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mountains and solid rocks, melt as wax before the fire; nay the proud bills themselves, that were of old, dissolve away like the snows upon their hoary tops; and the whole fabrick of nature sinks beneath the astonished nations. All faces are turned into paleness; and, on every side, the voice of Anguish and Guilt is heard, wishing to disappear with the Earth,

Man starting from his couch shall sleep no more!
The day is broke, which never more shall close!
Above, around, beneath, amazement all!
Terror and glory join'd in their extreme!
Our God in grandeur, and our world on fire!
All nature struggling in the pangs of death!
Dost thou not hear her? dost thou not deplore
Her strong convulsions, and her final groan?
Where are we now? Ah me! the ground is gone,
On which we stood-Lorenzo! while thou may'st,
Provide more firm support, or sink forever!

Where? How? from whence? vain hope! it is too late!
Where, where, for shelter shall the guilty fly,
When consternation turns the good man pale?
Amazing period! when each mountain height
Out-burns Vesuvius; rocks eternal pour
Their melted mass, as rivers once they pour'd.
Stars rush; and final ruin fiercely drives
Her ploughshare o'er creation! while aloft,
More than astonishment! if more can be,
Far other Firmament than e'er was seen,
Than e'er was thought by man! far other stars!
Stars animate, that govern these of fire-
A swift Archangel, with his golden wing,

As blots and clouds, that darken and disgrace

The scene divine, sweeps Stars and Suns aside!
And now, all dross remov'd, heaven's own pure day
Full on the confines of our Ether, flames.

While (dreadful contrast!) far, how far beneath!
Hell, bursting, belches forth her blazing seas,
And storms sulphureous; her voracious jaws.
Expanding wide, and roaring for her prey.

its Mountains and Seas; or to be crushed into atoms, amidst the universal wreck, and to be hid from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and the wrath of the Lamb, forever! But, ah! no---their prayers are all nought and vain! Neither rocks, nor mountains, nor earth, nor seas, nor Hell itself, could they cast themselves into its deepest Abyss, can hide them from the all-seeing Eye, and all-avenging hand of their Almighty Creator! There is neither hope nor delay. The earth cannot shield---it is gone, it sinks beneath the astonished nations. The Sun withdraws his beams, he becomes black as sackcloth of hair, and the Moon becomes as blood---The Stars drop from their orbits, as the untimely Figs from the Fig. tree, when it is shaken with mighty winds---The Heavens depart, and become as a scroll when it is rolled together. The force of one element, breaking loose upon the rest, reduces all to nothing---all the delusive vanities, as well as the transient glories, of this habitable world---all the varieties of nature, all the works of art, all the labours of man, all that was once admired, and almost half adored, as great and magnificent---Where are they? They are gone---A new form, a new face of things, succeeds to their place.

Say then,* ye proud ones of the earth! ye victors of nations! ye that bear your heads high, and trust to

* In the foregoing attempt of my early years to give a scriptural aer count of the chief circumstances that are expected to attend the Dissolu. tion of this World, the Resurrection of the Dead, and the last Judgment (as well as in some other parts of these Sermons), I stand greatly indebted to the Sublime Burnet, especially in the 12th chapter of the 3d book of his original Latin edition, entitled, De Conflagratione Mundi. Towards the conclusion of this chapter, the Apostrophe to Satan bound in Hell during this conflagration, and the words which he put into his

things beneath the Moon! Where do you now rest your hopes? your empires, your thrones, your imperial cities, your pillars, your trophies, your monu

mouth, when he saw himself despoiled of his kingdom-Tum demum, vicisti O GALILAEE, as well the whole passage wherewith they stand connected, s.ruck me at the first reading, and still continue to strike me with marvel, especially on account of the aptitude and the time of their application to the grand Apostate.

"Sed cum Mentio fit Tartari, venit mihi etiam in Mentem Dæmonum & malorum Spirituum. Quid agent illi interea? Quo se proripient in hac Rerum Strage & Mundi sublunaris exustione? Non licebit illis excedere ex hac Sphæra magica, et hujus Telluris confiniis. Frustra tentabunt fugam quamcunque, aut in Abysso, aut in Abditis Terræ, se abscondere; aut ad beatas Sedes, quas Olim deseruerunt, remeare. Nullibi datur exitus; in hac picea fuligine, in his flammis habitandum & recubandum, ac si catenis vincti essent. Tum demum, Vicisti, Galilee, clamabit magnus Apostata, Rebellium & Reproborum. Caput, cum se regno suo spoliatum viderit, & ardenti Carcere inclusum."

