his tabernacle is fixed, and his dwelling-place established; there he gives his presence in his worship and ordinances, wherein he is delighted. Because of thy temple at Jerusalem, shall kings bring presents to thee;' Psal. Ixviii. 29. Here is the temple, Christ; and then the worship of Christ; for their sake it shall be done. When vengeance is recompensed upon an opposing people, it is the vengeance of the temple; Jer. 1. 28. And it is a voice from thence that rendereth recompense to his enemies; Isa. lxvi. 6. The great work which the Lord at this day is accomplishing in the world, looks fully on this one thing. Wherefore is it that God'shaketh the powers of this world, and causeth the towers to totter which they uphold? Is it not that the way of his worship may be vindicated from all their abominations, and vengeance taken upon them for their opposition thereunto? And there is no greater sign of God's care for a people, than when he shews a regard to his ordinances among that people. The defence he gives, is of the glory of the assemblies of mount Zion; Isa. iv. 5. When the ark departs, you may call the children Ichabod. The taking away of his candlestick, the removal of his glory from the temple, is an assured prologue to the utter ruin of a people.

And hath not the Lord had a special eye this way in the late deliverance? It is his promise, that he will purge the rebels from amongst his people. And he hath done it. Were there not children of Edom amongst them, who cried, Down with them, down with them even to the ground? Hath not God magnified his despised word above all his name? Was it not as an offscouring to many particular persons among them in the late murmuring for pre-eminence, against those whom the Lord hath chosen? Who I suppose have no other joy in their employment, than Moses had in his; who once desired the Lord to slay him, that he might be freed from his burden; only the will of the Lord, and the good of a poor thankless people swayed their hearts unto it. And were there here any more discriminating rods cast in before the Lord, to have that bud and spring which he owned, as Numb. xvii. than this one; Scripture, or no Scripture; solemn worship, or none at all? I speak only as to some particulars, and that I can upon my own experience. The Lord

give their hearts a free discovery of his thoughts in this business. Doubtless he hath had respect to his tabernacle and dwelling-place. For my part, they are to me as the Theban-shield; and notwithstanding all my pressures, I would labour to say as Mephibosheth, Let all go, since I see the king in peace.'

I might farther observe from both these things together, that among the people of God alone is the residence of his glorious presence. This song is held out from Zion: 'In his temple doth every one speak of his glory;' Psal. xxix. 9. 'Bless ye God in the congregation, the Lord from the fountain of Israel;' Psal. lxviii. 26. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion;' Psal. lxv. 1. As a lame leg, and as a thorn in the hand,' ungraceful, painful; 'so is a parable in the mouth of fools;' Prov. xxvi. 7. 9. It is the saints who are bid to be joyful in the Lord, and the high praise of God must be in their mouths;' Psal. cxlix. 5, 6. They are high things, that beseem only those whom God doth magnify. If the Lord give us matter of praise, pray know from whom it will be acceptable, whose praises they are he delighteth to inhabit. If you have some defiled lust, the sunshine of mercies will exhale nothing but the offensive steam of carnal affections. The sacrifices of wicked hearts are an abomination to the Lord. If your fleshly affections work this day without the beatings of a pure heart, and the language of a pure lip, the Lord will reject your oblations. Would you have your praise as sweet to the Lord, as a mercy is to you; be assured that in Christ you are the Israel of God, and your prayers shall prevail, your praise shall be accepted.

2. The second particular, as I observed, is a special narration of the works of God, for which the whole is intended, ver. 3-6. And therein you have these two things: (1.) The place where these acts were wrought, and are remembered, 'there,' ver. 3. (2.) The acts themselves related, which refer, [1.] To God the worker, ver. 3. He brake;' [2.] To the persons on whom they were wrought, ver. 5, 6.

(1.) The place where these things were acted, and the monuments of them erected, that is, there;' there in Salem and Zion, Judah and Israel: there, not so much in those places, as with reference unto them.

Observation. All the mighty actings of God regard h

church, and there are the monuments and trophies of his victories against his enemies erected. To the first part of this, I spake before. A word for the latter. God decketh and maketh Zion glorious with the spoils of his adversaries. There the glory of Pharaoh and all his host, drowned in the Red sea, is dedicated; Exod. xv. There are the shields of all the mighty men in the host of Sennacherib, slain by an angel, hung up; Isa. xxxvii. 35, 36. There is the honour, the robes, the crown, and the reason of Nebuchadnezzar laid up for the glory of Zion, Dan. iv. 33, 34. himself being changed into a beast. There is all the pomp and glory of Herod deposited, Acts xii. 23. when, as a reward of his pride and persecution, he was devoured of worms. There is the glory of all persecutors, with the blood of Julian in a special manner, who threw it into the air, and cried,' Vicisti Galilæe.' There Haman is visibly exalted upon the gallows by himself erected for the ruin of a prince of the people; Esth. vii. 10. There the peace and the joy of the church, their choice frame under the bloody massacres of the inhabitants of Zion, is set to show, for the glory of it. There are all the rochets of popish prelates, the crowns, and glory, and thrones of the kings of the earth, all set apart, as monuments and trophies of God's victories in Zion. There is a place reserved for the man of sin, and all the kings of the earth who have committed fornication with the mother of harlots, whose destruction sleepeth not. God will at length certainly glorify Salem with the arrow of the bow, the shield, the sword, and all spoils of its oppressors.

