The Magnanimity of the Baptist
John 1:26
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there stands one among you, whom you know not;


The world recognizes jealousy as the chief weakness of popular leaders and preachers. Such men are spiritual athletes, who cannot bear a rival. The greatest of popular preachers, the darling of Antioch and Constantinople, admits that he who can overcome this is almost like the disembodied spirits, whose lives, pure as the crystal stream, can never be darkened by any shadow of envy or vainglory. But the leader of a great party in a nation; the founder of a sect, which has vitality enough to live on for years; who was regarded by some as probably the Messiah — that he should have bowed down in prostrate humiliation before a younger successor, this is original indeed.

(Bp. Alexander.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;

WEB: John answered them, "I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don't know.




The Best Servant the Most Humble
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