All that has being in full concert join, YOUNG. O what exploits, what miracles of power and grace, are thefe! But why do I darken fuch fplendors with words without knowledge? The language of mortals was formed for lower descriptions. Eye hath not feen, ear has not heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things that God hath laid up for them that love him. I Cor. ii. 9. And now when the inhabitants of our world, for whofe fake it was formed, are all removed to other regions, and it is left a wide extended defert, what remains, but that it also meet its fate? It is fit fo guilty a globe, that had been the ftage of fin for fo many thousands of years, and which even fupported the cross on which its Maker expired, fhould be made a monument of the divine displeasure, and either be laid in ruins, or refined by fire. And fee! the universal blaze begins! the heavens pafs away with a great noife; the elements melt with fervent heat; the earth and the works that are therein are burnt up. 2 Pet. iii. 10. Now ftars rush from their orbits; comets glare; the earth trembles with convulfions; the Alps, the Andes, and all the lofty peaks or long extended ridges of mountains burst out into so many burning Ætnas, or thunder, and lighten, and smoke, and flame, and quake like Sinai, when God defcended upon it to publifh his fiery law! Rocks melt and run down in torrents of flame; rivers, lakes, and oceans boil and evaporate. Sheets of fire and pillars of fmoke, outrageous and infufferable thunders and lightnings burft, and bcllow, and blaze, and involve the atmosphere from pole to pole. The whole globe is now diffolved into a fhoreless ocean of liquid fire. And where now fhall * *See all the formidable fons of Fire, Eruptions, Earthquakes, Comets, Lightnings play we YOUNG, we find the places where cities ftood, where armies fought, where mountains ftretched their ridges, and reared their heads. on high? Alas! they are all lost, and have left no trace behind them where they once ftood. Where art thou, O my country? Sunk with the reft, as a drop into the burning ocean." Where now are your houses, your lands, and those earthly poffeffions you were once fo fond of? They are no where to be found. How forry a portion for an immortal mind is fuch a dying world as this! And, O! "How rich that God who can fuch charge defray, you "And bear to fling ten thousand worlds away!" YOUNG. Thus, my brethren, I have given you a view of the folemnities of the laft day which our world shall fee. The view has indeed been but very faint and obfcure and fuch will be all our views and defcriptions of it, till our eyes and our ears teach us better. Through thefe avenues you will at length receive * your inftructions. Yes, brethren, thofe ears that now hear my voice fhall hear the all-alarming clangor of the laft trumpet, the decifive fentence from the mouth of the universal Judge, and the horrid crash of falling worlds. Thefe very eyes with which now fee one another fhall yet fee the defcending Judge, the affembled multitudes, and all the majestic phenomena of that day. And we shall not see them as indifferent fpectators; no, we are as much concerned in this great tranfaction as any of the children of men. We must all appear before the judgmentfeat, and receive our fentence according to the deeds done in the body. And if fo, what are we doing that we are not more diligently preparing? Why does not the profpect affect us more? Why does it not transport the righteous with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. 1 Peter i. 8. And why are not the finners in Zion afraid? Why does not fearfulness surprise the hypocrites? Ifa. xxxiii. 14. Can one of you be careless from this hour till you are in readiness for that tremendous day? What What do the finners among you now think of repentance? Repentance is the grand preparative for this awful day; and the apoftle, as I obferved, mentions the final judgment in my text as a powerful motive to repentance. And what will criminals think of repentance when they see the Judge afcend his throne? Come, finners, look forward and fee the flaming tribunal erected, your crimes expofed, your doom pronounced, and your hell begun ; fee a whole world demolished, and ravaged by boundless conflagration for your fins! With these objects before you, I call you to repent?-I call you! I retract the words: God, the great God whom heaven and earth obey, commands you to repent. Whatever be your characters, whether rich or poor, old or young, white or black, wherever you fit or ftand, this command reaches you; for God now commandeth all men every were to repent. You are this day firmly bound to this duty by his authority. And dare you difobey with the profpect of all the awful folemnities of judgment before you in fo near a view? O! methinks I have now brought you into fuch a fituation, that the often-repeated but hitherto neglected call to repentance will be regarded by you. Repent you muft, either upon earth or in hell. You muft either fpend your time or your eternity in repentance. It is abfolutely unavoidable. Putting it off now does not remove the neceffity, but will only render it the more bitter and fevere hereafter. Which then do you choose? the tolerable, hopeful, medicinal repentance of the prefent life, or the intolerable, unprofitable, defpairing repentance of hell? Will you choose to spend time or eternity in this melancholy exercife? O! make the choice which God, which reafon, which felf-intereft, which common fenfe recommend to you. Now repent at the command of God, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained, of which he hath given you all full affurance in that he raifed him from the dead. Amen. SERMON SERMON XXI. THE ONE THING NEEDFUL. LUKE X. 41, 42. And Jefus answered and faid unto ber, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful: and Mary bath chofen that good part, which fhall not be taken away from her. Fo As 'OR what are we placed in this world? Is it to dwell here always? You cannot think so, when the millions of mankind that have appeared upon the ftage of time are fo many inftances of the contrary. The true notion therefore of the present state is, that it is a state of preparation and trial for the eternal world; a ftate of education for our adult age. children are fent to school, and youth bound out to trades, to prepare them for business, and qualify them to live in the world, fo we are placed here to prepare us for the grand bufinefs of immortality, the ftate of our maturity, and to qualify us to live for ever. And is there an heaven of the most perfect happiness, and an hell of the most exquifite mifery, juft before us, perhaps not a year or even a day distant from us? And is it the great defign, the businefs and duty of the present ftate, to obtain the one and efcape the other? Then what are we doing? What is the world doing all around us? Are they acting as it becomes candidates for eternity? Are they indeed making that the principal object of their moft zealous endeavours, which is the grand defign, business and duty of the present ftate? Are they minding this at all adventures whatever elfe they neglect? This is what we might expect from them as reasonable creatures, as creatures that love themfelves, felves, and have a strong innate defire of happiness. This a ftranger to our world might charitably prefume concerning them. But, alas! look upon the conduct of the world around you, or look nearer home, and where you are more nearly interested, upon your own conduct, and you will fee this is not generally the cafe. No; inftead of pursuing the one thing needful, the world is all in motion, all buftle and hurry, like ants upon a mole-hill, about other affairs. They are in a ftill higher degree than officious Martha, careful and troubled about many things. Now to recal you from this endless variety of vain pursuits and direct your endeavours to the proper object, I can think of no better expedient than to explain and inculcate upon you the admonition of Chrift to Martha, and his commendation of Mary upon this head. Martha was the head of a little family, probably a widow, in a village near Jerufalem, called Bethany. Her brother and fifter, Lazarus and Mary, lived along with her. And what is remarkable concerning this little family is, that they were all lovers of Jesus : and their love was not without returns on his fide; for we are expressly told that Jefus loved Martha, and her fifter, and Lazarus.-What an happy family is this! but O how rare in the world! This was a convenient place of retirement to Jefus, after the labours and fatigues of his miniftry in the city and here we often find him. Though spent and exhausted with his public fervices, yet when he gets into the circle of a few friends in a private houfe, he cannot be idle: he still inftructs them with his heavenly dif course; and his converfation is a conftant fermon. Mary, who was paffionately devout and eager for inftruction, would not let fuch a rare opportunity flip, but fits down at the feet of this great Teacher, which was the posture of the Jewish pupils before their mafters, and eagerly catches every word from his lips; VOL. II. * F from *Hence St. Paul's expreffion, that he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. |