He knew Him at least to be a princely
child, of David's royal line. But he was not conscious of who and what
He was, till the mysterious inner voice, of whom he gives only the
darkest hints, said to him, "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit
descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the
Holy Ghost. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God." But
what manner of man was St John the Baptist in the meantime? Painters
have tried their hands at drawing him, and we thank them. Pictures, says
St Augustine, are the books of the unlearned. And, my friends, when
great painters paint, they are the books of the too-learned likewise.
They bring us back, bring us home, by one glance at a human face, a human
figure, a human scene of action, out of our philosophies, and criticisms,
and doctrines, which narrow our hearts, without widening our heads, to
the deeper facts of humanity, and therefore to the deeper facts of
theology likewise. But what picture of St John the Baptist shall we
choose whereby to represent him to ourselves, as the forerunner of the
incarnate God?
The best which I can recollect is the great picture by Guido--ah, that he
had painted always as wisely and as well--of the magnificent lad sitting
on the rock, half clad in his camel's hair robe, his stalwart hand lifted
up to denounce he hardly knows what, save that things are going all
wrong, utterly wrong to him; his beautiful mouth open to preach, he
hardly knows what, save that he has a message from God, of which he is
half-conscious as yet--that he is a forerunner, a prophet, a foreteller
of something and some one which is to come, and which yet is very near at
hand.
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