their lives long, taking part in the 'lament of the merchants and
mariners' over the perished Babylon, when they find that the
representatives of the Roman Emperors must fall with the Roman See.
There are two wild beasts, like those which Daniel saw in vision,
contending together in fierce warfare,--the old Babylonish beast,
horrid with the blood of saints, and its cruel executioner--the
monster of Atheistic Liberalism; but Christ has identified His cause
with neither. No reprieve from the prince awaits the condemned
culprit; and with the disreputable and savage executioner he will
hold no intercourse. Destruction, from which there is no escape,
awaits equally on both.
We began with a reference to Dryden's _Year of Wonders:_ we conclude
with an anecdote regarding that year, connected with the history of
one of the most eminent judges and best men England ever produced. It
needs no application, showing as it does, with equal simplicity and
force, how and on what principle the terrors of years such as the
'_Annus Mirabilis_' of the seventeenth century, or the '_Annus
Mirabilis_' of our own, may be encountered with the greatest safety
and the truest dignity. We quote from Bishop Burnet's _Life of Sir
Matthew Hale_:--
'He' (Sir Matthew), says the Bishop, 'had a generous and noble idea of
God in his mind; and this he found, above all other considerations,
preserve his quiet. And, indeed, that was so well established in him,
that no accidents, how sudden soever, were observed to discompose him,
of which an eminent man of that profession gave me this instance:--In
the year 1666 an opinion did run through the nation that the end of
the world would come that year. This, whether set on by astrologers,
or advanced by those who thought it might have some relation to the
number of the beast in the Revelation, or promoted by men of ill
designs to disturb the public peace, had spread mightily among the
people; and Judge Hale going that year the Western Circuit, it
happened that, as he was on the bench at the assizes, a most terrible
storm fell out very unexpectedly, accompanied with such flashes of
lightning and claps of thunder, that the like will hardly fall out in
an age; upon which a whisper ran through the crowd, "that now was the
world to end, and the day of judgment to begin." And at this there
followed a general consternation in the whole assembly, and all men
forgot the business they were met about, and betook themselves to
their prayers. This, added to the horror raised by the storm, looked
very dismal, insomuch that my author--a man of no ordinary resolution
and firmness of mind--confessed it made a great impression on himself.
But he told me "that he did observe the judge was not a whit affected,
and was going on with the business of the court in his ordinary
manner;" from which he made this conclusion: "that his thoughts were
so well fixed, that he believed, if the world had been really to end,