their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them." The remark made as to the period referred to in the above predictions may be applied to the following, although some parts of the description relate more immediately to the deliverance from the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities: "At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of ALL the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. For there shall be a day that the watchmen on the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God +."—" Behold I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first." Suffice it to add these two evangelical promises: "Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent . “It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before him.-And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be ONE Lord, and his name ONE §." *Isa. xi. 12, 13. + Jer. xxxi. 1, 6. Jer. xxxiii. 6, 7. xiv. 9. These, brethren, are "exceeding great and precious promises;" and do they not amply secure the attainment, in due time, of the blessing to which they all so evidently refer? Yes: "these are the true sayings of God"-of Him who cannot lie nor change nor call back his words. They are the sayings of him "that frustrateth the tokens of liars, and maketh diviners mad, that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish, that confirmeth the words of his servants, and performeth the counsel of his messengers They are "written for the generation to come, and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord" for the fulfilment of them. Give him glory by placing your hope and confidence in his promises; and let the cheering prospect which they hold forth console and animate your hearts, amidst all the distress which you feel in contemplating the present disordered and divided state of the church. Are you still disposed to say, "How can these things be?" Do you find it difficult "against hope to believe in hope?" Consider what I have farther to say. 2. The removing of divisions, and the restoring of unity and peace to the church, is the work of God. What "the mouth of the Lord hath spoken," his hand will perform. He has not only predicted that the event shall happen, but he has promised to bring it to pass. He may employ men as "workers together with him," but * Isa. xliv. 25, 26. he has not left the success to depend on their exertions, and with his own irresistible and all-powerful arm will he redeem the pledge which he has given by the interposition of his sacred and inviolable word: "I will take the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim—and put it with the stick of Judah, and they shall be one in mine hand. I will make them one nation in the land." God is the great Pacificator, and Repairer of the breach. This is the name by which he is repeatedly called, and the truth of which he will evince, "The Lord God who gathereth the outcasts of Israel." The disorders which break out among Christians, and which destroy the unity and peace of the Church, are, as we have seen, sure marks of his divine displeasure. Because they have moved him to jealousy and provoked him by their vanities, he permits the hot burning bolts of mutual jealousy and provocation to be thrown among them. It is impossible that the fire thus kindled can be extinguished-it will continue, in spite of all exertions, to "burn with a most vehement flame," until he is reconciled, and shall have pardoned their sins. "O God, thou hast cast us off; thou hast scattered us; thou hast been displeased: O turn thyself to us again. Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: Heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh *." When he has "taken away all his wrath, and turned himself from the fierce * Psal. lx. 1, 2. ness of his anger," he will "speak peace to his people and to his saints;" he will smile success on those measures which he formerly blasted with his frown; and those who wept to see "the city of their solemnities," a scene of confusion and strife, shall behold it “a quiet habitation”—the city of peace. "He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock *." He will establish unity on the solid and immovable basis of immutable truth and eternal righteousness. This distinguishes the work of God from the coalitions formed by the wit and policy of men. They are often so intent and eager to reach the end, that they overlook and pass by the means proper for gaining it, and are ready to sacrifice truth and communion with. God, for the sake of peace and fellowship with creatures. But his " eyes are on the truth," and he bears an invariable love to judgment and righteousness. "The prophets" of the church may be "light and treacherous men, and her priests may do violence to the law; but the just Lord is in the midst thereof; HE will not do iniquity; every morning doth he bring his judgment to light: he faileth not +." And as he cannot, consistently with his moral perfections, do what is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to any of his laws and ordinances, so he is never reduced to the necessity of having recourse to methods which involve this, in order *Jer. xxxi. 10. + Zeph. iii. 4. 5. to fulfil his designs and promises. "Wonderful in counsel and excellent in working," he can devise and execute a plan for accomplishing the highest ends by the best and holiest means. Call to your minds the amazing plan, conceived by "wisdom dwelling with prudence," for reconciling the world to himself, and for repairing and closing up the wide and tremendous breach opened by the apostacy of man from his Maker. Survey this "wisdom of God in a mystery," as it is now unfolded by the gospel. Consider the disposition of its parts, the perfect adaptation of the means to the end, and the nice adjustment of each of these means to the rest. See how it tends to vindicate the authority of the divine law, to assert the honour of the supreme lawgiver, and to stamp heaven's broadest, blackest brand of infamy on sin, at the same time that it provides a way of escape and salvation to the rebellious sinner. See those attributes of Deity, whose claims were apparently conflicting and irreconcilable, harmonizing and conspiring together to promote the gracious design, reflecting lustre upon one another, mingling their rays and concentrating their lights, until at last they burst forth in one united blaze of glories, more effulgent and overwhelming than is to be seen in all the other works of God. See " Mercy and Truth meeting together; Righteousness and Peace kissing each other; Truth springing out of the earth, and Righteousness looking down from heaven *." *Psal. lxviii. 15, 16. |