more than suffice for these fell plunderers to have impoverished you. Up and be doing. Make haste, make haste. 3. Consider the present state of your (so-called) Christian country. Imagine yourselves passing along the streets of one of its populous cities or towns. Remember you are in a Christian land. The inhabitants say that they believe in the existence of an infinitely merciful, and yet almighty, all-seeing, righteous, sin-avenging God. What are the sounds now, which strike most forcibly upon your ear? Are they sounds echoing the breath of adoration, gratitude, and praise? Is it so? No! they are sounds of anger, blasphemy, and imprecation. You can scarcely pass along a single street, but you will hear the dread name of the Lord of heaven and earth profaned. "Because of swearing, the land mourneth." Throughout its whole extent-from every city, town, and village, there ascends to heaven, from day to day, a loud, impassioned prayer for blasting, hell-fire, damnation! Thousands on thousands of rational, accountable, immortal beings invoke eternal ruin on themselves, or on their neighbours, or on both. On passing from one town to a contiguous village, a few days ago, I heard about twelve persons swear. On passing through a little village, my ears were struck, and my heart sickened, by seven similar sounds. And a friend of mine, has mentioned to me a case that recently occurred, and which he witnessed. A mother of two children at one birth, had sworn so constantly, that her lisping babes were cursing and "blasting" each other, even whilst sucking at her breasts! And what is more common than for men to confess, that they have sworn so frequently, that they have no knowledge when the horrid words escape their lips!they breathe damnation, and they know it not! Oh! it is a wonder, that the swearers' prayers have not, ere this, been answered,-that the vengeance of an insulted, blasphemed, derided God, has not hurled our guilty nation down to hell. If there is a God in heaven, and if he hath not altogether ceased to take knowledge of the doings of the creatures of his hands, it is a miracle of mercy that "Christian England," so called, still exists. Brethren, if you would avert the doom our nation merits, there is no room for trifling and delay. If you would withstand the evil, by extending the only remedy, make haste, make haste. Look around you, brethren, as you pursue your way. What are those houses that appear so prominently in every direction? Consider the parties that frequent them, the them,-the traffic that is carried on in them---those sounds that issue from them---the gains of those that keep them,---and their influence upon society at large. They are the refreshing rooms of thieves, of burglars, of gamblers, of prostitutes, of murderers. The vilest of the vile assemble there. Here the sober man learns inebriety; the industrious man, idleness; the loyal, treason and rebellion; the contented, discontent and misery. Here the pure, untainted mind, learns lewdness and obscenity. There the tenderhearted husband is transformed into a demon, and from thence he issues to blast the hopes, and break the heart, and take the life of an affectionate, obedient wife. The sounds you hear, are those of wild, uproarious, discordant revelry; or now, of fury, frenzy, and desperation. The gains of those who grow rich by administering to these horrible transactions is, what? A wise man has termed it "blood"--"the blood of souls!" And the consequences of all this is, the temporal and eternal ruin of thirty thousand of your fellow-countrymen year after year. And the system fills your land with paupers, your "Gazettes" with bankrupts, your prisons with criminals, your asylums with lunatics, your hospitals with patients, your church-yards with dead bodies, and the regions of despair with ruined souls. And this is Christian England! We cry again, to all who seek the universal extension of religion, make haste, make haste. Look again around you, brethren, as you pass along. Glance at the advertisements that are posted up; and tell me, are not loathing and disgust excited at the sight. What are the most prominent of all those varied announcements? You need not stop to read them he that runs may read. What are they? CASES : of We need say no more. Alas! Alas! how are the secret sins of Christian England proclaimed as on the house-tops! And how apallingly prevalent those sins must be. Those almost numberless indecent advertisements are a demonstration of this fearful fact. Oh ye, who seek to be the agents of the Great Physician,-ye, who seek to extend to dying men the whole and only all-efficacious remedy, the "Balm in Gilead," how needful are your efforts! Make haste, make haste. Pursue your journey, brethren. Enter now the places of commerce. Enter into conversation with the merchants, and the tradesmen. Make inquiry as to the character of those who resort to them from hour to hour; and what is the reply? It will be to this effect, that there are vast numbers, among all classes of the community, who are utterly unworthy of credit. That there is reason to believe that in every city, town, village, yea in almost every street, there are persons who make no scruple whatever in taking up goods, without any intention whatever of paying for them. In other words, that we dwell among almost countless hosts of swindlers, defrauders, thieves!