IV. His Hearers and What he Taught them.

We read in St. Matthew iii. 5, and St. Mark i. 5, that all Judæa and Jerusalem, and all the region round about Jordan, went out to listen to the Baptist's teaching, i.e. he gathered his hearers from the capital, as well as from the country districts, and from the district bordering on the River Jordan, in the neighbourhood of which he was preaching. His hearers were composed of men of different classes and characters.

Read St. Matt. iii. 7-10 and St. Luke iii. 7-9.

Commentary and Explanation.-THE PHARISEES were the party in the Jewish Church who professed to be especially religious; they were very particular about their outward observances, but too frequently they made these the cloke of irreligious lives. THE SADDUCEES were unbelievers, scoffers at religion. When these came to listen to John's preaching, he saw that they did so from no worthy motives, not to be made better, but to criticise or scoff. Accordingly he addressed them as a generation [or brood] of vipers, meaning that, in character, they were as treacherous and venomous as serpents. He told them to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, i.e. to live lives which would be proofs of the repentance which GOD demanded; and he said that all who were not living such lives would be hewn down, like unfruitful trees, and cast into the fire. He warned the Pharisees especially not to trust to their privileges as children [or descendants] of Abraham, since these privileges alone would not secure their salvation.

Read St. Luke iii. 10-14.

Commentary and Explanation.-St. Luke tells us of three other classes of men who came to the Baptist's ministry, and sought his advice as to their conduct.

(a) THE PEOPLE, i.e. the common people, who did not belong to either of the parties (the Pharisees or Sadducees) mentioned above. To them he counselled liberality and kindly deeds to their fellowmen.

(b) THE PUBLICANS, i.e. the tax-gatherers, those who collected taxes from the Jews for their Roman masters. To them he counselled justice they were not to take from the people more than the taxes to which they were fairly entitled.

(c) THE SOLDIERS. These were the rough heathen soldiers engaged in the Roman army. These he counselled to refrain from violence, and false accusations, in their calling, and bade them be content with the pay they received, not seeking to increase it by unjust or oppressive conduct towards the Jewish people amongst whom they lived.

All received practical advice, exactly suited to their callings and condition in life.

V. The Baptism of John.

All who accepted St. John's teaching, and professed the repentance which he preached, as a necessary preparation for the coming of the kingdom of Heaven, were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins' (St. Matt. iii. 6). They publicly declared that they had been living wrong lives, they publicly avowed the evil deeds that they had committed, and professed their desire to live better in the future. Those who did this were then baptized in the River Jordan; this Baptism or Washing signifying that they desired to be cleansed from their old deeds, and to live new and better lives.

Questions. What do we know as to the manner of life of St. John the Baptist during his early years? Describe his dress, his food, his appearance. How old was he when he began his public ministry? How is the time fixed by St. Luke [iii. 1, 2]. Where did he preach? What is meant by the wilderness of Judæa? What was the substance of his preaching? What is the meaning of 'Repent' and of the Kingdom of Heaven' ? What prophet had foretold the ministry of the Baptist? To what did Isaiah compare him? Show that the work of the Baptist was like the work of a king's Forerunner. Who came to listen to the Baptist's preaching? Mention several classes amongst these listeners? Who were the Pharisees and the Sadducees? How did St. John address them, and what was the warning he gave them? What is meant by fruits meet for repentance? Who were meant by the people? [St. Luke iii. 10.] What did St. John mean by the advice he gave them: He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none'? [That they were to practise liberality in relieving others out of that which they had to spare.] Who were the Publicans? was the sin against which St. John warned them? [Extortion in collecting the taxes due to the Roman government.] were the soldiers? What advice did St. John give to them? What was the Baptism of John'? How may we follow St. John Baptist's 'doctrine and holy life' in those respects of which we have read in the Lesson to-day? [firstly, we may follow his example by living plainly and dressing plainly, and so become better fitted to do the duty to which GOD calls us; secondly, we may follow his doctrine by repenting of our sins, and striving after amendment of life; thirdly, we may apply to ourselves the advice which he gave to different classes of men; we may make the fruits of our religion appear in our daily life, striving 'to be true and just in all our dealings,' and to relieve the wants of others as GOD gives us means to do so.]

Hymns Ancient and Modern, 414.

Lo! from the desert homes.'

What

Who

SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS.

SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY.

THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD BY ST. JOHN.

'By Thy Baptism

Good Lord, deliver us.

The Teacher will begin by recapitulating the previous Lesson with reference to the Preaching and Baptism of St. Jonn. He will then proceed to

I. The Baptist's Testimony to Christ.

Read St. Matt. iii. 11, 12; St. Mark i. 7, 8; St. Luke iii. 15-18.

