selves and blasphemed, he, Paul, shook his raiment and said unto them, your blood be upon your own heads: I am clean; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles."-At that moment the Jewish nation, as a barren fig-tree, was virtually cut down; the lamp of ordinances was blown out, the common operations of the Holy Ghost were restained, and deluded Israel sealed up in ignorance and impenitence " until the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in." This curse was more visibly executed in the destruction of their city about forty years after the ascension of our Lord. The judgment denounced by the prophet was then literally fulfilled, "I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard; I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down." Nearly eighteen hundred years, to pursue the metaphor used in the parable, they have been as a tree withered to the root; "they have been an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word among all nations whither the Lord has driven them."

Suffer me to remark on this passage, that the Lord God, in righteous indignation, sometimes un-churches a congregation or a nation at once; after he has long tried them with a pure dispensation of his gospel; after he has dealt with them by judgments and mercies, by ordinances and providences, without any visible amendment, he suddenly delivers them up as incorrigible;

he concludes of them as he did of Ephraim, "he is joined to his idols, let him alone;" "he removes his candlestick," and no longer tortures them with that light against which they shut their eyes; he withdraws that Spirit, in his convincing and alarming influences, which they had industriously quenched, and gives them up to final impenitence and unconcern.-Such was the judgment of which he forewarned the church of Ephesus, and under the weight of which it has groaned seventeen hundred years past. "Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Brethren, does it not become us as a congregation to take the alarm? Have we not reason to apprehend that this awful judgment is awaiting ourselves? In Salern the tabernacle of the Lord of hosts was early erected; the lamp of ordinances was lighted up at the first settlement of the town, and has shown ever since with little interruption, while the neighboring settlements remained in a great measure destitute of this heavenly vision; but are we walking" as the children of the light?" We have been exalted above others in external opportunities, are we proportionably exalted above them by our knowledge in the mysteries of the gospel, by the blamelessness of our conduct, by the purity and heavenliness of our conversation? The Lord is VOL. 4.

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my witness, that it occasions" great heaviness, and almost continual sorrow in my heart," to notice the visible and increasing proofs of spiritual decay. "Who hath believed our

report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord savingly revealed" from sabbath to sabbath? There is little evidence that the gospel preached is "the wisdom of God, or the pow er of God, to the salvation of hearers.' Amidst the eagerness of worldly pursuit, who are "giving diligence to make their calling and election sure?" Who are striving to take the kingdom of heaven by violence, and "laboring for the meat which endureth to everlasting life?" Amidst the frequent and anxious inquiries "what shall we eat? what shall we drink? wherewithal shall we be clothed?" who are heard to inquire, how shall I escape "the wrath that is to come?" how shall I "fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life?" The gospel, we have reason to fear, is losing its efficacy on the souls of many. Are not some becoming more indiferent about attending the means of salvation? Are not many individuals living without the fear of God, and families without the voice of prayer and praise? Have not some, who once named the name of Jesus, by partaking the common and special privileges of his house, in a great measure turned their back upon both? «Ye that make mention of the Lord," of whom I know there is a precious" remnant ;" ye whose hearts are warm with love to his name, and

zeal for his honor, " keep not silence in this day of darkness and gloominess;" be awakened to double earnestness, striving with Israel's God for his gracious return; "give him no rest until he arise" and grant a "time of refreshing from his presence.'" The prospect of natural famine would be awful: were it foretold by a messenger of the Lord, that the next year" our heavens should become as brass and our earth as iron," that the staff of life should be cut off, that the pastures should be parched in the fields, that the corn should perish in the vallies, and the fruit fail in the orchards, what alarm would instantly spread? What paleness would gather on every countenance, and agony rend every heart? But is not the prospect of a spiritual famine infinitely more awful? How melancholy, how melting is even the apprehension that there should be a "want, not of bread, nor of water, but of the word of the Lord;" that Zion's provision should fail and that the bread of immortal life should no longer be enjoyed in the sanctuary? Brethren, this is no unreal terror. Without a suitable improvement of our privileges, this judgment may be apprehended, it must be expected, it must be expected speedily. "The day of the Lord," of his visitation for mercies misimproved," so cometh as a thief in the night." Read the doom which was long since executed upon the church in Sardis; and be it remembered that the Lord God is as faithful to his threatenings now,

as he was in ages that are past; he is no less righteous to take vengeance on a lukewarm, formal church in Salem, than on a lukewarm, formal church in Sardis. "And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write :-These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."

The eighth verse presents to our view the intercession of the vine-dresser in behalf of that tree, and his resolution to persevere in diligently cultivating it. "Lord, let it a lone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it." This may be applied to our Lord, who earnestly implored mercy in be half of the Jews, his betrayers and murderers; even when his blood was flowing by their "cruel hands," his soul ascended in ardent intercession for their salvation, “ Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.' He expostulated that the sin which they were then committing might not be "laid to their charge ;" that his blood which they were shedding with unrelenting fury might rest not on their heads as a curse, but on their consciences for pardon and reconciliation. It may also allude to the fervent wrestlings of the apostles in behalf of their deluded brethren the Jews. Stephen