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In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

In those days came John the Baptist — Whom Chrysologus fitly calleth fibulam legis et gratiae, the bond or buckle of both Testaments. He standeth as that angel, with one foot on the sea (the law), and with the other foot on the land (the gospel), Revelation 10:1 .

Preaching in the wilderness of Judea — A place wherein we find six cities with their villages, Joshua 15:62 , but called a wilderness, because more thinly inhabited. In which sense we may say of Germany, that Aceldama or field of blood, and many other once rich and fertile countries, that they are become a wilderness, war being a tragedy that always destroys the stage whereon it is acted; but for the wickedness of them that dwell therein it is that a fruitful land is turned into a wilderness, saith David, Psalms 107:34 . And the heathen historian, Herodotus, saith little less, when he tells us that the ruin and rubbish of Troy are set by God before the eyes of men, for an example of that rule, that great sins have great punishments. Iam seges est ubi Troia fuit. Now grain grows where Troy was. (Ovid.) Now alterius perditio sit tua cautio, saith an ancient: not to be warned by others is a sure presage of ruin. (Isidore soliloq.) Scipio beheld and bewailed the downfall of Rome in the destruction of Carthage. And when Hannibal was beleaguering Saguntum in Spain, the Romans were as sensible thereof as if he had been then beating upon the walls of their Capitol. (Livy.) A storm often times begins in one place and ends in another. When the sword rides circuit (as a judge) it is in commission, Ezekiel 14:17 ; Jeremiah 47:6-7 . And, "When I begin" (saith God) "I will make an end," 1 Samuel 3:12 . We cannot but foresee a storm, unless we be of those in Bernard, who seek straws to put out their eyes with. Qui festucam quaerunt, unde oculos sibi eruant. If we break not off our sins by repentance (that there may be a lengthening of our tranquillity, Daniel 4:27 ), a removal of our candlestick may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven, as once to the Church of Ephesus. God may well say to us, as to them of old, "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of darkness?" Jeremiah 2:31 ; or, as Themistocles to his Athenians, Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits by one man? Bona a tergo formosissima. Our sins have long since solicited an utter dissolution and desolation of all; and that we should be made a heap and a hissing, a waste and a wilderness. Jeremiah 25:9 ; Jeremiah 49:2 . Quod Deus avertat. Because God left.

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And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And saying, Repent ye — Change your minds now at the preaching of the gospel, as they changed their garments at the promulgation of the law. Ad mentem redite. Erasmus. As the prodigal came to himself, who, till converted, had been beside himself. See a like phrase, 2 Chronicles 6:37 . "Rend your hearts, and not your garments," plough up the fallows of your hearts; grieve for your sins, even to repentance, as those Corinthians did, and as Simon Peter counselled Simon Magus, that snake that had cast his coat but kept his poison, for although he carried the matter so cleanly and cunningly, that Philip took him for a true convert and baptized him, yet Peter soon saw that he was "in the gall" or venom "of bitterness" (for the word used,Deuteronomy 29:18; Deuteronomy 29:18 , whereunto the apostle alludes, signifieth both), and therefore prescribes him an antidote, the very same that John doth here to this generation of vipers, "Repent, if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee,"Acts 8:22-23; Acts 8:22-23 . His wicked thought is called επινοια : the godly change of mind that the apostle persuadeth him unto is called μετανοια , he that by some mischance hath drunk poison ( øàù χολη ), must cast it up again as soon as he can, ere it got to the vitals. Repentance is the soul’s vomit, which is the hardest kind of physic, but the wholesomest. Happy is he that by the dung gate of Nehemiah 3:14 his mouth (in a sorrowful confession) can disburden himself of the sin that both clogs and hazards his soul to death eternal. We ran from God by sin to death, and have no other way to return but by death to sin, Hebrews 12:1 .

