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SERMON XL.

Afa: A Thanksgiving Sermon,

2 CHRONICLES XV. 14.

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And they fware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.And all the men of Judah rejoiced at the oath.

Ir will be neceffary to give a particular account of

what was the occafion, as well as the nature, of the oath which the men of Judah fware unto the Lord; -which will explain, not only the reafons why it became a matter of fo much joy to them, but likewife admit of an application fuitable to the purposes of this folemn assembly.

Abijah, and Afa his son, were fucceffive kings of Judah.-The first came to the crown at the close of a long, and, in the end, a very unfuccefsful war, which had gradually wafted the ftrength and riches of his kingdom.

He was a prince endowed with the talents which the emergencies of his country required, and seemed born to make Judah a victorious, as well as a happy people. The conduct and great fuccefs of his arms against Jeroboam, had well established the firft;

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but his kingdom, which had been fo many years the feat of a war, had been fo wafted and bewildered, that his reign, good as it was, was too fhort to accomplish the latter. He died, and left the work uninifhed for his fon.-Afa fucceeded in the room of Abijah his father, with the trueft notions of religion and government that could be derived either from eafon or experience. His reason told him, that God hould be worshipped in fimplicity and singlenefs of heart ;—therefore he took away the altars of the range gods, and broke down their images. His experience told him, that the most successful wars, inftead of invigorating, more generally drained away the vitals of government, and at the best, ended but in a brighter and more oftentatious kind of poverty and defolation;therefore he laid afide his fword, and ftudied the arts of ruling Judah with peace.Confcience would not fuffer Afa to facrifice his fubjects to private views of ambition, and wisdom forbade he should suffer them to offer up themselves to the pretence of public ones;-fince enlargement of empire, by the deftruction of its people (the natural and only valuable fource of ftrength and riches), was a difhoneft and miferable exchange. And, however well the glory of a conqueft might appear in the eyes of a common beholder, yet, when bought at that coftly rate, a father to his country would behold the triumphs which attended it, and weep as it paffed by him. Amidft all the glare and jollity of the day, the parent's eyes would fix attentively upon his child; he would difcern him drooping under the weight of his attire, without ftrength or vigour, his former

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beauty and comeliness gone off:-he would behold the coat of many colours flained with blood, and cry -Alas! they have decked thee with a parent's pride, but not with a parent's care and forefight.

With fuch affectionate fentiments of government, and juft principles of religion, Asa began his reign : -a reign marked out with new eras, and a fucceffion of happier occurrences, than what had distinguished former days.

The juft and gentle spirit of the prince, insen fibly flole into the breafts of the people,The men of Judah turned their swords into plough shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks.By industry and virtuous labour, they acquired, what by spoil and rapine they might have fought after long in vain.

The traces of their late troubles foon began to wear out.. The cities, which had become ruinous and defolate (the prey of famine and the fword) were now rebuilt, fortified and made populous.Peace, fecurity, wealth and profperity, feemed to compofe the whole hiftory of Afa's reign.-O Judah! what could then have been done more than what was done to make thy people happy?

What one bleffing was withheld, that thou fhouldst ever withhold thy thankfulness?

That thou didst not continually turn thy eyes towards heaven with an habitual fenfe of God's mercies, and devoutly praife him for fetting Afa over you?

Were not the public bleffings, and the private enjoyments which every man of Judah derived from them, fuch as to make the continuance of them

defirable?—and what other way was there to effect it, than to fwear unto the Lord, with all your hearts and fouls, to perform the covenant made with your fathers to fecure that favour and interest with the almighty Being, without which the wisdom of this world is foolishness, and the best connected fyftems of human policy are fpeculative and airy projects, without foundation or fubftance.The history of their own exploits and establishment fince they had become a nation, was a strong confirmation of this doctrine.

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But too free and uninterrupted a poffeffion of God Almighty's bleffings, fometimes (though it feems strange to fuppose it) even tempts men to forget him, either from a certain depravity and ingratitude of nature, not to be wrought upon by goodnefs, or that they are made by it too paffionately fond of the present hour, and too thoughtless of its great Author, whose. kind providence brought it about,- This feemed to have been the cafe with the men of Judah for notwithstanding all that God had done for them, in placing Abijah, and Afa his fon, over them, and infpiring them with hearts and talents proper to retrieve the errors of the foregoing reign, and bring back peace and plenty to the dwellings of Judahyet there appears no record of any folemn and religious acknowledgment to God for fuch fignal favours.-The people fat down in a thankless fecurity, each man under his vine, to eat and drink, and rofe up to play;-more folicitous to enjoy their bleffings, than to deserve them

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But this fcene of tranquillity was not to fubfift without fome change;—and it seemed as if providence at length had suffered the stream to be interrupted, to make them confider whence it flowed, and how neceffary it had been all along to their fupport. The Ethiopians, ever fince the beginning of Abijah's reign, until the tenth year of Afa's, had been at peace,or, at leaft, whatever fecret enmity they bore, had made no open attacks upon the kingdom of Judah. And indeed, the bad measures which Rehoboam had taken in the latter part of the reign which immediately preceded theirs, feemed to -have faved the Ethiopians the trouble. For Rehoboam, though, in the former part of his reign, he dealt wifely; yet when he had established his kingdom, and strengthened himself, he forfook the laws of the Lord; he forfook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men which were brought up with him and ftood before him. Such ill-advised measures, in all probability, had given the enemies of Judah fuch docifive advantages over her, that they had fat down contented, and for many years enjoyed the fruits of their acquifitions. But the friendship of princes is feldom made up of better materials than those which are every day to be feen in private life,in which fincerity and affection are not at all confidered as ingredients. Change of time and circumstances, produces a change of councils and behaviour. Ju dah, in length of time, had become a fresh tempta. tion, and was worth fighting for. Her riches an plenty might first make her enemies covet, and the

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