The Time of Danger

James Hervey

“Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest He that destroyed the first-born, should touch them.”
— Heb. 11:28

If we consult the history to which these words refer we shall find the Israelites in a state of great affliction. The Egyptians oppressed them; and made their lives bitter with hard bondage.—The misery of His people God pities, and is resolved to redress. Accordingly, He sends Moses, in the quality of His ambassador, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, demanding their release. The king most insolently replies. “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice, to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” God, to chastise his insolence and obstinacy, inflicts a variety of plagues on him and his subjects. In contempt of all which Pharaoh hardens his heart, persists in his disobedience, and refuses to let the people go.—At last, says the Lord, I will bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt, which shall infallibly accomplish my purpose. Be their hearts hard as the nether millstone, this shall make them feel. Be their resolution stubborn as an iron sinew, this shall make it bend. “About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die.”

But as the Israelites dwelt in Egypt, how should they be safe amidst the general desolation? The Lord directs Moses to a method which should effectually secure the families of Israel, while death entered into all the habitations of the Egyptians. The method, its execution, and success, are all specified in the text, where we may observe.

A very dreadful danger, intimated by the destruction of the firstborn. The Lord had already put his hand to the sword. It was even now drawn from the scabbard, and had received a commission to go forth. To go forth that very night; to walk through all the land of Egypt; and to be bathed, before the morning-light, in the blood of the firstborn. All the firstborn, from the haughty king that sat on the throne, even, to the slave that toiled at the mill, and the very sheep that yeaned in the field. Tremendous, as well as inevitable blow! O, what an alarm will it create, and what affliction will it spread! Make every heart sad, and every house a scene of mourning. “There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.”

And is not the present time a time of imminent danger? If God indeed were for us, we might trust and not be afraid. We might look danger in the face, and boldly say, “Who shall be against us?” But is this the case? Are we a righteous nation, that keepeth the truth? (Isa. 26:2). Is there sufficient reason to believe, that the Holy One of Israel is our defense? Are we not, on the contrary, a sinful generation; a people laden with iniquity? Is there not abundant reason to fear, lest our God should say, in terrible indignation: “They are joined to idols, let them alone?”

In order to determine this point, let us examine our ways. Are not we, like the Egyptians, in a state of great danger, if we consider

1. The sins of our nation.
2. The judgments of God denounced upon such sins.
3. The certain execution of those judgments, unless we fly to the appointed Refuge.

1. Consider the sins of our nation. Here I shall mention some, and only some of those abominations which, wherever they are found, cannot fail to provoke the eyes of God’s glory, and render, either a person or a people ripe for His vengeance.

The Christian Sabbath is an inestimable privilege to the church of Christ. It is a pledge of God’s distinguishing love. It is a happy means of building us up in knowledge; of establishing us in faith; and preparing us for everlasting rest.— Yet is it not shamefully profaned, in city and in country? What multitudes waste it in idleness, or squander it away in unedifying conversation, making it by far the most useless and contemptible day of the week?—This they do, even though God strictly charges, saying, “Remember ye the Sabbath day,” not barely to abstain from your ordinary works, but “to keep it holy,” devoting it entirely to holy purposes and religious exercises. This they do, even though God solemnly threatens, saying, “If ye will not hearken unto Me, to hallow the Sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in your gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched” (Jer. 17:27).

Is not the name of God great, wonderful, and holy? Ought it not to be used with the deepest veneration, and magnified above all things? But is it not audaciously dishonored, and impiously blasphemed? Dishonored by customary and wanton, blasphemed by false and faithless swearing? Has not the most high God declared, that He will in nowise hold such daring wretches guiltless? Yet, how do these daring wretches swarm, like the locusts of society, in our polluted land?

How is our air tainted with this breath of the infernal pit! How do our streets resound, most horribly resound, with this language of hell! And will not the Almighty Lord make thee know—know by bitter experience, what that meaneth, which is spoken by his prophet? “Because of swearing, the land mourneth,” (Jer. 23:10), mourneth under afflicting visitations, and desolating judgments.

