SERMON L.

ON THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WORLD.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in 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.-2 PETER2 iii. 10.

THESE words present to us an awful view of the final ca tastrophe of the world. Having treated, in the preceding Discourse, of the commencement, let us now contemplate the close, of all human things. The dissolution of the material system is an article of our faith, often alluded to in the Old Testament, clearly predicted in the New. It is an article of faith so far from being incredible, that many appearances in nature lead to the belief of it. We see all terrestrial substances changing their form. Nothing that consists of matter, is formed for perpetual duration. Every thing around us is impaired and consumed by time, waxes old by degrees, and tends to decay. There is reason, therefore, to believe, that a structure so complex as the world must be liable to the same law; and shall, at some period, undergo the same fate. Through many changes, the earth has already passed; many shocks it has received, and is still often receiving. A great portion of what is now dry land appears, from various tokens, to have been once covered with water. Continents bears the marks of having been violently rent, and torn asunder from one another. New islands have risen from the bottom of the ocean; thrown up by the force of subterraneous fire. Formidable earthquakes have, in divers quarters, shaken the globe; and at this hour terrify with their alarms many parts of it. Burning mountains have, for ages, been discharging torrents of flame; and from time to time renew their explosions in various regions. All these circumstances show, that in the bowels of the earth the instruments of its dis

solution are formed. To our view, who behold only its surface, it may appear firm and unshaken; while its destruction is preparing in secret. The ground on which we tread is undermined. Combustible materials are stored. The train is laid. When the mine is to spring, none of us can foresee.

Accustomed to behold the course of nature proceeding in regular order, we indulge meanwhile our pleasures and pursuits with full security; and such awful scenes as the convulsion of the elements, and the dissolution of the world, are foreign to our thoughts. Yet as it is certain that some generation of men must witness this great catastrophe, it is fit and proper that we should sometimes look forward to it. Such prospects may not, indeed, be alluring to the bulk of men. But they carry a grandeur and solemnity which are congenial to some of the most dignified feelings in our nature; and tend to produce elevation of thought. Amidst the circle of levities and follies, of little pleasures and little cares which fill up the ordinary round of life, it is necessary that we be occasionally excited to attend to what is serious and great. Such events as are now to be the subject of our meditation, awake the slumbering mind; check the licentiousness of idle thought; and bring home our recollection to what most concerns us, as men and Christians.

Let us think what astonishment would have filled our minds, and what devout emotions would have swelled our hearts, if we could have been spectators of the creation of the world; if we had seen the earth when it arose at first, without form and void, and beheld its parts arranged by the Divine word; if we had heard the voice of the Almighty, calling light to spring forth from the darkness that was on the face of the deep; if we had seen the sun rising, for the first time, in the east, with majestic glory; and all nature instantly beginning to teem with life. This wonderful scene, it was impossible that any human eye could behold. It was a spectacle afforded only to angels, and superior spirits. But to a spectacle no less astonishing, the final dissolution of the world, we know there shall be many human witnesses. The race of men living in that last age, shall see the presages of the approaching fatal day. There shall be signs in the sun, as the Scripture informs us, and signs in the moon and stars; upon the earth, distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.* They shall clearly perceive that universal nature is tending to ruin. They shall feel the globe shake; shall behold their cities fall; and the final conflagration begin to kindle around them.-Realising then this awful scene; imagining ourselves to be already spectators of it; let us,

*Luke xxi. 25.

I. CONTEMPLATE the Supreme Being directing the dissolution. as he directed the original formation of the world. He is the great agent in this wonderful transaction. It was by him foreseen. It was by him intended; it entered into his plan from the moment of creation. This world was destined from the beginning to fulfill a certain period; and then its duration was to terminate. Not that it is any pleasure to the Almighty to display his omnipotence in destroying the works which he has made; but as for wise and good purposes the earth was formed, so for wise and good ends it is dissolved, when the time most proper for its termination is come. He who, in the counsels of his Providence, brings about so many revolutions among mankind; who changeth the times and the seasons; who raises up empires to rule in succession among the nations, and at his pleasure puts an end to their glory; hath also fixed a term for the earth itself, the seat of all human greatness. He saw it meet, that after the probationary course was finished, which the generations of men were to accomplish, their present habitation should be made to pass away. Of the seasonableness of the riod when this change should take place, no being can judge except the Lord of the universe. These are counsels, into which it is not ours to penetrate. But, amidst this great revolution of nature, our comfort is, that it is a revolution brought about by Him, the measures of whose government are all founded in good

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It is called in the text, the day of the Lord: a day peculiarly his, as known to him only; a day in which he shall appear with uncommon and tremendous majesty. But though it be the day of the terrors of the Lord, yet from these terrors, his upright and faithful subjects shall have nothing to apprehend. They may remain safe and quiet spectators of the threatening scene. For it is not to be a scene of blind confusion; of universal ruin, brought about by undesigning chance. Over the shock of the elements, and the wreck of matter, Eternal wisdom presides. According to its direction the conflagration advances which is to consume the earth. Amidst every convulsion of the world, God. shall continue to be as he was from the beginning, the dwelling place of his servants to all generations. The world may be lost to them; but the Ruler of the world is ever the same, unchangeably good and just. This is the high tower to which they can fly, and be safe. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness; and, under every period of his government his countenance beholdeth the upright.

