their course of life, to alter their ways, or give themselves to some special or great work, to go through a solemn form or ceremony, that might perhaps be called a consecration.

There is one of these forms which has been known for a long time and is in use at the present day. We call it baptism. In this ceremony some one who has been appointed for the purpose, dips his hand in water, and sprinkles it gently on the head of the person, saying at the same time a few solemn words, or receiving from the person himself a solemn pledge. Then again the form may be so complete that the ceremony will take place at the riverside, and the person will descend into the water and be dipped beneath its surface.

"What does this form mean?' I suppose it refers to the use of water in washing the body clean; and so this ceremony would be what we call a symbol of cleansing the mind from the bad feelings that we have had, meaning that we intended to give them up and would now devote ourselves to the Good and True.

Jesus, now that he was ready to give himself up to his great purpose, went therefore to be baptized. We told you of the great river that started from the Sea of Galilee, flowed along the east of Palestine, a rapid impetuous current, down into that great chasm of the earth which is called the Dead Sea. At that time there was another teacher who had become well known, and was very much talked about by everybody. He too had set out with new tidings. He was saying to all the world: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He was called John the Baptist. He used to teach down on the Plains of Jericho, by the banks of the Jordan not far away from its mouth.

John himself had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about him, and his food was locusts

and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round about the Jordan went out to him; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing the wrongs they had done. And when they had come forth from the waters he would say to them: Now bring forth fruit worthy of repentance.

Jesus was living far away in Nazareth by the sea of Galilee; but he was hearing about this new teacher and of this new command, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." What wonder if the words came home to him with a deeper meaning than to the rest of the people! How they seemed to agree with what he had been thinking about in the silence of those long years of waiting? Had not the hour come for him to go forth and tell them what that kingdom was?

And so he sets out and leaves his home. It was the last time he would ever meet those people and still be simply the "carpenter's son." He was to say goodbye to them; he had to bid farewell to the members of his home, to Mary and to Joseph. When he came back to them, would they receive him as before, would they have the same love for him, the same care for what he did? He could only wait and see. But there was just one thing for him to do. He had made up his mind; he was now a full grown man. He would choose for himself; he felt that he had to go. He would join this new teacher; he would receive from him the baptism, and so go through the form of his consecration.

He arrived at last in what was called the "wilderness," down in that dry and barren region known as the "mouth of the Jordan." As he traveled thither he could see crowds all about him; he met those who had been there and had already heard the new teacher.

At last as he came near, he could see hundreds and perhaps thousands of people scattered over the plain waiting for their turn.

I wonder if Jesus did not then begin to have a fuller sense of what he had to do. Was he thinking, how little all those thousands knew of what was really meant by the "kingdom of heaven." Did it cross his mind to ask himself whether those people would truly repent and be sorry and change their course of life, when they discovered that the kingdom for which they looked, was not going to be like the ordinary splendor of some great monarch or kingdom in the east? What would they think if they were told that they would still have to suffer; that they could not expect at any time to have things just as they wanted; that they must continue to feel the hard hand of the oppressor,- even though at the same time, right at their door and all about them, there was still waiting for them in the higher sense a true Kingdom, the kingdom of heaven in the heart.

Jesus, too, came to the riverside; he, too, was led down into the stream, was dipped beneath the water and so received the baptism. We can fancy the feelings he had, how wrapt he was in his own thoughts, how completely at the moment he forgot everything outside. It was to him as though he were in a dream. As he rose out of the water and felt that the step had at last been taken, it seemed to him as though he saw slowly coming out of the clouds and hovering in the air, and finally resting right over his head, the form of a beautiful white dove. It was the symbol of the peace in his own heart. Then as he turned his eyes upward once more, he fancied he saw in the sky a grand and solemn face looking down upon him, while a voice was saying: "This is my beloved son in whom I well pleased." It was as if the solemn

beautiful voice of conscience within him, had in this strange vision announced its approval of his course. It was such a beautiful dream!

THE TEMPTATION.

He

Jesus had received the baptism; he was now ready to go forth. And yet he did not begin at once. No, there was just a little more thinking to be done. must for a time go away all alone, far from the homes and haunts of men. He must stay in solitude, with little food, and without protection, all by himself in the wilderness. He must make sure of what he had to say. When once he had said it, he could not take it back. He could afford to wait a little. What he had to teach would not require many words or long years. The end would come sure and soon. All that was necessary, was first to make sure that he was ready before he spoke.

We can never know just what goes on in the mind of a person at such a time. We can only think how he must have hesitated, how he must have struggled. We can easily fancy that even fear and dread would come upon him; it was so terribly solitary.

You can hardly realize what a desolate place it was,— nothing but the bare rocks and the open sky. No flowers were growing there, no trees, nothing to please the eye and delight the heart; nature was lifeless. At times he would hear the cry of savage beasts. Over his head, far up in the sky the birds would be flying;

but the birds never thought to alight where he was, for there was nothing for them to eat or drink. There were no brooks running by, to cheer him with the sound of their waters or to cool his thirsty lips.

While he was in that place alone, all sorts of strange ideas came to him. As he was thinking over in his mind one way and another, how to say and do what he wanted to say and do, there came to him at that hour a sudden doubt. Was he right after all? Was it possible that he could be wrong, that perhaps the people knew better than himself? Was it possible that their kind of a prince would actually come, that there might indeed be really a conqueror, a deliverer, who would give them their kind of a kingdom, and restore them to their idea of glory? Did it cross his mind how much easier and pleasanter it would be to take their view and become their kind of a leader, and so to yield to their feelings and wants? How much more they would think of him, how much more they would love and believe in him! Even if he failed, they would care for him still. He had only to gather the people together, form them into an army and become their leader, drive out the oppressor, and then be their monarch and king. Now, when he had this other teaching to give, perhaps they would not care for him. and his new gospel. They might hate him and despise him. Perhaps he would lose both their love and their confidence, and also the very end he was striving for. At that lonely hour when he was hungry and faint, it crossed his mind that it might be worth the while to give up his first plan, and be the other kind of a conqueror.

He was alone and there was no one to whom he could confide his thought, no human being on whom he could lean. He had to fight out the battle all by himself in his own mind. The future of the world might turn