given under his name, in the Pocket Biblical Dictionary ; but his ministry in relation to the heavenly empire on earth demands some additional observations.

In some predictions of individuals, names of those well known are appropriated to them, on account of their relation or resemblance to them in spirit, office, or work. Thus, Messiah is, in prophecy, repeatedly called David, because he was to be the descendant and heir of the great king of that name. In like manner, John is named Elijah by Malachi, and the work which he was predicted to perform showed he was, like Elijah, to be known as a great religious reformer in Israel: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord : and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." This prediction obviously intimates both the time of John's appearance, and the nature of his ministry. He was to come before the impenitent Jews were to be punished and rooted out of the land, and the land cursed or ruined. That this judgment was inflicted in less than a century from the days of John, will not be questioned by the Jews themselves. By consequence, as the words of Malachi were inspired by God, and therefore infallible, it is certain that Elijah has long since appeared. But from the completion of the Old Testament to the present time, no one has risen amg the Jews to whom the name could with any propriety be appropriated, except John the Baptist. What ministry could more accurately correspond with that of Elijah than that of the Baptist, whether we advert to its nature or effects. Both were remarkable for disinterestedness, self-denial, boldness and fidelity; and the success of each in reforming the nation appears to have been considerable.

John was eminently useful in preparing the people to discern and appreciate the ministry of Jesus, the Christ; for he exposed the fallacy and folly of their errors and prejudices, and awakened them to a sense of the peculiarly awful danger which threatened them, and of the importance of them duly estimating the transcendant blessings about to be poured out on their nation. The great subject of his ministry was the immediate approach of the new and holy empire predicted and pourtrayed by all the prophets; and the necessity of all being prepared for it, who would escape the vengeance of the True God: "Repent," he unceasingly cried, "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Though John was a relative of Jesus, the Christ, according to the flesh, and doubtless, from the confidential frienship subsisting between their mothers, knew some of, if not all the miraculous accompaniments of his birth, yet he appears not to have recognised him as the Sovereign of the new kingdom, till he was supernaturally instructed: "And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptising with water. 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 baptise with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God." Nor does it appear that John had formed any friendship with his interesting relative. Indeed, we have no evidence from the sacred narratives that they had ever met till Jesus requested his precursor to baptise him. The Son of Mary passed thirty years in retirement, and perhaps, menial labour in Nazareth, and the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth lived the same period apparently still more retired in the wilderness of Judea, remote from Nazareth; and no close alliance was formed between them after they knew one another. John entertained such just and elevated views of Jesus as prevented him from doing any more than simply direct all men to fix on him their attention and regards. Each pursued his proper and separate path; the one as the principal servant, the other as the only Sovereign in the new kingdom. John rose superior to his personal interest and honour, and enjoyed the purest and most desirable pleasure in witnessing his Lord's rising popularity: "He must increase, I must decrease." But he was most assiduous in showing all men that the increase of the Messiah was not designed or calculated to deteriorate from the authority, dignity, or honour of the kingdoms or rulers of this world. He prepared the way before Him, not by collecting a vast multitude to form an army, or a select number to form a ministry for the heavenly Prince; but by subjecting all hearts to the service of the Living and True. God, that they might voluntarily place themselves under the government of his Son Jesus, the Christ. Observe how consummately adapted was John's ministry to accomplish this inconceivably important end.

He, as far as the Divine Record testifies, neither recommended by precept nor example the sacrificature of Moses;

nor did he allude to its excellences or defects. The only sacrificial victim for the sins of mankind, Jews or Gentiles, which he called all to value, was, "The Lamb of God," Jesus, on whom had descended the Spirit of God, consecrating him for the work of saving all who trusted in him. This great truth, once cordially admitted into the minds of the Jews was sufficient to expose the fallacy of their unhappy errors respecting the ritual of Moses, the observance of which they taught and believed was an expiation of the guilt of whatever sins they might commit. Without unnecessa

rily provoking their wrath by intimating prematurely the abolition of the rites of Moses, by the rising Prince, John plainly announced that these rites would not be required when the Prince had offered himself to God to take away sin and procure salvation for all that should obey him.

