I AM pretty certain I need not inform my hearers, what is the more particular and special occasion of my chusing this passage of holy Scripture for the subject of our meditations at this time. So alarming a visitation of providence, does, I think, na­turally lead to it, and now claim our particular notice; and the rather, because it has been repeated, even so lately as the last evening. Tho' there are many per­sons [Page 6] thro'out the world, so thoughtless and irreligious as to disregard the common, ordinary occurrences of divine providence, which are familiar to them; yet there are few, if any, who are arrived at such a pitch of impiety, whose consciences are so feared and har­dened, as not to have their attention awak [...]ned, and to receive some religious impressions, by mea [...]s of such unusual, such striking and stupendous events. When God "looketh on the earth, and it trembleth," or "toucheth the hills, and they smoke," ^† even the most abandoned men, who are witnesses of these his mighty works, are generally struck with a solemn awe, and have their thoughts turned towards the great Au­thor, Upholder, and Governor of the universe: And whenever they are thus led to think seriously of Him, they cannot but wish themselves the objects of his favour, and shudder under the apprehensions of his righteous displeasure: They cannot but account his displeasure even worse than death, and his ‘loving kindness better than life.’

SUCH seasons and opportunities as the present, when the ears and hearts of men may be supposed more open to discipline, ought not, therefore, to be neglected, but carefully improved by those, whose particular business it is to "call sinners to repentance," and to preach righteousness to the world. They may reasonably [Page 7] hope to have an easier access to the minds and consci­ [...] of men, at such times than at others; and to find them more susceptible of those good impressions, which, tho' at all times fit and reasonable to be receiv­ed, [...]re yet too often attempted to be made to no pur­pose, at other seasons. I believe there is no wicked man amongst us, tho' it may be justly feared there are many to whom this character belongs; I believe there is no wicked man amongst us, I say, whose heart did not tremble within his breast, when the earth so lately trembled under his feet; none, the joynts of whose loins were not loosed, and whose bones and marrow did not seem to be dissolving, when the very frame of nature, and the foundations of the world were put out of course; and all these things seemed to be dissolving. For the truth of this, I dare appeal to the most profligate, hardened sinner present; even to those, who may have only made a mock of sin be­fore, not having considered, that with God there is terrible majesty, till He thus caused his dread to fall upon them, and his excellency made them afraid.

MY design, therefore, is, by the assistance and bles­sing of Him, ‘who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will,’ ^† in the kingdom of his providence, and of his grace, to fix, confirm, and cultivate into a principle of sober, practical religion and piety, those good impressions, which, I cannot but hope and believe, have been made upon the hearts of the young and tho'tless; and even upon those of the [Page 8] most profane and dissolute, by this awakening and repeat­ed visitation of divine providence: Improving it, at the same time, for the quickening of good men in their christian course, and "the perfecting of the saints"; that they may give the more diligence to be found of their Judge in peace at last, ‘without spot and blame­less.’ For we are, I think, naturally led by these visitations and admonitions of providence, to turn our attention to that great period, when we shall ‘all ap­pear before the judgment-seat of Christ;’ and when all these things which were, just now, only shaken, shall be intirely dissolved; and when, not only the earth shall be moved out of her place, but the heavens themselves "shall pass away with a great noise." ‘Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of GOD?’—

IN discoursing upon this subject, it will be proper to inquire, in the

FIRST place, what things those are, of which St. Peter speaks; and all which, he assures us, shall be dissolved?

SECONDLY, what we are to understand by the dissolution of these things? And,

THIRDLY, when this great and interesting event shall come to pass? or what will be the forerunners, concomitants, and consequents of it?

[Page 9]FOURTHLY, I shall, in conformity to the ori­ginal design of the passage, and the manifest scope of the apostle, urge the certainty hereof as a motive to universal holiness, and, thereby, to prepare for, and ha­sten unto, the coming of this Day of God.

THE subject will then be closed with some appli­cation of it, relative to the present season, and to those providential dispensations, which so naturally lead us forward in our contemplations to the great catastrophe of nature, when ‘all these things shall be dissolved.’ Nor can I doubt but that you will favour me with a serious attention, both the subject and the occasion being such, as may justly claim one.

HOWEVER, it is not my intention to address my­self merely to the passions of my hearers; much less, to take this opportunity, when the minds of many peo­ple may be ruffled and discomposed, to promote the cause of superstition; a cause which, I bless God, I have neither any interest nor inclination to serve. I shall, therefore address myself to you, as to men, and reasonable creatures; endeavouring to gain access to your hearts and consciences, to the most secret apart­ments of your souls, if I may so express it, thro' the door of your understandings. And this will so much the rather be the manner of my ad­dress, because I am perswaded from my own obser­vation, that no religious impressions can be of the right kind, durable, and of lasting benefit to the sub­jects [Page 10] of them, besides those which are made, or at least fixed, by rational, sober, and honest methods, with the concurrence and blessing of Him, who ‘worketh all in all.’ It might be added, as a farther reason for this manner of address, that the subject is, in its own nature, so universally interesting and affecting, and the passions of people so generally raised to an high pitch already, by the late providential occurrences, that there is, perhaps, more need to bring them to calm reflec­tion, by treating the subject in a sober, argumentative way, than to ruffle them still more, by treating it in a way altogether rhetorical and pathetic: Though I am sensible, that no one who has a just feeling of its importance, can discourse coldly upon it; which would, indeed, be an inexcusable impropriety. He that can speak of the dissolution of all things, of the heavens and the earth in flames, of eternal judg­ment, and of that day of God, which issues in the glorious reward and triumph of the saints, and in the "perdition of ungodly men"; he that can speak of such things in a cold, icy, unaffecting stile, does not himself believe what he says, but only acts a part; and that, so unnaturally and absurdly, as could not but disgust every judicious hearer. To return, there­fore; let us,

FIRST inquire, what those things are, of which St. Peter is here speaking; and all which, he assures us, shall be dissolved? "Seeing then that all these things," &c. i. e. the things which he had mentioned in the pre­ceeding [Page 11] context. They are called ‘the heavens and the earth, which now are,’ ver. 7. and ver. 10 they are more particularly distributed into ‘the hea­vens, the elements, the earth also, and the works that are therein.’ It immediately following in the text, "Seeing then that all these things," &c. it is evident the apostle must intend, not only all those things which men themselves cannot but look upon to be fading, transitory and perishing; but also those which appear to be the most substantial and durable: all the cities and towers, the temples and monuments of the world, however deep and strong their founda­tions may be laid, and tho' built for perpetuity; all the magnificent works of men; all the products of human art and power, thro' so many successive ages; all the mighty babels which either pride and vanity, or fear, has erected, tho' their tops should reach to hea­ven; all these things shall be dissolved. And not only all these works of men, but the earth itself, which is the work of God, and which contains and supports them; this habitable world itself, which seems so solid and durable. The "everlasting hills" shall not last forever: the loftiest mountains, with their rocks of adamant, and the very elements themselves, of which the earth is composed; all these things expect their dissolution. Yea, the dissolution will extend even beyond this earth, to the air and atmosphere which surround and infold it, as in a garment; if not to the planetary regions also, and this whole solar system. For some are of opinion, that by the hea­vens [Page 12] St. Peter intends, not only these lower regi­ons, and aerial heavens, but the aetherial also, with the sun and planets. And although there are objections against this supposition, yet it cannot be denied that the opinion is favoured by some other passages of scripture, if we take them in that sense, which first and most readily offers itself to the mind. Thus Psalm cii.25, 26. which is quoted by the author to the Hebrews, chap. vii. ‘Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.’ It is far from being certain that the heavens and the earth, are here used metaphorically, either for men of high degree, and of low, or for the angelical hosts and hierarchy, and for earthly rulers. They are▪ perhaps, to be understood literally, for that material earth, and those heavenly bodies, which "in the beginning God created;" ^† which "declare his glory, and shew his handy-work."^* A passage in the 12th of Hebrews may be thus li­terally understood also, where the author alludes to the shaking and quaking of mount Sinai, at the giving of the law, and to a prophecy of Haggai concerning what should come to pass under the reign of the Messiah, or rather at the close thereof, when the pe­riod comes for his ‘delivering up the kingdom to God, even the Father.’ "If they escaped not," [Page 13] says he, ‘who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven; whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised saying, yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this, 'yet once more', signi­fieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.’ I am sensible that a figurative interpretation is usually put upon this passage: but it may admit of some doubt, whe­ther it ought to be thus understood. For since the shaking of the earth, in the former part of the pas­sage, where the apostle refers to the giving of the law, plainly means a literal shaking of it, is it not most natural to understand literally what follows in the latter part of it, concerning the shaking of the hea­vens, "as of things that are made?" And it is to be observed, that some mighty concussion, and certain great changes, of the heavenly bodies, as well as of this earth, seem plainly foretold in the revelation of St. John, when that important period shall arrive, to which St. Peter alludes in the text. ‘And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind; and the heaven departed as a scrowl when it is rolled together; [Page 14] and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.’ ^* It seems not unlikely that the same period, and the same great events, are referred to, in the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘My salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people—Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like man­ner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.’ ^† I leave every one to judge for himself, after carefully ex­aming and comparing these, and such like passages, whether it is this earth only which is to be dissolved?

