Till our faith be lost in sight,
Hope be swallowed in delight,
And love return to dwell with thee,
In the threefold Deity!

ST. JOHN BAPTIST.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. JOHN i. 6.

PROPHETICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.

THERE was a man sent from God, whose name was John:" that is, not John the Apostle and Evangelist, the beloved disciple of our Lord, from whose Gospel the description is taken: but John the Baptist, our Lord's messenger and forerunner, that "burning and shining light," whom the Church commemorates this day; called, according to the special appointment of God, by the name of John, as an intimation probably of that divine grace and favour which eminently distinguished his mission; such being the meaning of the word "; and further denominated" the Baptist," because it was by baptism, a rite previously indeed prac

tised by the Jews, but by him first used to figure out to them repentance and remission of sins, that he admitted disciples to a profession of his doctrine".

It is worthy of our observation, that whereas the other Saints are commemorated on the supposed day of their respective deaths, the day chosen for the commemoration of John the Baptist is that of his nativity; this being the only nativity, besides that of our blessed Saviour, for which the Church assembles with thanksgiving. The reason of this is obvious. It was by the nativity of the Baptist that the providence of Almighty God was most wonderfully shewn; in the foretelling of that event by ancient prophecies, in its announcement by an angel before the conception of the child, in the preternatural character of the event itself, lastly in the appearance of the Baptist as the forerunner and harbinger of our Lord. The Saints of the Church in general were martyrs or witnesses to the Christian truth by their deaths: the Baptist bore his witness in the most memorable manner by his birth. And although he may doubtless be said to have suffered martyrdom, and to have glorified God by his death, for he suffered and died "for the truth's sake,"

b Mr. Nelson.

Dean Stanhope.

yet he cannot be said to have suffered and died specially for the Christian truth; and therefore his death would have been commemorated in the Christian Church with less propriety than his birth, which is a direct and most manifest attestation to the "Author and Finisher of our faith." Hence it is, as observed by an ancient father, "that the Church goes out of her usual method, and pays a particular respect to the first setting out of this wonderful forerunner." And thus by keeping this festival she affords a perpetual comment on the declaration of the angel, that "many shall rejoice at his birth."

The mission of John the Baptist forms the connecting link between the Old and New Testaments. The volume of prophecy, and therewith the volume of the Old Testament, was closed with two memorable predictions of Malachi about 400 years before the Christian

era.

Of these the former is contained in his third chapter, and runs in this wise: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight

St. Augustin, quoted by Dean Stanhope. e Luke i. 14.

Y

in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." And this prediction probably bears allusion, as it certainly bears resemblance, to a former one of Isaiah, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it:" expressions these, which have evident reference to a custom that prevailed in eastern countries, of sending messengers and pioneers to make the ways level and straight before monarchs on their progress. They literally lowered mountains, they raised valleys, they cut down woods, they removed all obstacles, they cleared away all roughnesses and inequalities, and made straight, short, and commodious highways through places impassable before, for the great personages whom they preceded..

The latter prediction of Malachi, just alluded to, or rather the latter part of the same prediction, is contained in the last verse of his last chapter; where, speaking again of the mes

f Is. xl. 3-5.