-That confidence is almost annihilated, and that healthy and satisfactory commercial transactions are almost impossible. Brethren! can you contemplate this scene, and be inactive? Oh, no! we hope for better things, and we therefore cry so earnestly, Make haste, make haste. Consider next the temporal condition of the people-of your fellowcountrymen. There are hundreds of them rolling through our streets in pomp and splendour; who wallow in luxury-who are "clothed in purple, and fine linen, and who fare sumptuously every day." And there are ten times ten thousand others, who, as far as possible, imitate their example; who expend the whole of their pecuniary resources upon their persons-ministering fuel to all earthly lusts. Thus the revenue of the land is raised, to a great extent, from the excess of its inhabitants. £8,267,639 is the duty on one year's consumption of ardent spirits! £5,234,986 is the duty on malt and hops! £3,561,812 is the duty on tobacco and snuff! On carriages, £442,757 ! On dogs, £156,200!! These amounts are for the duty only. And all this while there are tens of thousands, who are flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone, who are children of the same common parent, who are endowed with sensibilities as keen as ours, and capabilities of pain and anguish as great as ours, who, from week to week, and month to month, are groaning under a continual sense of hunger and starvation; who have neither sufficient food nor covering, not even of the very coarsest kind. And all this, whilst the God of Heaven and “Judge of all the earth” is heard by all those devotees of ex-. travagance and excess, enjoining, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." "If any hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him." Oh, how is it that the voice of Heaven is unheeded, and that this appalling inequality exists? Brethren, as you love your countrymen, both high and low, as you commiserate the pampered, debased, enervated, guilty condition of the rich, and the wretched, perishing condition of the poor, many of whom are almost in a state of desperation, lose no time. Seek the immediate advancement of that religion which teaches high and low their duty. Seek the speedy purification of the Christian church; and the consequent effectual exhibition, to your guilty countrymen, of all the righteous and benevolent precepts, and glorious privileges and consolations of the gospel of your Saviour. Make haste, make haste! 4. Consider the state of the Church itself. It is entrusted with this gospel: these "glad tidings of great joy to all people!" The Church has in its hands (or might have) an agency which, when faithfully employed,shall "turn the world upside down:" shall lay prostrate in the dust the dominion of sin and worldliness, and shall erect upon its ruins the dominion of the Prince of Peace-" the kingdom of heaven!" The Church has in its hands the oracles of God; a complete and sufficient rule both of faith and practice. In those oracles is presented all necessary truth-a system which, when universally adopted, will produce universal peace and plenty on earth, removing the effects of the prevailing evils ;-wealth and poverty; and which will lead securely to the joys of heaven. And the Church has the promise of the Holy Spirit, in copious and efficient measures, to explain the Scriptures unto men, and to enable them to attain to all the privileges, and to practice all the duties that are exhibited and enjoined therein. Where the Church faithfully and fully avails itself of this twofold agency, the word of God, explained and enforced by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, it shall once more become efficient to renew and bless the world. Then once more shall the truth mightily increase and prevail. Consider, now, brethren, the present position of the church. It is surrounded by a host of bold blasphemers; by a multitude of temples dedicated to the idol, Bacchus; and by hundreds of thousands of his drunken, dying votaries, and by a consequent accumulation of every species of vice, and wretchedness, and horror-it is surrounded by abounding lewdness and brutality; by men who violate the plainest obligations of good faith twixt man and man; by thieves and swindlers; and by unbridled extravagance, excess, and sensuality on the one hand, and fearfully increasing poverty, starvation, and discontent on the other. And what is the impression which all this produces on the church? Just this. You may see the great majority of its members fast asleep in unconcern, and apologising for their conduct, thus, "Am I my brother's keeper?" There are hundreds of thousands of professing Christians whose eyes never weep, whose closets never witness a single solitary hour of agonizing supplication; and who never yet made any decided, active effort on behalf of their wicked, guilty, wretched, dying fellow-men. The great mass of our