The herald of Our Lord wore a coarse robe of camel's hair which reached down a little below the knee, it was kept about him by a leathern girdle, his voice was his only trumpet, and his notes were: "Do penance for the Kingdom of God is at hand." Nothing could be imagined so sublime in its simplicity.

1 John the Baptist.-He was of the tribe of Levi, and his mother was cousin to the Blessed Virgin, In the first chapter of S. Luke's Gospel we have the history of his conception, sanctification, and birth. It is believed that he went into the desert-that half-wild plain between Jericho and the Jordan on the north of the Dead Sea-when quite a child, and remained there in solitude until he began his mission. There is no evidence from scripture that he ever met the Messiah until he came to be baptised. Tradition is busy with two meetings, and history with others, but they have no solid foundation.

2 Do penance. This expression has been found fault with by many as not being elegant. Repent is the word suggested to correspond with the Greek μɛTavoεiv, which literally means to change your mind. The original meaning is quite right, but its meaning in the words of Our Lord and his disciples means interior and exterior penance. Witness the expression in Matthew xi. 21: "Woe to thee," etc. "If in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles," etc., They would long ago μεTavonσav have changed their minds! "in sackcloth and ashes!" Nonsense. It means the Catholic notion of penance, contrition of heart and fasting, prayer and alms-deeds as a consequence. Change your heart in sackcloth and ashes and then try to breathe!

3 The Kingdom of Heaven.-This means the Church about to be established by Jesus Christ, the Messiah. This is the first time it occurs, but it will be met often, under various phases, before we have got through the Gospels.

4 A Voice. He was little more, worn with mortification as he was, but his raison d'être was that he had to proclaim the Saviour. In the first chapter of S. John this is finely described.

5 Camel's Hair.-This was a coarse woollen tunic. His girdle was leather. Girdles in the East are worth a fortune. The Church sings::

Præbuit durum tegumen camelus

Artubus sacris, strophium bidentes :

Cui latex haustum, sociata pastum
Mella locustis.

Locusts pounded formed a very coarse kind of food, and the wild honey

was not much better.

5. Then went out to him 1Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan.

6. And they were baptised by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

7. And seeing many of the 'Pharisees and Sadducees, coming to his baptism, he said to them: "Ye brood of vipers, who hath shown you to flee from the wrath to come?

8. "Bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of penance :

9. And think not to say within yourselves: We have Abraham for our father, for I tell you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

The very just people who went to John seemed to be in bad dispositions. It is not improbable that they considered they were doing the saint an honour by submitting their delicate bodies to his coarse rite. Be it as it may, they were punished in scathing words which have never perished.

When S. Matthew began his account of Our Lord's genealogy in order to show that He came of the line of Abraham, he put forward a principle which the Jews thought a great deal about. S. John destroys it altogether, and shows that descent from Abraham, if not accompanied by works of penance, is of no avail towards salvation.

The vocation of the Gentiles was not yet announced, and we do not find that any of them came to John.

1 Jerusalem and all Judea.-This is a hyperbole to signify that vast concourses from the neighbourhood went to him.

2 Baptised.-Baptise signifies to dip, to lave or to immerse, in the Original. The Sacrament, instituted by Christ, can be administered in any of the three ways. The Fathers are divided as to whether John's Baptism was a Sacrament, but all agree that it did not confer grace ex opere operato. The form of it is not handed down, and S. Paul rebaptised those who had received only John's baptism.

3 Confessing their sins.-This was not sacramental, although it may be secret, declaring them is public. The Greek word used here is the word now used in the Greek Church for confession of sins. Penance was the object of John's, and the preparation for Christ's baptism.

4 Pharisees and Sadducees.-These were two extreme schools among the Jews. The former went in for punctilios and traditionary glosses often at variance with the law. They were rigorists. The Saducees were Deists, or perhaps, freethinkers. They did not believe in the Resurrection of the body, immortality of the soul, or a future state.

5 Ye brood of vipers.-Our Lord, as well as S. John, dealt harshly with the Pharisees and Sadducees, and were kind to great sinners. Great sinners acknowledged their faults, but the others sinned on principle, and taught others how to sin.

Bring forth.-Evidently S. John meant that the penance to be done should be more than a change of mind.

7 Children to Abraham.-Hoping for salvation because you belong to a certain family is shewn to be very vain and foolish in the sight of Him who could create from the dust or the stones about the Jordan, children for His kingdom.

In the succeeding Evangelists we have a more detailed account of John's preaching and teaching. Here we have the simple announcement of his office. The form he used in baptising has not been handed down with any authority; but moden writers, after Olshausen, think it was βαπτίξω σὲ εἰς τοῦ ἐρχόμενον, "I baptise thee into or in honour of him who is coming."

John does not announce himself as anything more than a herald. The judge is the person to be feared.

1 Axe is laid to the root.-Some understand this as of the calling of the Gentiles by our Lord and the rejection of the Jews who will not believe. These latter are the fruitless trees. Others understand it of eternal punishment; but this notion is far-fetched, as God always punished eternally those who died in sin.

2 I, indeed, baptize you with water unto penance.—As mentioned already, the Baptist's was a preparatory rite. He who is to come after him is described in the four Gospels almost in the same words. The loosening and carrying of the sandals was done by slaves for their masters when entering the Temple or Synagogue. People were imagining that John must be the Messias and he shows them plainly that he is not worthyinnocent and holy as he is—to be the slave of that Messias for whom he is preparing the way.

3 The Holy Ghost and with fire.—This a comprehensive sentence which signifies the grace conferred in the Baptism of Jesus, as well as a promise of the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Day of Pentecost is also alluded to. There are other interpretations given amongst ancient and modern writers, but they are more of a curious than of an accurate nature. The words of the Baptist need not be wrested into figures when we think of Pentecost.

4 Whose fan, etc.—The use of the winnowing-fan is here applied to our Lord as Judge. The spirit of John's discourse is as being descended from Abraham will not of itself secure salvation; so neither will Baptism and Confirmation, unless the recipients lead Christian lives. Jesus will judge all, and the chaff shall be cast into unquenchable fire. A fire which never can be quenched must be eternal. The Greek means the same thing.

S. John Baptist here insists upon good works as a means of salvation. The exterior rite or profession of faith is not enough.

The Holy Ghost is generally associated with fire-not merely the fire of charity which Jesus came to cast upon the earth— but the fire of zeal.