BUT I must not enlarge upon this head any fur­ther. The things which St. Peter speaks of in the text, are certainly all those things which are compre­hended, in the preceeding verses, under these terms, the "heavens," the "elements," the "earth," and the "works that are therein." And by comparing other passages of scripture, which predict the mighty changes and revolutions which shall hereafter take place in the natural, visible world, it appears most probable to me, that the apostle intends this whole system, inclusive of the sun and planetary regions, as well as this habitable world, with all its furniture. Thus far, it is not unlikely, this great dissolution will extend. Wherefore

[Page 15]SECONDLY, let us inquire more particularly what is to be understood by the dissolution of these things.

NO one, certainly, can hereby understand their annihilation; or suppose that they are all, at length, to vanish into nothing, and, by being blotted out of, leave a mighty void and blank in, the creation of God. The language of scripture, indeed, evidently implies the contrary: For no man by the "dissolving," by the "shaking," the "removing," the ‘folding up’ and "changing" of things, or even by their "perishing," understands their ceasing to be, or a de­privation of existence. But neither, upon the other hand, can all these expressions which the scriptures make use of with reference to this matter, mean only some little, inconsiderable alterations in the external form, qualities, and appearances of the things intend­ed. They undoubtedly mean, in general, some mighty and astonishing revolutions and changes in the material, visible world; some great catastrophe which is to befal it, in some future period, so that it may be said to be destroyed, and to become a wide extended ruin: They imply, that the whole present frame and course of nature shall be altered; all things putting on a very different aspect from that which they now wear, so as to have the appearance rather of a world laid in ruins, than of a regular, beautiful fa­brick, as it is in general at present; though it has evi­dently been impaired and damaged in some degree [Page 16] already, and is daily going to decay and destruction. Nothing less than this can be implied in the disso­lution of all these things; in their waxing old and pe­rishing; in their being folded up and changed; in the powers of heaven and earth being shaken, &c.

AS to this earth, our present scene of action, and in the fate and fortune of which, we seem to be more especially interested; the scriptures plainly inform us, that it shall be thus ruined, thus destroyed: And they teach us still more particularly, by what means this destruction and dissolution shall be affected, or brought about; namely, by fire. And whatever St. Peter may intend in the context, by the heavens, he extends the future conflagration to them, not limiting it to this habitable earth. It may seem strange that the same world should be subjected to two such dif­ferent catastrophes, as first to be drowned, and then burned. But the apostle having mentioned the former, in the preceeding context, foretels the latter, in the following language. ‘But the heavens and the earth which now are,—are kept in store, reserved unto fire’—‘The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.’ ^* And when the apostle imme­diately subjoins, ‘Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,’ &c. it is manifest that he means, thus destroyed, thus dissolved and ruined, by fire; by a general flame, that shall embrace and wrap [Page 17] them up, and prey upon them till they are reduced, as it were, to one mighty burning mass, or fiery chaos. The expressions, that the elements shall "melt with fervent heat," that the earth with its works shall be "burnt up," and that all these things shall be "dissolved," are very strong and empha­tical; and can imply nothing short of the utter ruin and destruction of the world with its contents, by that furious element which shall be let loose upon it. Even the great mountains, the burdens of the earth, the fabled props of the skies, and habitations of gods, shall flow down; ‘the hills shall melt, and the earth be burnt up at the presence of the Lord, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.’ ^† This is the predicted fate and destruction, at least of that globe which we inhabit; and where vain, foolish, and worldly minded men imagine, that even ‘their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; where "they call their lands after their own names,’ ^* and set up pillars and monuments to eternize their memory! All these things shall be dissolved; reduced to cinders, ashes and smoke; and pass away—

[Page 18] Even the present ruins of the earth; the horrid re­mains of cities burnt, or laid in heaps; of temples and monuments, of triumphal arches and pyramids, half mouldered away, or overturned; the rubbish and ruins of ages, made and left by inundations, storms and tempests, volcanos and earthquakes; these ruins shall be themselves ruined, together with whatever is most beautiful and magnificent in the world, and the world itself: All, all these things shall be dissolved; and neither the form nor place of any of them be any more distinguished, or remembred, when this last fire has done its appointed work!

WHAT changes, yea, what destruction analogous to this, when the earth and the works that are therein shall be burnt up, may happen to other parts of this visible creation, about the same time, I shall not now pretend to inquire, much less to determine. But I dare almost be confident, that the holy scriptures in­timate somewhat of this sort to us; and that these numerous passages cannot be tolerably explained to a sense merely metaphorical or figurative. And indeed the most literal and obvious sense of scripture, should ever be adhered to, till we see some plain and posi­tive reason for departing from it; as, I must confess, I am not able to do in the present case. Do we know that this is the only sinful world, which may hereafter be ripe for destruction, and doomed thereto? Or is it any more absurd and incongruous to suppose, that this whole planetary or solar system, should at [Page 19] length "wax old," and "perish," be "dissol­ved," and "pass away with a great noise;" and be­come a wide-extended ruin in the creation of God, for a time, 'till the time of the renovation or ‘restitution of all things;’ ^† is there any thing more absurd or incredible in this supposition, I say, than in supposing that this earth shall undergo such a dissolution? Per­haps there may be; but I cannot tell in what respect: And I think the scriptures have foretold the one, al­most as plainly as they have the other. It might be added, that the phaenomena of comets, or blazing-stars, give a degree of credibility to this opinion, not to say of probability, notwithstanding some conjectu­ral accounts and solutions given of them, which do not favour it. However, this is neither a time nor a place to philosophize upon the point, were one ca­pable of it.

LET it suffice for the present, that St. Peter tells us, not only that the earth and the works that are therein shall be burnt up, but also that ‘the hea­vens being on fire shall be dissolved;’ the Psalmist, that they shall "wax old and perish;" the Pro­phet, that the time is coming, when God will "shake not only the earth, but also heaven;" St. John, that he saw in his vision, the sun ‘become black as sackcloth of hair,’ the "moon as blood," and the "stars falling from heaven;" and our Sa­viour himself, that ‘the sun shall be darkened▪ and the moon shall not give her light; and the [...] [Page 20] of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken;’ ^† and in sine, that when the Apostle speaks of the subsequent renovation of the things that are to be dissolved, according to the promise of God after this mighty catastrophe, he says, "we look for new heavens" as well as ‘a new earth.’ ^* Laying these things together, with some others which I have not time to mention, we have at least, some reason to think that the destruction and fiery dissolution, of which St. Peter speaks in the text and context, will not be confined to this globe; though I do not pretend to determine how far it will reach beyond it; or how many worlds may become fuel for this last burning, and ‘pass away with a great noise.’

THIS earth, in which we are more immediately and particularly concerned, is apparently hastening to that destruction, to which it is condemned, and was fore-or­dained, by its Creator; I mean to a dissolution by fire. Insomuch that some of the old philosophers, not only saw and predicted that it would come to this end; but even expressed their surprize, that it was not thus destroyed before their own time. By the frequent hints, and allusions, and even plain predictions, which are found in ancient, prophane writers, respecting this matter, it is not improbable that there had been some common tradition concerning it, derived from Noah perhaps, and universally propagated amongst the in­habitants [Page 21] of the earth, at its first peopling after the deluge. For some of them speak of a future confla­gration as certain, without assigning any other reason for it, than that it was decreed by the fates, or that others had asserted it before them; i. e. it was a tradi­tion handed down from one generation to another, from time immemorial. However, some philosophers were doubtless confirmed in the belief of this traditionary doctrine, by observing the preparations which were made in nature by the God thereof, for bringing such a stupendous event to pass; the immense quantities of coal, sulphur, and other combustible matter in the bowels, and upon the surface of the earth; burning mountains, and subterraneous fires; the sudden eruption of fire and flames in some places where they were least suspected; particularly when the ground has been cracked and opened by earth­quakes: For of this, history makes mention. These, with various other things, made it appear propable to the observing, that the element of fire would at length become predominant over all. ^* We daily tread, for [Page 22] aught we know, over huge burning lakes and caverns, extending from country to country; some of which may not be very far from the surface of the ground, the fire still struggling to get from its prison, and na­turally ascending. By which subterraneous fires, some have, not improbably, accounted for the phae­nomena of hot and boiling springs; which are so common in many countries. Nor does the dry land only, seem to be thus undermined; but the sea itself, if we may credit the accounts which some have given. ^†

IN short, this world is already on fire, and has long been so: And altho' that element has not yet got [Page 23] the mastery of all the rest, every where, it seems to be gradually gaining the conquest of them. And if we regard that sure word of prophecy, whereunto we ought to take heed, we must believe that it will at length, at the appointed time, become victorious and triumphant: When this earth, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up, and ‘all these things shall be dissolved.’ But

THIRDLY, Let us in the next place inquire, when all these things shall be thus dissolved? When this great event shall come to pass? or what will be the fore-runners, concomitants and consequents of it?

