their proper colours and natural deformity, the diabolical nature of pride and envy, the brutality of intemperance, the folly and torment of lasciviousness, the wretchedness of avarice, and the stupidity of sloth. Now he hath no longer any unlawful desires, and grieves that he ever had such. Now he is what he always ought to have been, and what retirement, at proper seasons, should and would have made him.

In morality, as in husbandry, the preparation of the soil is a great step towards the production of a plentiful harvest. If carnal desires are dead in us, all things belonging to the Spirit, will live and grow in us. If the affections are disengaged from things on earth, the difficulty of the work is over; they will readily and eagerly lay hold on things above, when proposed to them. If the snare of concupiscence be broken, and the soul be delivered out of it, she will presently fly away, on the wings of faith and charity, towards heaven. They who have duly practised mortification in the school of retirement, will, at their appearance in the world, afford it the brightest examples of every thing that is honest, just, pure, "lovely, and of good report."

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We may, therefore, conclude, that he who desires to undertake the office of guiding others in the ways of wisdom and holiness, will best qualify himself for that purpose by first passing some time in a state of sequestration from the world; where anxious cares and delusive pleasures may not break in upon him, to dissipate his attention; where no sceptical or sectarian spirit may blind his understanding, and nothing

may obstruct the illumination from above; where every vicious inclination may be mortified through grace, by a prudent application of the proper means; and every fresh bud of virtue, sheltered from noxious blasts, may be gradually reared up into strength, beauty, and fragrance; where, in a word, "he may grow and wax strong in spirit, until the day of his "showing unto Israel."

SECTION IV.

Considerations on the Prophecies relative to St. John in the Old Testament.

BEFORE we proceed to view the Baptist in the exercise of his ministry, it will be proper to look back to the predictions in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, concerning his office and character. We shall begin with that remarkable one, "Behold, I "will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And "he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, " and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest "I come and smite the earth with a curse."

6.

As there was amongst the Jews a general expectation of Messiah's appearance, at the time when he did appear, so an opinion likewise prevailed, that the world should be first prepared for his reception,

in some extraordinary manner. But wrong ideas of his appearance and kingdom introduced mistakes with regard to the person who should precede and proclaim him. According to the notions then current, occasioned by applying to his first advent the prophecies which belonged to his second, Messiah was to come in power and majesty, to confer on the sons of Jacob dominion over the Gentiles, and make Jerusalem the metropolis of the world. And by misunderstanding this prediction of Malachi, they had imagined, that Elijah the Tishbite should return from heaven, as his precursor. For this reason it was, that when the sanhedrim sent a message to St. John, desiring to know whether he were Elias? he answered, "I am not:" not the Elias by them in. tended and expected. But that St. John was the person foretold by Malachi under the name of Elias, we have the declarations of our Lord himself to his own disciples, "Elias is indeed come';" and to the Jews, "If ye will receive it, this is Elias which was "for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him "hear"." By these expressions it was evidently Christ's intention to put his hearers upon the search after something more than the words, in the bare letter of them, might seem to contain. He directed them to go deeper into things, to study with attention the mission of the Baptist, his office and character; to compare together persons, times, and events; and so to discover, in what sense John was Elias, and why Malachi had given him that appellation.

r

Mark, ix. 13.

• Matt. xi. 14.

But if they did this, and were once brought, in the person of John, to acknowledge Elias, who was to precede the Messiah, they must necessarily, in the person of Jesus, acknowledge the Messiah whom Elias was to precede. And therefore, as they were obstinately resolved not to own the Master, Christ knew they would not recognize the servant, or receive this saying concerning him. Thus when the chief priests and elders interrogated our Lord in the temple, "By what authority dost thou these things, or "who gave thee this authority? I will also," said he, "ask you one question, The baptism of John, was "it from heaven, or of men?" They perceived the dilemma, and having considered consequences, made the only safe answer, "We cannot tell;" an answer which did honour to their prudence and their caution, but certainly at the expense either of their wisdom or their honesty. As sitting in the chair of Moses, they ought to have known whence the baptism of John was; and if they did know, they ought not to have been shy of declaring it.

That St. John was the Elias predicted by Malachi, we have also the testimony of an angel", at the annunciation of his birth, who cites the very words of the prophet; "He shall go before him in the spirit "and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fa. "thers to the children," &c. And if this be the case, it follows by necessary inference, that by "the "great and dreadful day of the Lord," before the coming of which Elijah is promised, Malachi intends.

* Matt. xxi. 23.

VOL. IV.

" Luke, i. 17.

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primarily and immediately, the day, not of the world's, but of Jerusalem's destruction. For want of adverting to this, an opinion hath prevailed among Christian interpreters, that the whole prophecy relateth principally to the day of judgement, and to the appearance of an Elias, who shall then precede Christ. Whether there will be such an Elias at that time, and so the second advent will symbolize with the first in the circumstance of being previously proclaimed by a harbinger, like St. John, sent for that purpose, is a speculation with which we shall not at present concern ourselves, resting satisfied with the application of the prophecy, upon infallible grounds, to the person of the Baptist, the undoubted forerunner of our Lord, when he came to visit us in great bumility.

God punisheth not sinners, till he hath first invited them to repentance. He giveth fair warning before he striketh; and a day of grace, in which mercy may be sought, and pardon found, always goeth before a day of vengeance and extermination. Elias was sent "before the coming of the great and dread"ful day of the Lord;" John called his countrymen to turn from their sins, and believe in their Messiah, ere yet the desolations of Jerusalem exhibited to the wondering nations a specimen of that almighty power and inflexible justice, which shall one day lay the world itself in ruins.

The third chapter of Malachi containeth a most evident and clear prediction of Messiah's advent, with that of his precursor St. John: "Behold I will "send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way