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Show Services at Concord. They spnkc against him with false tongues, and compassed him about with words of hatred. They r ewarded him eyil for good. . They took their counsel together, sc:ymg, God h~th forsaken him: persecute him nnd tnke him, for there lS non~ to cl:hycr. Let the sentence of guiltiness proceed ng::nnst lum, and now thnt he licth let him rise up no more. F:lsc witnesses, nlso, dicl rise up against him ; they lnid to his chnr...,.c things that he knew not. • Tl7cn shall the righteous man stnnd in g1·eat boldness before the face of such as have affiictcd him and made no account of his labors. "For the sins of the people and the iniquities of the rulers they shed the blood of the just. In their anger tihey slew a man; the man whom Tnou hadst made so strongly for Thine Own Self.''- Lamentations. Jie, being made perfect, in a short time fulfilled a long time. For his soul pleased the Lord ; therefore, hasted Ib: to take him away from among the ·wicked. This the People saw and understood it not, neitllCr laid they up this in their minds that Hrs grace and mercy is ·with Ilrs saints, nnd that HE hath r espect unto Hrs Chosen. 'Vhen they sec it they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for. And they, repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit, shall say within thcm sclve~, This " ·as he whom we had sometime in derision and a proverb of r eproach. 'Vc, fools, accounted his life mnclncss and his end to be without honor. How is he numbc.'rcd among the children of God, and his lot is among the smnts ! " That hath pride profited us ? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought u ? All those things arc passed away liken shadow, nnd as a post thnt hastcth by; And as a ship that passcth OYer the waycs of the water ; Or as when n bird hath fl own through the air ; Or, like as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it partcth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through ; Even so we, in like manner, ns soon as we were born, began to dm w to our end, and had no sign of virtue to show ; but were consumed in our own wickedness. *' The lMt eight verses aro from the Psalter. Services at Concord. 453 But the righteous live forevermore; thC'ir rcwnrcl also · · h h . . ' , lS Wlt t c Lord ; and the care of them 1s w1th the Most High. Therefore shall they rccci vc a glorious kingdom and b · L d, . a cnutlful erown from the or s hand; for w1th his ri O'ht hund sl 11 h . . o ' 1a c cover them, and w1th lns arm shall he protect them. Great nrc THY J uclgmcnts, nnd cannot be <.'X})resscd. th r nurtured souls have erred. · ' erCJ.Ol"C un- For, when unrighteous men thought to Ol)In·ess the ri...,.ht 1 b · 1 · 1 · o cous one, t 1ey, cmg. s mt up m t 1.e 1r house::; ' the })ri·s oneru of 1 1 ·~ car <ness, nnd fettered w1th the bonds of a long night, lny there exiled f1·om the Eternal Providence. For while thcv supposed to lie hid in their secret c·· tl • . nlllS, 1ey WCl"C scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness, being horribly astonished and troubled with stmngc apparitions. For n. either might the cor.n er that held them l<eep them f rom fic ar; b~~ n01ses, as of waters fallm3 down, sounded about them; and sad VISIOns appeared unto them with heavy countenances. No power of the fire might .give them light; neither could the bright flames of the star~ endure to h ghten that horrible night. Only thc1:c appeared unto them a fire kindled of itself, Yery dreadful; for, bemg much t.enified, they thought the things which they saw to be worse than the stght they saw not. Yen, the ta~ting of death touched the righteous al 'O. For then the blameless man made haste, and stood forth to defend them, a~<: b~ingi~~ the shield of his proper ministry, even prayer and the prop1t1atwn of mccnsc, set l1imsrlf against the wnlth nnd so brou...,.ht the calamity to an end, declaring that he was Thy Scr~ant. b So he ovcrca.me the destroyer, not with the strength of body or force of arms, but w1th a word subdued 110 him that punished, alleging the oaths nnd covenants made with the Fathers. F~r, i~ nll th~ngs, 0 Lo~·d, '1'11ou diclst magnify Thy Servant and g~on:y lnm i neither didst Tuou lightly r egard him, but didst assist h1m m every time and place. 'l'hc souls of the righteous arc in the hand::; of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the si?ht of the unwise he seemed to die : and his departure is taken for m1scry, and his going from us to be utter destruction· but he is in pence. ' For thou~h he be punished in the sight of men, yet is his hope full of Immortality. And, haying been a little chastised, he shall be greatly rewarded; for God proved him and found him worthy for himself. |