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Rh them into some resemblance to the dispensation that the Messiah was about to establish. 'There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, that all men through him might believe. He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness of the Light.'

"The effect of his preaching was precisely what was intended. He produced a strong impression upon the public mind, and, though he wrought no miracle, all men held him to be a prophet. He presented a strong contrast, and probably by design, to the pretenders to divine mission who appeared about that time. It was on this account that the multitudes which gathered about him created no uneasiness in the public authorities. A man, like John, who clothed himself in the coarsest attire, in a country where the higher classes were studious of ornament, and all who had any pretensions to official dignity were distinguished by gorgeous apparel, would naturally escape all suspicion of political ambition. A religious teacher evidently sincere and pious, and withal free from fanaticism and enthusiasm, after the cessation of prophecy for four hundred years, must have produced a great impression. He must have recalled to the minds of his countrymen the days when Elijah in a like simplicity and grave austerity stood up as a prophet of God, and the champion of religion. Some, indeed, mistook him for Elijah risen from the dead, who, their traditions affirmed, was to come to anoint and inaugurate the Messiah. The almost simultaneous appearance of