For the kingdom of heaven is at hand — q.d. Ye have a price put into your hands, a fair opportunity of making yourselves for ever. Will ye (like the vine and olive in Jotham’s parable, Judges 9:9 ) not leave your sweetness and fatness, your dilecta delicta, beloved sins, although it be to reign, yea, and that in God’s kingdom? Knowest thou not, that the goodness of God should lead thee to repentance?Romans 2:4; Romans 2:4 ; Psalms 130:4 . Is there not mercy with God therefore that he may be feared? Should not men rend their hearts, because God is gracious, and turn to the Lord, because he will "multiply pardon?" Joel 2:12 ; Isaiah 55:7 . To argue from mercy to liberty is the devil’s logic, and makes God repent him of his favours to such, as David did of his kindness to Nabal. Rather we should argue from mercy to duty, as Joseph did to his master in a temptation; from deliverance to obedience, with David, Psalms 116:8-9 . And therefore return to our father’s house, with the prodigal, because there is bread enough; therefore repent, because his kingdom is at hand, and would be laid hold on. As John the Baptist was Christ’s forerunner into the world, so must repentance be his forerunner into our hearts.

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For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

For this is he which was spoken of — Whether these be the words of the Baptist or the Evangelist, it appears not, skills not: the most say, of the Evangelist concerning the Baptist.

By the prophet Esaias — Thus one Testament infolds another, as those wheels in Ezekiel; and the law preacheth faith in Christ, as well as the gospel, Romans 10:6-7 .

The voice of one crying — Loudly and lustily; lifting up his voice as a trumpet ( βοωντος , boantis, vociferantis ), or as the sound of many waters. Likewise St Paul was ordained to be a crier, 1 Timothy 1:11 ; ( κηρυξ ), and so is every faithful preacher,2 Timothy 4:2; 2 Timothy 4:2 . He must cry and be instant, stand to the work, and stand over it ( επιστηθι ). Sta cum diligentia, Stand with care, saith the Syriac there, clangite, clamate, Shout, proclaim, Isaiah 58:1 ; Jeremiah 4:5 . Ye have to do with deaf men, dead men, living carcuses, walking sepulchres of themselves. Clames etiam ut Stentora vincas. Now, therefore, as our Saviour lifted up his voice when he said, "Lazarus, come forth," so must Christ’s ministers (when they speak to such as lie rotting and stinking in the graves of their corruptions) cry aloud, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, that Christ may give thee light," Ephesians 5:14 . Ecclesia (the Church) is a word in use among the Athenians, and signifies an assembly of citizens, called out of the multitude (as it were) by name, or in their ranks, by the voice of the public crier ( εκκαλειν ), to hear some speech or sentence of the senate. The Church, in like sort, is a company called out of the kingdom of Satan by the voice of God’s ministers, as it were criers, to hear the doctrine of the gospel revealed from heaven. There are that observe, Rolloc. in John 1:15 . that John Baptist entered upon his calling in the year of Jubilee, which used to be proclaimed by a crier with the sound of a trumpet, and that in allusion thereunto he is called, "The voice of a crier."

Prepare ye the way of the Lord — Suffer the terrors of the Lord to seize upon your souls: take not up bucklers against the strokes of God’s law, bring not your buckets to quench the motions of his Spirit, knocking at your hearts by the hammer of his word; make much of the least beginnings of grace, even those they call repressing, since they prepare the heart for conversion. "Open the everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in," that "Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." As Esther leaned upon her two maids when she came before the king, so let the soul lean upon the attrition of the law and contrition of the gospel; so shall the King of glory stretch out the golden sceptre of his grace, and we shall live. As John Baptist was Christ’s forerunner into the world, so must repentance be his forerunner into our hearts; for he that repenteth not, the kingdom of God is far from him: he cannot see it for his lusts that hang in his light.

Make his paths straight — ( ετοιμασατε . Heb. ôðå , Isaiah 40:3 . Viam apertam et oculis intuentium conspicuam facite. Obstant enim affectus mundani, … Erasmus.) Walk exactly, precisely, accurately, by line and by rule; Ephesians 5:15 walk as in a frame, make straight steps to your feet, or else there is no passing the strait gate; so strait, that as few can walk in it, so none can halt in it, but must needs go upright. Plain things will join in every point one with another; not so, round and rugged things. In like sort, plain spirits close with God’s truths, not those that are swollen, … The old heart will never hold out the hardship of holiness.

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And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair — Suitable to Elias (in whose spirit and power he came), who was thus habited. So those worthies, of whom the world was not worthy, wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins; Hebrews 11:37 but they were like the ark, without, covered with goat’s hair; within, all of pure gold. God clothed our first parents in leather, when there was means of better clothing, to humble them, doubtless, and to shame all such as are proud of their clothes, which are the ensigns of our shame, and came in with sin as its cognizance. Saepe sub attrita latitat sapientia veste. Vestes sunt peccati testes. Vestium curiositas deformitatis mentium et morum indicium est. Bernard.

