shall we think to avoid His cross and yet share His crown? But "in that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." Therefore "resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Thus we may see the force of those suffrages of the Litany, wherein we call upon the same Lord, saying, "From all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, Good Lord deliver us." XLIX. THE RECORD OF JOHN. St. John i. 19-23. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. The Baptist had already borne witness to Christ before the people. Now he bears a formal and official testimony before the rulers of the people. A deputation of Priests, accompanied by others of the tribe of Levi, to whom the care of religion especially belonged, was sent by the Council at Jerusalem to interrogate him as to his own pretensions. They wished to set the people's minds at rest," and so proceeded to examine him who had disturbed them. Observe the emphatic character of his testimony, "he confessed and denied not." He was a faithful witness. There was no selfseeking in him. He kept nothing back. He spake the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He St. Matt. iii. 11; St. Mark i. 7; St. Luke iii. 15, 16; St. John i. 15. 2 St. Luke iii. 15. stated without reserve both what he was, and what he was not. This the twofold testimony he bare. The Jews, from a too literal interpretation of a passage in the prophet Malachi, expected Elias, that is Elijah, to come to life again, and dwell once more on earth. But though the Baptist came "in the spirit and power" of Elias, yet he came not in the person of Elias. He was indeed “the Elias that was for to come," though not the Elias they expected. Then again from the misunderstanding of a passage in the book Deuteronomy, the Jews expected some particular prophet to arise. In answer to their question, the Baptist told them he was not that prophet. And having stated who and what he was not, he finally informed them who and what he was. him they might see the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy. He was that voice the prophet had foretold; the herald, the harbinger of Christ. 3 In L. THE SAME SUBJECT-continued. St. John i. 24-28. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The Evangelist informs us that those who asked these questions were of the Pharisees, in order to prepare us for what follows. The Pharisees among the Jews were most particular about the washings and purifications of the Law. They themselves were in the habit of baptizing Gentiles who embraced their religion; but they considered that the power St. John iii. 28. 2 Mal. iv. 5. 3 Deut. xviii. 15, 18. of baptizing Jews was one confined to the times of the Messiah; whose forerunners, the prophets, they imagined would be restored to life for that purpose. When therefore the Baptist declared that he was none of these, they expressed surprise that he should do that which, according to their traditions, the prophets alone were to do.' In his reply the Baptist does not enter into their nice distinctions, or attempt to combat their vain traditions. He simply endeavours to draw off their thoughts from himself to the greater than he; to lead them from the servant to the Master, who was even then, little as they might suspect it, standing in their midst. And again he uses that proverbial phrase, which at once showed the vast difference between the two, and marked the humility of the Baptist, in feeling that he was not worthy even to do the most servile office for the Son of God. The Evangelist notes the place where the Baptist bare his testimony." "A word unimportant in appearance is sometimes full of mysteries. John made choice of this place because it was the passage of the Jordan, over which the people about that time began to travel on their way to Jerusalem, to keep the Feast of the Passover. It was likewise by that very place that Joshua led the people of God into the promised land, by a second miraculous passage through the midst of the water; which was a sort of second Baptism, followed soon after by the second Circumcision, and the second Passover. It was, lastly, the place where the Manna ceased. And all this prefigured that which Jesus Christ came to perform in truth and reality, by washing His people from their sins, in order to put them in possession of heaven; where the perfect adoption is completed, where all types and figures cease, and where He Himself is the true Lamb and the eternal Passover." 3 1 See Wall, Hist. of Inft. Bapt. v. i. pp. 24, 43, 44. 2 Contrary to the idea of Chrysostom (in S. Jo. Hom. xvii.) Bethany, the common reading of his day, would seem to be more correct than the com mon reading of our day, Bethabara. LI. FURTHER TESTIMONY OF THE BAPTIST. St. John i. 29-31. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. The day after the Baptist had borne witness to Christ before the Rulers of the people, he bears another public testimony to Him. Jesus, returning probably from this temptation in the wilderness, comes to visit John; and John, as he sees Him in the distance, points Him out to those around in memorable words. Now the Passover-that yearly Festival among the Jews, in which a Lamb was solemnly slain in remembrance of their rescue out of Egypt, and in type of Him who should in the ages after effect a greater deliverance -was nigh at hand. The Baptist therefore thus directed his hearers to Him whom that Festival foreshadowed; directed them to the Lamb, the Lamb of God; the Lamb whom God, as Abraham had said,' would provide Himself, even His only begotten Son. Among the Jews too, daily, both morning and evening, a lamb was offered upon the altar of God. So that the idea of a sacrificial lamb was familiar enough to his hearers; and the Baptist, moved by the Holy Ghost, applied the figure to Him who was about to fulfil it. He called Christ "the Lamb," for His precious blood was to be shed, as the blood of a lamb without blemish and without spot was shed in their sacrifices, that the sins of those which believe in Him might be pardoned and put away. The Lamb of God, so the Baptist intimated, should take away, not the sins of the Jews alone, by whom those sacrifices of the Law were offered, but of the Gentiles also; of all who St. John ii. 13. 2 Gen. xxii. 8. 31 St. Pet. i. 19. n all the world believe in Him.' This encourages our faith. For "if Christ takes away the sins of the world, then why not my sins?" But the Baptist not only bears this testimony to Christ, and confirms his former testimony 3 (to which he here appeals), but he declares also how he obtained this knowledge, even by revelation from heaven. John knew Jesus, but the Baptist knew not yet Christ. But when after His Baptism (recorded by the other Evangelists) John saw the Spirit descending from heaven as a dove and remaining upon Jesus (which was the promised sign), he at once recognised and acknowledged Him as the Messiah, the giver of the Holy Ghost, the Son of God. LII. THE SAME SUBJECT-continued. St. John i, 32-34. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: 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 which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. The Spirit not only descended upon Christ, but remained upon Him; for He was to baptize with the Holy Ghost; a baptism of everlasting efficacy, and not as John's, which he himself confessed was only for a time. So, to apply this thought, let us take heed that we be not of the number of those upon whom the Spirit only descends, but does not abide. The Spirit in Christian Baptism descends upon us all; and the Scripture saith, "Quench not the Spirit." For by 11 St. John ii. 2. 2 Henry. 3 St. John i. 15. 4 Is. xi. 2. 5 With vv. 31, 33 compare ch iii. 5. |