No one, I conclude, will imagine, that by, ‘When this event shall come to pass,’ I mean strictly and properly, how long it will be before it is accomplish­ed? how many days, months, years, or even ages? Which would be an inquiry, equally fruitless and pre­sumptuous. Neither the world's nativity, nor its disso­lution and death, can be calculated by any rules of astrology or philosophy; by human arithmetic and art: Nor has God, whose word gave birth and being to it, and who only knows its end, particularly and determinately revealed to us the time when it shall fall to ruins, and be dissolved. This important period is only marked out to us in scripture, by another, of which we are equally uncertain: Which is rather informing us what shall be coincident with this event in point of time, than telling us how soon it shall come to pass, or how long be deferred. The holy scrip­tures [Page 24] have informed us in general, that it shall be accomplished at Christ's second coming; his coming in glory and majesty to judge that world, which he once came in "the form of a servant" to redeem. Thus in the preceeding context, St. Peter having said, that the ‘heavens and the earth which now are, are kept in store, reserved unto fire,’ immediately sub­joins, ‘against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men.’ Plainly intimating, as it appears to me, not only that the future conflagration and the last judgment shall be contemporary, or coincident in respect of time; but also, that the world is thus re­served unto fire, partly, at least, for the place and scene of that punishment and perdition, which awaits the wicked, then to be judged and condemned. Agre­ably whereto, their sentence, as we have it in our Lord's own words, will be, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.’ ^* What fire can so probably be intended here, as that by which this earth is finally to be dissolved? this earth which, it is ex­presly said, is reserved unto fire, against that day, and the perdition of the ungodly? But not to digress. That the dissolution of all things, and the second coming of our Lord, will be coincident, is still farther evident from this chapter; beyond which, indeed, I need not go for the proof of this point. St. Peter's discourse here, concerning the conflagration, seems plainly relative to, and occasioned by, the pro­phetic view and fore-sight which he had of those [Page 25] "scoffers" who should arise, saying with an air of insolent derision and triumph, ‘Where is the pro­mise of his [i. e. Christ's] coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’ ^* That which follows in this chapter, seems chiefly designed as an an­swer to such vain scoffers in every succeeding age, whose hearts are ‘fully set in them to do evil, be­cause sentence against their evil works is not exe­cuted speedily.’ ^† The standing, perpetual answer to such faithless mockers, and which contains, at the same time, both an invitation to accept of mercy, and a threatning of deserved vengeance at the appointed season; the standing answer to such mockers, I say, is this, ‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, [the promise of his coming] as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come, as a thief in the night, in the which,’ (be pleased to observe the connection) ‘in the which, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.’ ^§

YOU cannot but observe also, that the manner of expression in the text, supposes that these things will be dissolved in the day of Christ's appearing: ‘See­ing [Page 26] then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be—looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of God;’ i. e. the day wherein they shall be thus dissolved: For it immediately follows, ‘wherein the heavens being on fire.’ &c. That which St. Peter before calls ‘the day of judgment,’ and "the day of the Lord;" and in the which, he assures us, all these things shall be dis­solved, he, in the text, calls "the day of GOD." All days, times, and seasons, are indeed God's, in one sense; but that of our Lord's coming to judge the quick and the dead, is eminently and emphatically so. It may be called the day of God with peculiar propriety, as it is God who has chosen, fixed and prae-determined it, for so grand and important a purpose. For, in the language of St. Paul, ‘God commandeth all men every where to repent; because He hath ap­pointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom He hath or­dained; whereof He hath given’ [sufficient and ample ground of] ‘assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the dead.’ ^* This is also emphatically the day of God, as He only knows when it will arrive: For our Lord has said that there are some "times" and "seasons," which it is not for us to know, and ‘which the Father hath put in his own power.’ ^† And concerning this important pe­riod in particular, our Saviour has declared saying, ‘Of that day and of that hour knoweth no man, no [Page 27] not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.’ ^* This is, moreover, emphatical­ly the day of God, as His power, wisdom, righteous­ness and glory; His goodness and faithfulness to the saints, and His just severity against the workers of ini­quity, will therein be made manifest, and appear far more illustrious than they did before: as it is the time wherein the ‘mystery of God shall be finished, as He hath declared to his servants the prophets;’ all his works then appearing to be truth, and his ways judgment, tho' clouds and darkness are now round a­bout him; the day which shall reveal him to be God indeed; the all-powerful and just Sovereign of the world; and which is, therefore, called the ‘day of the revelation of his righteous judgment.’ ^†

THIS is, I think, a plain, scriptural account, why that day of our Saviour's second appearing, which is sometimes styled the day of the Lord, and the day of Christ, is here called the day of God: Nor is there any need of having recourse to metaphysics, and sco­lastic divinity, for a solution. I shall just add, that this day [...] God, of his fiery indignation, wherein all thing [...] [...]all be dissolved, and in which all men shall receive the things done in the body, is doubtless the time which the prophet Malachi had in view in the following passage: ‘Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked; be­tween him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not. For behold the day cometh that shall [Page 28] burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name, shall the sun of righteousness arise,’ &c. And agreably hereto, and to St. Peter's account of the earth and heaven's be­ing on fire, at our Lord's second coming, St. Paul describes him as making his appearance in flaming fire: ‘It is a righteous thing, says he, for God to re­compence tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel,—when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that be­lieve.’ ^†

IT seems, from the scripture account, that this great day of God, wherein all men are to ‘receive the things done in the body;’ and in which the earth, with the works that are therein, shall be burnt up, shall be ushered in with some astonishing phaenome­na, or appearances, in the natural world; which shall be a kind of monitory tokens and signals of its ap­proach, whether regarded as such or not, by a care­less, profane and faithless world; such monitory signs and tokens as those which, it is said, preceeded the destruction of Jerusalem; or rather, far more ama­zing. [Page 29] It seems not improbable that the prophecy of Joel ultimately, though perhaps not immediately, re­lates hereto: ‘I will shew wonders in the heavens, and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.’ ^† In the same light we may consider the words of our blessed Saviour: ‘And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory,’ ^* Agreably hereto, when the disciples asked our Lord, ‘What should be the sign of his coming, and of the end of the world?’ he first told them negatively, what things should not, and then positively, what should be look­ed upon as signs hereof. He enumerates many of the former, such as wars, and rumours of wars, the appearing of false Christs, sore persecutions, fa­mines and earthquakes in divers places. Our Lord expresly admonished his disciples, not to be troubled when they should see and hear of such things; ‘for such things must needs be, says he, but the end [Page 30] shall not be yet.’ ^* However, our Saviour, con­tinuing the same discourse to his disciples, says, ‘But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars, &c.—And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory.’ ^†

I KNOW some interpret what is said in this chap­ter concerning the coming of our Lord, of a figurative, and less proper coming, viz. as he came to destroy Je­rusalem, with the whole jewish polity. Though some things in our Saviour's discourse, seem to favour this sup­position; yet, I must confess, I cannot but look upon this as a very lean, jejune exposition of it. It has, evi­dently, a farther view; looking forward to that far more august, glorious, and universally interesting coming of our Lord, when he shall literally descend from heaven, and ‘all nations shall be gathered be­fore him,’ to receive his righteous sentence.

AND, indeed, there are some things in this discourse, which cannot possibly be referred to that figurative coming of Christ before mentioned; but only to the time of his coming to judge the quick and the dead: Particularly the verse immediately following the [Page 31] passage last quoted— ‘And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.’ ^* When were, or when will be all the elect, the faithful and chosen of God, thus gathered together by the ministration of angels, but when our Lord shall ‘appear the second time, with­out sin, unto salvation?’ This, surely, was not done when Jerusalem was destroyed: But this, we know, will be done at the judgment of the great day: Our Lord has particularly taught us so, in his applica­tion of that well-known parable, concerning the tares and the wheat; wherein the housholder is introduced saying, ‘Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reap­ers, gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ^† Part of our Saviour's explanation of this parable, is as follows: "The harvest," says he, ‘is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.’ ^†

[Page 32]YOU see then, with what pomp and glory, with what astonishing signs, this day of God shall be in­troduced; what is the great business and design of it; and what shall close it, the utter perdition of ungodly men, and the crowning of the righteous with unfading glory; this world, which is now the scene of wicked men's crimes, then probably becoming the place of their torment, "a lake burning with fire and brim­stone;" and that heaven, far above the stars, which is now the object of good mens desires and hopes, be­coming the place of their residence; that heaven which cannot be shaken, and to which no flames can ascend, besides those sacred ones, with which the bosoms of saints and angels shall forever burn; that temple of God, not made with hands, whence the righteous "shall go no more out"; ^* but, being made "pillars" therein, shall stand firm, when the visible heavens and earth which now are, shall wax old and perish; and "all these things shall be dissolved." Well might the apostle call this, "The great day" ^†, considering the great things that are to be transacted, and the interest­ing events that are to be accomplished, in it:—The Son of man to descend from heaven in flaming fire, and to sit upon the throne of his glory, ‘thousands standing before him, and ten thousand ministring un­to him’; all they who sleep in the dust of the earth, to be awaked by ‘the voice of the arch-angel, and the trump of God’; they, together with those [Page 33] who shall then be alive, and "changed"^† ; even all the posterity of Adam, to be gathered before the august tribunal; the righteous to be absolved, and all the redeemed and "ransomed of the Lord", to as­cend with a convoy of holy Angels to the heavenly ‘Zion, with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads’; ^* all the wicked to be condemned, toge­ther with the rebel angels now ‘reserved in everlasting chains under darkness,’ ^§ for that purpose; both "to be sent to that region of woe, prepared for them by the righteous Sovereign of all; and one world at least, to be "burnt up," and all things that are there­in to be "dissolved": I say, one world at least; be­cause, for any thing we know to the contrary, or have reason to think, there may be more wicked worlds than one, which shall, at this period, undergo the same fiery doom and dissolution, agreable to what has been said above. But how many, or how few soever, there may be of such worlds, we have no rea­son to think that MORE THAN ONE has been redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, after having taken on himself the nature of its guilty inhabitants: Much less have we reason to think, that if others had been thus redeemed, they would have ‘neglected so great salvation’; that they would have ‘trodden under foot the son of God, accounting his blood, where­with they were sanctified, an unholy thing; and doing despite unto the spirit of grace’! ^**

[Page 34]HAVING thus considered, What things those are, all which are to be dissolved; what is intended by their dissolution; and when this great and interesting event will come to pass, together with some of its fore-runners, concomitants and consequents; I am, in the afternoon, to urge the certainty of these things, as a motive to universal holiness, making some applica­tion of the subject, relative to the present season, and to those occurrences in divine providence, which have led me to it: For ‘seeing we look for such things,’ and have so lately been thus reminded of them, "what manner of persons ought we to be!"—

WE considered, in the morning, What things those are, of which St. Peter speaks in the text; all which are to be dissolved: Viz, whatever is comprehended in the context under these terms, the "heavens", the "elements", the "earth", and the "works that are therein".

