not fit that the Saviour, who came after so many years and centuries of expectation and preparation, should come without notice or herald. For this Saviour was God. Even

earthly kings and princes have a forerunner. But this herald came to proclaim that which no other forerunner or herald had to proclaim, "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel," O all ye who will be Israelites in heart. "For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the spirit, and declareth to man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, whose name is the Lord, the God of Hosts," cometh. (Amos iv. 12, 13.)

But not a herald only, it was necessary that the Saviour God should have his witness, lest haply the world might stand excused for not receiving the Light which came only in his own light; and it might be so dazzled, like the sun, with His own fulgence, that the very source of light should prevent the seeing of itself,-of its own light.

But the witness of two to the same thing is true. One man may come with dazzling pretensions to birth and station, saying he is some

of sin,-if man had been redeemed at once after the transgression, and before he had ever witnessed the amount, and depth, and intensity, and dreadfulness of sin in its form and consequences,-man could never have known the necessity of the atonement, or been able to measure the price paid by the magnitude of the thing paid for. Or, if man had not failed in all his own efforts, he could not have known the value and greatness of that conquest, which exceeded all human exertions combined, and triumphed after their signal discomfiture. But now, when, in the fulness of 4,000 years, the world had only sunk deeper and deeper, till now it was in the very depths of sin and misery; and every sinew of reason and wisdom had been strained to the utmost, and utterly failed to work out a scheme for man's regeneration, and his search after truth had only brought him to the confession of "the unknown god;" then, and not till then, the power and love could be manifested, which provided and performed a redemption from a condition so irredeemable and hopeless. And so the fulness of time was now come. In those days came John the Baptis

great one, and has a high commission and title to perform acts, or exercise authority. His mission may have the expected form and character, and every probability of appearance. But the commission may be forged and fraudulent. Every one may fancy himself to have a commission from heaven, and may firmly believe that his own credentials are true and genuine; and every impostor more or less deceives himself, and is persuaded of the truth of his own pretensions. But when another comes with separate credentials, carrying in them the same mission and object, the amount of the two is corroborative evidence, which entitles the matter to attention and to general belief, if there be no contradiction; and the consent of two is the best disproof of madness, for two madmen do not concur in the same idea. But the confirmation is doubly stronger, when the witness comes at a different time. Still stronger when it comes beforehand, and by a different course, and from a different quarter, and without concurrence with the subject of its testimony. "And I knew Him not," said John the Baptist; "but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto

me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God." (John i. 33, 34.) "It is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true." And this is the reasoning of our Lord: "If I bear witness of myself" alone, "my witness is not true,"to be believed. "There is another

that beareth witness of me."

"Ye sent unto

John, and he bare witness unto the truth." 'He was a burning and a shining light." (John v. 31, 32, 33, 35.) As the moon, reflecting the sun, itself not too bright to be gazed on, and shining in the darkness of the world, heralds the rising of the sun, and gives witness of its existence and coming, so John the Baptist shining in the darkness of the world, witnessed and heralded the advent of Christ.

And John came preaching in the wilderness, saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This was he, whom Isaiah has called the voice of one crying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. And this is the same thing. The preparation for the Lord is repentance. When men repent and confess their sins, and

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