doth violence to the blood of any person shall Flee to the pit, let no man ftay him.

Though fome cafes have been particularly exempted, by the fovereign Lord of life, from the operation of this inquifition of blood; yet they must not be fuppofed to effect the ge. neral law-the cafe of David is one-but though the prophet, by the authority of the Higheft, faid to him, when he had confeffed that he had finned against the Lord; and to fin against the Lord is death-7he Lord hath caufed thy fin to pafs over; thou shalt not die

yet it may fcarcely be confidered as an exemption, when he was four-folded in blood, and the forfeiture was required in one, and another, and another, and still another of his children; and the unfheathed fword was never to depart from his house. In like manner alfo, fome of the betrayers and crucifiers of the Prince of life, when they were pricked in the heart, and crying, what fhall we do? were faved by fovereign mercy, and the fin and blood-guiltinefs paffed over them; but, Oh! how fearfully did it fall upon their children, and upon their city; and, being a public act, how widely, how heavily, and how laftingly was the wrath poured out upon the whole nation?

From the word of God, as well as from obfervation upon the ways of providence, confidering the fubject upon a large scale, there can be no doubt that it will go well or ill with individuals, families, focieties, and nations; and finally, with the whole world; as they fhall obferve to keep and obey, or

fhall difregard and tranfgrefs these most wife, benevolent, and facred ordinances. That they are of univerfal extent, and binding upon all men under every difpenfation, is apparent not only from their general nature, and from their being delivered to Noah and his fons, ftanding at the head of the whole family of man; but also, from the manifeft reference to them in the letter of the apoftles to the converted Gentiles; who, agreeably to the mind of the Holy Ghoft, required of them no more than thefe neceffary things, viz. that they fhould abstain from all pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things trangled, and from blood.

The final and moft dreadful catastrophe, which is expected to come upon the world, will not take place until after there be an apoftacy, a departure from and violation of this covenant of the ordinancies, fo general and overfpreading, that the whole head becomes fick, and the whole heart faint. The prophet, in behalf of the righteousness of the great Judge, affigned exprefsly this reason for the folemn and awful event: Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upfide down, and fcattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, fo with the priest; as with the fervant, fo with his master; as with the maid, fo with her mistress; as with the buyer, fo with the feller; as with the lender, fo with the borrower; as with the taker of ufury, fo with the giver of ufury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the

Lord hath fboken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languifheth and fadeth away; the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth alfo is defiled under the inhabitants thereof: because they have tranfgreffed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlafting covenant.→→ Therefore hath the curfe devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are defolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. Ifai. xxiv. 1-6.-It is plain that the laws, ordinances, &c. referred to in this paffage, are thofe great principles laid down in this early establishment--and that they refpect mankind univerfally.

The importance of the ordinances come into view in every state and condition in which men are placed in the world; for, as in them is the knowledge of Chrift, they are the bond of union, or bar of feparation, and mark the line of grace and difgrace between Chrift and men; they are the unalterable rule whereby they who keep them, are made of God partakers of the divine virtue, and of the promifes in Chrift Jefus; and they who keep them not, are doomed to fuffer the eternal judg. ment. In relation to the ordinances of the covenant, as they contain the evidence of things not feen, we are faid to ftand by faith; keeping them, with a regard to the truth of which they are the vehicle, is fidelity or keeping faith; and neglecting or breaking ing them, is infidelity or breaking faith. The ordinances, allo, are the visible badge of grace, and with respect to them wholly, in

their connexion with the divine will, men are characterized believers or unbelievers; and in them is fet before us, good and evil, life and death, bleffing and curfing. Moreover, the ordinances of the word of God, exhibiting the doctrine of Chrift, are the only bond of union among men, which, in a strict sense, is of God, and which he will own and bless; and every other principle of society, and all that is done upon any other ground than that of the ordinances, to unite and bind men together, is in its nature oppofition to Chrift, and must ultimately fail of fuccefs.

By the infpired apoftles and prophets, we are informed, that in the laft days the ordinances will be moft daringly violated; and they inftance, especially, in relation to thofe two of the inquifition for blood, and the inftituted gov ernment. Great Babylon, which will then be the metropolis of the world, and the principle feat of government, will be filled, and, as it were, drunken with innocent blood; and the hand of the brother, the magiftrate, or fove reign people, will either be flack, or tied down by defpotic chains, and inquifition will fail; whilft the earth will drink in blood freely as the rain, and clofing it up within her regions of forgetfulnefs, will wipe her mouth like the harlot; until the piercing cry have reached unto heaven, and come up very great before the Lord, and he be moved, by his own truth, and his moft folemn declaration, Surely your blood of your lives will I require, to appear and make the inquifition himself. For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place,

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth alfo fhall difclofe her blood, and fhail no more cover her flain. Ifai. xxvi. 21.-The mighty God, even the Lord hath Spoken, and called the earth from the rifing of the Jun, unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath fhined. Our God fhall come, and fhall not keep filence: a fire fhall devour before him, and it [hall be ve ry tempeftuous round about him. He fhall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my faints together unto me: thofe that have made a covenant with me by facrifice. And the heavens fhall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himfelf. Pfal. 1. 1-6.-And the great city was divided into three parts, and the ci ties of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fiercenes of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. Rev. xvi. 19,

20.

This know alfo, that in the last days perilous time's fhall come. For men fhall be lovers of their own felves,covetous, boafters, proud, blafphemers, difobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, falfe accufers, incontinent, fierce, defpifers of thofe that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lov ers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. 2 Tim. iii. 1—5.But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lufts of uncleanefs, and defpife government;

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