And a leathern girdle about his loins — So had Elias, and God takes notice of it, and records it, when the pomp and pride of many monarchs lie hidden in obscurity, buried in oblivion. Such love beareth the Lord to his people, that everything in them is remarked and registered. He thinks the better of the very ground they go upon, Psalms 87:2-6 ; their walls are ever in his sight, and he loveth to look upon the houses where they dwell, Isaiah 49:16 .

And his meat was locusts — These creatures have their name in Greek from the top of the ears of grain ( ακριδες ) which, as they fled, they fed upon. That they were man’s food in those eastern countries appears Leviticus 11:22 , and Pliny testifieth as much (lib. xi. cap. 29). Coarse meat they were, but nature is content with little, grace with less. Cibus et potus sunt divitiae Christianorum, Food and dring are the wealth of Christians. saith Jerome. Liba recuso, Bread and water with the gospel are good cheer, saith another. Our Saviour hath taught us to pray for bread, not for manchet The finest kind of wheaten bread. ŒD or junkets, but downright household bread; and himself gave thanks for barley bread and broiled fishes. A little of the creature will serve turn to carry thee through thy pilgrimage. One told a philosopher, If you will be content to please Dionysius, you need not feed upon green herbs. He replied, And if you can feed upon green herbs, you need not please Dionysius; you need not flatter, comply, be base, … Adulator est qui ollam sectatus. Becman. Holus ab ολον . Prisci nihil obsonii sibi deesse existimabant, modo ne deesset holus. The ancients held green herbs to be good cheer, and accounted it wealth enough, μη διψαν και μη ριγαν , not to be thirsty, nor cold, saith Galen. But what miscreants were those Jews, that for ακριδες , locusts, read εγκριδες , deserts, as Epiphanius noteth against the Ebionites. The best, we see, are liable to be belied.

And wild honey — Such as naturally distilled out of trees: as did that which Jonathan tasted with the tip of his rod, called honey of the wood, 1 Samuel 14:27 . God made Jeshurun suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock,Deuteronomy 32:13; Deuteronomy 32:13 . Hence Judea was called Sumen totius Orbis. breeding sow of the whole world. (Heidfeldius.) And Strabo, that spitefully affirmeth it to be a dry, barren country, had not so much ingenuity as that railing Rabshakeh, 2 Kings 18:32 .

Pane egeo, iam mellitis potiore placentis.

Hor. Epist. i. 10,11.

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Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,

Then went out to him Jerusalem — Hitherto the description of the Baptist: follows now the resort that was made unto him; for by his divine doctrine and austere life he had merited among many to be taken for the Messiah, John 1:20 .

And all Judea — That is, very many, as the word "all" is many times elsewhere taken in the New Testament.

And all the region round about Jordan — Stirred up by the noise of that new preacher. So various among us will be content to hear, if there go a great report of the man; or if he deliver some new doctrine, or deal in deep points, as Herod, Luke 23:8 . But these grow weary and fall off as those Jews did from John, for the which they were justly taxed by our Saviour, John 5:35 ; Matthew 11:7 .

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And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

And were baptized of him in Jordan — Baptizing of proselytes was in use among the Jews before the days of John Baptist. From this custom (saith Broughton, in Daniel 9:1-27 ), though without commandment and of small authority, Christ authorizeth a seal of entering into his rest, using the Jews’ weakness as an allurement thither. As from bread and wine, used with the paschal lamb, being without all commandment of Moses, but resting upon the common reason given by the Creator, he authorized a seal of his flesh and blood.

In Jordan — At Bethabara, John 1:28 , that is, at that very place where the people of Israel passed over Jordan and possessed the land. Baptism then was there first administered, where it had been of old foreshadowed. Here also we see that the acts of Joshua and Jesus took their happy beginning at one and the same place. And like as the people, after they had passed over Jordan, were circumcised before they received the land by lot of inheritance: so after we have been baptized, and thereby enrolled among the citizens of the New Jerusalem, the remnants of sin and superfluity of naughtiness must be daily pared off by the practice of mortification, ere we can come to the kingdom of heaven, James 1:21 ; η περισσεια της κακιας . In allusion to the garbage and excrements of the sacrificed beast.

