refroshes the parched ground with gentle show ers, as if they proceeded from a watering-pot. Instead of confining our sensitive enjoyments to bread and water, as if we were the tenants of a jaii, he has strewed our gardens and fields with every variety of luxuriant delicacies, to gratify every appetite. Instead of directing the lightnings to set on fire the mountains, and to level our cities to the ground, and the thunders to roll incessantly around us, he commands this terrific meteor to visit us only at distant intervals, and in its gentler operations, just to remind us what tremendous instruments of destruction he is capable of wielding, and that we ought to "be still and know that He is God," and that "he has punished us less than our iniquities deserve." O that man would praise the Lord for his mercy, and for his long-suffering towards the children of men!

This character of God is peculiar to himself, and cannot be supposed to belong, unless in a very inferior degree, to any created intelligence. Were the meekest man that ever appeared on the theatre of our world-or were even one of the highest intelligences in heaven to be invested with a portion of the attribute of omniscience; could he penetrate, at one glance, over all that hemisphere of our globe on which the sun shines, and, at the next glance, survey the other hemisphere which is enveloped in darkness; could his eye pierce into the secret chambers of every habitation of human beings, in every city, and town, and village, and especially into those haunts where crimes are veiled by the shades of night from every human eye; could he behold at one glance all the abominations that are hourly perpetrating in every region of the world-the pagan worshippers in Thibet and Hindostan, performing their cruel and execrable rites-the wheels of Juggernaut crushing to death its wretched devotees-the human victims which are tortured and sacrificed, to gratify the ferocity of some barbarous chief-the savage hordes of New Zea land, feasting on the flesh of their fellow-men, whom they have cruelly butchered, and drinking their blood out of human skulls-the Indians of America, tearing with pincers the flesh of their prisoners, and enjoying a diabolical pleasure in beholding their torments-the haughty inquisitors of Spain insulting their devoted victims, in the name of the merciful Saviour, and preparing tortures, and stakes, and flames for their destruction-the assassin plunging his dagger into his neighbour's bosom-the midnight robber entering into the abode of honest industry, strangling its inmates, and carrying off their treasures -the kidnapper tearing the poor African from his wife and children, and native land-the unfeeling planter and overseer lashing his degraded slaves- -tyrants and persecutors dragging "the excellent ones of the earth" to prisons, to dungeons, and to gibbets-the malevolent and en

vious man devising schemes for the ruin and destruction of his neighbour-the mutinous crew, in the midst of the ocean, rising up against their superiors, slashing them with their sabres, and plunging their bodies into the deep-the gamester ruining a whole family by a throw of the dice-the skeptic sporting with the most sacred truths-the atheist attempting to defy the Omnipotent-the prostitute wallowing in the mire of uncleanness-the drunkard blaspheming the God of heaven in his midnight revels-numercus tribes of human beings, in every quarter of the globe, dashing out each other's brains in mutual combat-hypocritical professors of religion, harbouring malice and revenge against their brethren-and thousands of other iniquitous scenes which are daily presented before the pure eyes of Omniscience; could he behold all the abominable acts of this description which are perpetrated on the surface of our globe, in the course of a single day, and were the elements under his control, for executing condign punishment on transgressors,-it is more than probable, that, before another day dawned the great globe we inhabit would be shattered to upon the world, its centre, and enveloped in devouring flames. For no finite intelligence could refrain his indignation for a length of years, or could penetrate into all the reasons, why "sentence against an evil work should not be speedily executed;" why the murderer should not be arrested by death before his hand is lifted up to strike; why the tyrant should not be cut off before his victims are secured; and why the slave should be doomed to drag out so many long years under the rod of a relentless master. But God beholds all these actions in all their bearings and relations to the plan of his government, and in all their eternal consequences; and beholding them, he "keeps silence," and refrains from executing immediate and deserved punishment.

This part of the divine character, when seriously considered, is calculated to excite strong emotions of admiration and wonder; and these emotions must be raised to their highest pitch, when we consider the many instruments of vengeance which are every moment wieided by the hand of the Almighty. If forbearance were owing to impotence, or a want of means for the infliction of retributive justice, our admiration would cease. But all the elements of nature are under the immediate control of the Governor of the universe; and, in a thousand modes incom prehensible by us, He could make them tho instruments of his vengeance to chastise a guilty world. "For in his hand is the soui of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” Let us consider, for a little, some of those agents which lie within the sphere of our knowledge in the system of nature.

