| Show written fw fot chit tatt POP paper tt JOHN THE BAPTIST fefa the gospel narrative concerning of john the baptist baptis t it is stated dAt john ijohn on one occasion sent two of M disciples to jesus to ask him the fraction i n art thou he that should come aw W look we vre for another upon this text gome have formed the opinion that 11 mind of john the baptist had be conie obie darkened so much so that he did wm fx know that jesus was the christ the writer differs from this view and b begs ats to submit some of his bis reasons for so iio downs tl 1 in ath the e garst first place the parents of john tre both righteous before god it t 0 o announced to them by an angel amt they should have a son in in answer that this son should vik Z fiher with the holy ghost from the fest fiM moment of his existence faco cheb fb co john was old enough to leave his parents he be went into the desert and r remained 4 d I 1 there here under the tuition of those W se angelic beings whose mission I 1 it aras to instruct him in in all the divine y ries ot of the kingdom of heaven the ible lull full time had bad come for him 1 to among the people and then alse word of the lord came unto him he was to com enneis en ceis R 8 mission saying repent ye n op da of heaven is at hand 09 rebaptism of repentance io for r of sins and sa so powerful cove was his bis preaching that aier Ji er went wen toua put to nim him a an the regions about jordan and were baptized anna Jn na cont confessing essing their sins he in amed d thie the people thit that another man mai add follow biow him much more mighty who would baptize them with 11 loly oost ghost soon after this jettis jasus himself among the multitude aa cea candidate bdate for baptism but john a 1 1 I have more nee need d 19 to be baptized thee k and t thou h bu tome to me and r said dauffer dS suffer uffer it to b be e so now for s it 4 become acom fh us to fulfill all right gas although john knew jesus il his is 1 baptism yet there remained another and more ingre powerful testimony wi ath ia which he had been mafle acquainted w while in the wilderness wa that when he should baptize the 0 he be should see the hol holy boost descending from heaven and rest rest j n him like a dove so that no lOS stae might alight occur for john bad already ay 1 baptized many men and there afi no external difference between jesus ai others therefore it was absolutely cepura that john should have the knowing him beyond the pos dwity 0 bt T a doubt and john bear 9 card saying sai Y ing 1 I saw the spirit descend like a dove and it abode upon arms sa th pharisees Pharis phil risnes ees on n one n occasion 5 asked e k why he baptized if he was not the st he answered them saying ere one among you whom now w not he it is who coming sifter after is preferred before me the next john seeth jesus coming t to 0 hi i mand t behold the lamb of god which ceth away the sins of the world I 1 He should be made manifest to ther elom am I 1 come baptizing water r now it is evident that at this time the mission of john johneas wag was Wail hearing ring its close it is ii also evident that jesus did not connect his ministerial labors with those of john for the evangelist makes the statement that jesus was baptizing at enon near salem and some person brought the information to john his reply was he must increase but I 1 must decrease he evidently knew that his mission was soon to end soon after this herod laid hold on john and cast him into prison now it was told john in the prison the works that christ did and he be sent two of his disciples saying art thou he that should come or look we for another the au question estion arises here who was johns first informant who was it that hat told john in the prison the work which christ did and and why did not john accept the testimony of the first why should john after all the evidence he had received oc be under the necessity of sending his bis disciples to jesus to ask the above questions it is not probable that john had lost the knowledge lid he had dad received from almighty god con corning berning jesus being the christ the most reasonable conclusion the writer cau can arrive at is that those men whom john sent xo to jesu jesus to ask this q question we e some of his hii new con converts verbs which he be had made alade just previous evious to his bei being n 9 c cast st into pr prison thes hes might b be e men who bad had an acquaintance with afi jesus s u s who had sean seen ado no miracle wrought for 0 r john did no miracle john diw knew that his earthly mission was terminating and in order to save his new converts convers from doubt and disappointment and d probably apostasy I 1 sent them to jesus in order that they might be bene fitted by the information sought if john could not know from all the evidence he previously had received how could he accept toe the statement ol of these disciples on oa such an important matter and if these men did not have a testimony stronger than that indicated in the text viz that of se seeing all miracles eracles wrought then the w whole ho ehnle multitude present at the tune time