Messiah.* During the intervening period, the spirit of prophecy was withdrawn from the Jews. At length a man, bearing the aspect of their ancient prophets, clothed with camel's hair, and girt about the loins with a leathern girdle, appeared in the wilderness of Judea. There he lifted up his "voice," and proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand. The time of this appearance of John the Baptist is fixed by Luke in the most precise manner: Luke, iii. 1, 2, "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness."

Partly owing to the general expectation of the Messiah which then prevailed, and partly, as it would appear, in consequence of the miraculous circumstances connected with his birth, the Jews were attracted in multitudes to the ministry of John. The rulers also sent priests and Levites to enquire who he was. He answered that he was not the Messiah, but "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah." In the most solemn manner he warned all who came to him to repent, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and to trust no longer to their descent from Abraham. To those who enquired, he gave particular directions for their conduct, corresponding to the spirit of the new

*The Christian era was intended to be reckoned from the birth of Christ; but owing to a mistake when it was brought into use in the sixth century, it commences four years posterior to that event.

Mul

dispensation which was about to be introduced. titudes were baptized by him, confessing their sins. He informed them that he baptized with water, but that one was to come after him whose shoe's latchet he was not worthy to unloose, who would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

Jesus Christ now came forward and desired to be baptized. "But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him; and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." John testified of him, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!"-"I saw," said he, "and bare record that this is the Son of God."

The end of the mission of John the Baptist was now attained. According to the predictions of the prophets concerning him, he had prepared the way for the Messiah, by proclaiming in the wilderness that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and had pointed him out as "the Messenger of the covenant." Another part of those prophecies respecting John was now to be fulfilled. The transient nature of his service had been intimated, by representing it as "a voice," which is no sooner uttered than it is gone. His appearance was sudden and unexpected; his departure was equally rapid. Having reproved Herod for taking Herodias, Herod's brother's wife, he was seized, bound, and imprisoned, and soon afterwards beheaded. Like the

bright meteor which shoots athwart the gloom of night, he came when darkness brooded over Judea, but he did not disappear till he had summoned the inhabitants of the land to arise and behold their God.

Before his death, upon hearing of the works of Christ, and that he had sent out twelve of his disciples to proclaim the approach of his kingdom, John appears to have been dissatisfied, that he who had so boldly and successfully testified of him should be set aside, while others were employed in his service. Although he had seen the Spirit of God descending upon Jesus Christ, and had heard a voice from Heaven proclaiming, "This is my beloved Son," he sent to him two of his disciples with the following message: "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?"-" Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again these things which ye do hear and see the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them." The facts to which Jesus Christ thus referred in his answer to John, were the literal fulfilment of the prophecies concerning the Messiah: they also demonstrated that the power of God resided in him who performed them, while they verified the description given by the prophets of his reign, which was to be distinguished by condescension, sympathy, and gracious compassion. Messiah was "to bind up the broken-hearted, and to comfort all that mourn." He was also anointed to

preach the Gospel to the poor. "The poor among men," said the prophet, " shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." These things were sufficient for the satisfaction of John; and as the message he had sent conveyed an indirect imputation of blame for neglecting

him, Jesus answered it in the same manner by an indirect reproof. "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." Thus John was warned to be on his guard, and to recollect his own inferiority to him concerning whom he had testified, and who had a right to dispose of his servants as he thought most fitting.

After the departure of John's messengers, Jesus pronounced a most honourable testimony concerning him, and declared, that, as filling the office of that messenger who had prepared the way before him, John was more than a prophet: "Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.” John was more highly honoured than any who had gone before him, inasmuch as he was more immediately employed in preparing the way of Jesus Christ, and as he actually pointed him out personally as the Messiah. Still, like the ancient prophets, who searched what the Spirit which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, he could only darkly contemplate what was yet unfulfilled. But the least disciple of Jesus, after his resurrection, since his kingdom has been set up, has a clearer understanding, and is able to give a fuller testimony concerning the character, the work, the life, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension to glory of the Son of God, and the nature and progress of his kingdom, than even John himself: "Blessed are the eyes," said Jesus to his disciples, "which see the things that ye see; for I tell you, That many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to

hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."

The early removal of John from his public service, while it was a fulfilment of the prophecies concerning him, cut off every appearance of previous concert. His continued acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah, even when thus treated with apparent neglect, still more strikingly confirmed his former testimony, than if, being appointed one of the apostles, he had been honoured by the notice and confidence of the Lord, in an active and official situation. It was besides a practical lesson, at the very beginning of their service, of what Jesus Christ so often inculcated on his disciples concerning the treatment they were to expect as his followers.

No human pen, in forming a fictitious character, would have given a history like that of the Baptist by the Evangelists. He is represented as a very high personage, the greatest of the prophets, and the harbinger of the Messiah. In such a character, where would human wisdom have placed his seat among the attendants of Jesus? Doubtless it would have seated him on the right hand of the Saviour, and made him the most distinguished among the disciples. But instead of this, he has no familiar intercourse with his Master, is treated with apparent neglect, so as to be himself stumbled, and is removed from the scene of action at the very moment that human wisdom would have called him to the performance of the greatest services. While the simplicity of his history suits the predictions with respect to him, it is very far from corresponding with the natural anticipations of the mind that contemplates the purpose of his mission. Had his character been the invention of forgery, we