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pleasure in reviewing them!-But review them we must-and so must He who is to be our judge, at the day of his second manifestation. That day draws on apace. For not only friends die, and years expire, and we ourselves shall do the same, but the world itself approaches to its end. It likewise must die. Once already has it suffered a watery death: it is to be destroyed a second time by fire. A celebrated author, having in his writings followed it through all its changes from the creation to the consummation, describes the eruption of this fire and the progress it is to make, with the final and utter devastation to be effected by it, when all sublunary nature shall be overwhelmed and sunk in a molten deluge. In this situation of things he stands over the world, as if he had been the only survivor, and pronounces its funeral oration in a strain of sublimity scarce ever equalled by mere man.

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"Let us reflect upon this occasion, on the vanity " and transient glory of this habitable world. How, by the force of one element breaking loose upon the rest, all the varieties of nature, all the works of art, all the labours of men, are reduced to nothing! "All that we admired and adored before, as great "and magnificent, is obliterated or vanished; and "another form and face of things, plain, simple, and

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every where the same, overspreads the whole earth. "Where are now the great empires of the world, "and their imperial cities? their pillars, trophies, " and monuments of glory? Show me where they stood, read the inscription, tell me the conqueror's

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name. What remains, what impressions, what "difference or distinction do you discern in the mass. "of fire? Rome itself, eternal Rome, the great city, "the empress of the world, whose domination and "superstition, ancient and modern, make a large part of the history of this earth; what is become "of her now? She laid her foundations deep, and "her palaces were strong and sumptuous; she glo

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rified herself, and lived deliciously, and said in her "heart, I sit as a queen, and shall see no sorrow. "But her hour is come, she is wiped away from the "face of the earth, and buried in everlasting oblivion. "But not cities only, and the works of men's hands"the everlasting hills, the mountains and rocks are “melted as wax before the sun, and their place is no "where to be found. Here stood the Alps, the load "of the earth, that covered many countries, and "reached their arms from the Ocean to the Black "Sea: this huge mass of stone is softened and dis"solved, as a tender cloud into rain. Here stood "the African mountains, and Atlas with his top "above the clouds; there was frozen Caucasus, "and Taurus, and Imaus, and the mountains of Asia; and yonder, towards the north, stood the Riphæan hills, clothed in ice and snow. All these are vanished, dropped away as the snow upon their "beads!-Great and marvellous are thy works, "Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, "thou King of saints!"

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Thus you see, "old things are passed away." But out of their ashes a new creation shall spring

forth. According to the divine promise, which cannot fail, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwell righteousness, joy, and life, and from which, consequently, sin, sorrow, and death, are for ever excluded. We wait, in faith and patience, for the time when we ourselves shall be restored with the world, and "all things shall become new." To prepare for this glorious and unexpected time, let us be first "renewed in the spirit of our minds; let us put off the old man, corrupt with the deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, which of God is "created in righteousness and true holiness;" addressing ourselves, for the necessary strength and power, to him that sitteth on the throne, who saith from thence, "Behold, I make all things new." This done, we shall descend undismayed to the grave, and our flesh shall rest there in hope, like a grain of corn in its furrow, to appear in another and better form, at the appointed season, to begin an everlasting spring, and be for ever young. And when can we enter with so great propriety, upon the blessed work, as now, when a new year affords us opportunity to repair the miscarriages of the old one?

-Let me leave in your ears, and upon your minds, the charming words of that kind and affectionate invitation, made in one of the sacred books, by the Redeemer to his church, who, you know, throughout the Scriptures is considered in the relation of his spouse:

"Lo, the winter will soon be past; the rain will "be over and gone; the flowers will appear on the

"earth; the time of the singing of birds will come;

and the voice of the turtle will be heard in our land. "The fig-tree will put forth her green figs, and the "vines, with the tender grape, give a good smell. "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, "and Christ shall give thee light."

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DISCOURSE XXIX.

THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE.

MATTHEW, XXI. 15, 16.

And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

THIS part of sacred story presents us with a very extraordinary scene. Messiah, the promised Saviour, prefigured by the law, foretold by the prophets, and universally expected to appear, appears accordingly. Exactly in the manner described by Zechariah, he makes his public entry, meek and lowly, into his capital city, Jerusalem. Agreeably to the celebrated passages in Malachi and Haggai, "The Lord, whom men sought, came to his temple," and by his personal presence rendered "the glory of "the latter house greater than the glory of the for

'mer." "He came to his own, but his own re

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