Preached at Lilleshall, St. John Baptist’s Day, June 26, 1860.
“In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness, and saying, Repent ye for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”—Matthew iii. 1, 2.
The 24th of June (the day before yesterday), we call, you know, Midsummer Day; we call it also St. John the Baptist’s day. You can easily find out why it is Midsummer Day, but what is St. John the Baptist to us? why should we care to remember him?
I am going to speak of him—what he was, to whom he spoke, what he spoke, why he was called the Baptist, what he told of One greater than himself. You have heard it all before, but it may not be bad for any of us to hear it again; for the seasons come round again—the summer comes each year, bringing its flowers and fruits; they are new, though we seem to have seen the like every June. And we ourselves, though we change very much, yet we are the same. We miss many faces that we used to see; young faces that we have not seen come to cheer us; but there are the old sorrows and trials which we cannot leave behind us, and which stand up in different shapes; there are old thoughts that appear again in our minds, though new ones may be with them. We are tempted to do wrong now as we used to be, and we do not forget the old temptations, they come back; old deeds that we did years ago return and look us in the face. The friends that we knew are there also, and that is the reason why I believe John the Baptist has something to tell us still—why his day may be as good for us as it was for our forefathers.
First, what was he? A very plain man, with a leathern girdle about his loins, caring little for what he ate, getting his food anywhere that he could—and his chance of getting anything was not great, for he was not seen in cities, he was chiefly in a desert.
Then this strange rough man was preaching, and the people came to him from all quarters, from the city of Jerusalem, we are told, and from all the country places round about, men who dwelt near the sea and far from it, men and women, rich and poor, people of all trades, and people without any trade, all came to hear what this man had to say. What could it mean? What did they want of him? What message could he bring them which could be meant for them all?
These people were all looking out for a King. They had heard that God one day would send them a King, a righteous King. Their country was subject to foreigners; these foreigners had set up princes over them; these princes had been tyrants, and had not cared for them. They wanted One who did care for them; they wanted One who would set their country free; they wanted One who would set them free. For each one had a burden and a slavery of his own; each one said in his heart, ‘When the true King comes He will be able to take away my burden; He will break the yoke that is on my neck!’
Well, this preacher said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” That was a message that concerned all. If the news were true, it was just the news they needed to hear. The King you are looking for is coming. He is not far from you. He is going to establish His Kingdom amongst you.
But what did this mean? The kingdom of “Heaven” is at hand! Was it not to be a kingdom on earth, then? How could it reach them if it were not? How could it be governed by a native prince, one of themselves, if it were not? Such thoughts were in the minds of the people, you may be sure. And yet there were other thoughts in their minds too. If this kingdom was not from Heaven, could it be what they were seeking after? Did they not wish for one that should be all just? And could there be a kingdom that was quite just if it was not from Heaven, if it was not God’s kingdom? Did not they want one in which poor and rich should be cared for equally? Would that be, if it was only a kingdom set up by men? Even if the king was one of themselves, might he not lord it over them all the more for that? Might he not be the prouder because he had risen to such a height above them? But if it were the King of Heaven that was coming among them, would they like to meet Him? Another king might not know what they had been doing, but He would; another might speak to the crowd of people and not notice this man or that man in the crowd. The King of Heaven would look straight into each man’s heart; He would understand what he had done, and what he had wished or purposed. Supposing each man knew that he had been doing wrong things, and wishing and purposing wrong things, would he like to stand before this King?
Each man in those crowds of people who went to hear John the Baptist preaching did know this; and yet that did not keep them from going; it was that which urged them to go; it was that which convinced them that the rough man with his camel’s hair was no deceiver, but a true prophet. He spoke of a Kingdom of Heaven being near; and the heart of a man or a woman said, ‘Yes, He must be near me, or how should I have remembered how I cheated my neighbour years ago, or plotted to cheat him? Who told me of it? I did not tell myself. John the Baptist could not tell me; it must be this King of Heaven who has told me. He cannot be far off. How shall I prepare for him?’
Now John said that this was his business; he was sent to prepare the way of the Lord! he was sent to tell men how they might meet their King! and, therefore, he joined the message, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” with ‘Repent; your King is near you! Turn round to Him; He has found out your secrets! Confess them to Him; you cannot see Him; but if you do this, there will be a way between your heart and Him. Your bad doings and bad thoughts have stopped up that way; He wishes to get rid of the rubbish, and to open the way again.’
And that brings me to the next part—what John’s baptism had to do with his preaching. He preached, it is said, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Remission means sending away. Their sins had choked their hearts. Their sins had been the rubbish which closed the way between them and God. Could they clear away the rubbish? Could John? I think not. Could He who created their minds and hearts? Surely He could. Surely He could turn their minds to Himself, if they found it ever so hard to do so. Well, this baptism was the simplest token which could be given them that God did this for them. Just as the water cleanses your bodies, so does He cleanse you—you, your own selves. He sends away that which you have been confessing to Him; that which is oppressing you, that which you cannot rid yourselves of. So the baptism was part of the preaching. It was as good as saying, ‘It is not I who am preaching to you, it is God who is preaching to you! He is preaching to you, one and all. It is He who is giving you, one and all, what you need, if you will have it.’
And, therefore, John joined other words to these, which were to show more clearly still that it was not he who was doing them any good, or who could do them good, except as he was God’s minister, and that the water could do them no good except as it told them what God’s mind to them was, and what He would work for them.
