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your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report."

While these predicted judgments shall fall with all the weight of the anger of God on the people who are none of his, those who are, shall be as safe as the apple of his eye. When a horrible

darkness shall involve the followers of Satan, the children of God shall be hid in the day of his anger. In the " time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to

shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." The time of destruction to the one, is the time of deliverance to the other. "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be delivered: for in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." "The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice out of Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel." "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thec with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing."

Yes, dear papa, our merciful God has

devised the means of recalling his banished ones. He has laid "in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation." I do not entirely comprehend what follows, "he that believeth shall not make haste."

It means, I think, the trust in God which will be given to his people in that day when the desolation shall overtake the wicked; they shall not flee away; calmly believing that "their strength is to sit still;" they will quietly wait and expect the salvation of God. Believing that the promises of God are all yea and amen, they will be enabled to dismiss all anxious fears; being firmly persuaded that they who trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." And that " as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from henceforth even for ever."

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The church, papa, is Mount Zion, built upon an hill, which can never be

removed; neither can the gates of hell prevail against it; its foundation is sure, its corner stone is precious. How many beautiful passages of Scripture describe it! "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O thou city of God." "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, the city of the great King." "God is known in her palaces for a refuge. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."

Happy, happy, are the inhabitants of this joyous city, my daughter!

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They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord." "Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." "And their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more; for God hath said, I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." The only real sorrow which

oppresses the Lord's people, is a sense of their own depravity; and their continual proneness to depart from the living God. Unbelief distracts them, they cannot understand the divine record. "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee." Their Father in heaven looks down with pity upon them, and it grieves Him to see their affliction. "Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still." "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord: for I am married unto you: and I will take one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. The promises of God are very precious to his children; and sin being their most grievous burden, their great consolation is in the assurance, that "neither shall they walk any more afte

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