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Prayer.

O God, our Saviour, we fall down before thee in humble adoration, and in grateful love. We are not worthy even to be called thy servants, for we are as nothing, full of sin, and feeble in our best endeavours. We have nothing of our own, for all is thine, and unless we continually receive from thee, we are undone. Thy gifts must be new, not only every morning but with every breath we draw; yet thou dost accept as kindness to thyself the least act of kindness done, for thy sake, to thy people. Oh, how is it that we can forget thee? How is it that the glare of this false world can so cheat our senses, that we dream of happiness out of thee? "Lord of all power and might, who art the Author and Giver of all good things; without whom we cannot so much as think what is right, grant unto us the Spirit of holiness, so that our lives and all that we have, may be gladly yielded unto thee: then shall peace possess our hearts; then shall we glorify thee on earth, and enjoy thee for ever in heaven. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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LIV.

The Baptist John was still shut up in prison, but the day of his deliverance was at hand. Herod feared him. He feared his power over the minds of the people. He feared him as the servant of the holy God, who boldly reproved him for his evil deeds: but this very fear held back his hand. He shut him up in prison, but he would not take his life. Herodias, the wicked woman, who was at once Herod's sister-in-law, and his wife, whom he had taken by force from his brother Philip to be his own, hated John as much as she feared him. She cared nothing for his being the servant of God, or for his reproofs. She cared nothing for the power he had over the people's minds, but she

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cared greatly for the power he might have over Herod's mind, for she knew that he "observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly." Might not this feeling that Herod had for John grow stronger? and might he not one day listen to him, and break the sinful bond of his unlawful marriage with her? So long as the Baptist lived, there was fear of this, and Herodias was determined that he should die. At the very beginning of his imprisonment "she would have killed him," but up to this time "she could not." No doubt she had tried all the arts a wicked woman could try; she had not been able to have her way, and John still lived. His prison was in the strong-hold of Machærus, built on the edge of Herod's country, which it divided from Arabia Petrea, the country belonging to Aretas, the father-in-law of Herod.* We know this from history,† and from the same history we know that Herod at this time marched his army against the king of Arabia, who had made war upon him, that he might force him to take back his daughter, who was his rightful wife.‡

It is most likely that this war was the reason why it came to pass that Herod and his court were in the same place where John lay shut up in prison.§ Within the walls of Macharus Herod had a palace,|| and it may be that, resting there awhile with his army, Herod being again within reach of his prisoner, the wretched Herodias more than ever feared the power he might gain over him. Her bloody purpose was accomplished in a strange manner.

By means of feasting and dancing, the Baptist found the death that set him free from the power of Herod, and from the hatred of his wicked wife.

It was Herod's birth-day, and there was a feast at court. Herodias had a young daughter, whose grace and beauty she

* Aretas, king of Arabia, was the father of Herod's wife, who he had put away that he might marry Herodias. † Josephus. Ibid.

§ Biblical Cyclopedia.

Il Josephus.

made use of as a means to keep her power over the uneasy mind of the guilty king. It is written :—

MATTHEW xiv. 6, 7. "But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask."

He had fallen into the snare that had been so artfully laid for him. Herodias knew beforehand that the king would be pleased by this dance; perhaps she made him feel that nothing but the desire to do honour to his birth-day could have made her allow her daughter, a young maiden, and a princess, to dance in this public manner before all the court. The girl may have been worthy of her mother, and without fear or shame, have carried out her odious scheme ; or she may have been forced to obey her commands. Very young she must have been, and cold-blooded cruelty is so unnatural in a young girl, that we may hope she acted against her will. At all events, she knew what she had to do, and she did it, for it is written :

Verses 8-11. "She, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel; and she brought it to her mother.”

These few verses bring before our minds two very different pictures. First, we seem to see before us Herod's court, bright with lights and jewels, glittering with gold and silver, with his lords and captains in their splendid eastern dresses doing honour to the royal birthday. We see before us the proud triumphant look of the sinful woman who called herself the queen; the troubled brow of Herod, listening to these cruel words, "Give

me here John Baptist's head in a charger." How ill they suit the young face, the girlish form of her who speaks them. Herod's brow is dark and troubled, but he yields. The executioner receives his orders and departs upon his dreadful errand. If we follow him in thought, how different is the scene! The prison in the dark and quiet hour of night. The servant of God sleeps in peace, waiting the hour of his deliverance. It is at hand. More than a year he has been within these prison walls. He is still young,* but never more shall his voice sound through the wilderness. His work is done. He has prepared the way for one mightier than himself, (Luke iii. 16,) there is nothing more for him now to do. The orders of Herod cannot take him by surprize. There is no time for prayer; but there is no need, for Christ himself has said that John was more than a prophet." The hour of freedom has come, his head is delivered to the daughter of Herodias, and his spirit has risen to the rejoicing bands of angels who welcome to the throne of God the forerunner of their Lord.

Truly the things belonging to the kingdom of God can never be judged by what is seen in this world. When kings die, and those whom men call great, though they may have been wicked and cruel in their lives, there is no sign of the evil they have done in the luxury and pomp that surrounds their dying beds. Each word they speak is repeated; and, while life lasts within them, they fill the thoughts of the multitude who delight to hear from hour to hour of all that is said and done within the chambers of the great. When all is over, and they are carried to the tomb, men crowd to their funeral to gaze upon their magnificence; and monuments are raised over them that are a sight even to their children's children.

When John the Baptist died at midnight, within the walls of a prison, by the sword of the executioner, not a single friend

* John the Baptist was only six months older than Jesus, therefore, at his death he could scarcely be thirty-two.

was there to say how he met the stroke of death. Of his funeral, all we know is this, that

MATTHEW XIV. 12. "His disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it.”

Yet we have the witness of the Son of God himself, that, 'Among them that are born of woman, there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist." (Matt. xi. 11.)

We should do wrong if we turned from this sad history without considering the cause why Herod beheaded John the Baptist. We have read that "the king was very sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat," he did it.

the sake of a rash oath, to murder one whom he knew (Mark vi. 20.) It is need

Now was he right or wrong for sin against his conscience, and to "to be a just man and an holy?" ful for us to be clear in our understanding of this matter, for a rash promise or vow is often made a reason, even by well-meaning persons, for doing wrong, or for leaving some duty undone.*

Now the plain truth is simply this, a sin cannot be made less by committing a greater sin. If we have done wrong by making a rash promise or vow, we shall only do a greater wrong by keeping it. What we ought to do is quite plain. We

* This is a mistake into which persons in every rank of life are apt to fall. I remember an instance in cottage-life, which will well show how great the error is. A mother was asked how it was that with the power of sending her children to school, they were all growing up unable to read? She made reply, 'My eldest boy went for a time to school, but his father often took him off his books; I was so angry, that at last I said, in a great passion, that if he ever kept him from school again I would never send him or any other child to be taught at all. He did it just the same, and so I have never sent any of them to school again. It was very wrong of me, and I am very sorry, but I cannot go against my word.'

In every rank of life, from the cottage to the palace of King Herod, much misery has been often caused by the weak feeling, that even a sinful promise must be kept, instead of being repented of as any other known sin.

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