Page:Sermons preached in the African Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia.djvu/192

188 infidels, fearfully increasing? Acts of high-handed robbery, injustice, cruelty, murder and the like, are now of such frequent occurrence, that they cease to affect us. St. John the divine informs us that he "heard a loud voice, saying, Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath bid a short time." We do not say, that this prophecy refers to the present state of the world, but we may say, that the prevailing wickedness of the present time, shows that it is not altogether inapplicable. And is there no danger of being contaminated in the midst of so much wickedness? Is it not as true now as ever, that, "Evil communications corrupt good manners?" Have we not had deplorable instances within our own immediate observation, of the increase of crime and wretchedness? Do we not see some young men, who, a