CHAPTER III.

1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judæa, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituræa and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene;

2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests,

There could be, according to the law of Moses, but one high priest, a type of Him Who is " a Priest for ever," the one, and only possible, Redeemer. At this time Annas seems to have been the lawful high priest, but he had been forcibly removed from his office by the Roman conquerors of the country, who intruded Caiaphas into his place: hence people spake as though there were two, and S. Luke follows the common way of speaking.

the word of GOD came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

Let it be observed the Baptist, though from his infancy marked as "the Prophet of the Highest," did not go forth to his work until the Word of GOD came to him.

3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;

He came preaching repentance (of which his baptism was the outward sign) that from God's mercy men might obtain forgiveness, and grace to know the coming SAVIOUR. LORD JESU, give me repentance, true and real and lasting, that I may find Thy mercy now before it be too late, and may learn to know Thee here by faith and see Thee hereafter with mine eyes, and seeing Thee, be made like unto Thee, where with the FATHER and the HOLY GHOST, Thou livest and reignest one GOD for evermore.

4 As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias

the prophet,' saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make His paths straight.

5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of GOD.

The salvation, that is, which God hath prepared for them that love Him; and what is that but CHRIST our LORD Himself? He shall be seen with the eyes, and known in the heart: but that He may be seen and known, the way must be prepared before Him, that is, the "valleys," mere earthly thoughts and hopes must be raised and fixed on Heaven: "the mountains and hills," the proud, high, self-sufficiency of men must be brought low and humbled: "the crooked" ways, the craft and cunning of the world must be unlearned and changed into simplicity and guilelessness: and "the rough ways," all harshness and unkindness must be lost in charity and most surely will he who strives in such wise to prepare his heart for the LORD JESUS, find Him ready to enter in and dwell there.

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7 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, For confession of sin avails nothing unless penitence follow: and what is penitence but, for the love of GOD, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well? "For behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness" that is to please GOD, "it wrought in you; yea, what clearing of yourselves" in the sight of the Church; "yea, what indignation" against sin; "yea, what fear" of again falling into sin; "yea, what vehement desire" to be again restored to GOD's favour; " yea, what zeal’ on GoD's behalf; yea, what revenge" on all sinful habits and inclinations! Truly this is repentance; GOD grant it to us all, ever more and more.

1 Isaiah xl. 3.

2 Ps. lviii. 4.

and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father;

Do not put your trust, the saintly Preacher means, in the fact, that you are Abraham's children, according to the flesh; be ye not "haughty because of GOD's holy mountain," neither stay ye yourselves in the thought that GOD's promises to Abraham must of necessity be accomplished in you; and that if you perish, those promises will perish also, for, he continues,

for I say unto you, That GOD is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

And on the children so raised GOD might bestow the fulfilment of His promises to Abraham.

9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Each individual Jew was a tree in GoD's vineyard, as each individual Christian now is: the axe is the emblem of GOD's wrath, ready to cut down the unfruitful trees, those which bring not "forth fruits worthy of repentance." And the axe is only not yet wielded against us, as it was against the Jews, because pity and love are pleading for us, in the Person of the All-pitying and All-loving One. Yet the judgment-day is coming, and,

Then in His wrath shall GOD uproot

The trees He set, for lack of fruit,
And drown in rude tempestuous blaze

The towers His hand had deigned to raise ;

In silence, ere that storm begin

Count o'er His mercies and thy sin.

Pray only that thine aching heart,
From visions vain content to part,
Strong for love's sake its woe to hide,
May cheerful wait the Cross beside,
Too happy if, that dreadful day,
Thy life be given thee for a prey.1

10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall

we do then?

1 Jer. xlv. 4, 5.

What shall we do that we may escape this threatened cutting down and casting into the fire? How shall we bring forth fruits worthy of repentance ?

11 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.

Thus he would lead them to show, by charity to man, that they desired to find the mercy, and love of God. Alms (when we have them to give) and deeds of charity always, enter largely into true repentance.1 "He that loveth another bath fulfilled the law." "But whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of GOD in him ?"

12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?

The publicans were the collectors of public tolls and taxes.

13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.

14 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.

Observe how here GOD enjoins on these men severally the careful abstinence from those sins to which they were chiefly tempted, and how He implies that they ought to employ themselves in the faithful discharge of their ordinary duties. It is a sad mistake to imagine that there can be any real repentance, if we neglect the common, every-day duties of that state of life in which GOD has been pleased to place us.

15 And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the CHRIST, or not;

16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I

1 Dan. iv. 27.

2 S. Luke xix. 8.

cometh, the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose; He shall baptize you with the HOLY GHOST and with fire;

"With fire" here seems to mean, with enlightening and invigorating grace, kindling in the heart a pure desire for the All-holy GOD. Or, the words may be understood thus: He shall baptize you with the HOLY GHOST in Christian Baptism, and then with "fiery trials" afterwards if need be, to wean you wholly from the world.

17 Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable;

"The floor" is the world where now the evil and the good are mingled together: the wheat are those Christians, whose piety is true and solid: the chaff are not only the openly wicked, but the vain and frivolous; "all the people that forget GOD;" the fan is the searching word which shall try us at the last day. See S. John xii. 48.

18 And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.

19 But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,

20 Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.

21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the Heaven was opened,

22 And the HOLY GHOST descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from Heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved SON; in Thee I am well pleased.

1 1 S. Pet. iv. 12.