This was actually the case with these seven Churches, who, after some years of trial, were given over to the Saracens and Turks, who deprived them of all their boasted religious privileges and turned their Churches into Mosques, and their worship from Jesus Christ to the impostor Mahomet. William Penn was a faithful and zealous servant of Jesus Christ, and actually sought out a wilderness where he might train up a people in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. His whole conduct shows that the glory of God and the good of the souls of men, were his chief objects. He was tried in the furnace of affliction, and his garments were made white in the blood of the Lamb. Maryland was settled by persons flying from persecution. It is high time to examine yourselves, to know how great reason you also have to fear, that your political Heaven and earth, as well as your religious, may be shaken with the rest. Compare the present state of your affairs, both civil and religious, with those of your pious ancestors. If you find you have more theoretic knowledge, alas! have you not less practical piety? Will not the balance be greatly against you? Are not the witnesses of Jesus, in a great measure, yet teaching or prophesying among you in sackloth? "Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for thy works have not been found perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. But if thou shalt not watch, He will come on thee as a thief, and then thou shalt not know what hour He will come upon thee."* How will you answer, in the great day of inquisition for blood, for the share you have had in that horrid traf * Rev, ch. 3. v, 2, 3. fic in the souls of men, called the Guinea trade?-How will you account for the contradiction between your national declarations in a day of distress and humiliation, and your political conduct, under the smiles of divine Providence, since your deliverance has been effected.In 1774, while suffering under the hand of the oppressor, you voluntarily determined, "We will neither import nor purchase any slaves, imported after the first day of December next, after which time we will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels, or sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are concerned in it."-Your declaration of Independence, of which you so justly boast, has these words, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."* However you may plead in your excuse, that this declaration found you in possession of this species of property, and the total relinquishment of it, would have been adding affliction to the afflicted, yet are you not, as a nation, answerable for every soul imported from Africa since that date, and who are daily imported into Georgia and South-Carolina, by vessels, many of them from the eastern states, as well as for the children born since that time in your states?— Were these declarations designed merely to deceive and mislead-will not the God of all the earth make inquisition for these things? Again, have you not, in many instances, made slaves of many of the Indian nations and their descendants, and are you sure that these are not the descendants of the peculiar people of God. *Since writing the above, the Slave trade has been abolished by both America and Great Britain. "And moreover, I saw under the sun the place of judgment (or the highest Judicature) that wickedness was there, and the place of righteousness (or the national legislature) that iniquity was there."* "And behold the tears of such as are oppressed, for they have no comforter, and on the side of their oppressors there is power, but they have no comforter."+ "Yet there is no end of all their labour, neither is their eye satisfied with riches, neither saith he for whom do I labour and bereave my soul of good."‡ "Ye have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that you might drink. The children also of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.-Behold I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own heads; and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people afar off; for the Lord hath spoken it.") If God, in his righteous judgment, hath thus threatened other nations so severely, and hath executed those threatenings with great strictness, ought not every one who hath a part in this iniquitous traffic the greatest reason to fear, repent and turn from the evil of his ways. Have these states no antichrist among them also? If whatever opposes the reign of Christ upon earth, in a sense be antichrist, have they not reason to fear? Sir * Eccles. 3d ch. 16th v. Eccles. 4th ch. 8th v. + Eccles. 4th ch. 1st v. Isaac Newton and Dr. Clarke were both of the opinion, that the reign of the beast was to be the open avowal of infidelity. If so, may it not safely be concluded, that antichrist is not confined to Europe. Infidelity, or virtually denying the atonement of the Saviour, is one mark of the beast, of which we have reason greatly to fearAnd may we not also have some foundation of apprehension from future connections with the government of the beast that ariseth out of the bottomless pit. Every thing that tends to prevent the success of the Gospel and the accomplishment of the great object of redeeming love, is, in a measure, connected with antichrist. "Little children it is the last time, (or the fourth mon. archy spoken of by Daniel) and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time."*. "Who is a liar but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denieth the Father and the Son."t They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would, no doubt, have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us.”* You now behold the latter times of the last time, of the Roman government, or the fourth monarchy spoken of by Daniel, nearly accomplished. This does not, strictly speaking, consist in the actual completion of it, but in its visible near approach. It will be a progressive work, but it is near its close, and will be certain and unavoidable. You ought to bless God, that at so great a distance, you can, without the distraction that neces * 1st Epist. John, 2d ch. 18th and 19th v. 1st Epist. John, 2d. ch. 22d v. sarily attends immediate parties to the awful catastrophe, contemplate the prediction and fulfilment, and, therefore, be better able to take the warning so earnestly and so affectionately recommended by the spirit of God. "Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."* You have a revelation, marked by the strong and indelible lines of divine authority. In the free use of it, according to your own measure, there are none to dictate to you, or make you afraid. If you neglect so great salvation, of all the nations of the earth, you will be the least excuseable. Though the end of the period should be still at the distance of many years, from its entire completion, yet forget not the awful and perilous times which are to precede it—" And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."† If you will inquire and search for yourselves, you will find evidence enough, even from the events of a few years past, as we have shown herein, to satisfy the most incredulous mind; but it is indolence that destroys mankind, as to the things of religion. Search into the doctrines of the Gospel, and the things of God, with the same industry, earnestness, and zeal, that you practice to gain the knowledge of any human science, as law, physic, philosophy, &c. and you will no longer remain in doubt or uncertainty. The words of the prophet, as to the consequences that are to follow, are plain and express. will shake the Heavens and the earth; and I will over "I *Rev. 18th ch. 4th v. Ibid. 19th ch. 15th v. |