Godes weg bið gegearcod on manna heortan, þonne hí ðære Soðfæstnysse spræce eadmodlice gehyrað, and gearuwe beoð to Lifes bebodum; be ðam cwæð se Hælend, "Se ðe me lufað, he hylt min bebod, and min Fæder hine lufað, and wit cumað to him, and mid him wuniað." His paðas beoð gerihte, þonne ðurh gode bodunge aspringað clæne geðohtas on mode ðæra hlystendra. Dena getácniað þa eadmodan, and dúna ða modigan. On Drihtnes to-cyme wurdon dena afyllede, and dúna geeadmette, swa swa he sylf cwæð, "Ælc ðæra ðe hine onhefð bið geeadmet, and se ðe hine geeadmet bið geuferod." Swa swa wæter scyt of ðære dúne, and ætstent on dene, swa forflihð se Halga Gast modigra manna heortan, and nimð wununge on ðam eadmodan, swa swa se witega cwæð, "On hwam gerest Godes Gast buton on ðam eadmodan?" Ðwyrnyssa beoð gerihte, þonne ðwyrlicra manna heortan, þe beoð ðurh unrihtwisnysse hócas awegde, eft ðurh regol-sticcan ðære soðan rihtwisnysse beoð geemnode. Scearpnyssa beoð awende to smeðum wegum, ðonne ða yrsigendan mod, and unliðe gecyrrað to manðwærnysse, þurh ongyte ðære upplican gife. Langsumlic bið us to gereccenne, and eow to gehyrenne ealle ða deopnyssa ðæs mæran Fulluhteres bodunge: hu he ða heardheortan Iudeiscre ðeode mid stearcre ðreale and {364} stiðre myngunge to lífes wege gebigde, and æfter his ðrowunge hellwarum Cristes to-cyme cydde, swa swa he on life mancynne agene alysednysse mid hludre stemne bealdlice bodade. Uton nu biddan ðone Wealdendan Hælend, þæt he, ðurh his ðæs mæran Forryneles and Fulluhteres ðingunge, ús gemiltsige on andweardum lífe, and to ðam ecan gelæde, ðam sy wuldor and lóf mid Fæder and Halgum Gaste á on ecnysse. Amen. JUNE XXIV. THE NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. The evangelist Luke wrote in the book of Christ concerning the birth of John the Baptist, thus saying, "There was a {353} certain pious servant of God called Zacharias, his wife was called Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking forth in his commandments and righteousnesses without blame. They had no child in common," etc. "All his garment was woven of camel's hair, his food was coarse; he drank not drink of wine, nor of any mixed or prepared fluid: fruit fed him and wood-honey, and other common things. "In the fifteenth year of the reign of the emperor Tiberius, the word of God came upon John, in the waste, and he went into the presence of people, and preached to the Jewish folk baptism for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the prophecy of Isaiah." The baptism of Christ to come he preached to all believers, in which is forgiveness of sins through the Holy Ghost. John also, by God's direction, baptized those who came to him of the Jewish nations, but his baptism wrought no forgiveness of sin, for he was God's messenger, and not God. He announced to men the advent of Jesus with words, and His holy baptism with his own baptism, with which he baptized the sinless Son of God, who needed no forgiveness of sin.