The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

SEPvMONS. 83ly of heart, and ye fliall find reft unto your fouls ;for my yoke is eafy, and my burden is light."6th, I remark further, that the quiet, the ftrength,and even the independence of a kingdon^, is endangered,when any of its grandees, or men of rank andtalents, are provoked at home, and forced to feek prote£fionin fome neighbouring inimical kingdom. Itis not to be expelled, but that a man of talents, whohath been harfhiy ufed in his own country, will exerthimfclf to irritate and affift thofe who protect him a-gainft thofe who have injured him. David, indeed,when he was on his march to fight againft Saul, wasreftrained from fliedding the blood of his countrymen jfor the Philiftines ordered him to depart to his home.And Themiftocles, when the critical period came,choofed rather to die a voluntary death than to helphis royal benefactor to conquer Greece. But Jeroboam,more corrupted than that brave Athenian; Jeroboam,ftimulated by revenge, fired by ambition,and encouraged by that efleem which he knew theten tribes had of his political and military talents,and perhaps trufting alfo, that Ahijah's prophecywould certainly be fulfilled, did all he could to fplit^he united kingdom of Judah, which would render itlefs formidable to its neighbours than it had been underDavid and Solomon ; for, as David had been agreat warrior, had conquered Edom, and even Ek)thand Ezion-geber, ports upon the Red Sea, in the•neighbourhood of Egypt ; it can hardly be doubted,that Egypt dreaded the military fpirit of the Ifraelitifhnation, and even its commercial fpirit, by which ithad grown fo rich and powerful in the reign of Solomon.Hence it was that Jeroboam m.et with a kindreception in the court of Shifiiak: He aimed and expectedto be king of the ten tribes ; and it is highlyprobable, that, as foon as he reached Egypt, he enteredon the propereft means to execute his plan, inwhich he was aiMed by Shifhak. who encouraged