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prey: thus the just lived by faith. These escaped the fword of the Spirit, for they were neither cut off nor flain by it. And, to confirm these in their obedience and confidence, God fent an awful meffage to Hananiah, who had been laid in their way by the devil as a stumbling-block. Go, and tell Hananiah, faying, Thus faith the Lord, Thou haft broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. For thus faith the Lord of hofts, the God of Ifrael, I have put a yoke of iron upon all these nations, that they may ferve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall ferve him: and I have given bim the beasts of the field also. Then faid the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; the Lord hath not fent thee, but thou makeft this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus faith the Lord, Behold, I will caft thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou bast taught rebellion against the Lord. So Hananiah the prophet died the fame year, in the feventh month. Jer. xxviii. 14-17. This awful judgment upon the lying prophet confirmed them who had obeyed the voice of the Lord and fell away to the Chaldeans; When the wicked are fmitten, the righteous will beware; and by which they efcaped being flain by the sword of the fpirit.

And they escaped the sword of juftice alfo. The fword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh fhall kave peace. Jer. xii, 12. But thofe who yielded the

obedience

obedience of faith were screened from this sword By fire and by fword did the Lord plead with all flesh, and the flain of the Lord was many. But thofe who. received the truth, and trusted in the Lord, escaped both the curfe of the law and the fword of justice, which always go together: My fword fhall be bathed in heaven, and shall come down upon Idumea, the people of my curfe, to judgment; nor shall fuch be cut afunder, nor have their portion with hypocrites and with unbelievers. In fhort, they escaped being flain by the fword of the Spirit; they escaped the sword of justice also, and the sword of war; their fouls were to live, and their life was given to them for a prey wherever they came. Which leads me,

2dly, To confider their watchword, Go away. This captivity had been foretold by many eminent, prophets, even by Mofes: And the Lord fhall fcatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth. even to the other end of it; and there thou shalt ferve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations fbalt thou find no eafe, neither fhall the fole of thy foot bave reft: but the Lord fhall give thee there a trembling beart, and failing of eyes, and forrow of mind. Deut. xxviii. 64, 65. To this Daniel alludes in his fupplications. The royal pfalmift predicts this long captivity By the rivers of Babylon, there we fat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We banged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of

us

as a fong; and they that wafted us required of us mirth, faying, Sing us one of the fongs of Zion. How Shall we fing the Lord's fong in a ftrange land? Pfal. cxxxvii. But the prophet Ifaiah is more full than any upon this head; he not only foretells it, but their restoration from it, and names the king who fhould proclaim their enlargement, and who shall build both their city and their temple. Thefe prophecies confirmed thofe in their faith who had obeyed the voice of the Lord by Jeremiah; and, they being instructed by the prophet in the mind and will of the Lord, and being in this fecret, he gives them the watchword, before the city was taken, Go away, ftand not ftill.

Moreover, he had informed thofe obedient ones that God had hid his face from this city, and that the temple was to be burnt with fire; and that, if they would feek and find the prefence of God, they should find him in the place of their captivity. Therefore he fays, Thus faith the Lord God, Although I have caft them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little fanctuary in the countries where they fhall come. Ezek. xi. 16. Thofe therefore that would find God, and all those who pined after the fanctuary fervice, were to find his prefence, and himself a fanctuary, in these countries, and nowhere else. Hence the watchword, Go away, ftand not ftill.

Moreover, all their gain in godliness was to be

8

found

found there-I will fend them into captivity for their good; mine eyes fhall be upon them for good, and they fhall live, and return again, and I will give them peace and an expected end. Therefore go away, ftand not ftill. Befides, there was no fafety but under the yoke of the king of Babylon; he that fubmits to his yoke, and ferves the king of Babylon, fhall have his life for a prey, Hence the warning, Go away, ftand not ftill. But again, the king of Babylon was God's fervant, and to ferve him was ferving God; and, as the rich and wicked oppreffors among the Jews kept their brethren in bondage, into bondage they fhould go, and be made to know what the yoke of fervitude was, who were fo fond of yoking others; but thofe that obeyed the voice of the Lord were to fare much better. The Lord faid, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will caufe the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affiction. Jer. xv. 11. Therefore if you will be obedient to the Lord of hofts, and believe his word;

if

you will have your life for a prey, and live by faith; if you will follow the Lord, who is gone from hence to Babylon; if you will escape the impending judgment and inevitable deftruction; if you will feek the promised good treatment, and have the eyes and heart of God upon you for good; if you would enjoy peace, and arrive at the promised and expected end-Go away, ftand not ftill,

Again,

Again, God will fend no more prophets to Jerufalem in your abfence, he will raise you up prophets in Babylon; Ezekiel is already there to meet you in the perfon of God, to welcome you at your coming, and to be over you in the Lord, and to encourage all them that have obeyed the voice of the Lord by me; and will predict, even there, the fame deftruction to them who defend the city against the Chaldeans that I do; you will there fee that we speak the fame things, and tread in the same steps-therefore go away, ftand not ftill. I now come to the enforcement of the exhortation,

Stand not ftill. It will not do to confult carnal reafon-she will plead the fafety of those who abide in the city and in the temple; but truft ye not in ly ing words, faying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are thefe. Jer. vii. 4. For God will be a little fanctuary to you in the countries where you fhall come-therefore ftand not fill. Confult not with flesh and blood. Nature will argue about the length of the way, the cruelty of the heathen, their abominable idolatry, the strangeness of their customs, their unknown dialect, and the unlawfulness of offering facrifices to God in a strange land-but the decree of heaven, the predictions of ancient prophets, and the word from God, is, that this land fhall lie defolate feventy years-therefore ftand not still.

Standing ftill to confider occafions halting, and unbelief will work in thofe that halt, and the falfe prophets