II. LET us contemplate the dissolution of the world as the end of all human glory. This carth has been the theatre of many a great spectacle, and many a high achievement. There, the

wise have ruled, the mighty have fought, and conquerors have triumphed. Its surface has been covered with proud and stately cities. Its temples and palaces have raised their heads to the skies. Its kings and potentates, glorying in their magnificence, have erected pyramids, constructed towers, founded monuments, which they imagined were to defy all the assaults of time. Their inward thought was, that their houses were to continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations. Its philosophers have explored the secrets of nature; and flattered themselves, that the fame of their discoveries was to be immortal.—Alas! all this was to be no more than a transient show. Not only the fashion of the world, but the world itself, passeth away. The day cometh, when all the glory of this world shall be remembered only as a dream when one awaketh. No longer shall the earth exhibit any of those scenes which now delight our eyes. The whole beautiful fabric is thrown down, never more to arise. As soon as the destroying angel has sounded the last trumpet, the everlasting mountains fall; the foundations of the world are shaken; the beauties of nature, the decorations of art, the labours of industry, perish in one common flame. The globe itself shall either return into his ancient chaos, without form and void; or, like a star fallen from the heavens, shall be effaced from the universe, and its place shall know it no more.

THIS day of the Lord, it is foretold in the text, will come as a thief in the night; that is, sudden and unexpected. Mankind, notwithstanding the presages given them, shall continue to the last in their wonted security. Our Saviour tells us, that as in the days of Noah, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.*. -How many projects and designs shall that day suddenly confound? What long contrived schemes of pleasure shall it overthrow? What plans of cunning and ambition shall it utterly blast? How miserable they, whom it shall overtake in the midst of dark conspiracies, of criminal deeds, or profligate pleasures? In what strong colours is their dismay painted, when they are represented, in the book of Revelations, as calling to the hills and mountains to fall on them and cover them ?- -Such descriptions are apt to be considered as exaggerated. The impression of those awful events is weakened by the great distance of time at which our imagination places them. But have we not had a striking image set before us, in our own age, of the terrors which the day of the Lord shall produce, by those partial ruins of the world, which the visitation of God has brought on countries well known, and not removed very far from ourselves?

Matthew, xxiv. 38.

When, in the midst of peace, opulence, and security, suddenly the earth was felt by the terrified inhabitants to tremble, with violent agitation, below them; when their houses began to shake over their heads, and to overwhelm them with ruins; the flood, at the same time, to rise from its bed, and to swell around them; when encompassed with universal desolation, no friend could aid another; no prospect of escape appeared; no place of refuge remained; how similar were such scenes of destruction to the terrors of the last day? What similar sensations of dread and remorse, and too late repentance, must they have excited among the guilty and profane?

To such formidable convulsions of nature, we, in these happy islands, through the blessing of heaven, are strangers; and strangers to them may we long continue! But, however we may escape partial ruins of the globe, in its general and final ruin we also must be involved. To us must come at last that awful day when the sun shall for the last time arise, to perform his concluding circuit round the world. They how blest, whom that day shall find employed in religious acts, or virtuous deeds; in the conscientious discharge of the duties of life; in the exercise of due preparation for the conclusion of human things, and for appearing before the great Judge of the world! Let us now,

III. CONTEMPLATE the soul of man, as remaining unhurt in the midst of this general desolation, when the whole animal creation perishes, and the whole frame of nature falls into ruins, What a high idea does this present, of the dignity pertaining to the rational spirit! The world may fall back into chaos; but, superior to matter, and independent of all the changes of material things, the soul continues the same. When the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, the soul of man, stamped for immortality, retains its state unimpaired; and is capable of flourishing in undecaying youth and vigour. Very different indeed the condition of human spirits is to be, according as their different qualities have marked, and prepared them, for different future mansions. But for futurity they are all destined. Existence, still, is theirs. The capacity of permanent felicity they all possess; and if they enjoy it not, it is owing to themselves.

Here, then, let us behold what is the true honour aud excellence of man. It consists not in his body; which, beautiful or vigourous as it may now seem, is no other than a fabric of dust, quickly to return to dust again. It is not derived from any connection he can form with earthly things; which, as we have seen, are all doomed to perish. It consists in that thinking part. which is susceptible of intellectual improvement and moral worth, which was formed after the image of God; which is capable of