We turn to God's Word in the
book of the Prophet Micah. The book of the Prophet Micah
in chapter 4 and reading the first seven verses. But in the
last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house
of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains and
it shall be exalted above the hills. and the people shall flow
unto it. And many nations shall come,
and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
and to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us of
his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For the law shall
go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And
he shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar
off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up their
swords against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his
fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of
the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk,
every one, in the name of his God. And we will walk in the
name of the Lord our God forever and ever. In that day, saith
the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather
her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted, and I
will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off
a strong nation. And the Lord shall reign over
them in man's island from henceforth even for ever. Here we read something
of the glory of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and it
is really these first two verses that I want us to take for our
text this morning here in Micah chapter 4 and verses 1 and 2
and you will observe the conjunction that appears at the beginning
of the chapter but but in the last days which shall come to
pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established
in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above
the hills, and people shall flow unto it, and many nations shall
come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach
us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For the law shall
go forth of Zion and the words of the Lord from Jerusalem."
But, and that surely indicates to us that there is a contrast
being drawn with regards to what has been said in the previous
chapter, in chapter 3. There in that chapter we certainly
see something of the great boldness of Micah as a prophet, he says
at verse 8, truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord
and of judgment and of might to declare unto Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin. How the prophet is fearless in
telling the people of his day so plainly with regards to the
following of their sinful disobedience of God And they were a people
who were forsaking the Lord and seeking to make idols like the
nations round about them. Oh, they were those whose leaders
were so corrupt. Because he says here at verse
9 in that third chapter, hear this, I pray ye, ye heads of
the house of Jacob, and princes of the House of Israel that abhor
judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity. Oh, they were such wicked leaders,
those princes, those who should have been setting a pattern of
godliness to the nation. how far they fell short of their
responsibilities. And the Prophet tells them so
plainly. He speaks of their hypocrisy,
because though they were such wicked people, yet they imagined
that they were such as were pleasing the Lord. As we see at verse 11, the end
of that verse, yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, is
not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. But their religion was nothing
more than a vain show. And how the Prophet is constantly
reminding them of this folly, not only that they were hypocrites,
but they were also the worst of idolaters. In that chapter
that we read, Isaiah chapter 2, which in many respects is
a direct parallel to what we have here in Micah chapter 4.
We read in that chapter at verse 8, their land also is full of
idols. They worship the work of their
own hands, that which their own fingers have made. Oh, they were
such a sinful people, and now the Prophet tells them and speaks
to them about God's judgments are about to fall upon them. The end of that third chapter.
Therefore shall Zion for your sakes be ploughed as a field,
Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house
as the high places of the forest." It is that terrible judgment
that came at the time of the Babylonian exile, those 70 years
that they must endure in captivity there in Babylon that is being
spoken of. It was God's judgment upon them. But as I said, there's a contrast.
There at the end of that third chapter we see the sin of the
people and how God doesn't wink at their sin, God will deal with
them. God will visit judgment upon them. But in the last days it shall come
to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be
established in the top of the mountains." What is being said
here is the promise of restoration. Though God would judge them because
of their sin, God would not altogether disown them. There would be a
restoration and so it was. So it was when Cyrus the Persian
issued his decree permitting those Jews in exile to return. We have the record of course
there in the book, the historic book of the scribe Ezra. And we see how in his day they
were engaged in the rebuilding of the Temple of the Lord there
at Mount Zion in Ezra chapter 3. And verse 8, we're told, in
the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem,
in the second month began Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua,
the son of Josedach, and the remnant of their brethren, the
priests, and the Levites, and all those that would come out
of their captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites from
twenty years old and upward to set forward. the work of the
house of the Lord. There was a literal fulfillment
of this great promise that we have here at the beginning of
this fourth chapter. But there is a deeper significance
to the words that we have here. It's not just that that was literally
fulfilled in the restoration of the Jews under Ezra. but it has to do with the gospel
day, it has to do with the day in which we're living. It says,
in the last days, in the last days. This is a reference to the gospel
day. We know that all these things happened unto them for ensamples.