had the same testimony and the recital of what they had seen could not be con elusive to john the mere fact that these two men had seen a supernatural phenomenon could be of but little service to john it it is admitted that john sent those men to obtain information for himself it is it admitted also that all the heavenly light he had received all the spirit and power of elias which he formerly possessed must have become as a flickering ng wick ready to be extinguished guis hed by the slightest gust should something have happened by which those disciples could not have returned to john to impart the result of their visit to christ then john must have died without knowing whether jesus was the christ or not and his condition would have been much more hopeless than the dying malefactor who while jesus was dying by his side addressed him im as lord and requested 0 tobe o be remembered when jesus should come in his kingdom furthermore if john fohn should have died without a knowledge of this important fact then he could not havie have eternal life as eternal life is obtained through a knowledge of 1 god od and his son jesus christ whom to know ow is life eten eternal lal another reason why I 1 do abt believe that john became darkened ened in his mind a and d was under the necessity of sending his disciples to jesus to get information for himself is the very strong testimony of jesus himself to the divinity of johns mission the lord says concerning him verily I 1 say unto you among them that are born of women there has not arisen a greater than john the baptist 0 jesus declared to the people that john was more than a prophet in what particular the text does not state the prophet joseph smith in a discourse delivered may 24 1843 touches upon this subject after naming his text the prophet said someone had jacked asked him the meaning of the expression of jesus among them theat born of women there has not arisen a greater than han john the baptist and he said he lad had promised to answer it in public and would do it then it could not have been he said on account of the mira miracles clep he performed for mause john ohn did no na miracle but it was first firs because he was entrusted with a divine mission of preparing the way before the face of the he lord who was entrusted with such a mission before or since mo man S second he was trusted and it was required at his hano to baptize the on of man whoever oid did that whoever had such a great privilege or glory whoever led lea the son of god into the waters of baptism beholding the holy ghost descending upon him hi n the sign of a dove no man third john ohn at that time wai was the only legal administrator holding all the keys of there was on the earth the keys the kingdom the power and the glory had departed from the jews ind and john the son zacharias by the authority iut aut hority bority and decree of heaven held the he keys of power at that time in alluding to the prophecies that a messenger should be sent before the face of the lord to prepare wis his way positively says this is is he be luki luke thet the evangelist says that they the peo pole pie justified justi hed god being baptized wh ah the ithe baptism of john ohn also that the 1 pharisees Pharis ees and lawyers rejected the counsel of grad god a against ainest themselves not being baptized of john from the foregoing wr w infer that G god od had counseled the people to be baptized with the baptism of john other wise they could not have rejected the counsel the announcement of the angell Angel gabriel to zacharias Za chanas was that he shall be great in the sight of the lord and he shall be filled wath the holy ghost even from his mothers womb and many ot of the children of israel shall he turn to the lord their god and he shall go before him in the spirit and power ot of elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and i he disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the lord the prophecy of zacharias was and thou child shall be called the prophet of the highest tor for thou shall go before the face of the lord to prepare his way all testify to the greatness of john and andt there bereis is not one sentence which affords the slightest reason to believe that he became darkened in his mind or lost the knowledge that thesus jesus was the christ on the day that at he was be headed he held the keys of his priest hood he held it behind the veil from the day of his martyrdom which is believed occurred about the year ig 29 AD A D and confer fed it on bojman my 14 1829 eighteen hundred years later upon joseph smith and oliver cowdery see doctrine and covenants section 13 after what has been produced in tavor favor of john the baptist and to weaken the unfavorable impression regarding his fidelity the writer can only appeal to reason and sound judgment and kindly ask those who defier diner with him in theo theory to give ve the subject the candid and prayerful prayer prayerful rul attention and should any light have been thrown upon the sub eject let the honor thereof be ascribed to the great fountain of intelligence JOHN SEARS |
