New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-10-06

so touching its Innocent simplicity 50 nrshe
in s depth of consciousness Infinitely einoIpo a
furnishing us with the first recorded words oi 'ne hou
Jesus; u ..,,,n ma, ynd ne not know
that must be about my Fathers 6us'nessI
The relations of John tho Baptist to Christ are
described in very effective portraiture, whlch 10 30
deeply fraught with psychological truth that inc
reader is almost tempted to neglect the INQUIRY as
to its foundation in history. The noble selt-dehiai
and austere simplicity of John grew out OF his con-
seriousness of important mission. IL was an age Va
doubt. of uncertainty and transition. The scepter
had departed from Judah. The pious Hebrew had
no hope but in the coming of the promised Messiah
There was general expectation OF the wrath W
Gomez which betokened the brth-throeS OF tho new
kingdom The world had grown old, and the cor
ruptions of its dotage had to fearful excess.
Even the heather felt that the "fullness OF time
had come At ouch periods there is strong impulse
TO ascetic seclusion This tendency had shown Itself
in the youthful Nazarte from his earliest years. but
it was only from the desire to fulfill destiny inspired
by glowing hopes John the Baptist was dweier IN
the wilderness in order that he might become the
prophet of the Highest. His nature was full OF I'M
petuosity and fire. The long struggle which had
given him powerful mastery over himself had
left its traces in the stern character and teaching
and action of the man. If he had won peace IN the
PRAYER and pentence of his life in the wilderness it
victory he had won still showed traces of the battle.
The calm he had obtained echoed with the distant
mutters of the storm. Evep his teaching reflected
the imagery of the wilderness the rock, the ser
pent the barren tree. In his manifestation and
agency he was like q burning torch.
His public life was an earthquake. While
he was musing the fire burned, and Mt the
last he spake with his tongue. Almost from boy
hood he had been voluntary eremitc. In solitude
he had learnt things unspeakable; there the unseen
world had become to him reality there his spirit
had caught touch Of phantasy and flame. Commun-
ING with his own great lonely heart-communing
with the high thoughts of that long line OF prophets
his predecessors to rebelous people-communing
with the uterances that came to him from the voices
of the mountain and the sea-he had learnt deeper
lore than he could have ever learnt at Hillels OF
Shammais feet In the tropic monday of that
deep Jordan valley, where the air seems to be
full of a subtle and quivering fame-in listening
TO the howl of the wild beasts in the long night,
under the luster of stars that seemed TO hang ike
| balls of fire in purple sky'-in wandering by the
sluggish cobal. -colored waters of that dead and
accursed lake, until before his eyes, dazzlcd by the
saline efilorescence of the shore strewn with its
wrecks of DEATH the ghosts of the guilty seemed to
start out of the sulphnrous ashes under which they
| were submerged-he had learnt language, he had
received re'eia,ioh ho' 'o"oN' . ~
men-attained not in the schools Of the Rabbs, but
in the school of solitude, in the school of God.'
Such teachers are suited for such times His eath
ar, oird,a and mantle of cameTs hair corresponded
| with his brOnzed cOuntcnance and unshorn locks
| Here was man in all his natural grandeur and
| dauntless force. His life transparent in the
presence of the people. Ii known that bis drink
was water of the river, and that he lived on locusts
and wild honey. Men felt in him that supreme mas
! 'eiS WIFI" ~ 1t" '' ''''''' W
No wonder that such at once made himself felt
rumored that, in the wilderness of Judea. lived
whose burning words II was worth wnlie 70 near
s TnO TSeras was I pHa by his names the
pca OF IG Rtotions massacre was madenng
fanatic people; Herod Anpas was exhibiting to facile
sa ng and Aona We're dividing The functions
| of priesthood which they dsgraced Yet the talk
OF the new fropne was n9t VI ~, a, ,ocn eeer
cnce Whatever might be the class who ocked to his
solitude his teaching was Intensely o prastSsa
amd Sadancna serbia and solder priest and
Pgosq all 70 W mis- woGgs aes
S terated WILDERNESS when stretches southward
Jericho e and a the SF Ul o1e1apS 10 the
dehe wnlen ea rom ZEN VA hets Ind the
naun. " @ n, yet exinct in the reedbeds that
marked the swenss Of Jordan; yet from every quarter
VI one Jun ,iI;ng iiiee bev sfreamine forth
re- oonants 81 thia stran0e voice And the
10 caecn 'ne ia ar lie aioer to an in neces
~; ntiost hart e fame Tn n,erce into the most
h h tbon9bts Without a shadow Of euphemism
without an accent of subservience without OF
hetafon he rebuked the tax gatherers for their extor
'oonns ,na snt,ars Tor THAR yoience unfarness
d isS,t o tSs wealthy saddncees and stately
anu t o H., a, ,aSrv Svhoh ,ada them
iUt . ~, hrna Tha whc,e nanna he a,med
vLpeIs VI , rs 49, uors fhan ysuaess
tnal tnelr cnerisneu PiN VIZ W., 30 yuan
H. without repentluGe' thoS ioka o 3 ' .b
uon agaDs. t1 "tasil W ht t.n "a he haT crea,ed
upon 'ef nRn ar S even ont Of t%ose d,nts
@ th o of Jordan was able 70 raise mn children