fame soon reached Jerusalem, and the Jewish authorities sent a deputation of priests and Levites to him to enquire who he was. He told them that he was not the Messiah, but was sent to introduce him. 66 I come to point him out to Israel." Here was undoubtedly stated the true reason why he was raised up by Divine Providence, to prepare the Jewish mind for the great message from God which they were about to receive, to shape their ideas from the crude mass of traditions which had existed among them into some resemblance to the dispensation that the Messiah was about to establish. "There was a man

sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, that all men through him might believe. He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness of the Light."

The effect of his preaching was precisely what was intended. He produced a strong impression upon the public mind, and though he wrought no miracle, all men held him to be a prophet. He presented a strong contrast, and probably by design, to the pretenders to a divine mission, who appeared about that time. It was on this account that the multitudes which gathered about him created no uneasiness in the public authorities. A man, like John, who clothed himself in the coarsest attire, in a country where the higher classes were studious of ornament, and all who had any pretensions to official dig

nity were distinguished by gorgeous apparel, would naturally escape all suspicion of political ambition. A religious teacher evidently sincere and pious, and withal free from fanaticism and enthusiasm, after the cessation of prophecy for four hundred years, must have produced a great impression. He must have recalled to the minds of his countrymen the days when Elijah in a like simplicity and grave austerity stood up as a prophet of God, and the champion of religion. Some, indeed, mistook him for Elijah risen from the dead, who their traditions affirmed was to come to anoint and inaugurate the Messiah. The almost simultaneous appearance of the Light, and the witness to the Light, without any concert or collusion, was a strong testimony to the divine mission of both. With this argument alone, Jesus silenced on one occasion those who called his claim to be the Messiah in question. "The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or of men? They reasoned among themselves, saying: If we say of heaven, then he will say: Why then did ye not believe him," and of course, believe on him to whom he bare witness? "But if we say of men, the people will stone us, for all counted John as a prophet." It does not appear that John had any particular person in his mind when he commenced his mission, but was merely informed by God who sent him to preach, that the Messiah should be pointed out to him by

some miraculous appearance. He had known him before as a person of great piety and excellence, for when he came to him to be baptized, John says to him, as Matthew tells us, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" But as the Messiah he had no knowledge of him, for he testifies, according to the gospel of John, "I knew him not," that is, as the Messiah, "but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me: Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he that shall baptize with the Holy Ghost."

John collected around him a company of disciples whom he instructed in the things of religion, and many of them seem to have remained with him after he was cast into prison, till he was beheaded by Herod.

We have reason to conclude, I think, that his teaching shadowed forth, though imperfectly, the general system of Christianity. Jesus says of him, "that among them that are born of women, there hath not arisen a greater prophet than John the Baptist." Luke gives us some sketches of his discourses, and they bear a strong resemblance to the opening discourses of Christ. "And the people said unto him; What shall we do then? He answered and saith unto them; He that hath two coats, let him impart unto him that hath none, and he that hath

meat, let him do likewise." "Then came the taxgatherers to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them; exact no more than is appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying: And what shall we do? And he said unto them; Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages."

And

That John preached the essential' doctrines of Christianity would appear from what we read in the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of the Acts. "And a certain Jew, named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquilla and Priscilla had heard they took him unto them, and expounded to him the way of the Lord more perfectly." In the nineteenth chapter; "And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, unto what then

were ye baptized? And they said, unto John's baptism." Now here are two cases, in which those who had heard nothing but the doctrine of John, are said to have been Christians, to have been taught the things of the Lord, and to have been disciples. It follows then, of course, that John the Baptist taught the essential truths of Christianity. The object of the gospels being to record the teaching of Jesus, that of John is passed over in a very cursory manner. But that he taught often and much, as well as prophesied the coming of the Messiah, we have every reason to believe. His disciples, however, mingled some of the old forms with their new doctrines, for they fasted often, an observance which Jesus declared agreed no better with the new religion, than a piece of new cloth with an old garment, or new wine with old bottles.

The mind of John the Baptist furnishes a remarkable example, which we often meet with in the New Testament, of partial divine illumination, the clearest knowledge on some points, and absolute ignorance on others. By the light of inspiration he shadowed forth in few words the nature of the kingdom of heaven, whose approach he foretold, and showed it to be something entirely different from the expectations of the Jews, handed down from remote ages— yet of its details his ideas seem to have been vague, and he appears to have had no certain knowledge