Confessing their sins — In token of their true repentance. For as only the man that is wakened out of his dream can tell his dreams; so only he that is wakened out of his sins can clearly confess them. εξομολογεισθαι . Est aperta et clara voce confiteri. And this confession of sin, joined with confusion of sin (without the which, confession is but wind, and the drops of contrition, water), is that which in baptism we reciprocate. "Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the confident answer of a good conscience toward God," 1 Peter 3:21 ; επερωτημα . a clearing, cheering conscience, a heart washed from wickedness in this laver of regeneration, the baptism of repentance, the washing of the new birth, the being baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, this sayeth, saith St Peter. Not as the efficient cause of salvation, for that is Christ alone: nor yet as a necessary instrument, for that is faith alone: but only as a badge of the saved, and a pledge of their salvation; as, on the other side, God will not own a viperous brood, though baptized, that bring not forth fruits meet for repentance. To such, baptism is not the mark of God’s child, but the brand of a fool that maketh a vow and then breaketh it, Ecclesiastes 5:4 . For the font is Beersheba, the well of an oath; and there we swear (as David did) "to keep God’s righteous judgments," Psalms 119:106 ; Isaiah 10:1-19 . Now, if Zedekiah and Shimei paid so dearly for their perjury, for their fast and loose with men, how will God revenge the quarrel of his covenant? The Spanish converts in Mexico remember not anything of the promise and profession they made in baptism, save only their name, which many times also they forget. In the kingdom of Congo in Africa, the Portuguese, at their first arrival, finding the people to be heathens, without God, did induce them to a profession of Christ, and to be baptized in great abundance, allowing of the principles of religion; till such time as the priests pressed them to lead their lives according to their profession; which the most part of them in no case enduring, returned again to their Gentilism. Such renegades we have among us not a few, that give themselves up to Christ, Quoad Sacramenti perceptionem, by external profession (Augustine); but when it comes once ad vitae sanctificationem, to holiness of life, there they leave him in the open field, forsaking their colours, renouncing their baptism, and running away to the enemy. Now for such there is but one law, and it is martial law,Hebrews 10:39; Hebrews 10:39: If any withdraw ( υποστειληται ) or steal from his captain (as the military term there used importeth) he doth it to perdition, -he is even a son of perdition, as Judas; who was circumcised indeed, as well as Peter, but better he had not. As it had been better for him never to have been born,Mark 14:21; Mark 14:21 , so, being born, never to have been circumcised, and thereby bound to the law. Unregenerate Israel is as Ethiopia, Amos 9:7 . And it had been happy that baptismal water had never been spilt on that face that is afterwards hatched with impudent impiety, Jeremiah 3:3-5 .

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But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees — Two leading sects among the Jews, but notable hypocrites, yet pressing to the ordinances. (Joseph. B. J.; Ant. Judges 13:17 ) A Doeg may set his foot as far within the sanctuary as a David, and let him. He may be caught, as those warrant officers sent to apprehend our Saviour, as Saul’s messengers coming to Naioth were turned from executioners to prophets. "Come" (saith Latimer) "to the holy assemblies, though thou comest to sleep; for God, perhaps, may take thee napping."

He said unto them, O generatian of vipers — Or adders, which are outwardly specious, inwardly poisonous: so are all hypocrites a mere outside, but God will wash off their paint with rivers of brimstone. Of the viper it is said, that when he hath stung a man he makes haste to the water, and drinks, or dies for it. So did these Pharisees to baptism, hoping by the work done to avoid the wrath to come. But a man may go to hell with baptismal water on his face, unless with the water of baptism he have grace to quench the fiery darts of the devil: as that holy virgin, whereof Luther reports, that she beat back Satan’s temptations with this only argument, I am a Christian. Legitur de quadam sancta virgine quae quoties tentabatur, non nisi baptismo suo repugnabat, dicens brevissime, Christiana sum. Intellexit enim hostis statim virtutem baptismi et fidei, et fugit ab ea. The enemy quickly understood (saith he) the virtue of baptism, and the value of that vow, and fled from her. There are those who boast and bear themselves bold on their Christendom; but hath not many a ship, that hath been named Safeguard and Goodspeed, miscarried at sea, or fallen into the hands of pirates. This generation of vipers conceited themselves to be Abraham’s seed: so do many of the serpent’s seed today, because of their baptism; but all in vain, unless they walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, Romans 4:12 . The old serpent hath stung them, neither is there any antidote for such but the flesh (not of the biting viper, but) of the slain Messiah, foreshadowed by the brazen serpent. See Isaiah 27:1 . God hath promised to break for us the serpent’s head, who hath so deeply set his stings in us; yea, with his sore and great and strong sword, to punish Leviathan, that piercing serpent, and to slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Who hath forewarned you — Who hath privily and underhandedly, as it were, shown you ( υπεδειξεν , clanculum indicavit et admonuit ), and set you in a course of avoiding the danger that hangs over your heads as by a twined thread? The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, and hell hath enlarged herself, and even gapes for you: who gave an inkling thereof, and sent you hither for help? …

