all, that he might have a name written in heaven, and a treasure there, where neither moth nor rust can corrupt. Precious is the memory of the Saint of this day, a faithful witness and martyr of Jesus Christ. O LORD God Almighty, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, under Christ the head corner stone; and didst endue thy holy Apostle Barnabas with singular gifts of the Holy Ghost; leave us not destitute, we humbly beseech thee, of thy manifold gifts and talents, nor yet of grace to make a right use of them always, to thy honour and glory, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen. CHAPTER XXXVIII. St. John Baptist's Day, June 24. A FESTIVAL. Q. WHAT do you remark concerning the Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel for the day? A. The Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel for the day, record the prophecies concerning John Baptist, and the circumstances of his birth, his life and death. Q. Were there not some remarkable circumstances. attending the birth of St. John Baptist? A. His birth was foretold by an angel, when his mother Elizabeth was barren, and both his parents "well stricken in years." And his father Zacharias had the assurance of his birth confirmed to him by a miraculous dumbness. His birth was the occasion of great joy to all who expected the Messiah, of whom John was to be the forerunner.(q) Luke i. 7, &c. Q. What was foretold of him by the angel? A. The angel foretold that he should be great in the sight of the Lord, and should neither drink wine nor strong drink; that "he should be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb; that he should convert many of the Jews, and prepare the way of the Lord; and, consequently, that he should be the forerunner of the Saviour, and the greatest of all the prophets.(r) Q. How did St. John execute the office of the forerunner of our Saviour? A. His whole ministry tended to prepare the way for the reception of our Saviour and his doctrines. He was eminently qualified for his ministry, by adding to the grace of his birth extraordinary innocence of life, which he preserved by withdrawing from all the temptations to sin, and by a strict and severe course of mortification and self-denial. In executing his ministry, he proclaimed to the Jews the approach of the Messiah; that he whom they had so long expected was nigh at hand, and that his kingdom was ready to appear; and that therefore they should, by breaking off their sins by sincere repentance and reformation of life, prepare themselves to receive the glad tidings of the gospel.(s) Q. Was not the coming and the office of St. John Baptist foretold by the prophets? A. Isaiah calls him " the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make straight in the desert a highway for our God."() Malachi styles him, "The messenger that was to prepare the way of the Lord."() And also describes him under the character of Elijah the prophet, who was to "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.”(u) Q. But did not St. John the Baptist deny that he was Elias, who was to come? (w) A. When John the Baptist, in reply to the inquiries of the rulers of the Jews, who generally believed that Elias was to come again in his own person, denied that he was Elias, he only meant to declare that he was not that same Elias who had lived in the time of King Ahab. His afterwards declaring(x) that he was "the voice of one crying in the wilderness," &c. as foretold by the prophet Ezaias, proved that he was the Elias spoken of by Malachi, to whom the prophecy in Isaiah is acknowledged to have referred. (y) St. John the Baptist, therefore, though not Elias in person, came in "the spirit and power of Elias," (z) whom he resembled in character and in office. The business of both was to promote a general reformation of manners. They were both eminent prophets, superior to those of the same character in their own age. They were both of singular abstinence and austerity, retired from the world, and distinguished from the fashions of it by a particular habit. They were both courageous and zealous in opposing the prevailing sins of their own times, though the great and powerful were the supporters of them. (a) Q. What was St. John's manner of living till he entered upon his office? A. After he had providentially escaped the cruel designs of Herod, who sought to kill him, he retired early into the deserts, where he led a solitary and mortified life; his habit was a "rough garment made of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle;" his food were "locusts and wild honey,"(b) Locusts were a common food in the east, and the wild honey was such as the bees had stored up in hollow trees or caverns, and which was often found in the woods. w John i. 21. y Mark i. 1, 2, &c. a 1 Kings xvii. 1. Matt. xi. 11. 1 Kings xvii. i. 8. Luke i. 80, Matt. iii. 4. 1 Kings xviii. * John i. 23. z Luke i. 17. 4, 16. xix. 6, 7, 8. 2 Kings Matt. iii. 4. Q. What character did our Saviour give of St. John Baptist? A. Our Saviour testified that "of them who are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist;" and that he "came neither eating nor drinking;"(c) implying that his way of living was more than ordinarily rigorous and austere. Q. Wherein did St. John the Baptist exceed those prophets who went before him? A. St. John the Baptist exceeded the rest of the prophets in the excellency of his office; which was. to fit and prepare the minds of the people for the immediate reception of Christ and his doctrine, both which were attested by St. John in a plainer manner than by any of the old prophets. (d) He was honoured also with more signal revelations; and his doctrine attended with greater success and efficacy, almost the whole nation coming to his baptism, confessing their sins. (e) Q. How was St. John the Baptist called to his office? A. "The word of God came to him;"(f) which phrase, as used in the scriptures, implies the communication of the prophetic spirit to those who were to be extraordinary preachers to the people. The spirit of prophecy, which ceased among the Jews since the death of Malachi, was now revived in John the Baptist, and was to be continued by the great prophet Jesus Christ and his Apostles. Q. What was the success of St. John's ministry? A. The resolute preaching of St. John, together with the severity of his life, drew to him many hearers from Jerusalem and Judea, and from the region round about Jordan; (g) and great was the number of his proselytes whom he baptized. In his preaching he resolutely condemned the views of all ranks and orders of men, and pressed upon them the duties of their particular stations and relations. (h) Matt. xi. 11. g Matt. ii. 5, 6. d John i. 7, 29, 32, 33. h Luke iii. 7, &C. Q. Why was St. John called the Baptist? A. St. John was called the Baptist, because by baptism he imposed on his converts the obligations to repentance; and because he enjoyed the distin guished honour of baptising the Saviour. Q. Why was the baptism of St. John styled the bap tism of repentance? A. The baptism of St. John was called the baptism of repentance, because he was the first who used baptism to denote and to enforce repentance; which was the principal qualification required of those who became his disciples, and which was necessary to dispose them to receive our Saviour, and to entitle them to that pardon of sin which the Gospel brought along with it. 2 Q. How did St. John bear testimony of our Saviour? A. St. John ingenuously declared to the Jews who supposed him to be the promised Messiah, that he was not the Christ, but that there was one to come after him," the latchet of whose shoes he was not worthy to unloose." (i) St. John was eminently qualified to bear testimony to our Saviour, for God had revealed to him, in a miraculous manner, that Jesus was the Son of God.(j) Q. What then lead St. John to send two of his disciples to inquire, Whether our Saviour was he that should come, or whether they should look for another? (k) A. The disciples of St. John believed him to be a prophet sent from God; and they could not therefore bear his testimony of Christ, because it set him above their master. That they cherished this jealousy of Christ, is evident from the complaint which they made," He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold the same baptizeth, and all men come to him."(1) St. John, therefore, who could have no doubt in his own mind, sent his disciples to inquire of the Saviour, whether he was the Christ, in order that they might be satisfied Luke iii. 16. j John i. 31, 32, &c. * Matt. xi, 2, 3. 7. John iii. 26, |