[Page 36]WE also considered what is meant by the dissolu­tion of these things; Viz, their destruction by fire.

And,

LASTLY, we considered when this great and inter­esting event shall come to pass; Viz. at our Saviour's second appearing, to judge the world in righteousness; at that period, which is called in the text and context, the "day of judgment," the "day of the Lord," and the "day of GOD."

I NOW proceed, as was proposed, and in conformity to the original scope of the passage, to improve this reflection, that all these things shall be thus dissolved, at the mentioned period, as a motive to excite you to universal holiness, and thereby to prepare for the time when this event shall come to pass. For see­ing it shall assuredly arrive; seeing that all these things shall certainly ‘be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of this day of God!’ Having urged this argument in a general way, I shall then improve it with a more particular reference to the late alarming occurrences in divine providence, which seem so na­turally to lead our thoughts to the great and general catastrophey of the world, when all these things shall not be only shaken, but dissolved; and when we must "all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ."

BUT though I shall urge the consideration of these things, as a fit, and, indeed, the fittest motive, to prac­tical [Page 37] piety, and holiness in all our conversation; yet I shall neither "speak wickedly for God," nor designed­ly impose upon & terrify men, by representing the time when they shall come to pass, as being either certainly, or even probably, very near at hand. For though some might possibly think it a pious, I could not, for my own part, but think it an impious pretence, that such an artifice would be commendable, since it might be a means of promoting that which is good; and of putting people, without any delay, upon ‘working out their salvation with fear and trembling.’ No good can be eventually done, by ‘handling the word of God deceitfully,’ or by those "hidden things of dishonesty," which all ought to "renounce." The words of St. Paul may well be considered as a caution against such kind of fetches, and cunning artifices: ‘If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie, UNTO HIS GLORY, why also am I yet judged as a sinner? And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say) Let us do evil that good may come? whose damnation is is just.’ ^* And as to the particular point now un­der consideration; though this same apostle was, pro­bably, as much set to promote the glory of God, and the salvation of men, as any other preacher of righ­teousness ever was, excepting the ‘Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was [so eminently] faithful to Him that appointed him;’ ^† and though he so often ‘reasoned of righteousness, [Page 38] temperance and judgment to come,’ causing some of the most abandoned sinners to "tremble;" yet St. Paul, I say, never endeavoured to make sinners trem­ble, by such means; by representing the day of God, as nearer at hand than it really was. So far was he from doing thus, that when the church at Thessalo­nica, as it seems, had mistaken his meaning in his first epistle, thinking he had intimated that the time of Christ's coming was very near, he, in his second epistle to that church, took particular care to correct their mistake, beseeching them even by the coming of Christ, not to think that he would come so soon as they imagined. "Now we beseech you, brethren," says he, ‘by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no Man deceive you by any means.’ ^* You see how sollicitous the apostle was, lest people should be misled and de­ceived, though with respect to a point, wherein a de­ception might, in the opinion of some, be rather ad­vantageous than prejudicial to them.

IN humble imitation of this blessed apostle, or ra­ther of Him, in whose mouth there was never any guile, I now say, Let none be ‘soon shaken, or trou­bled, by word, as from me,—as that the day of Christ is [even now] at hand;’ though it is so long since the apostle wrote. I will not, indeed presume [Page 39] to say positively, that that day is not at hand; but would rather say to you, ‘Watch,—(for ye know not when the master of the house cometh; whe­ther at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crow­ing, or in the morning) lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping: And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.’ ^† It is not the nearness of this day, respecting which point I do not presume to determine any thing, but the certainty of it, and its importance to you, that I would urge as a motive to holiness in all your conversation. And, indeed, were I to give my real opinion, it would be, that this great day of the Lord, and consequently the dis­solution of all these things, is still very remote in fu­turity. For I humbly conceive, from the series of prophecies, particularly in the Revelation of St. John, respecting the things that were to come to pass be­fore the consummation of all things, that many of the events therein predicted, are not yet accomplish­ed; and that many ages are necessary for the fulfil­ment of them.

HOWEVER, I may be mistaken; and, as was intimated before, would be cautious in what I say upon this point. For I had much rather, from the certainty that this day will come, sooner or later, exhort you to be circumspect, and diligent in preparing for it, than, by confidently asserting that it is at a great distance, even seem to give any countenance to a contrary behaviour. I say, "even seem" to do so: because our obligation [Page 40] to be holy in all our conversation, would not really and properly speaking, be lessened, even tho' we were assured that the day of God was very remote; pro­vided it will certainly come at last. For, as was inti­mated above, it is not so much from the supposed near­ness or distance of this period, that our obligation, in point of reason, arises, to make preparation for it, as from the nature of the thing itself, the certainty of it, and the concern we have in it: And consequently, its supposed, or even known remoteness, could not much, if at all, diminish our obligation to be univer­sally holy, this day being certainly future, and hour­ly approaching. And that which is certainly future, and still drawing nearer, will as certainly be at length present, however remote now. Truly wise and pro­vident men will live as "soberly, righteously and godly in the world," tho' they may believe the day of the Lord is far distant, as if they knew it was at hand. For ought not men, in poin [...] of reason, duty and interest, to abstain from those sins, which will cer­tainly damn them a thousand or a million years hence, as if they would damn them within an hundred, fifty, or ten? On the other hand, will not a man who acts upon the principles of reason, be as sollicitous to be­come entitled to eternal life and glory in the kingdom of heaven, altho' he believes it will be long before he can come to the full possession and enjoyment thereof, provided it is certainly attainable, as if he might arrive at this possession and enjoyment in a much shorter time? When the torments of hell are hazarded, and [Page 41] the eternal joys of heaven are the prize, and the reality of both is firmly believed, their nearness or remote­ness in point of time, is scarce of any weight or con­sideration at all, in the mind of a reasonable, thought­ful man: Eternity swallows up all; and, in the esti­mation of such a person, equals all limited, temporary durations and distances. So that I had almost applied to a truly wise man, whose care and providence for himself rap him into scenes and ages to come, even into all futurity, what is said in the context concerning the all-wise God, whose care and providence extend to all things, and to whom are known ‘all his works from the beginning;’ — That with him, ‘one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ ^†

BUT of how little consequence it is to us, in a prac­tical sense, whether the day of God, and of the disso­lution of all things, is near at hand, or far distant, ap­pears still more plainly and obviously from a consi­deration of the shortness and uncertainty of human life, and of our probationary state. For if we are to put off these frail, decaying tabernacles in a few years at farthest, and, possiibly, in a few days, hours, or even moments; if this is our only time of trial; if death will both find and leave us, either prepared or unprepared to appear before the great tribunal; and if as death finds and leaves us, so we shall be found of our judge at last, holy still, or still unholy and filthy; if these things are so, surely we ought to be as diligent [Page 42] in our preparations for the coming of the Day of God, as if it were nigh, even at the door. Besides; if, immediately at death, we are received into regions of bliss, or go to realms of woe; there to remain in a separate, unembodied state, either in a joyful expec­tation, or in anxious fears and apprehensions of the great day, and of our final sentence; if this is the case, of what great, or rather, of how little moment is it to us, whether that period is now very near, or very remote? Do you imagine that Lazarus, when he died, and was "carried by angels into Abraham's bosom", ^† then tho't himself the less wise; or that the rich man, when he died, and ‘in hell [hades] lift up his eyes, being in torments’, ^† accounted himself the less foolish and improvident, because the day of judgment was then at a great distance! Of how little conside­ration was the nearness or remoteness of the day of God, to either of them, when they had both finished their mortal course? when the one had made sure his title to eternal life, so that he was past danger of mis­sing of it; and the other had neglected to do so, in the season for it, and till it was too late? when the one was actually in a state of rest and joy, with ‘hopes full of immortality’, the earnest of that ‘far more ex­ceeding, and eternal weight of glory’, which awaits the righteous in the day of Christ's appearing; and the other was in a state of torment, in a ‘certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indig­nation’, the earnest of that ‘far more exceeding [Page 43] and eternal weight’ of infamy and woe, which awaits the wicked in the same terrible day? when there was an impassable "gulf fixed between them' ^†, so that neither of them could remove to the other, to be a sharer in his bliss, or a partaker of his plagues?

LET us, therefore, remember that however re­mote that day of God may be, wherein ‘all these things shall be dissolved’; yet the earthly house of this our tabernacle, this mortal body, will soon be dissolved; perhaps much sooner than we may now imagine: ‘For what is your Life? It is even a va­pour that appeareth for a little time, and then va­nisheth away’. ^* Should you attain to the greatest measure of man's days in this age of the world, alas! even such a life is "spent as a tale that is told". But sickness, and a thousand casualties, as we term them, may speedily put an unexpected period to your days. We may be blasted by a stroke from heaven above; or the earth from beneath may open her mouth, and swallow us up, at a time when we are most secure, and least apprehensive of danger. For we daily tread upon, and nightly slumber over, treacherous, deceit­ful ground, to which we can scarce trust our bodies and estates; and which is, surely, far less to be relied on, when the salvation of our souls is at stake, and eter­nity hangs upon a moment! And as we are every moment liable to death, by one means or other, let us remember that this is much the same thing, as if we were every moment liable to be called before the [Page 44] judgment-seat of Christ; and that, with respect to us, all these things are then dissolved, and pass away, when we ourselves are dissolved, and pass away from them.

