"Faithful unto death."--"O Lord, Thou hast set on his head a crown of precious stones" ("Communion" for the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, August 29th). "And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and came and told JESUS," told the Bridegroom that His "friend" was dead. "Which when JESUS had heard, He retired from thence by a boat, into a desert place apart." "Faithful unto death," I must be too, if my preparation this Advent is to be anything like that of St. John the Baptist. He died to self long before his cruel death in the prison; his whole life from the day he went into the desert as a little child was a living death: "As dying and behold we live" (2 Cor. VI. 9). This is how St. Paul describes the state of all those who "_will_ live godly in Christ JESUS" (2 Tim. III. 12). It is the death of "the old man," the death of self; the "I" must ever be decreasing, ever receiving the blows which will one day, probably not before the soul's last day on earth, cause its death. Such is the prospect I have before me, if I would copy John the Baptist and be faithful unto death. What is my consolation and strength? That JESUS knows and sympathizes. Not one of the blows which cost me so much, not one of the sufferings, not one hour of desolation or loneliness or temptation or misunderstanding or unkindness, or any of the many things which are conspiring together for the death of "the old man," are lost upon Him. He knows, He cares, He sympathizes and He is glad, for in proportion as the "I" is decreasing, _He_ is increasing in my soul. _Colloquy_ (1) With John in the prison. (2) With JESUS in "a desert place apart." _Resolution._ To be "faithful unto death" to-day. _Spiritual Bouquet._ "I spoke of Thy testimonies before kings and I was not ashamed" ("Introit" for the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist). ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. (5) HIS CHARACTER. "What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are in costly apparel and live delicately, are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet, for ... among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is the lesser in the Kingdom of God, is greater than he." (St. Luke VII. 24-28). _1st. Prelude._ JESUS talking to His disciples about John. _2nd. Prelude._ Grace to stand by and listen and learn. POINT I. HIS HUMILITY.