, » r The Feast of John. In imitation of Roman rulers who t held feasts in memory of the Emperors, * Herod held a birthday feast in memory of his father. It was a great gathering w of the officers of his little empire, over which he ruled as Tetraeh. The scene %< is evidently in the palace in Machaerus, where John is confined. Herod in royal t robes and glittering gems, a lustful, lecherous, drunken reveller, is there. * The queen, a voluptuous, vile, venom- T ous adulteress, is there. The courtiers in their brilliant costumes are there. 1*1 Music and mirth are there; all of the seductive arts of Satan are there to snare the souls of men and women and to steep them in the drugs of senual Ml pleasures. In the midst of the feast, when wine had made them merry and a lust had lured them to the abandon- ment of all proprieties, the wily Hero- dias sent her own daughter, Salome, to take the place of the professional dancer. She had been trained for the act, an apt pupil of a professional in- trigue. Pity the poor child of such a mother, and pity the mothers in our own day who sell the souls of their own daughters for the mere pittance of social position. Many a mother has lived to rue the day she thrust her daughter into society and permitted her to participate in the public dance. The redlight districts of our cities are full of women who took the first step to- ** ward hell in drawing room or dance hall. * Salome plied her art so successfully that the drunken revellers were thor- oughly intoxicated, and rounds of ap- I plause greeted her indecent accomplish- 1.» ment. Herod, thinking himself a king, pledged her any gift to the half of his kingdom. * The Fate of John. The damsel consulted her mother. The plot had succeeded. The hour of revenge had come; she had one deep tf desire in her heart, the head of her j supposed enemy, and that forthwith. Malice and vengeanee in Herodias is matched by weakness and unrighteous- ness in Herod. He had made an oath and he will keep it. The request so- bered him, and he was sorry, but for his p a t h 's sake he will give the gift. He talked like a man of honor. No doubt he said, " M y word is as good as my b o n d ." This from a selfish, sensual, immoral, cruel ruler. John is slain and his ghastly, gory head is borne by the dancing damsel *
up to her queenly mother. John be- comes the victim of a cruel woman's rage and a glorious martyr to the truth. THE PERSECUTING CONSCIENCE. "He is risen from the dead." We turn now to the first two verses of our lesson to look into the guilty soul of a godless murderer. The force of a conscience. Herodias had John the Baptist's head on her hands, but Herod had John's death on his soul. He had power over John's head, but none over his own conscience. Verily sin doth make cowards of us all. There is a worm that dieth not and a fire which is not quenched. ' ' Hearing of the miracles of Jesus, Herod at once con- cludes that John has risen from the dead, and his soul quaked with fear. Herod was a Sadducee. The leaven of Herod (Mark 8:15) is supposed to be the doctrine of the Sadducees (Matt. 16:6), who denied angels, spirit and the resurrection (Acts 23:8). Poor Herod, his belief was shattered by his conscience, just as the belief of multi- tudes will be when confronted by the presence of death and the judgment. Thinking Jesus is John, he seeks to get him out of Galilee. Jesus calls him that fox (Luke 13:32). Herod was a weak man, he feared Herodias, the mul- titude, the courtiers, and John the Bap- tist. Had he feared God, he would not have feared man. Herod could not stifle the voice of conscience. David said, " M y sin is ever before m e . " Herod said, " J o h n is r i s e n ." Con- science is God's witness in man's bosom. I t is not a safe guide. I t can- not save us, but it is ever accusing, or excusing us (Rom. 2:15). Herod was unfaithful to God and to his own con- science. He violated the instincts of his nature, rejected the testimony of God's servants, and crowned sin by the crime of murder. Herodias sought to be a queen; her soul was stained with tKe crime of adultery and murder. The names of both Herod and Herodias will be forever linked with the names of Ahab and Jezebel. The Finale. In the judgment, John will face them, ¡glory crowned. Then they will be judged for the deeds done in the body and it had better for them both if they had never been born. The les- son closes with a tender message. The disciples " w e n t and told J e s u s ." We can do nothing better in seasons o'f
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