LEAVING, therefore, the nearness or remoteness, call it which you please, of this day of God, wholly out of the question for the present, as what is really of little moment to us, and what scarce at all con­cerns practical religion, in the eye of reason; let us now consider the thing itself, the dissolution of all things, and the day of our Lord's appearing, only as cer­tain; that so we may see ‘what manner of per­sons we ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and hasting unto, the com­ing of’ this important period. Represent to yourselves, then, in thought and imagination, and with a firm, fixed faith in the truth of the scriptures; I say, represent to yourselves this day of God, when the elements shall melt with fervent heat; when the earth and the works that are therein shall be burnt up; when all these terrestrial things, and the heavens themselves being on fire, shall be dissolved; when the Lord himself shall be revealed from the highest heaven, where he now sits enthron'd; revealed in flaming fire, taking vengeance on the ungodly, who obey not his gospel; and ‘admired in all them that believe;’ when you, and I, and all nations, shall stand before him; and, in consequence of his righteous sentence, some ‘shall go away into ever­lasting [Page 45] punishment,’ and others into ‘life eter­nal.’ ^* If you believe the words of Him who can­not lie, you believe that these sayings are true and faithful. And, what is the proper practical inference from them, every man's own heart tells him. For if you give credit to these things, I need not, surely, inform you, but only refer it to your own reason and conscience, as St. Peter does in the text, ‘What manner of persons ye ought to be, in all holy con­versation and godliness;’ how circumspect in all your behaviour; how careful to avoid every known sin; how diligent in the practice of every known du­ty; how pious towards God, and charitable towards man; how sober and temperate in all things; how sollicitous lest in any thing you displease Him, who is now your righteous Law-giver, and will hereafter be your Judge; how greatly concerned in all things, and at all times, to approve yourselves to Him; how you ought to live and converse from day to day, under a lively, animated sense of these things, doing every thing, ‘whatsoever you do in word or deed, in the name of the Lord Jesus;’ how dead to all these things which are to be dissolved; and how alive unto Him, who is the ‘same yesterday, to day and for ever:’ redeeming the time in preparing for so interesting an hour; or, as it is expressed in the latter part of the text, ‘looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of God.’ By "looking for" this day is doubtless meant, habitually expecting it, [Page 46] waiting for it, assuring ourselves that it ‘will come, and will not tarry.’ The other phrase, ‘hasting unto’ it, is pretty singular; and it may be diffi­cult to ascertain, precisely and critically, the meaning of it: Nor shall I, at present, spend time in doing it. It will bear several senses, somewhat different from, though allied to, each others. But in general, I sup­pose, it means advancing towards this day, by running our christian race swiftly, with the utmost diligence; and making progress in holiness. For as he who slumbers and sleeps, living as ‘without God in the world,’ and as if there were no such day approach­ing, may be said to "put it far away" from him, and to turn away from it, endeavouring to avoid and shun it; so, on the other hand, he who always lives and acts with a view to it, keeping it uppermost in his thoughts, diligently preparing for it, and having his loins at all times girded about, like a good and faith­ful servant, who, standing at the door, waits his Lord's return; he that does thus, I say, may be said to haste unto the coming of this day: He, as it were, runs to meet it in its approach; and, in tho't, in faith, and holy hope, anticipates its arrival, making it pre­sent to himself, however distant. This it is in ge­neral, to ‘look for, and hasten unto, the coming of the day of God.’ But to return.

YOU cannot but see, and even feel, the force of St. Peter's argument in the text; the reasonableness and wisdom of being holy in all our conversation; [Page 47] and the great, the unspeakable folly and danger, of being otherwise, seeing that all these things are to be dissolved, and such a day of retribution is ap­proaching. To imagine, that any one did not both see and feel the force of this reasoning, would be e­qually a reflection upon his head and heart. You know that it is a thing of infinite concernment to you, and to all men in general, to be prepared for this decisive moment, by holiness in heart and life: Because all men have immortal souls, either to be saved or lost; and because all will, in this day, be called to render an account of themselves, to the great Judge of quick and dead; when ‘God will bring every work into judgment, with every se­cret thing;’ and when we shall all receive, re­spectively, ‘the things done in the body, according to that we have done, whether it be good or bad.’

WITH how great weight and force should this ar­gument come upon the hearts and consciences of wicked men? the hearts and consciences of those, who have never had the fear of God before their eyes? who have been, throughout their lives, and those perhaps long ones, provoking the ‘Holy One of Israel,’ by their unrighteousness and oppressi­on, their lewdness, debaucheries and blasphemies? the hearts and consciences of those who have been continually sinning, not only against the light and the God of nature, but also against the light and grace of the gospel; against the ‘God and Father [Page 48] of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ and the ‘Father of mercies?’ of those who, instead of seeking the things that are above, and laying up for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, a treasure in the heavens, where neither moth nor rust doth cor­rupt, have been setting their affections only on things on the earth? the things of this present world, al­ready doomed to destruction, the fashion of which passeth away; and which, together with all the works and treasures, and the things of it, shall at length be burnt up and dissolved? How unwise? how improvi­dent? how guilty are such men? And how much does it concern them to "break off their sins by righteousness?" to be reconciled to God by repentance towards Him, and "faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ"? and to walk before God in holiness and righteousness the remaining part of their lives, redeeming the time; that so they may finally escape that condemnation to which they are exposed, and that terrible destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, which they cannot, otherwise, avoid in the day of his appearing? When that period shall arrive, alas! what will it avail any, to have ‘lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton’? what, for a little while, to have nourished their hearts, as "in a day of slaughter"?^† what, to have received that honor that cometh from men? what, to have ac­quired great wealth, and large possessions in the world? yea, what, to have "gained the whole world", were [Page 49] that possible? Will the remembrance of former, guilty pleasures, alleviate? or will it not rather embitter, the future torments of the wicked? Will the remem­brance of past honors, especially of unmerited ones, sooth the vanity of ungodly men, when they shall arise to "shame, and everlasting contempt?" Will a reflection upon "riches gotten, and not by right," and which will then be no more, profit the miser in the day of wrath; and make him rich towards God? Or, in fine, would the gain of the whole world profit him, whose soul is lost by gaining it? and who now per­ceives that same beloved world, even worse than lost to himself, dissolving in flames and himself torment­ed therein!

LET irreligious and profane, let dissolute, proud, ambitious and covetous men, if there are any such pre­sent, calmly and seriously think of these things, I beseech them both by the mercies of God, and the terrors of the Lord; and by the love which they bear to themselves. Go not on, ‘treasuring up unto yourselves wrath against this day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds’—‘unto them that obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish’! Despise not the ‘riches of God's goodness, forbearance and long-suffering’, knowing that this goodness leadeth thee "to repentance." Contemn neither the gracious "promises, nor the awful threatnings of his word; for these are neither "cunningly devised fables", [Page 50] nor foolish, "idle tales"; but the oracles of infalli­ble wisdom, truth and righteousness: And ‘the hea­vens shall reveal the iniquity, and the earth rise up against’ ^† the folly of those, who practically disregard them! Neglect not, therefore, the oppor­tunity which you now enjoy for making your peace with God, thro' his own dear Son, who ‘was made sin for you’, "tasting death for every man". For if thou despiseth the revelation both of God's wrath and of his mercy; if thou hardenest thy neck and thy heart against him, setting at naught all his coun­sel and reproof; if thou dost thus, think not, O man! whosoever thou art, that thou shalt finally ‘escape his righteous judgment’. Thou wilt call upon him, at a time when he will not answer: thou wilt seek him early, but not find him.

THERE is a hand constantly writing bitter things against the irreclaimable workers of iniquity; not, indeed, upon the decaying "walis" ^† of their palaces or dwellings; but on tables more durable than brass or adamant! the eternal leaves of those ‘books which shall be opened’, when the ‘dead, small and great, shall stand before God’, to be ‘judged out of the things which are written in the books, according to their works’. ^* And though the un­faithful, the foolish and wicked servant, may now "say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming" ^§; yet there is Another who has said, Behold! He cometh ‘with clouds, and every eye shall see him; and [Page 51] they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him: even so, Amen!’ ^*

BUT this, surely, is a subject, in which good men are concerned, as well as the wicked and disobedient. For since we all expect such things, the dissolution of the world, and eternal judgment, this ought to quicken the best of men in their preparations for the day of God; to put them upon cleansing themselves, as far as is consistent with the nature of the present state, from ‘all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God’. Accordingly the apostle does not say, ‘What manner of persons ought ye to be’, in this or the other particular virtues or graces of christianity [...] but, in ‘ALL holy conversation and godliness’? Plainly intimating how universal our holiness ought to be, and what an high degree of sanctity it becomes us to aspire at, ‘forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before’; and thus ‘pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ ^†. It is, if I mistake not, more especially to good men, the sincere followers of Christ, that St. Peter addresses himself, in the follow­ing language, just after the text: ‘Wherefore, belov­ed, says he, seeing ye look for such things, be dili­gent that ye may be found of him in peace, with­spot and blameless’. ^† It is great labour and watch­fulness, an eminent degree of sanctity, and christian [Page 52] perfection, which the apostle expresses, and to which he exhorts us in these words:— ‘Be diligent—with­out spot, and blameless’. Even good men are often far more "slothful" in the great business of human life; and less "fervent in spirit", while they are "serving the Lord", than they ought to be. They have sometimes very considerable "spots" and ble­mishes, in their lives and religious characters; such as are justly "blameable" in the sight of God; and the consciousness of which, could not but give them great disquietude, and prevent their having peace and tran­quility of mind, were they actually to see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, in the glory of his father, and all the holy angels with him. St. Peter, therefore, here admonishes us to be diligent in getting rid of all such spots, and stains, and blemishes; to cleanse ourselves from every kind and degree of sin; from all unrighteousness; from every thing unbecoming our holy profession: That, being thus ‘blameless and harmless, the Sons of God without rebuke’, and ‘shining as lights in the world’, we may possess our souls in pati­ence, in expectation of the future judgment, & the disso­lution of all things: That we may enjoy a settled calm, and serenity of soul, in a consciousness of the rectitude of our hearts and manners: And that, instead of being terrified and amazed, and filled with anxious fears and apprehensions, should our Lord suddenly appear, we might then lift up our heads with peace, and even with confidence and joy, knowing that our redemption, which before drew nigh, is now actually come.

