Life and Mission of John
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displeasure. When Zacharias came out of the temple, his countenance
was shining with the light which the heavenly angel had reflected upon
him. But he could not speak to the people. He made signs to them
that an angel had appeared to him in the temple, and because of his
unbelief he was deprived of the power of speech, until the prediction
of the angel should be fulfilled.
Soon after the birth of John, “the tongue of Zacharias was loosed,
and he spake and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt round
about them; and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all
the hill country of Judea. And all that heard them, laid them up in their
hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be? And the hand of
the Lord was with him; and his father Zacharias was filled with the
Holy Ghost, and prophesied. And the child grew, and waxed strong in
spirit, and was in the deserts until the day of his showing unto Israel.”
The prophet John separated himself from his friends and kindred,
and made his home in the wilderness. He denied himself of the ordi-
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nary comforts of life. His food was simple. His clothing was a garment
made of hair-cloth, confined about the waist with a leather girdle. His
parents had in a most solemn manner dedicated him to God from his
birth.
The life of John, although passed in the wilderness, was not in-
active. His separation from society did not make him gloomy and
morose, neither was he unreconciled with his lonely life of hardship
and privation. It was his choice to be secluded from the luxuries of life,
and from depraved society. Pride, envy, jealousy, and corrupt passions
seemed to control the hearts of men. But John was separated from
the influence of these things, and, with discerning eye and wonderful
discrimination, read the characters of men. He lived in the quiet retreat
of the wilderness, and occasionally he mingled in society; but would
not remain long where the moral atmosphere seemed to be polluted.
He feared that the sight of his eyes and the hearing of his ears would
so pervert his mind that he would lose a sense of the sinfulness of sin.
A great work was before him, and it was necessary that he should form
a character unbiased by any surrounding influence. It was necessary
that his physical, mental, and moral conditions should be of that high
and noble type that would qualify him for a work which required firm-
ness and integrity, that when he should appear among men he could
enlighten them, and be instrumental in giving a new direction to their