When I first took up my copy of Burnet to read, which is the Latin quarto edition, printed very incorrectly by Wolters, at Amsterdam, 1699, at a very early period of life, it was under the prejudices of education, having been taught that it was only a Philosophical, and not a very Orthodox, Romance! But as I proceeded, I was so delighted with the purity and elegance of his language, and depth of his learning, and his manner of writ ing, and sentiment so congenial to my own, that I could not cease till I had given a cursory reading to his whole book; consisting of the following tracts, viz.-1. "Telluris Theoria sacra, or sacred theory of the earth; 2. Archeologie Philosophice; or the ancient Doctrine concerning the Origin of things. 3. De Statu Mɔrtuorum & Resurgentium; or the state of the Dead and those that are to rise; 4. De futura Restauratione Judæorum, or on the future restora ion of the Jews; On the MILLENNIUM, &C. He translated his Theory, upon the encouragement of CHARLES II, into English; but confesses, that although it is the same in substance as the Latin, it is not so properly a transla ion as a new composition upon the same ground, there being several aditional chapters in it, and several of the old, new-moulded."

In this transla ion, I wished to have found some notice taken of the fine La in passage inserted above, containing the words of Satan, “ Tum demum vicisti, &c." but it is not there; and I must attempt the translation as well as I can-" Since, says he, I have been led to mention Tartarus, "the Dæmons and evil spirits come to my mind; what are they doing, "and where will they betake themselves amidst this general Destruction "and Conflagration of the sublunary world? They are confined as it were

ments of glory---Where are they now? Shew me their place; read the inscriptions; spell your own names in the sculptures. No! Of the things that were, not a wreck remains!---But the immortal Soul of man can never perish, but will live safe, with the body which constituted the Good Man."He* that walketh uprightly, and worketh righte"ousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He "that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth "evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach "against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile per"son is contemned; but he honoureth them that "fear the Lord: he that sweareth to his own hurt, "and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the inHe that doeth these things shall never

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groans of nature, will be but what they expected, Now is the great Day that

Even this last tremendous scene, the fall of worlds, and the last nothing to the Just, and daily prepared for. fixes their everlasting doom, and when they begin to reap the fruits of their holiness.

Now they

"in a magic circle, in the neighbourhood of a burning earth. In vain can they attempt to make their Escape to any side; whether into the abyss of Hell, or to abscond themselves in the hidden parts of the Earth; "or to return to those happy seats in Heaven which they deserted and for"feited of old. There is no exit given them. In their present place of "pitchy darkness, and amidst the flames that surround them must they dwell "and lie bound as if it were with chains. In this direful extreme, the Igreat apostate, the chief of rebels and reprobates, seeing himself des"poiled of his kingdom, and shut up in a fiery prison, cries out, Thon bast conquered at last, O Galilæan!"

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Psalm xv. Ver. 2, to the end.

can turn up their eyes with triumph to meet their coming Judge, before whom the guilty world melts away; and while the hearts of others are failing them through fear, can take up the divine hymn of the Prophet Isaiah,* "Lo! this is our God, we have "waited for Him, and He will Save us! This is the "Lord, we have waited for Him; we will be glad " and rejoice in his Salvation!” “ Wet have fought "a good fight, we have finished our course, we have "kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for us crowns of righteousness, which the Lord our Righteous Judge shall give unto all those who "loved and longed for his appearance."

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Great+ "and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints." Hallelujah! Amen!

N. B. My next and last Sermon from this Text of St. Paul, (1 Thess. Ch. iv. on which Seven Sermons have been printed above) will be on a joyous Subject; the last verse of the copious text given me by St. Paul; namely, the best description I can give of the Bliss and Happiness of Heaven, and "of being forever with the Lord."

* Chap. xxv. Ver. 9. This was the text of the Sermon preached at New-York, on Christmas Day, 1755, of which the above description of the chief circumstance of the last judgment is an abstract.

† 2 Tim Ch. iv. Ver. 7.

Rev. Ch. xv. Ver. 3.

VOL. I.

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