Is not the Scripture a singular blessing? Yes, it is celebrated by the psalmist as the sovereign blessing, that which crowns the other instances of divine goodness, “He sheweth His Word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel.” It is also celebrated as a most distinguishing blessing, from which multitudes are excluded. “He hath not dealt so with all nations, neither have the heathen knowledge of His laws.” Should not then the Scripture be precious to our souls, more precious than fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the droppings of the honeycomb? Should we not exercise ourselves in it, day and night; reading it by day, meditating on it by night? Should we not make it the most delightful subject of our conversation? Talk of it to our children, our domestics, our neighbors; when we lie down and rise up; when we walk by the way and sit in the house? (Deut. 6-7).—But where are the persons who bear such a superlative esteem for the Bible? Where is the company that delights to converse on those Oracles of Truth? Where are the parents that diligently instruct their children, and feed them with milk of the Word? Diversion, of every kind, engages their attention, and the most trifling impertinence employs their tongue; but the Lord ’s Word is insipid, if not irksome. His Word is treated, even by Protestants, as the Manna was treated by the Israelites, who had the ingratitude and impudence to say, “our soul loatheth this light bread.” A plague from the Lord of Hosts was the consequence of their contemptuous treatment of the meat that perisheth. Of how much sorer punishment shall we be thought worthy, who condemn the Food which endureth to everlasting life!

God hath reserved the unjust, saith the Scripture, unto the day of judgment, to be punished, “chiefly them who walk after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness,” (2 Pet. 2:10). Is not this iniquity rampant among the inhabitants of our land? What lewd pictures are exposed to view! What filthy writing are suffered to see the light! Fuel for lusts, and incentives to debauchery. What is wit, in our days, but either some lascivious hint, or some licentious abuse of Scripture! Are not the wanton entertainments of the stage, and other seminaries of lewdness, countenanced, supported, thronged? Can you acquit our cities and towns of drunkenness, revelings, and abominable excesses? Are not these, and all sorts of filthiness found in our skirts? If so, hear the Word of the Lord, and let it sink deep into every heart: “When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?”(Jer 5:7-9).

Is not religion, vital religion, very much upon the decline, even among the serious? Do not many professors, quite destitute of the power of godliness, content themselves with the mere form? Whereas, if any, in imitation of the first believers and the first preachers, are alive to God, and zealous for the Lord of Hosts, these persons, instead of being esteemed, are reproached. Of such persons even the malignant spirit could bear witness, “These men are the servants of the most high God, who shew unto us the way of salvation.” But among us, who call ourselves Christians, who pride ourselves upon being the purest church in Christendom; among us, such persons are deemed the visionaries of the age, the disturbers of society, the men that would turn the world upside down. The ministers who are most faithful, and the people who are most exemplary, are a derision and a byword among their neighbors. Thus in Israel, they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets. But it was to the confusion of those scoffers, and the ruin of their country, “For the wrath of the Lord arose against His people till there was no remedy.”

Are we not abandoned to a spirit of carnal confidence? When do we discover any reliance on the Almighty, or ascribe any of our success to His gracious interposition? It is not God, but our sword, that shall help us. Or, if any unseen power is acknowledged it is not the Lord of Hosts, but good fortune. One would almost imagine, that we were ashamed of a heavenly Ally, and thought it a disgrace to own ourselves dependent on Omnipotence. Is not such a temper a national infatuation, and the harbinger of national judgments? Zedekiah and the men of Judah forgot or neglected the Rock of their salvation, and made Pharaoh’s army their confidence. But see, what was the issue; or hear it from the mouth of Him who fulfilleth the word of His servants. “For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire” (Jer. 37:10).

What ignorance prevails, especially among the lower ranks of people? The grossest ignorance of themselves and of God our Savior, the grossest ignorance of grace, and salvation by a Redeemer’s righteousness; the grossest ignorance of the very first principles of our holy religion. To do evil, they are wise. But to do good, to believe in Jesus Christ, to love and glorify Him, who bought sinners with His blood; to do all, to do any of this, they have no knowledge. And is it a small matter to be thus children of darkness? Is not the soul alienated from the life of God through ignorance? (Eph. 4:18.) Does not this displease the most high God, and provoke the Holy One of Israel? Let His own Word determine. “It is a people of no understanding, therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them; and He that formed them will shew them no favor,” (Isa. 27:11). Are these impotent menaces? Made only to be contemned? Then we may dismiss our fears. But if they are the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever, then we have reason to cry, What will become of our land?

