, for he had never done a selfish,
an untrue, or an unfair thing. He had never wronged his Father, any
more than ever his Father had wronged him. Happy, happy Son and Father,
who had never either done the other wrong, in thought, word, or deed! As
little had he wronged brother or sister. He needed no forgiveness; there
was nothing to forgive. No more could he be baptized for repentance: in
him repentance would have been to turn to evil! Where then was the
propriety of his coming to be baptized by John, and insisting on being
by him baptized? It must lie elsewhere.

If we take the words of John to mean 'the baptism of repentance unto the
sending away of sins;' and if we bear in mind that in his case
repentance could not be, inasmuch as what repentance is necessary to
bring about in man, was already existent in Jesus; then, altering the
words to fit the case, and saying, 'the baptism of willed devotion to
the sending away of sin,' we shall see at once how the baptism of Jesus
was a thing right and fit.

That he had no sin to repent of, was not because he was so constituted
that he could not sin if he would; it was because, of his own will and
judgment, he sent sin away from him--sent it from him with the full
choice and energy of his nature. God knows good and evil, and, blessed
be his name, chooses good. Never will his righteous anger make him
unfair to us, make him forget that we are dust. Like him, his son also
chose good, and in that choice resisted all temptation to help his
fellows otherwise than as their and his father would. Instead of
crushing the power of evil by divine force; instead of compelling
justice and destroying the wicked; instead of making peace on the earth
by the rule of a perfect prince; instead of gathering the children of
Jerusalem under his wings whether they would or not, and saving them
from the horrors that anguished his prophetic soul--he let evil work its
will while it lived; he contented himself with the slow unencouraging
ways of help essential; making men good; casting out, not merely
controlling Satan; carrying to their perfect issue on earth the old
primeval principles because of which the Father honoured him: 'Thou hast
loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' To love
righteousness is to make it grow, not to avenge it; and to win for
righteousness the true victory, he, as well as his brethren,