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eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy forEtresses shall be spoiled.'

And Nahum says:

There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all 'that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon ⚫ whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?"

And this is the reason assigned

"Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, 'neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied; but because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.'

I fear, my friends, lest those dreadful denunciations should fall on the head of our Prince! How shocking would it be to witness the downfall of such a fine bulky form! It would grieve me more than the fall of Dagon did the Philistines, or the fall of Babylon grieved the scarlet whore! And I sincerely hope that you my friends are all impressed with the same loyal feelings.

The Prophet Malachi seems also to speak in a very pointed

manner:

Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy

covenant.

And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously agaiust the 'wife of his youth.

For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.''

In looking at the case and situation of our gracious Queen, I feel assured, that the Psalmist by some divine inspiration

wrote the following words, purposely for her as they speak daggers to her persecutors:

Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.

Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. 'Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that per'secute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

'Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my 'hurt.

'Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the 'Lord chase them.

Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the Lord persecute them.

For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.

'Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself; into that very destruction, let him fall. And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation.

All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee, which delìverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?

False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that 'I knew not.

"They rewarded me evil for good, to the spoiling of my soul.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or bro'ther: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mo'ther.

But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves to'gether; yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not :

With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they guashed upon me with their teeth.

'Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.

I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.

'Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: 'neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause, For they speak not peace; but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.

Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said,, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.

This thou hast seen, O Lord: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.

Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.

Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.

Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed her up.

Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that re'joice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.

Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.'

My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. "God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

. If

turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, ' and made it ready.

He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he or'daineth his arrows against the persecutors.

'Behold, travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.

He made a pit, aud digged it; and is fallen into the ditch which he made.

'His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.'

Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, be'cause of mine enemies.

'Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false 'witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.'

Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.'

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; 'cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have * rebelled against thee."

Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:
In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.'

When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at

thy presence.

For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.'

May the feet of our King be prevented from walking in mischief, and may be soon cast off his earthly and mortal part, and be prepared for a better world. May he no longer live under the painful and damning reflections which the Psalmist has put into the mouth of the Queen.

Thou resewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.'

Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little.

I have collected those expressions from various parts of the book of Psalms, but they are so strictly applicable, that they seem like one continued subject. Although my friends we are forbid to pray for her Majesty, yet there is a secret impulse to private prayer, that cannot fail to reach the throne of grace, as quickly as if it was uttered loudly or through a trumpet. It is my friends extremely painful to us who know the general virtues of our sovereign, to see him engaged in this family dispute, for although Lord Liverpool may tell us that his Majesty is not personally engaged in this quarrel we all know, the frailties and wickednesses of the human heart, and whence such jealousies and hatreds. Although we are told in Scripture to fear God and honour the King, still we know that kings are but men, and that their power and influence are too apt to lead them into the paths of vice.

Having considered, my friends, what our Holy Scriptures/ have said of our present King and Queen, (for the prophetic force of my quotations is so strong, that they cannot be mistaken) I now come to lay before you the denunciations of the Prophets and the Psalmist against that corruption which affects every branch of the community, and is as painful and injurious to our ever blessed sovereign, as to the peasant that follows the plough!

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Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a mau in his house, even a man and his heritage.

And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.

They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes 'with their lies.

They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be ⚫ leavened.

In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with hot'tles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.

The good man is perished out of the earth; and there is none upright among men; they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every· man his brother with a net.

That they may do evil with both hands earnestly; the prince ask 'eth, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he ut⚫tereth his mischievous desire; so they wrap it up.

The best of them is a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh ; now shall be their perplexity.

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

'Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail.

'Her (corruption's) priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like ⚫ wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to 'get dishonest gain.

Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey they are devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised rob⚫bery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?

'Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their 'mouth.'

I might make a volume of quotations denouncing priest