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 such he  is  held  up  to  us  by  Our  Saviour  in  to-day's Gospel. There are,  I  confess,  few  personages  in  history that  appeal  to  me  so  strongly  as  John  the  Baptist. Like all  great  reformers  he  was  a  man  of  one idea. From the  moment  of  his  birth — aye  from  that day when  at  the  approach  of  the  unborn  Saviour  he leaped  for  joy  in  his  mother's  womb,  the  one  overmastering principle  of  his  life  was  to  prepare  the  way of the  Lord,  to  point  out  to  the  world  the  Lamb  of God,  its  Redeemer. This is  the  key  to  the  mystery of his  life. All his  other  thoughts  were  so  absorbed in this  one  that  his  time  not  having  yet  come  and having nothing  else  in  life  to  accomplish,  he,  while yet a  boy,  fled  from  home  and  his  aged  parents  and sought communion  with  God  in  the  wilderness. What a  strange  wild  life  his  was  for  long  years,  and how picturesque! He is  the  companion  of  wild beasts; his  garb  of  skins,  his  girdle  of  leather,  and  his food of  locusts  and  wild  honey. Talk of  vocation  for the priesthood,  and  sacrificing  all  to  follow  Christ, but did  ever  other  minister  of  Christ  follow  the promptings of  the  spirit  as  fully  and  as  faithfully  as did  the  Baptist? And when  at  length  the  time  was ripe and  the  kingdom  of  God  was  at  hand,  how earnestly he  threw  himself  into  the  work  of  preparing the  way  of  the  Lord,  levelling  the  hills  by  his fierce denunciation  of  the  empty  externalism  of  the proud Scribes  and  Pharisees,  filling  up  the  valleys  by his  kindly  bearing  towards  the  despised  publicans, his consoling  words  of  counsel  to  the  soldiers, and his  promises  of  better  things  to  come;  making