Now his parents went yearly to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they having gone up to Jerusalem, according to the custom of the festival, and remained the usual time, were on their return, but the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and his parents knew not; yet supposing him to be in the company, they went a day's journey, seeking him among their relations and acquaintance: but not finding him, they returned to look for him at Jerusalem. And after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the Teachers, both hearing them and asking questions. And all who heard him were astonished, but they who saw him were greatly amazed at his understanding and answers. But his mother said to him: Son why hast thou done so with us? Behold thy father and I have been seeking thee with sorrow. Then he said to them: Why did ye seek me? Did ye not know, that I ought to be at my Father's? But they did not comprehend his meaning. Then he returned with them to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but his mother retained all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.

SECTION THIRD.

THE PREACHING OF THE BAPTIST.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. There came a man, sent from the presence of God, whose name was John. The same came as a witness that he might bear testimony concerning the Light, that all through him might believe: he was not the Light, but came to bear witness concerning the Light.

In the fifteenth year* of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the province of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being high priests, the word of God came to John, the son of Zachariah, in the wilderness.† Now this same

* This must have been the fifteenth year of Tiberius' sole empire, reckoned from the death of Augustus, which began Aug. 20th, year of Rome 781, of the Julian era 73, of the vulgar Christian era 28, and of the true A. D. 30. Against this date, all the subtilty of objectors, has been unable to adduce a single solid argument.

† The desert, in which John preached, lay along both sides of the Jordan, and was not a barren wilderness. According to Lightfoot, he first taught near Hebron, but afterwards removed towards Jordan, probably near Jericho, a tract of country called desert, but having

John wore raiment of camel's hair, with a leathern girdle about his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.* And he went into all the country about the Jordan, publishing a baptism of proselytism, for remission of sins: saying, Change your minds, for the reign of heaven draws nigh. As it is written in the book of the sayings of Isaiah the Prophet:

in it several large cities, of which six are mentioned in Joshua xv. 61, 62. Jericho itself contained twelve thousand men, of the courses of the priests; and the road from Jerusalem to that city, and to Pe rea, especially near the time of the Passover, was frequented by great multitudes, about which time John began his ministry. The country was very convenient for food, and its vallies abounded in palm-trees, which yield much wild honey. Hence John could have a plentiful supply either from the trees or rocks.

In imitation of Elijah, whom he represented, he wore a garment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle. 2 Kings i. 8, and Mal. iv. 5. The Jews used to wear hair or coarse garments, in times of humiliation, as did also the Nazarites, till they had fulfilled their vow, and it was also worn by the prophets when they preached repentance. See Matt. vii. 15, and xi. 21; Zech. xiii. 4; Is. xxii. 12; Jer.iv.8; Jonah iii. 5, 8; Dan. ix. 3; Rev. xi. 3. Harmer informs us, that clothing of camel's hair is common in that country till the present time; that Locusts are commonly eaten in the East, and allowed to be eaten by the Jewish law; Levit. xi. 22. Honey is plentiful in Palestine; deposited in holes of rocks, by wild bees; it also exudes from the leaves of trees, and appears on them as dew: hence, Jonathan could collect it with the point of his rod. 1 Sam. xiv. 26-29. Chardin also says the Dervises in the East, wear garments of the hair of camels, and great leathern girdles, and sometimes feed on locusts, which, says Dr. Shaw, appear in great abundance from the end of March, till July; and when sprinkled with salt, and fried, taste like cray-fish. It was therefore on the insect, John fed, and not on the plant locust.

The reign or kingdom of heaven and of God, imply the same thing. God and Heaven are convertible terms, in the style of the Hebrews. Accordingly, Matthew, who wrote for the Jews, uses the phrase kingdom of Heaven; but Mark and Luke who wrote for the Gentiles, say the kingdom of God. The reign of heaven is that spiritual dominion of the Messiah over the minds and affections of man, and the kingdom of heaven frequently implies, the Christian church, whose members are the professed subjects of Christ, and are therefore represented as constituting that Kingdom described by Daniel ii. 4, vii. 13. But by a usual figure of speech, the effect of the reign of heaven in man, is put for the cause; Rom. xiv. 17, and righteousness, joy, and peace, constitute that kingdom, which the unregenerate and

A voice of a cryer* in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be levelled; that which is crooked will become straight, the rough ways smooth; and all mankind will behold the salvation of God.

Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the country about the Jordan, resorted to him, and were baptized by him, in the Jordan,† confessing their sins. But seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said unto them: Offspring of vipers, who has privately warned you to flee from approaching vengeance?‡ Bear fruit then

wicked can neither see, nor inherit; John iii. 3; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10;, Gal. v. 19, 22.

