our God will be so likely to remember us? What acts are more meet, in the days of your prosperity, than "good deeds done for the house of your God, and for the offices thereof?" Of what works will the recollection be more solacing, in the seasons of your adversity, than of "good deeds done for the house of your God, and for the offices thereof?" To what transactions of your life will you look back with more pleasure, when you shall be entering the vale of death, than to "good deeds done to the house of your God, and to the offices thereof?" What works can you be more desirous to have rehearsed concerning you in the day of judgment than "good deeds done" upon earth "for the house of your God, and for the offices thereof?" Give, then, ye rich, that of the abundance which he hath given you, a portion may be used to the honour of his name. To the treasury of this work offer your contributions, ye gay and thoughtless, if, haply, amidst your omissions of duty and transgressions of his laws, the Almighty may remember you for this. And you, lovers of Christianity, who, if its Author were to put to you the question which he put to his apostle, "Lovest thou me?" would reply with a zeal not less than his, "Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee," assist by your oblations to "feed his sheep, and feed his lambs." Jesus, from his throne, looks down to-day to behold the measure of our beneficence. Christians, will ye refuse to gratify your Redeemer?

SERMON XXVIII.

PUBLIC FAST.

JEREMIAH, Xviii. 7, 8.

"At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them."

THE

HE vicissitudes which create, which alter, and which destroy countries and communities, are among the most interesting occurrences of our globe. In them we feel a lively interest as men, and have naturally a desire to ascertain the spring of their movements, and the principles according to which those movements are governed. The Scriptures abound with passages which furnish information upon this subject; and contain the only instruction capable of solving the difficulties in which it is frequently enveloped. The text is one of a great number of declarations, from which the man who is engaged in observing the events of the world, or is alarmed by the tendency of the awful phenomena of nature, or concerned for the vicissitudes of his own country, may obtain that knowl edge which should at once satisfy his inquiry and render him humble and virtuous: "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them."

These words suggest to us, in the first place, that the being and condition of countries and communities, of nations and kingdoms, are under the control of the Most High.

Secondly, that the great procuring cause of perplexities and afflictions, calamities and ruin, in any section of the earth, is the predominance of irreligion and vice.

And, thirdly, that by timely reformation, a people may avert the evils which, on account of their sins, the Almighty may have pronounced against them.

These three most interesting truths are evidently contained in this portion of the sacred writings; and they strike me as peculiarly proper for your present meditation.

That the fate and events of countries and communities are in the hands of God, is almost a necessary consequence of his being and character. That he has created a world, and then abandoned it to the government of chance, is a supposition so repugnant to the idea of any purpose in creating it; so incompatible with all his known attributes; so contradictory to every reasonable sentiment of a God, that it is utterly inadmissible. To suppose him watchful of the operations in the universe, and yet not active in the management of them, would seem irreconcileable with the inefficacy of all laws without his might; with the appearance of design in most events; with the effects of a sublime power which many of them display; and with the existence, on peculiar occasions, of some occurrences which have been departures from the ordinary course of nature. To believe any affairs to be under the guidance of his providence, and yet to imagine that the fortunes of whole countries and people are free from his observation and care, would be inconsistent with the variety and magnitude of the interests which are in those fortunes always involved. If, then, there be a God, there is a supreme providence. For can we believe him all-powerful, wise, and good, and yet regardless of his works? Are there not events, for which we can in no way satisfactorily account, but by referring them to his special exertion? If there be a providence, it is concerned always about the condition and

events of nations and kingdoms. For can any objects more need his attention, or be more suitable for his care? Does he cause the grass to grow upon the mountains, and number the hairs of our heads, and at the same time neglect those occurrences in the physical and social world, with which are generally connected the safety, the happiness, and the improvement of millions of his intelligent creatures; with which are often connected the progress of civilization, virtue, and religion; yea, with which is sometimes connected that display of his own glory, for which all things are and were created? These sentiments are confirmed by their having been common to all mankind. The poets of remotest antiquity represent their heroes as seeking by sacrifices and libations the protection of the gods, when marching to battle; or their intervention when assailed by plagues. The disciples of imposture and of ignorance have recourse to the intercession of their prophet and their Bramins for distinguishing favours, or the averting of awful calamities. And the best rulers of the most enlightened times have deemed it rational and useful to direct their thoughts, and the thoughts of their people, to the God of heaven in seasons of alarm and danger. Above all, they are sentiments which are rendered unquestionable by the authority of the sacred volume. In the Scriptures the Almighty is explicitly represented as superintending all the wonderful occurrences in the natural, political, and moral world. They expressly teach, that an arm of flesh, and a bow of steel, are destitute of strength when he bids them be relaxed; that peace and war operate in the manner which he permits, during the period which he limits, and in the sphere which he assigns; that the blessings which prosper, and the calamities which deject communities, are sent by him, and by him recalled; that the pestilence, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the sword, are his four sore judgments; that the thunder, and the earthquake, and great noise, and the storm, and tempest, and flame of devouring fire, are visitations of the Lord of Hosts; that the elements of nature are his ministers, to perform his purposes. If we do not reject the sacred volume,

we must believe that every people is with God, as a vessel of clay in the hands of the potter, which he breaketh, and marreth, and maketh again according to his pleasure, and the uses for which it is designed. In the history of his "peculiar people," we see him regulating their movements, aiding or frustrating their purposes, and achieving their exploits. And in the sublime passage which now guides our meditations, he, with a majesty of language, scarcely surpassed in any other portion of the holy books, represents the fate of countries as determined. by his word. "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it."

But it may be objected, if it is thus certain that the events of time are under the superintendence of God, why are there so great evils both in the natural and political world? Why does the earthquake terrify and devastate whole cities and countries, in some regions, and war deluge others with blood? Why is "the arm of abused power" ever successful, and unprincipled violence seen triumphing over prostrate man? To this it would be sufficient to reply, that in us, beings of yesterday, who see but a few links of the vast chain in which the Almighty hath connected all occurrences in the universe; who, with the utmost effort of our faculties, are unable, in this our low position, to perceive the final results of any of his operations, it is presumptuous, vainly presumptuous, to attempt to fathom the counsels of his mind; and worse than presumptuous, with the evidences which he hath vouchsafed to give us in his word and works, of his wisdom, goodness, and rectitude, to doubt that all his arrangements will terminate to the honour of his government and the greatest possible benefit of his creatures. As the objection, however, is plausible, it may be well to observe further, that our estimate of what appears to be evil may often be erroneous. There are certainly reasons for apprehending, that in the vicissitudes of this disordered world, the course is taken by divine providence which, upon the whole, is best; and "partial evil, universal good." Thus, though the earth quake, or the whirl