The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1900-06-07
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson in the international Series for
June 10, 10OO-Death of John
the Baptist.
Prepared by H. c. Lenington.1
THE LESSON TEXT.

the Baptist.
Prepared by H. c. Lenington.1
THE LESSON TEXT
mark 6:14-29.)
| IA. And King Herod heard Of Him (for
His name was spread abroad; and he
| said: That John the Baptist was risen
from the dead, and therefore mighty
works do show forth themselves in him.
Is. Others said: That It is Elias. And
others said That It Is a prophet, or as one
of the prophets
49, But when Herod heard thereof. he
said: 1t is John, whom I beheaded; he is
| risen from the dead.
| H. For Herod himself had sent forth
and laid hold upon John, and bound
him in prison for Herodias' sake, his
brother Philips wife: for he had married
| her.
49, For John had said unto Herod: 1t is
not lawful for thee to have thy brothers
wife.
10 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel
against him, and would have killed him;
| but she could not:
90 For Herod feared John. knowing that
he was a Just man and an holy, and OBJ
served him: and when he heard him, he
did many things, and heard him gladly.
| q. And when a convenient day was
come, that Herod on his birthday made
supper to his lords, high captains, and
| chief estates of Galilee:
| %. And when the daughter Of the said
I \Herodias came in, and danced, and
pleased Herod and them that sat with
him, the king said unto the damsel: Ask
of me whatsoever thou wilt. and will
| give it thee.
23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever
thou shalt ask of me. 1 will give 1t thee,
unto the half of my kingdom.
"a. And she went forth, and said unto
her mother: What shall I ask? And she
| v-1., A1o Do tsf
| 25. And she came in straightway with
haste unto the king. and asked, saying:
| / will that thou give me by and by IN a
charger the head of John the Baptist.
26. And the king was exceeding sorry;
yet for his oaths sake, and for their
ysakes which sat with him. ne could not
reject her.
81. And Immediately the king sent an ex-
ecutioner, and commanded his head to be
| brought: and he went and beheaded him
in the prison.
%. And brought his head in a
charger and gave 1t to the damsel: and
the damsel gave it to her mother.
g. And when his disciples heard of It,
they came and took up his corpse. and
laid 1t in tomb.
GOLDEN TEXT.-Be not drunk with
wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with
the Spirit-Eph. Sis.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Herod Antipas, son OF HerOd the
Great, was the Roman ruler over Cali
lee and Perea with the title of king. 1t
was in this very territory that Jesus
had been doing His greatest work. His
words and works came to the ears OF
Herod, and to-day's lesson comes in as
the result of the reflections of the
wicked ldng. What he had said must
have been court gossip, and SO filtered
down to the people generally. We can
then make this lesson study of the
character of Herod and of his relations
with the brave prophet, John the Bap-
tist, noting especially:
Herod's Troubled Conscience
| Herod's Character
Herod's Crime.
Herod's Troubled Conscience. =
There never yet has been a guilty con-
science but that it has been manifested
in some outward word or act. Herod
had committed great and dreadful
crime, and it torments him when one
might think his thoughts were furthest
from it. The wonderful works that
Jesus has been doing during the au-
tumn of A. D. 2s and the following win
ter are related TO him. Nothing had
been said about John, yet the guilty
mind of the king Immediately associ-
ated the two great and good men. 1t
might seem, and probably was the fact,
that good men were generally dis
counted at that court. Here were two
who rose far above the average. One
had rebuked the king, been imprisoned
and murdered; another arises, says
nothing about the king, simply going
about telling the glad tidings of the
kingdom and doing good. While the
works of Jesus were being told Herod
reviews his great crime.
Herod's Character.-This incident
reveals the kind of man Herod was
Bad associations was one of his fail
ings. Then he had been guilty of break.
ing one of the laws of the decalogue in
taking TO himself his brothers wife
John had said this was not lawful, and
the kings intelligence had not been
blunted so far as to deny it. But he
could stand out against his wife faI
enough to save the life of John from
her hands. This, however, was not
strength of mind, but the reverse, prob
ably superstition, at least akin to that
was his fear of killing "a just man and
an holy" But this dread of conse.
quences was not so strong as one other
characteristic of Herod's nature. He
could not stand the scorn of his com.
panions. II was "for his oath's sake
and for their sakes which sat with him
that John was finally beheaded, and
we may well suppose that it was not sc
much for the oath's sake as for fear o1
the scorn of those with him. If it ha6
been solely for his oath's sake, he would
probably have let his first refusal to
behead John stand.
Herod's Crime.-Herod's crime was
the beheading of John the Baptist
John was imprisoned in Macherus, g
strong fortress and castle on the Dor
ders of Arabia, nine miles east of the
northern end of the Dead sea, in March
or April. A. d. 2s. He was beheaded q
year later. The act shows how crime
} grows. He had been rebuked by John
for what he knew was sin. Instead
of repenting. he imprisoned the Lords
, messenger. But he had not meant to
, take his life, yet just this is what
eventually happened.
Ears and Tongues.
Tongues alone cannot work much
mischief in the world. It takes ears
to make tn work of tongues complete
of L