extreme danger, he delivered them, and turned the proud vauntings of their enemies to confusion: yet when Jeremiah, in similar circumstances, pleaded the cause of Judah, the LORD refused to hear his prayers. And though the Jews observed days of fasting; placed great confidence in their relation to GOD, and in his temple and worship, which were among them; and were encouraged by many false prophets, with visions of peace: yet were they given up into the hands of the idolatrous Chaldeans, who pillaged and burned the sanctuary, destroyed the city, desolated the land, and reduced the wretched remains of the people to the most abject state of slavery. Thus the LORD glorified his justice and holiness, in punishing a hypocritical and wicked nation; and secured the honour of his name among the heathen, by the displays of his glory, recorded in the book of Daniel; by reforming and restoring the next generation of the Jews, and by taking signal vengeance on their cruel and impious oppressors.

When the sons of Eli, those children of Belial, presumed to fetch the ark of the covenant into the field of battle, as if that would surely defend them against the Philistines, notwithstanding their crimes, and those of the nation, the LORD saw good to give the victory to their enemies: thirty thousand Israelites, with Hophni and Phinehas, were slain; the ark was carried captive; Eli, who had honoured his sons more than GoD, was cut off by an

awful rebuke, and the glory seemed to depart from Israel. Yet, in reality, the LORD thus magnified his name and his law: whilst the contempt, afterwards poured on Dagon, the judgments executed on the Philistines, and the forced restoration of the ark, glorified his name in the sight of all the surrounding nations. This subject has been expressly insisted on by several of the prophets;' and the vengeance inflicted on the Jewish nation by the Romans, notwithstanding their presumptuous con, fidence in Gop, their scrupulous zeal against idolatry, and their minute exactness in all the externals of religion; with the condition of their descendants, even to this day, constitutes the best comment on these declarations.-If, therefore, any persons should conclude that our profession of Christianity, the supposed justice of our cause, and our solemn appeal to GoD in the humiliations and services of this day, are sufficient to warrant an unshaken confidence that we shall prevail against our enemics; it is evident that they have not fully weighed the matter in the balance of the sanctuary: for the iniquity of our national conduct and the hypocrisy of our religion, may render the fastings and supplications of the day an abomination to the LORD; and instead of answering the prayers of the accepted remnant, he may say to them, "Shall not I visit for these things?

Isaiah, i, 10-17. lviii. 1-7. lxvi. 3. Mal. i. 10-14.

Amos, v. 21-24.

"-shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation "as this?"

But there are some rules which warrant a more confident determination, provided they be applicable to our case. It is not to be expected that, on such occasions, even the majority will be sincere and earnest in the business of the day: multitudes, no doubt, will utterly neglect its important duties; nay, some will perhaps affect the reputation of superior discernment by deriding them! Others will attend the publick services with decency; but without any serious preparation, personal humiliation, or purposes of subsequent amendment. No small number, it may be feared, will so far forget the end of the appointment, as to amuse themselves with political speculations, or to vent their anger and spleen in revilings and disputes: and even they who desire to observe "such a fast as "the LORD hath chosen," may fail of their design, through mistake, or for want of proper instruction. This has always hitherto been, in some measure, the case on such solemn occasions."Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that "leadeth unto life; and few there be that find it:" and none can duly sustain a part in the national humiliation, who are not humbled for their own sins, as penitent believers in CHRIST. Yet the outward observance publickly honours GoD; the preaching of his word may be the means of bringing sinners to repentance, and of invigorating the

holy affections of true Christians; and the union of a large multitude in prayer, at the same time for the same blessing, is a hopeful token of suc

cess.

The misconduct of numbers, therefore, though greatly to be lamented, is no peculiar reason for discouragement. For if, in a land replete with crimes and impiety, a considerable proportion of pious persons can be found in the different orders of the community; if these walk worthy of their vocation as "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world;" if they do not resemble Eli, (who was timid, irresolute, and self-indulgent, though not destitute of piety,) but Phinehas the son of Eleazar, and Samuel the prophet, in zeal and activity; if in their several stations they oppose flagrant abuses and national enormities, protest against vice and profaneness in every form, and endeavour with unwearied diligence to revive pure and undefiled religion, and to reform the manners of the people: then we may confidently hope that the LORD will spare us "for his name's sake, though our iniquities testify against us." Especially if this remnant, being "men of under"standing of the times to know what Israel ought "to do," attend in their several places on the important duties of this day, with proper dispositions of mind, and suitable preparation of themselves and their families: if, like Daniel, they humble

11 Chron. xii. 32.

themselves before GoD, "confessing their own "sins, and the sins of the land;" and unite, as with one heart, in beseeching the LORD "to spare “his people, and not to give his heritage to reproach, lest the heathen should say, where is

now their GOD? then will the LORD be jealous "for his land, and pity his people:" No instance is recorded of his giving up his worshippers into the hands of their enemies, whilst such a remnant was found among them to intercede with him; even though he abhorred the iniquity and hypocrisy of the nation at large. Under pious Josiah, when the affairs of Judah were hastening to a crisis, the nation was spared for a season; because some prophets, priests, and princes, were zealously active for reformation: but after Josiah's death the whole mass soon became corrupt; and notwithstanding their fastings and forms, even the prayers of Jeremiah, and a few others, could not preserve them from becoming a prey to their idolatrous, cruel, and insulting invaders.

But in what respect do these rules apply to our land? and can we decide by them how the LORD will deal with us? It does not become us to determine, what will be the event of our present troubles: but perhaps there will be no impropriety in concluding that the religious state of the nation does not warrant us to expect exemption from severe rebukes and humiliating losses; and yet

'Joel ii. 12-19.