From the wrath to come — Called the damnation of hell, Matthew 23:33 , which hath torments without end and past imagination. For "who knoweth the power of thine anger?" saith David. "Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath," Psalms 90:1 ; that is, as I conceive it, let a man fear thy wrath never so much, he is sure to feel a fair deal more thereof than ever he could have feared. When but a drop of God’s displeasure lights upon a poor soul in this present world, what intolerable pain is it put to! "The spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity," saith Solomon, Proverbs 18:14 , q.d. some sorry shift a man may make to rub through an outward affliction, and to bear it off by head and shoulders, "but a wounded spirit who can bear?" q.d. the stoutest cannot possibly stand under it: there is no proportion between the back and the burden; it is able to crush and crack the mightiest among us. Judas chose a halter rather than to endure it: and well he might, when as Job (with whom God was but in jest, in comparison) preferred strangling and any death before such a life, Job 7:15 . But all this, alas, is but present wrath, and nothing at all to the "wrath to come," a phrase of speech that involves and carries in it stings and horrors, woe, and, alas, flames of wrath and the worm that never dieth, trembling and gnashing of teeth, seas of vengeance, rivers of brimstone, unutterable and insufferable tortures and torments. We read of racking, roasting, hanging, stoning, putting men under harrows of iron and saws of iron, scratching off their flesh with thorns of the wilderness, pulling their skins over their ears, and other exquisite and unheard of miseries that men have here been put unto; -but ετυμπανισθησαν , Hebrews 11:35 what is all this to the wrath to come? not so much as a flea biting, as a prick with a pin, or smart blow with a finger; no, though a man should go through a thousand cruel deaths every hour his whole life throughout. Oh, bless and kiss that blessed Son of God that bore for us the brunt of this insupportable wrath, even "Jesus that delivered us from the wrath to come," 1 Thessalonians 1:10 ; and shun sin, that draws hell at the heels of it. Is it nothing to lose an immortal soul, to purchase an everliving death?

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Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

Bring forth therefore fruits — q.d. You cannot wash your hands in innocence, wash them therefore in tears: there is no way to quench hell flames but by the tears of true repentance; to prevent the wrath to come, but by bearing those fruits of righteousness that are by Christ Jesus to the glory and praise of God, Philippians 1:11 . Optima et aptissima poenitentia est nova vita, The best and most appropiate repentance is a new life, saith Luther; which saying, though condemned by Pope Leo, is certainly an excellent saying.

Meet for repentance — That weigh just as much as repentance, that may parallel and prove it to be right, evince and evidence it to be a "repentance never to be repented of," 2 Corinthians 7:10 . There is no grace but hath a counterfeit. See therefore that your graces be of the right stamp, an effectual faith, laborious love, patient hope, …, as the apostle hath it. See that your performances and whole course be such as becomes repentance, and may justify it; as may bear weight in the balance of the sanctuary, and amount to as much as repentance comes to, 1 Thessalonians 1:3 ; ( αξιον παρα του αγειν ). And albeit your righteousnesses be but as a menstruous clout, and your works at best (if tried by the fire of the word, Isaiah 64:6 ; 1 Corinthians 3:13 ) would burn (which made good Nehemiah,Nehemiah 13:12; Nehemiah 13:12 , to pray for pardon of his reformations), yet upon your true repentance for the evil that cleaves to your best works, your souls may be saved from the wrath to come; yea, they are such "as accompany salvation," and comprehend it, as the Greek Scholiast expounds that text, Hebrews 6:9 ; ( εχομενα , i.e. κατεχομενα σωτηριας ). Labour, therefore, to have a "heart full of goodness," as those Romans,Romans 15:14; Romans 15:14 , and a life "full of good works," as Tabitha, Acts 9:36 , such as may beseem amendment of life.

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