LORD and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST. 27 nity he had enjoyed 'twenty-eight years. His brother Philip was tetrarch of Iturea; and Lyfanias of Abilene. The dignity of the high-priefthood was vefied.in Caiphas, the fon-in -law of Annas, who formerly had held that high office, and now wat rever- enced by the people as high-prieft, and probably affilted his fon-in-law in the execution of the facred duties of the priefihood. Such was the {late of the Jewifh na- tion at the time of the opening of the glorious gofpel ; for in the firft year of the government of Pontius Pilate, the word of God came unto John, the fon of Zacharias, in the wildernefs. The facred writers have been filent, with regard to the manner in which this extraordinary man paffed the former part of his life ; but there is an ancient tradition, that Eliza- beth, hearing of the terrible flaughter which that execrable tyrant Herod made among the young children at Bethlehem, 'fled into the wildernefs, to fecure her child from his murdering cruelty and rage ; and there attended him with all the care and tendernefs of an affection- ate mother. The child was about eighteen months old at the time of her flight, and about forty days after her abode in the defart, the died. His father Zacharias, next time he officiated in the temple, was (lain by Herod, becaufe he would not difcover the place of his fon's retreat. The helplefs infant, being thus deprived of all affiflance from his parents, the Lord, who had a great work for him to accomplifh, had mercy on him, and fent an angel to be his defender and fupport, till he was able to provide for himfelf. Whether this tradition is true or falfe, cannot be afcertained; but it is a certain fact, afferted by the evangelifis, that he abode in the defart till the day of his ,/hewing unto Ifrael. Some learned men, who have been at great pains in endeavouring to fix the precife time when the prophet Johnbegan his public minifiry, have fixed it to the month of October, and at the time of the proclamation of a year of jubilee. They fay, that his preaching began on the great day of atonement, when the high- prieft went into the holy of holies. This was a particular day of penitence, and, it is Paid in the law, whofoever did not afflict his foul, fhould be cut off from the people. This day . is fuppofed to anfwer to our nineteenth of Oétober, and was the day whereon, by the folemn founding of trum- pets, the thirtieth jubilee of the Jews was proclaimed, which was the fall they ever raw. This extraordinary perron, in his ap- pearance, and his way of life, very much refembled the ancient prophets, particu- larly Elijah, to whom he had been com- pared in prophecy. The coarfenefs of his clothing, and the hardnefs of his fare, were very remarkable : his garment was made of camel's hair, probably the lack- cloth fo often mentioned in the facred writings, to be worn by penitents and mourners ; and his food, the wild produc- tions of the wildernefs : locufts and wild honey were his only provifions, and his drink the clear cold water which bubbled from the moffy fpring. In this fituation, he began the work of God, and preached in the wildernefs of Judea, Repent! for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The remarkable aufterity of his life, and the air and appearance of the old prophets, which he ffumed, commanded reverence from the people ; and his whole demeanor, being fo particularly adapted to the doc- trine of repentance which he taught, en- gaged the attention of the public. Nor is it any wonder, that great notice fhould be taken of fo remarkable a perron; at a time when the whole nation .earnefily ex- pected the appearance of the Meffìah. And as he preached the neceffity of re- pentance, becaufe the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and had a commiffion from God,
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