Their fury can't the treaty harm : r 9 Numb. xxiii. 7, 8. And Balaam took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied? Ver. 23. Surely there is no inchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob, and of Israel, What hath God wrought? r Prov. xxvi. 2. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. s 1 Pet. iii. 8, 9. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having com passion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but contrariwise, blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. t Psalm lxix. 12, 13. They that sit in the gate speak against me: and I was the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. u Gen. 1. 20. See letter forecited. Esther ix. 20-25. And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, to stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same yearly as the days wherein the Jews rested from their en They are my sordid slaves I wot; My drudges, though they know it not v emies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them. Because Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, (that is, the lot,) to consume them, and to destroy them: but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters, that his wicked device which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. v Jer. xxv. 8, 9. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Because ye have not heard my words, behold I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Ver. 12. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. Isa. x. 5, 6. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Ver. 12. Wherefore it shall come to pass, They act to me a kindly part, They sweep my outer house when foul, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. And xliv. 24, 28. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord-that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundations shall be laid. And xlv. 1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him: and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut. Ver. 4. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. w Matt. v. 10-12. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Luke vi. 22, 23. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy; for behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. They help to purge away my blot, For Moab is my washing-pot. y SECTION XIV. THE MYSTERY OF THE BELIEVER'S PARDON AND SECURITY FROM REVENGING WRATH, NOTWITHSTANDING HIS SIN'S DESERT. I, THOUGH from condemnation free, As make more heavy wrath my due x Isa. iv. 3-5. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies a cloud, and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And xxvii. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. y Psalm lxviii. 8. Moab is my wash-pot, &c. a Rom. viii. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to But though my crimes deserve the pit, Remission seal'd with blood and death, Secures me from deserved wrath. b And having now a pardon free, To hell obnoxious cannot be, Nor to a threat, except anent* Paternal wrath and chastisement. c them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And vii. 18. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. 1 Tim. i. 15, 16. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. b Gal. iii. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Rom. v. 9. Much more then being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Eph. i. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. c 1 Thess. i. 10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come. Isa. liv. 9, 10. For this is as the waters of Noah unto * About. |