Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Will the government of God convert the heathen without the means of grace? What nation was ever so converted? It is contrary to the established method of divine grace. "How shall they believe in him of whom 15 they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" No, my brethren, missionaries must go among them; and they must be supported. They cannot support themselves; they cannot derive support from the heathen; nor can they expect to be fed by 20 ravens. Who then shall sustain the expense if not the christian world? and what portion of the christian world rather than the American churches? and what district of these churches rather than that in which we are assembled and what individuals rather than our25 selves? Heaven has given us the means; we are living in prosperity on the very lands from which the wretched pagans have been ejected; from the recesses of whose wilderness a moving cry is heard, When it is well with you, think of poor Indians. This is not ideal; we have 30 received such messages written with their tears.

I have nothing to spare, is the plea of sordid reluctance. But a far different sentiment will be formed amidst the scenes of the last day. Men now persuade themselves that they have nothing to spare till they can 35 support a certain style of luxury, and have provided for the establishment of children. But in the awful hour when you, and I, and all the pagan nations, shall be called from our graves to stand before the bar of Christ, what comparison will these objects bear to the salvation 40 of a single soul? Eternal mercy! let not the blood of heathen millions, in that hour, be found in our skirts! -Standing, as I now do, in sight of a dissolving universe, beholding the dead arise, the world in flames, the heavens fleeing away, all nations convulsed with 45 terror, or rapt in the vision of the lamb,-I pronounce the conversion of a single pagan of more value than all the wealth that ever omnipotence produced. On such an awful subject it becomes me to speak with caution; But I solemnly aver, that were there but one heathen 50 in the world, and he in the remotest corner of Asia, if

no greater duty confined us at home, it would be worth the pains for all the people in America to embark together to carry the gospel to him. Place your soul in his soul's stead. Or rather consent for a moment to

55 change condition with the savages on our borders. Were you posting on to the judgment of the great day, in the darkness and pollution of pagan idolatry, and were they living in wealth in this very district of the church, how hard would it seem for your neighbours to 60 neglect your misery! When you should open your eyes in the eternal world, and discover the ruin in which they had suffered you to remain, how would you reproach them that they did not even sell their possessions, if no other means were sufficient, to send the gos65 pel to you. My flesh trembles at the prospect !—But they shall not reproach us. It shall be known in heaven that we could pity our brethren. We will send them all the relief in our power, and will enjoy the luxury of reflecting what happiness we may entail on 70 generations yet unborn, if we can only effect the conversion of a single tribe.

Griffin.

113. Infatuation of men with regard to the things of time.

But if no danger is to be apprehended while the thunder of heaven rolls at a distance, believe me, when it collects over our heads, we may be fatally convinced, that a well-spent life is the only conductor that can a5 vert the bolt. Let us reflect, that time waits for no man, Sleeping or waking, our days are on the wing. If we look to those that are past, they are but as a point. When I compare the present aspect of this city, with that which it exhibited within the short space of my own 10 residence, what does the result present, but the most melancholy proof of human instability? New characters in every scene, new events, new principles, new passions, a new creation insensibly arisen from the ashes of the old; which side soever I look, the ravage of 15 death has nearly renovated all. Scarcely do we look around us in life, when our children are matured, and remind us of the grave; the great feature of all nature,

is rapidity of growth and declension. Ages are renewed, but the figure of the world passeth away. God on20 ly remains the same. The torrent that sweeps by, runs at the base of his immutability; and he sees, with indignation, wretched mortals, as they pass along, insulting him by the visionary hope of sharing that attribute, which belongs to Him alone.

