SERMON XIIL 2 CHRONICLES XV. 14. And they fware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with fhouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. And all the men of Judah rejoiced at the oath. T will be neceffary to give a particular ac as the nature, of the oath which the men of Judah fware unto the Lord;-which will explain not only the reasons why it became a matter of fo much joy to them, but likewise admit of an application fuitable to the purposes of this folemn assembly. Abijah, and Afa his fon, 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 strength and riches of his kingdom. He was a prince endowed with the talents which the emergencies of his country required, and feemed 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;-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 short to accommodate the latter. He died, and left the work unfinished for his fon.-Afa fucceeded, in the room of Abijah his father, with the trueft notions of religion and government that could be fetched either from reafon or experience. His reafon told him, that God fhould be worshiped in fimplicity and finglenefs of heart;-therefore he took away the ftrange gods, and broke down their images. -His experience told him, that the most fuccessful wars, instead of invigorating, more generally drained away the vitals of government, and, at the beit, ended but in a brighter and more oftentatious kind of poverty and desolation :—therefore he laid aside his sword, and ftudied the arts of ruling Judah with peace. SERM Ο Ν XIII. 215 Confcience would not fuffer Afa to facrifice his fubjects to the private views of ambition, and wifdom forbad he fhould fuffer 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 dishonest 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 passed by him.—Amidst all the glare and jollity of the day, the parent's eyes would fix attentively upon his child; he would discern him drooping under the weight of his attire, without ftrength or vigour, his former beauty and comeliness off:-he would behold the coat of many gone colours ftained 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 just principles of religion, Afa began his reign.-A reign marked out with new |