Christ. From each point
of view he appears in a new relation, and we study him in a different
character. We can see but one side of a mountain by approaching it from
only one direction. We must view it from every point from which it
presents a different aspect, before we have seen it as it is. So we
should study Christ in the many characters in which He is introduced
upon the sacred page, that we may understand more of the many dear
relations He sustains to us. The more we know of Him in His various
relations, the more we will love Him and the better we will serve Him.

We therefore purpose a number of articles under the general title of
"New Testament Views of Christ." They will appear, we trust, with as
much regularity as the press of other matters will permit.

After the temptation, Jesus returned to where John was baptizing, and
began the work of gathering about Him His apostles. On different
occasions, as Jesus moved among the multitudes during this visit, John
pointed Him out as the Lamb of God. And John said, "I knew him not; but
he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding upon him, the same is
he that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and borne
witness that this is the Son of God" (John i. 33, 34). Both before and
after this statement, John calls Him the Lamb of God. John knew that He
was to make the Messiah manifest to Israel by His baptism, for God had
told him so. He did not know Jesus to be the Christ till after His
baptism, yet he shrank back from the idea of baptizing him, and pleaded
his unworthiness. He was worthy, and specially appointed of God, to
make manifest the Messiah, but gave way under a sense of unworthiness
at the thought of baptizing his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth! What a flood
of light does this pour upon the private life of the Son of Mary! John
knew Jesus as a _man_; and while he doubtless had hopes that He was the
long-promised One, he did not _know_ it, and could not base his refusal
of baptism on that ground. John was baptizing for the remission of
sins, and required those whom he baptized to confess their sins, and
his knowledge of the spotless life of Jesus caused him to shrink at the
thought of administering to Him such a baptism. Thus impressed with the
purity and innocence of Jesus, it is not strange that he should call
Him the Lamb of God.

But innocence is not the only prominent feature in