Which leads me, thirdly, to obferve the conftancy. of his care, Left any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. The Lord is the keeper of all his fpiritual Ifrael: his power upholds, his arm defends, and from the ocean of his grace he waters them every moment. Left any burt them, he will keep them night and day, By which we may understand not only the night and day of temporal adverfity and profperity, in both of which we need the Lord's care; but by it alfo we are chiefly to understand foul trials and troubles. There are times when God's beloved ones have a long dark night of temptation, desertion, and perfecution: at which time the Lord keeps them, and is really with them in a way of grace though they perceive it not. Temptations are for the exercise of faith; and the Lord faith, I will be with thee in the hour of temptation. Desertion is a mournful feafon; but it often prepares the foul for enlarged communion with the Lord. Perfecution is a cross to the outward man, but God will keep his people, and cause them to glorify him in it, and under it. He that keepeth Ifrael shall neither flumber nor fleep. The Lord is thy keeper, in the night of darkness and fpiritual diftrefs, the Lord is thy fhade upon thy right band. As the cloud of glory, in which JEHOVAH was, covered the Ifraelites in the wilderness, and screened them from the fcorching rays of the fun, so doth the Lord, by his fpiritual prefence, fave his people from being fmitten, fo as to be fpiritually wounded with the fun of perfecution. The fun fhall not fmite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord

fball preferve thee from all evil; he shall preferve thy foul: the Lord fhall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and even for evermore. He also keeps thee in the day of fpiritual profperity. Left any burt it, I will keep it night and day. help us to mix faith with the promise.

May the Lord

Amen.

In thofe days, and in that time, faith the Lord, the ini quity of Ifrael shall be sought for, and there shall be

none;

and the fins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I reserve.

HESE words to a believer in Christ Jesus, are

THE

like apples of gold in pictures of filver. The fubftance, or fubject matter of this chapter, is as follows: The Lord had raised up, and made use of Nebuchadnezzar to chaftife and fcourge his profeffing people Ifrael and Judah, for their national impieties. This end being anfwered, God predetermines to visit him and his fucceffors, for his hatred and contempt of the Lord's peculiar people. The deftruction of Babylon is here foretold; and the return of the Ifraelites out of captivity is mentioned; and in a figurative way, the far more glorious restoration and redemption of God's church and people by Chrift are

spoken of. At the 17th verfe, the Lord defcribes the ftate and cafe of the people of Ifrael and Judah, in the wafting calamities which had come upon them, Ifrael is a fcattered Sheep, the lions have driven him away, first the King of Affyria bath devoured him, (i. e. divers kings of Affyria, Pul, Tiglath-Pilefer, Shalmanezer, Sennacherib, which laid waste the whole land of Ifrael, and carried away the people, leaving nothing, as it were, but the bones of a carcafe that is eaten up). And last, this Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, (who went up against Judah, and carried them captives) hath broken his bones. Upon which follows a restoration, And I will bring Ifrael again to his habitation, and he fall feed on Carmel and Bafhan, and bis foul fhall be fatisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. Then the words of my text, as a divine cordial, are uttered : In those days, and in that time, faith the Lord, the iniquity of Ifrael shall be fought for, and there shall be none; and the fins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I referve. It will be readily acknowledged, that this Scripture speaks of spiritual bleffings obtained through Chrift's most precious bloodfhedding, and bestowed by the Lord on his redeemed and purchased people-the non-imputation of iniquity, the pardon and removal of it; bleffings which proceed from pure, free, and fovereign grace: fo that these words exprefs the glorious ftate and cafe of God's believing people under the prefent difpenfation of the everlasting gospel. In fpeaking from this text, I will endeavour to obferve the following particulars:

First, the bleffing spoken of, the non-imputation of fin to God's spiritual Ifrael, expreffed in these words,

the iniquity of Ifrael fhall be fought for, and there shall be

none.

Secondly, the removal of all fin from them, intimated in these words: the fins of Judah fhall not be found.

Thirdly, the pardon of it, I will pardon them whom I referve.

Indeed, this Scripture may be faid to contain those great, glorious, fundamental truths,-election, redemption, application: which comprife the bleffings of the Father's love, the Son's falvation, the Spirit's grace. The Father's everlasting love is manifested in eternal, perfonal, unconditional election. The Son hath manifefted his love in undertaking the cause of his people, in becoming incarnate and in living and dying to obtain eternal redemption for them. The Holy Spirit hath manifefted, and doth manifeft his love, in making known, revealing, and applying Chrift and his falvation to all his called ones, in dwelling in them, and refting upon them as the Spirit of Chrift and of glory. I would begin my prefent fubject, which will lead me to contemplate Chrift and his great falvation, and its ineftimable benefits, where the Lord himself began it; by viewing thofe eternal acts and transactions between JEHOVAH the Father, and his coequal and coeffential Son: it being truth and verity to declare this to be the original of the everlasting gofpel. But I muft ftill climb higher," and confider the fountain caufe, even the everlasting love which God bore to his people from before all time. God, who is love itself (God is love