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He yet waits in mercy, imploring His enemies to lay down their arms and be His friends. Oh! come, weary and heavy-laden with sin; instead of vain attempts to reconcile yourselves to your burden, or to stifle all consciousness of it, come and cast it upon Him. Now is the time: be ye reconciled. He waits to be gracious, and the time is short; no one can tell at what moment the voice of exhortation and of love may be for ever silenced. Do you, indeed, believe and trust in the Lord Jesus, and in Him alone. Oh! I beseech you, do not deceive yourselves. There is a state of mind most destructive and most common, where the heart is putting its real confidence in second causes, and secretly expecting more safety from some political change than from trusting in Christ himself. That is to be political, indeed, and in the worst sense: but to put undivided confidence in the Lord for protection here, as well as salvation hereafter, is to be, not political, but truly religious; while others, who disclaim politics in words, are yet leaning on the measures of men in their hearts, for all their expectations of safety for themselves and their families, and their property.

This is not only a time for reconciliation, that the ungodly may come and give themselves up to the Lord, but a time of instruction also, that you may grow more in the knowledge of your absent Friend, learn more of the principles of His kingdom, be more conformed to them; that, understanding more and more what He shall be, and

what He shall do, you may be more and more moulded into the character of citizens and subjects of that kingdom. Learn more of Him; and while you are getting more of that instruction, both by reading the Scriptures and by remarking the movements of God's providence over the world, seek to imbibe more deeply those principles of willing submission to authority, which, however now decried, must eventually triumph. Seek to become more conformed to His mind, that you may really and instinctively delight in the sound of His chariot wheels; for that sound will be the sound of joy unspeakable and full of glory to every emancipated and waiting soul, to every penitent and confiding believer in the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

SERMON III.

THE CITY OF CONFUSION TO BE DESTROYED AT THE SECOND ADVENT OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

"For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built."-ISAIAH XXV. 2.

THIS

HIS chapter contains a song of praise to the God of Israel, in reference to the events which were predicted in the preceding chapter. These generally were, the destruction of the city of confusion, mentioned in the 10th verse, "the city of confusion is broken down;" the preservation of a chosen people," as the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done,"-mentioned in the 13th verse; and the reigning of the Lord of Hosts, "in mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously,"-distinctly declared in the last verse. In the midst of these predictions, the prophet, as if arrested by the overwhelming view of the majesty, faithfulness, and grace of God, breaks off the line of his direct prophetic discourse, and gives utterance to a burst of admiring praise. "O Lord," he exclaims, at the opening of this chapter, "thou art my God: I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name, for thou hast done wonderful things: thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." As if, in the contemplation of the performance of the

things which he had predicted, he had said, “Thy purposes, O God, foreordained in thyself, and declared of old by the fathers, thou hast now accomplished with infinite faithfulness and truth. These are wonderful things: I will praise thee, I will exalt thee. Thou art my God; my soul delights in such a God as thou art." He then proceeds to recapitulate the things he had prophesied of. "For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built."

In order to make the subject as clear and simple as possible, I must remind you that the great city or kingdom of Babylon, during the pride of her power and authority, exercised it in the most tyrannical manner, mightily to oppress the children of Israel. In the days of Isaiah, the kingdom of Babylon had not risen into notice. The Assyrian was then the leading empire, and it was not till a considerable period after the prophet's death, that Babylon assumed the pre-eminence. It was at its height of glory under Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah lived and prophesied chiefly in the time of Hezekiah; and Hezekiah lived 120 years previous to the time of Nebuchadnezzar. But Isaiah, though living so long antecedent to the glory of Babylon, was inspired by God to speak of her. He foretold of her luxury, her tyranny, her oppression of Israel, and her desolation and ruin. You find this plainly set forth in the 13th chapter. After describing even by name the power that would destroy Babylon,-"I will stir up the Medes against her," he

says, at the 19th verse, "and Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the island shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged." This he combines with the deliverance of Israel, in the beginning of the next chapter. "FOR the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land." Here is the reason, "The Lord will yet choose Israel." He depicts the glory of Babylon, and the captivity of Israel,—the desolation of Babylon, and the restoring of Israel, all to happen so many years after the prophet's death. "And the people shall take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and bondmaids, and they shall take them captives whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall give thee rest"

that is Israel" from thy sorrow and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb

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