6. I ought to be baptized by Thee (St. Matt. III. 14). 7. I knew him not. (St. John I. 31). 8. I saw the Spirit coming down ... and He remained upon Him (verse 32). 9. I saw (verse 34); (that is, I understood). 10. I gave testimony that this is the Son of God. (ibid.) 11. I am not the Christ (verse 20). 12. I must decrease (chap. III. 30). _Colloquy_ with St. John the Baptist. _Resolution._ To bear my testimony. _Spiritual Bouquet._ "Behold the Lamb of God!" ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. (4) HIS MARTYRDOM. "Herod the Tetrarch, when he was reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, he added this also above all, and shut up John in prison." (St. Luke III. 19, 20). _1st. Prelude._ John the Baptist in Prison. _2nd. Prelude._ Grace to be faithful unto death. POINT I. JOHN IN PRISON. John knew no fear where right was concerned. His duty was to make the paths straight for Him who was coming and it mattered little to him whether he rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees at the Jordan or Herod in his palace. Herod, however, could not brook such plain speaking and he had (at first) a mind to put him to death (but) "he feared the people, because they esteemed him as a prophet" (St. Matt. XIV. 5). Herodias also had "laid snares for him and was desirous to put him to death and could not" because of Herod who knowing that John was "a just and holy man" (afterwards) protected his life (St. Mark VI. 19, 20). So John was shut up in prison; Josephus tells us that it was at a place called Machaerus on the east of the Dead Sea where Herod had a castle. Let us go and visit John in that lonely prison, where he was cast quite at the beginning of Christ's ministry. His long years of preparation in the desert, his fearless, outspoken preaching, his generosity and humility in giving place to his Master, his important office of Forerunner of the Messias, his vision of the Blessed Trinity--are they all to end thus? Is this how God treats His friends? Is this the reward for fidelity and loyalty? Yes, St. John would be the first to answer, these are ever God's ways, "He must increase, I must decrease." John had indeed been specially favoured and he was specially favoured in prison too. It is not everybody whom God can trust with a trial such as this. John was still preparing the ways of the Lord, no longer by an active life, but by a life of suffering, solitude and privation. His patience and his perfect submission to God's Will no doubt prepared the ways of Christ in the hearts of many.