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may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted1. And again : Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I WILL MAKE AN ETERNAL EXCELLENCY, A JOY OF MANY GENERA

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TIONS! He then proceeds to exhibit, in the most dignified language of inspiration, that assurance of divine protection, which, by the very terms employed, necessarily precludes the possibility of Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting, nor destruction within thy bor-ders; but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. The title of this sixtieth chapter of Isaiah, in the protestant bible, is expressed in the following words: "The glory of the church in the abundant access of the Gentiles; and the great blessings after a short affliction." Here let me pause one moment, and ask the catechist, and, in fact, the Protestant of every

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denomination, how is it possible that you should read these sublime passages, confessedly applicable only to the church of Christ, in which the divine light is represented as continually shining on it, and that, at the same time, you should affirm, that idolatry, with every species of wickedness, had, for ages before the pretended reformation, pervaded the whole mass of Christians. If the God of all truth is to be believed, you must be pronounced guilty of uttering the most horrid and blasphemous falsehoods.

But let us look back to the concluding verses of the preceding chapter, which we have inadvertently passed over. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that return from the transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; my spirit that is upon thee, and my words, which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from HENCEFORTH and FOR EVER1. Here again we have the solemn assurance of God himself, that the Divine Spirit is never to be withdrawn from his church; and that the words which he shall put in her mouth, or the faith which he shall consign to her, will ever remain unalterable and unchangeable. Again, let these

Isa. lix. 20, 21.

divine assurances be compared with the usual philippics against the abominations, that are said to have overspread the whole Christian world for ages past; and those who profess the greatest reverence for the sacred Scriptures, who admit no other rule of faith, will surely conceive the utmost horror of contradicting its plainest declarations.

The reader is now requested to turn to the sixty-second chapter of this great prophet; the title of which, in the protestant bible, is, " The prophet's fervent desire to confirm the church in God's promises. The minister's office in preaching the gospel." Here the prophet, after representing the effects of the splendour of the church on the Gentiles, thus addresses her: Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate1. And again, I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace 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'. Again, in the conclusion of the chapter: Behold the Lord hath proclaimed

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unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh; behold his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord; and thou shalt be called, sought out, A CITY NOT FORSAKEN1. After God had thus declared his constant and vigilant. attention to protect his church; after his solemn asseveration, that he has appointed his watchmen to guard her against hostile attacks, by the selection of ministers to repel error, and explain the tenets of faith; after an explicit assurance, that the church shall not be FORSAKEN ; how, let me again ask, can these persons, calling themselves " reformers," have the impious boldness to assert, that God has actually forsaken his church; that a consequent apostacy lasted ages; that the contagion affected both pastors and people? how can they carry their presumption so far, as not only to form this opinion, that the Almighty God of all truth has forfeited his word, but to ground upon this impious supposition, a total change in the faith of the Christian world. A calm and impartial comparison of the prophecies here cited, which are acknowledged by Protestants to regard the church, with the declarations and conduct of the whole host of

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1 Ver. 11, 12.

" reformers," will completely overturn the plea, which gave birth to their machinations, and justify the undeniable consequences here drawn. The language of the other prophets is in perfect unison with the enraptured strains of Isaiah. Let the diligent reader turn to Jeremiah, and he will find the same truth clearly established'. Let him proceed farther, and he will read the following passage: " In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this the name, wherewith he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; neither shall the priests, the Levites, want a man before me to offer burnt-offerings, and to kindle meat-offerings, and to offer sacrifice continually. And again: Thus saith the Lord; if ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites the priests my ministers. As the host of Heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me3. Here the divine protection towards the church is promised with

1 C. xxxi. v. 31, et seq. 2 lbid. c. xxxiii. v. 16, 17, 18.

Ibid. v. 20, 21, 22.

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