25

It is to the incomprehensible oblivion of our mortality, that the world owes all its fascination. Observe for what man toils. Observe what it often costs him to become rich and great--dismal vicissitudes of hope and disappointment-often all that can degrade the dignity 30 of his nature, and offend his God! Study the matter of the pedestal, and the instability of the statue.-Scarce is it erected-scarce presented to the stare of the multitude when death, starting like a massy fragment from the summit of a mountain, dashes the proud colossus 35 into dust! Where, then, is the promised fruit of all his toil? Where the wretched and deluded being, who fondly promised himself that he had laid up much goods for many years?-Gone, my brethren, to his account, a naked victim, trembling in the hands of the living God! 40 Yes, my brethren, the final catastrophe of all human passions, is rapid as it is awful. Fancy yourselves on that bed from which you never shall arise, and the reflection will exhibit like a true and faithful mirror, what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue. Happy they 45 who meet that great, inevitable transition, full of days! Unhappy they who meet it but to tremble and despair! Then it is that man learns wisdom, when too late; then it is that every thing will forsake him, but his virtues or his crimes. To him the world is past; digni50 ties, honours, pleasure, glory; past like the cloud of the morning! nor could all that the great globe inherits, afford him at the tremendous hour, as much consolation, as the recollection of having given but one cup of cold water to a child of wretchedness, in the name of Christ 55 Jesus! Kirwan,

[blocks in formation]

A short time since, and he who is the occasion of our sorrows, was the ornament of his country. He stood on an eminence; and glory covered him. From that eminence he has fallen-suddenly, for ever, fallen. His 5 intercourse with the living world is now ended; and those who would hereafter find him must seek him in the grave. There, cold and lifeless, is the heart which just now was the seat of friendship. There, dim and sightless is the eye, whose radient and enlivening orb 10 beamed with intelligence; and there, closed for ever are those lips, on whose persuasive accents we have so often and so lately hung with transport.

From the darkness which rests upon his tomb there proceeds, methinks, a light in which it is clearly seen 15 that those gaudy objects which men pursue are only phantoms. In this light how dimly shines the splendor of victory-how humble appears the majesty of grandeur. The bubble which seemed to have so much solidity has burst: and we again see that all below the sun 20 is vanity..

The

True, the funeral eulogy has been pronounced. sad and solemn procession has moved. The badge of mourning has already been decreed, and presently the sculptured marble will lift up its front, proud to perpet25 uate the name of Hamilton, and rehearse to the passing traveller his virtues.

30

Just tributes of respect! And to the living useful. But to him, mouldering in his narrow and humble habitation, what are they?-How vain? how unavailing ?

Approach, and behold-while I lift from his sepulchre its covering. Ye admirers of his greatness, ye emulous of his talents and his fame, approach, and behold him now. How pale! how silent! No martial bands admire the adroitness of his movements. No fascinat35 ed throng weep-and melt-and tremble at his eloquence Amazing change. A shrowd! a coffin! a narrow subterraneous cabin! This is all that now remains of Hamilton! And is this all that remains of

him?-During a life so transitory, what lasting monu40 ment then can our fondest hopes erect?

My brethren! we stand on the borders of an awful gulf, which is swallowing up all things human. And is there, amidst this universal wreck, nothing stable, nothing abiding, nothing immortal on which poor, frail, dy45 ing man can fasten?

Ask the hero, ask the statesman, whose wisdom you have been accustomed to revere, and he will tell you. He will tell you, did I say? He has already told you, from his death bed, and his illumined spirit still whis50 pers from the heavens, with well known eloquence, the solemn admonition.

"Mortals! hastening to the tomb, and once the companions of my pilgrimage, take warning and avoid my errors-Cultivate the virtues I have recommended55 Choose the Saviour I have chosen--Live disinterestedly --Live for immortality; and would you rescue any thing from final dissolution, lay it up in God." Nott.

115. The Crucifixion.

When our Redeemer expired on the cross, sympathizing nature was convulsed! The sun was suddenly enveloped in midnight darkness, and confusion reigned! but I shall pass by these terrific events, in order to lead 5 your attention to more important objects. The cross erected on Mount Calvary was the standard of victory, to which even thought was to be led captive, and before which imaginations were to be cast down; that is to say, human wisdom and skeptic reluctance. No voice 10 sublime was heard sounding from a thunder-bearing cloud, as of old from the heights of Sinai! No approach was observed of that formidable Majesty, before whom the mountains melt as wax! Where, where was the warlike preparation of that power which was to subdue 15 the world? See the whole artillery collected on Mount Calvary, in the exhibition of a cross, of an agonizing Sufferer, and a crown of thorns!

Religious truth was exiled from the earth, and idola>

« AnteriorContinuar »