Repentance is more than sorrow for sin. Many a man has that, and yet rushes again into the old mire. To change the mind and will is not enough, unless the change is certified to be real by deeds corresponding. So John preached the true nature of repentance when he called for its fruits. And he preached the greatest motive for it which he knew, when he pressed home on sluggish consciences the close approach of a judgment for which everything was ready, the axe ground to a fine edge, and lying at the root of the trees. If it lay there, there was no time to lose; if it still lay, there was time to repent before it was swinging round the woodman's head. We have a higher motive for repentance in 'the goodness of God' leading to it. But there is danger that modern Christianity should think too little of 'the terror of the Lord,' and so should throw away one of the strongest means of persuading men. John's advice to the various classes of hearers illustrates the truth that the commonest field of duty and the homeliest acts may become sacred. Not high-flying, singular modes of life, abandoning the vulgar tasks, but the plainest prose of jog-trot duty will follow and attest real repentance. Every calling has its temptations--that is to say, every one has its opportunities of serving God by resisting the Devil.

JOHN'S WITNESS TO JESUS, AND GOD'S

'And as the people were in expectation, and all men
mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the
Christ, or not; 16. John answered, saying unto them
all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier
than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not
worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost, and with fire: 17. Whose fan is in His hand,
and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and will gather
the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn
with fire unquenchable. 18. And many other things, in
his exhortation, preached he unto the people. 19. But
Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias
his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which
Herod had done, 20. Added yet this above all, that he
shut up John in prison. 21. Now, when all the people
were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being
baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22. And
the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, like a
dove, upon Him; and a voice came from heaven, which
said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well
pleased.'--LUKE iii. 15-22.

This passage falls into three parts: John's witness to the coming Messiah (vs. 15-17); John's undaunted rebuke of sin in high places, and its penalty (vs. 18-20); and God's witness to Jesus (vs. 21, 22).