Page:Duty of redeeming the time in evil days, illustrated and enforced.pdf/12

12 "Take to heart the dishonour done to God thereby, the wounds given to truth, the stroke reached to true religion, and the danger to the souls of men Shew such sympathy with Gods interests, as you may be capable to say before the Lord, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the approaches of them that reproacheth thee, are fallen upon me, Psal. lxix. 9. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." Psalm cxxxvii. 5, 6. Mourn over these things in secret, as the select ew in Jerusalem did, Ezek ix. 4. forecited, Wrestle with God, in prayer for his appearance, for his return to the land, to ordinances, and to the spirits of his ministers and people. Hear what the Lord says, “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, Jerusalem, which shall never hold their pence day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence; and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Isa. lxii. 6, 7.

(2. Let your hearts be impressed with awful thoughts of the anger of God against the generation, appearing in that matter, Hab. iii. 16. It is an awful thought, that Zion-builders are now turned like Babel-builders, through the anger of God, that they cannot understand one another. It was a sad sign to Jerusalem, when coals of fire were taken from between the cherubims, and scattered over the whole city, Ezek, x 9. And when the angel took fire off the altar, and cast it on the earth, Rev viii, 5. fearful confusions ensued. These coals of fire are scattered among us, and the prospect of the issue may cause a serious observer to tremble.

(3.) Be duly affected with the hazard of your own souls in such a time. There is danger on every hand, when the anger of the Lord seems to be against the whole multitude of us. Let no man adventure to lodge the causes of wrath in one party. Some may be deeper than others in the sinful course; but all have a deep hand in the provocation. Hear what the Lord says to Israel, Ezek. vii. 12, 13, 14. "The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath