shall all the wisdom of this age of reason, falsely so called, ever make void one jot or tittle of God's word: for this age of reason is God's hour of temptation; and the wisest men in their own conceit in this age are the fastest caught in the devil's trap: they aim at the destruction of all the higher powers, but God aims at the destruction of rebels. We are not persecuted for religion, nor yet for conscience sake. If any are buffetted, it is in strict justice, for their faults. Therefore, reader, cease to hear the instruction that causeth thee to err from the words and ways of wisdom. Pay no regard to any preacher, either in church or meeting, who kindles the flames of rebellion, and breathes out rage, malice, and slaughter, against the civil rulers of the earth; for as sure as God communicates his spirit by the preaching of his gospel, so sure does the devil, that old rebel, traitor, and murderer, enter the hearts of men, by the reading of Tom Paine's books, and by the inflammatory discourses of such preachers. They know not the thoughts of the Lord, nor do they understand his councils."

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Besides: what good can be expected from perjured men? Men that can make oath to be true and faithful to their sovereign, and then rebel against him, are in the same awful state of Zedekiah and all his princes, his priests, and his false prophets. What! can they swear in the presence of God that they will relinquish all claim upon the Bible, if they prove false or unfaithful? and

can they challenge the omniscience of Heaven to find out the cheat, and defy him to avenge it? Can they bring themselves under every threatening, plague, and curse; under all the wrath, judgments, and indignation of God, and under the damnation of hell, and then stand up and preach, and call themselves the servants of God? The hand of God hath been seen upon some of these seducers already; and so it is upon some who are, and have been, seduced by them. You may rage and rail, and curse me, as long as you please; and you may send me a few more anonymous scraps of scurrility, rebukes, and blasphemy; but I still tell you, that you shall not escape the judgment of God by these things: they that Christ will keep from the hour of temptation, are those that keep the word of his patience. This is his pro

mise; and we shall see whose word shall stand, yours or his. And why is it called the word of his patience? Because he exercised so much patience in the preaching of it, under one of the vilest kings that ever reigned, namely Herod, who slew all the infants in Bethlehem, in hopes of killing him, by whom kings reign; and when the next monarch came to the throne, his enemies. cried in ridicule, Go, get thee out, for Herod will kill thee;" but he replied, "Go tell that fox, that I do cures to-day, and to morrow," &c. &c. And why did he call him a fox? Because of his cunning; and because of his unjust cruelty against the Lord's poultry. "How often," saith Christ,

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"would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, but ye would not?" Two thousand of these chickens the former fox, who was of the same family, had killed, and now sought the life of the hen herself; nor could they rest till they had killed both the dam and its young, Deut. xxxii. 11; xxii. 6. It was Herod and his men of war who arrayed Christ, mocked him, and set him at nought; and to all this the Lord alludes, when he calls it the word of his patience, and cautions us against being entangled by Satan in this hour of temptation.

Women, too, young and old, are breathing out slaughter against the ruling powers. Tom Paine and Satan have stuffed their heads full of politics. I think these had better guide the house, teach their children to read, and take in a little plain work. And old men, also, half in the grave and half out, can revile the gods, and speak evil of the rulers of the people. These seem determined to act like Barabbas, ferment a spirit of insurrection. I believe the two thieves had some hand in this; and, if they had, they were honest, especially one of them, for he declared that they suffered justly, and received the due reward of their deeds, Luke xxiii. 41. But sure I am, that the god of this world must be awfully let loose upon us, when so many are trying to put the foundations of the earth out of course, and to make the dark places of it full of the habitations of cruelty. If civil

they will soon And not a few,

magistrates are taken up in the lips of talkers, and become the table chat and scorn of women, the sport of children, and the song of drunkards, we may fear that God and religion will fare the same; for if they honour not the king, tell us that they fear not God. who eat the bread of the governors, are in this spirit of rebellion. These are like Ahithophel and Judas, eat of their master's bread, and lift up their heels against them. But the deceitful, and him that loveth violence, my God hateth.

Once more. It doth not appear, as some imɛgine, that civil magistracy will be destroyed when the universal kingdom of Christ is set up; for although it is said, that the thrones were cast down, yet it means only the thrones of iniquity, which frame mischief by a law; these shall have no fellowship with Christ. But the, thrones shall then be established in righteousness, and be upholden by mercy. For the nations and kingdoms that will not serve Christ, shall perish; those kingdoms shall be utterly wasted, as those nations were that rejected Nebuchadnezzar's yoke. But as it is the kings of the earth that shall hate the whore, and burn her with fire, it is plain that these kings will fight for the Lord against all those kings and kingdoms that fight against him for Antichrist. Moreover, when the fulness of the Gentiles come to Zion's light, kings shall come to the brightness of her rising; yea, it is added, "And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mo

thers." Nor will the world be left without princes; for the Father's promise to Christ is, that, “Instead of thy fathers, [such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, &c.] shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.” Nor shall the world be without officers, nor yet without tax-gatherers. "I will also make thine officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory; thy people also shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time," Isai. lx. 17—22. Let none of us listen to our charmers, our enchanters, and dreamers, who have got nothing in their heads but anarchy, nor any thing in their hearts but strife and contention; for civil rulers shall rule, in defiance of all the unruly, till Christ comes to judge the world. "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his