In a word; religion, both as to the knowledge and practice, was never at so low an ebb since the Reformation took place. Nor luxury and immorality of every kind at such an enormous height.—Where now are our rulers? Are they zealous for God, and valiant for the Truth? Have they courage to stem the torrent, or to oppose the overflowings of ungodliness?—Where are the magistrates? Warm with generous indignation, do they snatch the spear, and like the gallant Phineas, smite through the loins of iniquity? Alas! have not our great men altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bands? Are they not, generally speaking, the ringleaders in transgression, as eminent for their contempt of God, as for the affluence of their circumstances? Yea. “the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in the several trespasses,” (Ezra 9:2). But will that dignity which they have abused, will that authority, which was lent them for better purposes; will those distinctions be a security to them or their country, in the day of visitation? Hear what the righteous Lord says, who is higher than the highest, and able to execute all His decrees, “It is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers. I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied,” (Ezek. 21:14). Gates, be they ever so strongly fortified, or ever so carefully guarded, are no fence against the point of Jehovah’s sword. And if sin is suffered to enter, judgments will assuredly follow. Judgments will follow even the most powerful and wealthy sinners; will pursue them like an eager bloodhound; will haunt them like a dismal ghost; will force a way into their palaces, nay, into their closest retirements; and never remit the chase, till fainting of heart ends in multiplied ruin; in the ruin of themselves, their families, their country.

Amidst all these crying evils, are we not presumptuously secure? Is there not a deplorable spirit of stupidity, which blinds our eyes and renders our hearts insensible? Scarce any one lays these miseries and dangers to heart. Who mourneth for the abominations of the land? Who stirreth up himself to call upon God? If so be, He may yet be entreated, and have mercy upon Zion. Are we not too much like the intoxicated sinners of the old world? “They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.” They gave themselves wholly up to sensual gratifications and inferior cares disregarding all the admonitions of Noah, and all the tokens of impending vengeance. Till the divine longsuffering ceased, the universal flood came, and with irresistible violence swept them all away. Are we not in the condition of those supine senseless people, spoken of by the prophet Zephaniah, “It shall come to pass at that day, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled upon their lees, that say in their heart, the Lord will do no good, neither will He do evil,” Zeph 1:12. And may we not justly expect their awful doom? “Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation. Their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them, in the day of the Lord’s wrath, but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy” (Zeph. 1:18).

As a farther aggravation of our crimes, have we not been incorrigible, amidst the most compulsive and the most winning motives to amendment?—Behold the state of our nation. Our sins abound, and are grown up to heaven; sins of every kind, even the most horrid kind; sins among all ranks, from the highest to the lowest. In our sins we persist, though wooed, as it were, with the choicest mercies, though made to smart under various judgments, though threatened with far more afflictive visitations. And will the great, the mighty, the terrible God always bear with such a people? Will He receive the most horrible indignities and still refrain himself? Sure l y, He will say, with a determined indignation, “Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies,” (Isa. 1.24). Has He not evidently begun to show us terrible things in righteousness? [editor’s note: Remember September 11th, 2001.] And what, O! what may the end of these things be? How doleful, how destructive! Unless sovereign grace interpose, bringing us by faith in the Son of God, to unfeigned repentance, and newness of life.

Some notion we may form, concerning the end of these things, by unfolding the second point,

2. The judgment of God, denounced on such sins.— Where such iniquities prevail, we might naturally conclude, that the divine indignation is awakened, and the divine vengeance lingereth not. Is there a God? Does He behold the children of men? Is His nature infinitely pure and holy? Surely then He cannot, He will not suffer the most outrageous violations of His sublime perfections to pass unpunished. Thus we might argue from the nature of God; this we might conjecture from the aspect of things. But we have a more sure word of prophecy. In this word, the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And see, in what flaming colors, by what frightful images this wrath is represented, these judgments are described.

