And all and silver? You cannot fly; for you cannot quit the earth, unless you will leave your dear body behind you. And while you are on the earth, you know not whither to flee to, neither whither to flee from. You may buy intelligence, where the shock was yesterday, but not where it will be tomorrow-to-day. It comes! The roof trembles! The beams crack. The ground rocks to and fro. Hoarse thunder resounds from the bowels of the earth. these are but the beginning of sorrows. Now what help? What wisdom can prevent? What strength resist the blow? What money can purchase, I will not say, deliverance, but an hour's reprieve? Poor honourable fool, where are now thy titles? Wealthy fool, where is now thy golden god? If any thing can help, it must be prayer. But what wilt thou pray to? Not to the God of heaven : you suppose him to have nothing to do with earthquakes. No: they proceed in a merely natural way, either from the earth itself, or from included air, or from subterraneous fires or waters, If thou prayest then (which perhaps you never did before) it must be to some of these. Begin. "O earth, earth, earth, hear the voice of thy children. Hear, O air, water, fire!" And will they hear? You know, it cannot be. How deplorable then is his condition, who in such an hour has none else to flee to? How uncomfortable the supposition, which implies this, by direct necessary consequence, namely, that all these things are the pure result of merely natural causes! But supposing the earthquake which made such havock at Lisbon, should never travel so far as London, is there nothing else which can reach us? What think you of a comet? Are we absolutely out of the reach of this? You cannot say we are; seeing these move in all directions, and through every region of the universe. And would the approach of one of these amazing spheres, be of no importance to us? Especially in its return from the sun? When that immense body is (according to Sir Isaac Newton's calculation) heated two thousand times hotter than a red-hot cannon ball. The late ingenious and accurate Dr. Halley Halley (never yet suspected of enthusiasm) fixes the return of the great comet in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty eight: and he observes that the last time it revolved, it moved in the very same line which the earth describes in her annual course round the sun : but the earth was on the other side of her orbit. Whereas in this revolution it will move not only in the same line, but in the same part of that line wherein the earth moves. And "who can can tell (says that great man) what the consequences of such a contact may be ?" "Who can tell?" Any man of common understanding, who knows the very first elements of astronomy. The immediate consequence of such a body of solid fire touching the earth, must necessarily be, that it will set the earth on fire, and burn it to a coal, if it do not likewise strike it out of its course; in which case (so far as we can judge) it must drop down directly into the sun. But what if this vast body is already on its way? If it is nearer than we are aware of? What if these unusual, unprecedented motions of the waters, be one effect of its near approach? We cannot be certain that it will be visible to the inhabitants of our globe, till it has imbibed the solar fire. But possibly we may see it sooner than we desire. We may see it, not as Milton speaks, "From its horrid hair shake pestilence and war:" but ushering in far other calamities than these, and of more extensive influence. Probably it will be seen first, drawing nearer and nearer, till it appears as another moon in magnitude, though not in colour, being of a deep fiery red: then scorching and burning up all the produce of the earth, drying away all clouds, and so cutting off the hope or possibility of any rain or dew; drying up every fountain, stream, and river, causing all faces to gather blackness, and all men's hearts to fail. Then executing its grand commission on the globe itself, and causing the stars to fall from heaven.* O who What security is there against all this, upon the Infidel hypothesis? But upon the Christian, there is abundant security; for the Scripture prophecies are not yet fulfilled. may abide when this is done? Who will then be able to stand? Quum mare, quum tellus, operosa regia cœli What shall we do? Do now, that none of these things may come upon us unawares? We are wisely and diligently providing for our defence against one enemy: with such a watchful wisdom and active diligence, as is a comfort to every honest Englishman. But why should we not shew the same wisdom and diligence in providing against all our enemies? And if our own wisdom and strength be sufficient to defend us, let us not seek any further. Let us without delay recruit our forces and guard our coasts against the famine, and murrain, and pestilence; and still more carefully against immoderate rains, and winds, and lightnings, and earthquakes, and comets: that we may no longer be under any painful