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nee , were the soldiers , some of whom must , . have been agents of Herod , and of ihose partiz ^ ins who are called by Mark , Herodians . Tbeirbbject was to fentrap the Baptist , hoping to find- him guilty of treason by interfering with the po wers of government in directing tbc army * But- John was aware of their sinister views , and he \ e ~ turns this pointed answer ,: —* Do violence to no man , neither accuse any falsely , and be content with your wages . " As though he had
said , " Preserve proper discipline , and do not excite tumult in the c 6 ufttry . I know your intention to accuse rae * The advice ,
therefore , which you mostly need , is , not to bear false testimony against me nor any other person * I have no wish lo withdraw your allegiance from Caesar ; and so far from offering you any prospects of plunderor preferment , I advise you to be
content with the washes you receive from your present commanders . ' Lastly , Joseph us represents the Baptist as' a prophet ; because his language implies that John foretold the Messiah : a fact which
made him a prophet in thp estimation of the people and our Lord himself * and because ^ moreover , he represents the same Bnptist as warning the people not mereljr to conae to his baptism , bqt to prac - tice piety tow a rd *> God and right .
eousness : towards man ; or , in the l anguage of the evangelists , to ret ** t > and bring forth fhlit meet for re petuance , as the means of avertm gsins , etfi ' fouv oLfjuOfraSoov irate *< zifl
r '« , htcrally , Jor the deprecation y tons . Now ; in the language of a " ^ > to avert or deprecate sin , is fcs-ame thing as to avert ordepre . ^ some natural evil or temporal Action , which is the supposed ^ sequence of that sin . The
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Baptist then , according to Josephus , apprized 'tte ^ J ^ w tsh ? p eopl * £ of some calamity that awaited them on account of their guilt , and i nculcafed repentance atid refofl rriation as the means of avoiding it . This is precisely the repre - sc&tetion we have in the gos * pe } s * Jt ) hn -declared that "the irihpcmteftt would be cut off from the stem <* f Abralvani , be dispersed like chaff , and consumed as with fir <^ . This * was fulfilled inwthe destruction of j Jerusalem , and in the sufferings * ' which the inhabitants underwent
during the siege and their subsequent captivity . In speakitig of this accomplishment , Josephu * uses the very metaphor before used by the Baptist : —** I am of opi * nion , * ' says he , * that , on this account , God , who hates impiety , has demolished our city ; and , re . garding ihe temple as ho longer a pure habitation for himself , brought upon us the Romans , and exposed it and the city to purifying fire % and ourselves , with our children , to slavery J wishing that we should learn virtue from our calamities . " Antiq . Jucblib . 20 . C . 8 . 5 . The ancient fathers understood
this passage of Josephus in the light \ have here explainer ! it . TJiCy says Jerome in his book of Illustrious Men , confitctur J < i ~ hanncrn Baptist am vt ' re prophetamjuis . se . This Lardnej calls an inaccurate reference ; but Jerome
fully comprehended the opinions and language-of Josi-phug , and Lardner assuredly did neither . 1 shall conclude that Josephus in this , fts well as in other passages , is , in the strictest sense , a Christian writer , and that his object was to "' enforce the truth of the Christian Scriptures . THEOLOGUS .
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Josephus on the Divine Mission of John the Baptist . 23 &
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1811, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2415/page/41/
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