Christian brethren can meet each other around a social table, and smile, and trifle, and devise most skilfully how to murder time; and can talk of politics, and trade, and fleeting vanities; and fawn and flatter, and utter lying compliments, and part again, without one serious, solemn mention of their Saviour's love, or of their country's ripening transgressions and camities, they can meet thus, and part again thus, whilst generation after generation of their countrymen, their friends, their own immediate relatives, go down midst pain, perplexity, and anguish, quick to hell! Consider the church's conduct a little more minutely, with reference to two particulars, the duty of a Christian to his neighbour's soul, and towards his neighbour's body. A Christian loving his neighbour's soul as his own soul, will use means for his neighbour's salvation. He will instruct, reprove, invite, encourage him. But there are thousands of professing Christians now, who do not sedulously instruct one single neighbour, who do not faithfully reprove one single sin, who do not affectionately and earnestly invite one single sinner to the Saviour, during the whole period of a year's revolution. There are many, it is to be feared, who never yet did any one of these necessary acts of genuine affection, and who have now no purpose of doing one in future. There are thousands who exist amidst profanity, intemperance, lewdness, excess, starvation, and the thrice ten thousand sins and ills of fallen human nature, but who have never yet been heard to raise one single faithful warning voice. Again, a Christian loving his neighbour's body as his own body, will minister according to his ability to his neighbour's temporal necessities. fessing Christians act in this particular? Are they liberal, or are they covetous? They are covetous; the universal cry is, "Covetousness is the sin of the Christian church ?" Now covetousness "is idolatry." In exact proportion as a man is covetous, he is an idolator,-not a Christian. The covetous man worships not the living God: not he! He worships a god of gold, of silver, of stone, of wood, of dust! And a Christian is not to keep company, "no not to eat," with a man that is "called a brother," if he be covetous. And a Christian church is to put away the covetous from its communion. But, though confessedly the sin abounds, where is the exercise of discipline by the church? Where is the Christian that will not eat with a covetous professor? Which of all the individual members of the church is covetous? Who, that But how do pro should give an answer to this last question, would be acquitted by his brethren? He would be censured as guilty of rash judging. But what is covetousness? "It is inordinate desire of worldly good." But what is inordinate desire? Who can tell? If it be right to use all lawful means of indefinitely increasing property; and if it be right to acquire an "independency," and to extend one's expenditure according to one's rank or sphere in society; and to step up from one sphere to a higher, and to a higher still, as" God enables us"(!) and if it be also right and necessary to make provision against the " tingencies" (!) of the future-if all this be right; if a man may do all this and not be covetous-where is there on earth a covetous man? We ask, again, where are the covetous? Who is the subject of inordinate desire? What a consummation of ignorance, delusion, and of guilt is 66 con here! We are surrounded by idolators, but we cannot discern or detect them. Our churches swarm with idolators, but we cannot 'put away" from us a single one of them. They eat with us, they join with us in worship, and "with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness." Yea, they assemble with us at the table of the Lord, and make a false profession of union with the Saviour, they "eat and drink damnation to themselves," and such are our companions! Such is the church, the chosen instrument of blessing to the world. And the world must perish until these evils are detected and destroyed. And our country must remain the scene of desperate wickedness and desolation until the church awakes, repents, returns to God and duty. Brethren in the Lord, make haste, make haste! 5. Consider, in conclusion, the cheering evidence of the Almighty's blessing, which already has been Vouchsafed unto us. What hath God wrought! How speedily has a way been opened for the faithful, unflinching declaration of the whole, long-neglected truth of the Gospel. What an alteration in the sentiments of thousands; and what an alteration in the conduct of great numbers. How much of sincere inquiry has been awakened; and how rapidly is that inquiry extending from town to town. And if the Lord hath done so much for us in the first year, what may we not expect in the second! What may we not hope for should we be spared a few years longer. Brethren be decided, be zealous, be firm. Be decided for God; for him to live, and for him to die. Give him all you are, and all you have. This is your reasonable service. Seek to glorify him with your bodies and spirits which are his. Make haste to do this. Do not lose time in