guilty race, he felt that baptism was for him. He was so t111Jy one with us that he felt ash1Lwed of our sins, grieved because of them, felt as if they were his. The father hangs his head, sickens and dies when tbo son is disgraced. The wife cannot persuade herself she need not be ashamed when the husband commits a fraud. Our Lord con Id not claim eeparntion from those whom he more intensely loved tl,an human heart has ever loved; nor could he help feelin~ a truer sorrow and a deeper shame for sin than the holiest of sinners or the most despairing has ever felt. The baptism may also be looked upon as an anticipation of his death; or, again, as the anointing of the Kln~. III. OUTWARD SIGNS ACCOMPANYING THE BAM'IBM. Outward signs were required to identify tho Messiah. John tells us he did not know the Christ till these signs were given. The dove, used in scriptural language as symbol of guileless innocence, here represented the Spirit. It was only the fonn of a bird which would oot have seeined grotesque descending from above; and the dove, which would not settle on anything unclean, was the most appropriate symbol now. Luke aild~, " in a bodily form," to remind us that it was not by one attribute or influence the Holy Spirit came upon our Lord, but in bis complete Personality. For though Jesus was Divine, he regularly ascribes hie power to work miracles to the Holy Spirit. He prays, as if to receive from without the aid he required. His body was sustained by bread, and not by the energy of the Divinity with which it was joined. So bis human soul was sanctified by the Spirit, and his human nature empowered to do wonderful works by the same Spirit. IV. RESULT OP' 'l'JIE BAM'IBM. It was not only needful for the people that Jesus be proclaimed publicly as the Messiah, but he himself, when his consciousness of Messiah- ship was nuwbed by the contradiction of sinners, needed some sure word of God to fall back upon. The sign from heaven was given, no doubt mainly in order that John might be able to identify Jesus as the Messiah, but to Jesus himself it was a helpful sign on which, in times of outward discouragement, he could fall back. Compare instances in which our Lord needed such comfort (Matt. xi. 27, etc.); and use to be made of our own baptism. UsEB, The Spirit is given to Christ without measure, in a bodily form. The Father makes him Heir of all his treasure, and takes no account of all be takes. There is no gauge, no metre. The more that is used the better. This fnlness be received as Man and. for us. The head being anointed, refreshment is felt to the very skirts of the ~arments-to the least and last and lowest of the members of Christ's body. Claiming to be our King, it is this he claiws-to give us his Spirit. That very Spirit which enabled him to be what he was and to do what he did, he gives to us. Had Jesus lacked anything which he needed for his office, had he found himself helpless to heal tho sick, bewildered by the arguments of clever men, outwearied by the wretched blindness of sinners, unmanned by danger and the approach of death, this could only have arisen from his being abandoned by the Spirit; and when we fail and stop short, when we are overcome by outward difficulties or inward weakness, it is because we are trying to live without the Spirit. The finishing of bis work is the guarantee that ours shall be finished. And the indwelling of the Spirit in Christ in a bodily completeness is the guarantee that we shall enjoy, not merely one, but all of bis influences, and that in every part of our life he will be sufficient for all our occasione.-D. •
r Vera. 1-4.-The he:rald. "In those days," viz. while Jesus dwelt nt Nazareth, the place of separation and reproach, "came John the Baptist," viz. to herald him. Man's order is to champion that which is popular, God's order is to bemld truth. We note- I. THAT JOHN CAME IN TilE QUALITY OF ELIJAII. 1. In this quality he was pre- dicted. (1) Gabriel stood at the right side of the altar of incense, evidently in response to the prayer of Zacharias which had ascended with the incense. Gabriel procUised Zacharias that be should have a son in his old age, gave directions for the ordering of the child, adding, "And he shall go before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the heart of the fathers to the children," etc. (Luke i. 11-17). (2) Gabricl's words clearly allude to those of Malachi, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the !!2 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW, [err. m. 1-11.