e up out
of the water when he was baptized. It was on the bank of the Jordan
that "the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending as a dove, and coming upon him; and lo, a voice out of the
heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
To this fact all four of the evangelists bear testimony, in nearly the
same words.

Peter, in an address recorded in the first chapter of the Acts,
indirectly affirms that many witnessed our Lord's baptism and the
attendant manifestations from heaven. To his mind it was an essential
part of the qualifications of a candidate for the apostleship, that
he had been a witness of our Lord's baptism, as well as of his
resurrection. And why not? The proofs of his Sonship, of his
Messiahship, of his union or oneness with the Father, of the Father's
love for him, and of the acceptableness of the Son's work and
obedience, were as clear and undeniable in the first as in the last.

After a brief consultation among themselves over the question
propounded unto them by our Lord, these deceitful Jews decided that
the most expedient answer they could frame would be to confess that
they "could not tell." No wonder, now, that he told them that "the
publicans and harlots would enter the kingdom of heaven before they
would." We may here see a verification of the fact that LOVE must
precede FAITH. The truth may be _forced_ upon one, and he be
_compelled_ to acknowledge it; yet, unless he falls in love with that
truth, he will not believe it as a thing of FAITH, and will not think
and act correspondingly thereto.

"Convince a man against his will--
He's of the same opinion still."

We may here, very properly, inquire why the heavenly testimony was
given at our Lord's baptism. Why were the Father's acknowledgment and
approval of his beloved Son not given in the temple of Jerusalem, in
the presence of his enemies, that they might be _convinced_; or in
one of its populous streets on a public day, that the world, in a
representative sense, might know of him? It is impossible for men or
angels to know the mind of the Lord where he has not revealed it. He
has withheld from us any direct information on this point; but we may
draw some inferential conclusions, which may serve to satisfy the mind
and rest the heart.

It is a matter of fact that the Father never put his Son on exhibition;
neither did the Son ever seek any place of honor or distinction before
men