ent platform from his
own, as a Being of another order. He can find no expressions strong
enough to mark the difference: "I am not worthy to loose His shoe
latchet;" "He that is of the earth" (that is, himself) "is earthly, and
speaketh of the earth: He that cometh from heaven is above all." He
would not have used such expressions of Isaiah, of Elijah, of Moses. He
knew his own dignity, and would not have set so marked a difference
between himself and any other prophet. But his own very greatness was
precisely what revealed to him the absolute superiority of Christ. These
crowds that gathered round him--what could he do for them more than
refer them to Christ? Could he propose to himself to found among them a
kingdom of God? Could he ask them to acknowledge him and trust in him
for spiritual life? Could he promise them His Spirit? Could he even link
to himself all kinds of men, of all nationalities? Could he be the light
of men, giving to all a satisfying knowledge of God and of their
relation to Him? No; he was not that light, he could but bear witness of
that light. And this he did, by pointing men to Jesus, not as a brother
prophet, not as another great man, but as the Son of God, as One who had
come down from heaven.

It is, I say, impossible that we can make nothing of such a testimony.
Here was one who knew, if any man ever did, spotless holiness when he
saw it; who knew what human strength and courage could accomplish; who
was himself certainly among the six greatest men the world has seen; and
this man, standing thus on the highest altitudes human nature can reach,
looks up to Christ, and does not only admit His superiority, but
shrinks, as from something blasphemous, from all comparison with Him.
What is the flaw in his testimony, or why are we not accepting Christ as
our light, as able to take away our sins, as willing to baptize us with
the Holy Ghost?

But (2) even such testimony as John's is not sufficient of itself to
carry conviction to the reluctant. None knew better than John's
contemporaries that he was a true man, not liable to make mistakes in a
matter of this kind. And his testimony to Christ did stagger them, and
often held them in check, and no doubt threw a kind of undefined awe
over the person of Christ; but, after all, not many believed on account
of John's testimony, and those who did were not influenced solely by his
testimony, but by his work as well. They had become concerned about sin,
s