SERMON VIII.

THANKSGIVING SERMON.

EZEKIEL xxi, 27.

I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

THESE words, though found in a book ascribed to Ezekiel as the author, are the words of God himself; and they were spoken in the days of Zedekiah, that profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose iniquities brought him to so miserable an end.

In these words is contained a prophecy of the overturnings that were to take place among that people, before the coming of Christ in the flesh; and also of the various changes which would be brought about in the world at large, as introductory to the most extensive and perfect establishment of his kingdom among men.

All the affairs of God are under his own government; and though men are busy in building up, and in pulling down; and though they are accountable for what they do, according to the motives from which they do it; through their instrumentality his own glorious purposes are accomplished. It is the nature of man to do evil; and it is the prerogative of God to bring good out of evil. Thus all things are under the government of God; and he will have the glory, while his enemies will be covered with shame.

In the consideration of this passage of scripture, the first thing to be noticed is the overturnings which were to take place. As the expression is a general one, it may be regarded as extending to things in general.

Among the things referred to, civil government may be reckoned as one important particular. In the history of Israel we may see in what different ways, that nation was governed from time to time, so that the prediction was exactly fulfilled, The sceptre shall not depart from Judah; nor a law giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.

Other nations likewise, with their revolutions, are to be taken into the account. The Assyrian empire, in existence at the time when Ezekiel penned the text, was succeeded by the Persian; that by the Grecian, and that by the Roman empire; and they all experienced their own overturnings. The Roman empire was destroyed by the irruptions of various barbarous people, for which its own effeminacy prepared the way. Like the agitated ocean, the world has ever been putting on new appearances; and kingdoms have been rising and falling. Many of those who are now upon the stage of life, have witnessed an uncommonly eventful period; for never before, did the work of revolution go on with such rapidity.

When we survey the state of things as it is at present, and call to mind who are rulers and who are subjects, we shall see, that a great alteration is necessary, and to be expected. That some were born to be kings and others to be their servants, is a doctrine, which, however current it has been, will not always be acknowledged to be sound doctrine. Though there ever has been; and ever will be, an inequality among men, the rights which belong to all, all will be disposed to vindicate, when they feel themselves to be possessed of the power.

Kings and courtiers may make vigorous opposition to such measures as tend to strip them of their usurped authority; but all will be as vain as an attempt would be to arrest the furious whirlwind. We see that when a nation wills its own freedom, it can be free; and breaking the shackles by which it has been bound, it can triumph over despotic oppressors, and establish at once a new order of thing.

Not only will civil government be so changed in its form, and in all its circumstances, as to be administered upon new principles; but religion likewise, that is what goes by that name, will experience a great alteration. In the time of

Ezekiel, the knowledge of God was confined to that nation of which he was a member for to no other people had a revelation been imparted.

The circumstances of the world are different, at present; for since that nation was rejected, other nations have been put into possession of the privileges which they for a long time, generally, abused. Yet the light which the world now has, is but the twilight; or to speak more properly, it is like the light of the sun, when out of sight, it casts its beams on some distant eminence. The great body of mankind is, at this moment, made up of pagans; heathens; gentiles; idolators; the several terms having, mainly the same signification. They have their objects, and their modes of worship, with some variation, according to circumstances, but the declaration of St. Paul has no limitation; and we may without any danger of varying from the truth, apply it as extensively as we please, and say, The things which the gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.

If it be proper to make a man's morals the test of his principles; and all are agreed that it is; we can call for no farther proof of the dreadful state of the heathen world; but shall be convinced that the devil has there set up a kingdom of darkness. Travellers, and missionaries of veracity, are eye, and ear, witnesses to many, and various abominations; and they are sending us their accounts from the different stations which they occupy. It is now as it ever was, the learned, and the rude, where the Sun of righteousness does not shine, are wrapped up in the same cloud; and the means which are necessary to rescue one are equally necessary to rescue the other. Those temples and those altars, which have been erected by the instigation of the devil, must be thrown down; and that idolatry in which he delights because it is worship rendered to himself, will certainly be brought to an end.

The descendants of those who as a people, were once in covenant with God, are now inhabiting different parts of the earth, in different circumstances, generally, and differing, particularly, as to their means of information, but all alike in this, that they are ignorant of the one thing needful. The blood of Christ, according to the request of

those who crucified him, rests upon them to the present day. They are unbelievers as a people; and their prejudices are strong against christianity. Those prejudices are handed down from one generation to another; and the very education which the children receive, lays the foundation for a long, and in most instances, an endless infidelity. The force of such an unhappy education upon the mind is productive of infinite evil. They look at Christ as a man looks at an enemy, against whom he has an inveterate antipathy; discerning nothing excellent in him, but considering him as a composition of every thing that is disagreeable, and loathsome.

It is well known, that enmity gives a false coloring to objects; and enmity when instilled into children,and strengthened by a combination of circumstances, as is the case with this people respecting this affair, operates like the bars of a castle, or like an insuperable wall. This is the vail which is spread over the understanding of this unbelieving, and rebellious people; and until this vail shall be taken away, they will have no Savior; and of course their lives must terminate miserably. Though every one is, by nature, an infidel, still there are degrees in infidelity; and this people have all the influence of pernicious instruction, operating against their salvation, in addition to that alienation of heart which is natural. Thus circumstanced, they read nothing with any candor, but the things which relate to the Mosaic dispensation; and even these they do not understand; for the words of Christ to the people of his day, are always equally pertinent. Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. It is not to be expected, that persons will believe any doctrine to be true, who set themselves to work to prove it to be false. The weight of argument is usually thought to be on that side upon which we wish it to be.

As Christ is the only Savior and as he has declared, that he will deny those who deny him, it may be fairly concluded, that no Jew, in sentiment, and feeling, living, and dying, such will ever obtain a seat in heaven. Understanding the subject in this way, the apostle has left upon record the grief which he felt on account of his countrymen,

Notwithstanding so many centuries have passed away, and this people are still under the cloud, their condition will not always continue as it is. Many prophetical scriptures assure us of their restoration to the knowledge, and favor, of God. Their present circumstances, and their future circumstances, are exactly described by Hosea. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king; and without a prince; and without a sacrifice; and without an image; and without an ephod; and without teraphim: Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the latter days.

That apostacy at the head of which is the Man of sin, is a pernicious evil which has long been in the world. A worm of the dust, appointed to be a humble, and faithful overseer of the church, forgetful of his charge, aspired to the dominion which belongs to God; and to the exercise of those powers with which God only is invested; and thus a foundation was laid for that imposture the Popish religion. How far this religion has extended, and how mischievous has been its influence, must be known to all who have improved the means of knowledge which are commonly possessed.

The Man of sin must, and will be destroyed, and his work will come to an end with him. Already has the Pope shrunk from his gigantic dimensions to a mere skeleton; and his once formidable anathemas, are now regarded with as little emotion as the echo of the woodman's voice, or the sound of his axe. There is however still much to be done to clear popish countries of the evils with which popery has filled them.

The false prophet is about of the same age with the man of sin; and has been employed in carrying on the same work though not in the same way. Mahometan delusions were forced upon mankind; and it was with the point of the sword, as with a fescue that their author showed his pupils what they had to learn. This imposture is still maintained by measures the most despotic.

Whatever else may be denoted by the false prophet, this is doubtless a character applicable to Mahomet; for he pre