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 XV.

THE BANKS OF JORDAN.

Leaving Nazareth behind Him, our Lord made His way to the banks of the Jordan, and following the river southward through Galilee, Samaria and Judea, arrived at a ford near Jericho. On His road He had fallen in with troops of people of all classes going in the same direction, and here assembled at the ford was a vast multitude covering both banks. On one point all eyes were fixed. Standing on the river bank was a man of rough and uncouth appearance. His face, from constant exposure to sun and wind, was of the colour of brown parchment; his eye was bright and piercing; his frame lean with fasting, and freely over his shoulders fell his long hair, for his locks had never been shorn. He wore a garment of coarse camel's hair gathered in at the waist by a leathern girdle.

Who was this extraordinary man? People said he was the son of the priest Zachary, who, thirty years ago, whilst offering incense in the Temple had seen an Angel and been struck dumb by the vision. His name was John. He had spent his life from childhood in the desert, where his food was locusts and wild honey. And now he had suddenly appeared on the borders of his desert and was telling the crowds who went out to see him that they must repent of their sins and prepare for the Messiah, for the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.

"The Kingdom, the Messiah's Kingdom at hand!" A cry of rapture rang through the land. He was near, then, who should free them from bondage and raise the