great danger, yet "is the Lord's hand shortened that it cannot save? and is his ear heavy that it cannot hear?" No: "He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, without variableness or the shadow of a turning;" and all on behalf of his church, however he may deal with others in a conditional way. You and I are so prone to look at second causes, and to judge according to appearances, that we thus forget the promises and our hands get weak; whereas God's unconditional promises are mighty bulwarks, to guard us against every enemy: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." And what is that word but this? "I will never leave thee, never, never forsake thee." There are five negatives in the original, say the learned. "I have graven thee upon the palms of

my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Take notice of David, and how he makes his boast of the Lord, telling us what the Lord is to him: The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." (Psalm xviii. 2.)

Now all this security and safety which David found, and which all believers find in their God, implies danger on all hands; else there would be no boasting of what God is to us in the face of all opposition. "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord," says the Psalmist. David had long proved this, both spiritually and temporally. And this clearly shows that, let people possess what they may, if they are in a smooth path altogether, they are completely deceived. David was long hunted and hated by King Saul, insomuch that he cries out in bitterness of soul, "I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul;" but did he? no, the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went." And how often have you and I drawn the same conclusions, when we have "feared every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as though he was ready to destroy!" But does he destroy? no, and therefore God asks such, "Where is the fury of the oppressor?"

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O the very many straits, fears, sinkings of soul, temptations, &c., that I have been in, and still often am in, so that I conclude all is over with me; and yet the Lord does not resist me at a throne of grace, but at times enables me to wrestle hard with the promises, although it appears as if I should never succeed, all being as it were against wind and tide. Jacob said, "All these things are against. me;" but at the same time they were working together for his good. The truth is, you and I are so short-sighted. I am at this time under many fears. There is a dangerous disorder, that has killed a great many people, and is now not far from us-not above a day's sailing;* also the rioting there has been at Bristol,+ and expectations lest it should be so in London; the oppression which I have in labouring for my bread, and the fires I have to go through-bodily

*The cholera, which was then at Hamburg and crossing the sea, broke out at Sunderland, Oct. 26, 1831.

These were the Bristol riots at the time of the Reform Bill, at the end of Oct., 1831, when public buildings and private houses were burnt and plundered by the mob, involving a loss to the amount of £200,000,. and the sadder loss of between two and three hundred lives.

weakness, want of sight, and, what is worse than all, inbred corruption working stronger than ever, so that at times I feel as though I should turn back in the day of battle, and as though I certainly were an enemy to Zion. God hides his face, and who can behold him? Thus my path is rough; yet I am preserved, and at times feel a little hope arise.

THE PEOPLE OF THE BLESSING AND THE PEOPLE OF THE CURSE.

"Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read; no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate; for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line; they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein."-ISAIAH Xxxiv. 16, 17.

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The chapter in which these words are found begins with an exhortation for all nations and people to give ear, and listen to the important matter contained therein. In these words, Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people; let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it," it is evident, and might be proved from Scripture, that the "nations, people, earth, world, and all things therein," mean one and the same thing, and, in plain terms, they mean the inhabitants of the earth; for they are alone interested in what follows. It does not call to the heavens, because angels are not interested; nor yet to hell, because devils have no part or lot in the matter; but it calls to man— that creature hastening on to an eternal world—and exhorts him to give ear and attend to the important matters that follow in the chapter.

The chapter then goes on to declare the indignation of Jehovah against all who are not interested in the great salvation which his Son hath wrought out, and also of the eternal security of those who are interested in that blessed Lamb; and clearly shows the marks which distinguish the "children of the promise" from the "children of the flesh," with their state, position, and ends; the awful curse of the one, and the certain salvation of the other, in "the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." (Isa. xxxiv. 8.)

Ever since the earth hath stood, there have, in the sight of Jehovah, never been but two classes of mortals in the world; and to make plain English of the matter, these two classes are those who are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," (1 Pet. i. 2,) and those whom the Lord calls "reprobate, because he hath rejected them." (Jer. vi. 30.) The one is a "vessel of afore mercy prepared unto glory," (Rom. ix. 23,) the other a "vessel of wrath fitted to destruction." (Rom. ix. 22.)

