ghteousness shall abide in the
fruitful field, and the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the
effect of righteousness quietness and confidence for ever; and the
mirage shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water
(Isa. xxxii. 15, 16; xxxv. 7, R.V.).

(2) Alongside the proclamation of the kingdom was the uncompromising
insistence on "_the wrath to come_." John saw that the Advent of the
King would bring inevitable suffering to those who were living in
self-indulgence and sin.

There would be careful discrimination. He who was coming would
carefully discern between the righteous and the wicked; between those
who served God and those who served Him not: and the preacher enforced
his words by an image familiar to orientals. When the wheat is reaped,
it is bound in sheaves and carted to the threshing-floor, which is
generally a circular spot of hard ground from fifty to one hundred feet
in diameter. On this the wheat is threshed from the chaff by manual
labour, but the two lie intermingled till the evening, when the grain
is caught up in broad shovels or fans, and thrown against the evening
breeze, as it passes swiftly over the fevered land; thus the light
chaff is borne away, while the wheat falls heavily to the earth.
Likewise, cried the Baptist, there shall be a very careful process of
discrimination, before the unquenchable fires are lighted; so that none
but chaff shall be consigned to the flames--a prediction which was
faithfully fulfilled. At first Christ drew all men to Himself; but, as
his ministry proceeded, He revealed their quality. A few were
permanently attracted to Him; the majority were as definitely repelled.
There was no middle class. Men were either for or against Him. The
sheep on this side; the goats on that. The five wise virgins, and the
five foolish. Those who entered the strait gate, and those who flocked
down the broad way that leadeth to destruction. So it has been in
every age. Jesus Christ is the touchstone of trial. Our attitude
towards Him reveals the true quality of the soul.

There would also be a period of probation. "The axe laid to the root
of the trees" is familiar enough to those who know anything of
forestry. The woodman barks some tree which seems to him to be
occupying space capable of being put to better use. There is no undue
haste. It is only after severe and searching scrutiny that the word
goes forth: "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the g