Christ's commendation of john.
Matt. xi. 11, 12. Verily I say inito you, Among them that are horn of ivomen there hath not risen a greater tha7i John the Baptist : notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven siijfereth violence, and the violent take it hy force.
OUR blessed Lord lost no opportunity of encou- raging persons to believe on him. He had forborne to applaud the character of John whilst John was bearing testimony to him, lest it should be thought that there was a concerted plan between them to exalt each other : but, when John was now shut up in prison, and come near to the close of his ministry, our Lord bore testimony to him in the most exalted terms. The people had flocked from every quarter to hear John : and our Lord asked them, what sort of a person they had expected to hear and see : they had not travelled so far to see a fickle man, like a reed shaken with the wind, or a soft effeminate man, like those often bred in courts ; but a prophet, who, with self-denying labour and unshaken steadfastness.
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was instructing and reforming the land : and such indeed he was, even hke Ehjah of old, whose spirit and character he bore, agreeably to the prophetic re- presentation that had been given of him foin- hundred years before. Yet eminent as John was, even greater than any prophet that had ever lived, our Lord told his hearers, that the least of his true disciples was really greater than the Baptist himself.
Many interpret this as referring only to those who should preach his Gospel ; but though it is true that the Apostles were superior to John in their office, and should far exceed him in the success of their labours, we see no reason for limiting to them what was spoken to the rahole multitude: we are persuaded, on the con- trary, that this information was intended for the en- couragement of all, and as an incentive to them to follow him, with the same avidity and zeal as they had manifested in following John.
Considering the passage thus as referring to all true Christians, we shall take occasion from it to point out,
I. Their pre-eminent advantages —
John was greater than all that had ever been born of woman, not in sanctity (for Daniel, and perhaps several others, were not a whit inferior to him in this respect,) but in office ; being the forerunner of the Messiah, who did not merely speak of him at a dis- tance, but pointed him out as present ; and declared him to be that very " Lamb of God that should take away the sins of the world." But the least in the Messiah's kingdom, which was just then founded upon earth, are greater than he, inasmuch as they have,
\. A fuller discovery of Christ's character —
[John himself, and indeed the Apostles too, till after the resurrection, had very imperfect views of Christ : they saw not, or saw but very faintly, the dignity of his person, the necessity of his death, the certainty of his resurrection, or the nature of his kingdom: but the most ignorant of Christ's disciples have a comparatively clear, enlarged, and certain knowledge of him: they know what God has revealed concerning his persoii, as Emmanuel, God with us ; his ivork, as fulfilling and satisfying the law for us ; and his offices, as the Prophet, Priest, and