And as I have written, for our admonition upon whom the ends
of the world are come. Well, now is the ends of the
world. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day
of salvation. And it's interesting that what
we have here in these opening two verses of Micah chapter 4
is literally the same as that portion that we read in Isaiah
chapter 2 and verses 2 and 3. You can compare these two portions
of scripture. It's the same promise that is
being made by each of the prophets. And of course those prophets,
Isaiah and Micah, were contemporaries. We discover that from what we
see at the beginning of each of their books. They speak of
ministering each of them in the days of those Kings Ahaz and
Hezekiah. They were both engaged as the
Lord's servants, proclaiming to the people the word of the
Lord. And so they They agree in the things that they're saying.
It's not surprising to us that there should be that repetition,
that what we have in Isaiah chapter 2 is so much similar to what
we find here in Micah chapter 4. Coming then to these words,
But in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain
of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and
the people shall flow unto it, the many nations shall come and
say come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and
to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways
and we will walk in his paths for the Lord shall go forth of
Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." The glory of
the church. First of all, to observe what
he said here with regards to its size, its great increase.
This is the amazing thing. We read of this house of the Lord being
established in the top of the mountains. In the top of the
mountains, plural. Now, it is a fact of course that
Jerusalem itself was built on two mountains built on the Mount
Moriah and the Mount Zion. Now we see that in what is recorded
in the books of Chronicles in that second book of Chronicles
and there in in chapter 3 and again in chapter
5. In the second book of Chronicles
chapter 3 and the first verse we're told how Solomon began
to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah
where the Lord appeared unto David his father in the place
that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Onan the Jebusite. the temple then being built upon
the Mount Moriah. But then later in chapter 5 and
verse 2 we read, O Solomon, assemble the elders of Israel and all
the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children
of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant
of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. These are the two principal mounts
upon which the whole of the city was built. The Mount Moriah was
not only the place where the Lord had appeared to David, but
it was the very same mount, of course, where Abram had taken
Isaac when the Lord commanded him to slay his son, his only
son. That was Moriah also. How significant it is! And this
is what is being spoken of here. The house of the Lord shall be
established, it says, in the top of the mountains. However, these opening verses
are not just to be understood in a literal sense. We've already
intimated some of that. There's a spiritual meaning here.
there's a far greater and richer figurative meaning to the promise
that we have. Why, we read at the end of verse
2 of the law going forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. Now, is not that a reference
to the proclamation of the gospel? It's not the law in the sense
of Torah, that law that was given on Mount Sinai back in Exodus
chapter 20. Now this is that law that is
said to go forth of Zion, not of Sinai. The reference here
is to the Gospel day. It is God establishing His Church. It's the calling of sinners of
the Gentiles that is being spoken of. Mount Zion is the Gospel
Church. Remember out there in Hebrews
chapter 12, Paul draws the contrast between the mount that can be
touched, he's speaking of Mount Sinai, Verse 18 of Hebrews chapter 12,
"...ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched,"
he says, "...and burn with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness,
and tempest." But, he says at verse 22, "...ye are come unto
Mount Zion." unto the City of the Living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the General
Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the Judge of all, and to the Spirit of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant." It's that that is being spoken
of here in the prophecy. It's a prophecy of the Gospel
does, that God is going to call many sinners of the Gentiles
that salvation will be provided for sinners to the ends of the
earth. The house of the Lord shall be
established in the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted
above the hills and the people shall flow unto it, it says. And many nations shall come always
the conversion of sinners of the Gentiles. Remember when we
come to the last book of Scripture, there in the Revelation we read
of those who are the redeemed, Thou hast redeemed us to God
by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Here then we see something of
the glory of the Church in that there are to be sinners of the
Gentiles, multitudes converted. that that no man can number and
yet all known to the Lord as we see there in the revelation
it's the 144,000 12 times 12 it's that perfect number it's
a whole company of the election of grace and yet it is a vast
multitude for Christ is to seal the travail of his soul and he
shall be satisfied or the glory that belongs then unto this church. But see here how the prophet
tells us something of the security of this church. How does he continue
at verse 3? He shall judge among many people,
and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations
shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn
war any more, but they shall sit every man under his vine
and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the
mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it." Their security, their
safety. We're not to think in political
terms. Again, we're to interpret this passage figuratively and
spiritually. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
born at Bethlehem, remember the song of the angels. Glory to
God in the highest on earth, peace, goodwill towards men. What was that peace that was
proclaimed by the angels? It was not political peace, it
