X.

"they were not;" because they were de- DISC. parted hence, and were no more to be found in the land of the living; they were led away into that other captivity, more wretched and durable than the captivity of Benjamin, with Judah, in Babylon; they were deprived of light and life; they were hurried from the warm and cheerful precincts of day, to be imprifoned in the cold. and dark dominions of the king of terrors. And who can bring them from thence? Not the High Prieft Joshua, the fon of Jofedek; not Zorobabel, who conducted their fathers from captivity; not Samfon, though, in the prime of his ftrength, he carried away the gates of Gaza; not David, nor their father Benjamin, though both had been alive to command, or lead the whole pofterity of Ifrael. All these might have faid of the fons of Rachel this day commemorated by us, as David did of his child-" We shall go to them, but they "fhall not return to us." But the holiest of the ancient priefts and prophets, the mightiest among the ancient kings and rulers,

DISC. rulers, were still fubject to death, and had

X.

taken their last repofe with the beggar in the duft. Where then is the wonted promife of Rachel's reward? Who fhall comfort her in this calamity?

Nothing, certainly, can wear a more gloomy and comfortless aspect, than things here feem to do. Yet in this as in the former inftance, "Thus faith the LORD" to the mourner—and who elfe can say it? "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and "thine eyes from tears: for thy work "fhall be rewarded, faith the LORD, and

they shall come again from the land of "the enemy; and there is hope in thine

66

end, faith the LORD, that thy children "shall come again to their own border.”

Recollecting what hath been faid above, and bearing in mind the circumstances of time and place, pointed out in the application made of the former part of the pasfage by St. Matthew, we may fuppofe this latter part to speak to the Bethlehemitish

mothers,

mothers, in fome fuch manner as the fol- DISC.

lowing

At Bethlehem, the birth-place of Benjamin, where the pillar was erected over Rachel's grave, a child is born, who has caused the children of Benjamin and Judah once more to become Benoni's, true fons of forrow to their mothers; a character he himself is to fuftain on earth, infomuch, that "a fword fhall pierce through the "foul" of her that bare him. As the feed of the woman, and with regard to the nature derived from her, he is to be

66 a.

man of forrows and acquainted with grief." But, like Benjamin, from his Father he shall receive a name expressive of far different things; "a name above every "name;" he shall be exalted from mifery and mortality to "the right hand of the "majefty in the heavens;" there to take poffeffion of an inheritance in the true land of Promise. Of this his inheritance in a ftate of power and glory, he will not fail to make thofe partakers, whofe blood has been

X.

DISC. been fhed by the executioners of Herod, X. on his account. Look upon this their

final deliverance and restoration, as it is delineated in that map, or chart of it, the deliverance of your ancestors from the Babylonish captivity, and the reftoration to their own land. Call to mind what was faid by them, at that time, on the ground of their own happy experience--" They "that fow in tears, fhall reap in joy; he "that goeth forth and weepeth," as if, ignorant of the art of hufbandry, he feared the corn he was fowing would perish in the earth, fhall doubtlefs come again "with joy, bringing his fheaves with « him." The heavens, echoing with your cries, and the earth moiftened with your tears, are witnesses to men and angels, that you have more plentifully fowed in grief, than your ancestors. As the forrows of your feed-time have abounded, fo the joys of your harvest shall super-abound. The LORD's promife of old is not yet expired, but extends, in full force, to you and yours. With what more precious feed could the

land

ga

pro

X.

land of Judah and Benjamin be fown, than DISC. the blood of tender infants, harmless and undefiled even in thought? Scattered upon the ground by cruel hands, it shall be thered by the power of him, who difpenfeth the breath of life to all things living. None of this feed fhall be loft, or prove unfruitful. Every grain shall duce it's ear, and every ear it's proportion of incorruptible and pleasant fruit. Great, therefore, as your affliction is allowed to be, yet mourn not as they that have no hope, but, even in the midst of your bitter complaints, ftill remember, that Rachel's pains must have a joyful recompence, and her exceeding forrows portend extraordinary comforts in the iffue. Only let patience have it's perfect work through faith, and that "work fhall be rewarded" with the poffeffion of the promifes. For, through the Saviour who is born, "there

is hope in the end," that, like as your fathers, in God's good time, 66 came again "from the land of the enemy to their own "border," fo your children, whofe un