Abraham and Moses; stand, as Aaron, between the living and the dead; stand in the gap: humble yourselves and plead as Daniel and Nehemiah. See what has been effected by a single intercessor! It will be but for a little moment and all this work of humiliation for sin will be over, and you will have accomplished, as an hireling, your day.

"Shut thy doors about thee" means much it means, not only shut out nonsense, but business; not only the company abroad, but the company at home. It means, Let thy poor soul have a little rest and refreshment, and God have opportunity to speak to thee in a still small voice or he will speak in thunder. Let us be found among those who mourn for the abominations which are committed, and let us still exercise faith in God. This is being TRUE PATRIOTS.

There is not any thing which shocks me more than to hear men talk about fleets and armies: as if our help could lie in them. Does not every one know how little fleets and armies can do without God? There may be written on them, Destruction! "I am Alpha and Omega:" let us rest there, without caring how little we rest elsewhere. God is a jealous God, who has sent this scourge. Have we not translated the atheistical books of the Continent? Have we not made idols of its vices? Has not our taste been corrupted? Let us see if confusion of face does not belong to us. Our nation has been a highly favored one; the Gospel has long continued among us. But how have our privileges been abused! how have we followed our own devices! What a spirit of "Belial" has infested all ranks! a yokeless spirit, even among children! When we look over our public and private sins, we have reason to smite upon our breasts and say, God be merciful to us sinners! Let us, however,

commit the matter to God, as Hezekiah did: let us put our hand into the hard of Omnipotence, and let us wait, in patience, prayer, and humiliation, till he shall send us an answer of peace. The faithfulness of Christ is the security of his people in every difficulty.

Lastly, "When ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance :" but do not trifle with God; appear not unto men to fast, but unto God; and he will accept the aim and intention of thy heart. "Anoint thine head," i. e. let it be a spiritual business with God. This is what he has promised to reward openly.

SOLEMN ADMONITION.

Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee: lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.—JER. vi. 8. [1808.]

I SCARCELY need say, that the design of our meeting together this day is, to humble ourselves before God, to confess our transgressions, and seek mercy at his hand; imploring the Divine blessing on our endeavors while we are combating with numerous and revengeful enemies. Nothing can be more becoming than our meeting on such an occasion, as children of an offended parent, to hear his voice; remembering that his mind changeth not; and that what he said to Jerusalem, under similar circumstances, he now speaks to every one of us; "O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. I have likened the daughter of Zion

to a comely and delicate woman. The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place. Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. For thus hath the Lord of Hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited: she is wholly oppressed in the midst of her. As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds." Jer. vi. 1-7.

Now we are to consider what the mind of God was towards this city; and he tells us in the words of the text, "Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited."

From these words, I shall consider two things:

I. THE BENEFIT OF INSTRUCTION IN NATIONAL DANGER. It would be wasting your time to say that this is a season of national danger. Who does not know the ascendency of our enemies? their surprising and almost unaccountable success? Who has not marked the strange revolt of our allies? Who does not feel the declension of our trade? Who does not stand aghast at the consequences of such a progress of events? I say, Who does not know these things? But with respect to this last I must say, Who does

know?-Who can conceive the consequences of our being given over as a prey to their teeth, as many nations on the Continent have been? And yet, I confess, I see something worse than all this. I think every man that knows the mind of God and his dealings with men, must consider the insensibility of the people, and the proud, haughty, and unbending spirit of the nation, as worse than all that has been done on the Continent. The spirit of voluptuousness, the impudence of infidelity, the unsuitable temper and spirit of a people under such circumstances! There is something like it in the sixth chapter of the Prophecy of Amos. "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountains of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border. greater than your border? Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David; that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph."-A careless people, living insensible; a hardened people, that think nothing of the state of the times, and that add to their other crimes that monstrous ingratitude, to say nothing else, that when favored with the special benefit of having the Gospel of Christ proclaimed among them, they pay attention to almost any thing rather than to it. Now a father despairs of a son that is not teachable, that has no ear to hear instruction;

but yet, because he is a Father, therefore he calls in the text "Be instructed," that is, be instructed of thy need of instruction. Men will spend their money or their labor for almost any thing else; but as to instruction, as to gaining knowledge of God, of his word, or of themselves--nothing is so nauseous, nothing so unpleasant. Be sensible of thy need of instruction, pay attention when it is sent to thee; and not only hear, but receive what you hear, lay it to heart, remember that God speaks to thee, accept it whether he send it by this or that person; be ready to say, as we may suppose the Ethiopian eunuch did to Philip--You seem to be but a poor man, and travelling through a desert; but if you know any thing that I know not, come up into the chariot and teach me--instruct me. Be thou instructed"-not only hear it, attend to it, and lay it to heart; but act upon it, dread the rejection of it; acknowledge the grace that sends it thee. While a man takes pains to instruct his friend or his son, there is a proof of his affection. Acknowledge therefore the grace that sends the instruction. While God has drawn his sword, he seems to say-Yet endeavor to use the means that shall put it back in the scabbard ; prize the grace that shows the consequences of rejecting it consider, that in rejecting it, my soul will depart from thee.

Thus speaks the Lord to every one of us this day; he says to you, and he says to me-"Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem!" This leads us to consider,

II. THE DESTRUCTIVE STRUCTION BEING REFUSED.

CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH

IN

"Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhab