Verse 52. "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."

Prayer.

make us willingly submit to Make us ready to perform all

O Holy Lord Jesus, let thy blessed example have such power over our hearts and minds, as to all who are in authority over us. our duties, to be diligent in all our work, and ever to remember to be "about our Father's business" in all we do; for thou dost in thy tender love declare, thy Father to be our Father ;* and dost encourage us, whatever we do, to do it heartily, "not as unto men, but as unto God." Amen.

XVI.

The set time was come. All that the old Prophets had said would happen before the Messiah came, who was to save Israel, had happened. The very number of years had been finished. All men in Israel were full of expectation. They longed for the mighty Prince who was to save them, they hoped, from the power of the Romans, and by setting up his kingdom make them a greater nation than they had ever been before. there was no sign of his coming. When suddenly a man appeared in the wilderness of Judea, so strange in his dress and manner of living, as to remind all men of what was written of the Prophet Elijah.† His words too raised their hopes, for he called upon them to repent, because the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

Still

Who was this man? Do you remember what the Angel said to the old priest Zacharias, when he told him he should have a son? If you have forgotten, I advise you to read again † 2 Kings i. 8.

* John xx.

No. 8. You will see in the sixteenth verse in that number, that the child that was promised to him, was "to go before the Lord in the Spirit and power of Elias" or Elijah, and this was he. He had been in the deserts "waxing strong in spirit" as he grew; now he was a man, and the time was come when he should begin the work that God had given him to do. Many years had passed away; we have often to wait long for what God has promised, but he never forgets. And now

LUKE III. 2, 3. "The word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about the river Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission (or putting away) of sins." I must explain to you what this means. God's time was come, and in the same way that He had told the prophets and holy men of old times what they were to say and do, so He now taught John.

He sent him to the river Jordan, to a place very dear to all the Jews, for it was through that river that God had made a way for them to pass over from the wilderness into the country which he had given them, and in which they now lived. If you would like to read the story of this, you will find it in the 3rd chapter of the book of Joshua, in the Old Testament.

God was now going to make a way for his people to pass out of a state of sin into a state of holiness, and this was to be done by their confessing their sins, and being sorry for them, which is called repenting of them. They were then to be baptized in the river Jordan. To make you understand what is meant by baptism, I must take the words of the Catechism in the Prayer-book, which all of you who belong to the Church of England know already. The words of this catechism say that, in baptism "there are two parts, an outward and visible sign," which means a thing that can be seen, and an inward and spiritual grace," which last is a thing that can be felt inwardly,

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and not seen. Now the outward sign, which was washing in the waters of Jordan, is one we can very well understand.

If any of you were covered with mud, you would immediately, if you wished to be clean, wash it away with water; if you did not care about being dirty, you would not wash, but let the mud remain upon you.

Your washing then is a sign that you feel you are dirty, and that you wish to be clean.

Now sin is to the soul just what mud or any sort of filth is to the body; but it is inward. It is felt, though it cannot be seen.

When John "preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins," the Jews understood quite well that he meant them to come to him to baptize them in the waters of Jordan; shewing by this, that they were sorry for, and confessed their sins, and wished to put them away from them, as water puts away all stains from the body.

The baptism of Christ, by which people are received as Christians, means much more than this; but the Jews had, for a long time, made it a rule among themselves that, when a stranger to their nation had given up his false gods, and wished to join them in their holy religion, he should be baptized, or washed with water, as a sign that he put from him the filthiness of his idolatry.

No doubt they took this custom from the law given by God to Moses,* which commanded water to be used in many ways in the service of the temple, as a sign of the cleansing of the soul from sin before either priest or people might enter in the presence of God in his temple.

The Jews, I have told you, always made a man of another country be baptized before they would let him join the religion of the Jews; but it was a new thing to them that they needed to be baptised themselves. However, when John cried aloud

* Numbers xix.

in the wilderness, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," they came to him in great numbers, and "were baptized of him, confessing their sins." No doubt they were certain that a man who had so entirely given himself up to preaching the kingdom of God, as to live in the deserts without one of the comforts of life, having neither food nor clothes but such as could be found there, must himself feel the truth of what he taught, and must know the danger of neglecting it. No doubt too, many of them knew and remembered that it was written in the Bible, by the prophets of old, that just such a one as this John should so come to prepare the way for the Messiah. Perhaps some of them knew that John was the son of Zacharias the priest, and these would tell the rest all the wonderful things they remembered about his birth, and how that his father, who had been dumb for some time before his birth, had all at once been made able to speak, and had prophecied that his son was to go before the face of the Lord to prepare his way.

All these things must have assured people that John was indeed

MATTHEW iii. 3-6. "He that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him (the people from) Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the country round about Jordan. And were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins."

Prayer.

Lord, we confess that we are sinners, but we know that all the waters of Jordan cannot wash our sins away. The king

dom of heaven has been brought within our reach by the Gospel of thy dear Son. O let thy Holy Spirit so prepare our hearts to receive it, by shewing us the greatness of our sins, and by giving us true repentance, that we may come to thee with penitent hearts, and receive from thee that baptism by which we shall become new creatures, born again into the kingdom of God, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

XVII.

Verses 7-9. "But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."

Among the crowds of people who came to John in the wilderness, there were numbers of Scribes and Pharisees, and I must explain to you who and what they were, for you will hear a great deal about them, as you read the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The learned men among the Jews were divided into two great parties. One was called the sect of the Pharisees, the other the sect of the Sadducees. The Pharisees made a great shew of religion, but they had better have had less show and more reality, for while they were very strict about all outside things, such as the sort of clothes they wore, the number of times they washed themselves, and every thing they touched; the number of times they fasted, and the long prayers they said "to be seen of men;" they neglected what was of far more conse