to reform the state by returning to a strict allegiance to the principles of ancient Judaism. Jesus compared him to one who endeavored to mend an old garment by patching it with new cloth.* He did not perceive that the Mosaic institutions had fulfilled their purpose, and that the world needed new raiment. He prepared the way for the Gospel by unconsciously demonstrating the inefficacy of the law.

Standing aloof from the elaborate ritualism of his day, he employed one single and simple ceremony, which the Christian Church, borrowing from him, has continued to the present time. Those that signified their sorrow for sin and their purpose of reformation, he baptized in the River Jordan. Whether he dipped them in the water, or, descending with them into the stream, poured it upon their head, is a question which to the present day divides the most learned scholars of the Church into two theological parties.

Whichever form he used, the signification was the samepurification from the past, and consecration of the life for the future. This symbol was already in universal use in Oriental countries. Ablution was customary not only in Palestine, but in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as a preparation for prayer, and a token of expiation for sin. But it possessed a peculiar significance in Palestine, where every Gentile who entered the Jewish Church was baptized as a sign that he was washed of his past sins and errors, and entered, cleansed, a new life. John did not, therefore, invent the rite which has given him his name of the Baptist. He only employed it. And Christ, finding it already thus employed, and its significance understood, adopted it as the symbol of separation from the world and consecration unto him.

But first he signalized his adoption of the rite by being himself baptized.

It was winter. The early wheat was just beginning to clothe the earth with green when rumors of John's preaching reached the ears of Jesus in Nazareth. He accepted the * Matt. ix., 14–17. Ellicott's Life of Christ, p. 107, note 2.

fact as a sign that the time for his public ministry had come. He joined himself to the people that were already flocking in crowds to the River Jordan. He listened, unnoticed and unknown, to the preaching of his herald. He presented himself, one with the multitude, to be baptized by him.* But John recognized at once his cousin. Doubtless they had known each other in their youth; and though he knew not till later Jesus's sacred character and mission, he had already perceived his spiritual superiority. He objected to perform a rite which seemed to imply that he was himself in some way Jesus's superior. Reluctantly, and only after much persuasion, did he yield. The representative of the Old World, and the type and creator of the New, entered together the water. The people, impressed with a singular solemnity, watched this most sacred baptismal service of all time; while in the dove alighting on the head, and the voice from heaven proclaiming Jesus the divine Messiah, were visible and audible indications of the significance of the service.t

Why, indeed, one who confessed no sin, and therefore needed no repentance, should receive the baptism of repentance, has been a sore perplexity to many. It was to John. Jesus has himself solved the problem. He came to preach as the summation of all duty," Follow thou me." Therefore it became him to submit to whatever ceremonies, were proper and significant in the case of sinful humanity, and thus to fulfill all righteousness.

But in this significant act we recognize more than an example; we perceive a sublime symbol. In Jesus Christ the human race received its baptism. It laid off old faiths. It was introduced into a new life. In the sacred waters which had cleansed Naaman of his leprosy, humanity buried its dead past, and rose a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things passed then forever away. Hecneforth all things were to be new.

* Luke iii,, 21.

† Matt. iii., 13-17; Mark i., 9-11; Luke iii., 21-22.

The possible effect of John the Baptist's preaching on Jesus has been the subject of some bold surmises.* The effect of Jesus on John the Baptist's preaching is far more remarkable, though it has been less remarked. Before the baptism John denounced the vices of the people, and warned them of the judgments of God. "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." This was the spirit of his preaching. But when an alarmed people cried out to him, "What shall we do, then ?" he could only reply, "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none." For the tremendous woe of sin he had no remedy to offer but the recommendation of an external reformation and a practical morality. But after Christ's baptism his preaching underwent a radical change. He no longer denounced the vices of the people; he no longer warned of the wrath to come; he no longer addressed himself chiefly to fear and to conscience. He ceased to be a preacher of the law; he became a prophet of the Gospel. The Messiah, whom he had vaguely foretold, he pointed out in Jesus. The kingdom of grace, which was to be, he contrasted with the kingdom of law that had been.

Two of his testimonies concerning Jesus are especially significant. The first is his assertion of Christ's character. "I saw, and bore record, that this is the Son of God." This declaration, which he often repeated, is capable of but one signification. It can bear no other interpretation than that which is afforded by the ancient prophets, who had declared that the Messiah should be "God with us;§ the Lord our righteousness; the mighty God, the everlasting Father."¶

His declaration concerning Christ's mission is not less sig

*See, for example, Renan's Life of Jesus, ch. v. and vi., p. 125, 126, 130– 132; Schenckel's Character of Jesus, sec. ii., chap. iii., p. 69, and Furness's note thereon.

+ Luke gives us a report of his preaching before the baptism (iii., 1-18); John after the baptism (i., 15-36).* A comparison of these accounts shows a remarkable contrast. § Isa. vii., 14; Matt. i., 23. ¶ Isa. ix., 6.

Jer. xxiii., 6.

+ John i., 34.

nificant. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."* This was a favorite metaphor with him. To understand it, we must remember that the whole Jewish worship was sacrificial. Every act of adoration, of thanksgiving, of confession, was expressed by a sacrifice. The lamb slain on the altar thus became the type of worship in the Jewish mind, the method of approach to God.f

But more than that. There was in the Jewish calendar one great national fast-day. It was called the Day of Atonement. On that day expiation was made for the sins of the nation. Two lambs or goats were selected, as near alike in size, form, and color as possible; they were brought to the Temple; the priest chose by lot between them; one of these was sacrificed upon the altar; upon the other was bound a piece of scarlet cloth, typical of the sins of the people. This goat was then led off into the wilderness, where he was set free, and seen no more. The significance of the whole service was unmistakable. By the death of the sacrifice the sins of the people were borne away and lost to sight forever; and since one lamb could not both carry them away and be slain on the altar, two were taken to typify the one truth.

It is scarcely possible but that this symbolical service was in the mind both of the preacher and the people when he uttered the sermon whose substance has been condensed into a single significant sentence. It was probably preached in the fall, and about the time of the Day of Atonement. "God," said he, “has provided a Lamb. By the sacrifice of his onlybegotten Son God will fulfill the prophecies of the Temple * John i., 29, 36.

+ The explanation of John's declaration offered by the author of Ecce Homo (p. 12), who refers it chiefly to the quiet and peaceful disposition of Jesus, while it might serve to interpret the first part of the sentence, "Behold the Lamb of God," certainly does not adequately interpret the rest, "which taketh away the sins of the world."

For an account of this service, see Lev. xvi. For an able tracing of its typical meaning, see Bonar's commentary thereon; also Smith's Bib. Dic., and M'Clintock and Strong's Bib. Cyc., art. Atonement, Day of.

service. Upon him he will lay the iniquities of us all, and they will be borne away and felt no more."

John does not seem, however, to have preached these sermons until after Christ's return from the temptation in the wilderness. To the record of that singular, and, in some respects, inexplicable experience, we now turn.