e months, also, Herod had watched the career of the preacher.
When he least expected it, he was under the surveillance of the closest
criticism. A fierce light, like that which beats about a throne, fell
strongly on his most secret actions. And the result had been perfectly
satisfactory. Herod felt that John was a true man. He observed him,
and was satisfied that he was a just man and a holy. Reasons of state
forbade the king from going in person to the Jordan Valley; but he was
extremely eager to see and hear this mighty man of God: and so, one
day, at the close of a discourse, an argument with the Pharisees, or
the administration of the rite of baptism, John found himself accosted
by one of the court chamberlains, and summoned to deliver his message
before the court. Herod "sent for him."

We might wonder how it could happen that a man like Herod, who
notoriously lived in a glass house, so far as character went, should be
so willing to call in so merciless a preacher of repentance as John the
Baptist was--before whose words, flung like stones, full many a glass
house had crashed to the ground, leaving its tenant unsheltered before
the storm. But it must be remembered that most men, when they enter
the precincts of the court, are accustomed to put velvet in their
mouths; and, however vehement they may have been in denouncing the sins
of the lower classes, they change their tone when face to face with
sinners in high places. Herod, therefore, had every reason to presume
that John would obey this unwritten law; and, whilst denouncing sin in
general, would refrain from anything savouring of the direct and
personal.

Another reason probably actuated Herod. He knew that the land was
filled with the fame of the Baptist, and it seemed an easy path to
popularity, and likely to divert attention from his private sins, which
had made much scandal, to patronize the religion of the masses. At
this point he probably entertained much the same feeling toward the
desert-prophet that led Simon the Pharisee to invite Jesus to eat with
him. "Yes, let John the Baptist come. Court life is dreary and
monotonous enough. It will make a little diversion, like a breath of
fresh air on a sultry day. It is worth risking a little roughness in
his speech, and uncouthness in his manner, if only he while away an
afternoon. Besides, it will please his following, which is
considerable. Let him come, by all means."

We are reminded of