They are likened to a lion, rending his prey. The Lord had been unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Jacob as a worm. He had inflicted milder judgments, rebuking them gradually, and withholding inferior comforts. His judgments were like a moth fretting the garment, or like a worm corroding the wood; in both which cases the corruption creeps, as it were; the wasting proceeds silently and slowly. Thus the chastising Jehovah acted; giving the people space for recollection, and looking for repentance. But no repentance was produced. They continued irreclaimable, adding sin to sin. Then says the Lord, “I will be unto Ephraim as a lion,” which, all fierce and ravenous, rushes upon a lonely traveler. I will now come forth as an incensed and irresistible adversary, and be “as a roaring lion to the house of Judah.” I, even I, who am omnipotent, will tear, will destroy, them with my mighty hand; and go away, satiated with slaughter and vengeance. I will take away both prince and people, I will take away their very place and nation, and none shall have power to effect, or courage to attempt, a rescue. (Hos. 5:14) If God do thus to perverse and incorrigible Judah, why should we imagine that He will deal otherwise with our perverse and incorrigible land?

They are described by a flood, (Isa. 8:7-8). “Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all His glory, and He shall come up over all his channels, and go over all His banks; and He shall pass through Judah, He shall overflow and go over; He shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of His wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.” The king as Assyria and his army, determined to invade Judah, are signified by the waters of the river. These the Lord bringeth up, overruling the purposes of ambitious princes, and making even the wicked designs subservient to His holy will. They are, like the waters of an immense flood, strong and many, their multitude innumerable, and their force unconquerable. For they shall come with all their glory, with their choicest troops, their ablest commanders, and their whole warlike artillery. He shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks; from all parts of his vast dominion his troops shall be assembled; each province shall be drained of its bravest inhabitants; and all unite to render this expedition one of the most formidable that ever was undertaken. He shall pass through Judah, not only make inroads upon the frontiers, but push his way through the country, and penetrate the very heart of the kingdom. He shall overflow; spread terror and desolation on every side and in every quarter. He shall go over villages, towns, cities, tribes; and bear down all before him. He shall reach even to the neck; his ravages shall extend even to the royal city, to the very gates of the metropolis; threatening destruction to the palace of the king, and the walls of the temple. The stretching out of his wings, the several detachments and parties of his victorious army shall fill the breadth of the land with havoc, slaughter and ruin. Even of thy land, O Immanuel. Their relation to thee shall procure no favor, shall afford no protection. They have dishonored thy goodly name, wherewith they were called. Therefore that goodly name shall no longer stand in the breach, but pour itself with the torrent, and render it irresistible. Such an inundation of judgments, so terrible, so destructive, have not we deserved, may not we expect?

These judgments are compared to fire, and to the fiercest of fires, that which glows in a furnace, (Ezek. 22:18-21). “The house of Israel is to me become dross ; all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.” Astonishing words! And they are doubled! They are redoubled! in order to alarm the insensible sinner, as the sword, by being brandished in many a dreadful circle, over the criminal’s head, strikes terror into his apprehensions, before it does the work of vengeance on his heart.—This generation is become brass, impudent in their wickedness. They have a whore ’s forehead; they cannot blush at their iniquities, but glory in their shame. They are tin, a degenerate race, children that are corrupters. They have forsaken the good old way, and swerved from the example of their fathers. With regard to hardness of heart, they are of iron. Impenitent amidst all their guilt; obstinately tenacious of their vices; and not to be wrought upon by any addresses, not to be reclaimed by any expedients. In another respect, they are like lead, stupid and sottish, pliable to evil, but for any good purpose unmeet; to every good work reprobate. Because they are exceedingly sinful, they shall be overtaken by God’s anger, and surrounded by his fury; as metals, cast into the midst of a furnace, are surrounded with the raging heat. The flame of this wrath shall be blown, as with a vehement wind, to its utmost height. In this furnace they shall be left, to this wrath they shall be abandoned; till, by a complication of afflictions, resembling the complication of their vices, they are overcome, subdued, and even melted; so melted, as to be either purged from the dross of their iniquities, or else blended together in one promiscuous ruin.