was political peace. In that day there was a great
patrimony, the peace of Rome. Now the Roman Legion is ensured
safety and security in every part of the empire. No, that's
peace that was proclaimed by the angels. It's far deeper and
richer. It's the great work that the
Lord Jesus Christ came to accomplish. Now, the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is identified with Jerusalem, with Salem. And Salem, as you
know, means peace. Oh, it's a spiritual peace. God
says in the second Psalm, I have set my King upon my holy hill
of Zion. I will declare the decree. The
Lord has said unto me, Thou art my Son. This day have I begotten
thee. Why? He is the eternal Son of
the Father. in the fullness of the time God
sends forth His Son, His eternal Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, and He comes to redeem sinners. Oh, He comes to make
peace through the blood of His cross. And this is what we read
of here in this third verse. It's the language of peace. Beating
swords into plowshares, beating spears into pruning hooks, neither
shall they learn war anymore, it seems. But it is that great
work of the Lord Jesus. This man shall be the peace. We read later here in verse 5
of chapter 5. Who is this man? It is the man Christ Jesus. It is God's manifest in the flesh. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. The government shall be upon
his shoulder, his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He is the Blessed Prince of Peace. What is the work that he comes
to do? That work reaches its climax, its fulfillment there
upon the cross. And he makes peace through the
blood of his cross. Why John says, here in his love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sins. All propitiation, that
speaks of peace. Now God is angry with the wicked
every day. Oh, but the Lord Jesus has come
to satisfy all the wrath and justice of God against the sin
of his people. He is dealt with sin, you see,
in that God would ask me. God can by no means clear the
guilt. But the Lord Jesus has borne that punishment that was
due to the sinner as one who had so sorely offended against
God. He has made peace through the
blood of his cross. And this is that security that
is being spoken of then. This great work that the Lord
Jesus Christ has accomplished. in reconciling the sinner to
God. Although there is that peace
between God and that sinner who has been reconciled by the great
work of the Lord Jesus Christ we know that there is a terrible
inward conflict that still takes place in the souls of those who
know that great redemption. How strange, how paradoxical
it is, the life of the believer. The question is put there in
the Song of Solomon, what will you see in the Shulamite? And
the answer, as it were, the company of two armies. There's a warfare,
there's an old nature, there's a new nature. Whilst there is
that peace with God, and yet the believers are so tormented
by what he is in his own nature. And Paul is the one, in many
ways above others, who brings this out in his epistles, in
those portions of his epistles where he is brought to speak
of himself, of his own experiences, as experimental passages. Think
of Romans chapter 7, he says, I know that in me, that is in
my flesh. there dwelleth no good thing. Now he feels it. Now he wants to do good and yet
evil is ever present with him. The good that I would, I do not,
he cries. The evil that I would not, that
I do. He feels himself to be such a
wretched man, all wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Carrying his all nature about
with him Everywhere he goes he feels the awful burden of the
flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh
and as these two are so contrary one to the other and he feels
he cannot do the thing that he wants. But then he is brought to see
that the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who delivers his people
not only from the guilt of their sin, but also from the power
of sin. That's a wonderful thing. Christ
delivers his children from every sense of their sin. I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord, he says. Oh, he must put the
crown there upon the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. who himself
has vanquished sin and vanquished Satan. He has made peace. And the believer wants to know
that peace of God in his own soul. He wants to be one of those
who by the grace of God in Christ is able to overcome. Not only
overcoming Satan but overcoming himself. Here we see the church, then,
is that place of real peace, spiritual peace, spiritual security. Of course, it follows that if
that is the case, believers are not to be at war with one another. Why? Paul exhorts that church
at Thessalonica, be at peace, he says, among yourselves. Be
at peace among yourselves. James warns of the great danger
of those disagreements and conflicts that come amongst the children
of God. Remember how he writes there
in that fourth chapter of his epistle? He says, from whence
come wars, and fightings among you. Come they not hence even
of your lusts at war in your members? Ye lust and have not,
ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, ye fight and war,
yet ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not because
ye ask and miss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
or the believer. He is one who desires to live
at peace with all men. Or as much as Laodicea says the
Apostle Paul, be at peace with all men. The believer is that
one then who is the lover of peace. This is the mark. This
is the mark of this spiritual Zion, this New Jerusalem that
is being spoken of. The Lord Jesus is that One who
comes, He shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations
afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift
up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,
He says. Or their safety. Look at what
He goes on to say. in verses 4 and 5. They shall sit every man under
his vine and under his fig tree. None shall make them afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. For all
people will walk, every one in the name of his God. And we will
walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever again. There's a contrast. A contrast
between the idols, the vanities of men and the true God. We go back to the opening chapter where Micah speaks of the situation,
not so much in Judah, but in Israel, the northern kingdom.
