24
June. 1662 Book of Common Prayer. St. John the
Baptist.
Saint
John Baptist's Day.
The
Collect.
ALMIGHTY
God, by whose providence thy servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, and
sent to prepare the way of they Son our Saviour, by preaching of repentance;
Make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent
according to his preaching; and after his example constantly speak the truth,
boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
St. John
Baptist's Day. The Festival is not of the martyrdom,
but of the nativity of St. John Baptist, determined, of course (see Luke
i. 26, 36) by Christmas. The character of St. John, like that of his
prototype Elijah (Luke
i. 17; Matt. xi. 14; xvii. 10-13), stands out as the model of
austere and ascetic self-sacrifice, especially fit for one who, simply
preaching repentance and proclaiming God's wrath upon sin, had a comparatively
narrow mission, confined to moral teaching and warning (Luke
i. 17; iii. 7-14), with no miracle to work (John
x. 41), and no new Gospel to declare. In the willing acceptance
of this simple mission--less than that of the least in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt.
xi. 11)--as also in the renunciation of all independent authority
(John
i. 19-27), lies one great lesson of his life to us. (See Gospels
for Third and Fourth
Sundays in Advent. -- June 24th.
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