[Page 53]THIS, I suppose, is St. Peter's meaning. In order to our being found of our Lord in peace at his com­ing, it is necessary that we should be "diligent" in our preparations for it, being ‘without spot and blameless’ And agreably hereto, St. John informs us, that our love must be ‘made per­fect, that we may have boldness in the day of judg­ment’ —For ‘there is no fear in love; but per­fect love casteth our fear: because all fear hath torment, he that feareth, is not made perfect in love.’ ^* Through this perfection in love, we ‘shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. [But] Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.’ ^† A man's heart must, or at least always ought, in some degree, to misgive and con­demn him, till he is made perfect in love, in the sense of St. John; always, while he is conscious of moral and sinful imperfections in himself: And in the same degree that his own heart condemns him, will his confidence towards God fail him; and the less bold­ness will he have to appear before him in judgment. For he cannot but be sensible that ‘God is greater than his heart, and knoweth all things.’

LET us therefore, my Brethren, ‘seeing that we look for such things,’ be circumspect in all our de­portment, reforming whatever may be amiss in us; and taking for our pattern in holiness, Him [Page 54] who once appeared in human flesh, and has ‘left us an example that we should follow his steps.’ Let us keep our hearts with all diligence; let us watch over all our thoughts, desires, words, and acti­ons, carefully avoiding every thing unbecoming our holy profession and character; our ‘high calling of God in Christ Jesus,’ and our glorious expectati­ons from Him. Let it be our great concern to glo­rify God and our Redeemer, and to be serviceable to the world, while we live in it; letting no opportuni­ty escape us, either for getting real good to ourselves, or doing it to others. Let us turn our affections from the worthless things of this life, of this perish­ing and dissolving world, to the things that are above, in that kingdom which "canot be shaken;" in that city which ‘hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.’—‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world—For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Fa­ther, but is of the world: And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God, abideth for ever.’ ^†

SUCH manner of persons ought we to be; ‘gird­ing up the loins of our mind, being sober, and ho­ping unto the end, for the grace that is to be bro't unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ,’ ^* when all these terrestrial things shall be dissolved. He that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself: And [Page 55] if we are thus holy in all conversation and godliness; if we thus look and hope for, and hasten unto, the coming of the day of God; if we are thus diligent, thus without spot, thus blameless and harmless; we shall surely be found of our Judge in peace, when­ever he comes; and give him a joyful welcome. For it can scarce be conceived possible for a christian, who thus walks with God; who walks by faith, and not by sight; whose conversation is thus habitually in heaven, ‘from whence he also looks for the Saviour;’ for one, whose fellowship is thus with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ; and who is thus made perfect in love, and love in him; I say, it can scarce be conceived possible for such a person to be thrown into any great perturbation of spirit, and filled with anguish and amazement, though he should see the heavens which have received, again opened to reveal, the Son of man; though he should behold him descending in flaming fire; though he should find the earth tottering and failing under him; the world dissolving around him; the powers of heaven shaken over him, and the stars falling, ‘as a fig-tree casting her untimely figs, when she is shaken of mighty winds!’ No: I should rather think that such a man as is described above, would then lift up his head with joy, welcoming this day of God, and his descending Saviour with an— ‘Hosan­na in the highest! This, O my soul! is the day, the great, the blessed day, of which thou hast so often heard and thought; and looked and prepared [Page 56] for! This is the glorious time, which put [...] a pe­riod to all thy labours, and tears, and sorrows! This the day, which manumits and delivers the poor prisoner of earth, from the bondage of corruption; and in [...]ates thee in the glorious liber­ties of the sons of God! Faithful and true is he that said, Behold I come quickly! Yonder is He! He, whom not having seen, thou before lovedst: But now thou beholdest thy salvation and thy Sa­viour! Hasten to meet Him!’ —These, or such-like sentiments, I should think, would naturally a­rise in the breast of a man, in whom love was made perfect; that love which casteth out fear,—on be­holding the Son of man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory, to perfect that salvation on a throne, which he began on a cross. For surely, it is not the absence, but the presence of a friend and beloved object, that is pleasing and delightful to us. And if we loved our blessed Redeemer as perfectly as we ought to do, and served him as faithfully, I am perswaded this would not only inspire us with boldness in the day of his appearing; but also with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And if we did not love this world and the things of it, beyond due measure, the prospect thereof dissolving in flames, could minister neither grief nor terror to us; even though the present visible heavens perished with them: Especially since we, according to our Lord's promise, look both for new heavens and a ‘new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.’

[Page 57]BUT let me now close this subject with some re­flections relative to those late occurrences in divine providence, which led my thoughts to it. We have had several visitations of the same sort, in this country, before; some of which have not been inconsiderable: And, indeed, no EARTHQUAKE can, in itself, be ac­counted so. An Earthquake is, in its own nature, awful, and terrifying to the mind of man, even tho', comparatively speaking, it may be small. He that will turn an Earthquake into a jest, and make light of it; or he who will pretend to out-brave one, and to preserve an unruffled mind when the foundations of the world are shaken under him; (unless it be upon the principles of religion, of faith and hope in God) he that can do thus, I say, ought to be ac­counted a fool or a mad-man; and, accordingly, to have an apartment assigned to him in bedlam by authority, if his friends and relations should not take proper care of him. But though, as was said above, we, in this country, have divers times before been visited and admonished in this way; yet I think it is generally acknowledged, that the first of the late Earthquakes, was both greater, and of longer conti­nuance, than any other which has been known amongst us; the effects of it, which I need not enumerate to you, being certainly much more considerable. I shall say nothing concerning the natural cause, or causes of Earthquakes, which may perhaps be vari­ous; [Page 58] that being, as I apprehend, quite foreign from the business of preaching, and therefore, at best, im­pertinent in a sermon upon such an occasion. But I must just remind you, that all things and events, whether natural or preternatural, are under one, su­preme, uniform DIRECTION, unless there is either no God, or more than One. The consequence of which is, that even natural effects and events, are to be traced up to this supreme, original cause of all things, whose counsel and providence govern the world; and His hand, to be acknowledged in them.

MY business, therefore, is to make a religious im­provement of these visitations of divine providence: And, by the assistance and blessing of Him, who ‘doeth great things past finding out, and wonders without number,’ ^† to set home upon, and fix in your minds and consciences, those sentiments of reli­gion, which ought to be, and I doubt not are, in some measure, awakened therein, by these occurren­rences; those sentiments concerning the power, ma­jesty, and universal dominion of God, and your de­pendence upon him; those sentiments concerning the great business of human life; concerning death, a future state, the dissolution of all things, and eter­nal judgment; which these dispensations of provi­dence are so naturally adapted to produce in the minds, and to impress upon the consciences of men.

As the natural and moral world are under one and the same common direction or government; so God's [Page 59] end in all things, however various and diverse, is really one and uniform. There is a subordination of one thing to another; and a vast apparent variety amongst them; but there is also a connection and dependence of one with and upon, another; and all tend to the same point at last; the moral perfection and happiness of creatures capable of it, or the glory of God; which, in any good and intelligible sense, seems to amount to the same thing. Accordingly, even we can see innumerable things in God's natu­ral government over the world, and in the common course of his providence, which are wisely ordered with respect to his moral government; being suited and adapted, considering what our frame is, to pro­mote, not a superstitious fear, but a just reverence of Him, in the minds of men; a religious sense of his wisdom, power and goodness; and of the obligations which we are under to him; that is, in others words, to promote religion and righteousness amongst men: So that the ultimate end of them is moral, tho' the things themselves may be, and are natural; and tho' other subordinate ends may generally, if not always, be answered by them in God's natural government; the whole of which, as was intimated before, is sub­ordinate to his moral, and conducted with a view thereto. Thus all those effects, however natural, common and familiar, which display the perfections and glory of God, are plain, though silent admoni­tions of his providence, to reverence and love, to adore and serve him.