And he says there at verse 7, all the graven images thereof
shall be beaten to pieces. nor the hires thereof shall be
burned with the fire, nor the idols thereof will I lay desolate.
For she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall
return to the hire of an harlot." This was one of the great sins
of the people at that time, at the time when they were going
to be taken into captivity. They were such an idolatrous
people. And that's brought out in In Isaiah's prophecy, time and
again we see him speaking against their idols, in that portion
that we read, in chapter 2, and verse 8, their
land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their
own hands, that which their own fingers have made, And then he
says, verse 18, the idols he shall utterly abolish. Verse
20, in that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols
of gold which they made, each one for himself to worship to
the moles and to the bats. For God will deliver his people
from all their idolatrous ways. And as I say, it's unfolded time
and again there in that book of the Prophet Isaiah how he
speaks out against idols God's children are those who desire
only to walk in the name of the Lord their God Oh God have mercy
and deliver us from all our idols that covetousness which is idolatry that worldliness which is idolatry.
God will deliver his people, God will ensure the safety and
the security of his people. Here then we see something of
these gracious promises that God is making with regards to
the gospel church, how he will establish his people. Let us
in the last place this morning say something with regards to
just do the subjects of this gracious reign of God really
are. We have a description of them
here in verse 6 in that day. Again, it reminds us it's the
gospel day, the last day. It's a spiritual promise that
we have, it's a spiritual people that we have here. verse 6, "...in
that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth,
and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have
afflicted, and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her
that was cast far off a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign
over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever." Here
are the marks of those who are the Lord's subjects. Those who
belong to this spiritual Zion. What do we read of them? They
are people who are halting. They are people who are afflicted.
They are those who are driven out and far off. There are various principles
we can draw from what he said concerning these characteristics. In a sense we see that they are
a people who are separated. God says, I will gather her that
is driven out, her that was cast far off, God's people despise,
reject it in the world. They're outcasts. We have that
hymn in the book 223 concerning the outcasts of Israel. Lord, pity outcasts, vile and
base, the poor, dependents on thy grace, whom men disturb as
call, by sinners and by saints withstood, for these too bad,
for those too good, condemned or shunned by all." It's remarkable,
really, what truth is contained in those few words. This is one
of the great beauties of Hart's hymns, I believe. They're so
pissy, he seems able to say so much in just a few words. And we have it here. these outcasts,
these who are labelled as troublers in Israel, disturbers of the
peace by sinners and by saints, withstood for these two bads? Or they are too bad for the saints,
those who think themselves to be superior to them? Why, they
are troublesome people, these. Too bad for the saints, they
are too good for the sinners. Or they are those who are very
much like speckled birds in this world. They are the outcasts,
the outcasts of Israel. And they feel it. For they feel
their sin so often comes between them and their God. Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid
His face from you, says Isaiah. Now these people oftentimes feel
that. They feel God to be at a distance from them. They feel
the awful reality of their total depravity. Yet these are the
very characters that we read of here as being the real citizens
of Mount Zion, of Jerusalem. They are such as are driven out and cast far
off. or that people whom the Lord
so humbles that they have to cast themselves all together
upon Him. He is all their comfort, their
only comfort. Go and remember the portion that
we were reading there in Isaiah chapter 2. In verse 10 it says, enter into
the rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and
for the glory of his majesty. Our God's people do have to do
that, they have to hide themselves in the dust. God so humbles them,
makes them feel what they are. He says there, the loftiness
of man shall be bared down, the haughtiness of men shall be made
low, the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. all these people they are such
a humble people as well as a separated people but then also we see clearly
that they are those who are afflicted and it is the Lord strangely
who afflicts them here at the end of verse 6 he speaks of her
that I have afflicted This is how God makes them, citizens
of Zion, subjects of His Kingly reign. He afflicts them. We often refer to that verse
in the third chapter of the book of the Prophet Zephaniah, I will
also leave in the midst an afflicted and poor people and they shall
trust in the name of the Lord. Why is it that God afflicts them?
