CHAPTER I.

JESUS AND JOHN THE BAPTIST.—THE FIRST DISCIPLES.

WE resume the thread of our historical narrative at the point where it was broken off.²⁴²²⁴²   Page 69.

On issuing from the solitude in which he had prepared himself for his public labours, Jesus again sought the prophetic man who had given him the Divine signal for their commencement, and had consecrated him to his holy calling. Not, indeed, in order to form a close connexion with him, for John had to remain true to his office as Forerunner, and to continue his ministry in that capacity, until the Messiah should lay the foundation of his visible kingdom with miraculous power, and, by securing general acknowledgment, should indicate to the Forerunner, also, that he should submit himself, with all others, to the Theocratic King. But in the circle of Galilean disciples that had gathered around John, full of longing aspirations, Jesus might expect to find some suitable to be taken into fellowship with himself and trained to become his organs. The sphere of John’s ministry was calculated to offer the best point of transition to Christ’s independent labours.