fore the magistrates and proye that he was perfectly quiet, and show them his arm. I begged him not, as he would find a Mr. Scriven there, who was too much biassed one way; he had better leave it to God, and he might depend on it he would remember and amply repay Mr. Scriven, for all his feats and performances respecting a Minister of the Gospel and a peaceable assembly, on the ground of Camberwell Fair, on a Sabbath afternoon. I am glad to find that one of my congregation has been so useful amidst the awful ruins of the New Brunswick Theatre. Mr. Sargent has also, I find, been exceedingly useful. He is the agent of the Sailor's Asylum for starving and destitute Mariners, in Dock-street; and connected also with our British and Foreign Seamen's Friend Society. He and a party of sailors under his direction, I have al ready said, were very useful to me on the ruins; and he has continued, with his men, to render every assistance for some days. I have been pleased to hear the sentiment of Mr. Wyman, who wonderfully escaped, and on meeting Mr. Goldsmith at the stage-door, exclaimed, "You and I ought to go down on our knees and thank God for our deliverance." All the world shall know the Lord in his works, if not in the riches of his grace; and to Him shall every knee bow, and every tongue confess, that he is Lord of all, to the glory of God the Father. May both Mr. Wyman and Mr. Goldsmith remember their lives are prolonged a little longer in great mercy, that they may seek the salvation of their souls, and attend to the gracious calls of the gospel while it is called " day." "To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Oh, how important it is for us all to remember, especially at this moment of alarm and terror in this neighbourhood, that Jehovah says, "Turn you at my reproof; behold I will pour out my spirit upon you, I will make known my words unto you." "Because I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded: but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you." Tremendous declarations! God grant they may make a suitable impression on all our hearts, that we may seek for mercy and salvation alone through the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, lest the following language be applicable to any of the survivors, or to any of the spectators of this dreadful catastrophe; which is but a day of judgment" in miniature, a prelude to that day for which all other days were made." That awful day will surely come, (Th'appointed hour makes haste,) When I must stand before my Judge, And pass the solemn test. 66 The thunder of that dismal word What, to be banish'd for my life, And yet forbid to die? O, wretched state of deep despair! Jesus, I throw my arms around, Oh, tell me that my worthless name And cheerfully my soul shall wait How awfully will many immortal souls then realize the declaration of the Almighty, "Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof; therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ways, and be filled with their own devices." Surely God will not be trifled with. How vain to neglect his Gospel and his warnings, in the short life of poor guilty man. He has said in conclusion of the fearful language I have just quoted, "For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity (even the prosperity!) of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil."-Prov. vi. 1. Lord Jesus! help us all, by thine Holy Spirit's influence on our hearts, to hearken, to hearken seriously, to thee, and obey thy voice, which says, "Believe, and thou shalt be saved!" and which graciously directs us to secret prayer in thine own blessed and comfortable words. Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." 66 On Saturday I viewed the ruins of the theatre with deep emotions of heart, and thought "How vain are all things here below, How false, and yet how fair; Each pleasure hath its poison too, 7 So it was with poor Mr. Maurice. He had been incessant in his exertions with every tradesman during last Saturday, that the theatre might be ready to open on the Monday; and so delighted was he with the help he received from one person of the establishment, that he called him to the stage on the Saturday evening, and full of joy, and elate with expectation, he said, "You have been very active, every thing is in a most prosperous way, the proprietors are delighted with your exertions, and here is a sovereign for you to drink success to the New Brunswick Theatre." This person told me he went home equally gratified, informed his wife of the circumstance, and they sent out for a pint of wine, with which, on Saturday night, they most cheerfully drank, "Success to the New Brunswick Theatre." All is now a heap of ruins, and Mr. Maurice called into eternity, leaving every thing unsettled but this, "where the tree falls, there it will lie; where death leaves us, judgment will find us.” "My God, I feel the mournful scene, My bowels yearn o'er dying men." O that there may be thousands of pious, active, zealous, holy men raised up, who shall go out into the streets and lanes of the city, "Pointing the way, the way to God, Salvation through a Saviour's blood." No. VI. will be published on Monday. BRUNSWICK THEATRE, OR THE Sixth Part OF OBSERVATIONS ON THE DESTRUCTION OF THE New Brunswick Theatre, WELLS-STREET, WELLCLOSE SQUARE. BY THE REV. G. C. SMITH, LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY W. K. WAKEFIELD, New Sailor's Magazine Office, NEAR THE BRUNSWICK THEATRE, 19, WELLCLOSE-SQUARE, Price 1d. or 7s. per Hundred. |