Page 368 - Bible History

THE REDEEMER AMONG MEN 341
Baptist, as a great prophet. Not since the days of the prophets of old had anyone spoken with such authority. Many of the Pharisees and Sadducees went to hear him. To them, John said, "Ye brood of vipers, who hath showed you how to ee from the wrath to comeT Bring forth fruits worthy of penance. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down and
cast into the re.''
Some publicans came to him to be baptized, and
said, "Master, what shall we do 7" He answered, "Do nothing more than that which is appointed you,'' that is, take only the tax which is just. To the soldiers who came and asked him what they should do, he said, "Do violence to no man, neither calumniate any man. And be content with your pay." To the ordinary peo­ ple who feared God and tried to do their duty, he said, "He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none. And he that hath meat, let him do in like manner.''
Many of the people began to wonder in their hearts if John were not perhaps the Savior of the world. But John said to them, "l baptize you with water. But there shall come One mightier than I, the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to loose. He shall bap­ tize you with the Holy Ghost and with re. His thresh­ ing fan is in His hand, and He will purge His oor and will gather the wheat into His barn. But the cha He will burn th unquenchable re."
When Jesus was thirty years old, He left Nazareth and came to the Jordan where John was preaching, s and asked to be baptized. Knowing that Jesus was