hesitation. So far as you see your duty, at once perform it. Use the light and grace you have without one moment's delay. And in this way, wait for more light and greater grace. Make haste, make haste. Remember, brethren, then, the brevity of life, the important portion of it which is past already, the sad condition of your country, the fearful indifference and inefficiency of the church, the auspicious movement which already has commenced, and henceforth let all these motives be continually sounding in your ears, MAKE HASTE, MÅKE HASTE. T. S. AN AWFUL INSTANCE OF DIVINE MAJOR Robinson, a justice in Cornwall, was noted for his fury against all non-conformists. He used to call his feats in disturbing their meetings "Fanatic hunting." Mr. Sherwood, one of the ejected ministers, was brought to a meeting of justices, at which Major Robinson presided, on the charge of having preached after his expulsion. The fact was that Mr. Sherwood went to the church, and finding that there was no minister to preach a sermon, went up into the pulpit, and prayed, and preached from these words, "I will avenge the quarrel of my covenant." report of his having preached soon spread abroad, and he was cited to appear before the justices to give an account of his conduct, when he calmly replied, "That as he was a minister of the Gospel, and at the church, where there was such a large assembly, he could not but have The compassion on the multitude, and give them a word of exhortation." Robinson said, "But did ever man preach from such a rebellious text?" "Sir," replied Mr. Sherwood, "I know man is a rebel against his Creator, but I never knew that the Creator could be a rebel against his creature." Robinson immediately ordered him to be committed to Launceston jail, and turning to Mr. Sherwood, said, “I say, Sir, it was a rebellious text." Mr. Sherwood looked at him with great earnestness, and said, "Sir, if you die the common death of all men, God never spake by me." He was then sent to prison, where he remained till Robinson died in the following remarkable manner. 66 He sent one day to a neighbouring justice to go with him a Fanatic hunting," and while his man was making ready his horse, he went into a field, where he sometimes used to divert himself in a playful manner, with a bull which grazed there. According to his custom, he was fencing at him with a quarter-staff, when the bull ran fiercely upon him, and tore him in a dreadful manner with his horn, throwing him over his back, and by the fall one of Robinson's legs was broken. The bull then gored him a second time, roared, and licked his blood. Some workmen, who were not far off, ran to his assistance, but could not drive the bull away till they brought dogs for the purpose. The major's sister, hearing of the disaster, came, and said, "Alas, brother, what a heavy judgment is this!" He replied, "It is a heavy judgment indeed." He was carried home, and soon died. This awful event was much noticed in the country; and leave was given to Mr. Sherwood to return home. At the next sessions he was sent for by the justices, and went, under the persuasion that they were about to remand him to prison. But when he came, Mr. Godolphin, one of the justices, took him aside, and said, "I sent for you to know how you came to express yourself in such a manner, when we committed you. You know, Sir, what has since befallen Mr. Robinson." Mr. Sherwood replied, "Sir, I was far from bearing any malice against Mr. Robinson, and can give no other answer DIVINE PROTECTION. DURING the time that the cruel and unscriptural law was in force, which was styled "the act of uniformity," by which about two thousand pious Christian ministers were ejected from their livings in the church, and driven from their public ministry, there was one of the name of Thoroughgood, who was a bold reprover of sin. While he officiated as a minister of Christ, at Monkton, in Kent, he preached so pointedly against the vice of swearing, that, on one occasion, one of his hearers addicted to it, thought himself to be particularly intended, and was so exasperated that he resolved to kill the minister. He accordingly hid himself behind a hedge in the way which Mr. Thoroughgood usually took in going to preach his weekly lecture. When he came up to the place, the man who intended to shoot him, levelled his gun, and attempted to fire at him; but it only flashed in the pan. The next week he went to the same place to renew his attempt; but the very same event happened. The man's conscience immediately smote him: he went after Mr. Thoroughgood, fell on his knees, and with tears in his eyes related his design to him, and asked his forgiveness. This remarkable interposition was rendered the means of this man's conversion. BOOKS. When some one complained to Lord Bacon of the many books that were published of an infidel and wicked tendency, and asked, what shall we do? the great philosopher answered, We must publish plenty of good books, that the good books may eat up the bad books. Jonathan Edwards, of America, said that he often found such glory in one single passage of the Scriptures, that he could not read any more. |