in their front, and famine brings up the rear; they spread universal devastation as they advance, and frequently give the signal for the pestilence to follow. Potent armies lose their hands, and haughty tyrants tremble for their dominions. O! that the natives of Great Britain would bethink themselves; would break off their sins by righteousness, and their iniquities by cherishing the influences of the Divine Spirit; lest this overflowing scourge,' under which some neighbouring kingdoms have severely smarted, should be commissioned to visit our borders, and avenge the quarrel of its Maker's honour! Distant as those countless legions are, with interposing seas between, yet if God lift up a standard from far, or but hisst unto them from the ends of the earth; they come with speed swiftly.' Who will convey this wish to the ears, who will transmit it to the hearts of my countrymen; that our land may always appear, as it does at present, like the darling of Providence; may "Overflowing scourge.' Isa. xxviii. 16. It is the property of a scourge to lash, of a river to overflow. The sacred writer (by an elegant wapovoμaria, which beautifies the original but cannot be preserved in the translation) has connected these different ideas and different effects. The vindictive visitation with which he threatens the disobedient Jews, shall pierce deep as a scourge and spread wide as an inundation: they shall feel it to their very souls, and it shall involve the whole nation in misery, anguish, and ruin. There seems to be such a form of expression in the service of our church; when we pray, in behalf of our fellow Chritians, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing: thatwhich may be refreshing and salutary as the dew, yet copious and abundant as the shower. +Hiss unto them, Isa. v. 26. With great significancy and peculiar grandeur, the prophet applies this expression to the Lord God of Hosts, influencing the most powerful armies, 9. d. They come, without a moment's delay, and from the remotest regions of the earth, to execute all his pleasure. Formidable and innumerable as they are, they come, I say not upon his repeated injunctions, or at his strict command, but at the first, the very smallest intimation of his will: such as the shepherds used to their flocks, such as the bee-men of old to their swarms, or such as we in these days to some of our domestic animals. The Hebrew p I would not translate, 'At his whistle,' because this phrase in our language creates a vulgar sound, and conveys a low idea: but such is the import of the original; which denotes all that unconcerned ease of action, without any of the offensive familiarity of diction. always resound with the voice of joy, and be filled with the fruits of plenty; may always wear the robe of beauty, and be adorned with the smile of peace? How great are the advantages of peace! said Theron. Peace at her leisure plans, and leads' out industry to execute, all the noble and commodious improvements which we behold on every side: peace sets the mark of property on our possessions, and bids justice guarantee them to our enjoyment: peace spreads over us the banner of the laws, while we taste, free from outrage and secure from injury, the milk and honey of our honest toil. Amidst the tumultuous confusions of war, who could have a heart to contrive, or a hand to accomplish, any such works of dignity and use? In those days of darkness and distraction, how languid to the sight are all the dewy landscapes of spring! how insipid to the taste are all the delicious flavours of autumn! When the nation is overrun with armies, and embroiled in slaughter, a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind,'t are the dismal distinction of the times. Instead of a calm acquiescence in our portion, our very life hangs in continual suspense. But what are all the benefits of external peace, though displayed in the fairest light, and enlivened by the strongest contrasts; what are they all, compared with the blessings of the gospel, by which sinners may have 'peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord?" Pax optima rerum,' says the Latin poet: but the Orientals, I think, discover the most superlative esteem for this blessing, by making it the constant form of their salutatious, and the subject of their most cordial wishes for their friends: Peace be unto thee.'-In this short sentence they seem to have comprised a whole volume of mercies, meaning, by their single bw, all that the Greeks expressed by their χαίρειν, υγιαίνειν, ευπράττειν ; i, e. a confluence of that joy of mind, that health of body, that prosperity of outward circumstances, which complete the happiness of mankind. We have a fine description of peace and its various blessings, I Maccab. xiv. 8, 9, &c. The picture is very exact, though per fectly artless: nothing should hinder me from transcribing the passage but a fear of being too diffusive in my notes; lest the reader who expects a treat should complain of a glut, or have reason to object that the sideboard is more copiously furnished than the table. + Deut. xxviii. 65.) This, resumed Aspasio, suggests a fresh instance of happiness which others want and we possess, an instance never to be omitted in our catalogue of peculiar mercies; I might add, never to be forgotten by any Christian on any occasion. While many kingdoms of the earth are ignorant of the true God, and know neither the principles of piety nor the paths of felicity, the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give the knowledge of salvation, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.' While millions of rebellious angels, cast from their native thrones, are reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day, we, though rebellious and apostate sinners of mankind, are delivered from the wrath to come. The holy Jesus (blessed be his redeeming goodness!) has endured the cross, and despised the shame, on purpose to rescue us from those doleful and ignominious dungeons, where the prisoners of Almighty vengeance Converse with groans, Unrespited, unpitied, unrepriev'd, Yes, my