: 1 They rejected, ridiculed, and exposed to public scorn, by the increasing club of deists and where the Christian name and profession are retained, the life and spirit are too generally lost; and the practice, an open opposition to their professed faith. How are the ordinances of the gospel neglected or profaned! What a shocking variety of crimes are to be found every where, even in countries that profess to have renounced popery for its corruptions? Drunkenness, swearing, perjury, lying, fraud, and injustice; pride, luxury, various forms of lewdness, and all manner of extravagancies and all these expressly forbidden, under the severest penalties, by that religion which themselves profess and acknowledge divine and thus they continue, in spite of warnings and chastisements-in spite of mercies and instructions. have sinned on, impenitent, and incorrigible, for a length of years. God is but little regarded in the world, which owes its existence and all its blessings to his power and goodness. Jesus is but little regarded, even in those countries that profess his name: and is it any wonder the earth trembles, when the iniquity thereof lies so heavy upon it? Is it not rather a wonder that it has not burst to pieces long ago, and buried its guilty inhabitants in its ruins ? Is there a supreme Ruler over the kingdoms of men, and shall he not testify his displeasure against their rebellion? Shall he always tamely submit to such contemptuous treatment? And shall he always look on, and see his government insulted, and his vengeance defied? No: at proper seasons he will come forth out of his place he will depart from the stated course of his providence, to punish them for their iniquities. The convulsions of the earth, the inundations of the sea, and the sword of war shall at once proclaim and execute his displeasure. If our country have escaped the devastations of the earthquake, it is not owing to our innocence, but to the distinguishing mercy and patience of God. And, therefore, Thirdly, This melancholy event may carry your minds gratefully to reflect upon the peculiar kindness of Heaven towards our country, in that it was not involved in the same destruction. I need not tell you that we are a guilty, obnoxious people : you may be convinced of it by more authentic evidence. The lives of the generality proclaim it aloud the terrors of war that now surround us, proclaim it and do not your own consciences whisper the same thing? And why have we been spared? How has even this solid continent borne up under the load of guilt that burdens it? It has been owing entirely to the grace and patience of that God, who is so little regarded among us. And shall we not gratefully celebrate his praises? Shall not his goodness lead us to repentance? or shall all his kindness be thrown away upon us, and will we constrain him to pour out his judgments upon us also, at last? Methinks I hear him expostulating over Virginia, in that compassionate language: "How shall I give thee up, Virginia? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim ?" Cities that were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah. "My heart is turned within me; my repentings are kindled together."* Oh! must not such moving language melt us down at his feet, in the most ingenuous repentance, and en gage us to his service for the future? Without a spirit of prophecy, I may safely pronounce, it will never be well with our coun try till we are brought to this. But, Fourthly, That which I would particularly suggest to your thoughts from the devastations of the late earthquake, is the last universal destruction of our world at the final judgment.Of this, an earthquake is both a confirmation to human reason, and a lively representation. It is a confirmation even to human reason, drawn from the constitution of our globe, that such a destruction is possible, and even probable, according to the course of nature. Our globe is stored with subterranean magazines of combustible materials, which need but a spark to produce a violent explosion, and rend and burst it to pieces. What huge quantities of these sulphur ous and nitrous mines must there be, when one discharge can spread a tremor over half the world, bury islands and cities, and shatter wide-extended continents! What an inexhaustible store of fire and brimstone has supplied Etna, Vesuvius, and other burning mountains, that have been belching out torrents of liquid fire for some thousands of years, and now rage as furiously as ever? Let but the subterranean magazines, in every cave and Granny of the globe, be set in a blaze-let the central fire but break loose-let all the combustible materials near or upon the surface of the earth, be once enflamed-turf, coal, trees, cities, houses, and all their furniture; this would produce a general conflagration, which nothing could resist. In short, we may * Hosea ii. 8. conjecture from the construction of our world, that it was not intended for a perpetual existence, in its present form, but to be dissolved by the dreadful element of fire. And Revelation assures us of this universal desolation, when the "heavens shall be shrivelled up, like a parched scroll, and pass away with a great noise ; and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the things that are therein, shall be burnt up." An earthquake is also a lively representation of the universal ruins of that day, and the horror and consternation of mankind. Let imagination form a lively idea of the destruction of Lisbonthe ground trembling and heaving, and roaring with subterranean thunders-towers, palaces and churches tottering, and fallingthe flames bursting from the ruins, and setting all in a blazethe sea roaring, and rushing over its banks with resistless impetuosity-the inhabitants running from place to place in wild consternation, in search of safety; or falling on their knees, and rending the air with their wild shrieks and cries-flying to the strongest buildings for shelter, but crushed in their ruins; or to the sea, and there, swept away by the rushing waves.