_LIFE AS A VOICE_
JOHN i. 19-34.
This man humbly desires to be "_a voice_." He has no ambition to receive
popular homage. He does not covet the power of the lordly purple. He does
not crave to be a great person; he only wants to be a great voice! He
wants to articulate the thought and purpose of God. He is quite content to
be hidden, like a bird in a thick bush, if only his song may be heard.
And in order that he may be a voice he retires into the silent solitudes
of the desert. He will listen before he speaks. Come thou, my soul, into
his secret! The air is clamorous with speech behind which there has been
no hearing. Men speak, and in their words there is no pulse of the
Infinite. In their consolations there is no balm. In their reproaches
there is no sword. Their words are empty vessels, full of sound! Let my
voice be hushed until I have heard the voice of the Highest. "He that hath
ears to hear, let him hear."
And when he spake, it was in clear and definite testimony, "Behold the
Lamb of God!" The "voice" succeeded, for men began to look away from the
herald to the herald's Lord. In forgetting John they found the King. They
passed the _signpost_, and arrived at _home_!