These judgments are described by the terrible representation of an end. An end of affluence and prosperity, of which we have gloried. An end of power and strength, in which we have trusted. An end of all national blessings, which we have not improved to God’s honor, but turned into licentiousness. “Thus saith the Lord God, an end, an end is come upon the four corners of the land. The sword without, and the pestilence and the famine within; he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, pestilence and famine shall “devour him,” (Ezek, 7-2-15). For this we have been ripening, by an unintermitted course of ungodliness and iniquity. And what can be expected by an impenitent people, hating to be reformed? What, but that judgments, which have long been suspended, should at last be inflicted? An end is come. It is come upon the land. It is a national visitation. Not confined to a part, but extending to the whole kingdom. Upon the four corners of the land. No place shall be exempt, nothing secure. Neither that which seems to be most secret, nor that which lies most remote. The vengeance is universal and inevitable. The executioners of this vengeance take their stand, within and without, at home and abroad, so that to fly from one is to fall into the hands of another. He that is in the field, shall find no way to escape, but shall die with the sword. He that is in the city, shall obtain no protection, but pestilence and famine shall devour him. Every city shall be a slaughter-house, and every field a field of blood. In city and country, sin has prodigiously abounded; therefore in city and country, desolation shall be made, deaths shall be multiplied, miseries shall abound.

These are some of the images, by which the judgments and the wrath of God are represented in the Scriptures. But when all images are used, when fancy itself is exhausted, we may truly cry out with the Psalmist, “Who knoweth the power of thine anger?” If God whet his glittering sword, and his hand take hold on judgment, what can withstand it, or who can sustain it? If his wrath be kindled, yea, but a little, “it shall consume the earth with her increase; it shall set on fire the foundations of the mountains; and burn to the lowest hell,” (Deut. 32:22).

Lest you should begin to say within yourselves, These threatenings are applicable only to the Jews;—I proceed to show,

3. The certain execution of these or some such judgments on us, unless we fly to the appointed Refuge.

God is an infinite Speaker. In his Word, He addresses Himself to all generations of men, and to every individual of the human kind, where His holy revelation is made. It is therefore a certain rule, that when any people, enlightened by the glorious gospel, become, like Jerusalem, universally and incorrigibly corrupt, they do, in Jerusalem’s doom, read their own.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He remembereth His threatenings, as well as His promises, to a thousand generations. Whatsoever, of either kind, happened to our forefathers, happened to them as examples to us. And “whatsoever was written aforetime, was written for our learning” (Rom 15:4). Observe, it was written, not for our amusement, but for our learning and admonition, that we may, as in a mirror, see our own picture, and learn our own destiny.

Is it not a manner necessary, for the manifestation of God’s inflexible justice, and His unalterable hatred of sin, that judgments should take their course, when iniquity rears its head, and refuses to be controlled? At such a juncture, does not everyone of the divine attributes cry aloud? “O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.”—And how can the justice of God, with regard to a wicked nation, be shown, but by executing His vengeance upon them, in temporal calamities?

Consider, Sirs, the very essence of political communities is temporal, purely temporal. It has no existence but in this world. Here after, sinners will be judged and punished, singly and in a personal capacity only. How then shall He that is Ruler among nations, maintain the dignity of his government over the kingdoms of the earth, but by inflicting national punishments for national provocations; and, for final impenitence total destruction?

Besides, has not the Lord always acted in this manner? Go back to the generations of old. Contemplate Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them. Well watered every where, even as the garden of the Lord. Yet this fruitful land is made barren; these populous cities are turned into ashes, for the wickedness of them that dwelt therein; for their pride and idleness, for their voluptuous and wanton indulgences; for which things’ sake the wrath of God, not only has come in former ages, and in distant nations; but in every age, cometh, and in every nation will come, upon the children of disobedience, (Col. 3:6).

Pass over to Babylon, the grandest city that the sun ever beheld, which set calamity at defiance, saying in her heart, “I shall be a lady forever,” (Isa. 47:7). How is she fallen, swept with the besom of destruction. Not so much as a trace or a footstep of her ancient glory left! And shall we be safe, when those very iniquities prevail among us, which razed the foundations of the Babylonish metropolis, and overthrew the magnificence of the Babylonian monarchy?

Take a view of Constantinople, once the most flourishing Christian city in the world, where the first Christian emperor filled the throne, and Chrysostom, that great Christian orator, the pulpit. Then it was gloriously enlightened with the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Grace and truth dwelt in it; and the beauties of holiness adorned it. But now the candlestick is removed. It is now given up to infidelity and barbarity. It is now full of darkness and cruel habitations.

