PART " nefs, that I faid I am not the Chrift, but IV. "that I am sent before him. He that hath "the bride, is the bridegroom: but the friend"of the bridegroom, which ftandeth and "heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of "the bridegroom's voice: this my joy is there"fore fulfilled. He must increafe, but I must decreafe. He that cometh from above, is above all he that is of the earth, is earthly; and fpeaketh of the earth: he that "cometh from heaven, is above all. cr Nothing can be more fublime or perfect than fuch a reply,which contains the moft fecret, and at the fame time the most effential truths of Christianity, and fuppofes in John the Baptist a fupernatural light and wisdom. You feem concerned, fays he to his difciples, that I am not in fo great esteem, and that my reputation fades, and is eclipsed by another's glory. But what I have, I have received: I cannot give myself any thing, and all I have comes from heaven. To be displeased with another perfon's being held in greater efteem than myself, is repining at the difpenfation of providence. Since I told you that I was not the Chrift, you should have understood that I was only a minister, and not the bridegroom. The church is not mine; I am as one of its children in its bofom. But it is not I who render it fruitful: there is none but the Meffiah, who is at the fame time both its father and bridegroom; and this bridegroom has been long expected. The fervants have preceded him, but they could neither fupply his place, nor comfort us in his abfence. To day I hear his voice, very CHAP. different from that of Mofes and the prophets. V. I hear him with reverence and joy. I hearken' to him standing; I.fhould be very much difpleased, that whilft he is fpeaking, any one fhould come to hear me. I have prepared the way for him, and I have only to disappear after his coming. I am interested in his glory, and the fame reasons which induced me to proclaim him, before he fhewed himself, oblige me to retire after his appearance. It would be keeping men in fubjection and misery, and continuing therein myself, to attempt to engage them to me. I cannot change them nor render them happy: I am, as they are, formed of the earth, and my impotent and in1 effectual words cannot reftore their celestial origin which they have forfeited. It only belongs to him, who is the creator and above all, to be the object of our faith and hope. God only can fave and reform men. All this is comprized in the words of St. John, which I have only a little paraphrafed, in order to convey the fenfe in a more obvious manner to those, who, perhaps, may have but an imperfect idea of it; and I afk, of whofoever will give himself the trouble to read this, whether it be poffible to arraign a man of such virtue and fincerity, of having concerted, or in a manner defigned the character he so worthily maintained, tho', in other refpects, every circumftance did not prove the contrary. PART VIII. ARTICLE The martyrdom of St. John confirms his teftimony. Important reflections upon the character of his refolution and his prudence in parting with his disciples, and bringing them over to Chrift. B UT this is not all. The teftimony of St. John must be defective in an effential point if he had not confirmed it with his blood, and if he had any other recompence in this life for his zeal and love for juftice and truth, than the glory of dying for it. We know that whilst he was in Galilee* under Herod's jurifdiction, he found fault with Herod because he had espoused Herodias his brother Philip's wife; and that prince being offended at this liberty threw him into prison †, nay even put him in irons, yet without daring to deprive him of life, tho' Herodias had formed the defign, and used the utmost artifice to have him executed: "for Herod feared John, knowing "that he was a just man, and an holy, and " obferved him, and when he heard him, he "did many things, and heard him gladly." We *Mark vi. 17. + Laid hold upor John and bound him in prifon. But Herodiás had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him, but fhe could not. Mark vi. 20. We likewife know how this weak, fuperftiti- CHAP. ous, and cruel prince complied with the paffi- V. on of Herodias, through the fear of perjury; and how he facrificed his understanding and confcience to unjust and frivolous motives, What I am now confidering, confines me to those points which are effential to my defign. First, it is not for himself, nor for any perfonal accufation, that John was shut up in prifon, and afterwards beheaded. He could have preferved his liberty and life, and even continued his miniftry, if he had not represented to the prince that he was doing what by the law of God was forbidden. He was therefore very far from having any motive of ambition of intereft, and very oppofite to the character of a flatterer, which is infeparable from impoftors. Secondly, he does not feek to gain the reputation of an intrepid man, or of one capable of making even princes tremble by haughtily reproving them, and by mortifying their pride and ambition with an imperious and fevere command. It fuffices him to fay, What you do is unlawful, and afterwards he held his tongue; and when his wife counfels flung him into prifon and chains, he was not lefs difpofed to advise the prince, who deprived him of liberty, whenever he was pleased to confult with him, and to adminifter his counfels, with so much sweetness, patience and tranquillity, that the prince was edified and touched with it, and took pleasure not only in hearing, but even in folI 4 lowing PART lowing them. Is not the truth and fincerity IV. of this character very obvious? do we not eafily conceive, how oppofite it is to that of à man actuated by any other motives than those of conscience? and can we poffibly judge, that a man fo elevated above all paffions, fo difinterested, fo zealous for truth and justice, and at the fame time fo humble, moderate, and wife, fo equal, in fine, in all conditions, could be governed by fuch bafe and effeminate paffions, as diffimulation, hypocrify, and a defign of deceiving his country in fo capital a point as that of a false Meffiah. Thirdly, 'tis in his prifon*, and a little before his death, that he fends two of his difciples to Chrift, to atteft his miracles, under pretext of afking him, whether it was he that was to come, or another was to be expected. For he knew that his difciples were extremely attached to him, and that the more he effayed to leffen their affections, the more his modesty and humility prejudiced them in his favour. He thought †, that the fuperior candour and humility of Chrift, joined to actual, or very recent miracles, would have a greater influence upon. them, than any difcourfes; and he was fatisfied, that they had rather engage in a deputation, where there was the appearance of any doubt, than in another where they fhould be obliged to acknowledge, in his name, Jefus Chrift for the Meffiah. Such a conduct, fo full of wisdom and charity, is an in # 16 When he heard in prifon the works of Chrift, Matt. xi. z. + Luke vii. 21, |