yet question whether God will regard it -or at least will regard it so far, as to arise and visit it with "a mighty hand and a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out."-God, we know, is the "God to whom vengeance belongeth,"--but will he" show himself?"

Hath he shown himself in former ages? -we had better ask, and from that we may be able to form some conjecture what he is likely to do now. Open the Bible, then, my brethren, in the book of the prophet Isaiah, and run your eye over a few chapters, beginning at the thirteenth. -What do you read?-First of all— The burden of Babylon.-" The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle, to punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity."—Next, The burden of Moab-"For the Lord hath heard of the pride of Moab, even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath-and the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned with all that great

multitude, and the remnant shall be very small and feeble."-The burden of Damascus-" Behold Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap, because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength."-The burden of Egypt-" Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt—and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it."-And last, The burden of Tyre" Howl ye ships of Tarshish, for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in."-" Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth? The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.-He stretched forth his hand over the sea-he shook the kingdoms-the Lord hath given a com

mandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof."

After such remarkable instances of God's especial vengeance inflicted upon so many and so great cities, well may the prophet exclaim in the beginning of that most beautiful chapter which follows-viz. the twenty fourth-“ Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof."

I will not detain you, however, by adducing examples to prove that God exercises a superintending care over the affairs of kingdoms--since the same arguments which would disprove the existence of a national providence, would disprove (as it seems to me) the existence of any providence whatever.But if God clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, if he feed the fowls of the air, and so careth for them that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without

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his knowledge-and if the very hairs of our heads be numbered by him-if such, say, be the minute attention paid by God, first to the inferior orders in the creation-and then to man individually, it is evidently most unreasonable and absurd to suppose that kingdoms and nations escape his cognizance-or that he is unmoved by their obedience, or blind to their sins.-Let us conclude, then, not only that the Almighty visiteth the earth and blesseth it, and maketh it very plenteous ',-but also that he doth sometimes" arise and shake it terribly" -and let us also conclude that "when God's judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world should learn righteousness."-All such dispensations cry, "Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee."

Here then, arises the question-can we see any signs of such a dispensation now?-Have we any clear reasons for concluding that God's judgments are even

Ps. lv. 9.

2 Is. xxvi. 9.

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now abroad in the world? and that he is now uttering the cry of the text in a more emphatic tone than usual?—No man could justly be accused of answering rashly or fanatically who should reply to these questions at once in the affirmative. And in saying this, I am not alluding solely to the disease, whose approach has been the more immediate occasion of our assembling to-day. is true that even in this, there are features which mark it out as something more than an ordinary visitation. We "know not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth."-The observation of man has not been able to detect its origin-nor has his skill devised any sufficient cure. No precautions have availed to arrest its progress-nor has any conjecture anticipated the direction it would pursue. These things, combined with its peculiar malignity and destructiveness, do certainly claim for it the serious attention of all those who reflect on what they see. -But would that this malady, strange and fearful as it is, were among the worst