Come hither then, ye careless ones, and see what desolation sin has made in the earth. On account of sin, Sodom was consumed as in a moment; Babylon is totally destroyed; Constantinople has lost her glory. And have we a license to sin with impunity? Are our sins less heinous than those of other people? Quite the reverse. Considering the many blessings which we enjoy as a nation, the many deliverances we have enjoyed as a protestant nation, the numberless advantages for religious knowledge and religious practice, which we both have enjoyed and do enjoy, above all the nations on earth—considering these circumstances, our wickedness is highly aggravated; it admits of no excuse; it exceeds the abominable practices of the heathens. What then can prevent our ruin? [editor’s note: especially when we consider the mass murder of our unborn children.]

Perhaps you are ready to allege, “Our alms will deliver us. The son of Sirach exhorts us, to shut up alms in our storehouses, and assures us, that they shall fight for us against our enemies, better than a mightly shield and strong spear. And when was there a greater flow of beneficence, observable in our own, or in any land? What sums have been given to the poor; what hospitals of various sorts, and other charitable foundations have been set on foot, and are supported through the land.”—Let us beware, brethren, lest those very things which we look upon as our recommendation, should prove an offense. If our alms proceed not from faith in Jesus Christ, and an unfeigned zeal for the glory of God; if they are not accompanied with a spirit of love to His name, and with a course of obedience to His commands; hear, what the Lord Himself says concerning such works; see, what a figure they make in His sight; and then judge, whether they are likely to be a security to our land. “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them; neither will

I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts, Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.” Hymns of praise, you see, are no other than a noise in the Lord’s ear; the most costly services of religion, are no better than a smoke in his nostrils; unless judgment, and the love of God, run down as a river, unless righteousness, and the faith of Christ abound as a mighty stream, (Amos 5:21-24).

Do you still conceit yourselves, that, because there are many righteous persons remaining, they will stand in the gap, they will turn away the anger of the Lord, and be as the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen of Israel, to our endang e red state? Hear, what a charge the supreme Jehovah gave to his prophet, when the provocations of Israel were risen to a very high pitch. “Pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee,” (Jer. 7:16). Amazing and awful prohibition! Yet it is repeated, again and again. God’s professing people may, by their excessive wickedness, become so insufferably loathsome, that, were the greatest saints to make supplication in their behalf, they should not prevail. “Though Noah, Daniel, and Job,” men mighty in prayer, and zealous for the welfare of their neighbors; though these three men (who had each by his single intercession procured blessings from heaven) were uniting their petitions in the midst of this profligate generation, “as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate,” (Ezek. 14 :16).

The land shall be desolate. Doleful sound! Dismal decree! And has it not long ago, been carried into execution? Was not Jerusalem ploughed as a field, and trodden down by the Gentiles? Are not the inhabitants rooted out of their dwellings, and scattered to all the ends of the earth? While their country is given up for a prey and for a possession to strangers, to infidels, to Turks.

Perhaps you will say, “The Jews crucified the Lord of glory, and rejected His gospel. Therefore wrath came upon them to the uttermost.” And are not we guilty, concerning this thing? Is Christ received into the hearts of men, with deep adoration of his person, as Immanuel, God with us? Do they glory and delight themselves in His complete redemption as finished by the great God and our Savior? Do they confide in Him alone for their justification, as an infinite surety, and as Jehovah our righteousness? Do they depend on Him alone for their sanctification, as Jesus, who saves His people from their sins, and sanctifies them through His blood? Do they count all things but dung, for the excellency of Christ, and His incomprehensible merit?—Alas! Is not His name, though a name above every name, derided and blasphemed? Are not the influences of His eternal Spirit, though the very life of our souls, exploded and ridiculed? They who would exalt the Savior, would make every sheaf bow down to the Redeemer’s, presenting Him as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, in the sa1vation of sinners, those preachers, those writers, those believers, are treated as the foolish people that dwell in Sichem.

What the Jews did through ignorance, we who call ourselves Christians, Protestants, we do knowingly, willfully, and of malicious wickedness. And if we thus trample upon the blood, which alone can screen us, if we thus crucify afresh that Jesus who is our only hope, what can we look for, but vengeance and fiery indignation? If we ourselves, with our own hands, demolish the only barrier, what can ensue, but an inundation of wrath, tribulation, and anguish?

