vious hints: when those who sit in the scorner's chair sin with a high hand, and many of those who wear the professor's garb are destitute of the power, and content themselves with the mere form of godliness; when such is the state of a commu nity, there is reason, too apparent reason, to be horribly afraid. Such phenomena abounding in the moral world are not fanciful but real omens. Will not an injured God" be avenged on such a nation "as this?" Will he not be provoked to "sweep "it with the besom of destruction?" O! that the inhabitants of Great Britain would lay these alarming considerations to heart! The Lord of Hosts has commanded the sword of civil discord to return into its sheath; but have we returned every one from his evil ways? Are we be come a renewed people, devoted to a dying Saviour, and zealous of good works?-What mean those peals of sobs which burst from the expiring cattle? What mean those melancholy moans where the lusty droves were wont to low t? What mean those arrows of untimely death discharged on our innocent and useful animals? No wantonness or sloth has vitiated the blood of these laborious, temperate creatures. They have contracted no disease from unreasonable indul. gences and inordinate revellings. The pure stream is their drink, the simple herb their repast. Nei Isai. xiv. 93. The Eternal Sovereign, speaking of Babylon, denounces this threatening; I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.-What a noble but dreadful image is bere how strongly and awfully pourtrayed how preg nant also in its signification! Intimating the vile nature, and expressing the total extirpation, of this wicked people; at the same time, suggesting the perfect ease with which the righteous God would execute his intended vengeance. + If these papers should be so happy as to outlive their author; perhaps, it may be needful to inform posterity, that the above-mentioned hints allude to a most terrible, contagious, and mortal distemper, raging, among the horned cattle, in various parts of the kingdom. ther care disturbs their sleep, nor passion inflames their breast. Whence then are they visited with such terrible disorders as no prudence can prevent nor any medicines heal?-Surely these calamities are the weapons of Divine displeasure, and manifest chastisements of an evil generation. Surely God, the "God to whom vengeance belongeth," has still a controversy with our sinful land: and who can tell where the visitation will end? what a storm may follow these prelusive drops?-O! that we may "hear the rod, and who hath ap"pointed it!" Taught by these penal effects of our disobedience, may we remove the accursed thing + from our tents, our practices, our hearts! May we turn from all ungodliness before wrath come upon us to the uttermost, before iniquity prove our ruin! Sometimes, at this hour, another most remarkable sight amazes the curious and alarms the vulgar. A blaze of lambent meteors is kindled, or some very extraordinary lights are refracted in the quarters, of the North-The streams of radiance, like legions rushing to the engagement, meet and mingle; insomuch, that the air seems to be all conflicting fire. Within a while they start from one another; and, like legions in precipitate flight, sweep, each a separate way, through the firmament. Now they are quiescent; anon, they are thrown into a quivering motion; presently, the whole horizon is illuminated with the glancing flames. Sometimes, with an aspect awfully ludicrous, they represent extravagant and antic vagaries at other times you would suspect that some invisible hand was playing off the dumb artillery Hinc lætis vituli vulgo moriuntur in herbis, † Josh. vi. 18. Virg. of the skies, and by a strange expedient, giving us the flash without the roar. The villagers gaze at the spectacle, first with wonder, then with horror. A general panic seizes the country. Every heart throbs, and every face is pale. The crowds that flock together, instead of diminishing, increase the dread. They catch contagion from each other's looks and words; while fear is in every eye, and every tongue speaks the language of terror. Some see hideous shapes; ar mies mixing in fierce encounter, or fields swimming with blood. Some foresee direful events, states overthrown, or mighty monarchs tottering on their thrones. Others, scared with still more frightful apprehensions, think of nothing but the day of doom. "Sure," says one," the unalterable "hour is struck, and the end of all things come." "See," replies another, "how the blasted stars "look wan! Are not these the signs of the Son "of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven?""Jesus prepare us" (cries a third, and lifts his eyes in devotion)" for the archangel's trump, and "the great tribunal!" If this waving brightness, which plays innocently over our heads, be so amazing to multitudes, what inexpressible consternation must overwhelm unthinking mortals when the general conflagration commences! The day, the dreadful day, is approaching; " In the which the heavens shall pass away "with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up." That mighty hand which once opened the windows from on high, The 2 Pet. ii. 10. I have often thought this verse an eminent instance of that kind of beautiful writing, in which the very sound bears a sort of significancy; at least, carries an exact correspondence with the sense. original expression-porno-is one of the hoarsest and deepest words in language: nothing could be more exquisitely adapted to affect the ear, as well as impress the imagination, with the wreck of nature, and the crash of a and broke up the fountains of the great deep, will then unlock all the magazines of fire, and pour a second deluge upon the earth. The vengeful flames, kindled by the breath of the Almighty, spread themselves from the centre to the circumference. Nothing can withstand their impetuosity, nothing can escape their rage. Universal desolation attends their progress. Magnificent palaces and solemn temples are laid in ashes. Spacious cities and impregnable towers are mingled in one smoking mass. Not only the productions of human art, but the works of Almighty Power, are fuel for the devouring element. The everlasting mountains melt, like the snows which cover their summit. Even vast oceans serve only to augment the inconceivable rapidity and fury of the blaze.-O! how shall I, or others, stand undismayed amidst the glare of a burning world, unless the Lord Je hovah be our defence? How shall we be upheld in security, when the globe itself is sinking in the fiery ruin, unless the Rock of Ages be our support? Beehold! a new spectacle of wonder! the moon is making her entry on the eastern sky. See her rising in clouded majesty! opening, as it were, and asserting her original commission, to rule over the night. All grand and stately, but somewhat sullied, is her aspect. However, she brightens as she advances, and grows clearer as she climbs higher; till, at length, her silver loses all its dross; she unveils her peerless light, and becomes "the falling world-I scarce ever read this clause, but it brings to my mind that admired description in Milton On a sudden open fly, With impetuous recoil, and jarring sound, It is a pleasing employ, and a very laudable office of true criticism, to point out these inferior recommendations of the Sacred Classics: though, I believe, the inspired writers themselves, amidst all the elevation and magnificence of their divine ideas, disdained a scrupulous attention to such Tittle niceties of style. beauty of Heaven, the glory of the stars *;" delighting every eye, and cheering the whole world with the brightness of her appearance and the softness of her splendors.-O! thou queen of the shades! may it be my ambition to follow this thy instructive example! While others are fond to transcribe the fashions of little courts, and to mimic personages of inferior state, be it mine to imitate thy improving purity! May my conduct become more unblemished, and my temper more refined, as I proceed farther and farther in my probationary course! May every sordid desire wear away, and every irregular appetite be gradually lost, as I make nearer approaches to the celestial mansions!-Will not this be a comfortable evidence, that I too shall shine in my adored Redeemer's kingdom? Shine with a richer lustre than that which radiates from thy resplendent orb; shine with an unfading lustre, when every ray that beams from thy beauteous sphere is totally extinguished? The day afforded us a variety of entertaining aights. These were all withdrawn at the acces sion of darkness. The stars, kindly officious, immediately lent us their aid. This served to alle viate the frown of night rather than to recover the objects from their obscurity. A faint ray, scarcely reflected, and not from the entire surface of things, gave the straining eye a very imperfect glimpse, such as rather mocked than satisfied vision. Now the moon is risen, and has collected all her beams, the veil is taken off from the countenance of nature. I see the recumbent flocks; I see the green hedgerows, though without the feathered choristers, hopping from spray to spray. In short, I see once again the world's great picture; not indeed in its late lively colours, but |