Studies in the Christ-Life at Brother Eldred's by Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 19, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 25.

Studies in the Christ-Life at Brother Eldred's

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

‘ABSTEMIOUS!’ echoed Mrs. Field, smiling. ‘If the prophet confined himself to a diet of locusts and honey, I should call it something besides abstemiousness. Seems to me I should have been inclined to reduce my diet still further, and take the honey alone, if I could get nothing else but insects to eat,’ and Mrs. Field shuddered.

‘But certain kinds of locusts were permissible food,’ said Brother Eldred, ‘as we read in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. They are still used in various parts of the East. But some have thought,’ he continued, ‘that the pods of the carob-tree, sometimes called “locust bran,” is meant. One of Webster’s definitions is: “One of the long, sweet succulent pods of the carob-tree, which are used as food for animals and sometimes eaten by man; called also St. John’s bread.”’

‘Tillie, what was the message of John the Baptist?’

‘Maybe it would be well to let him answer that question himself, father,’ replied Tillie, turning rapidly to John 1:22, 23.

‘“Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”’

‘Esaias of the New Testament is the Isaiah of the Old, who lived about 700 years before this time. We find almost the identical language which was used by Isaiah in his wonderful prophecy of John the Baptist, in Isa. 40:3. In other words,’ commented Brother Eldred, ‘John was the forerunner of Jesus Christ; he came to preach the baptism of repentance, and to prepare the hearts of the people to receive the Messiah.’

‘What relation was the Baptist to Jesus, Tillie?’

‘Luke 1:36 says that Mary and Elizabeth were cousins. So I suppose they were what we would term second cousins.’

‘What class of people went into the wilderness to hear John’s preaching, Jack?’

‘A great many people, and he called them “vipers,” father, if I am not mistaken. It doesn’t seem real polite, now, does it, mother?’ queried Jack, turning to Sister Eldred.

‘Maybe we would better see just what it does say, my son,’ she replied. ‘Let us read Matt. 3:7, 8.

‘“But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance,” or as the margin says, “answerable to amendment of life.” There is no question but that the prophet of the wilderness was a very plain man,’ continued Sister Eldred, ‘who did not cater to the pride or vanity of the Pharisees, or to the egotism of the Sadducees. But it will not do for us to judge other people until we are certain that we are as filled with the Spirit of God as was this most wonderful man. I am quite sure that the rebuke John gave them was, under the circumstances, the only thing which, thru the Holy Spirit, would have brought about true conviction and sorrow for sin.’

‘Perhaps it might be well, Jack, for your mother to give us a few facts about the lives and the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’

‘Both classes were very self-righteous,’ continued Sister Eldred, ‘and both made it their boast that they were the children of Abraham, evidently believing this sufficient to merit the favor of both God and man; so that it was necessary that the Baptist attempt to rouse them from this self-satisfied condition. The Pharisees believed in a resurrection from the dead and in future rewards and punishments. But they were eminently bigoted and self-righteous as a class, and dearly loved the praise of men.

‘The Sadducees were not so numerous as they, but were very influential, from the fact that they were wealthy and aristocratic. They did not believe in the resurrection, and taught that the Almighty never even condescended to notice this earth nor any of its inhabitants. Strange as it may seem, it was from among the Sadducees that the priests were in John’s day almost always chosen. It was to this class that the haughty Caiaphas belonged.’

‘Well,’ said Alice, ‘I should think they would make pretty poor religious teachers if they didn’t even believe in the resurrection!’

‘Maybe they kept still about it, so as to get the position and the pay,’ smiled Tom, ‘a good deal the way some people do now.’

‘Precisely what they did do,’ smiled Sister Eldred. ‘In fact they were obliged to promise that they would not teach their heresies, before they were appointed to the priesthood. Under the circumstances, I think it must have taken a vast deal of moral courage to speak out as plainly as John did, to those wealthy and unscrupulous leaders, for as was plainly proved not long after this, these people would not hesitate to bring about the death of one whom they considered an enemy.’

‘It reminds me of Luther at the Diet of Worms,’ declared Jack, to whom anything which savored of courage or bravery strongly appealed.

‘King Herod must have become acquainted with the Baptist, about this time, did he not, father?’ asked Tillie.

‘I think so. Will Mrs. Field please read Mark 6:20, with the marginal reading?’

‘“For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him [margin, kept him, or saved him]; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.”’

‘Why, papa,’ said Florence, ‘I heard mama say that King Herod put poor John into prison; that doesn’t seem very much like “keeping him, or saving him.”’

‘I think Jack can explain this point; can you not, my son? Suppose you give a short sketch of the experience of the Baptist with King Herod.’

‘Why,’ said Jack, ‘it was from the cruel Herodias that the king was trying to save the prophet. King Herod was a Jew, and he came very near becoming a disciple of the prophet. Herodias was Herod’s unlawful wife, and the brave prophet was not afraid to reprove her and the king, too. But this made the jealous woman so angry that she insisted upon the king’s putting him in prison. Finally, the queen gave a royal party on Herod’s birthday, and sent her beautiful daughter in to dance before them. The king was by this time intoxicated, and he agreed that she might have anything she asked him for. Of course the queen was on hand to tell her what to ask, and the come-out of it was that this good prophet had his head taken off while still in prison.’

Mrs. Field’s two daughters, Mildred and Blanche, had listened very intently to Jack’s recital, and, finally, when he paused, Mildred, the older sister, exclaimed impulsively:

‘O, how dreadful! it is as tragic as—as anything I ever heard, and—’

‘And it’s true, too isn’t it, mother?’ asked Blanche.

(To be Continued.)