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plague that beats down the obdurate magicians: the Elijah witness restored with more than Elijah's power. The trumpets of wrath, in like manner, are brought about by fire from the altar. The true church, filled with the Spirit, at which the wise have been mocking, shall now by that same Spirit destroy the mockers.

The seventh judgment is the hail: the dew, which should have vivified, condensed into hard cold lumps to blight and destroy the heart of stone, instead of the heart of flesh; the tearless eye, instead of the fountain of waters of the head of Jesus; the chilling indifference to the power of God, produced by the icy barrenness of intellectual doctrines; the miscarrying womb and the dry breasts of the faithless woman smitten for her adulteries, and left to be replenished as she best can by the soothsayers whom she has chosen for her guides. Before this judgment came, another season of repentance was vouchsafed, another call to turn and obey the Lord was made, but in vain.

The eighth judgment is from the locusts. The locust is the hieroglyphic in Egypt for a priest; and what shoals and myriads of these the itching ears of the people have heaped to themselves, who can tell? Certain, however, it is, that, while they have been fed, the people have been starved: they have eaten up all the goodly pasture that was provided for the flock : the vine has been laid waste, so that it produces no grapes; and the fig-tree is barked, so that no fruit is now found upon it; it is clean bare and cast away, and the branches are made white. The swarms of the sectaries among the Protestants vie with the rapacity and hypocrisy of the monastic orders among the Papists; and any dictionary of religious sects will furnish an idea of their numbers.

The ninth judgment was darkness; and it is a very obvious consequence in the mystery, from the hosts of false teachers which are represented by the locusts. What could arise to a nation but obscurity, from swarms of teachers all claiming equal authority to teach; all shewing the same, or rather no, pretensions; all differing from each other in doctrine, ceremony, and practice? Darkness does indeed cover the land, and gross darkness the people: they grope for the day, but, behold, obscurity; and know not the source of their visitation..

The tenth and last judgment is the smiting of the first-born of every house in the land, both of man and beast, from the king that sitteth on the throne down to the captive in the dungeon. The first-born is the pride of excellency, the strength and glory of men. The smiting here is both judgment and mercy, for the same act which destroys the one party is the cause of liberation to the other. Whatever constitutes the pride, glory, and strength of the churches, is now smitten by the hand of

God. His own voice has now come into the midst of us, mocking the eloquence, despising the learning, and overthrowing the strength of the mightiest of the preachers: and the Lord's people are every where fleeing from them, wherever the standard of the Spirit has been lifted up round which they might rally. Although the mystery of Egypt is different from that of Babylon, the smiting of the strength of the former is identical in time with the throwing down of the other: yet in the letter the mystery of Egypt overtops that of Babylon, inasmuch as the witnesses of Jesus are not slain for his testimony until after Babylon has passed into the Egyptian state. This, indeed, took place in a measure in 1792, but shall do in a greater degree shortly.

It is not till the sinew of our strength is smitten that we can receive the blessing of the Spirit: it is not till the wisdom of Egypt is cast down and humbled, that we can receive the wisdom from above; it is not until we are as good as dead, that the child of promise can be given us. For this, then, let every one cry; and at the same time let him remember, that during all these judgments there is a process of hardening going on also. Pharaoh's heart was hardened; and the most scientific, the wisest men of his time and court, were those who most encouraged him. These were his magicians and sorcerers; and the mode by which they endeavoured to urge him onwards in his mad career, was by pretending to do the same things as those which the power of God only could effect. The opposition to the work of the Spirit now, is mainly supported by those who contend that they have the Spirit also: they assert, that when they read an essay from their pulpits, which they have previously prepared with great care, they are preaching by the power of the Holy Ghost; they ridicule the voice of prophecy, as a mean and despicable thing in comparison with their own elaborate orations; and claim that they too have the Spirit in their congregations, in their singings and responses.

NO. V.

HAVING challenged the priests, in the words of God, to declare wherefore these judgments are come upon them, and finding their inability to give any answer, we know from this also, in addition to other reasons, that the Spirit of God cannot be amongst them. Yet, since some have the presumption to say that they do possess the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, and that, when we hear them preach a sermon which they have composed with great care, and studied as an actor on the stage does his part in a play, we hear the Spirit of wisdom, or the Spirit of knowledge (for they seem not to be quite sure which it is) speaking through them; we must reiterate our exposure of these

false pretensions. We cannot believe that they are sincere in this assertion; the presumption is so monstrous, it is so flagrant a violation of truth, it is so opposed to the common honesty of common people, that no one can credit it; and it is palpably trumped up by some would-be reasoners, for this express occasion; disgraceful in every point of view to those who have invented it to conceal their aversion to have the real Spirit of God dwelling in them, and to delude themselves into the belief that they have the reality, when they have only a mockery, which deceives no one but those who propagate it. Since, therefore, they cannot declare the causes of these judgments, nor in what they will consist, we now proceed to unfold the declarations of the Holy Ghost upon this subject, according as they are written in Isai. ix. 8, x. 4.

This portion of Scripture is found in the midst of a prophecy, contained between the seventh and twelfth chapters, both inclusive, declaring the fate of all confederacies that shall be formed against the Virgin's Child; one of the most extensive of which confederacies is now developed in England, composed of all the teachers of religion-Archbishops, Bishops, HighChurch, and Evangelical Clergy; Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and Independent preachers;-religious magazines, newsapers, and periodicals of every grade. The prophecy denouncing their fate is fourfold:-1st declaring the spoliation of the wealth of the church, whilst it is still left for a season to exist as a polity; 2d, the desolation of the church as a polity; 3d, the mutual destruction of each other, and of their lawful guides, by the people; 4th, the punishment of all ecclesiastical assemblies, presbyteries, and their defenders.

1. "The Lord hath sent a word to Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel." God wrote this warning for the Jewish church, and it has passed on to receive a fuller accomplishment in the Christian church. "And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria"-all the people of the ten kingdoms, represented by the people of the ten tribes; and the inhabitants of its capital, even those who dwell in the seat of government" that say, in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars." The rulers in the churches of Christendom admit that their old institutions have fallen into decrepitude, but they are all intent upon rendering them, by repairs and reform, more permanent and beautiful than ever. The Protestants say that the sycamore, the wild-fig of Popery and superstition, is indeed cut down by the devastating axe of liberalism, that first came into action at the French Revolution; but it is only to make religion itself imperishable, by bringing it into accordance with enlightened reason. 66 Therefore" for this very reason; because they

think they will not be destroyed, but reformed; because they think they have not done much amiss, and that they can easily amend themselves; because of "the pride and stoutness of heart" which will not suffer them to turn to the Lord, and acknowledge their transgressions; because they will build for themselves a Babel tower, as a place of defence against a coming deluge"therefore the Lord shall set up the princes of Rezin" (, the heads of the kingdom)" against him, and unite his enemies together: the Syrians," the subjects, and those who obey these princes, "before, and the Philistines behind," the uncircumcised in lip and heart-the liberal ministers of the Crown, backed by the Radicals, who seek the Church's destruction;"and they" united together" shall devour Israel" (the Christian church)" with open mouth"-by law, by Acts of Parliament, by Bills of Reform;-but "for all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still."

2. "But the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts :" there will be no public acknowledgment of sin by the Bishops and Clergy; no open recognition of their sins of pluralities, avarice, worldly mindedness, reliance on carnal policy, and despite done to the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day: the ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail :" the Lord will cut off from the Church all those who rule in the name or in the offices of Christ's appointment, from the archbishop in his palace down to the lowest little preacher that has sprung up out of the quagmire and stagnant pools of the rabble. "For the leaders of this people," the ordained priesthood, "have caused them to err, and they that are led of them are destroyed". all who frequent their preachings and who follow their guidance. "Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men," who are training for the ministry in their colleges and universities; "neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows;" on them who will not have God for their reconciled Father, or cry for Christ as their absent Husband: " for every one is an hypocrite and an evil doer, and every mouth speaketh folly." Such is God's declaration concerning the priests at the time he brings his judgments upon them. That they are "hypocrites;" while they say the charge is unjust, for that they are very sincere, and quite willing to acknowledge their errors when they see them ;that they are "evil doers ;" while they say the general character of the clergy was never so exemplary for conscientious discharge of their duty, for zeal for schools and education, and for attention to morals;-that their "mouths speak folly;" while they say they are remarkable for their learning and pulpit eloquence.—

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"For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still."

3. "For wickedness burneth as the fire:" the church being now destroyed, both as to its property and as a corporate body in the state, there is no longer any authorized check on the wickedness of the people: the system of avoua, lawlessness, has now full liberty to develop itself in the universal destruction of every class: "it shall devour the briers and thorns;" by which term the Spirit of the Lord, in Micah vii., designates such princes and judges as no longer recognize Him for their Master, but renounce their standing as office-bearers ruling for Him. And thus, the Son of God being put to an open shame, the land that commits the iniquity, bearing thorns and briers, is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned (Heb. vi. 6-8). The wickedness "shall kindle in the thickets of the forest"-among the combinations of the people, left to grow wild and untrained, and uncultivated to produce fruit to God" and they shall mount up" over their rulers "like the lifting up of smoke." The whole earth, the sun, the air, are all alike darkened by the smoke of the pit: so that neither the things which give light nor those which support life are unaffected by it (Rev. ix. 2, 3). "Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire." The people are the pile of wood of Tophet (Isa. xxx. 33) which feeds the fire for the infidel king: it is they that are the fuel which lawlessness consumes. "No man shall spare his brother: and he shall snatch on his right hand, and be hungry:" he shall rob his superiors in church and state; he shall seize the lands of the clergy and the lands of the crown; he shall increase the taxes on the higher classes; but yet he shall be in no better condition himself. "And he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied:" he shall plunder the poor, and abolish the laws which provide for the destitute; he shall leave every one to starve who falls into want; yet shall he himself be as destitute as before. "They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:" even his own house and kindred shall not be spared by his selfishness and rapacity: "Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they two shall be against Judah : all the tribes of Israel, all the sects of the church, at war with each other: but "for all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still."

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4. "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees; and to the writers that write grievousnesses" (marg). During the first of the preceding judgments, on the wealth of the Church of England, it is probable that the poverty and want of political importance of the Church of Scotland may preserve it for a season; and that it may find safety for a while in the contempt of the robbers

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