Again, John spoke nothing of the great national and religious distinction between Jews and Gentiles, which was the boast of the former, and was exceedingly offensive to the latter. This separation of the Jewish nation, next to sacrifice, occupied in the constitution of the kingdom of Israel, the highest place. But in the new kingdom at hand, no national or ceremonial separation of mankind was to be held expedient, necessary, or useful. Those alone were, according to John, to be accounted its subjects, who showed by their works that they had repented and turned to God; that they were not only natural descendants of Abraham, and zealous observers of the laws of Moses and traditions of the elders; but who were also like the patriarch Abraham, renovated in their minds, and truly loved and served God, by uniform and unceasing obedience to all his commandments. To be destitute of these qualities, whatever national or even personal excellences might distinguish men, they would find no place in "the kingdom of God;" the royal Ruler and Judge would sentence them to unending woe. "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers! who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire," Matt. iii. 7—10. The Jews, particularly the numerous and popular sect of the Phar

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isees, supposed that they had peculiar claims to the notice of the Sovereign of this kingdom, and possessed fitness to serve him because of the special favours which heaven had conferred on them, and especially on account of their own zeal for the law; and that, consequently, the empire could not rise without their services. To convince them of their folly and presumption in entertaining such sentiments, John testified that the Sovereign was independent of them, for such was his power, that he could create a people out of the very stones of the desert to minister to him and obey him; and that he would qualify and consecrate every one of his subjects for the holy work of his kingdom by the Holy Spirit of God, exclude from its immunities all who received not the Spirit, and treat them as his enemies. This strongly intimated that the kingdom of God was neither to be raised nor maintained by the wisdom, riches, or power, which were the glory of all the empires and kingdoms that had preceded it. The sentiment harmonised with the ancient prediction concerning it, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts," Matt. iii. 11, 12.

Further, John interfered not with the arrangements or laws of the kingdom whose approach he announced; but directed all to expect these things to be attended to by Him whose minister he declared himself to be, even Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, and the Son of God, and the King of Israel. Accordingly, instead of appointing his disciples to any office in the kingdom, or requiring any of them to prepare themselves for any particular service, he called on them all to cultivate personal religion, and to perform with fidelity the various duties of their station in society; that they might truly appear suitable persons to be admitted into the service of Him who had come to save his people from their sins. "And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do, then? He answereth, and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also publicans to be baptised, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed

baptise you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. And many other things, in his exhortation, preached he unto the people," Luke iii. 1018. This plainly announced that the rulers and great men among the Jews, or of other nations, were not to expect any honourable distinction in the kingdom of God, on account of their birth, rank, intellectual talents, mental acquirements, or religious forms; but that those only would be exalted whom the Supreme Sovereign perceived to be renewed in the spirit of their minds, and unfeignedly devoted in heart and life to holiness and righteousness before God.

However much the mighty in this world might dislike or despise the humble aspect, the austere manners, and holy instructions and life of John the Baptist, his ministry nowise tended to excite their jealousy or alarm their fears; for he neither explicitly praised nor blamed any of the constitutions, administrations, or mere political institutions, or even national forms of religion, in the kingdoms of this world; nor did he drop a single idea to induce any intelligent person to view the kingdom which he proclaimed at hand, as a rival to any existing or wordly kingdom. It is therefore not surprising that he was permitted to proceed unmolested in his work by those who were ambitious of worldly power. He was only hated and persecuted by those whose particular sins he condemned, and he retained astonishing popularity to his last hour. He was admired by all ranks of the Jews, and the Romans regarded him only as a leader of a religious and harmless sect. Thus he had the happiness and honour to prepare the way for Messiah; and, on being arrested in his work, he doubtless exulted that Jesus was gladly received by the people; and, cherishing the spirit of aged Simeon, in prison he doubtless would pray, "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

The whole life of John attested the sincerity of his belief in the message which he proclaimed concerning the Christ and his kingdom. His spirit, conduct, and manners accorded with the spiritual character of that empire whose immediate approach he announced. He sought not great things for himself. That he was possessed of talents equal to the greatest enterprises which stimulate the envy or ambition of the