with us u." The truth is, that God has solemnly engaged that " he will not cast out one who comes to him in his Son's name* ;" and sooner shall " heaven and earth pass away, than one jot or tittle of his word shall fail."]
" ver. 20, 21. * John vi. 37.
Jer. xiv. 7 — 9. 0 Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy names sake : for our backslidings are many ; we have sinned against thee : O the hope of Israel, the Sa- viour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth
: aside to tarry for a night ? Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save ? Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name : leave us not.
NATIONAL humiliation is the only mean of avert- ing national judgments : it is that which God himself has prescribed ; and to which he has often given the most signal success. The repentance, and consequent deliverance of Nineveh, a heathen nation, stands as an encouragement to all the kingdoms of the earth. The instances of God's regard to the united supplica- tions of his people are so numerous, that it has ever been judged expedient to appoint days for general fasting and prayer,, in seasons of great calamity. Surely such an appointment was never more neces- sary than now! To assist you in improving this solemn occasion, we shall propose to your imitation the Jews, who, in a season of grievous drought and famine, humbled themselves before God. In the words before us, we see,
I. Their humble acknowledgments —
Conscious of having merited the Divine judgments, they confessed their guilt —
And may not we justly adopt their language as our own ?
a For a Fast-Day — Drought, &c.