losses, its honors and disgrace were only transitory diversifications of the scene, we should be less concerned in view of what happens,-less restive and envious, and less liable to be moved,-so that we might finish our course with joy.. Fourthly. A realizing sense of the unestablished and passing character of this world, is happily adapted to make us feel and live as dying creatures ought to do. Feeling that we are constantly amidst the scenes of a varying, departing world, we can hardly fail to realize, that we ourselves are transient like all around us, and must shortly share the common fate. As was observed in the former part of the discourse, with States and Empires passing into oblivion, the most costly and magnificent works of art already mouldering in the dust, and even the productions of nature every year withering and perishing before our eyes-how can we forget that the places which now know us, must soon know us no Hence the Prophet's exclamation—“ we all do fade as the leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away"-and at another time by the same one-" and the voice said cry; and he said what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field-the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever." more. point of light, There, all shall It was in con Lastly. Does the world, and all that is in it, pass away-in what a most commanding does it present heaven to our view. be stability and uninterrupted rest. templation of this truly animating thought, that the apostle wrote thus to the Corinthians :-" While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen, are temporal, but the things which are not seen, are eternal; for we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly deserving to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven; if so be, that being clothed we shall not be found naked. We are confident I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him." After having overcome and once entered the New Jerusalem, the believer will then be made a pillar in the temple of God, and he shall go no more out. The only change which he shall experience, will be from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord. While indulging in such a train of reflection, the rightly disposed mind will be satisfied to have the world pass away. The number of tears shed over its misfortunes, will be sensibly diminished, and the farewell moment, in the place of being dreaded, will be anticipated with no small pleasure. Every thing conspires to prove that here is not our home. Every pain which we endure, or change for the worse which we experience, proclaims the admonition aloud in our hearing-arise, and depart, for this is not your rest. May a gracious God grant that we do all in fact thus arise, in the most important sense of the word. Provided the present painful effects of sin are made instrumental in hereafter raising us above its power, Jehovah will be adored and blessed for ever and ever-the rod which has smitten, will be kissed with fervour-the mighty hand which has overturned and overturned, will be relied upon with increased confidence, and the retrospect, to a troubled and constantly changing world, will add to the measure of unceasing glory. SERMON II. ZACHARIAH I. V. "Your Fathers, where are they-and the Prophets, do they live forever." The pleasures of anticipation are usually much greater, than those of actual experience. The human mind loves to penetrate into the future; and its scenes command a greater interest, than those through which we have actually passed. In the one case, full scope is given to imagination; while in the other, painful recollection may dictate the feelings. But thus less pleasant to look backward, than forward; it by no means follows, that the latter is the preferable employment. In point of moral effect, the recollection of a departed, or the sight of a departing world, is, without fail, much more bencficial, than the contemplation of one permanently established and marked with progressive improve ment. It was under the strong influence of this impression, that the subject of the morning's discourse was selected. It comprised a general view of the fading character of every thing carthly, with the religious improvement which should be made of so solemn and interesting a fact. The words chosen for a directory to our remarks this evening, though of the same general pointing, will give to them a much more restricted character.-The Fathers, where are they; and the Prophets, do they live forever. The aged penman of these words, is here presented to our view, in a state closely approximating to that of astonishment, at the recollection of the fact, that his ancestors, whether by nature or in office, were all gone to the grave, and that he himself stood a long storm-beaten tree, which some near approaching blast should soon level with the dust. Feeling a most sensible interest in the Prophet's exclamation, I shall crave your indulgence, while I give to my remarks, this evening, a social, and indeed to many of them, a personal character. It is not a whole world, but a diminished speck upon that world, to which it is proposed our eye should be now directed. A sketch of this particular ecclesiastical society, is the whole which I shall now attempt. However uninteresting to others, the proposed detail may not be without benefit to ourselves. Most of the incidents which will be alluded to, are either those of your own observation, or of not far distant recollection. The original settlement of Norwich partakes of a colonial character. Different from most of the towns in New-England, its original settlers were not a few |