Death of John the Baptist.
In the story of the death of John the Baptist three characters stand before us in marked and dramatic contrast. First is John the Baptist, the brave prophet who feared God but not man; whom the king could not silence; a model for the modern preacher; a man who dared to do right, cost what it would, and was as quick to rebuke iniquity in high places as among the lowly. Secondly, Herod, the weak and wicked king; chiefly wicked because weak; a man with a conscience, but without courage; a man who feared God, but feared man still more, and his wife most of all; a man who desired to do right but dared not be laughed at; a man who, inveigled into making a foolish promise, preferred to be called murderer rather than promise-breaker. Thirdly, Herodias, the ambitious, designing, unprincipled woman; a picture of what any woman may become who allows ambition to dethrone love; a frightful illustration of worldliness in womanhood. The story of the illicit marriage, and what led to it, and of John the Baptist's rebuke, and of his arrest, I have already told. Without dwelling on either chapter of history let us turn to look at some of the lessons which the dramatic episode illustrates. 1. The reward of fidelity. Never was there a more faithful preacher than John the Baptist; and his wages were imprisonment and death. There is worldly wisdom in the aphorism of the wise man: "Be not righteous over much, for why shouldst thou destroy thyself?" There is a great deal of Sunday-school literature which teaches our children that the way to worldly prosperity is the path of virtue, and which gives the impression that God settles up his accounts every night, and pays in the current coin of the world's realm for all good deeds. This is not true; and child or man who builds his virtue on any such foundation, will find his fabric falling about his head before life is finished. The noblest and best characters in history have been great sufferers, and the noblest and best of all was the greatest sufferer of all. There is no virtue worth the having except that which counts virtue its own reward; which, with the Apostles, is able to count it all joy to be persecuted for Christ's sake. 2. The trial of faith. We are accustomed too much to idealize the Bible characters, and to forget that they are men of like passions with ourselves. It is a comfort—it is even a positive inspiration—to find a brave and royal heart like that of Elijah cast down and in despair when driven off into enforced retirement; and an unflinching courage and an invincible faith like that of John the Baptist yielding to doubt, and wondering whether the Christ that affords him no succor, and the land they both love no instant deliverance, can be the true Messiah after all. 3. The fear of public opinion is a poor substitute for the fear of God, and the fear of God is an inadequate protection against temptation, unless it be stronger than the fear of public opinion. Because Herod feared the multitude who counted John the Baptist as a prophet, and because in some sense he feared God, knowing himself that John was a prophet and a holy man, he would not yield to his wife's entreaties, and put the rebuker of her evil ways to death. He even carefully guarded him from his wife's malice, and listened to him often and gladly. But a cowardly man is no match for a cunning woman, and when Herod had once made the vow that he would give to his step-daughter whatever she would ask, he feared the jeers of his companions more than the upbraidings of his own conscience or the judgments of God. Respect for the opinions of mankind is sometimes a good support for a tottering virtue, but it is a poor foundation upon which to build virtue. It may serve as the wire which holds the tree in position till it has gotten root, but it is no root itself to hold the tree in position against the storm, and give it life and strength. 4. The dangers of sensuality and self-indulgence. It was when Belshazzer was giving himself up to feasting and drunkenness that his capitol was captured. It was when Herod was giving himself up to sensual self-indulgence that his resolutions were captured, and he was made to do the bidding of another. Beware of scenes and places which stimulate the animal and the sensual, which impair the spiritual and the intellectual, and which weaken the higher powers of the intellect, the moral sense, and the will. 5. A bad promise is better broken than kept; but better yet no promises that need the breaking. The exigency must be very great which makes it safe for one man to put himself into the hands of another man, pledging himself to do whatsoever he is bidden. Such exigencies do sometimes arise, but every man should seek to be the unhampered master of himself, binding himself to no vague and general obligation, making no promises whose enforcement might lead him into the ways of sin or of temptation. Vague promises are always dangerous promises. 6. There is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed. Herodias "looked to conceal after this and to hide her crime, but the very contrary was the result; for John's cry was heard the more loudly thereafter. The more thou dost dissemble a sin the more thou dost expose it. Sin is not hidden by the addition of sin, but by repentance and confession."—Lyman Abbott, in Christian Union.*