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of Jesus, and he did not know he was, but thought it must be John the Baptist risen from the dead.

We have not a particular account of the life of John, but we know he was a good and faithful minister, who suffered a violent death in consequence of giving a just reproof to a wicked man. From the third verse we learn that Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him and put him in prison, for Herodias' sake, his brother's wife, whom he had taken for his wife. John had plainly and courageously told him that it was not lawful for him to have another man's wife. Wicked people are not often willing to be told of their sins, and this enraged Herod so that he confined John in prison; though he did not then dare to put him to death, because he feared the people, who thought John a very good man.

After the pious minister had been taken from his friends, and shut up in the gloomy prison, it appears from the sixth verse that Herod's birthday was kept. Those who are rich and powerful can easily command the celebration of birthdays, or any other outward ceremonies of honor; but money cannot purchase, nor power command, the love and respect of those who know them-nothing can secure these but a lovely deportment, and kind, benevolent actions. I doubt not many more people truly rejoiced in the birth of John the Baptist, who was that day pining in his solitary prison, than there were that could rejoice in the birth of Herod the tetrarch: but there were many in the palace of the ruler to feast and dance, and appear to be very happy in celebrating his birthday, and among these was a young lady who was the

daughter of Herodias. This young lady amused Herod so much by her dancing, that at the moment when his feelings were so excited that he hardly knew what he said, he promised with an oath to give her anything she should ask him.

No doubt she was both surprised and delighted with such a promise, but it seems she was ready, being before instructed by her wicked mother, to ask that she might have the head of John the Baptist brought her in a charger, or kind of dish. It is probable that Herodias had been cherishing a spirit of revenge towards the good man who had reproved her for her sin, and now she rejoiced in an opportunity to gratify it. There was nothing in all the dominions of Herod that she so much desired as the head of John the Baptist.

Herod had made a very rash and foolish promise, and we learn from the ninth verse that he was sorry; but because he had taken the oath, and the people who sat at meat with him had heard it, he commanded it to be given her. Herod hated John, but because he feared the people, or from some other reason he did not wish to take his life at that time; and when he made the promise, I suppose he had no idea that a young lady would ask such a cruel thing. Yet it appears that he felt bound by his own wicked promise rather than by the law of God. A wicked promise should be repented of and broken, or given up, just like any other sin. It is going still deeper and deeper into sin to oblige ourselves to keep a promise which we see was wrong. Herod had long been adding sin to sin, and now he had promised to be a murderer. O miserable man! Think of him, and

Herodias, and her daughter, as the executioner was sent out to bring them the head of John the Baptist. True they were in a splendid palace, surrounded by every thing costly and elegant, and attended by servants who were ready to obey even the glance of their eye, and followed by pretended friends, always ready to smile and flatter, to obtain their favor; but do you think these wicked people were happy? Would you be willing to take the place of either of them, even that of the young lady, the most innocent of the three? Would you not rather be in the place of the pious servant of the Lord who was about to have his head severed from his body?

Let us think for a moment how it was with him. He was sitting in a dark lonely prison, perhaps without bed or chair to rest on, and with scarcely food enough to eat; bound, perhaps so that he could not walk the length of his cell; but the heart you know is the seat of happiness or misery, and do you think John felt guilty and distressed in mind? O no. The good man, I doubt not, was rejoicing in God, and thinking of the happiness of heaven. He could not, like Jesus, know when his work on earth was finished, but he could feel perfectly willing that his Heavenly Father should take all the care of him, and if it was His will he chose to go out and preach again to the people; and if he had done all his duty on earth, he was ready at any moment, and by any means, to leave his body on earth, and go to live with Jesus. When the executioner sent by Herod appeared in his prison, and told him to lay his head on the block, he knew his work on earth was

done, and we cannot suppose that he delayed one moment to obey him. True he was called to endure a distressing death, but a few moments at most would close his sufferings, and his happy spirit would be received to heaven, and his pained body would lie senseless and unfeeling, not even knowing whether it was surrounded by the cold, damp walls of a prison, or the magnificence of a palace.

We learn from the tenth and eleventh verses that the executioner went and beheaded John, and brought his head and gave it to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. Would you, my young reader, have been in the place of Herodias' daughter at this time? She has danced with so much grace and sprightliness as to please the king, and now she receives the reward he promised her-the head of a good man severed from his body, and placed in a charger for her to carry to her wicked mother. Could she enjoy this reward? She was young, and perhaps beautiful and accomplished, but she must have had a hardened, cruel heart, if she could bear to take the vessel which contained the bleeding head, and carry it to her mother. O, I should think she could never wish to dance again; and through her whole life it seems to me she must have thought with solemn, awful feelings of that good

man.

The wicked spirit of revenge which Herod and his wife had cherished towards the faithful minister was now gratified. In the midst of a birthday feast they had paused from their mirth and revelry to look at the good man's head, and now they were

sure that he was dead, and could not speak to reprove them again. But do you think they were happy in their sin, because they knew John was not watching over them? No, indeed. Their hearts told them that God still watched all their thoughts and actions, and they felt guilty and distressed in the midst of their splendid pleasure. This I know is the case with all wicked people, but I am sure that Herod felt guilty, because it is said in the second verse that he said of Jesus, "This is John the Baptist, risen from the dead." He knew nothing about the Saviour, but when he heard of his mighty works, and of his preaching so much like John's whom he had beheaded, he feared that he had risen from the dead. It was his guilty feelings that made his thoughts turn towards John with the fear that he had returned to earth. Poor,-wicked ruler! He knew not that God had sent one far mightier than John, his beloved Son, who came to reprove all the world of sin, and to die that the vilest sinners might be saved.

Much instruction may be drawn from this account of the death of John the Baptist. See how one sin leads on to another. Herod was at first guilty of breaking the seventh commandment, and when he was reproved for this, he was at length led on to commit murder, and thus he broke the sixth commandment also. We may, too, learn from this account, that neither our birthdays or any other days should be given up to feasting and amusement. We may notice our birthdays, and celebrate their return by grateful acknowledgements to our Heavenly Father for the mercy that

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