close. The name is significant. 'John' means 'The Lord is gracious.'
It was an omen, a condensed prophecy, the fulfilment of which
stretched beyond its bearer to Him as whose precursor alone was John
a token of God's grace.

His character (ver. 15) puts first 'great in the sight of the Lord.'
Then there are some whom God recognises as great, small as we all
are before Him. And His estimate of greatness is not the world's
estimate. How Herod or Pilate or Caesar, or philosophers at Athens,
or rabbis in Jerusalem would have scoffed if they had been pointed
to the gaunt ascetic pouring out words which they would have thought
wild, to a crowd of Jews, and been told that that was the greatest
man in the world (except One)! The elements of greatness in the
estimate of God which is truth, are devotion to His service, burning
convictions, intense moral earnestness, superiority to sensuous
delights, clear recognition of Jesus, and humble self-abnegation
before Him. These are not the elements recognised in the world's
Pantheon. Let us take God's standard.

John was to be a Nazarite, living not for the senses, but the soul,
as all God's great ones have to be. The form may vary, but the
substance of the vow of abstinence remains for all Christians. To
put the heel on the animal within, and keep it well chained up, is
indispensable, if we are ever to know the buoyant inspiration which
comes from a sacreder source than the fumes of the wine-cup. Like
John, we must flee the one if we would have the other, and be
'filled with the Holy Ghost.'

The consequence of his character is seen in his work, as described
generally in verse 16. Only such a man can effect such a change, in