sermons

For the last several months I've been working on a project editing eighteenth-century New England sermons. For the most part it is enjoyable. The sermons are usually between 24 and 36 handwritten pages, and they're what you'd expect: lots about duty, God's love, repentance, justification, etc.

For months, though, I've been waiting for a real barnburner. A hellfire and brimstone, "Repent for the Hour is Nigh" kind of sermon. Well, boy oh boy, did I finally get to one tonight.

I wish I could say who and when and where, but I just can't. I will however quote this line, which is one of my favorites, though the first ten pages are filled with lofty and manic descriptions of what will happen exactly when God's judgment meets man's so-called "knowledge of the Solar System."

Here's the snippet:

"For then shall the Raging Element be Commissioned to Spread its Ravages far and wide; the Subterraneous Fires, joining with the inflammations in the Air, shall produce an universal combustion of Confusion."