425 DISCOURSE XXXIII. THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD MANIFESTED IN THE RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES. 1 SAMUEL, II. 30. Them that honour me I will honour; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. WHEN we peruse the instructive page of history, we behold empires in the world, like waves in the ocean, successively rising and disappearing again. Exalted for a moment, one glitters before our eyes in power and majesty; but is suddenly overwhelmed and absorbed by the superior force of another, which, itself, perhaps hardly stays to be gazed at, but as quickly vanishes from the sight, and is no more. In silence we contemplate the affecting scene. adore the providence of him who ruleth in the kingdoms of men; who putteth down one and setteth up another; ordering all things according to the counsel of his own will. We From the sacred Scriptures we learn what that will is, and how gracious an aspect it always bears towards the servants of the true God. We see the most untractable of things and persons secretly working together for good to them that fear and worship the Creator of the universe. We perceive the potentates of the earth becoming subservient to the kingdom of the Messiah, and carrying on the dispensations of mercy and judgement towards his people, as their obedience, from time to time, pleads for the one, or their transgressions call for the other. Our hearts are filled and warmed with a sense of his goodness, who causeth the world and all that is in it to conspire in promoting the felicity of his chosen. Considered in this light, let us take a view of the divine economy in the government of the world from the beginning, by an induction of those particular facts, together with the grounds and reasons of the same, with which we are furnished by history, sacred and profane. Such a view, it is humbly hoped, will not be an unpleasant employment of the time usually allotted upon these occasions. It cannot be an unprofitable one; since, by studying the ways of him who is perfect in knowledge and happiness, we shall best learn to rectify and regulate our own. And it will be found peculiarly adapted to answer the end proposed by the wisdom and piety of our ancestors, when they ordained, that the solemn administration of justice should commence with due and devout meditation on the proceedings of that Being, concerning whom it is said, that, as mercy and truth go before his face, so righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his throne. A large and comprehensive, that is, a proper survey of the scheme of Providence, as formed upon the maxim laid down by God himself in the words of the text, must take its rise from that gracious purpose of saving mankind and bringing them to glory, which appears to have possessed the first place in the de signs of Heaven. This we learn from the notices afforded in the Scriptures, that we are "saved and "called according to the divine purpose, and grace "given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began*;" that God hath "chosen us from the beginning' that the Lamb of God was slain, that is, intentionally and virtually slain "from the foundation of the "world"." The world was enjoyed but for a little season by man in a state of innocence, and hath ever since sympathized with him in the misery of his fall. But it is still preserved, as the theatre on which the mighty work of redemption is carried on, until that work shall be accomplished. When "the fulness "of the Gentiles shall be come in, and all Israel shall "be saved," "then the heavens shall pass away "with a great noise, and the elements shall melt "with fervent heat: the earth also and the works "that are therein shall be burnt up. Ere we have proceeded far in the most ancient and authentic of histories, we meet with a stupendous representation of that final destruction which awaits the present system, as well as of that complete salvation which shall be effected for the servants of the Most High. The earth was defiled by the abomina a 2 Tim. i. 9. d Rom. xi. 25. VOL. III. b 2 Thess. ii. 13. c Rev. xiii. 8. 2 K tions of its inhabitants. The sins of men burst the fountains of the great deep, opened the windows of heaven, and called forth a deluge of water to cleanse it from its corruptions; when neither the riches of the wealthy, nor the power of the mighty, nor the wisdom of the wise, could avail to preserve them from the hand of death. Then appeared the incomparable pre-eminence of religion, the inestimable privileges of the faithful. Safe under the protection of the Almighty, the holy family in the ark survived the storm that laid the world in ruins, and passed in perfect security over the wreck of universal nature. A new earth, as it were, arose out of the waters. The covenant was renewed. Men were commanded to look upon the bow in the clouds, and to remember the promise. The morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy. Behold those ancient fathers of our faith, the patriarchs, because iniquity again abounded, called forth from their country and their kindred to preserve true religion upon earth, "till the Seed should come, to whom the promise was made." "They were but few men in number, yea very few, and strangers in the land." But the presence of God was with them. "He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my pro 6. ፡፡ phets no harm'." They were honoured in the kingdoms through which they travelled. When injured, they by faith "put to flight the armies of f Psalm cv. 12. "aliens." They were permitted to intercede for cities, and when destruction became inevitable, yet such as belonged to them were sent out of the overthrow. They became instruments of preserving whole nations alive in the time of dearth. They informed princes concerning the will of Heaven, and taught senators true wisdom. They were revered by crowned heads, and Pharaoh disdained not to receive a blessing from Jacob. Egypt, a kingdom, in those days, the most renowned of all others for power and learning, became a scene of very remarkable transactions. The sighs and groans of afflicted Israel came up before the eternal throne. The Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and made bare his arm in the defence of his people. The persecutor still withstood that power which controlled all the operations of nature; and hardened his head against that goodness, which, by so doing, called him to repentance. At length, the jaws of oppression were broken, and the people of God were delivered. The Egyptian sank, like lead, in the mighty waters; while Israel, triumphant on the opposite shore, sang hallelujahs to the Lord God Omnipotent. The descendants of faithful Abraham, thus brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand and stretched-out arm, were conducted through the wilderness, the same Lord being their light and their strength, their support and their comfort, and came to the borders of Canaan, at the precise time when the iniquity of the Amorites was full. The day of trial allotted to the idolatrous nations being expired, a gloomy and |