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of God. Like ano ther E lijah he leaped at once into publicity. He became a living power in the nation. Pharisee, Sadducee, scribe, soldier, publican and priest all thronged to hear him. He had a short and simple mes sage. It consisted of a single word, “ Re pent,” and th e reason therefore, “The kingdom of th e heavens is at hand.” He did not show th e credentials of a single miracle. His message and his m inistry were marvelous enough. He was a voice in the; w ilderness and nothing more. A m ighty revival arose and swept through the nation. The baptismal w aters of repentance closed over the heads of m ultitudes who were moved by the stirring call. H igher eulogy was never pronounced on m ortal man th an Jesus gave to John the Bap tist. “Among them th a t are born of women th ere h ath not arisen' a g reater th a n he.” He belongs n eith er to the Jewish nor the Christian age bu t to the tran sition period between. He was th e peer of any prophet in th e Old Tes tam en t and of any Apostle in the New Testament. Nevertheless by vir tue of relationship to th e new order, he th a t is least in the kingdom of heaven is g reater th an he. He was in deed a burning and a shining light. His simplicity, dignity, hum ility and self-effacing m inistry should p.rovoke our im itation and emulation. Measured by the standard of earth, his life was a failure. Cut off in early manhood, suffering a long and cruel imprison- m eat, he saw no fru its of his labors. Measured by the standard of Heaven and eternity, his life was a glorious success. The Baby John. Luke 1:8-14, 57- 64, 80. Memory Verse.— “He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong d rink .” Luke 1:15.
Approach.— The other day as I was walking down a stree t n ear my home, a little girl came running to meet me, and she was so happy and excited she could hardly BEGINNERS. talk , and what do AND PRIMARY you th ink made her Mabel L. M errill so happy? This is what she said, and she was fairly jumping up and down as she spoke. ‘O Miss Merrill, we have ju st thè dearest little baby girl a t our house, and you must come righ t in and see it.” She took me by th e hand and took me in to see the baby sister. It was a dear little baby, and as I left I told her I hoped she would always love the little sister God had sent her, and be willing to help mother care for it, and when she was old enough to un derstand, to tell her about Jesus. Prayer. Lesson Story.— Now I have some thing wrapped up in th is paper, and I am going to show it to you, and then see who can tell me the story about it. (Show scepter.) As th is is Jenn ie’s b irthday we will let her tell us the story, and you listen and if she for gets something, you can tell us when she finishes. How we all love people who are brave and true. How many of you boys and girls love little babies? Today we have a story about a little baby boy, who was a cousin to Jesus. His fath er was a priest in the temple, and his work was burning incense a t th e golden altar. While he was in the temple he saw an angel standing by the altar, and he was afraid. The angel told him not to be afraid, for he had come to tell him th a t God had heard th eir prayers and was going to send a baby boy to their home. The p riest’s name was Zacharias, and his wife’s name was E lisabeth. The angel told him the baby’s name was to be John, and th a t he was not to drink wine, nor any strong drink. He also
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