And it is from this foundation of distinction that the Holy Spirit in the word of God hath seen fit, in order to accommodate it to our weak understanding, to set forth this distinction in so many figures and similes as he has, such as 66 sheep" and "goats," (Matt. xxv. 33),

"wise" and "foolish," (Matt. xxv. 2.) "good figs" and "bad figs,' (Jer. xxiv. 3,)" vessels of wrath" and "vessels of mercy," (Rom. ix. 22, 23,) the living" and the "dead," (Eph. ii. 1,) the "seeing" and the "blind," (John ix. 40, 41,) the "faithful" and "unbelieving," (2 Thess. iii. 2; Rom. iv. 3,) the "many" and the "few," (Matt. vii. 13, 14,) the "children of the promise" and. the "children of the flesh," (Rom. ix. 8,) the "precious" and the "vile," (Jer. xv. 19.) the "wicked" and the "righteous," (Hab. i. 4,) the "tares" and the "wheat," (Matt. xiii. 25,) the "good ground" and the "bad,"

(Matt. xiii. 3-8,) the "children of wrath and the "heirs of promise," (Eph. ii. 3; Gal. iii. 29,) "Jacobs" and "Esaus," (Mal. i. 2, 3,) "new bottles " and " old bottles," (Matt. ix. 17,) the "spiritual" and the "fleshly," (Rom. viii. 5,) the "world" and those "chosen out" of it, (John xv. 19,) the "clean" and the "unclean," (John xiii. 10, 11,) the "generation of vipers" and the "generation of the upright," (Matt. iii. 7; Psalm cxii. 2,) the "Israel of God" and those who are "not Israel," (Rom. ix. 6,) those who are "in Christ Jesus," and those who are "in the wicked one," (Ephes. i. 3; 1 John v. 19, margin,) the "wild olive tree" and "the good," (Rom. xi. 24,) the "rich" and the "poor," (Prov. xxii. 7,) the "righteous nation who keepeth the truth," and the "people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever,” (Isa. xxxi. 2; Mal. i. 4,) and the "tribes of the spiritual Israel" and the "tribes of the earth.” (Matt. xxiv. 30; Rev. vii. 4.)

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To these two classes the whole revealed word of Jehovah, either in blessings or curses, points; and in this chapter these two classes are distinguished as the "people of God," (Isa. xxxiv. 5,) and those "written in the book of the Lord." (Isa. xxxiv. 16.) I therefore propose to write a little of each, together with their state, condition, and end. And O that the precious Spirit, who hath, of his infinite grace, taught me some of his truths, may so guide my heart and pen as to write that which shall be for the good of the Lord's elect, and the glory of a triune Jehovah! Even so, Lord, Amen!

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The "people of God's curse,' or those on whom the curse of God will come, are here said to be Idumea: For my sword shall be bathed in heaven, behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment." (Isa. xxxiv. 5.) This Idumea was the country of the Edomites, which is plain from the following passage: "Concerning Edom thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Is wisdom no more in Teman? (a province of Idumea;) is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan, (another province of Idumea,) for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him." (Jer. xlix. 7, 8.) Here the provinces of Teman and Dedan are spoken of as the places of residence of the children of Edom.

It is also equally plain from Holy Writ, that the Edomites were the direct attendants of Esau; for, in the very passage I have quoted above, it speaks of the "calamity of Esau" as the same with Edom. And two verses farther on are these words, speaking of the continuation of the judgment in Edom: "I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself;

his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not." (Jer. xlix. 10.) But, if further evidence still is wanting, it is plain enough where Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage to Jacob. And the Holy Ghost appears to make it plainer there than anywhere else, in order, I believe, that his genealogy and judgments may be traced down to all time; he says, "And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me I pray thee with that same red pottage, for I am faint; therefore was his name called Edom." (Gen. xxv. 30.) The meaning of Edom is red, hence the cause of his being called Edom was his selling his birthright for a mess of red pottage.

