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SERMON XL.

Afa: a Thanksgiving Sermon.

2 CHRONICLES XV. 14.

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.

T will be neceffary to give a particular IT

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 reasons why it became a matter of so much joy to them, but likewife admit of an application fuitable to the purposes of this folemn affembly.

Abijah, and Afa his fon, were fucceffive kings of Judah.--The first came to the crown at the clofe of a long, and, in the end, a very unsuccessful war, which had gradually wafted the strength and riches of his kingdom.

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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 first ;-but his kingdom, which had been fo many years the feat of a war, had been so wasted and bewildered, that his reign, good as it was, was too fhort to accomplish 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 reason told him, that GOD fhould be worshipped in fimplicity and fingleness of heart;-therefore he took away the altars of the strange gods, and broke down their images. His experience told him, that the most fucceffful wars, instead of invigorating, more generally drained away the vitals of government,—and, at the best, ended but in a brighter and more oftentatious kind

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of poverty and defolation:-therefore he laid afide his fword, and ftudied the arts of ruling Judah with peace.-Conscience would not fuffer Afa to facrifice his fubjects to private views of ambition, and wisdom forbad he fhould fuffer them to offer up themselves to the pretence of public ones;-fince enlargement of eme pire, by the deftruction of its people (the natural and only valuable fource of strength and riches), was a difhonest 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.-Amidst 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 beauty and comeliness gone off: he would behold the coat of many colours ftained with blood, and cry,Alas! they have decked thee with a pa

rent'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 æras, and a fucceffion of happier occurrences than what had distinguished former days.

The juft and gentle fpirit of the prince infenfibly ftole into the breafts of the people. The men of Judah turned their fwords into ploughfhares, and their fpears 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 compose 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 fhouldft ever withhold thy thankfulness?

That thou didst not continually turn thy eyes towards heaven with an habitual fenfe of Gov's mercies, and devoutly praise 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 intereft with the almighty Being, without which the wifdom of this world is foolishness, and the best connected systems of human policy are fpeculative and airy projects, without foundation or fubftance.The hiftory of their own exploits and eftablifhment, fince they had become a nation, was a strong confirmation of this doctrine.

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