God's chosen people a. It is of that event that the prophet speaks in the chapter before us, as he has also done in the preceding chapter. Having said in the foregoing verses that God would " send fanners to Babylon, to fan," to destroy her, though the event was not to take place for sixty years, yet he says, " This is the time of the Lord's recompence ;" and then exclaims, " Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed ! howl ye for her ! " He then speaks of the deliverance of the Jews from their captivity as already effected, and calls on them to declare in Zion the wonders which God had wrought for them : " The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness (that is, our deliverance) : come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God."
It is not of future events that we are now called to speak, but of things accomplished, as it were, before our eyes, and of things that demand our most grateful acknowledgment.
Let us consider,
I. What is that work which we are now called to declare —
At no period of our history had we ever more rea- son to bless and adore our God than at this dayb. The mercies vouchsafed to us have been exceeding great and numerous. We cannot enter into them indeed very fully ; but we will suggest some distinct heads, under which they may be arranged for your own more easy and profitable contemplation of them. Consider them then as agricultural and commercial, political and religious. Consider,
1. The agricultural —
[Heavy was the pressure on all the lower orders of society, by reason of the clearness of provisions, throughout the last year : and, if the late harvest had been as unproductive as that which preceded it, their distress would have been at this hour exceeding great. But God in his mercy vouchsafed to us a
a See the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Isaiah throughout, and especially chap. xiv. 4 — 12.
h This was preached on Jan. 13, 1813.
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very abundant harvest, so that now all may " eat and be satis- fied, and bless the name of their God." True it is, that other things still continue at a high price : but that very circumstance only shews us the more forcibly, how rich a mercy it is to have plenty of that which is " the staff of life." In enumerating then the mercies for which we have now peculiar reason to be thankful, let us not be unmindful of that in which the great mass of the community are so deeply interested, and which is perhaps the first of all national blessings.]
2. Commercial —
[To abridge and to destroy our commerce has been the incessant labour of our enemies : and to such a state was it reduced, that it could scarcely be carried on to any extent, without involving all the persons engaged in it in the guilt of perjury. The whole continent almost was closed against us : and whatever was surreptitiously introduced there, was sub- jected to such peril, as to prove a most serious discouragement to all commercial enterprise. But now, within these few weeks only, the whole continent is anxious to receive our goods : our manufactures are revived ; our people, who during the last year were almost in a state of insurrection on account of the want of work, are employed ; and a good prospect is opened to us of increased and permanent prosperity. This, whether viewed in its aspect on individuals or the nation at large, is another blessing, which ought on no account to be overlooked.]
3. Political—
[Who that looks back to the earlier period of the French Revolution, and recollects what sentiments of insubordination and sedition pervaded the land, must not be surprised at the change that has taken place in relation to those things ? For- merly the cry of liberty and equality was raised in almost every place, to instigate the people to throw off all submission to the Government: and such was the delusion by which the minds of many were blinded, that thousands were panting to destroy the constitution, and to establish a democracy in its place. The same bloody scenes as took place in France were preparing for this land also ; and so great and general was the infatuation, that many, even of religious characters, were ready to help forward the designs and efforts of those who sought our ruin. But now the excellence of our constitution is duly appreciated; the persons who were once ready to subvert it have now seen their error ; and perhaps there is scarcely a man in the land who would not willingly die in its defence. Nor is this change peculiar to us : it is now seen in every part of Europe; and those very people who banished their former Rulers, and overturned all their former establishments, are now desirous of returning