plains. Yet,
his Master said of him that "among them that are born of women there
hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist"; and in six brief
months, as one has noticed, the young prophet of the wilderness had
become the centre to which all the land went forth. We see Pharisees
and Sadducees, soldiers and publicans, enthralled by his ministry; the
Sanhedrim forced to investigate his claims; the petty potentates of
Palestine caused to tremble on their thrones; while he has left a name
and an influence that will never cease out of the world.

But there is a further feature which arrests us in the life and
ministry of the Baptist. He was ordained to be "the clasp" of two
covenants. In him Judaism reached its highest embodiment, and the Old
Testament found its noblest exponent. It is significant, therefore,
that through his lips the law and the prophets should announce their
transitional purpose, and that he who caught up the torch of Hebrew
prophecy with a grasp and spirit unrivalled by any before him, should
have it in his power and in his heart to say: "The object of all
prophecy, the purpose of the Mosaic law, the end of all sacrifices, the
desire of all nations, is at hand." And forthwith turning to the True
Shepherd, who stood at the door waiting to be admitted, to Him the
porter opened, bowing low as He passed, and crying: "This is He of whom
Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, who was
for to come."

Few studies can bring out to clearer demonstration the superlative
glory of Christ than a thoughtful consideration of the story of the
forerunner. They were born at the same time; were surrounded from
their birth by similar circumstances; drank in from their earliest days
the same patriotic aspirations, the same sacred traditions, the same
glowing hopes. But the parallel soon stops. John the Baptist is
certainly a grand embodiment of the noblest characteristics of the
Jewish people. We see in him a conspicuous example of what could be
developed out of eight hundred years of Divine revelation and
discipline. But Jesus is the Son of Man: there is a width, a breadth,
a universality about Him which cannot be accounted for save on the
hypothesis which John himself declared, that "He who cometh from above
is above all."

In each case, life was strenuous and short--an epoch being inaugurated,
in the one case in about six months, in the other some three years. In
each case, at fi