the moment in which he stood forth a preacher of repentance and refor mation. But no good could be done to others in folitude, no converts could be made in the defarts; and he must therefore quit even the most refined and exalted of intellectual enjoyments, as every minifter of Christ thould be ready to do, when charity dictates an attendance on the neceffities of his fellow-creatures. YET let it be obferved, that St. John was thirty years of age, when "the word of God came to him in "the wilderness," and commiffioned him to enter upon his miniftry; and the holy Jefus likewise was of the fame age, when inaugurated to his office, by the vifible defcent of * Luke iii. 2. the Spirit upon him at his baptifm; to intimate, perhaps, that neither the exigencies of mankind, nor a consciousness of abilities for the work, can be pleaded as a fufficient warrant for a man to run before he is fent, and take the facred office upon himself, without a regular and lawful call. The inftitutions of God are not without a reason, and he will not be ferved by the breach of his commandments. THE place to which the Baptift firft repaired is ftyled "the wilderness "of Judea," a country not like the vaft and uninhabited defurts in which he was educated, but one thinly peopled, a comparative wilderness, chofen by him on account of it's border * Matt. iii. 1. Luke iii. 3 ing ing on the river. Hither the inhabitants of the neighbouring cities and villages prefently flocked in great numbers, attracted by the uncommon fanctity of the new preacher, who thus came forth, on a fudden, from the defarts, like one from another world, without any connections in this, that no attachment might take him off from the duties of his high calling, or any way impede him in the exercise of it; fince a man's worft foes have often been thofe of his own houfhold, and the ties of fleth and blood have been known to prevail, where tyrants have threatened and inflicted tortures, without effect. And as there is nothing fo directly oppofite to the profeffion of a prophet, nothing which fo foon or fo 66 fo effectually fullies his reputation, as a tendency to indulgence and fenfuality; in him, who was ' more "than a prophet *,” we must expect to find a perfect crucifixion of the flefl, with it's affections and lufts. "What went ye out into the "wilderness to fee? A man clothed "in foft raiment?" No, the very reverse; a man, like his predeceffor Elijah, coarfely attired; "his rai"ment of camel's hair, with a lea"thern girdle about his loins;" and content with the plaineft food that nature could provide for him; "his "meat, locufis, and wild honey;" a man, whofe perfon, habit, and manner of life, were themselves a * Matt. xi. 9. + Ibid. xi. 8. fermon, and the beft illuftration of the doctrine he was about to teach; a proper perfon to prepare the way for Chrift, and introduce the law to the gofpel; to fhew men what effect the one ought to have upon them, in order to difpofe them for the bleffings of the other; that mercy might fave from the wrath which juftice had denounced, and Jefus comfort thofe whom Mofes had caufed to mourn. THE actions of a prophet, who appears, like the Baptift, with an extraordinary miffion, though they are not to be imitated by us according to the letter, may yet convey a moral of general ufe. There is no obligation upon us to be clothed with camel's hair, and to eat locufts and |