[Page 60]BUT in this light we may more especially consider whatever effects or events in the natural world, are stupendous and great; and which, partly from their unusualness, tho' not wholly so, but from their natural majesty and grandeur also, strike the mind with a certain awe and solemnity, better known than it can be described or explained. All these things, especi­ally when any apprehension of harm or danger is connected with them, have a peculiar tendency to lead our thoughts up to the great Creator, Upholder, and Governor of the universe: And a succession of them, at proper intervals, contributes not a little, as I imagine, to rouse the attention of mankind to, and fix it upon, those things of a moral and religious concernment, which ought to be attended to even without them; and so to preserve that sense of God and religion in the world, which, without them, would, perhaps, be lost out of it in a few generations. For such is the make of man, that if all things should go on in the world in one even, uniform manner and tenor, nothing of this sort occuring from one age to another, to alarm and arrest our attention, it is not unlikely that mankind would grow forgetful of God; and, by degrees, fall into a total scepticism and infi­delity; the certain consequence of which, is great depravity of manners. Nor is it unworthy of observ­ing here, that the reason which those ‘scoffers, walking after their own lusts’, spoken of in the con­text; who say, ‘Where is the promise of his com­ing?’ that the reason, I say, which they assign for [Page 61] their infidelity and scepticism is,— ‘Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were’ —^†

I WILL hazard the imputation of superstition so far as to confess, that when I get into this train of thought and reflection, which is not seldom, I cannot but con­sider what I have now been mentioning, viz. the turn­ing of mens thoughts and attention to God, as the moral, ultimate end of remarkable tempests; of great storms of wind, thunder, lightning and hail, espe­cially at unusual seasons of the year; of luminous and strange appearances in the sky and heavens; of the aurora borealis, comets and blazing meteors; of the mighty swellings, roarings and inundations of the sea, which are sometimes observed; of the erup­tions of volcanos; and more especially of Earthquakes. These, and such-like things, I doubt not, are all de­signed in providence to awaken the attention of a care­less, sinful world, from time to time, to religion. And tho' we have not the least reason to think them preter-natural; yet those must have but very low and un­worthy conceptions of the infinite wisdom of God, who imagine he could not have originally planned, adjusted and adapted them, to the moral state of the world; so that, without any miraculous interposition of his, they should occur at such times and places, in all succeeding generations, wherein they would best subserve the ultimate end of his government. And if this is the case, it is plain that exactly the same religious improvement is to be made of them, as if [Page 62] they were the immediate, preternatural exertions of his power. And, indeed, so little are we able to pe­netrate into, or fully to comprehend their causes, and laws, that I had almost call'd them a sort of natural miracles; the general, moral and ultimate design of which, is the same with that of preter-natural, or real ones.

SOME of the things mentioned, have a more im­mediate tendency than others of them, to promote religion in the world; I mean those which, by putting us in fear for ourselves, and by sensibly and directly convincing us of our own weakness and dependent condition, lead us to almighty God as our only refuge, and the great object of our trust; giving us, at the same time, a demonstration more convincing than any merely rational one, of the danger of offending him: ‘Put them in fear, O Lord! says the Psalmist, that that the nations may know themselves to be but men.’ And when men once throughly know themselves to be but men, weak, helpless, dependent creatures, they cannot well help knowing also, that God is GOD; the mighty Lord and Sovereign of all, who doeth his will in the heavens above, in the earth below, and "in all keep places"; and consequently, that it is equally their duty and interest, by reverenc­ing and obeying him, to secure his favour and pro­tection. When we behold the majesty of God in the stormy wind and tempest, while ‘his voice maketh the hinds to calve’, rending the lofty sons of the forest, and the very rocks and mountain, in pieces; [Page 63] when we behold the mighty works of God in the sea, and upon the dry land; how he either raiseth or stil­leth the waves and raging of the one; and shaketh the other with his nod, or bids it be rest, and it obeys; when we behold these, and such-like manifestations of God's power ^* and majesty, I say, it is not possible for the most sceptical of us to doubt, whether it is not a thing of the last importance to us to be the ob­jects of his favour and loving-kindness; and conse­quently to reverence him, and to do his will, as the way to become so.

IT is evident that this is actually, in some degree, the moral effect of these stupendous manifestations of God's power, in the course of his providence; which, by the way, is one argument that this is the moral end of them. An Earthquake, in particular, has all the force of a thousand syllogisms, addressed merely to the understanding. It at once speaks to, and con­vinces the heart; finding, if I may so express it, a shorter and directer road to a man's conscience, than that which lies thro' his head, in which there are often many meanders and labyrinths. It makes a man at once see and feel that he is nothing; and that God is all, and in all. Tho' void of reason, it reasons more effectually than an Apostle; or, at least, shakes [Page 64] those out of their irreligious, sceptical principles, for a time, who are proof against other arguments. Or, if peo­ple have not before been positive disbelievers of the be­ing of a God, of a future state, and of religious obliga­tions in general; but only too inattentive to these things in a practical sense, thro' the cares and pleasures of this life, and the deceitfulness of riches; in this case, I say, such a visitation of providence, brings these important truths home to mens breasts and bo­soms▪ it immediately and unanswerably convicts them of their improvidence and guilt, in having been thus unmindful of the God that made them, whose they are, and whom they ought to serve; in whose hands their breath is, and whose are all their ways. It gives them a feeling, tho'rough apprehension of the unhap­py state of those, who are the objects of God's righ­teous displeasure; and, at the same time, a lively sense of the happiness of good men, who are at peace with their Maker, and the objects of his peculiar love; those who are the care of his providence, and by being so, secure against all real harm, tho' the hea­vens and the earth were both dissolved.

THAT these ought in reason to be the moral ef­fects, produced by such occurrences in providence, is indisputably certain: And that they are in fact so, in some degree, need I attempt any formal proof? Will it not be sufficient only to appeal to the breasts and consciences of my hearers? Recollect, my Bre­thren, those thoughts and sentiments, (if it is possible they should have so soon gone out of your minds) [Page 65] Recollect, I say, those thoughts and sentiments which you so lately had, when your houses over and under you, and the earth under them, seemed to be falling to ruins; and not unlikely to bury you there­in, either alive or dead. Is there a sinner present, whose thoughts and heart were not immediately lifted up to God in the heavens? unless, perhaps, he was so great a one, that he had not confidence enough to do it; which, I hope, was not the sad case of any of us! Is there any one, whose heart was so stubborn as not to relent? and who did not at least wish, that he had always lived under an habitual sense of religion, working out his salvation with fear and trembling; that so he might have his refuge in God, at a time when other help was vain? Is there a wicked man, whose heart did not at that time accuse and upbraid him? and tremble within him, under the apprehensions of God's just displeasure? Is there, whose thoughts did not ‘trouble him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another?’ and whose counte­nance was not "changed," ^* like the impious Assy­rian Monarch's, when he beheld MENE TEKEL upon the ill-boding, prophetic wall, over his midnight bowls and revellings! Is there, who did not resolve, that if that night of terror, were not the last of his life, it should be the last which should find him a worker of iniquity, and an enemy to his God!

YEA, I may ask, whether there is even a good man [Page 66] amongst us, whose heart remained intirely undaunted, fully "fixed, and trusting in the Lord," in that night of general consternation? and who had no uneasy apprehensions, respecting another world, arising from conscious deficiences in the discharge of his duty? However, I am far from saying or thinking that this is impossible: Nay, I am fully perswaded that it is possible: Though I am equally perswaded, that through a certain constitutional timidity and fearful­ness, and through sinful imperfection, there are but few christians, comparatively speaking, who actually attain to such a stability of faith, hope, and confi­dence in God; especially when thus surprized in their beds, and awaking with the prospect of imme­diate destruction before them. Eve [...] good men's hearts do generally misgive and reproach them, in some measure, for their negligence, and failings in their duty to God, and their preparations for death and another world. Therefore it is, that they can­not stand firm, under such alarming visitations of providence. And such men will always be made the better by them; they proving a means, as they are designed by God, of perfecting saints, as well as con­vincing sinners. The former are stirred up, and quickened to their duty, while the latter are even ready to ‘go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he [thus] ariseth to shake terribly the earth!’ ^*

[Page 67]BY what I have observed, these have been the moral and religious effects of the late solemn and re­peated admonitions of providence; for I cannot but call them such. People of all ranks, good and bad, high and low, rich and poor, have been very gene­rally, and very justly, awakened to think more on God, and the "things that belong to their peace," than they seemed to do but just before. Those who were before secure and profligate, are, for the pre­sent, apparently rouzed into a serious sense of reli­gion: And those who, as we have reason to hope, were, before, truly pious, have hereby been anima­ted to run their christian course with more speed and diligence; that so they may be ready at whatever hour their Lord may either come, or call them out of the world; ‘whether at even, or at midnight, at the cock-crowing, or in the morning.’ These are the present, visible, and good effects of these provi­dential dispensations; and such as God intended in them. For they are undoubtedly monitory in their nature and true design: And if they are not regard­ed by any, as being so, I believe it must be those only, who do not believe there is really any universal providence over, or moral government established in the world; which is the same thing, in other words, with atheism.

THE great danger now is, lest these religious im­pressions, however deep they may seem to be for the present, should be gradually effaced from the hearts [Page 68] of people; and leave them, in a little time, as they found them: which is often, if not generally the case. Your great care, therefore, should now be, by recollection, and serious, sober consideration, with the blessing of God, to keep alive in your breasts those sentiments concerning Him, yourselves, ano­ther world, and the great business of life, which have been thus awakened in you.

