The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-20
THE sUNDAY-sCHooL LESSON.


I'm the days of Herod'' is more than an his
torical notation. The Herodian name was a
synonym Of sin and misery. The wicked were
bearing rule and the people mourned.
The very names of the rulers in church and
state indices of the prevailing misery-Tj-
berius. Plate. Herod. Philip. Lysanias. Annas
and Caiaphas. Lukes roster is mirror. reflect
ing civic, military provincial and ecclesiastical
Indebtedness. 1t was the darkness deepest be-
fore daybreak.
The second Elijah's voice. like a deep-toned
bell, had verberated from Judah's steppes to
Hermon's SHOWS In answer TO its imperious call
an audience vast and representative assembled in
the weird auditorium OF the Jordan valley,
whose stream afforded ample laver. The
preachers garments presented striking con-
trast to the soft raiment of that luxurious day.
He was no reed bowling obsequiously under the
breath OF imperialism. The burden Of his preach
ing was the imminence of the kingdom Of God.
Inc application call to repentance and
thorough-going reformation; the sign was bap-
tism.
All Israel experienced great awakening. The
Sabbatical year gave leisure for hearing and
meditating. Even those who did not honestly
accept his preaching were pleased with the novel
sensation of its electrifying rays. 1t was well
worth ones while to see and hear him. The
measure of his success is evident in the common
belief that he himself was the Messiah-a mis-
take that he instantly rectihed with the most
complete self-effacement., Yet the inference was
still drawn, what must the King be like whose
herald is decked in such moral grandeur
The person and mission of John Baptist seemed
a last effort Of Providence to awaken the Hebrew
nation. Had he never uttered a word. his very
self would have been a sermon. His plain fare
and coarse rament were a protest against purple
and fine linen and faring sumptuously every day.
He took some jutting rock for a pulpit, had the
for baptismal laver Add to these scenic Incl
dents the most fearless and searching speech
that ever fell from human lips. and is 1t to be
wondered that a whole nation went out to hear
him, and went down into his font. confessing
their sins? Well may Keble sing:
Twice in her season of decay
The fallen church i hath felt EnJans eye
Not keener burns in the chill morning sky
The herald star,
Whose torch afar
Shadows and boding night-birds n.y."
THE TEACHERS LANTERN.
John was the reviver of prophetism after a
lapse of four hundred years. The genuineness of
his prophetical character was universally ad-
mitted. He was fearlessly faithful to his call
ing. He left no stone unturned to prepare for
the general acceptance of the kingdom Of God.
Jesus himself writes his epitaph in gold.
Among them that are born OF women there
hath not risen greater than John the Baptist
We'll says PRESENCE: everything In MIN re-
called the great prophet of action. Elijah did
not write single page in the Book OF God. His
book was himself, his prophecy was his life. II
was enough for him to appear, to set before de-
generate Israel the living image Of holiness
Such was John the Baptist from the beginning
OF his career. That which he spoke he lived.
This preacher OF repentance was himself a peni-
tent"
In view OF the fidelity Of John to his work as
forerunner, the Hebrew nation is left without
cuse for its rejection of the Messiah. 1t a
conscious and willful reputation. The verdict
of history is guilty" The penalty is still en-
dured.
1t was the aptest moment In the annals of the
world for the introduction of the kingdom OF
God. Philosophy, art, government were seeming
ly allowed to come to perfection in order that
their futility might be the more manifest. They
were all at one end OF the beam; and as they
rose, humanity at the other end sank in gloom
misery and despair. The power of the ''other
world was manifested where Ii was most likely
to be accepted and when in the facile Greek
language and under the aegis of Roman law. II
could be most successfully disseminated.
In this paragraph the curtain of the New Tes.
lament rises and the greatest epoch since worlds