was John the Baptist f. It was highly proper that so glorious a person as the Messiah should not even appear to come in a surreptitious or clandestine manner ; but that the minds of men should be directed to him, and his arrival be made the subject of general expectation. Hence we find, that the great argu- ment by which John excited men to repentance, was this, " The kingdom of heaven is at hand." He continually dis- claimed all pretensions to the Messiahship himself, and directed them to One, who was speedily to arise among them, " whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to unloose." As the Messiah's harbinger, he strove to prepare the hearts of men for his recep- tion. Men of all ages and descriptions were warned by him ; and " fathers with their children were turned by him unto the Lord their God." The most " disobedient" among them "were converted by him to the wisdom of the just," even to that adorable Jesus, whom all the righteous love, and in the love of whom true wisdom consists. This was the end and aim of his whole ministry, even to point men to that " Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world :" and, having succeeded in this according to his father's prediction^ he was glad himself to "decrease," that "the Messiah might increase" and be glorified11.]
But similar to his, is the office of every minister —
[The minds of the generality are as regardless of Christ as if he had never come into the world ; they take his name indeed into their lips, but have no desire after his salvation in their hearts. Hence arises the necessity of crying to them continually, " Behold the Lamb of God," " behold him, behold him1!" Him we must exalt as the only Saviour of the world ; and account our lives well spent, if we be the favoured instru- ments of converting but a few to him ]
We cannot but observe from this subject,
1. How great a person Christ must be —
[From the preparations which were made for his reception, we are led to expect that he was possessed of more than human dignity : and accordingly we find him identified with Jehovah k, and designated as the " Lord our God1." Yes : he was " Em- manuel, God with us," or, as he is elsewhere called, " the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ1"." "While therefore we contemplate his advent, let us think of it with the pro- foundest admiration, and the most lively gratitude.]
f Mai. iii. 1. with Matt. xi. 10, 14. e ver. 76, 77.
*' John iii. 30. • » Isai. lxv. 1.
k Compare Mai. iii. 1. with Matt. xi. 10. ' ver. 16.
111 Tit. ii. 13.