Commentary and Explanation.-Baptism was commonly understood to be the ceremony by which men were admitted into a new Religion, or became disciples of a new Teacher. Thus, when St. John came, preaching repentance, and baptizing men in the River Jordan, he was looked upon as the Founder of a new Religion, and St. Luke tells us that men were in a state of expectation (or suspense), wondering whether he (St. John) might prove to be THE MESSIAH (St. Luke iii. 15). But St. John did not allow them to doubt on this subject; he told them plainly of ONE COMING AFTER HIM, MIGHTIER THAN HIMSELF, One so far his superior that he was not worthy to stoop down and untie the latchet (or lace) which bound the sandals to His feet, or to carry the sandals which He had put off. He contrasted the baptism which he administered with that which was to be administered by the COMING ONE; he baptized with water [as a symbol of cleansing]; but HE THAT WAS TO COME should baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire; [i.e. His Baptism should convey to men the gift of the Holy Spirit, and should purify them, as fire retines and purifies the metallic ore which is put into it*]. He compared this COMING ONE to a man with a fan in his hand [the instrument used for winnowing], with which he purges [or cleanses] the threshing floor, winnowing out from it the chaff for burning, and gathering up

* Compare the prophecy of Malachi (iii. 2) with reference to the coming of the Messiah. Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. The thought is the same which is conveyed by the Evangelists, that the work of the Messiah should be one of sifting and cleansing, of most rigorous separation between the evil and the good.

the wheat into the garner (or granary); even so will HE separate the bad from the good, the worthless from the worthy.

II. The Baptism of Our Lord.

Read St. Matt. iii. 13-15 and St. Mark i. 9.

Commentary and Explanation.-We have heard of the various classes of men who were attracted by the Baptist's teaching, and came to his Baptism. We read now of ONE, Whose coming was quite different from that of all the rest. Jesus came from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, where He had spent the first years of His life. Up to this time He had lived in quiet and obscurity. He had now reached the age of 30 [St. Luke iii. 23], and this coming to be baptized of John, was the beginning of His public life and work. At first John forbade Him [or would have hindered Him from submitting to his Baptism]; He recognised his own inferiority to Him Who came to be baptized of him : ' I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?' Did John then recognise Him as the Messiah for Whom he was sent to prepare the way? Not at first, for speaking himself, on a later occasion, about this very incident [St. John i. 31], John said I knew Him not, i.e. I did not know Him to be what I afterwards discovered, that He was THE CHRIST OF GOD. St. John was the kinsman of Our LORD [His mother Elisabeth is called the cousin of the Blessed Virgin [St. Luke i. 36], but their early life had afforded them few, if any, opportunities of intercourse [St. John, as we have seen, spending his youth in the Wilderness of Judæa, while Our Lord was brought up at Nazareth, about 100 miles away], so that it is possible the Baptist may not even have known who Jesus was. In this case, we must suppose there was something in His look, or appearance, some Majesty in His bearing,* which made St. John feel the impropriety of His coming to a baptism which was for the remission of sins. Our Lord, however, persisted in His request, giving as His reason, thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness: by all righteousness He meant all the requirements of the Jewish Law. St. John was the last of the Jewish prophets; he was sent by GOD to urge men to receive his baptism, and though Our Lord had no need of a baptism, which signified repentance for the remission of sins [He being perfectly sinless], yet He submitted to that baptism as an act of obedience. It was an instance of that same obedience to the law FOR MAN' which He exhibited on a former occasion at His Circumcision. [See Lesson 6.]

* Compare with this the exhibition of Divine dignity recorded in St. John xviii. 5, 6, which made the soldiers who had come to arrest Him retire and fall to the ground.

III. The Voice from Heaven.

The Manifestation of the Holy Trinity.

Read St. Matt. iii. 16, 17; St. Mark i. 10, 11; St. Luke iii. 21, 22.

Commentary and Explanation.-St. Luke tells us that Our Lord, after His Baptism, was engaged in prayer; it was at this moment that the heaven was opened, or rent asunder [there was, as it seemed, a rent made in the sky above], and the Holy Ghost descended upon the head of the Saviour in the likeness of a Dove ['the symbol of purity and peace']; at the same time a voice was heard from heaven, saying, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED. Thus Jesus, the Son of a lowly maiden, brought up as a carpenter at Nazareth, was declared by the voice of GOD speaking from heaven, to be the SON OF GOD. and was consecrated by the Holy Ghost, descending upon Him, for His work as THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD. [See Isaiah xi. 2, speaking of the promised Messiah, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD SHALL REST UPON HIM.]

Observe that in this incident we have a manifestation of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity-GOD THE FATHER, speaking from heaven; GOD THE SON, being baptized in the River Jordan; and GOD THE HOLY GHOST, descending upon Him like a Dove.

IV. St. John the Baptist's own account of Our Lord's Baptism. Read St. John i. 29-34.

Commentary and Explanation.-It was some time after Our Lord's baptism that St. John was called upon to bear witness to Him as the Messiah. He pointed Him out to a circle of his hearers as THE LAMB OF GOD WHICH TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD [giving Him a title which, from the prophecy of Isaiah (liii. 7), was distinctly connected with the Messiah.] The words that he had previously used about the ONE MIGHTIER THAN HIMSELF were fulfilled in Him, Who was now before their eyes. The purpose of his baptism was that Jesus should be made manifest to Israel [i.e. that He should be made known as the Messiah.] It had previously been declared to him by GoD that the visible descent of the Holy Ghost should be the means of indicating Him, Whom he had foretold as the One Who should baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire; and when he saw this sign from heaven exhibited on the banks of the Jordan, he was authorised to declare THIS IS THE SON OF GOD.

V. Our Lord's Baptism in relation to the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. In one of the Collects of the Baptismal Service it is said that BY THE BAPTISM OF HIS WELL-BELOVED SON IN THE RIVER