Consider these things, brethren. The Lord enable you to discern the signs of the times! Then you will acknowledge, that we have reason to be alarmed, to tremble, to be horribly afraid. Are not these iniquities the Achans, that will assuredly bring distress and trouble, if not destruction, upon our country? Are not these iniquities the Jonahs, that will awaken the divine displeasure, and deliver up our vessel to the tempest, if not to shipwreck?

Is any one disposed to say within himself, “Though others may be guilty of these flagrant iniquities, yet am not I.”—Remember, my friend, the prophet Isaiah. He was, at least, as free from these flagrant iniquities as yourself. Yet he laments, and with painful apprehensions, the guilt of his countrymen, as well as his own. Remember King Josiah. Though a holy man and a just, he rent his clothes, and trembled at God’s word, denouncing vengeance against an irreligious people.

Consider also, whether you have not been an accessory, even where you were not the principal. Though you have not joined with the more profligate sinners, have you not connived at their impiety? Do their affronts offered to the King of heaven, arouse you into a becoming zeal, to vindicate his injured honor? Or, because iniquity has abounded, is not your love, and the love of many, waxed cold? Have not we, alas! have not we been cowards and traitors,
while others have been professed enemies and rebels?

Besides, have not you, have not I, have not all contributed in many, many instances, to swell the score of national provocations? Is not every sin a disobedience of God’s most holy command? Is not every sin a defiance of his uncontrollable authority? Is not every sin an imitation of the Devil? Does it not create a kind of hell in the heart? Must it not, therefore, be inconceivably odious to the Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabaoth? If so, how guilty are the very best among us! How has everyone added to the load, that dreadful load, which is likely to sink the nation in ruin! Should not every one, there f o re smite upon his breast, and say with the penitent, What have I done! and cry with the publican, God, be merciful to me a sinner!

Will you still flatter yourself? “All these judgments may be delayed. They may not come in my time.” I answer, If there be any truth in God’s Word, if any conjecture is to be made from the appearance of things, these judgments are near. They are at the door. They are like the ax in the executioner’s hand, which has been poised, has received its last elevation, and is now falling on the criminal’s neck.—Yet, if these should be withheld for a season, will not sickness
come upon you? Are not many disasters lying in ambush to seize you? Is not death sharpening his arrow, perhaps sitting it to the string, or even aiming at your life? Is not the day, the dreadful day approaching, when the shout of the archangel and the trump of God will be heard, when the dead shall arise, and heaven and earth flee away? Will not the Lord, the Lord God omnipotent, quickly come, with thousands of his saints,” to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him,” (Jude 15).

Take then, my dear hearers, take the advice of the greatest of preachers, and the wisest of men, “The prudent foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself,” ( Prov. 22:3). Behold, the rains are descending, and the flood is coming; hasten like Noah, hasten to your Ark. See, the skies are kindling all around, and the shafts of vengeance are ready to fly. Make haste, O, make haste, and delay not the time, to get into a hiding place. Let me sound in your ears the angel’s admonition; and may the Lord of angels, may the Friend of sinners, convey it to your hearts!

“Escape for your lives, lest ye be consumed,” lest the judgments of God, and the wrath of God, more to be feared than a deluge of waters, more to be feared than a torrent of flames, surround you suddenly, seize you unavoidably, and overwhelm you in ruin, temporal and eternal.

O! that I might prevail! O that God would make you sensible of your peril! O that man, woman, and child would ask, “How shall I be safe in the day of visitation? Show me the Ark! Show me the Refuge!” I should then with great satisfaction proceed to answer this enquiry, and point out Christ to your souls, as the only hiding place, as the sure hiding place, where you may certainly find safety.

Let me beseech you to lay these alarming truths to heart. Let them impress your consciences. Let them penetrate your souls. And O Thou gracious, thou Almighty Lord God, do Thou command them to sink deep into all our minds; that we may, with Ezra thy priest, sit down ashamed and astonished, under a sense of our manifold iniquities,—that we may, with thy servant Job, abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes;—that we may, in the words and with the compunction of thy prophet cry out, “Woe is me: for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,” (Isa. 6:5).