The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-13

This desert was a wilderness south of Judea, stretching eastward to the Dead Sea. Travellers say, that sec tion of the country is destitute of all animal life, except chance vulture or fox. For the most part it is a waste of sand and sage-brush. John withdraw there and supported himself \ by eating great insects called locusts, and the wild honey which he found in the crevices of rocks and the hollow places of trees. He had neither house nor tent He had no servant or com panion. All the earthly possessions he had was the short skirt of camers skin fastened around his waist with a leather belt
 John was tall and lank and burned brown by the sun. Even his long, coarse, black hair that afforded some protection to his back and shoulders, under the scorching sun, had partly the East, had driven whole peoples wild long uncut whiskers both his hair and whiskers bristled in the desert winds like a lions mane. He was strickingly like Elijah.
 John the Baptist was a prophet. He was the last prophet-man. There had not been one for 400 years before him. He is the man who was to go before and announce the coming of Massiah, whose shoestrings he said he was un- worthy to unite.
 His Message
 His message was characteristic of the man. It was forceful, incisive, brief. Turn from sin. Do right. The kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The king is soon to come"
 No wonder the Jews Hooked to hear him. John reminded them of Elijah, and the most heroic episode of Jewish history, the contest on Carmel. A man of this character arising suddenly among the easily-excited population of the east, had driven whole peoples wild with a sort of frantic hysteria more than once. Always they came as her aids of faith. Their voices announced the end of old orders of things and spoke the prelude of new eras.
 The men who gathered taxes and were called publicans, came to John asking what they should do. Soldiers two represented the social and political order of the time. Pharisees came making great show of being good and performing the ceremonies of worship. These represented the dead church and its dead religion. John shamed them more than the others. Papini says John must have answered them: You who lock yourselves up into houses of stone as vipers hide themselves under the rocks; you Pharisees and Sad ducees are harder than stone; your minds are petrified in the letter and the rites of the law; your selfish hearts are stony to the hungry who ask you for bread, you give stone, and you throw the stone at him who has sinned less than you."
 Some of the people began to ask, ''Is not this man the Christ whom God promised?"
 John heard of this and answered {: T baptize you with water, but there is one coming immideately after me who shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit. This mighty one shall sift out the wheat from the chaff. He will gather the wheat into the grannery, but the chaff he will burn up with fire.
 Wise men came from Jerusalem to ask John who he was.
 Art thou Elijah:"
 No I am not"
 Art thou the prophets"
 And he answered No"
 Art thou the Christi"
 No" he said. II am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. There is one coming after me-"
 The Announced
 John called sinners to be baptised. Among the last who came was the young carpenter from Nazareth. When John saw him he said. T ought to be baptized by you. Why should you come to me-"
 Jesus was mans man. He would not ask others to do what he would not do himself.
 Jesus came among sinners, but he was no sinner. He came to bathe in the waters of Jordan, but there was not a stain in His life. He knew life He did not refuse life, which though not good in itself, is a prerequisite condition of all good things.
 His Plan
 The baptism of Jesus is like others superficially, but is justified in other ways. He went to John that the prophecy of the precursor might be fulfilled. He recognized John as the