“I, indeed,” he said, “baptize you with water, but there cometh One after me who is mightier than I; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” ‘He shall give you of God’s own good Spirit to call out your spirits; He shall burn up all that is foul and false in you.’
But before you can fully enter into the next words, I must speak to you of those who came to John to be baptized. There came the crowds of which I spoke, each with his own weight upon his own heart. Each told what was in him; and each found that the remission was not less for him because it was also for his neighbours. Each had sinned; each might turn and say, I have sinned; each might go away with this assurance, ‘God hath given thee this pledge that He puts away thy sins.’ But there came some, we are told, whom John rebuked, whom he called by a very hard name. He said to some Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance; and think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Why did he speak thus? Might not these men repent as well as the others? Would not God put away their sins, and make a way for them to draw nigh to Him? Surely He would; John had come to say so to one and all. But these men thought themselves better and wiser than others; they supposed the way was quite open between them and God. Why then did they come to have their sins put away? If they were better and wiser than others, how could they want a blessing which put them on a level with all others? They thought they were the best of all the descendants of Abraham. ‘You must find out,’ said John, ‘that you are not better than those who are not descendants of Abraham at all. God cares for all. If you do not wish to be like the rest of men, it will go badly with you. When the King comes, He will burn up all that is mere chaff, all that is foul and worthless in one man or another. He will gather in all that is wheat, all that is good and true, all that trust Him who is good, whether in one man or another.’
And so we are prepared for the next tidings. There came one to John the Baptist who was humbler than all who had come there yet. John did not see why He should come. “I have need,” he said, “to be baptised of Thee!” But Jesus answered “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” And as He went up out of the water, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove; and lo! a voice which said “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Thus the word of John the Baptist was fulfilled; the kingdom of heaven had appeared. He had received the Holy Spirit, who was to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire; He had come who was to gather all nations into one; He was come who was to bring remission of sins to all; He was come who was to give repentance to each.
All this happened in the country of Palestine, far away from us, eighteen hundred years ago. But about twelve hundred years ago, people came into the towns and villages of England and said ‘This kingdom of heaven of which John the Baptist spoke is fairly set up in the world. The king who was baptized in that River Jordan, is the only true king over men. He has said that His father is our Father. He has said that He will give us, the people who dwell in the villages and towns of England, His Spirit, that we may be right and true men, and that we may turn from bad ways to good ways. Come, therefore,’ they said, ‘and be baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Come and claim this King as your king and your elder brother. Come and claim His Father as your Father; claim Him as your children’s as well as your own. Ask that you and they may not merely be baptized in water, for the sending away of your sins, and the witness of God’s forgiveness, but that you may have His Spirit of truth and love to guide you every day and hour, and to teach you what His kingdom is, and to prepare you for dwelling in it when you leave this earth, and when your place here knows you no more.’
These were strange tidings for our forefathers to hear, for they were worshipping all kinds of gods. They fancied their gods were their enemies, who wanted to be pacified and brought to forgive them by all kinds of offerings which they made. And now to be told this news—the God who made the heavens and earth is your Father and your friend; He seeks to turn your hearts to Him; He desires to put away all the wrong that is in you, and to make you right; He has sent His Son to bind you all together—men of all different callings, men of all different countries, men of all different languages—into one. He would have no one think Himself better than another. He would have all feel that they are His children, and members one of another. To hear this news, I say, was very strange to these men, who had fancied it was all so different in this world, and in the world they could not see; but somehow or other they did accept these tidings; they were baptized into this name, and their children were, and their children’s children. And England became a Christian land—that is, it confessed the Christ of whom John spoke to be its King. And boys and girls were brought up in schools to believe that it was even so, and that His Spirit was given them that they might understand the things on earth and the things in heaven, that they might do their work as fathers and husbands, and brothers and sisters, as squires and farmers and labourers here, and might know the truth and righteousness and love, that are to last for ever and ever.
But now my friends, if all this is true, we need to be reminded of it year by year, and day by day, for it cannot be a thing written of in a book merely; it must be about our bed and our board; it must concern us in all our common business. For you see the message of John the Baptist concerns the God who liveth for ever, what He is, whether He is altogether good and righteous and true, one who hates all evil and pride, or whether He is what men often take Him to be—unmerciful and cruel, and like themselves. And it concerns us men, whatever we are, whether we are bound together in one dear Lord, who took the nature of all and died the death of all, or whether we are, as we often take ourselves to be, each with a separate interest from the other, sent into the world to trip one another up and to destroy one another. And it concerns the question whether we have a good and loving spirit to bring us right and to keep us from wrong, or whether we are left to ourselves and all the bad influences that are about us, and all the wild thoughts that spring up in us. It concerns the question whether, when we have gone out of the good way, there is anyone who cares to bring us back into the good way. It concerns the question whether we are separated from the friends that have gone away out of our sight, or whether we are part of the same kingdom with them, and whether we may all come to serve our King better and more truly through ages upon ages. So, then, you will not wonder that we keep John the Baptist’s day. And you will not think it out of place in the bright summer days; for surely if we heed the message which it brings, every summer day may be more beautiful to us, and no winter day need be dark. Midsummer and Christmas may rejoice together, for the first says “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” and the second says “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”