"John than which man a sadder or a greater/ not till this day has been of woman born; John like some iron peak by the Creator/ fired with the red glow of the rushing morn" ( Myers).
It was "coming time"; but the Zealots were expecting a warrior as Messiah; and the school of Shammai a legist; and the Essenes an ascetic; and the philosophic schools some divine vision (Philo, De Execratt,ii,435).
The nature of St, John the Baptist was full of impetuosity and fire. The long struggle which had given him so powerful a mastery over himself, which inspired him with fearlessness in the face of danger, and the humility in the midst of applause - had left its traces in the stern character, and aspect, and teaching of the man. If he had won peace in the long prayer and penitence of his life in the wilderness, it was not the spontaneous peace of a placid and holy soul. The victory he had won was still encumbered with traces of the battle; the calm he had attained still echoed with the distant mutter of the storm. His very teaching reflected the imagery of the wilderness - the rock, the serpent, the barren tree. "In his manifestation and agency he was like a burning torch; his public life was quite an earthquake - the whole man was a sermon; he might well call himself a voice - the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord" (Lange,ii,p.11. E.Tr.)