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The Rendition of Anthony Burns. Its Causes and Consequences.

A

DISCOURSE

ΟΝ

CHRISTIAN POLITICS,

DELIVERED IN

WILLIAMS HALL, BOSTON,

ON WHITSUNDAY, JUNE 4, 1854.

BY JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE,

Minister of the Church of the Disciples.

UNIV. OF

[PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. — SECOND EDITION OF TWO THOUSAND.]

BOSTON:

CROSBY, NICHOLS, & CO., AND PRENTISS & SAWYER.

1854.

BOSTON:

PRINTED BY PRENTISS AND SAWYER, 19 Water Street.

E450 B9C6

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Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer.

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

I will abide in thy tabernacle forever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings.

Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.

He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.

Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.

Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy; for thou renderest to every man according to his work.

II. HYMN.

Lord, we adore thy vast designs,
The obscure abyss of providence!
Too deep to sound with mortal lines,
Too dark to view with feeble sense.

M214786

AMIA OL

III.

Through seas and storms of deep distress
We sail by faith, and not by sight;
Faith guides us in the wilderness,
Through all the terrors of the night.

Dear Father, if thy lifted rod

Resolve to scourge us here below;
Still let us lean upon our God;

Thine arm shall bear us safely through.

SELECTION FROM THE PROPHETS.

READ BY THE MINISTER AND CONGREGATION.

The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.

The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and the chief men thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.

Wo unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.

Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

Wo unto them that draw iniquity with cords and sin as it were with a cart-rope :

Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter !

Wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments;

Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants, which spake in thy name

to us.

O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face as at this day!

O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, because we have sinned against thee.

Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servants, and their supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary for the Lord's sake.

O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.

O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O our God.

IV. PRAYER.

V. READING OF SCRIPTURES.

SELECTION FROM THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH.

How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate : her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

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