Fade all their glories. How from SEIR'S grey top, O'er Edom's sacred plains, the Almighty rode! The driven clouds were scatter'd into drops; Low bow'd the eternal mountains; at his sight But whence on ISRAEL could such misery fall? Why sat she down in bitterness of soul, Sad victim of despair; forgot the pomp, And triumphs of big war; where erst she shone, The sinking hills were levell'd; con- 'Midst thousands arm'd victorious? of peace. Lo, at thy fall, in realms of night below, Hell greets thine entrance to the worlds of woe! See from their thrones, along the infernal shade, Rise the dark spectres of the mighty dead, Friends to thy sway, and partners in thy crimes, Kings once on earth, and tyrants in their times! "And art thou fallen ?"-their looks of wonder crave"Swept, undistinguish'd, to the darksome grave? O'er thy pale cheek funereal damps are spread, And shrouds of sable wrap thee with the dead; What aw'd the world oblivion's shadows hide, And glad worms revel on the wrecks of pride. Is this the Power, whose once tre mendous eye Shook the wide earth and dar'd the avenging sky, Opposing kingdoms from their sceptres hurl'd, And spread sad ruin o'er the vanquish'd world? Is this the Power, that rose in boast ed state, Proud judge of thrones, and arbiter of fate? The Power, whose sorceries, us'd in every clime, Stain'd the dark annals of recording time, While persecution taught the infernal lore, And zeal was sated with the marty'rs gore? Lo! clos'd thine eyes that wont the Heavens to brave, Expos'd thou lay'st, an outcast from the grave; No splendid urn thy funeral dust contains, Nor one kind turf conceals thy sad remains ; For thee no marble lifts its tablet high, Where kings deceas'd in mournful gloFor just renown divides thee from ry lie; the bless'd, Nor decks the clods that lull thy bones to rest." And see destruction from the Almighty hand, Sweeps her broad besom o'er thy guilty land; Careering flames attend her dreadful way, And rising darkness intercepts the day; The dim sun sinks in fearful shades of night, The moon and planets veil their trembling light, O'er thy doom'd walls the louring storms ascend, And fate's dread omens mark thy hastening end. See mid the o'er-arching canopy of shade, An angel form, in robes of blood array'd, Lifts his red arm, that bids the tempest rise, Wing'd with the etherial vengeance of the skies; And calls the wintry winds, that all around, Roll on the storms and sweep the delug'd ground, And far beneath, where direful earthquakes sleep, Bursts the dark chambers of the affrighted deep! Lo! Heaven avenging pours the fiery tide; Thy whelm'd walls sink, thy tottering turrets slide, Thy glittering domes sulphurious torrents lave, And doom thy seats, a desart and a No future age thy glories shall recal, Thy turrets lift, or build thy desart grave! wall; Where the gilt palace pierc'd the admiring skies, The owl shall stun thee with funereal cries, The baleful dragon thro' thy gardens Extracts. THE LITURGY NOT CALVINISTICAL. IT is sufficient for our vindication, that our Liturgy uniformly points out the freedom of the will; that it invariably inculcates the doctrine of universal redemption; and that, though it places our ability to perform an acceptable service principally on the intervening assistance of the Holy Spirit, it ceases not to urge the exertion of every human endeavor. We are far from denying such a depravity of human nature as inclines us to evil. We admit that in Adam an died but we rejoice both in the co-operation of heavenly succor to further our efforts, and in the assurance, that in Christ all shall be made alive. In every part of sacred history we read of men who pleased God by their works. When the question was proposed to the immediate descendant of our first parent; If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted 2* what other inference is to be deduced from thence, than, that the change wrought by the sin of Adam, much as it might reduce his primeval dignity, did not preclude his offspring from the hope of finding acceptance for good works? It is absurd to suppose that these can be unavailing. They are the surest proofs of the soundness of our faith and defective as they are and must be, as well as ineffectual to our salvation, when rested upon wholly in themselves, without any reliance on the merits and mediation of our blessed Redeemer, yet are they the necessary accompaniments of religious belief. Admitting, as we do, that there is a law in our members warring against the law in our minds; yet we deny that the former is so powerful, as absolutely to bring us into captivity to the law of sin. If vigilance be not used on our part; if we oppose not strenuously the adversary, who seeketh our destruction, and if we supplicate not devoutly the divine grace, sin will then indeed have † Genesis iv. 7. dominion over us. But the very assurance, that if we resist the devil, he will flee from us; and the injunction to work out our salvation, manifestly imply, that much depends on our own exertions; and that to expect the divine assistance, without any efforts to co-operate with it, is a visionary conceit, calculated more to inspire unwarrantable confidence, than to promote either the glory of God, or the good of mankind. In what manner the holy spirit influences our actions we presume not to determine. Sufficient is it for us to be assured of his concurring and effectual power; and if we do not earnestly pray for this celestial guidance, we neglect the means divinely appointed to lead us to perfection; and we do despite unto the spirit of grace. But to expect any sudden and instantaneous illumination of our minds; or to suppose that the pardon of sin is instantly to be obtained, without serious and assured repentance, are assertions not warranted by the word of God, and may lead to consequences of the most dangerous nature. James iv. 7. ON RETIREMENT. "WHO shall be able to fix his attention amidst the hurry and dissipation of life? Who can meditate on wisdom, with the noise of folly sounding incessantly in his ears? That blessed person who could suffer no distraction of thought from the objects around him, withdrew from the multitude, that he might teach us to do the same, who, alas are often unable, when alone, to confine our thoughts, for a few minutes together, to one subject. The world, like Martha, is "troubled about many things," and most about those which are of least concern; so that, besides the profane, the unseemly, and uncharitable discourses, which they must hear, who are much conversant with it, the mind of a man suffers not a little from the variety of light and unprofitable conversation, in which he is frequently engaged. This scatters the thoughts, and so indisposes them for any speculations that are great and noble, sublime and sacred, that some time is required to reduce the wandering, to compose the spirits, and to restore that tranquility of soul which is so indispensably necessary for the prosecution of religious enquiries. And although the general assertion of a famous recluse, "that he always came out of company a worse man than he went into it," savoreth too much of the cloister, yet whoever, as the world goes, should diligently note the times when he came out of company a better man than he went into it, might, perhaps, find his diary contained in a less compass than at present he is apt to imagine." ON THE MINISTERIAL CHARACTER. "BEHOLD," saith our Lord, "they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses:"* look for them among the attendants of the princes of this world, and not among my servants. They who thirst after temporal honors and advantages, must go where such things are to be had. And let them go any where rather than come into the church with these dispositions. For he who would persuade others to despise the world, while the love of it appears to direct and govern • Matthew xi. & |