ungodliness, and sordid secularity that have so long directed their counsels be made to pass away, and until their administration shall become deeply imbued with the spirit of Christianity and the Bible, and be conducted with a high and holy regard to the honour and the approbation of HIM by whom kings reign and princes decree justice," and who hath promised to his Church, that "kings shall be her nursing fathers, and queens her nursing mothers."-In the mean time, the fearful denunciations of his displeasure, which God hath issued forth against Mystical Babylon, will deeply affect all who fear the Lord," and who" tremble at his word," and will lead them, on the part of their beloved country, to deprecate fellowship with a system against which the dreadful sentence has gone forth, and the murmurings of the distant storm are already heard, and whose overthrow will be accompanied with the desolation and ruin of the kingdoms and states that have leagued themselves with it. VI. IT BECOMES THE CHURCH OF CHRIST TO REJOICE BECAUSE THIS GREAT SYSTEM OF DELUSION AND IMPIETY SHALL HAVE AN END. It hath pleased HIM, who "purchased the Church with his own blood," to ordain that her state in this world should be, for the most part, a state of suffering. By this arrangement she is conformed to himself-her spiritual graces are exercised and perfected -and the felicity and glory of her celestial condition will be sweetened and enhanced.-But it hath not seemed good to him that the condition of his Church on earth should be one of unmingled suffering. He hath appointed for her seasons of enlargement"times of refreshing"-when he arises, and has mercy upon her, and repairs her desolations. The most eminent of these is yet to come-a season that will"fill her mouth with laughter, and her tongue with praise." It is given to the "Man of Sin"-the "horn "of wickedness-to "speak great words against the Most High, and to wear out the saints, until a time, and times, and the dividing of time." This period of Zion's tribulation, and of the prosperity of her great adversary, is drawing nigh its termination. The emphatic symbol in my text shall ere long be realized, and great Babylon shall fall, to deceive the nations no more for ever. "The judgment shall sit, and they shall take away her dominion, to consume, and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”*—In anticipation of this great event, let the " kindreds of the earth" who have been enriched by Babylon's merchandise "wail and lament;" but let the people of "the * Dan. vii. 25-27. living God" rejoice. Let them lift up their heads with joy, for the day of their deliverance draweth nigh. "Awake, put on strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem!" for thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer," O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and thy foundations with saphires.""The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee; for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish, yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree-the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and thou shalt suck the breast of kings, and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.”* * Isa. lx. 10-20. |