the Life of the Baptist
They had beheld with admiration the incomparable beauty of John’s mode of life: the splendor of his conduct; the unparalleled and surpassing excellence of his piety. For so great and admirable was he, that even the Jewish populace began to conjecture whether he were not himself the Christ, Whom the law had described to them in shadows, and the holy prophets had before proclaimed. Inasmuch therefore as some ventured on this conjecture, he at once cuts away their surmise, declining as a servant the honors due to the Master, and transferring the glory to Him Who transcends all, even to Christ.
For he knew that He is faithful unto those that serve Him. And what he acknowledges is in very deed the truth: for between God and man the distance is immeasurable. “Ye yourselves, there, he says, bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him.” But where shall we find the holy Baptist thus speaking? In the Gospel of John, who has thus spoken concerning him; “And this is the testimony of John when the scribes and Pharisees at Jerusalem sent to ask him whether he were the Christ. And he confessed, and denied not, and said, that I am not the Christ, but am he that is sent before Him. Great therefore and admirable in very deed is the forerunner, who was the dawning before the Savior’s meridian splendor, the precursor of the spiritual daylight, beautiful as the morning star, and called of God the Father a torch.