Not only are the laws of matter his sovereign will, and their operation his continual agency, but the whole system of intellect is under his controul. All the discordant pafsions, interests, designs, which dash, in eternal collision, the affairs of men; all the activities of superior intelligences, as well the enmity of fiends as the ministry of angels, are combined, in the harmony of providence, to produce the result which he hath ordained; and hither every occurrence irresistibly tends. "He doth according to his "will in the army of heaven, and among the "inhabitants of the earth*." He causeth "the "wrath of man to praise him, and the remain"der of wrath he will restraint." The unpromising situation, therefore, of the Heathen, is no obstacle to Israel's God, and should be none to Israel's faith. Be the mountains of difficulty ever so impafsable, at his presence they flee away. Let the "nations rage, and the "kingdoms be moved," if he " utter his voice, "the earth is melted." 2. The glory of the Mefsiah is a chief end of the dispensations of providence. The vicifsitudes of kings and kingdoms, and all the stupendous events which shine in ancient annals, were important chiefly as they * Dan. iv. 35. + Psal. lxxvi. 10. Psal. xlvi. 6. served to prepare the way, and to spread the triumphs, of him who was " a light a light to lighten "the Gentiles." For this God gave the learning of the world to Greece, and its empire to Rome. Both contributed to facilitate and extend the victories of the gospel. The same design is prosecuted in the events which, at this moment, astonish the world. If" nation "rise up against nation, and kingdom against "kingdom"-if establishments, imposing from their antiquity, and formidable from their strength, be undermined by the progrefs of opinion, or shattered by violent explosion—if impiety and ambition, and all the infuriate passions, be permitted to take their course; and scenes of desolation and blood, such as history hath not learnt to record, nor imagination to paint, be opened to our view; it is, that God may destroy the dominion of hell by her own chosen legions, and make them subserve the introduction of that kingdom, which is "righte"ousness, and peace, and joy, in the Holy "Ghost." Thus saith his high decree, "I "will overturn, overturn, overturn, until HE "shall come whose right it is, and I will give "it him.". 3. In the scriptures of the prophets, this * Ez. xxi, 27. spiritual revolution, by which the "kingdoms "of this world shall become the kingdoms of "our Lord and of his Christ," is frequently predicted, and strongly marked. "All the ends "of the world shall remember, and turn unto "the Lord; all the kindreds of the nations "shall worship before theet. It shall come "to pass, in the last days, that the mountain of "the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted "above the hills, and all nations shall flow "unto it: And many people shall go and say, "come ye, and let us go up to the mountain "of the Lord, to the house of the God of "Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, "and we will walk in his paths" So that "from the rising of the sun,, even unto the 66 going down of the same, his name shall be "great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto his name, "and a pure offering §." Is there, then, a nation that yet "sit in darknefs and the shadow "of death?" for them "light is sown," and to them shall "light spring up." Is there a nation "mad upon their idols?" Jehovah shall "famish all the gods of the earth," and teach their votaries that he is "the God of salvation," Rev. xi. 15. Ps. xxii. 27. Is. ii. 23. § Mal. i. 11. and that there is none beside him." Is there a nation enslaved to superstition, or abused by imposture? He shall "frustrate "the tokens of the liars, shall make the di"viners mad," and convert the bondage of their followers into the liberty of his dear children., “ "Rejoice, therefore, ye Gentiles, with "his people *. Faithful is he that hath pro"mised, who also will do it." But here occurs an important query. By what means are these predictions to be fulfilled, and these prospects to be realized? The means are prepared; they are extremely simple; they are in your hands-even the doctrines of the gospel of peace. And this is the III. And last topic which I proposed to discufs-IN THIS MOUNTAIN, saith the prophet, shall the Lord destroy the vail that is spread over all nations. Mount Zion, to which Isaiah refers, is a figure, most familiar to the scripture, of the Church of Christ. The apostle Paul, addrefsing believers under the New Testament, says, "Ye are come unto Mount Zion." And the plain sense of the text is, that the Lord will blefs the Heathen outcasts, by " causing them "to pafs under the bond of his covenant," and #Rom. xv, 10. 1 Thess. iii. 12, Heb, x. 23. Heb. xii. 22. P to inherit the privileges of his house: and this shall be effected, by diffusing among them the glad tidings of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. "Behold," saith the sure word of prophecy, "behold thou shall call a nation "that thou knowest not, and nations that knew "not thee shall run unto thee, because of the "Lord thy God, and for the Holy one of Is"rael, for he hath glorified thee*." Our faith on this point will, indeed, provoke the ridicule of a tribe equally vain and licentious, who claim to be the exclusive benefactors of mankind. Rejecting, with opprobrium and insult, the gospel of Christ, they hail, as they speak, a new order of things, and the world is to be regenerated by a reason without conscience, and a philosophy without religion. "No doubt ye are the people, and "wisdom shall die with yout." But after all the ostentation and clamour of infidels, what reformation has been wrought by their doctrines or by their spirit? During forty centuries, reason and philosophy had the world almost to themselves. Where did they overthrow the reign of idolatry? From what vice did they reclaim the nations? One sect of philosophers rose on the ruin of another, to be itself the |
