sad spectacle from afar with such feelings of amazement and awe as filled the heart of the Patriarch, when he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace*.

These things, my brethren, were written for our learning.

Some imagine that Rome is changed: that, although she was once proud and cruel, she is now liberal and enlightened; and that we have nothing to fear from her. But this is not the doctrine of St. John. It is not the language of the Holy Ghost. The Apocalypse teaches us that she is unchanged and unchangeable. It warns us, that if she regains her sway, she will persecute with the same fury as before t. She will break forth with all the violence

* Gen. xix. 28.

+ Let me add here the sober reflections of our great philosophical divine, Bishop Butler:-" The value of our own (Established Church) ought to be very much heightened in our esteem by considering what it is a security from,-I mean the great corruption of Christianity, Popery; which is ever hard at work to bring us again under its yoke. Whoever will consider Popery as it is professed at Rome, may see that it is a manifest open usurpation of all human and divine authority. In those Roman Catholic countries, where its monstrous claims are not admitted, and the civil power does in many respects restrain the Papal, yet Persecution is professed, as it is also enjoined by what is acknowledged to be their highest authority,-a General Council, so called, with a Pope at the head of it; and is practised in all of them, I think without exception, where it can be done with safety."-Bp. Butler's Serm. V. on 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.

Y

of suppressed rage. She will again be drunken with the blood of the Saints*. Let us be sure of this; and let us take heed accordingly. We have need to do so; more need, perhaps, than most of us suppose. The warning is from God: He that hath ears to hear, let him heart.

Again: from the Apocalypse we learn that Rome will be visited with plagues, like Egypt; but that, like the Sovereign of Egypt, she will not repent: her empire will be darkened, and her citizens will gnaw their tongues for pain §. But she will not repent of her deeds ||. She will be Babylon to the end. And God forbid that Britain should ever be joined with Babylon!

III. Here then is another warning. Let us pause before, with a view to peace, we sacrifice truth. Let us not incur the divine malediction, by doing evil that good may come **. Let us not treat the Roman Babylon as if it were Sion, lest God should treat our English Sion as if it were Babylon.

We have already proceeded far, very far, in polluting our land with the abominations of Rome : Heaven forbid that we should aggravate our guilt!

Yet, alas! some are found to taunt us with the fact, that we have endowed Romanism in our Colonies; and

*Rev. xvii. 6.
+ Matth. xi. 15.

Rev. xvi. 10.

|| Rev. xvi. 9. 11.

Rev. ii. 7. 11. 17. 29.

§ Rev. xvi. 10.

** Rom. iii. 8.

"therefore (they allege) for Consistency's sake, we must endow it at home." For Consistency's sake! Most wise and admirable Consistency! To be consistent in sin is to rebel against Heaven, and to be the slaves of Satan now, and his victims hereafter. Heaven defend us from such Consistency as that! May God give us grace to reject such false and recreant suggestions as would make one sin a reason for more! Let us know no other Consistency than Obedience for the future, and Repentance for the past. Let us listen to the Voice of God. Hast thou sinned? do it no more*. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with the cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cartrope t. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter ‡. Woe to the rebellious children that take counsel, but not of Me (says the Lord); that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin §; that walk to go to Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore, the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the shadow of Egypt your confusion!

Again: Let some tell us, if they will, that by endowing Romanism we should be showing charity to persons, and not encouraging strange doctrines.

* Ecclus. xxi. 1.

Isaiah v. 20.

18.

† Isaiah v.
§ Isaiah xxx. 1.

Charity to persons! True charity to persons is, not to abet their errors, but to aid them to recover the truth. It is cruelty to persons to patronize their sins, and so confirm them in sinning, and close their door of repentance. A nobler and more charitable work is now before us. To hold fast, and advance the truth. Blessed is he who labours in it! Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life*.

Lastly, let others say, if they will, that some good men among us would not have scrupled to endow Romanism; and that such a design was once entertained by a revered Monarch and by a great Statesman ; and let them ask, if they will, in a tone of ironical scorn, Who are you, that you should pretend to be more wise or religious than they? Be it so. Then we might ask in return, Have we not had other Kings and Queens also-and other Statesmen, who nobly freed us from Papal usurpation? Were not they wise and courageous? And, after all, is England to be so degraded, as to follow human examples instead of obeying Divine Laws? Are we to adopt the errors of men, and to make them supersede the Truth of God? To what miserable consequences should we be led by such feeble reasoning as this! It might be used to justify the worst crimes. According to it, adultery would be innocent, for it might appeal to the example of

Rev. ii. 10.

King George III. Mr. Pitt.

David; and the denial of Christ would be no sin, for it might plead the example of Peter. No. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Let us govern our lives, not by the examples of men-even of Kings and Statesmen-but let all-Kings and Statesmen, as well as subjects-regulate their actions by the Law of God. Let us not enquire, what might have been the designs of earthly Monarchs, but what is the language of the KING of KINGS? What does HE say? He describes Rome as Babylon. He pourtrays her doom in words of fire. He bids us flee from her, lest we be involved in her ruin.

Almighty God Himself now speaks by the mouth of St. John to the Rulers and People of England. If you cast in your lot with Rome, if you make common cause with her, if you cherish, if you encourage her, if you endow her, her end will be yours. The strength of Pharaoh will be your shame ; the shadow of Egypt will be your confusion. The divine threatenings of the Apocalypse are denounced, not only against Babylon, but on all who aid and abet her. If any man worship the Beast on which the Woman sits, the same shall drink of the wrath of God, and be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and of the Lambt; and they that are partakers in her sins shall receive also of her plagues +

*Rom. iii. 4.

Rev. xiv. 10.

Rev. xviii. 4.