gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. 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. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come. St. Matthew xi. 2, &c.; St. Luke vii. 20, &c.

All the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. And the Lord said, John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.—St. Luke vii. 29, &c.

And the disciples of John used to fast: and they come and say unto Him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, but Thine eat and drink?—St. Mark ii. 18; St. Luke v. 33.

When Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he com

manded it to be given her. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.-St. Matthew xiv. 6, &c.

Jesus said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. The disciples understood that He spake unto them of John the Baptist.-St. Matthew xvii. 11, &c.

Many resorted unto Him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this Man were true.— St. John x. 41.

BIOGRAPHICAL ADDITIONS.

RADITION and profane history hand down some interesting details supplementary to the sacred outline of the Gospel. The Jewish Rabbins suppose St. John Baptist's birth to have taken place at Hebron: by others it is assigned to Jutta, a city of Judah. His name of John, imposed by the direct command of God, conveys "grace," or "favour," or "mercy" to Hebrew ears. A legend recounts how to deliver him from slaughter among the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, his mother fled with him into the desert; Zacharias refusing an answer to Herod's jealous questionings was slain; and after the holy Elisabeth's death St. John, being thus forsaken of father and mother, was in very truth, and as the word of promise ensures, taken up by the Lord, Who appointed Angels to be his guardians.

The desert of his residence, wild as it was and mountainous, was yet no region of utter barrenness; but afforded, as the inspired narrative implies, some degree of nourishment. The locust of St. John's austere diet has been conjectured by some persons to be not the devastating insect so named, but a vegetable seed-pod; and neither interpretation seems to violate the requirements of the Mosaic Law or the customs of the country. His raiment of camel's hair is considered identical with the sackcloth of mourners and of the elder prophets.

St. John's preaching stirred up the southern region of Palestine, and resulted in thousands submitting to his baptism of repentance. Among all those multitudes of avowed sinners who flocked to him, we know not that he mistrusted any save Pharisees and Sadducees. Now Pharisee, as some explain the word, signifies "separated," and Sadducee "just." Thus out of their own mouths do these stand condemned: for the Pharisee whose spirit one text sums up, "I am holier than thou," did in very deed separate himself, but it was from Abraham and from the Seed and Saviour of Abraham; while the Sadducee, setting up for himself a standard of righteousness, submitted not unto the righteousness of God. Instead of a blessing, these men challenged a curse; being a generation of vipers, less acceptable than stones.

Something not specified underlies two of St. John's declarations, as becomes obvious when we place them side by side:-"I have need to be baptized of Thee,”– "I knew Him not.”

How then knew he not Him, whilst yet he felt his need

.

of baptism at His hands? For the Divine clue to the Person of the Messiah, that descent of the Dove to which the Baptist himself appeals, seems evidently not to have been vouchsafed until the moment of our Lord's own consummated baptism. One commentator suggests that it pleased Jesus with His own lips to state to St. John the fact of His being the Messiah, and that on this assurance the Baptist humbled himself. But a dear friend, to whom my book and I owe much, has started on the same subject a second and, I think, not less edifying train of thought. It is definitely stated of St. John's penitents that they confessed their sins: our all-perfect Saviour had no sins to confess He therefore even to the natural apprehension of His imperfect saint, must have stood alone, on heights of sanctity which the Baptist himself could not scale. And as afterwards our Lord's foremost follower was moved by a manifestation of superhuman power to fall down, saying, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord:" so now His forerunner, abashed at the radiance of incarnate Innocence, pleaded, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?”

Collating uninspired with inspired history, we notice that Josephus assigns a second but not discrepant motive for Herod's imprisonment of St. John Baptist. The Jewish chronicler traces that evil act to the monarch's jealousy of St. John's apparently unlimited popular influence. If so, one sin played into the hands of another: until he who had heard preaching gladly and done many things after the commandment, made himself twofold more the child of hell than he had been before the mes

The castle and prison

sage of God sounded in his ears. of Macharus where Herod Antipas immured St. John, was a palace stronghold built by Herod the Great on the Arabian frontier of his dominions. Here, as seems probable, while marching against Aretas king of Arabia Petræa in prosecution of a quarrel bred of the infamous connection between the brother and sister-in-law, Herod about the time of the Passover held his birthday feast ; here the daughter of Herodias dancing before him pleased him; and here a shameless Jezebel did to the second Elias whatsoever she listed. Nor was this blood-shedding an offence wrought against God only, Who beareth long and keepeth silence: as is alleged, it outraged no less the custom of Rome, which claimed such high festivals as seasons of pardon and grace, not of condemnation or death. And among certain of the Jews an opinion gained credence that the subsequent destruction of Herod's army came to pass as God's judgment upon this very crime, whereby Herod slew a good man and a preacher of righteous

ness.

They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before My face. They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.-Hosea vii. 2, &c.

Under many aspects solitary, St. John Baptist stands