apprehensions of any present or future danger, but may smile "Secure amidst the jar of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds!" But if our own wisdom and strength be not sufficient to defend us, let us not be ashamed to seek farther help. Let us even dare to own, we believe there is a God: nay, and not a lazy, indolent, epicurean deity, who sits at ease upon the circle of the heavens, and neither knows nor cares what is done below but one, who as he created heaven and earth, and all the armies of them, as he sustains them all by the word of his power, so cannot neglect the work of his own hands. With pleasure we own there is such a God, whose eye pervades the whole sphere of created beings, who knoweth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names: a God, whose wisdom is as the great abyss, deep and wide as eternity: "Who high in power, in the beginning said, Let sea, and air, and earth, and heaven be made, In other sort, hath but to speak again, And they shall be no more." Yet more: whose mercy riseth above the heavens, and his faithfulness above the clouds; who is loving to every man, and his mercy over all his works: let us secure him on our side. Let us make this wise, this powerful, this gracious God our friend! Then need we not fear, though the earth be moved, and the hills be carried into the midst of the sea: no, not though the heavens being on fire are dissolved, and the very elements melt with fervent heat. It is enough that the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of love is our everlasting refuge. But how shall we secure the favour of this great God? How, but by worshipping him in spirit and in truth: bý uniformly imitating him we worship, in all his imitable perfections; without which the most accurate systems of opinions, all external modes of religion, are idle cobwebs of the brain, dull farce and empty show. Now God is love. Love God then, and you are a true worshipper. Love mankind, and God is your God, your Father, and your Friend. But see that you deceive not your own soul; for this is not a point of small importance. And by this you may know; if you love God, then you are happy in God. If you love God, riches, honours, and the pleasures of sense, are no more to you than bubbles on the water: you look on dress and equipage as the tassels of a fool's cap, diversions, as the bells on a fool's coat. If you love God, God is in all your thoughts, and your whole life is a sacrifice to him. And if you love mankind, it is your one design, desire, and endeavour to spread virtue and happiness all around you: to lessen the present sorrows, and increase the joys of every child of man: and if it be possible, to bring them with you to the rivers of pleasure that are at God's right-hand for evermore. But where shall you find one who answers this happy and amiable character? Wherever you find a Christian: for this and this alone is real, genuine Christianity. Surely you did not imagine, that Christianity was no more than such a system of opinions as is vulgarly called faith? Or a strict and regular attendance on any kind of external worship? O no! Were this all that it implied, Christianity were, indeed, a poor, empty, shallow thing: such as none but half-thinkers could admire, and all who think freely and generously must despise. But this is not the case: the spirit above described, this alone, is Christianity. And if so, it is no wonder, that even a celebrated unbeliever should make that frank declaration, "Well, after all, these Christian dogs, are the happiest fellows upon earth!" Indeed they are. Nay, we may say more. They are the only happy men upon earth: and that though we should have no regard at all to the particular circumstances abovementioned. Suppose there were no such thing as a comet in the universe, or none that would ever approach the solar system; suppose there had never been an earthquake in the world, or that we were assured there never would be another: yet what advantage has a Christian (I mean always a real, scriptural Christian) above all other men upon earth? What advantage has he over you in particular, if you do not believe the Christian system? For suppose you have utterly driven away storms, lightnings, earthquakes, comets, yet there is another grim enemy at the door; and you cannot drive him away, it is death. "O that death (said a gentleman of large possessions, of good health, and a cheerful natural temper) I do not love to think on it! it comes in and spoils all." So it does indeed. It comes with its "miscreated front," and spoils all your mirth, diversions, pleasures! It turns all into the silence of a tomb, into rottenness and dust. And many times it will not stay, till the trembling hand of old age beckons to it: but it leaps upon you, while you are in the dawn of life, in the bloom and strength of your years. "The morning flowers display their sweets, And gay their silken leaves unfold, Unmindful of the noon-tide heats, And fearless of the evening cold. |