He cannot flee from the hands of the Almighty, nor support himself amid his inflexible wrath. "God will not meet him as a man, but will take vengeance."-Isa. xlvii., 3. His hands cannot be strong, nor his heart endure, when God shall deal with him. 2. When the sentence is passed on criminals, they can sometimes appeal to higher authority, and obtain favour: have a new trial, plead an error of court, or a commutation of punishment; but there is no appeal from the court of Heaven; no mitigation of sentence; but, amid all the schemes and inventions of men, the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. 3. Criminals among men are allowed counsel to plead for them; and their cause is often ably defended by gentlemen of the bar. But this will not be admitted before the tribunal of Christ. None will even dare to undertake for them before the assembled universe; to none of the saints can they turn; their cause will appear so unreasonable and hopeless, that no man or angel will dare to say a word in their behalf. 4. Those confined in prison for crimes bear a small proportion to the world in general. The rapid increase of late of men of this character, is an alarming consideration, and calls all classes of men, especially rulers, 、 to vigilance, humiliation, and prayer. But, blessed be God, humanity and philanthropy are still distinguishing characteristics of our land in general; and there is a laudable disposition prevalent among our citizens, to apprehend and detect those who, by their enormous crimes, forfeit their liberties and their lives into the hands of civil justice. Murderers in our land and on the high seas cannot elude the hand of the pursuer. Although they flee to foreign countries, they are detected and remanded to our shores, to receive the punishment due to their crimes. But have we not reason to fear that the number of those who are in a state of spiritual bondage and imprisonment is very great, vastly exceeding those who have been made free by the Son of God; and still have a dreadful verdict lying against them in the Supreme Court above? Not to mention heathen lands, whose dreary regions have never been illuminated by the exhilarating beams of the Sun of righteousness. How few comparatively, even under the light of the gospel, who are called upon to go forth from their wretched confinement and show themselves, obey the heavenly mandate! 5. The imperfections incident to all men and all courts of judicature, render them liable to wrong verdicts. The most prudent and experienced cannot plead exemption. The innocent may be condemned, and the guilty go with impunity. But the great Searcher of hearts cannot be deceived. Every decision is dictated by infinite wisdom and infinite goodness: he can by no means clear the guilty or condemn the innocent. "God will judge the people with perfect equity, and justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne," Psal. lxxxix., 14. II. Let us attend to the other illustration in the text, which implies deliverance" Go forth-show yourselves." The author of it is the Lord Jesus Christ. That THOU mayst say, viz., the person designated or appointed by the Father, see verse 8th, "Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages." The deliverance of sinners is consistent with the law of God and dignity of divine government. It is by the blood of the covenant that prisoners are sent out of the pit wherein there is no water, Zech. ix., 11. It cannot be admitted in any other way, as intimated in the text, "That thou mayst ;" suggesting the idea that the thing may not take place on any other condition. The Lord Jesus Christ brings about the deliverance of his elect. through the instrumentality of means; not that they are efficacious; for, after all, God gives the increase. God is said to save men by the foolishness of preaching, 1 Cor. i., 12. In the late instance among us, it was God who wrought the salvation; but it was brought about by means, and very unexpected. There was a series of events that might be traced; but they were all directed by the invisible hand of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, Eph. i., 11. In delivering men from the bondage of sin and death, God defers it to an extreme hour, that his power and grace may clearly appear, to which men are apt to be exceedingly blind. The sentiment suggested may derive a degree of illustration by the late providence of God, with which we are all acquainted. Measures were used in vain to deliver from punishment. Court and jury were unanimously against the prisoners. The public voice pronounced the verdict just, and were not altogether satisfied with the commutation of the punishment of death for that of imprisonment for life, granted to one of them by legislative authority. With respect to Mr. Stephen Boorn, there were ninety-seven against forty-two members in the house who were opposed to affording him any relief, so that he was left to suffer death, agreeably to sentence. Able counsel was employed. No hope of escaping out of custody, being cast into the inner prison, bound in triple chains, and carefully guarded. The object of going in search of the exile supposed to be murdered was pretty much relinquished. The advertisement published at the request of the criminals was not a means of the information that Colvin was yet alive, as Mr. Chadwick's letter was anterior to his having seen that publication. The time of execution was drawing nigh, and not a gleam of hope from any quarter. Until, behold, from a far country the Lord raised up an instrument of deliverance, a stranger to us all. It was great, seasonable, satisfactory, and sure. It may be worthy of remark, and tend to illustrate Divine interposition, that Mr. Chadwick was not in the habit of taking the Evening Post, which contained the trial at Manchester, and which inclined him to write the letter, by which information was obtained that the man supposed to be murdered was yet alive, but had the paper put into his hand by what we are wont to call mere accident. "Just in the last distressing hour, The Lord displays delivering power; When God says to prisoners, "Go forth! show yourselves!" what power in the word! Their chains are taken off the bars of the prison-house broken! With joy they leave the solitary dungeon! They are quickened, and made to stand on their feet, and walk at large, and are restored to the arms of their friends, and to the liberties and immunities of God's people. The poor prisoner leaps for joy-comes to the light-shows himself-is beheld with raptures of transport-appears in a different point of light to all beholders-shows himself as one exonerated, and to whom there is no condemnation-is a fellow-citizen with the saints. "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prisonhouse. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands," Isa. xlii. "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away," Isa. xxxv., 10. There is certainly a degree of likeness in the two cases before us, or the deliverance of men out of common jails and the sentence denounced against them, and the freeing the wicked from the bondage of sin and condemnation. To draw a striking contrast may be useful on the present occasion. 1. In the case of the former, their trial is before earthly courts their sentence denounced by them; but the deliverance of the wicked from the power and dominion of sin, is the special and immediate work of God, or the mighty agencies of the Holy Spirit. The people of God may work-ministers may preach, and say to prisoners, come forth !”—but it will be foolishness, it will be ineffectual, until the arm of the Lord be revealed. Then, and not till then, will the foundation of the prison be shaken, and all the doors opened, and the bands loosed. 2. Sinners confined in the prison of their sins are unwilling to leave it-they love prison fare and company-love their chains-love darkness; and, although the door is thrown wide open, and liberty proclaimed to the captives, yet they will not come forth nor show themselves; but exert their power and faculties to close the door, and deeper drive the massy bolts, and shut out every ray of divine light, it being painful to them. But men confined in earthly dungeons, when they hear the news of their emancipation, how do they leap to lose their chains, and bid adieu to their gloomy abode! Oh! how welcome the invitation-" Go forth out of darkness-show yourself!" When a poor prisoner reflects on the many painful days spent in the melancholy cell, separated from dear connexions and friends, in expectation of a horrible death, oh! how welcome the reversion of the doom! none but the experienced can form a conception. 3. "Tis sometimes the case that criminals are acquitted on the principle of distributive justice; they are not found guilty of the crime alleged, or for which they were committed; but the wicked can never be acquitted in this way. They are fully guilty of every crime with which they are charged. There can be no error in the testimony and decision to oppose or commute the punishment. No irrelevant witness can be admitted for or against the prisoner. "Tis pardoning grace through a mediator that frees the penitent from the sanctions of the law. 4. The emancipation granted by human courts is only a reprieve of the body for a few years, months, or |