LECTURE II.

ELIZABETH, THE MOTHER OF JOHN THE

THE

BAPTIST.

`HE time had about arrived for the advent of the promised Messiah. The great world, after the most remarkable convulsions, like a mighty sea, was rocking itself to rest. Augustus, who had waded through blood and slaughter to the throne, was introducing his golden age. The storms that had been raging were the storms that preceded the calm of the Saviour's reign. Before Christ should appear, however, it had been predicted that his forerunner should come. Said Malachi, the last of the prophets," Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me."

Many of the Jews thought this messenger would be none other than the prophet Elijah, whom they supposed still mysteriously lingering on Mt. Carmel. They gave a literal interpretation to that passage in Malachi, iv. 5, in which it is said, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." He it was who should prepare a way for the Lord and a highway for our God; he it was who should turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. This idea they clung to with great obstinacy.

When Christ was expiring on the cross, and exclaimed, "Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani," there were some standing near who said, "This man calleth for Elias." It was not Elias but John the Baptist, who was to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and who should prepare the way of the Lord.

Among those who were most excited and interested, as to the great events soon to take place, were the Hebrew women. They coveted above everything else, the high honor of being the mother of the Messiah, or it may be of his illustrious forerunner. Prominent among these was Elizabeth, who was now old and stricken with years. She doubtless called to mind how God had blessed Sarah in her old age in giving her Isaac, the chosen seed; and how He had answered the prayer of Hannah in giving her the prophet Samuel; and now she prays that God will gladden her heart and home. by the birth of a son.

Her husband was Zacharias, one of the priests of the temple, likewise very old; and he joined with her in the supplication that they might have a son. One day, while Zacharias was burning incense in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and said, “Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife. Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth, for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb; and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their

God; and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

We have in the subject before us, therefore, an angel visitant, a model human pair, a happy home, a miraculous babe, a promising boy, and a wonderful man.

Angels often visited the earth under the Old Testa. ment dispensation, having appeared to Abraham, Lot, Moses, Jacob, Daniel, and others, and we find one now at the very threshold of the New. Who are they? The apostle says, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Ministering to the heirs of salvation under the old economy, we cannot but expect that they would minister to the Saviour under the new. One, we see, announced the birth of his forerunner; and one announced his own birth. They sang over his manger bed, were with him in the wilderness, in the garden, and in the final hour

"Around the bloody tree

They pressed with strong desire,
That wondrous sight to see,

The Lord of Life expire

And could their eyes

Have known a tear

Had dropt it there
In sad surprise."

The angel who spoke to Zacharias was doubtless one who possessed superior rank, for in response to the priest's question he said, "I am Gabriel, that stand

in the presence of God." He had been sent to announce the seventy weeks to Daniel, was the messenger sent to the Virgin Mary, and seemed to be a special favorite of the court of heaven.

While he possessed great dignity, he gave evidence of his power in striking Zacharias dumb for his momentary unbelief. It might have been this same Gabriel who smote with destruction the army of Sennacharib in a single night, and who withered the thigh of Jacob with his touch.

The punishment inflicted on Zacharias was convincing, and doubting no more he proceeded to Hebron, twenty miles from Jerusalem, to impart the information to his beloved wife. She belonged to a priestly family, being descended from Aaron, Moses' brother, and while we know nothing of her personal appearance, the record shows that she had a cultivated intellect, and pious heart. I have styled this a model pair. In the marriage ceremony of the Church of England the prayer is offered that the contracting parties may live together "like Isaac and Rebecca." When Rebecca's intrigues against Esau are considered, we had better pray that the couple might live like Zacharias and Elizabeth, "who walked together in the ordinances and commandments of the Lord blameless."

The question has been much discussed of late, "Is marriage a failure?" I reply that this depends largely upon the question, whether the parties have the qualities that shone so conspicuously in Zacharias and Elizabeth.