Apostasy

O God the heathen have come into thine inheritance, thy holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
Three deplorable calamities are here enumerated by the faithful; the alienation of God's inheritance , the profanation of the sanctuary, and the desolation of the beloved city. When we represent in our prayers, the sufferings and humiliation of the church, we take an effectual method of awakening the compassion, and recalling the favour of heaven. Every redeemed soul is the inheritance , the temple , the city of God . When sin enters , and takes possession , the inheritance is alienated, the temple defiled, the city desolated.

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