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4. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

5. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

6. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.

Leo X,, the triumph of the papacy was celebrated by a feast. Then came Luther, the morning star of the Reformation, followed by numerous reformers, who renewed the image of Christ in far brighter and more enduring colors in the hearts of multitudes. Pope Adrian, Leo's successor, wrote in a "brief" to the diet at Nuremberg: The heretics, Huss and Jerome, appear to have come to life again in the person of Martin Luther.'"

4. JOHN SAID UNTO HIM, IT IS NOT LAWFUL.

There

BISHOP LATIMER AND HENRY VIII.-" Bishop Latimer once displeased Henry VIII. by a sermon he preached at court, and the king commanded him to recant the next Sunday. But when he rose to preach, he prepared his sermon thus: Hugh Latimer, dost thou know to whom thou art this day to speak? To the high and mighty monarch who can take away thy life if thou offend. fore take heed how thou speak a word that may displease.' But, as if recalling himself, 'Hugh, Hugh, dost thou know from whence thou comest, upon what message thou art sent, and who is it that is present with thee? Even the great and mighty God, who is able to cast both body and soul into hell forever. Therefore be sure that thou deliver thy message faithfully.' He then confirmed and urged with more earnestness the offending truths he had spoken the week before. But Henry was wiser than Herod, and embraced the preacher, thanking God for a man in his kingdom who dared to deal so faithfully with him."-Foster, Cyclopedia of Illustrations, 938.

A CONTRAST.-"John acted a very different part from that of the judges of Persia in the time of Cambyses. That madman of a monarch wished to marry his sister; and he demanded of the judges whether there were any Persian law that would sanction such a marriage. They pusillanimously answered that they could find no such law, but they found another, That the monarch of Persia was at liberty to do whatsoever he pleased" (Herodotus, III., 31).—Schaff.

7. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.

8. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.

9. 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.

A.D. 29.
March.

THIRD YEAR.
DEATH OF
JOHN THE
BAPTIST.

Luther.

THE COURAGE of John.-1. Luther, when pressed to stay away from the Diet at Worms, where he was to be tried for heresy, said to the messenger, "Go, tell your master that, though there should be as many devils as there are tiles on its roofs, I would enter it." And, again, of his mortal enemy, Duke George, "If I had business at Leipzig, I would ride into Leipzig, though it rained Duke Georges for nine days running."

2. Mahomet, when his uncle, Abu Thaleb, pressed him to be silent, and not anger the chief people by his utterances, answered that if the sun stood on his right hand and

Mahomet.

the moon on his left, ordering him to hold his peace, he could not obey.

Socrates.

3. Socrates, when condemned to death, said, "Athenians, I will obey God, rather than you; and if you would let me go, and give me my life on condition that I should no more teach my fellow-citizens, sooner than agree to your proposals, I would prefer to die a thousand times."-Plato, Apology, p. 23.

7. A KINGDOM for a Dance.-Herod was willing to give away half of his kingdom for the sight of an immoral dance. Poor fool! But how many in our day give away the whole kingdom of their souls, with health and hope, prosperity, peace, and goodness,-yea, the whole kingdom of heaven,-for the paltry price of a glass of wine; the pleasure of the table; the gratification of passion or pride; the acquisition of a little money. The race of Esau still thrives who sell their birthright for a mess of pottage.

9. THE KING WAS SORRY, NevertheleSS HE COMMANDED.— "Such a state of partial conviction is not unusual. Many of us know quite well that, if we would drop some habit, which may not be very grave we should be less encumbered in some effort which it is our interest or duty to make; but the conviction has not gone deeper than

10. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.

II. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.

12. And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

the understanding. Like a shot which has only got halfway through the armored skin of a man-of-war, it has done no execution, nor reached the engine-room where the power that drives the life is. In more important matters such imperfect convictions are widespread. The majority of slaves to vice know perfectly well that they should give it up.

