ar for myself."

So he goes back again and again. My text says that he heard him
gladly, that he observed him, and feared him, knowing that he was a
just man and a holy. He must have known down in his heart that John
was

A HEAVEN-SENT MESSENGER.

Had you gone into the palace in those days, you would have heard
Herod talking of nobody but John the Baptist. He would say to his
associates:

"Have you been out into the desert to hear this strange preacher?"

"No; have you?"

"Yes."

"What! you, the Roman Governor, going to hear this unordained
preacher?"

"Yes, I have been quite often. I would rather hear him than any man
I ever knew. He does not talk like the regular preachers. I never
heard any one who had such influence over me."

You would have thought that Herod was a very hopeful subject. "He
did many things." Perhaps he stopped swearing. He may have stopped
gambling and getting drunk. A wonderful change seemed to have passed
over him. Perhaps he ceased from taking bribes for a time; we catch
him at it afterwards, but just then he refrained from it. He became
quite virtuous in certain directions. It really looked as if he were
near the kingdom of heaven.

I can imagine that one day, as John stands preaching, the truth is
going home to the hearts and consciences of the people, and the
powers of another world are falling upon them, one of John's
disciples stands near Herod's chariot, and sees the tears in the
eyes of the Roman Governor. At the close of the service he goes to
John and says:

"I stood close to Herod today, and no one seemed more impressed. I
could see the tears coming, and he had to brush them away to keep
them from falling."

Have you ever seen a man in a religious meeting trying to keep the
tears back? You noticed that his forehead seemed to itch, and he put
up his hand; you may know what it means--he wants to conceal the
fact that the tears are there. He thinks it is a weakness. It is no
weakness to get drunk and abuse your family, but it is weakness to
shed tears. So this disciple of John may have noticed that Herod put
his hand to his brow a number of times; he did not wish his
soldiers, or those standing near, to observe that he was weeping.
The disciple says to John:

"It looks as if he were coming near the kingdom. I believe you will
have him as an inquirer very soon."

When a man enjoys hearing such a preacher, it certainly seems a
hopeful sign.

Herod might have been p