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to think as others think, brings distinction to no man. Hence he comes under temptation to strike out an eccentric course for himself; if he cannot hope to surpass mankind by his excellencies, he is yet resolved to differ from them by his obliquities.

The results have been too apparent, and have been too real. One conceit and extravagance after another has been adopted; and each one, for the time, has been the idol of the heart and the test of orthodoxy. Such haste and intemperance have attended the adoption and rejection of opinion, that men have not only contradicted each other; they have chiefly contradicted themselves. All these changes have not only been made; they have been as hastily committed to the world (for vanity cannot wait); till the productions of one hand have the character of proceeding from several controvertists of opposite professions. And these sudden transitions have produced on the individual no confusion; he has regarded every new light, like the phases of the ascending moon, as giving him only a greater elevation of brightness and glory.

The evil is increased by nourishment. The modest and laborious inquirer is censured as pusillanimous and ignorant; and he who,

offended at extravagance, ventures to reject it, does so at "the peril of his salvation." He who began by inquiring into the mind of the prophets, ultimately assumes their commission. From his altitudes he looks down with scorn on a world which he condemns; and brandishes death and the curse, as if the high prerogatives of heaven were in his own keeping. Ah! little does he think, that though the simple may be awestruck at his presumptuous violation of the sanctities of religion, the wicked look on him only to laugh, while the wise turn aside from him in solitude to weep!

These remarks, naturally suggested by our subject, are not meant to reprehend others, so much as to bring caution and humiliation to ourselves. Let it be for a lamentation in the churches, that such evils do exist. How many men, in a very short remembrance, of piety, talent, wealth and influence, have rendered all these faculties worse than useless, by their eccentricities, extravagance and love of change! And it is remarkable, that these examples have chiefly arisen in those very communities which boast of power, by their formularies, to restrain innovation, and prevent fanaticism. O had this band of men remained steady in their profession, and laboured with union, humility, and prayer, for the common salvation, what

an impression might have been made on the world! what a harvest might have been brought to the rejoicing church! As it is, the weak have stumbled; the prudent have been offended; and the rash have been led captive. Trifling conceits have been magnified into terms of salvation; and important truth has received a complexion from the endless changes of its advocates, till the cardinal points of our faith have seemed the sport of every wind of human doctrine. The results to many have been fatal. Some in frenzy have run through our city, crying-" Lo, here is Christ-and lo, there is Christ;" while the sceptic, mocking at the promise through their folly, has looked abroad on the heavens, and boldly exclaimed, "Where is the promise of his coming?" This shall be for a lamentation!

There is, however, no evil that is unmixed evil; and while we truly deplore the calamities which visit the church, they may yet admit of a cheering construction. Who shall say, for the few who, thus yielding to rashness, stumble and fall, how many are warned of danger and preserved from falling? And this may not be a solitary benefit. This conflict of opinion on religious subjects may try the faith of some; but it may also assure us of the evidence and power of divine truth generally. It is to be

remembered, while we bewail these differences as serious and hurtful, they do nevertheless not extend to the essential truths of revelation. We all in common, whatever the construction, entirely agree in believing the great sentiments --that Messiah shall come-that the church shall be glorified-that the world shall be judged and that a future state of joy or woe awaits us. But if men of every order of mind, of every class of prejudice, of every shade of character, apply themselves to make inquisition for truth; and if with a thousand differences of opinion, they all remain agreed on these great facts of scripture testimony-what must be the conclusion? Such unity amidst such diversity, places the truth above collusion or compact; and assures us that it reigns over the common mind by a divine and irresistible power. Messiah must come; there must be a state of glory for the church; there must be a period in which all the world shall be judged before God!

But enough of discussion. Let us, in conclusion, endeavour "without controversy" to apprehend the greatness of the subject, and to receive from it some just impression.

It is evident, that the Judgment is not an isolated event; but the last event in a long

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series of occurrences which shall have filled all the successive periods of time. It is not possible, therefore, to form a right opinion of it without a recurrence to those transactions with which it has so close and important a connexion.

The Almighty God, resolving on the manifestation of his perfections and the diffusion of his blessedness, created the world of angelic beings. As rational creatures, they were necessarily made free and mutable; part of them abused their liberty to apostasy, while part preserved their original state of purity and allegiance. Those who sinned, sinned personally and without excuse; and they fell without redemption and without hope. Those who stood in the crisis of trial, were confirmed in happiness by the gracious will of their Creator. Thus was revealed to the universe both "the goodness and the severity of God."

In pursuance of the same design of manifesting his glory in other modes of being, God created this earth and these heavens. Man was formed as the proper inhabitant of the world; and he was made of a mixed nature, of the dust of the earth and in the image of God. He was placed in Paradise; his Maker

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