father : for I say unto you, tbat God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
10 And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees : therefore every tree which briugeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance : but he that cometh
after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire :
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chatf with un- quenchable fire.
These verses describe the ministry of Jolm the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a ministiy that deserves close attention. Few jDreachers ever pro- duced such effects. " There went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan.^' None ever received such praise from the great Head of the Church. Jesus calls him " a burning and a shining light." The great Bishop of souls Himself declares, that " among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist." Let us then study the leading features of his ministry.
John the Baptist spoke plainly about sin. He taught the absolute necessity of " repentance/' before any one can be saved. He .preached that repentance must be proved by its " fruits." He warned men not to rest on outward privileges, or outward union with the church.
This is just the teaching that we all need. We are naturally dead, and blind, and asleep in spiritual things. We are ready to content ourselves with a mere formal religion, and to flatter ourselves, that if we go to church we shall be saved. We need to be told, that except we " repent and are converted" we shall all perish.
John.the Baptist sj)oke plainly about our Lord Jesus Christ. He taught jDCople that one fiir " mightier than