(2.) There is what he did describe, both immediately in the actions themselves, ver. 3. and with reference to the persons towards whom he so acted, ver. 5. Now because the former is fully contained in the latter, I shall not handle it apart, but descend immediately to the consideration of the words of my text, being a declaration of what the Lord hath done for his people in the day of their distress, with particular reference to the cause of that distress.

And here we shall look a little,

1. To the reading of the words: and

2. To their explication.

1. To the reading. The 'stout-hearted; or, the 'strong in heart,' the mighty in heart:' so in the original. Men of stout,

stubborn, unpersuadable hearts and courage, whose epithet is, That they are far from righteousness;' Isa. xlvi. 12. The Septuagint have rendered it, ἀσύνετοι τῇ καρδίᾳ, “ the foolish in heart.' Stubborn-hearted men are foolish-hearted men : not to yield unto, is worse than not to understand, what is good. They are spoiled, 15ns have yielded themselves to the spoil :' so properly, and so rendered by most interpreters; which sense I shall follow. They have slept their sleep,' dormitarunt,' they have slumbered their sleep.' What it is ' to slumber a sleep' we shall see afterward. The residue of the words are literally rendered, save only in the placing of the negation; for whereas we set it on the persons, none of the men ;' in the original it is upon the act, ' have not found,' affirming concerning the persons, all the men of might have not,' that is, none of the men of might have;' a very frequent Hebraism, imitated by John; 1 Epist. iii. 15. πᾶς ἀνθρωποκτόνος οὐκ ἔχει ζωὴν, • Every man-slayer hath not life,' i. e. 'none hath.' And so you have the words: The stout of heart have yielded themselves to the spoils, they have slumbered their sleep; and none of the men of might have found their hands.'

2. The words thus read contain three general heads.
(1.) A twofold description of the enemies of Salem.

[1.] In respect of their internal affections: they were stout of heart,' men of high spirit, and haughty courage, 'cedere nescientes,' not knowing how to yield to any thing but the dictates of their own proud spirits.

[2.] In respect of their power for outward acting, 'Men of might,' strong of hand, as well as stout of heart. Courage without strength will but betray its possessor, and strength without courage is but inutile pondus,' a burdensome nothing; but when both meet, a stout heart and strong hands, who shall stand before them? Thus you have the enemies set out like Goliah with his spear and helmet, defying the host of the living God.

(2.) You have a twofold issue of God's providence, in dealing with them suitably to this their double qualification.

[1.] He opposeth himself to the stoutness of their hearts, and they yield themselves to the spoil.' Where observe, first, the act itself: they yield themselves.' Nothing in the world so contrary to a stout heart, as to yield itself. To

yield, is a thing of the greatest distance and contrariety to the principle of a stout heart, in the world. It is far more reconcileable to death, than yielding. But this God will effect. Secondly, The extent of this yielding: it was ' to the spoil.' This exceedingly heightens the mighty working of the Lord against them. Should they be brought to yield to reason, persuasion, and union, it were well; but that they should be so prevailed on as to yield to the spoil, that is, to the mercy of those against whom they rose and opposed themselves, this is' digitus Dei.'

[2.] He opposeth himself to their actual might: they 'found not their hands.' Hands are the instruments of acting the heart's resolution. The strength and power of a man is in his hands; if they be gone, all his hope is gone. If a man's sword be taken from him, he will do what he can with his hands; but if his hands be gone, he may go to sleep for any disturbance he will work. For men not to find their hands, is not to have that power for the execution of their designs which formerly they had. In former days they had hands, power for doing great things; but now, when they should use them against Salem, they could not find them. And why so? God had taken them away; God took away their power, their strength departed from them. Samson found not his strength, when his locks were cut; though he thought to do as at other times, yet he was deceived and taken. When God takes away men's power, they go forth, and think to do as in former days; but when they come to exercise it, all is gone; their hands are laid out of the way, in allusion to one that seeketh.

(3.) There is the total issue of this whole dispensation, placed in the midst of both, as arising from both: 'they have slumbered their sleep.' When their hearts yielded, and their hands were lost, courage and power both taken away, what else should they do? Some take this for an expression of death, as it is sometimes used; Psal. xiii. 3. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.' I rather conceive it to hold out that condition, which God threateneth to bring upon the enemies of his people, when he sends them ́ a spirit of slumber;' Rom. xi. 8. Now in such a condition two things are eminent:

[1] Its weakness. A condition of slumber and sleep is a