THE GLORY OF A NATION, 465
fates lie in them; as is their deportment towards tins remnant, such will their issue be. But what shall this remnant do ? Why, it shall be " as dew from the Lord," and " as showers on the grass/' It shall be that alone which makes them fiTiitful, flourishing, and prosperous. It may be, it will be so, provided there be good assist- ance, counsel, and strength, to carry on their affairs : yea, blessed be God for councils, and for armies; he hath made them useful to us. But the truth is, the blessing of this dew depends not on them ; it tarrieth not for man ; it waiteth not for the sons of men. It will be a blessing, let men do what they will ; it depends not on their un- certain and unstable counsel, — on their weak and feeble strength. This remnant is as the ark in the house of Obed-edom, as Joseph in the house of Potiphar, — all is blessed and prospered for their sakes. It is not the glorious battlements, the painted windows, the crouching antics that support a building, but the stones that lie unseen in or upon the earth. It is often those who are despised and trampled on that bear up the weight of a whole nation. All the fresh springs of our blessings are in Zion.
It were easy to manifest, that in all our late revolutions we have turned on this hinge. According as the presence of Christ with his 23eople, in the power of his Spirit, hath received entertainment in these nations, so hath our state and condition been. For many years before the beginning of these troubles, the land had been full of op- pression ; I mean, in respect to the people of God. Poverty, impri- sonment, dangers, banishment, reproaches, were their portion. God was long patient. At length the height of their adversaries came to this, that they set not themselves so much against their persons or ways, as against the Spirit of Christ in and with them : that was made their rej^roach, that the by -word wherewith they were despised in the mouths of their adversaries, and the profane multitude. When things were come to this, that the very presence of Christ with his people was made the direct object of the hatred of men, the Lord could bear it no longer ; but sware by himself that time shotdd be given them no more. In this very house he raised up saviours and deliverers on mount Zion, to judge the mount of Edom. And how did he carry on this work? Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, as Zech. iv. 6 ; even by that very Spirit which had been reviled and despised. Give me leave to say, the work of judgdng this nation was carried on by the presence of the Spirit of Christ with his in faith and prayer. It was not by prudence of councils, or strength of armies above that of our enemies, that we prevailed ; but by faith and prayer : and if any one be otherwise minded, I leave him for his re- solution to the judgment of the great day, when all transactions shall be called over again. The adversaries themselves, I am sure, acknov/-
YOL. YIII. 30
466 A GOSPEL PROFESSION
ledged it, when they openly professed tliat there was nothing left for them to overcome, or to overcome them, but the prayers of the fanatic crew.
After some years' contending, when the Lord had begun to give us deliverance, by breaking the power of the enemy, at least in this nation, besides those hitter divisions that fell out among the people of God themselves, and the backsliding of some to the cause and principles they had opposed, this evil was also found rising again amongst us ; — slighting, blaspheming, contemning, under several pretences, of the Spirit and presence of Christ in and with his saints. You know what ensued ; — what shakings, what revolutions, with new wars, bloodshed, and desolation, over the three nations. And give me leave to rememb(;r you, as one that had opportunity to make observations of the passages of Providence in those days, in all the three nations, in the times of our greatest hazards ; — give me leave, I say, to remember you, that the public declarations, of those employed in the affairs of this nation, in the face of the enemies, — their addresses unto God among themselves, their prayers night and day, their private discourses one with another, — were, that the preservation of the interest of Christ in and with his people was the gi'eat thing that lay in their eyes ; and that if it were not so, they desired that God would stop them in their way; yea, rather cause their carcases to fall in the high places of the field, than to prosper them in that which should be contrary thereunto : and we know what ensued. How we have used our mercies is another matter: this was the principle that prevailed with God and man.
Use ]. If you desire the glory of these nations, labour to promote the interest of Christ in these nations. I am not speaking unto you about disputable things, — differences among the people of God them- selves; nor am I interposing my advice in your civil affairs; but I speak in general about those with whom Christ is present by liis Spirit, his chosen ones, against whom there is an old enmity in Satan and the worhl. The gloiy of these nations is, tliat there is a people in them that have Christ in the midst of them ; let it be your business to take care for that glory. But how shall we do it i