He afflicts them because of their sins. He chastens them. And when
God removed His children out of Jerusalem, when they were
taken into exile, at the time of the Babylonian captivity,
that that's spoken of here at the end of chapter 3, Therefore
shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, that Jerusalem shall
become heaps, and the mountain of the house of the high places
of the forest, when Jerusalem is left there in ruins, and the
people are removed afar off, why that very people that God
is taking into exile, that's His people, He's chastening them.
He's correcting them. He's afflicting them. Here at
the end of the the end of the book in chapter
7 verse 9 we have this verse I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my
cause and execute judgment for me he will bring me forth to
the light and I shall behold his righteousness this is the
people you see that are afflicted how God deals with them, how
God speaks to them, not only in His Word, but by His dealings
also. In chapter 6 and verse 9, the
Lord's voice, cryeth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall
see thy name, hear ye the right, and who hath appointed it. Oh,
they are an afflicted people. Just as the Lord God says here
at the end of verse 6, heard that I am afflicted. God is chastening
them, correcting them. Oh yes, there are those who are
cast out, despised, and at times they find
the Lord's ways and the Lord's dealings with them to be so strange
He afflicts them. But then also they are a people
who are brought ultimately to pray to Him. They're referred
to here also as those that are halting. Verse 6, in that day,
saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth. Verse 7, I will make her that
halted a remnant. Now, it is interesting to observe
that the particular word, the verb that's used here, the verb
to halt, is used on just two other occasions. in the Old Testament,
this particular word. It's used there in Zephaniah,
chapter 3 at verse 19, God says, I will save her that halteth. So it's used by Micah, here in
chapter 4, and then it's used in the book of the prophet Zephaniah. The other occasion where it's
used is right back at the beginning in the book of Genesis. and he
chooses in reference to Jacob that's the root of it, it's a
word that used to describe something of Jacob's experience here at
Peniel when he wrestled with the angel of the Lord when his
name was changed and Jacob the supplanter became Israel a prince
with God because he had power with the angel and he prevailed
but remember what happened as the angel wrestled with him he
touched he touched Jacob in the hollow of his thigh and we're
told how Jacob halted Jacob halted as he went over Peniel and both
Micah and Zephaniah would not be ignorant of that scripture
as their writing in their prophetic books, under the inspiration
of the Spirit, they are moved to use the very same words that
is applied there to Jacob's experience. For they are those who are the
true Israel of God. What was Jacob about there at
Pena? He's in prayer, he's wrestling, he's supplicating, I will not
let thee go, he says. unless thou bless me. And what does God say here concerning
this one who halts? I will make her that halted a
remnant. Oh, this is the remnant. The
remnant according to the election of Christ. These are those who
are the subjects of the Kingdom of God. The citizens of this
Jerusalem, these men's Zion those to whom these promises apply
this is that church, that church that is ever glorious in the
eyes of the Lord those whom He has saved in His sovereign mercy
and in His sovereign grace oh friends, that we might draw some
comfort then from such promises as we find in these verses here
at the beginning of this fourth chapter in this prophecy of Micah. But in the last days in the last
days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of
the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains and
it shall be exalted above the hills and the people shall flow
onto it and many nations shall come and say, come let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,
and He will teach us of His ways, or they shall be all taught of
God. And we will walk in His paths, for the Lord shall go
forth of Zion." This is not the terrors of the Lord of Moses,
this is the Gospel. Going forth of Zion, the Word
of the Lord from Jerusalem, that he shall judge among many people,
and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nations
shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war any more." Oh, there is that blessed reign of peace in the
Church of Jesus Christ. Though the believer feels that
conflict raging within, yet he knows Him who is the Blessed
Overcomer. They shall sit every man under
his vine, and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid.
For the mouth of the Lord, of hosts, that is, the Lord God
of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, hath spoken it. for all people
will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in
the name of the Lord our God forever and ever in that day
saith the Lord will I assemble her that halteth and I will gather
her that is driven out and her that I have afflicted and I will
make her that halted a remnant and her that was cast out was
cast far off a strong nation and the Lord shall reign over
them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever. Lord, the Lord be pleased then
to write such truths upon our hearts. Amen.