ties will never more be offered. Then, fhould negligent Mortals wifh ever fo paffionately for a few Hours, a few Moments only, to be thrown back from the opening Eternity, Thousands of Worlds would not be able to procure the Grant. 12 3 SHALL I now be industrious to shorten, what is no longer than a Span; or to quicken the Pace of what is ever on the Wing? Shall I fquander away what is unutterably important, while it lafts; and, when once departed, is altogether irrevocable? O! my Soul, forbear the Folly, forbear cents, as the midnight Defert refounds with the Lion's Roar. The Artillery of the Skies is difcharged at the Signal, a Peal of fevenfold Thunder fpreads the Alarm, and prepares the World to receive his Orders.-To finish all, and give the higheft Grandeur, as well as the utmoft Solemnity, to the Reprefentation, hear the Decree that iffues from his Mouth. He wears by HIM that liveth for ever and ever. In whatever Manner fo majestic a Perfon had expreffed Himself, He could not fail of commanding univerfal Attention. But when He confirms his Speech by a moft facred and inviolable Oath, we are not only wrapt in filent Sufpenfe, but overwhelmed with the profoundest Awe. 7 He fwears, That Time ball be no longer. Was ever Voice fo full of Terror, fo big with Wonder? It proclaims, not the Fall of Empires, but the final Period of Things. It ftrikes off the Wheels of Nature; bids Ages and Generations cease to roll; and, with one potent Word, configns a whole World over to Diffolution.-This is one among a Multitude of very fublime and masterly Strokes, to be found in that too-much neglected Book-the Bible. forbear the desperate Extravagance. Wilt Thou chide as a Loiterer, the Arrow that boundeth from the String, or sweep away Diamonds as the Refufe of thy Houfe? - Throw Time away! Aftonishing, ruinous, irreparable Profufenefs! Throw Empires away, and be blameless. But O! be parfimonious of thy Days; husband thy precious Hours. They go connected, indiffolubly connected, with Heaven or Hell *. Improved, they are a fure Pledge of everlasting Glory; wafted, they are a fad Preface to neverending Confufion and Anguish. - WHAT a profound Silence has compofed the World! So profound is the Silence, that my very Breath feems a Noife; the Ticking of my Watch is diftinctly beard; if I do but ftir, it creates a Disturbance. There is, now, none of that confused Din, from the tumultuous City: No Voice of jovial Ruftics, from the neighbouring Meadow: No chirping Melody, from the hady Thicket.-Every Lip is fealed: Not the leaft Whisper invades the Air; nor the least Motion ruftles among the Boughs, Echo herself fleeps unmolested. The expanded Ear, though I have fomewhere feen, upon a Sun-dial, the following Infcription; which, I think, is the most proper Motto for the Inftrument which measures our Time; and the most Ariking Admonition, that can poffibly be given, to the various Crowds of Beholders. --Ab hoc momento pendet Eternitas, all Attention, catches no Sound, but the liquid Lapfe of a murmuring Stream. All Things are hush'd, as Nature's Self lay dead. IF, in the midft of this deep and universal Compofure, Ten thousand bellowing Thunders fhould burft over my Head; and rend the Skies, with their united Vollies: O! how fhould I bear fo unexpected a Shock? It would stun my Senses, and confound my Thoughts. I fhould fhudder in every Limb; and, perhaps, fink to the Earth with Terror.-Confider then, O Mortals, confider, what a prodigious and amazing Call will, ere long, alarm 'your fleeping Bones. When the Tenants of the Tombs have flumbered, in the most undisturbed Repofe, for a Multitude of Ages; what an inconceivable Confternation must the Shout of the Archangel, and the Trump of GOD occafion! Will it not wound the Ear of the Ungodly; and affright, even to Distraction, the impenitent Sinner? The ftupendous Peal will found through the Vaft of Heaven; will fhake the Foundations of Nature; and pierce even the deepest Receffes of the Grave. And how i O! how will the Prisoners of Divine Justice be able to endure that tremendous Summons, to a more tremendous Tribunal ?. - Do Thou, my Soul, liften to the ftill Voice of the Gospel. At tend, tend, in this thy Day, to the gracious Invitations of thy Saviour. Then, fhall that great midnight Cry lofe its Horrors and be Mufic to thy Ears. It fhall be welcome to thy reviving Clay, as the Tidings of Liberty, to the Dangeon Capfive; as the Year of Jubilee, to the haraffed Slave. This, this fhall be its charming Import, "Awake, and fing, ye that dwell in Duft *." WHAT a general Cessation of Affairs has this dufky Hour introduced! A little while ago, all was Hurry, Hurry. Life and Activity exerted themfelves in a thoufand bufy Forms. The City fwarmed with paffing and repaffing Multitudes. All the Country was Sweat and Duft. The Air floated in perpetual Agitation, by the flitting Birds, and humming Bees. Art fat prying with her piercing Eyes, and Induftry ply'd her reftlefs. Hands. But fee, how all this fervent and impetuous Buftle is fled with the setting Sun. The Beafts are flunk to their graffy Couch, and the winged People are retired to their downy Nefts, The Hammer has refigned its founding Tafk, and the File ceafes to repeat its flying Touches. Shut is the well-frequented Shop, and its Threfhold no longer worn by the Feet of numerous Cuftomers. The Village-Swain lies drowned in Slumbers; and even his trufty Dog, who, for a * Ifa xxvi. 19. con confiderable Time, ftood Centry at his Door, is extended at his Ease, and fnores with his Mafter. In every Place, Toil reclines her Head, and Application folds her Arms. All Interests ¦: feem to be forgot; all Purfuits are fufpended; all Employment is funk away; funk away, like the fluttering Myriads, that lately fported in the Sun's departing Rays. Tis like the Sabbath of univerfal Nature, or as though the Pulfe of Life ftood ftill. THUS will it be with our infinitely momentous Concerns, when once the Shadows of the Evenng, that long Evening which follows the Footfteps of Death, are ftretched over Us. The Dead cannot feck unto God; the Living, the Living alone, are poffeffed of this inestimable Opportunity*. "There is no Work or Device, no "Repentance or Amendinent in the Grave, "whither We are All hafting +." When once Nunc, nunc properandus, & acri that Behold! now is the accepted Time. Behold! now is the Day of Salvation. 2. Cor. vi. 2... " The State of the Dead is filed, by King Hezekiah (Ifa. xxxviii. 11.), in that pathetic Lamentation of his expected Doom PN, and is rendered by Vitringa, Terra Ceffationis, the Land of Intermiffion or Ceation. Which prevents all Appearance of Tautology in the Sentence, and is, I think, a valuable Improvement of the Tranflation: as it conveys an Idea, not only diftinct from the precede |