dear Theron, let me repeat your own important words: What are all the benefits of external peace, though displayed in the fairest light, and enlivened by the strongest contrasts-what are they all, compared with the blessings of the gospel? This brings the olive-branch from heaven, and glad tidings of reconciliation with our offended God. This composes the tumult of the mind, disarms the warring passions, and regulates the extravagant desires. This introduces such an integrity of heart, and benevolence of temper, as constitute the health of the soul. This spreads such an uniform beauty of holiness through the conduct, as is far more amiable than the most engaging forms of material nature. O, that thou wouldest bow the heavens! that thou wouldest come down, celestial Visitant, and make thy stated, thy favourite abode in our isle! t at every breast may be animated with thy power, and every community, every individual, may wear thy resplen dent badge! Then shall it be the least ingredient of our public felicity, that the sword of slaughter is beaten into a ploughshare, and the once bloody spear bent into a pruning-hook. It shall be the lowest upon the list of our common blessings, that violence is no more heard in our land, wasting and destruction within our bor ders. Our very officers will be peace, and our exactors righteousness. We shall call,' and the event will correspond with the name, our walls salvation, and our gates praise.' Then shall every harp be taken down from the willows, and every voice burst into a song. In other climes,' will be the general acclamation, 'In other climes, let myriads of curious insects spin the delicate thread, which softens into velvet, stiffens into brocade, or flows in glossy satin, which reflects a lovelier glow on the cheek of beauty, and renders royalty itself more majestic. We are presented with infinitely finer robes, in the imputed righteousness of our Redeemer, and the inherent sanctification of his Spirit; which beautify the very soul, and prepare it for the illustrious assembly of saints in light-of angels in glory. 'Let eastern rocks sparkle with diamonds, and give We have, birth to gems of every dazzling tincture. hid in the field of our Scriptures, the pearl of great price; the white and precious stone+ of perfect absolution; a diadem, which will shine with undiminished lustre, when all the brilliant wonders of the mine are faded, extinguished, lost. 'Let richer soils nourish the noblest plants, and warmer suns concoct their exquisite juices; the lemon, pleasingly poignant; the citron, more mildly delicious; or that pride of vegetable life, and compendium of all Isa. lx. 17. Officers' and 'exactors' signify persons vested with public authority, who have it in their power to rule with rigour. But these, instead of abusing their power, shall conduct the administration with all possible equity and gentleness; with a parental tenderness, rather than a magisterial austerity: so that, though the title and office of an exactor may remain, nothing of the domineering insolence, or oppressive severity, shall continue. The prophet, who always delivers his sentiments with the utmost emphasis, says, They shall be, not barely peaceable and righteous, but possessed of these qualities in the highest degree; or, which implies more than any other words can express, they shall be peace and righteousness itself. The same beautiful figure is used in the next clause, which describes both the invio lable security of the city, together with the universal joy and piety of the inhabitants. + Rev. ii. 17. the blandishments of taste, the pine-apple. We enjoy far more exalted dainties, in having access to the 'tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations ;" whose boughs are replenished with a never-failing abundance of heavenly fruits, and the nutriment they dispense is bliss and immortality. Let Iberian vines swell the translucent cluster, and burst into a flood of generous wine; let the Tuscan olive extract the fatness of the earth, and melt into a soft mellifluous stream: we shall neither envy, nor covet these inferior gifts, so long as we may draw water out of the wells of salvation; so long as we may receive that'unction from the Holy One,' those influences of the Comforter, which not only make a cheerful countenance, but gladden the very heart: imparting such a refined satisfaction, as the whole world cannot give; such a permanent satisfaction, as no calamities can take away. 'Let Ethiopian mountains be ribbed with marble, and Peruvian mines embowelled with gold: we want neither the impenetrable quarry, nor the glittering ore; having, in our adored Messiah, a sure foundation for all our eternal hopes, and an inexhaustible fund of the divinest riches. Be it so, that our Isis is but a creeping drop, and the Thames itself no more than a scanty rivulet, compared with the magnificent sweep of the Ganges, or the stupendous amplitude of Rio de la Plata. The wretched natives, even on the banks of those stately rivers, are at a distance from all the springs of true consolation: whereas, we have a fountain, we have a river, that issues from the ocean of eternal love. With incompa Rev. xxii. 2. +1 John 11. 20. 1 This river is near two hundred miles broad where it discharges itself into the sea. It pours such an immense quantity of the liquid element into the Atlantic ocean, that fresh water may be taken up for the space of many a league. It continues. thus amazingly vast through a course of six hundred miles, when it divides into two mighty branches, the Parana and the Paraguay; which, having run in separate channels, several thousand miles along the country, unite at last, and form, by their conflux, this magnificent and spacious stream, which is supposed to be the very largest in the world. To conceive a proper idea of its prodigious dimensions, we may imagine a current of waters, taking its rise beyond Jerusalem, and, after having received all the rivers of Europe into its capacious bed, making its entry on the British ocean, by a mouth extended from Dover to Bristol. |