All held John as a Prophet.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 5033, 28 February 1885, Page 1

All held John as a Prophet.

About the year 28 of our, era (the. fifteenth year of Tiberius) there spread through Palestine the reputation of iy certain Johanan, or John, a young aseetie full of ze<il and enthusiasm. From bis infancy John wan a JNazir—that is to tay, subjected by row to- certain abstinences. The desert by wjiich he was, so to jipeak, surrounded, early attracted him. He led there the life of a Yogi.of India, clothed with skins or stuffs of camels' hair, having for food locusts and wild honey. A certain number of disciples were grouped around him, sharing his life, and studying his severe, doctrine. We might -imagine ourselves transported to the banks of the Ganges, if particular, .traits had not revealed in this recluse,the last descendant of the great prophets of Israel. . - From the time that the Jewish nation had begun' tort fleet upon its destiny with a kind of despair, the imagination of the ' peoplo had reverted 'with much com*- ■ placency lo the* ancient prophets. Now, of all the personages • ot the past, the remembrance of whom came like the dreams of a troubled night to awaken and agitate the people, the greatest was Ellas. . This giant of the prophets, in his rough solitude of Carmel, sharing the life of savage beasts, dwelling in the hollows of the rocks, whence he came like a thunderbolt, to make and - unmake kings, had become, by succel : site transformations, a sort of. super- : human being, sometimes visible, some times invisible, and as one who bad sot . tasted death. It was generally believed that Elias'would return and restore Israel.'; The austere life he bad led, the terrible remembrances be had left behind him,— the impression of which is si ill puwertul in the Eat,—the fombre image which, even in our time, causes trembling and death, —all this mythology, full of vengeance and terror, vividly struck ihe mind of the people, and stamped as with a birth-mark all the creations of the popular mind. Whoever aspired to act. powerfully upon the people must imitate Elias ; and, as solitary life had been the essential characteristic of this prophet, i they were accustomed to conceive " the man of God" as a hermit.. They imagi-. . ned that all the holy personages had had their days of penitence, of solitude, and of austerity. 'Ihe retreat. to the desert thus became the condition'and the prelude of high destiny. No doubt this thought had occupied John's mind. The anchorite life, so opposed to the spirit of the ancient Jewish people, and with which the vows, such as those of the JSazirs and Rechabites, had no relation, . pervaded all parts of Jodea. The Essenea ... or Tberaputoa were grouped near the birthplace of John, on tbe eastern shores of the Dead Sea. It was imagined that the chiefs of sects' ought to be recluses having rules and institutions of their own. The teachers of the young were also at times species of anchorites, ■' somewhat resembliag the gourous of Brahminism. Id tact, might nut there be iv.this a remote influence of the Mounts of India?

Perhaps. .B;.iae .QLthcao wandering 3nd dhitt monks, who overran the world, . preaching by their actions and converting people ;who knew not. their language, night hare turned their steps towards Jndea, as they certainly did towards Syria add Babylon?. On this point we have no certainty. Babylon had become ; for ibnae time a truo focus of Buddhism. Bottdaip (Bodhisattva) .was reputed a Wise Chaldean, and the founder of Sabeigm. . Sabeiem was, as its etemology indicates,'baptism—that is to say, the religion of many baptiSms,—the origin of -, the sect still existing called " Christiana of St. John," or.Mandaites. It is diffi* cult to ? unravel these vague analogies. 'The 'sects floating between .Judaism,' Christianity, Baptism, and Sabeism, .which we find in the region beyond Jordan during the first centuries of our era, present to criticism-the most singular' problem, in consequence of the confused accounts of them which have come-down to us. We may believe, at all events, that many of- the external practices of John, of the Essenes, and of the Jewish ipiritualo teachers of this time, were derived from influences then but recently received from the far East. The funda-mental-practice which characterised the •ect of John, and gave it its name, had always had its centre in Lower Cbaldea, and constitutes a religion which is perpetuated there to the present day.. This practice was baptism, or'total immersion. I Ablutions were already familiar to the F Jews, as they were to all religions.of the East. Never before John the Baptist, however, had either.this form or this importance been given to immersion. The scene of his activity was in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. When he administered -baptism ho went fo the banks of the Jordan, to a place called the "Fountains," where there was much water. Crowds, especially of the tribe of Judah, hastened to.him to be baptised. In a few months he thus became one of ": the most influential men of Judea, and acquired much importance in the general estimation. The people took ..him for a prophet, and many imagined that it was Elias who had risen again. The belief in these resurrections was widely spread; it was thoaght tbftt God would raise from the tomb certain of the ancient prophets to guide Israel towards its final destiny. Others held John to be the Messiah himself. The prietts and the scribes, opposed to this revival of prophetism, and - the constant enemies of enthusiasts, despised him. But the popularity of the ' Baptist awed them, and they dared not speak against him. Baptism with John -■ was only a sign-destined to make an impression, and to prepare the minds of the people for some great movement. No doubt he was possessed in the highest degree with the Messianic hope, and his principal action was in accordance with it. Repentance, of which baptism was the type, the giving of alms, the refor* nation of habits, were, in John's view, ■ the great means of preparation for the coming events, though we do not know exactly in what light he conceived them. It is, however, certain that he preached with much power against the same ad" versariesas Jesus, against rich priests, the Pharisees, the . doctors, in one word, agaiast official Judaism; and that he was specially welcomed by the despised - classes. His disciples led a very austere life, fasted often, and affected a sad and anxious demeanor. v '. '■ - John was soon cut short in his prophetic career. -Like the ancient Jewish prophets, he was, in the highest degree, a ceusurer of established authority. The extreme energy with which he expressed himself at their expense could not fail to bring him into trouble. In Judea John, .does not appear to have been disturbed by -Pilate : but in Perea; beyond the Jordan, he came into the territory of Antipas. This tyrant was uneasy at the political' leaven which was so little concealed by John-in-his-preaching. The great as- " sembbges of men gathered round the Baptist", by religious and patriotic enthusiasm, gave rise to. suspicion. An entirely personal grievance was also added to these motives of State, and rendered the death of this, austere censor inevit_l.l

