was called Elijah, because he was to be like that great prophet "in spirit and power.”

When he was thoroughly prepared, John received his commission to enter the busy world, and call sinners to repentance. He was then thirty years old, which was also the age of our Saviour when he entered upon his office. This may intimate, that neither the exigencies of mankind, nor a consciousness of abilities for the work, can be pleaded as a sufficient warrant for a man to run before he is sent, and take the sacred office upon himself without a regular and lawful call.

The appearance and the manners of the Baptist, when he first came out into the world, excited general attention.

His clothing was mean, "being of camel's harr, bound round him with a leathern girdle, and his food consisted of locusts and wild honey." Matthew iii. 4. We are not to infer from hence that the ministers of religion are to imitate John in the rigid austerity of his life, any more than in the solitary state which preceded it. The Messiah himself did not follow his example; nor has he left any injunction upon his followers to separate themselves from the world, or to abstain from its enjoyments. Yet the conduct of John affords an admirable lesson, teaching us that no man can be a useful preacher whose own life does not comport with the doctrine which he delivers, and the prewhich he inculcates.

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