“Let thy days be to thy night
A letter of good tidings. Let thy praise
Go up as birds go up, that when they wake
Shake off the dew and soar. So take joy home,
And make a place in thy great heart for her,
And give her time to grow, and cherish her.
Then will she come, and oft will sing to thee
When thou art working in the furrows; ay,
Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn.
It is a comely fashion to be glad–
Joy is the grace we say to God.”
We can scarcely think of John the Baptist as ever among the doubters. His faith seems invincible. He introduced Jesus to men as the Lamb of God. He was most courageous and strong in his witnessing. How can we explain the lapse of faith in him?
No doubt the cause was partly physical. Our bodies have more to do than we dream with the tone of our spiritual life. John was a child of nature. He had been brought up in the wilderness, living in the open air. Now he was in a close, foul dungeon. The confinement irked him and made him sick. No wonder he became depressed.
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