And now, committing ourselves and our country to the care of our heavenly Father, in the humble trust that He who feedeth "the fowls of the air" will not desert us in our necessities;-let us, with one accord, pray that wherever over this land his people have this day been gathered before him, they may so have repented them of their sins, and formed such firm resolutions of amendment, that they may not, in the hour of trial, be found unworthy of his protection.

DISCOURSE XXV.

ON THE STABILITY OF THE DIVINE, CONTRASTED WITH THE INSTABILITY OF HU

"God hath spoken once; twice have I "heard this, that power belongeth unto "God."

FROM the wise order and arrangement of the universe, we become acquainted with the intelligent mind which presides over it; and besides the feelings of trust and

*This Sermon (a very hasty and imperfect composition) is introduced here chiefly because it happened to be writ ten and preached while Bonaparte was at Moscow.

dependence with which we are naturally disposed to regard a Superior Being, the many intimations of a benevolent character in nature, lead us to repose with confidence in the goodness of the Deity. The attribute ascribed to him in the text, is of a more awful nature, and would be apt to inspire sentiments merely of humiliation or alarm, were it not for that wisdom and goodness in subservience to which it acts. In that aspect, the contemplation of the Divine power, while it is a noble exercise for the mind, strengthens the trust which we place in God; and although it is an alarming consideration to the wicked, it is full of 'consolation to the good.

The power of God is, in the first place, made evident from the magnificence of the world around us. If the arrangements which we observe in nature give us assurance of the Divine intelligence, and the

benevolence of these arrangements makes us acquainted with his goodness, the very existence of Creation is a proof of his power, since nothing but a power, the extent of which is beyond our conception, could have given birth to so glorious an order of being. In conformity with our naty, ral notions of the extent of this power, Holy Scripture always speaks of it. It is described in one view, as instantaneous in its operations. "God said, Let there "be light, and there was light!" "By the "word of the Lord were the heavens made, "and all the host of them by the breath of "his mouth: he spake, and it was done; "he commanded, and it stood fast." Farther, it is described as extending throughout all nature. "He hath made the "earth by his power; he hath establish"ed the world by his wisdom; and hath "stretched out the heavens by his dis"cretion. When he uttereth his voice,

"there is a multitude of waters in the "heavens, and he causeth the vapours "to ascend from the ends of the earth: "he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his trea❝sures."

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The same power which is thus pourtrayed as giving existence to creation, and as regulating the operations of nature, is likewise still more awfully exhibited in the destruction of the works which it has formed. "I beheld the earth," says the Prophet Jeremiah, "and lo! it was with"out form and void; and the heavens, " and they had no light. I beheld the "mountains, and lo! they trembled ; and "all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, "and lo! there was no man, and all the "birds of the heavens were fled. I be“held, and lo! the fruitful place was a "wilderness; and all the cities thereof "were broken down at the presence of