his mouth: what he faid came to pafs, and none of his words fell to the ground. Go away, ftand not ftill.

Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerufalem come into your mind. This was a hint that they fhould go as far off as Babylon; and it was a caution not to listen to every lo here, or lo there, or to give heed to any of the lies and carnal reafonings of the falfe prophets which the devil would raise up in Babylon; for all that Satan wants is to drive God out of all our thoughts, as God complains. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophefy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own hearts, which think to caufe my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. Jer. xxiii. 26, 27. This is the work of the devil now; almost every houfe has got a politician in it, or an enchanter, or a charmer; and this tool of Satan is the fnare and curfe of the whole family; his work is to fill their minds and entertain them with the wonderful productions of this age of reafon, and to bring in the fresh contents of every oppofition newspaper, that by these means every thought of their hearts may be alienated from God, and be kept in captivity to the obedience of Satan: hence the exhortation, Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerufalem come into your mind. For if I remember the Lord, I fhall meditate on him, and on his wonderful works: and he will remember me, and

and let me know it; my thoughts fhall often meet with his; I fhall be upon the watch, and be led to compare what I fee with what I read; and this will lead me to confider what fafety or protection he hath promifed to his people, or where they may be hid in the day of his fierce anger, and how to prepare to meet our God in the way of his judgment, left by coming fuddenly, be fhould find us fleeping.

And let Jerufalem come into your mind. Jerufalem had long been the throne of God, and the principal feat of the church; the church at Jerufalem, or on mount Zion, was the metropolitan church among the twelve tribes of Ifrael. God loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob; and it was revealed from heaven, that although he had, for the fins of his people, defpifed his habitation by cafting it down to the ground, and that be remembered not bis footstool in the day of bis anger (Lam. ii. 1), yet be would choofe ferufalem again. It would once more be the city of the living God, where Immanuel would appear, and make reconciliation for the fins of all his people, which are fcattered throughout the whole world. Hence the prediction of the Pfalmift, If I forget thee, O Jerufalem, let my right band forget her cunning; let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not prefer Jerufalem above my chief joy. But the law is now gone forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerufalem; therefore we must look for Jerufalem, for the city of the great King, elsewhere. Coming to God the

judge

judge of all under his teaching, and to Jefus the mediator of the new covenant by faith, and to the faints in heart-felt love and affection, is coming to the heavenly Jerusalem; for all believers are fellowcitizens with the faints, and of the houshold of God.

To let Jerufalem come into our mind, in the language of the New Teftament, is to love one another, to let the children of God have a place in our hearts and affections. And now to interweave their cafe with ours, the principal seat of the church of God, in this day is Great Britain; for I believe there is but very little of the power of godlinefs elsewhere; nor is there much of it here. I have heard much of the wonderful fuccefs of the gospel in America; but I have but little faith in thefe good tidings. I have had letters from various parts of that country, and from many other countries alfo, and from the East and West Indies; and they all complain to me of famine, and I believe it. Gofpel Jerufalem is now with us, and Zion is God's refting-place for ever here (faith he) will I dwell, for I have defired it-therefore feek we the peace of the city, and pray unto the Lord for it, for in the peace thereof shall we have peace. Peace be within thy walls, and profperity within thy palaces; for my friends and companions fake will I now fay, Peace be within thee; because of the house of the Lord my God I will feek thy good. Bleffed are thofe fervants whom, when their Lord cometh, he fhall find fo doing; for they yet rule with God; and are faithful with the faints.

Some dream of a univerfal republic, as fome former kings in France did of universal empire; but we are as fecure from that as the word of the immutable God can make us. At the divifion of the Roman empire into kingdoms, according to the prophecy of Daniel, ten kings rose up in it about one and the fame time; hence the empire is called a beaft, and the ten kings the ten horns of the beaft, which have all, more or lefs, in times paft, pushed and fought in defence of the beaft, and in defence of popery and though this exact number ten hath not always been the fame, but fometimes more and fometimes lefs, yet that was the number at the first divifion, and I believe it will be the fame when God judges Babylon the great.

Some few years ago, if I conjecture right, there were eleven kings in the empire :-the king of Britain, of Denmark, of Sweden, of Poland, of Bohemia, of Prussia, of Naples, of Sardinia, of France, of Spain, and of Portugal; and although France and Poland are now without kings, yet there remain nine ftill. Whether there be any other princes that are crowned heads in the empire, I know not; but thofe above mentioned have borne the title of kings; this is well known among us. The pope is not included in this lift, for he is the little horn before whom three horns fell, and ever fince the popes have worn a triple crown. For fo it is written-After this I faw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beaft, dreadful and terrible, and

Strong

Jtrong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and ftamped the refidue with the feet of it and it was diverfe from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I confidered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little born, before whom there were three of the first borns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this born were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth Speaking great things. I beheld till the thrones were caft down, and the Ancient of days did fit, whofe garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream iffued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands miniftered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand Stood before him: the judgment was fet, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld, even till the beast was flain, and his body deftroyed, and given to the burning flame. I faw in the night vifions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given bim dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should ferve him: bis dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be deftroyed. Dan. vii. Daniel, in this vifion fees the Chaldean empire rolled round to Rome; the Babylonian,

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