Of all the elements of nature, there is none more delightful and beautiful in its effects that

ven.

light. "Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." It diffuses a thousand shades of colouring over the hills, the vales, the rivers, and the boundless deep, and opens to our view the glorious host of heaYet this delightful visitant, by a slight modification, from the hand of Omnipotence, is capable of being transformed into the most destructive element in nature. Light flies from the sun at the rate of 200,000 miles in a second of time; and it is owing to its particles being almost infinitely small, that we feel no inconvenience from their rapid velocity. But, were the Creator to condense several millions of these particles into one, or impel them with a still greater velocity, the solid crust of our globe would be perforated and shattered in every point by this celestial artillery, and its inhabitants would soon be battered to atoms.

Again, the atmosphere which surrounds us, and in which we live and breathe; which contains the principles of life; which fans us with its gentle gales, and wafts to our ears the harmonies of music-is capable of being converted into an instrument of terror and destruction. It is composed chiefly of two different ingredients; one of these is the principle of flame,-and if the other ingredient were extracted from the atmosphere, and this principle left to exert its native energy without control, instantly the forests would be in a blaze; the hardest metals, and the most solid rocks, would melt like wax; the waters of the ocean would add fuel to the raging element; and, in a few minutes, the whole expanse of our globe would be enveloped in one devouring flame.

Again, the globe on which we reside is whirling round its axis every twenty-four hours, and is carried round the sun with a still greater velocity. Should that Almighty arm which first impelled it in its career, cause these motions suddenly to cease, mountains would be tumbled into the sea, forests torn up by their roots, cities overthrown and demolished, all nature would be thrown into confusion, and terror and destruction would overwhelm the inhabitants of the world. Not only the stopping of the earth's motions, but even a new direction given to its axis of rotation, would be productive of the most fatal effects. The earth's axis at present is directed to certain points of the heavens, from which it never deviates, but in a very small degree; but were the hand of Omnipotence to bend it so as to make it point in a different direction, the ocean would abandon its present bed, and overflow the land; and a second universal deluge would overwhelm all the monuments of human grandeur, and sweep the earth's inhabitants into a watery grave.

Again, not only the elements which immediately surround us, but even celestial bodies which gre just now invisible to our sight, and removed

to the distance of a thousand millions of miles might be employed as ministers of vengeance, There are at least a hundred comets connected with the solar system, which are moving in al directions, and crossing the orbits of the earth, and the other planets. Were the orbit of one of these bodies, in its approach to the sun, to be bent in a direction to that of the earth, the most alarming phenomena wou be exhibited in the heavens. A ruddy globe, arger in appearance than the moon, would first announce terror to the inhabitants of the earth-every day this terrific object would increase in size, till it appeared to fill the celestial hemisphere with its tremendous disk-the light of the sun would be eclipsed-the stars would disappear-the ocean would be thrown into violent agitation, and toss its billows to the clouds-the earth would "reel to and fro, like a drunkard"--and universal alarm and confusion would seize upon all the tribes of the living world. At length, this tremendous orb would approach with accelerated velocity, and, striking the earth with a crash, as if heaven and earth had burst asunder, would shiver the globe into fragments, and for ever exterminate the race of

man.

oxy

It will at once be admitted, oy every one who acknowledges the incessant agency of a Supreme Being in the movements of the universe, that any one, or all of these effects combined, are within the compass of Omnipotence; and not only so, but they might all be accomplished with terrific energy in the course of a few moments. If puny man, by his mechanical dexterity, can suddenly stop a stupendous machine which he has put in motion-if he can impel red-hot balls at the rate of 500 miles an hour-if he can extract the gen from a small portion of the atmosphere, and cause it to set on fire the hardest metallic substances we cannot doubt for a moment, that, with infinitely greater ease, the Almighty could the compostop the earth in its career, separate nent parts of the atmosphere, set on fire the foundations of the mountains, or impel the blazing comet towards the earth, to crush it to atoms. That God has been a constant spectator of the years; that wickedness of man for four thousand he has, during all that period, wielded in his hands so many terrific ministers of vengeance; and that he has hitherto refrained from executing deserved punishment on the workers of iniquity -is, therefore, a striking evidence that his mercy is infinite, and that he is "long-suffering and slow to anger, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