O what a blessed example has the Baptist left to all the ministers of Christ's church. Well aware that the carnal mind is enmity to God, and that man never can become a fit subject of heaven's reign, till his mind and soul are renewed after the image of the Creator, the first great lesson of Christian instruction, on which he seemed to dwell, was a change of mind. Reader, this great work is not of man, but of God. If thou hast not experienced this heavenly and divine change, cry to God to grant you his holy Spirit; and if you walk in the light of his countenance, let the constant, fervent prayer of your heart be, "take not from me thy Holy Spirit."

*The allusion is here made to the practice of Eastern monarchs, who, when they set out on an expedition through deserts or rough countries, sent messengers before them to level or prepare their way. Judea was the desert through which our Lord would pass, and John was sent forth as his harbinger, to remove the obstructions which might impede the march of the Gospel, arising from the prejudices, passions, or views of mankind.

The Jordan, says Shaw, is by far the largest river, except the Nile, which I have seen in Barbary, or the Levant. It is about 30 yards wide, and three or four deep, and so rapid as to discharge daily into the dead sea, above 6,000,000 tuns of water. Opposite Jericho was Bethabara, or the house of passage; so called, either because it was the place where the Israelites passed, or where the common ferry was kept, for passage to and from Judea.

The approaching vengeance or wrath to come, was the destruction of the Jewish nation by the Romans, which took place about forty years after the preaching of John and Jesus. The axe being laid to the root of the trees, intimated that the Jews had now their last warning; and if they did not reform, they should be as effectually de

suitable to a change of mind, and begin not to say within yourselves: We have Abraham for father; for I assure you, God is able, out of these stones, to raise up children to Abraham.* And even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees, every tree, therefore, which yields not good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into fire. And the multitude asked him, What shall we do then? He answered: Let him that hath two coats give to him that has none, and let him that has food do likewise. Then came also Tax-collectors to be baptized, and said to him, Teacher, what will we do? and he said to them: Exact no more than what is appointed you. Then Soldiers also asked him: What shall we do? and he said to them: Injure no man either by violence or false accusation, and be content with your allowance.

Now while the people were in expectation, and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether he were the Christ, John answered them all, saying: I indeed baptize you with water, but one more mighty than I, is coming, whose shoe-latchet I am unworthy to loose; he will baptize you with a holy wind and fire: his fan is in his hand, and he will tho

stroyed, as trees when cut down and cast into the fire; thereby implying the most severe disciplinary sufferings to which they could be exposed.

*The Jews depend greatly on the advantages arising from being children of Abraham. Munster quotes a passage from the Talmud, in which it is said, that Abraham sits at the gate of Hell, and suffers none of his descendants to enter. Many depend on similar claims to the divine favour, and suppose that parentage, orthodox principles, external forms of worship, or virtuous and benevolent dispositions, will entitle them to a place in the kingdom of the Messiah: but all these will fail, and prove deceptive in the day of trial. Nothing but a renovation of soul, by the divine energies of a redeeming God, restoring the impress of the divine image, can make man a fit recipient of salvation and Heaven. By God being able to raise up children to Abraham, John intimates the call of the Gentiles, and their admittance to the privileges of the Abrahamic covenant, through the faith of Jesus, as is also intimated by Paul when he makes exception, saying: In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Rom, ix. 7.

roughly cleanse his grain; he will gather the wheat into his granary, but the straw he will consume with unquenchable fire.*

* All the ancients believed in purification by water, wind, and fire. John baptized with water to repentance: Jesus manifested the interposition of the Spirit, to save that nation; and when both means failed, the severest dispensation by fire was employed, which consumed them root and branch. Thus often God deals with men. He tries them by the outward ceremonies and calls of a religious worship, he employs the allurements of his blessed spirit upon their minds, and if they do not remember and turn to the Lord, he chastises them with the rod of his anger. I have followed Schleusner in the use of the word straw instead of chaff; for the Jews were accustomed to cut up straw and burn it to cook meat, or heat ovens ; Mal. iv. 1. The separating the grain, and gathering it into the granary, implied that believers in Jesus, or the elect, should not be involved in at awful aud impending calamity. See this subject largely discussed in my "Systematical Theology," Lecture 14.

SECTION FOURTH.

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS CHRIST.

Now when all the people were receiving Baptism,* Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee to the Jordan, to be baptized by John. But John earnestly forbade

*As there seems to be a growing indifference to the outward forms of Religion, it may be proper to say somewhat of its public institutions in appropriate places where the sacred writers have particularly introduced them to notice. If Baptism were no more than a mere rite of the Jewish nation, how cane it to occupy so much public attention at the introduction of the new dispensation, which, in the opinion of some, was intended to abolish the ceremonial forms of the ancient worship? We cannot suppose another answer, than that it then obtained the sanction of the great founder of the Christian system; the tendency of whose religion it was eminently calculated to represent.

The origin of Baptism may be traced to the foundation of a visible church of God upon earth, and was in all probability used at all times, from the establishment of the covenant with Abraham, down to the present time, for the same end and purpose, and to communicate the