Now, Jacob and Esau were twins, and before they were born, the Lord said to their mother, "Two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels." (Gen. xxv. 23.) And true enough it was, for one proved to be elected of Jehovah to eternal life, while the other was left to the " calamity of Esau." And this was so ordained before either of them was born, according to Paul: "And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, (for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth,) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.' (Rom. ix. 10-13.)

It is plain, therefore, that the "people of God's curse," here mentioned, on whom the judgments were to fall, were the descendants of rejected Esau, and that this rejection was before Esau was born, "that the purpose of God according to election might stand." And this curse chased all his posterity, down to the days of Malachi ; (Mal. i. 2-4;) and will till the last great day of account, when it shall gather together all its vengeance, and burst with one eternal crash the heads of all his race. upon And the streams thereof (that is, of Edom) shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brinistone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste (of all spiritual cultivation); none (of the saved in the Lord) shall pass through it for ever and ever." (Isa. xxxiv. 10.)* And this is to be in the day of the Lord's "vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." (Isa. xxxiv. 8.) This day and year I believe to mean especially the day of the great assize, which will be his day of vengeance. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." (2 Thess. i. 7-9.)This is the " day of the Lord's vengeance," and his way of recompensing Zion (not for merit, but in free grace) for her passive part

*Though Edom was doubtless a type and figure of the reprobate, we are not to lose sight of the literal fulfilment of these prophecies, which have been most remarkably accomplished, Edom, according to the testimony of travellers, lying waste and desolate at this very day.

in controversy. The apostle follows on to show, "when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, in that day." (2 Thess. i. 10.)

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Now, the womb of Rebecca containing "two manner of people," was a type of the womb of time, which contains the whole human race. Jacob was a type of the "vessels of mercy," and Esau a type of the "vessels of wrath." Jacob being the youngest, and yet the chosen, was typical of God's choosing the weak things of this world, to confound the things that are mighty. (1 Cor. i. 27.) And Esau being rejected, shows that the first shall be last, and the last first. Jacob's blessing was typical of the spiritual blessings of all the seed of Jacob." And Esau's blessing shows that his posterity have their portion only in this life." Jacob represents all the spiritual seed of Abraham, according to these passages: "Cursed is every one that curseth thee, and blessed is every one that blesseth thee;" "So then they that be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham;" "As many as are of faith, they are the seed of Abraham." (Gal. iii. 7—9.) Here the seed of Abraham is said to be those who have spiritual faith; and all who have this are "blessed with Abraham. And the blessing which is here mentioned as made to Jacob, is the selfsame blessing that was made to Abraham two generations before, and descended, by covenant-arrangement, through Isaac to Jacob, saying, I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed." (Gen. xxvii. 33.) Therefore, being blessed with the same blessing as Abraham and all his spiritual children, he stood as a typical character of all the "vessels of mercy."

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But especially so as he stood in contrast with Esau: "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger." Here it is said, that. not only "two manner of people" were in the womb of Rebecca, but also two "nations." Now, although it did literally refer to the Israelites as one and to the Edomites as the other, yet, spiritually, it had a far greater meaning; the "seed of Abraham" promised, had a literal fulfilment, yet it was but a shadow, and Israel literally was but a type of "those that be of faith," (Gal. iii. 16,) who are really and truly the proper seed of Abraham. (Gal. iii. 7.) So, too, with these nations; the one nation, spiritually, was that "holy nation" (1 Peter ii. 9) which the apostle speaks of, and the other comprised all the "nations of the earth," who shall "see and be confounded (Mic. vii. 16) in the day of vengeance and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion.

The "people of God's curse" were therefore literally the inhabitants of Idumea, who were the descendants of their father Esau, whom the curse of Jehovah did rest on and follow up in all his posterity; so that if Esau (in his posterity) clothe himself in his own righteousness, God says, "I have made him bare;" (Jer. xlix. 10;) if he try to hide his nakedness, God says, "I have uncovered his secret places;" (Jer. xlix. 10;) if he try to conceal himself in any creature performances, God says, He shall not be able to hide himself;" (Jer.

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