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day were upon the watch; and when the army came into Judea, they fled to Pella; and fo it will be now. Let us confider what the Lord fays to us; for it is to us the following words are fpoken: Be watchful, and ftrengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. Be watchful, and fee the frame and ftate thou art in; take notice of the truths you hold, and hold, faft, that you lofe nothing. Obferve God's judgments abroad in the earth, and what is coming on, and watch over each other, that ye be not carried away in this hour of temptation.

The next words imply that many are already turned afide after Satan, and that others were much infected; hence the command, Strengthen the things which remain, which remain with you, and which are not carried away, and which are ready to die. These things are the veffels of mercy, which are ftaggered, stumbled, and weakened by the many that are led into rebellion, concluding they fhall never bear up, and hold out, and halting between the word of God and the cry of thoufands in a profeffion, minifters as well as people, and who are looked up to as men of great knowledge and wifdom; but their wifdom perverts them. Remember therefore how thou haft received and heard, and hold faft and repent. You have heard the doctrines of the everlafting gofpel, and you have heard the will of God revealed to you, that you must be subject to the higher powers. This laft part of the will of God many of you have relinquished and given up: and remember;

remember, that God is the author of that part of fcripture as well as of all the reft; and as Satan hath made fuch a fuccefsful attack upon you, he will not quit the field till he hath got the whole, for the whole is in danger: to deny any one part to be true, is to deny the whole, and make God a liar, for no lie is of the truth. Some profeffors are gone fo far already, that, when they are preffed hard upon this head, they are obliged to confefs, " they do not believe the Bible." Hence the exhortation that Jefus by his angel fends to us, Remember bow thou haft received and beard, and hold faft.

But why are we fo charged by the Lord to hold faft? Because our fafety lies in it. Those that keep the word of bis patience, he will keep (from being carried be away by Satan) in this hour of temptation. Rev. iii. 10. In the next place, thofe that fear God, and have been led aftray by it, are exhorted to repent; for this trap of the devil hardens the heart, and makes men vain, proud, and felf-conceited. If you argue with them, and bring forth the will of God to them in his word, it makes no impreffion; they bring forth their strong reafons agairt God himself; and fure I am, that nothing but evangelical repentance can fave thefe from deftruction, and fet them down at the Saviour's feet to receive and obey his word. The devil, by the inftrumentality of Tom Paine, having come down among us in great wrath, gives me fome room to fufpect, that he knows he hath but a fhort time, before that infernal head will be

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pounded over divers countries. Perhaps this temptation that is now abroad in the earth is something preparatory to what is yet to come. The long dif pute between Michael and the devil, in the days of Jeremiah, was to feparate the vile from the precious: and when this divifion was made, the fword of war determined the point, the rebels perished, and the righteous lived.

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At that time the devil had got the army of the Jews on his fide, as well as the king, the princes, the priests, and the falfe prophets. Hence you read, that Jeremiah went forth to go into Benjamin; and when he was in the gute, the captain of the ward took bim, faying, Thou falleft away to the Chaldeans: and the princes were wroth with him, and fmote him, and put him in prison. Jer, xxxvii. 15. Now this present hour of temptation is to make the fame divifion. And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that tranfgrefs against me: and I will bring them forth out of the country where they fojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Ifrael, and ye fball know that I am the Lord. Ezek. xx. 38. This fame work is now going on in our barn floor; the chaff from the wheat is feparating, carnal profeffors and hypocrites, the devil is gathering them together, by Tom Paine's books, and our falfe prophets; and in the bond of iniquity he holds them faft, while those who do know their God cleave to him, to his fervants, and to his word, in the bond of love. And fome thing, which perhaps is yet to come, will determine

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this branch of the controverfy of Zion; for not the rebels, nor the wicked who join hand in hand, fhall escape, but those who keep the word of his patience, in the love of it; and this part of it in particular, be fubject to the higher powers: thefe he will keep (from being carried away) in this hour of temptation. Hence the following condition, fpoken by way of threatening; 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. Rev. iii. 3. These words plainly imply, that those who are obedient, believe his word, and watch his hand, and his judgments which are abroad in the earth, shall have timely notice, and know, in due time, when he comes, and what he means to do, fo as to escape; for he will reveal his fecrets to his fervants the prophets. But thofe profeffors, who are led away by the devil into this damnable delufion, will be given up to blindness of mind, infenfibility, and hardness of heart; their heads will be ftuffed with politics, their hearts with malice and murder, and all their hopes and expectations will be upon anarchy. To thefe, faith Chrift, will I come as a thief (in the night), and thou shalt not know what bour I will come upon thee. Thofe who shall escape this perilous hour are pointed out in the following verle: Thou haft a few names even in Sardis, which barve not defiled their garments; and they hall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Rev. iii. 4. Thefe were not polluted with adultery or fornication, neither with perjury, rebellion, dainnable herefy, nor

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fuperftition; and thefe fhall ftill walk with Chrift, when many fhall fall off; and walk in white,' when many are defiled and polluted; and shall be counted worthy, when the hypocrites' hope fhall perish, and their truft fhall be in a spider's web.

I fhall now confider over again the watchword in my text, Go away, ftand not fill. They knew before where they were to go to, and what they were to meet with when they went; and now an opportunity offered for their efcape, and therefore he gives the watchword, and enforces it, Go away, Stand not ftill. This ftrange work will be brought to pafs again, when the most perilous time, the hottest hour comes on, which, perhaps, may be very violent, but very fhort: and as then, fo now, Christ will be a ftrength to the needy in his diftrefs, fhould the blaft of the terrible ones fend a storm to the wall. Chrift is a hiding-place himself, and he will provide a retreat for those who obey his voice in this degenerate age. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a moment, till the indignation be overpast. God revealed his fecret to Jeremiah, and he gave the watchword to all that attended him, cleaved to him, and obeyed the voice of the Lord by him. And fo it will be again, when the righteous are fixed in the truth, and the rebels ripe for deftruction. The fervants of the Lord will have timely intimation; and thofe that obey the voice of the Lord, and cleave to him, and hold fast his word,

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