This, then, was the end, not of a martyr, but of the Head of all the holy martyrs, through whom they and we all must be saved.

JOHN THE BAPTIST, SON OF ZACHARIAS AND ELISABETH, BEHEADED IN THE CASTLE OF MACHAERUS, AT THE COMMAND OF HEROD ANTIPAS, A. D. 32

This John, surnamed the Baptist, because he was ordained of God to baptize the penitent, the son of the priest Zacharias, and his wife Elisabeth; whose name was made known to his parents through the angel of God, before he was born. Luke 1:5,13.

When he was about thirty years old (about six months before the Lord Jesus Christ began to preach), in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberias Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor, and Annas and Caiaphas the high priests, he was called and sent of God, to preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, to prepare the way for the Messiah, as an angel or messenger before the face of Christ, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Luke 3:1, 2; Mark 1:2,3; Luke 1:17.

Of the dignity of this man the angel of the Lord had said, that many would rejoice at his birth, that he would be great in the sight of the Lord, to make ready a people well-prepared (as not only the prophets, but also Zacharias had prophesied of him through the Spirit of the Most High), to give knowledge of salvation unto the people of the Lord for the remission of their sins. Luke 1:14,15, 77.

John, being thus sent of God, to bear witness of Christ, that He is the true light, came to the Jordan, at Salim, and other places, teaching and baptizing. John 3:23.

In the meantime, while he was baptizing the penitent, Christ Himself came to him (to confirm this holy work), and asked to be baptized by him. But when John, from humility and good intention, declined, Christ instructed him that this was neces

* That the Lord lived six hours, yea, more than six hours on the cross, before He gave up the ghost, appears from the account of Mark, chap. 15; for inverse 25 it says, "And it was the third hour, and they crucified him." That is according to our reckoning, nine o'clock in the morning. Then, in verse 33, we are told that when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour; which according to our reckoning, was twelve o'clock noon. Then, in verse 34 we read, "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani, that is; My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" which, according to our way of reckoning time, is three o'clock in the afernoon. gain in verse 37, we read, "Ad Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost;" which, as it appears, happened after the expiration of the ninth hour, so that the Lord lived on the cross from nine o'clock in the morning until three oclock in the afternoon, that is, fully six hours, and not before then did He give up the ghost, as has been shown from the account of Mark.