Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: m MAN THE APOSTLE OF GOD ' There came a man, Bent from God, whose name was John." John i, 6. We speak of the twelve apostles, and we do well so to speak. We picture to ourselves these men going forth from Jesus, by the will of God, with a message for mankind. The picture is one of the loftiest, one of the most inspiring in human history. So much definiteness, dignity, scope, power, and permanent meaning enter the lives of these famous and happy men. But there is an earlier and broader apostle- ship. Here it is in John the Baptist. He preceded Jesus; yet he was an apostle. An apostle of whom ? God. An apostle for whom ? God in the service of Jesus. An apostle for what? That he might witness to his time of the Highest. And here in the apostleship of the Baptist we have the apostleship of humanity: " There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John." Was this the belief of his parents and kindred about the Baptist? Was it the belief of this biographer of Jesus, who had been, at one time,a disciple of the Baptist ? Or was it the belief of the Baptist about himself ? If the text embodies the opinion of his father and mother and kindred, it is interesting; if it records the opinion of the author of the Fourth Gospel, it is still more interesting; if it holds the conviction of the Baptist about himself, it is of the highest interest. Let us assume that this is the case, that the Baptist solemnly believed that he was a man sent from God. On the ground of this assumption we must ask several questions, and we must try to answer them. 1. How did the Baptist reach his assurance of God ? How did he move into this consciousness of God ? How did he become clear and sure and serene about this infinite concern of the soul? He was born of religious parents. His home was ...