August 19

to heaven embodied; but they entered for themselves; and it did not follow because they entered that we should enter also. We might have inferred the possibility of our following them, but not the certainty: they entered before us, but were not our forerunners—But Jesus as “our forerunner entered for us.” There was a joy set before him; and he was received up into glory; and had a name given him above every name: but the Apostle here does not speak of his entering for himself, but for us. Had a forerunner entered for him, it would not have been so wonderful: but as if we were the grand party, the forerunner is for us—and he that forerunner himself! Now this shows a connexion between his entering and ours; and a relation of a peculiar kind; and containing nothing less than a pledge. A forerunner was a harbinger, one that preceded the rest, to awaken attention, to arrange things for those behind, and to be in readiness to receive them. In other cases the forerunner was inferior to the company for which he acted. Thus John, the forerunner of the Messiah, acknowledges that he was not worthy to stoop down and unloose the latchet of his shoes. But here the forerunner is infinitely the greatest, and the whole transaction can only be resolved into the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, and made himself of no reputation, but took upon him the form of a servant. Oh! wonder of wonders! The forerunner, the King of kings, and Lord of lords—Was ever such condescension displayed! The company represented and provided for; the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind—Was ever such honour conferred! Yet such honour have all his saints. Because it was expedient for them, he went away; and entering the holy place, he said, “I am come—and all my people are coming—I am come to prepare a place for them—and where I am, there they shall be also.”

AUGUST 19.—“And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.”—Matthew ch. xiv. 10.

JOHN was pronounced by the Judge of all to be greater than they who had been born of women before him; and to be more than a prophet. He wrought indeed no miracle, but he ushered in the Messiah; and baptized him; and proclaimed him to the multitude as the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world; and cheerfully said, He must increase, but I must decrease.

Who can help grieving that this burning and shining light should not have gone out naturally, instead of being suddenly extinguished in full blaze? Yet so it has often been. Many of the Lord’s most eminent servants have been removed in the midst of their days and usefulness—Perhaps to tell us that his cause does not depend on any instruments, however necessary as well as desirable they seem to lus—but upon himself, who has the residue of the Spirit. John not only died early, but suffered a violent death. It was the consequence of his fidelity. Herod, (the son of Herod the Great) tetrarch of Galilee, a dissolute prince, in his journey to Rome had been entertained at the Court of his brother Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis. While there he formed a criminal intrigue with his brother’s wife. He was now living incestuously with her in defiance

VOL. II.

of all shame, when John had an interview with him. John acquitted himself with unflinching integrity. He told him that rank did not excuse crime, and that kings are no more above law than their subjects—"It is not lawful for thee to have her." From that hour his doom was determined; and he was only spared for a season, from the tyrant's fear of the people. It is probable however that Herod would not have put him to death, had he been left to himself, for he seems to have had a veneration for John. But when a man has a mistress he is no longer his own; he is a servant, he is a slave—and engaged in a course of iniquity, he proceeds from evil to evil—and finds one sin necessary to another.

Nothing can equal the revenge, the restlessness, and the cunning of an imperious, whorish woman. With her, when there is a will a way will soon follow. Herodias seizes an opportunity for her foul purpose on the king's birthday; she introduced her daughter to dance—the dance it is presumed was what they now call waltzing. It excited and charmed Herod, "whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she should ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. And the king was sorry: nevertheless, for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her." Not a person present, male or female, interposed a word in his behalf! The barbarous deed was done without even the form of a trial; done privately, and in prison!—When God shall make inquisition for blood, and the earth shall no more cover her slain, what scenes of horror will be brought to light! Perhaps John was praying; perhaps sleeping, when the executioner arrived—But he was ready for the event, and the axe would only release him into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Yet the head, the veins bleeding, the hair clotted with gore, the eyes all wan and half opened, was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel; and she brought it to her mother, who, according to Josephus, stuck the tongue full of needles—what tenderness and delicacy—and yet these females had often affected to tremble at the shaking of a leaf! But there is no ground for general reflections here. A virtuous woman need not feel herself dishonoured by wretches who have disowned her sex, and renounced her very nature. We do not think the worse of the elect angels because some of their order, and created at the same time with them, became devils.

Let us turn from the master to his disciples. Two things they did. "They took up the body, and buried it." Whether his head was returned for interment with his body, or whether the ladies kept it for further entertainment and insult we know not: but doubtless the disciples obtained it if they could. Respect is due to the remains of God's servants. Stephen's corpse, stoned with such malice and fury, must have been a dreadful spectacle; but devout men carried him to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. It is probable Zechariah and Elizabeth were dead, and none of his other relations were at hand; but his disciples felt a deep interest in him, and performed the last rite—It required courage thus to espouse and honour one the king had first imprisoned and now slain: but perfect love casteth out fear.