Page:Jesus of Nazareth the story of His life simply told (1917).djvu/124

 fallen fortunes of Israel; who should march at their head against the heathen Gentiles, bring the whole earth under His rule, and begin a thousand years' reign of prosperity and glory for the people of God! Men, women and children from Jerusalem and all the country about the Jordan, nay, from distant towns and villages, flocked in thousands to the wilderness—Pharisees and Sadducees, priests, publicans, soldiers, forgetting in the common joy and expectancy their mutual jealousy and hate.

But John's speech to them was not of coming pomp and pleasure, but of penance. He flattered none; he told all to confess their sins and be baptized. In stern and fearless words he rebuked the proud, the self-indulgent, the unrepenting sinner. Seeing among the crowd some Pharisees and Sadducees, he cried out:

"Ye offspring of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come?"

But he spoke gently to the humble and the poor.

Standing one day on a hillock, his voice thundered over the wilderness:

"Now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire."

The people terrified cried out: "What, then, shall we do?"

And he said: "He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none, and he that hath meat let him do in like manner."

And the publicans who came to be baptized said to him: "Master, what shall we do?"

And he said to them: "Do nothing more than that which is appointed you." For as collectors of taxes they were accustomed to cheat.