- -Walls falling upon thousands in their flight; or the earth opening her jaws, and swallowing them up. Can human imagination represent any thing more shocking? In other calamities, whatever else we lose, we have still the earth to support us: but when that is gone, we are helpless indeed, and must sink into immediate destruction. Such, my brethren, but infinitely more dreadful, will be the terrors of that last, that universal earthquake, which we shall all see. Stars drop, rush lawless through the air, and dash one another to pieces. The sun is extinguished, and looks like a huge globe of solid darkness. The moon is turned into blood, and reflects a portentous sanguinary light upon the earth. The clouds flash and blaze with sheets of lightning; and are rent with the horrid crash of thunder. This is echoed back by the subterranean thunders that murmur, rumble and roar, under ground. The earth is tossed, like a ball, and bursis asunder like a mouldering clod. See the yawning gulfs open! the flames bursting forth from the centre; and a horrid confusion of fire and smoke rolling through the arch of heaven! See the works of nature and art * 2 Peter iii. 10. perishing, in one promiscuous ruin Mountains sinking and bursting out into so many volcanoes, vomiting up seas of liquid fire!-Rocks dissolving, and pouring their melted mass into the channels of the rivers!-Pyramids, towers, palaces, cities, woods, and plains, burning in one prodigious, undistinguishing blaze! the seas evaporating, and vanishing away, through the intenseness of the heat !--a mixed, confused heap of sea and land: floods of water, and torrents of melted rocks! Now the earth is turned upside down-inside-out, and reduced into a mere chaos. "See all the formidable sons of fire, Eruptions, earthquakes, comets, lightnings, play Amazing period! when each mountain-top Their melted mass, as rivers once they pour'd: -I see! I feel it ! All nature, like an earthquake, trembling round! For guilt no plea! to pain, no pause, no bound! And where, ye hardy presumptuous sinners, that can now despise the terrors of the Lord, oh! where will ye appear in this tremendous day? What shall support you, when the ground on which you stood is gone? What rock or mountain shall you procure to shelter you, when rocks and mountains are sinking and disappearing, or melting away, like snow before the sun? How can you expect to escape hell, when the earth itself is turned into a lake of fire and brimstone? Oh! how can you bear the thought of rolling and weltering there? What is now become of your lands and possessions on which you once set your hearts? Nay, where is the country, where the continent, in which you * Young's Night Thoughts, No. 9. once dwelt? Alas! they are all reduced into ashes, or calcinated into glass, or a mere caput mortuum. And is there no safety in this wreck of nature? Are all mankind involved in this general ruin? No; blessed be God, there are some who shall be safe and unhurt, while the frame of nature is dissolving around them. Those happy souls, who choose the Lord for their portion, and Jesus for their Saviour, and who in this tottering world looked for a city that has foundations, firm unshaken foundations, they shall be safe beyond the reach of this general desolation-their happiness lies secure in a 66 kingdom that cannot be moved."* There is a new heaven and a new earth prepared for them. Then, my brethren, you will see the advantage of that despised, neglected thing, religion, and the difference between the righteous and the wicked; between him that serveth the Lord, and him that serveth him not.t Then, those that are now so unfashionable is to make religion a serious business, will smile secure at a dissolving world. Then, they will find the happy fruits of those hours they spent on their knees, at the throne of graceof those cries and tears they poured out after Jesus-of their honest struggles with sin and temptation; and, in short, of a life devoted to God. Therefore, let such of you (for I trust there are such among you) rejoice in the prospect of that glorious, dreadful day; and let it be more and more your serious business to prepare for it. You shall rest forever in a country that shall never be shaken with earthquakes, nor be subject to any of the calamities of this mortal state. Therefore, since this shall be your portion, be not much disturbed with any of the judgments that may befal this land of your pilgrimage and exile. The sooner it is destroyed, the sooner will you get home to the region of eternal rest. Borrow the language of the triumphant Psalmist, "We will not fear, though the earth be removed; and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar, and be troubled; though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." But, oh! where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? O, where shall some of you, my dear people, appear in that dreadful day? I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, and am really afraid for some of you. Do you not know in your consciences, * Heb. xii. 28. † Mal. iii. 18. Psa. xlvi. 2, 3. |