VI. THE BIRTH AND TRAINING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. LUKE 1, 57-80. The Birth and THE promise made by the angel Gabriel to the aged Zacharias in Jerusalem's temple has been fulfilled. In one of the quiet towns of the hill country of Judea a son has been born to the saintly Elisabeth. Neighbors and kinsfolk, true to the instincts of a nature not yet dulled by the forced proprieties of an overwrought civilization, gather around her to offer their congratulations. On the arrival of the eighth day they hold a formal gathering, to celebrate the Abrahamic rite which would make the new-born child a member of Jehovah's covenant people, and also to give him his name. In accordance with a custom of the times, and indeed an instinct of humanity, they are about to call him Zacharias, after the name of his father. The devout mother, remembering Gabriel's bidding in the temple, refuses consent: "Not so; but he shall be called John [Jehovah's Luke i, 13. grace]." The company, surprised by this decision of the mother, protest: "There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name." Confident Luke i, 46-55. that the father would in paternal pride insist that his son should bear his own name, they turn to him, and, making signs, ask how he would have him named. The mute old man asks for a writingtablet, and pens the simple words: "His name is John." No sooner has he penned this than his tongue, which has been locked for months, is loosed, and he speaks, praising God. The sudden return of the power of speech and his evidently rapt state fill the spectators with amazement, and, recalling, it may be, the ancient and precious prophecy of the coming Messiah, they exclaim, "What, then, shall this child be?" Nor is this all. The Holy Spirit takes possession of the aged priest, he is filled with the prophetic rapture, and, as Mary weeks before had chanted her Magnificat, so now Zacharias chants his Benedictus: The Benedic- Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; tus. Luke i, 68-79. For he hath visited and wrought redemption for his people, And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of his servant David (As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been of old), Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To shew mercy towards our fathers, And to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware unto Abraham our father, To grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies Should serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Yea and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High: For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to make ready his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people In the remission of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, Whereby the dayspring from on high shall visit us, To shine upon them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death; To guide our feet into the way of peace. Nor has that ancient Benedictus of Zacharias lost its power. Like the Magnificat of Mary, it is still chanted in many of our temples, and will continue to be the Church's song of inspiration till the dayspring from on high, even the bright morning star, sparkles again in the horizon of the new heavens and earth, nevermore to set. Forerunner. Luke i, 80. And the child grew, and waxed strong in Training of the spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. Then began to be fulfilled, in outline, at least, Gabriel's prophecy to Zacharias, as he was serving by the altar of incense, touching his coming Son: "He shall be great in Luke i, 15. the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink no wine. nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb." The child John seems to have grown up in strictest seclusion and self-denial, according to the ancient law of the Nazarite. His home, if home it might be called, was the wilderness of Judea-the rugged desert west of the Dead Sea; his garb a rai- Matt. iii, 4. ment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle; his food locusts and wild honey; himself the very counterpart of Elijah the Tishbite. 2 Kings i, 8. Parnell's "Hermit." Luke iii, 23. "Coming Events cast Far in the wild, unknown to public view, Prayer all his business, all bis pleasure praise. Thus grew up in desert obscurity and Nazarite asceticism, John, the Forerunner, till the time, when about thirty years old, he was manifested unto Israel, suddenly bursting forth as a meteor in the sky of the Hebrew night. Such is the story of the birth and training of the Harbinger. The story suggests many lessons. I will mention but two. And, first, it is a fine illustration of the provtheir Shad- erb, "Coming events cast their shadows before." ows Before." It was meet that the King of kings, in making advent, should have his avant-courier. It is glorious to know that, when he did make his advent, John, the son of Zacharias, emerged from his seclusion, and came into all the region about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins, saying: "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"; thus fulfilling a prediction already seven hundred years old, even the prophecy of the son of Amoz: Luke iii, 1-3. Isaiah xl, 3-5. The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah, And every mountain and hill shall be made low; And the rough places plain, And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together: For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it. Yes, it was meet that the Sun of Righteousness should have his morning star. tian Asccticism. Secondly, The place of asceticism in the Chris- Place of Christian life. For it can not be denied that Christ's religion demands as one of its essential conditions self-denial. Presupposing a fallen, inverted nature, where the outward has usurped the inwardthe flesh, the spirit - Christianity undertakes a restoration of the primal order, proposing victory in the very sphere of defeat. It cages the wild beasts of the lusts of the flesh, and scourges refractory passions. Thus, St. Paul himself buffeted 1 Cor. ix, 27. his own body, and brought it into bondage. It is a sure way to get spiritual robustness. Much is said in our day about the need of "muscular Christianity." Would God as much were said about the need of Christian muscle! As a matter of fact, the stalwart, majestic characters of Scripture were in the habit of putting themselves ever and anon under an ascetic regimen. It was true of Moses, of David, of Daniel. Our blessed Lord Matt. iv, 1, 2. himself went into the wilderness, and fasted forty days and forty nights. So, also, many of the noblest characters in Christian history have been ascetics: witness a Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Jerome, Columba, Augustine of Canterbury. Their power lay, in part at least, in their asceticism. It certainly was so in the case of John of the Desert. His hermit-life gave him simplicity |