LET me therefore beseech those, whose minds have been seriously impress'd by these visita­tions of providence, not to suffer these good impressi­ons to wear off almost as soon as the earth ceases to tremble under them; which it has, indeed, as yet scarcely done! Cherish and improve them, by me­ditation and prayer, into a rational, substantial prin­ciple of practical religion and holiness; such a one as shall be permanent, and productive of good fruits, in the remaining part of your spared lives. For I must remind you, that a sudden fright is not the con­version of a sinner's soul to God; nor the terrors and reproaches of a guilty conscience, the same thing with being "born of the spirit." Let not those, therefore, who cannot but think they were "in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity," before they were awakened by these admonitions of providence, if there are any such present; let not such, I say, too suddenly conclude, that the "bitterness of death is past" with them; nor too slightly heal the wounds of their bleed­ing consciences, by speaking peace to themselves, be­fore [Page 69] God speaks it to them by his word and Spirit. There is need of your being cautioned against this; and even of your being cautioned against returning to your old sins, as soon as your present fears and terrors are a little abated, as the ‘dog returneth to his vomit;’ your goodness proving only like the "morning cloud, and early dew;" though you may now imagine that you shall never forget those things which have made so deep an impression upon you; and conclude your "path" will surely be that of the ‘just, which, like the shining light, shineth more and more, unto the perfect day.’ Give all dili­gence to make your "calling and election sure," by attending upon all the means of grace; and, parti­cularly by prayer to God for his Holy Spirit. For you cannot create yourselves ‘anew in Christ Jesus unto good works.’ It is God who must, by his concurrence and energy, cleanse you from all unrigh­teousness, ‘through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience,’ as it is He alone that can forgive your sins, "through the redemption that is in Christ." And you have reason to hope that he will do both, if you diligently seek him, and ‘call upon him while he is near:’ And he may properly be said to be now so near you, whom he has awakened by his pro­vidence and Spirit, into a serious sense of religion, so that your greatest concern is, to escape his de­served wrath, and to obtain an interest in his lov­ing-kindness, which is better than life. My hearty [Page 70] wish and prayer is, that you may ask till you re­ceive; that you may seek till you find; and knock till it is opened unto you; and that this good work may be "perfected unto the day of Christ." And remem­ber that if, after being thus awakened to think soberly of God, and your eternal interest; if after beginning well, you should again return to sin and folly, your latter end will be far "worse than the beginning". For if you should thus forget your present good pur­poses and resolutions, not only your sins, but even your goodness will, in some sense, rise up in judgment against you! But, beloved, we hope ‘better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, tho' we thus speak.’ Persevere in seeking God: For ‘then shall ye know, if ye follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morn­ing; and he shall come unto you as the rain; as the latter and former rain unto the earth’ ^†; and cause you to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, "in all holy conversation and godliness"; which, thro' his abundant goodness and grace in Christ Jesus, shall be gloriously recompenced in "the day of God," when "all these things shall be dissolved."

LET good men, moreover, be admonished by these visitations of providence, to grow in goodnes [...]; to va­lue this world less, in which there is nothing to be de­pended upon; to have their hearts and conversation more in heaven, where their only valuable treasure is; "whither the fore-runner is for us entered, even Jesus"; [Page 71] and whence he may again come ‘at such an hour as we think not.’ At least, we cannot tell how soon or suddenly we may be taken out of this world, by some means or other. And this reflection should make us diligent in the improvement of our time and talents here; that when the important period comes for us to go to the world of spirits, we may be fit to join the blessed society of "just men made perfect." The visible things, which are made, are all at length to be shaken, ‘that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a CON­SUMING FIRE’. ^†

IN fine; Let us all in common, by these solemn warnings and admonitions of providence; (for we can­not but account them such; indications of God's righteous displeasure, and loud calls to a universal re­formation of manners) Let us all in common, I say, and chuse to repeat it, ‘by these solemn warnings and admonitions of providence,’ be excited seri­ously to consider of our ways; to reform what is amiss in ourselves; and diligently to attend to the great and ultimate business of human life; which is the fearing of God, and keeping his commandments: For this is the "whole of man", and the ‘conclusion of the whole matter.’ Do you imagine that God has no more Earthquakes at command! and even [Page 72] far more terrible and fatal ones, with which, not only to chastise, but even to destroy, a guilty, irreclaimable people, if He pleases!—Let these providential and judicial visitations, inspire us therefore, not only now, but always, with a due reverence, and with awful thoughts of the inconceivable greatness, power and majesty of Him, who ‘removeth the mountains, and they know not’; who ‘taketh up the isles as a very little thing’; who ‘sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as groshop­pers; who stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain’; who is equally able, and equally determined, to save the righteous, and to destroy the wicked. Till we think in some measure worthily of God, we shall not think "soberly of ourselves, as we ought to think"; nor conduct ourselves with due lowliness, humility, and reverence towards Him. These dispensations of his providence, are peculiarly adapted to this most im­portant end; to show us all, how intirely we are in God's hands, and at his disposal; how much it con­cerns us to fear and serve him; and ‘what manner of persons we ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness; looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of God’; that great day, where­in "all these things shall be dissolved".

THOUGH an Earthquake may naturally lead our tho'ts to this important period; yet surely it is not to be compared, in respect of the terrors of it, to the terrors of that day, when the earth, with the works [Page 73] that are therein, shall be burnt up; the elements melt with fervent heat; the heavens themselves being on fire, dissolved; and He, who was once crucified with­out the gates of Jerusalem, shall be revealed in the glory of his Father, to take just vengeance on the world of the ungodly. This scene shall yours, and mine, and "every eye", one day behold; when both the masked hypocrite, who now covereth his transgressions; and the unmasked profligate, whose ‘sins are open before-hand, going before to judg­ment’, shall equally receive the due reward of their deeds; the cunning craftiness of the one, and the brazen effrontery and impudence of the other, utterly forsaking him; and leaving him to his deserv­ed perdition! How will those wicked, ungodly men, endure the terrors of that day, whom only the quaking of the earth, now throws into consternation and an­guish? If we cannot now possess our souls in patience, in a calm resignation of ourselves into the hands of God; or be awaked from sleep in our beds by an Earthquake, without such amazement; what inexpressible asto­nishment will seize the wicked, who shall be awaked from their "sleep in the dust of the earth", by the voice of the arch-angel, and the trump of God? and when the first objects which their eyes behold, will be their mighty Judge coming in the clouds, and the hea­vens and earth dissolving in flames! We read how courageous the greatest and boldest sinners; those who would think the imputation of wanting courage and fortitude, the greatest reproach to them; I say, we [Page 74] read how courageous these mighty men of valour will be in this day of trial, Rev. 6.— ‘And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and every bond-man, and every free-man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains: And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand!’ —

BEHOLD that wretched multitude yonder! standing aghast, with hands hanging down, and drooping heads! praying so earnestly to the unpitying rocks! Are these those, who never prayed to the "Rock of ages"! the Hearer of prayer! Who are those Two, whom I behold together yonder, all pale and shuddering with fear! no longer Heroes! Can those be the GREAT Macedonian, and the DEIFIED Roman, before whom the world once stoop'd and trembled; now become so little, and even less than men, in their own estimation! Is it They, whose valour exceeded that of lions, who tremble thus before the LAMB! Is that, King Agrippa, wringing his hands! and lamenting in such anguish as he can neither conceal nor express, that he was not altogether "perswaded to be a christian"? ^* Is that Felix, the once "most Excellent Governor ^§"! who now more than "trembles", yonder! and looks so ear­nestly on him, who once ‘reasoned of righteousness, tem­perance, and judgment to come ^†!’ O Pilate! dost [Page 75] thou at length know, "What is truth" ^†! Wilt thou now "chastise Him, and release him ^*"! Or wilt thou condemn Him, tho' thou canst find ‘no fault at all in Him’, lest thou should'st not be tho't ‘Cesar's friend’! Behold there the brave, intrepid soldiers! But do you see any of them bowing the knee "in de­rision", and saying, "Hail, king of the Jews"! Where is the reed! where is the crown of thorns! where, the scarlet robe! the vinegar! the gall! the scourge! Yonder are the Jews! But I hear none among so many, now calling This man "a blasphemer", for saying, "I AM THE SON OF GOD"! ^† Do you see any of them approach to spit upon Him! to smite Him with the palms of their hands, and bid Him "prophecy"! any, advancing boldly, to pull Him from a throne, whom they once lifted up, and ‘hanged on a tree’! Alas, Judas! and art thou too, there! Art thou come, once more to "betray the Son of man with a kiss"! Methinks thou wouldst now give more than "thirty pieces of silver"!—the ‘goodly price’! —And what great multitude is that, which I hear pleading with quivering lips, & faultering tongues, "We have eaten and drunk in thy presence"! ^†

LET us, my Brethren, willingly lay under the im­putation of being persons of weak minds, who give way to superstious fears and fancies, rather than defy the God that is above, or reject the record which he has given of his Son; rather than tread under foot, Him that loved us, and redeemed us to God by his blood; [Page 76] than disregard the commandments of Him, who ‘being made perfect, is become the author of eternal sal­vation to all them that obey Him’! Let us now guard against the fears and terrors, the unutterable confusion and anguish, which will come as a whirlwind upon the guilty nations, in the day of God! Let us, having believed in God, maintain good works; being holy in all conversation and godliness; without spot and blameless: For doing thus, we shall be found of Him in peace. And if we are thus prepared for that great day, we need not, surely, be very anxious about an Earthquake already past, or for fear that others should arrive. They that could undauntedly behold "all these things dissolving", and the Son of man coming with power and great glory, may certainly possess their souls in peace and patience for the present; saying with the Psalmist, as God grant we may all be able to say in sincerity, and holy confidence—‘God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble: Therefore will not we fear, tho' the earth be removed, and tho' the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea: tho' the waters thereof roar, and be troubled; though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God; the holy place of the tabernacle of the most High: GOD is in the midst of her; SHE SHALL NOT BE MOVED!’ ^†