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him, and who would baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

The time was now come when it behoved the Messiah to announce himself in his true character; and the prophets had foretold that a messenger would come forth in the spirit of Elias (Elijah) to prepare the way before him. And when Jesus presented himself to be baptized by John, he excused himself, saying, I need rather being baptized by thee. But Jesus declaring that it became them to fulfil all righteousness, John complied.

John the Baptist had very authoritatively daily questions put to him by the Pharisees and Sadducees, whether he was the expected Christ. He always denied having any such office, and that he was merely the voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

John having consented to baptize Jesus, they ascended up the side of the river Jordan. At this ceremony, St. Luke says that the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Jesus; and a voice came down from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased.

CHRIST

BAPTIZED

JOHN.

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There was a prevailing custom amongst the Jews which demanded every man of them, before he made his public appearance as a prophet or teacher of righteous deeds, to devote about forty days to retired contemplation. Jesus, wishing to conform as much as possible to the established custom of the Jews, bade his mother farewell, and went into the wilderness (having parted from John), and into a situation of it consisting of torn and disordered rocky mountains, from which were perceived the Dead Sea and the plains of Jericho.

It is said that Jesus wandered in these gloomy valleys and mountains, fasting forty days, and that he absolutely began to feel the extremity of hunger amongst the intricacies of the desert. The old serpent who had beguiled the first man, Adam, in

Fifty-fifth
Medal.

Christ baptized
by John.

Paradise, strove to beguile our Saviour, and told him that he had only to command the stones which lay around him to become bread, and they would obey.

Jesus silenced him by quoting the Bible, That man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God.

The tempter then bore him to the top of the parapet of the temple, and urged him to prove himself to the multitude, by casting himself headlong to the ground. Jesus said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

The tempter then thought ambition might have some charms in one who had withstood the cravings of hunger. Satan then took him to the summit of a high mountain, and, shewing him many kingdoms, said, All these will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Jesus replied, Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Satan fled from his presence, and Angels came down from heaven, and ministered unto him.

The forty days having expired, Jesus returned to John the Baptist, and began to inform his countrymen that he was a teacher of righteousness. The people followed him wherever he went, and more particularly in consequence of the testimony of John, who declared to them that Jesus was the Lamb of God that took away the sins of the world.

He was followed by Andrew, and the Evangelist St. John, who were attendants upon John the Baptist; and afterwards by Simon, Philip, and Nathaniel, who called themselves his disciples, and who went

with him to Nazareth, the place where most of his life had been spent ; there he commenced his public teaching, in expounding in the synagogue the explanation of the scriptures. The inhabitants refused to receive instructions from one of such humble parents, and they thrust him out of their town, and intended to destroy him; but Jesus forced his way through them, unharmed, telling them that a prophet has no honour in his own country.

He went to Cana, a city of Galilee, at which place, he, his mother, and the five disciples, were invited to a wedding feast, and Jesus, wishing to keep up the social feelings of our nature, accepted it.

In consequence of the increased number of guests, there became a deficiency of wine, which caused the host who gave the feast much anxiety, and he informed Mary, the mother of Jesus, of it. The mother, believing that Jesus possessed the power of giving an increase, informed him of the circumstance. Jesus felt determined to perform a miracle. He commanded the servants to fill with water the six empty cisterns which had been placed in the chamber of the house for ablution; the water directly became wine, to the great surprise and astonishment of the servants.

Jesus and his disciples, and Mary, went on to Capernaum, where his disciples increased hourly; and from thence to Jerusalem, where he celebrated the first passover after his baptism. On arriving at the temple, he found the sacred place violated by the Levitical law offerings, of all kinds of wine, beasts, and birds, then a custom with the people on becoming devotees. These beasts they bought from

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traders, who brought them into the very precincts of the temple for sale, which was absolutely turned into a kind of market, at the connivance of the priests, where traders and worshippers were mixed together in noise and disputations, increased by the lowing of oxen and the bleating of sheep. Jesus was indignant at such an impropriety; he commanded the crowd to disperse, and he overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of such as sold doves, reinstating his Father's house a proper "house of prayer."

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This authority, which he had assumed to himself, irritated and increased the fury of the mob. They demanded of him who gave such authority, but he refused to work any miracle at that time to gratify the curiosity of the priests; and yet he made more converts, and among whom was one Nicodemus, a principal person in the Sanhedrim. This Nicodemus visited Jesus by night, and stated that he felt confident that he could be no other than a teacher sent from God. This Nicodemus was a senator, and a Jew by birth, but by sect a Pharisee; and Jesus explained to him that in a very short time a new kingdom of God upon earth would be erected, into which no man could be admitted only by the regeneration of water and the spirit.

About this time, Herod Antipas married Herodias, the wife of his own brother, Philip, although his brother Philip was still living. And John being at that time at Enon, and declaiming, as before, against the immorality of the times, he particularly and vehemently rebuked this Herod Antipas for seducing his own sister-in-law. Herod could not