---

I. In the ANALOGY employed by our Lord we have the threefold characteristic of a Christian minister — light, heat, and lustre. Re is a living lantern. "Light in the Lord."

1. The first qualification for a Christian teacher is that he sees. He has heard the voice, "Let there be light," and the voice has divided the light from the darkness.

2. The Christian doctrine is that the world and human nature are dark, and that Christianity is a light shining in a dark place.

3. In harmony with this view, every Christian man, and especially the Christian teacher, should be a light-bringer, none the less so because his temperament and character are called to a different routine of duties, or develop a varied order of excellences. There may be more or less of the red flare of human passion or the beautiful white light of love. Light is one, but it shines through various affecting media. There is light —

(1)  In the eye, by which we know sensible objects;

(2)  In the understanding, by which we know scientific relations and are able to reason, etc.;

(3)  In the will, which affects the whole range of our moral vision;

(4)  but we see most clearly when we see through our affections.

4. But the Christian, like John, must be a burning and shining light — the marriage of knowledge and zeal; the white and red lights of life; impetuosity and prudence; Peter and John going up to the temple; the jewels on the high priest's breastplate; the gorgeous red of the ruby, the soft blue of the sardonyx, the cataract splendour of the diamond.

II. Our Lord permits the designation to wear the form of EULOGY. John was an extraordinary teacher every way.

1. When any insist on ecclesiastical authority, I like to point to John the Baptist. How strangely he must have startled the ordinary opinions of his day. To the priests his mission must have appeared most heretical and disorderly. How strange that the conservators of religion are ever the last to learn the meanings of a great revelation. But when the Word of the Lord burns in the heart of a prophet he cannot hold back.

2. John was no dreamer, but never did prophet appear more so, proclaiming the visionary kingdom at hand. In the nature of things the light would not be comprehended by the darkness. Suddenly, in the death state of the Jewish nation, John rose. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent ye." God's turning to man the plea for man's turning to God — the sum and seal of the gospel lies in that.

III. GENERALIZATIONS. The burning and the shining light was —

1. Before his age. The age was one of formalism and religious apathy. John was the impersonation of reality and earnestness. The most dreadful sight on earth is that of a preaching machine, yet that is often preferred to a prophet.

2. He was banished from society by his convictions. All men who leave the formalism of the present moment must make up their minds for the desert. But it is there we learn our true strength and the meaning of our mission.

3. He died a martyr to his faithfulness.

(Paxton Hood.)

---

---

KJV: If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

WEB: "If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid.