"When seventy years are accomplished, (in the captivity of the Jews) then 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."* And this is the usual procedure of Providence, to make use of one guilty nation to execute his judgments upon another, and then to execute the executioner. From hence we may prognosticate the future fall of France, though she should now be used as a rod in the divine hand to chastise rebellious Britons. "Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field."-Judgment sometimes signifies punishment from the hand of God, and sometimes the same with justice or righteousness. If we take it to signify punishment from the divine hand, then the meaning is, The heavy judgments of God shall dwell (that is, long remain) upon the country of the enemy, which though once a fruitful Carmel, is now turned into a wilderness.' In this sense, the prophecy has been literally accomplished upon Babylon, which remains a wilderness unto this day. If by judgment we understand righteousness, then the meaning is, 'Righteousness shall dwell in the land of Judea, which was once made a wilderness, but is now improved into a fruitful field, since the pouring out of the Spirit.' And so it designs the same with the following sentence: Righteousness shall remain in the fruitful field." That is, 'Righteousness, which in the scripture-sense often signifies all goodness, or the whole of true religion, or a proper temper and conduct towards God and man; righteousness, in this extensive sense, shall remain in the fruitful field-it shall possess the hearts and govern the practices of the inhabitants; and this shall turn their country into a Carmel, a paradise, a fruitful field.' "And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever." • When righteousness thus becomes the universal principle and rule of action, it will produce peace, quietness, and assurance, or security from danger.' And in consequence of this, "my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation," &c. They shall remain undisturbed in their possessions, and enjoy the blessings of peace, free from factions at home, and invasions from abroad. In this unmolested and happy situation shall they continue, even "when it shall hail coming down upon the forest;" or when storms of * Jer. xxv. 12. See also Isa. xxxiv. 11-15. and xiv. 22, 23.. public calamities break upon other countries, and lay them waste. You may now have a full view of the regular gradation from truth to truth in my text. Desolation overspreads the country, UNTIL the Spirit is poured out-the Spirit poured out produces righteousness, or true religion-righteousness produces peace, quietness and assurance; and under its influence the inhabitants live in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, even when storms and tempests toss and desolate other nations. Thus, you see, the outpouring of the holy Spirit is the great and only remedy for a ruined country-the only effectual preventive of national calamities and desolations, and the only sure cause of a lasting and well-established peace. This is the truth I now intend chiefly to illustrate. And this is the more necessary to be illustrated and inculcated, as it is but very little regarded. We all complain that our country cannot be defended, nor an advantageous peace obtained without better regulations-without timely and vigorous measures, unanimity, courage and public spirit among all ranks. There are some also who complain, that our country cannot be safe or prosperous without a general reformation-that it cannot be expected the undertakings of a guilty, impenitent people, ripe for the judgments of God, can succeed, till their repentance be in some measure as signal and public as their sin. Thus far we look : but, unless we look farther, we do not go to the bottom of things. As all our measures are not likely to be successful without a reformation; so we may despair of ever seeing a thorough, general reformation, unless the Spirit be poured upon us from on high. I may illustrate this by the piece of history to which my text refers, and in which it had its accomplishment. The Jews were a numerous and powerful people their cities were well fortified, especially Jerusalem, their capital; and yet their impenitent sinning, without reformation, rendered them an easy prey to their enemies. But why did they continue impenitent ? Why were they not reformed? Was it because they did not enjoy proper means? No: they had the law of Moses; they had the ministry of the prophets, who loudly called them to repentance through a succession of ages, and in the most explicit manner denounced the judgments of God against them, if they should continue impenitent-they enjoyed all the advantages of an ex ners. traordinary immediate providence-in short, they had better helps and excitements for reformation than all mankind beside, except such as we, who have the happiness of living under the more complete and glorious dispensation of the gospel. And yet they sinned on still, impenitent and unreformed: no general reformation was carried on by all these means; and even under the hardships of captivity, they still continued the same incorrigible sinHence God complains of them, "When they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name," as they had done before in their own land.* And what was wanting all this time for their effectual reformation? Why, the Spirit was not yet poured upon them from on high; and while he was absent, they continued unreformed, and their country desolate. But when the time for their restoration came, then the Spirit was poured out. Thus their restoration and the effusion of the Spirit are connected in the divine promise: "I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land; THEN will I sprinkle clean water upon you, (the usual emblem of divine influences†) and ye shall be clean-and I will put my SPIRIT within you." And when this promise was fulfilled, what was the consequence? Why, a glorious public reformation followed, of which you see an account in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. They returned to their own land as weeping penitents, according to Jeremiah's prediction, which seems to have had its primary accomplishment in this event. "The children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: (this is a description of the march of the captives in their return to their own country) they shall go and seek the Lord their God: they shall ask the way to Zion, (Zion, the place where the house of God once stood, which they are eager to rebuild) with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that shall never be forgotten."S And when they were thus brought to repentance, what a happy revolution followed! The scattered captives were collected; they restored their ruined church and state, and again became a free and flourishing people. And what happened to them will also happen to us, and all nations of the earth in all ages, in like circum stances. * Ezek. xxxvi. 20. John vii. 38, 39. § Jer. 1. 4, 5, In illustrating the subject I have principally in view, I intend only to offer a few arguments to prove the absolute necessity of a general outpouring of the Spirit, to effect a general reformation. The arguments for this truth, with which the holy Scriptures furnish us, are so many, that I can only select a few; and they shall be chiefly such as refer to nations, or bodies politic, and not to individuals, or private persons; asserting the holy Spirit to be the only author of public national reformation, as well as of the conversion of particular persons. 'their The temporal prosperity of the Jews, who were under a Theocracy, or an immediate Providence, depended in a special manner upon their continued obedience : and their restoration upon their return to obedience, or their reformation. Hence, among the many promises of prosperity and restoration which Moses makes them in the name of God, this is one: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live;" that is, that thou mayest be a prosperous people. "And the Lord will put all these curses upon thine enemies; and he will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land for good." In Jeremiah xxxi. you have many promises made to the Jews, both of temporal and spiritual prosperity, upon conversion to God and as the life of all, this is inserted, "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it upon their hearts."t This is substantially repeated with an express reference to national deliverance, in the next chapter. "Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell in safety; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them and their children after them,”‡ &c. Ezekiel speaks in the same strain with regard to the same event : "Thus saith the Lord God, I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things, and all the abominations thereof from thence;" that is, they shall promote * Deut. xxx. 6—9. : a general reformation in their country and from whence shall this proceed? You find the cause of it in the following promise: "I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them."* Zerubbabel was the great restorer of the Jewish church and state, after the Babylonish captivity and Zechariah informs us that this was the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, for his encouragement, "Not by power, nor by might, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." The reformation of the Jews, and their consequent restoration to a flourishing state, is not effected by any human power or means, but by my Spirit alone. And this will hold equally true in every age, especially under the gospel, which is peculiarly the dispensation of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, are virtues which have the most happy influence upon human society; and were they universally prevalent, they would effectually prevent all the calamities of war, and ensure all the blessings of peace: and these, St. Paul tells us, are the fruits, or effects, of the Spirit. And, therefore, “ till the Spirit be poured out from on high," they will never grow and flourish. Faith, repentance, and every grace, is the free gift of God, wrought by the holy Spirit. In short, not one soul, much less a whole nation, can be effectually reformed without the power of God. If even a well-disposed Lydia gave a believing attention to the things spoken by Paul, it was because the Lord opened her heart.§ "No man can come unto Christ, except the Father draw him." The holy Spirit is uniformly represented, through the whole Scriptures, as the spring of all the goodness that is in the world-the sacred fire, from whence proceeds every spark of true religion that is to be found in the breasts of any of the sons of men.. And the doctrine of the Scriptures, in this respect, is confirmed by history, and matters of fact, in all ages. When the Spirit is withdrawn, it has been found a truth, that nations and particular * Ezek. xi. 17-20. See also to the same purpose Ezek. xxxvi. 16–25. od. fin. and xxxix. 25-29. Eph. ii.3. Phil. i. 29. Acts v. 31. and xi. 18. 2 Tim. ii, 26. 2 Cor. v. 17, 18. Zech. iv. 6. Gal. v. 22, 23. Acts. xvi. 14. ¶ John vi. 44 |