monly employs such men to correct or punish his hypocritical worshippers.-Executioners, in general, are not the most respectable characters; and a malefactor would act absurdly, who should hope to escape the sentence denounced against him, because he supposed the person, appointed to inflict it, more criminal than himself!

The LORD Smote Egypt with desolating plagues; and flies, lice, locusts, and frogs were his instruments, in pouring contempt, as well as vengeance, on haughty Pharaoh. But in smiting the Canaanites, he gave Joshua and Israel a charge against them. These nations deserved their doom; and an express commission, sealed by undeniable miracles, fully warranted all that was done against them. Yet in general, the instruments of punishment are unrighteous, though the LORD is righteous in the judgments they inflict. When the Israelites provoked him, the Philistines, Midianites, Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Greeks, and Romans were successively employed in smiting them: the rod of correction, or sword of vengeance was changed; but the hand that used it was the same. Nay, when domestick usurpers, tyrants, or persecutors, like Ahab, Athaliah, or Manasseh, brought calamities upon them, GOD made use of them as his instruments. "Shall there be evil in "a city, and the LORD hath not done it ?" The

! Amos, iii, 6.

evil of sin is wholly from the creature; but the evil of suffering from the LORD, who thus punishes the transgressions of his offending subjects.— Whether afflictions come immediately from the hand of GoD, as sickness, famine, pestilences, and earthquakes; or by the intervention of men, the case in this respect is not altered. The Chaldeans. and Sabeans unjustly seized on Job's property, and slew his servants; fire from heaven consumed his flocks; and the wind threw down the house upon his children: yet he made no distinction, but said in general, "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath "taken away, blessed be the name of the LORD."

Whether, therefore, our present publick distresses and dangers be the natural consequences of providential dispensations; or whether the misconduct of men have been, and is, in any degree the cause of them; we must acknowledge that it is the LORD who smiteth us.-A scarcity and dearness of provisions, decay of trade, and various hardships, are generally complained of: and many imagine that they are occasioned by the mistakes, or crimes of this or the other description of men. Now, in a political sense, it is of great importance to investigate the point, and to use proper methods of counteracting every attempt of this kind: but as a religious concern, it is not in the smallest degree material; for, on every supposition, the hand of GOD should be acknowledged; and as a minis

ter of religion, I must declare, that, till proper methods of discovering and removing the distresses we feel be used and prospered; the righteous LORD continues to smite us, whether unjust men e his instruments or not.

"The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the แ man of wisdom shall see thy name." The power and perfections of GoD are perceived by men of wisdom in ali publick calamities. "Hear ye then "the rod, and who hath appointed it." The rod calls us to repentance: but unless we recollect, who it is that hath appointed it, we shall not hear and obey its voice, however we may smart and groan under its repeated strokes.-I insist the more fully on this point, because Satan successfully contrives to perplex the minds even of serious persons about it. They are told, and they believe, that this or the other description of men, by their folly or knavery, occasion the publick distresses: and others dispute with them and vindicate men and measures. But in the mean while "the LORD's hand is lifted up, and they will not see;" he smites, and they refuse to humble themselves before him being employed in disputing about the rod and the sword.

But if some men be infatuated in their counsels, or others intoxicated by extravagant projects; if one set of men will be rich at any rate; another try to abuse power in tyranny and oppression; or

'Micah, vi. 9.

a third would throw a nation into confusion, civil war, or anarchy, to gratify their own ambition or rapacity: the LORD permits them to practise and prosper, in order by them to scourge an hypocritical or ungodly people. When David was left, in vain-glory, to number Israel, which made way for the desolations of a pestilence; the nation had first provoked GoD by their sins to leave the king to that pernicious project. '

When we recognize the hand of GoD in our sufferings, we must not only view his power, but submit likewise to his justice. "We are consumed

by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we trou"bled: thou hast set our iniquities before thee, "and our secret sins in the light of thy counte"nance."" We should not only consider sin, but our own sins, as the cause of our afflictions.—It is a common, but a most absurd mistake, to profess humiliation before GoD for national crimes as the cause of publick judgments; and yet to think only of the sins committed by other men. But "are "there not with us sins against the LORD our "GOD?" "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? "Let us search, and try our ways, and turn again "to the LORD. Let us lift up our heart with our "hands unto God in the heavens. We have "transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not

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pardoned.""

Did we thus search and try our ways, and compare our past and present conduct with the law of GOD; we should soon be convinced of our personal criminality, and should both join in the service of the day, and do it heartily and earnestly. No suffering which any man endures, as sharing in national calamities, is more severe than his sins deserve: the criminality therefore of others should not prevent our acknowledging the righteousness of GOD, in his most afflictive dispensations.

His mercy indeed should also be noticed in our chastisements. He is very merciful in correcting us for our sins, and not leaving us to be hardened by prosperity. To "fare sumptuously

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every day," without warning or rebuke, and then to be cut off at once, and to lift up the eyes in hell amidst hopeless torments, is the most dreadful case imaginable. "Whom the LORD "loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son "whom he receiveth:" and all our present sufferings are suited to induce reflection and teach repentance.

We should also be thankful that the LORD chastens us so gently; "for it is of his mercies we are "not consumed." Instead of our present light afflictions, we might justly be left to all the horrors of famine, during which tender mothers have eaten their children; our fields and cities might have been ! Lam. iii. 39-42.