understandings to interpret them, and SECT.V. who gives authority as well as ability

to preach that great truth revealed in them, every minifter of Chrift, who fucceeds the Baptift in the bleffed work of calling men to falvation, fhould mortify the lufts of the flesh, that the of the Spirit may live and grow

graces in him.

By a thorough mortification of the flesh, St. John had gained a compleat victory over the world, which had nothing in it that he wanted. And herein confifted that greatness of his character foretold by the angel; "He fhall be

great in the fight of the Lord.

Earthly pageantry engages not the attention of the fpirits above, unless it be to pity fuch as fet their hearts upon it. They difcerned fomething more truly great in the person of the Baptist, when he came forth from the defarts, than in that of a triumphant monarch, at the head of his victorious army. Behold," faith our Lord, "they that "wear foft clothing are in kings'

a Luke i. 15.

" houses";"

SECT.V. "houses" look for them among the

attendants upon the princes of this world, and not among my fervants. They who thirst after temporal honours and advantages, must go where fuch things are to be had. And let them go any where, rather than come into the church, with thefe difpofitions. For he who would perfuade others to defpife the world, while the love of it appears to direct and govern all his own actions, can expect no better fuccefs than it may be fuppofed St. Peter would have met with, had he invited thofe, who stood with him round the fire in the high prieft's hall, into the fervice of that master, whom they had juft before heard him deny. "When thou art "converted, ftrengthen thy brethren " attempt not to do it till then, left thou not only fallest into condemnation thyfelf, but layeft a ftumbling block in the of the weak, and causeft the name of God and his gofpel to be thus blafphemed through thy double-minded nefs, while thy life is at variance with

way

a Matt. xi. 8.

Luke xxii. 32.

1

thy

thy doctrine. He who undertakes to SECT.V. reprove the world, must be one whom the world cannot reprove. All eyes will be upon him; his actions, his words, his very geftures and looks will be observed and canvaffed by his sharp fighted enemies. It will therefore behove one, fo exposed on all fides, to abftain from the least appearance of evil, to ftand at the utmost distance from temptation, and to prevent even the poffibility of a fufpicion. The ax must be laid to the root, and the paffion's mortified, till the man become, in the emphatical language of fcripture, "dead to fin," as a corpfe is to the delights and concerns of life. "The dead know not any thing, "neither have they any more a portion "in any thing that is done under the "fun"."

STRANGE, therefore, as St. John's appearance and manner of life might at first feem, they were prefently explained, when he began to preach a doctrine harsh and diftafteful to flesh and blood, as the garment he wore, and the food

a Rom. vi. 2. Ecclef. ix. 5, 6.

L

on

SECT.V. On which he fubfifted. « Repent ye;"

66

that is, Be converted, or changed, in
heart and mind, in principle and prac-
tice, from error to truth, from fin to
righteousness, from the flesh to the Spi-
rit, from the world to God; "for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand';" a
new and heavenly kingdom is about to
be fet up amongst you, with new and
heavenly laws, under a new and heavenly
king, the promised Meffiah, and none
but men of new and heavenly tempers
and difpofitions can poffibly become the
subjects of it. I am the perfon com-
miffioned to prepare you for
your happy
change, by calling you to repentance,
and to my baptism which is "the bap-
"tism of repentance, for the remiffion
" of fins"," through faith in him "who
"cometh after me," to confer pardon
and forgiveness. I am the meffenger
foretold by Malachi and Ifaiah, fent in
this manner to prepare the way of him
who is your King, your Lord, and your
God, now ready to be revealed, as the
Saviour of men.
"Repent ye, for the

Matt. iii. 2.

Luke iii. 3.

66

king

kingdom of heaven is at hand." Thus SECT.V. did St. John lay the foundations of the evangelical edifice in mortification and felf-denial; nor did his bleffed Master afterward propofe the glories of a crown to any but those who should be ready to take up their crofs in the way to them.

THE appearance of fanctity, put on by every impoftor, is a proof of the influence, which it hath, when genuine and unaffected, over the minds of men. The preacher will always be attended, who conforms to his own doctrine, and exemplifies it in his life, be that doctrine ever fo rigid. No fooner was it known, that John, the fon of Zacharias, was come forth from the defarts, and had begun to preach, but "there "went out unto him Jerufalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about

Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confeffing their fins." The discourses of the Baptift were sharp and piercing as lancets. He applied them home to the human heart, fwollen with pride, and full of iniquity. And indeed,

a Matt. iii. 5, 6.

L 2

much

19