will. Freedom of action he allows to man, but controls all by his providence to his ultimate purpose, and shall not he do right? It is matter of greater astonishment that he allows the wicked to triumph over the good, than that he should command his chosen people to destroy the wicked. The Israelites came from Canaan to Egypt with wealth, and their brother Joseph had been the means of saving the Egyptians during the years of famine; for this kindness the Egyptians enslaved the Jews, made them serve with rigour, and destroyed their male offspring, until the terror of Jehovah made Pharoah allow them to depart, and the people to load them with whatever they asked. The unjust treatment the Hebrews had received at the hand of the Egyptians was enough to make eternal justice obliterate such a race from the earth; and if what is recorded of the Egyptians be sufficient in our eyes to destroy such a race, what is recorded of the Canaanites, though not particularized, is the summit of wickedness,—“ Their iniquities were come to the full." The Israelites, nursed in slavery, and driven quickly from the land of their bondage, unaccustomed to feats of war, terrified at the least prospect of danger, were very unlikely to be the conquerors of a land of warriors; but as God acts towards men as free agents, and at the same time will accomplish his purposes, they, from their pusillanimity, were left to perish in the wilderness; but their sons, a hardy race nursed in the desert, were destined to conquer Palestine; they went forth, commanded by the servant of God, to take possession of the land given to their fathers. The Babylonians laid Jerusalem in ashes. Cyrus laid low the pride of Babylon. Titus destroyed Jerusalem, and ploughed it as a field. All these acted from the common motives of warriors of modern days-avarice and ambition; and still they followed the line of prophecy as much as the Jews did in taking possession of Palestine. God's providence is as much over all his works now as it was in the days of Moses; and the messengers of his wrath, whether Jew or heathen, Nebuchadnezzar or Alexander, Titus, Louis, or a Buonaparte,-all are obedient to his command, though prophets reveal it not to us. His unveiling by his prophets the destiny of nations, shews his cognizance of all the world, and that iniquity shall not go unpunished; but in these last days he hath revealed himself to us by his Son Jesus Christ, who is the Captain of our salvation, and the Leader of the spiritual Israel through the wilderness, to take possession of the heavenly Canaan. The weapons of the Jews were carnal, to slay their enemies; his are spiritual, to slay the enmity of the heart. The first dispensation shews God in his justice, and man in his depravity; the second, God in his mercy, and Christ the perfection of holiness. From the limited view we can take of providence, and the misconception of what is really for the good of a people, it is wise to bow with submission to the sovereign will of God. The Jewish Christians considered it extremely hard to be driven from their holy city and their beloved country, for the sake of Christ; yet it proved not only the means of spreading the gospel over the earth, but likewise of preserving them and their offspring from the destruction of Jerusalem. The Protestants in France, at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, felt the pangs of separation from their country and friends; but they brought a blessing with them to the countries which received them, and England learned much from these ingenious and industrious refugees, and they escaped from the scourge of the British and continental armies desolating France, and their offspring from the awful judgments that have been poured out on that devoted land. The triumph of the wicked is but of short duration; it is only in this stage of our being that they are allowed with impunity to burst asunder the bands of justice, and cast from them the cords of moral government: a future state is hastening fast, where a reward shall be given as the work shall be. The making bare the arm of the Lord in judgment is his strange work; but it is the necessary consequence of sin, and the guarantee of all who put their trust in him, that they shall be made perfect in holiness, because he cannot look upon iniquity. The records of God's inflicting judgment on the ungodly, and his providential visitations upon nations in our days, is an earnest of his future indignation against impenitent sinners, and an awful warning to stand in awe and sin not; for what evils may come who can tell? If his people are to be made willing in the day of his power, they likewise shall be made holy by his grace; but they who continue in sin may expect temporal visitations, to correct them of their errors, to purify and make them clean, that the condemnation of the world come not upon them. Wise is it then to break off our sins by shewing mercy to the poor, that it may be a lengthening of our tranquillity. Why should we be stricken more and more? Let us turn to the Lord, and he will turn to us, and heal us; he will come in the multitude of his mercies to have compassion upon us, and he will love us freely. With sincerity then let us bow before him, confessing our sins, and forsaking them, persevering in holiness, forgetting the things that are behind, and pressing forward to the mark and prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. LETTER XXIII. Revolving years and ages pass away; What though in dust our bodies mouldering lie, Throwing aside the slumbers of the tomb, Where no morn dawns to cheer the soul with light. Deep descending in the abyss of woe, Join'd eternal to their mortal foe, With all the throng of spirits chain'd of old, By Satan in his dark and dismal hold. |