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Such a condition is one liable to unrest and frequent inner conflict. Truly, he is 'much perplexed' whose conscience pulls him one way, and his inclinations the other. There is no more miserable condition than that of a man whose will is cleft in twain, and who has a continual battle raging within. Conscience may be bound and thrust down into a dungeon, like John, and lust and pride may be carousing overhead, but their mirth is hollow, and every now and then the stern voice comes up through the gratings, and the noisy revelry is hushed, while it speaks doom."

Lives Lived
Rapidly,

-Rev. Dr. Maclaren, in Sunday-School Times.

10-12. BEHEADED JOHN IN PRISON.—“ His death was not premature; it was the closing of a full and ripened life. His life had been a rapidly burning lamp which has given all the greater light in a dark place. I can illustrate by the burning of candles in compressed air in submerged caissons. When the railroad bridge was being built across the Mississippi River at St. Louis a man told me he went down in one of these caissons eight hundred feet below the surface of the water. The bad air was driven back by compressed air in the caisson. This dark place was lighted with burning candles. These candles burned very rapidly and gave a corresponding light. They could not be blown out by a human breath. So it was with the life of this man. It burned fast under the pressure of a great love."-Rev. Geo. Candee.

SUCCESS. A short life which fulfils its mission is a success.

"That life is long which answers life's great end." -Young.

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not

breaths;

In feelings, not in figures on a dial. He most lives

Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." -Bailey.

"He liveth long who liveth well;
All other life is short and vain;

He liveth longest who can tell
Of living most for heavenly gain."

John's life was a success.

His character was

A.D. 29.

March.

THIRD YEAR.
DEATH OF
JOHN THE
BAPTIST.

"Rich in experience that angels might covet,
Rich in a faith that has grown with the years."

His work was completed. When the new graft has become well started, the old branches are best cut away.

LATIMER AND RIDLEY.-" The martyrdom of John is his strongest sermon, heard and felt everywhere. He still precedes Christ in every revival, as repentance must precede forgiveness." His martyrdom set this light on a hill for all the world to see. It rang the bell hidden in a tower, so that all men must hear his message. So Bishop Latimer, bound to the stake, said to Bishop Ridley, "We shall light such a candle, by God's grace, in England this day, as I trust shall never be put out again."

JOHN really lives in the life of Christianity; he triumphs in its triumphs.

"Speak, history! Who are life's victors? Unroll thy long annals and say,

Are they those whom the world calls the victors who won the success of the day?

The martyrs, or Nero? The Spartans who fell at Thermopyla's

tryst,

Or the Persians and Xerxes? His judges, or Socrates? Pilate or Christ ?"

t

13.

When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.

14. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

LIBRARY.-J. R. Miller's "Making the Most of Life," showing the success of the short life of Harriet Newell.

HYMN. The beautiful hymn, “For all the Saints who from Their Labors Rest."

II. GIVEN TO THE DAMSEl.- "In front of an old ruined abbey in a secluded glen in Europe there is a stone statue of a headless man, holding in a plate in his hand his own head. It is the statue of the martyr John the Baptist. One of the story-writers of France has represented the cruel and revengeful daughter of Herodias, who asked such fiendish pay for dancing, as put under the same curse as the 'wandering Jew' of Jerusalem, doomed to live and wander for centuries without growing old or hoping to rest or die, Herodias hearing ever the cry behind her, 'Go on, go on.' After eighteen centuries of weary wandering, she comes at last, by accident, to the foot of this statue, and sees in the dead face a look of sympathy and pity. As she glances into the spring at her side, she perceives with unspeakable joy that she is rapidly growing old, and almost in a moment her hair has turned white. She can now hope for pardon and the longed-for rest of death. This legend is but a picture of the remorse of unpardoned sin following us for centuries in this world and the other. Only the pardon of Christ can give such a heart hope and rest."

and the Statue of John.

REFERENCE.-14. Chapters iv. 24 and viii. 16.

"He did kind things so kindly;

It seemed His heart's delight
To make poor people happy
From morning until night.

-W. F. Crafts.

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