One of" the most strongly marked characters 4of the tragical family of the Herods was Herodias, grand-daughter of Herod the Great.' Violent, ambitious, and passionate, she detested Judaism; and despised its laws She had been married, probably against her will, to her ancle Herod, son of Mariamne, rhom Herod the Great had disinherited. The inferior position of her husband, in respect to the other.persons of the family, gave her no peace; she determined to be Sovereign at whatever cost. The feeble Antipaa having become enamoured of her, promised to marry her, .and. repudiate his first wife, daughter of Herath, King of Fetra, and emir of the neighboring tribes of Perea. The Arabian princess, receiving a hint of the;design, resolved to fly. Concealing her intention, she. pre tended that she wished tomake a journey to Machero, in her father's territory, and caused herself to be conducted thither by the officers of Antipas. Machero was a colossal fortress-in one of the most abrupt wadys to the east of the/Dead Sea, on the boundary of the lands of Herath and Antipas. 'At that time it was in the pos- .- session of Herath." He havingbeen warned, had prepared everything for the flight of his daughter, who was conducted from tribe to tribe to Petra. The almost incestuous union of Antipas and Herodius then.took place. The Jewish laws on marriage were a constant rock of offence between the irreligious family of the Herods and the strict Jews. The members of this numerous and rather isolated dynasty being obliged to marry amongst themselves, frequent violations of the limits prescribed by the law necessarily took place. John in energetically blaming Antipa*, was.the echo of the general feeling. This was more than sufficient to set ; Antipas against, him. He caused the Baptist to be arrested, and shut up in the. fortress of Machero, which he.bad probably seized after the departure of the ! daughter of Herath. More timid than cruel, Antipas did not desire to put him to death. According to certain rumours he feared a popular sedition. According.to another version, he had taken pleasure in listening to the prisoner, and these conversations had thrown, him into great perplexities. It is certain that the detention was prolonged; and that John, in his prison, preserved an extended influence. "The leniency which Antipas had al first shown. John was not of long"duration. In ■the conversations which, according; to the Christian tradition, John had bad with .the Tetrarch, he did not cca.se-' to 'declare. to him that his. marriage -was .unlawful,' . and that he ought to send away Herodias., We can easilyAmiigfrie the hatred which, (be grtoddftUghterof/Herud the Great > ■ _ " iAi .'■ ""'v '

must hare conceived towards this importunate councillor. She only waited an opportunity to ruin him. Her daughter, Salome, born of her first marriago, ant! like her, ambitions and dissolute, esitom! into her designs. That year _{pt. b ibly 30. A.D.) Antipas was at Machi*ru on the. anniversary of his birthday. He finxe a feast there, during which Salome executed one of of those dances in character which were not considered in Syria as unbecoming a distinguished person. Antipaa being much pleased, asked the dancer what she most desired, and she replied, at tho instigation of her mother, " give me here John the [Baptist's head in a charger.' Antipas was sorry, but he did not like to refuse. A guard took the dish, went and cut off the head of the prisoner, and .brought it. The disciples of the Baptist obtained his body and placed it in ai tomb, but the people -were greatly displeased at his execution. Six years after Jfferath, having attacked Antipas, in order to recover Machero and avenge the dishonor of his daughter, Antipas was completely beaten, and his defeat was generally regarded' as a punishment for the murder of John.

The school of John did not die with its founder. It lived some time distinct from that of Jesus, end at first a good understanding existed between the two. Many years after the death of the two masters, people were baptised with the baptism of John. Certain persons belonged to the two schools at the same time,—for example Apollos, and a large number of the Christiana of Ephesus. Afterwards, towards the year 80, baptism was at strife with Christianity, especially in Asia Minor. As to the sects Hemero-baptists, Baptists. Elchasaites, who, in the second century, filled Syria, Palestine, and Babylonia, and whose representatives still exist in our days among the Mendaites, called " Christians of St. John ;" they have the seme origin as* the movement of John the Baptist, ■ rather than authentic descent. from John. The true school of the latter partly mixed with Christianity, became a Small Christian heresy, and died out in obscurity. John had foreseen distinctly the destiny of the two schools. If he had yielded to a mean rivalry, he would to-day have been forgotten in the crowd of sectaries of 'his time. By his selfabnegation, he has attained a glorious and unique position in the religious, pantheon of humanity. John remains in Christian legend thai which he really was—the austere forerunner, the gloomy preacher of repentance, the prophet who announces the kingdom of God, and dies before behold: ing it. This giant in the early history of Christianity, this eater of locusts and wild honey, this rough redresser of wrongs; was the bitter which prepared the lips for the sweet of the kingdom of God. His beheading by Herodias inaugurated the era of Christian martyrs; he was the first witness,for the ;nevr faith. The worldly who recognised him as their true enemy, could not permit him to live ; his mutilated corpse', extended on the threshold of "Christianity, traced the bloody path in which so [many were to follow.--Kenan's Life of Jesus.