habit, he was far from such in thought; he was therefore no
seeker for his own soul's peace in his desert life. His dress was
strikingly suggestive of the old prophet of judgment on national
infidelity (I. Kings xvii. 1; II. Kings i, 8), the Elijah whom John would
not claim to be. His message was commanding, with its double word "Repent"
and "The kingdom is near." His idea of the kingdom was definite, though
not at all developed; it signified to him God's dominion, inaugurated by a
divine judgment which should mean good for the penitent and utter
destruction for the ungodly; hence the prophet's call to repentance. His
ministry was one of grace, but the time was drawing near when the Greater
One would appear to complete by a swift judgment the work which his
forerunner was beginning. That Greater One would hew down the fruitless
tree, winnow the wheat from the chaff on the threshing floor, baptize the
penitent with divine power, and the wicked with the fire of judgment,
since his was to be a ministry of judgment, not of grace.

75. Whence, then, came this strange prophet? Near the desert region where
he spent his youth and where he first proclaimed his message of repentance
and judgment was the chief settlement of that strange company of Jews
known as Essenes. It has long been customary to think that during his
early years John was associated with these fellow-dwellers in the desert,
if he did not actually join the order. He certainly may have learned from
them many things. Their sympathy with his ascetic life and with his
thorough moral earnestness would make them attractive to him, but he was
far too original a man to get from them more than some suggestions to be
worked out in his own fashion. The simplicity of his teaching of
repentance and the disregard of ceremonial in his preaching separate him
from these monks. John may have known his desert companions, may have
appreciated some things in their discipline, but he remained independent
of their guidance.

76. The leaders of religious life and thought in his day were
unquestionably the Pharisees. The controlling idea with them, and
consequently with the people, was the sanctity of God's law. They were
conscious of the sinfulness of the people, and their demand for repentance
was constant. It is a rabbinic commonplace that the delay of the Messiah's
coming is due to lack of repentance in Israel. But near as this conception
is to John's, we need but to recall his word