It would, however, be a most unwarrantable conclusion, from this circumstance, to imagine that God beholds with indifference the scenes of iniquity that are hourly presented before him. In specorder to show that he is not an unconcerned tator of the ways of men, and that the instruments of punishment are always in his hand, he

sometimes "cometh out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity," and displays the holiness of his nature, by “terrible things in righteousness." In such visitations, "his way is in the whirlwind and the storm, clouds and darkness are round about him; a fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about; the stormy winds are his messengers, and flames of fire his ministers; the clouds pour out their waters; the sky sends forth a sound; the voice of his thunder is in the heavens; his lightnings enlighten the world; the earth quakes and the people tremble." The hurricane, which tears up whole forests by the roots, and tosses them about as stubble, which levels the loftiest spires with the ground, and dashes the stateliest ships against each other, till they are broken into shivers, and plunged into the deep; the lightnings, which fill the atmosphere with their blaze, which shatter the strongest buildings, and strike whole herds of cattle into a lifeless group; the pestilence, "which walketh in darkness," and cuts off thousands of its victims in a day; the volcano, belching forth rivers of fire, causing surrounding cities to tremble, and sending forth its bellowings over a circuit of a thousand miles ;-these, and many other agents which are in operation in the system of nature, are experimental proofs of the dreadful energy of those ministers of destruction, which are constantly under the superintendence of the Almighty, and of his occasionally using them for the purpose of chastising the nations for their iniquities.

In particular, the earthquake is one of the most terrible and destructive instruments of vengeance. In the year 1755, the shock of an earthquake was felt at Lisbon, which levelled to the ground more than half of that populous city, and buried fifty thousand of its inhabitants in the ruins. The shock extended its influence over an extent of four millions of square miles; and therefore, it is easy to conceive, that, had a little greater impulse been given to the physical agents which produced this terrible effect, the solid globe on which we stand might have been convulsed to its centre, and all its inhabitants crushed to death, amidst the universal ruin.

We have also an experimental proof, that there are physical principles in the constitution of our globe, sufficient to give it a shock throughout every part of its solid mass, and that such a shock, at one period, it actually received. When the wickedness of man became great upon the earth, “when every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," the fountains of the great deep were broken up, the cataracts of heaven were opened, and the whole solid crust of our globe received such a shock as rent the mountains asunder, and hurled them into the plains; the effects of which are stil! visible, in every Alpine district, and in the subDerraneous caverns of the earth. Of all the 23

33

millions of the race of Adam that then existed, only eight individuals, after having been tossed for seven months on the tremendor's billows of a boundless ocean, survived, to tell to their rity the tidings of this universal wreck. The postedreadful scenes of horror and consternation which must have been presented at this awful crisis; the stupendous forces which must have been in operation in the atmosphere above, and in the foundations of the earth beneath, and the tremendous clash of elemental war which must have ensued, throughout every region of earth, air, and sea,-it is beyond the power of the human imagination to depict, in all their terrific grandeur. But we have every reason to conclude, that the bottom of the ocean was lifted up to the level of the loftiest mountains, that disruptions of the mountains and of the densest rocks ensued, that dreadful explosions resounded throughout the whole expanse of nature, and that the mighty waters hurled their billows with resistless fury in every direction, rolling immense rocks and forests from one continent to another, and whirling the wrecks of different regions to the opposite extremities of the globe.

Were it at any time the intention of the Almighty to inflict deserved punishment on a particular district, or class of men, without deranging the whole structure of our globe, we have also an experimental proof how easily this could be effected, even without infringing the established laws of nature. He has only to condense the powerful energies of the electrical fluid in a large cloud, and to despatch it on the wings of the wind, to discharge its thunderbolts on any particular city, or mountain, or plain, and the work of destruction is instantly accomplished. A striking instance of this kind happened, in the year 1772, in the island of Java, in the East Indies. On the 11th of August, at the dead hour of night, a bright cloud was observed covering a mountain in the district of Cheribon, and at the same moment several reports were heard, like those of a cannon. The people who dwelt

on the to fly with sufficient swiftness, a great part of upper parts of the mountain not being able the cloud, about nine miles in circumference, detached itself under them, and was seen at a distance, rising and falling like the waves of the sea, and emitting globes of fire so luminous, that the night became as clear as day. The effects of this dreadful explosion were astonishing. Every thing was destroyed for twenty miles around. The houses were demolished; the plantations were buried in the earth; vast numbers of goats, sheep, and horses, and 1500 head of cattle were destroyed; and above two thousand human beings were in a moment plunged into the gulf of eternity.* "With. God is terri

* In this, and the other illustrations of this subject grand agent in directing the operations of the ele stated above, I consider the Divine Being as the

gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy
As the heaven is high above the earth, so grea
Bless
is his mercy toward them that fear him.
the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his
benefits."

ments, but without infringing those general laws nistered, according to the eternal rules of recti