fast and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, which steadfastness and immoveableness, and abounding in the work of the Lord, may justify your confessions here, and procure your acceptance in the day of final account. influence on your hearts and lives. The devoutness we lift our hearts to the throne disastrous inroads of the pestilential ma- of the Most High, but we must carefully lady into the bosom of our own city have add to our supplications the acceptable hitherto been, through the divine forbear- incense of penitent hearts and holy lives— ance in mercy, comparatively limited; for thus only, let us be assured, can our but who will say that our dwellings-who hope be on rational and safe grounds. will say that our persons are for the future What is the language of Britons here this secure? Signal benevolence has been day? If it has any meaning, it is that you manifested for averting the mischief by believe in the great truth of the constant the opulence among us. No labour of superintendence of God over human aflove has been spared; and as to the pro-fairs;-if it has any meaning, it is that hẹ, fessional members of the healing art, they by the general tenor of his laws, manihave, by their conduct, most richly de- fests favour to the godly; but that he does, served the gratitude of their fellow-citi- and ever will, by the unchanging princizens, and have won for themselves indeli- ples of his government, reward the evil ble reputation. They have won it by the according to his iniquities. If the language fearless exposure of their own persons to of Britons has any meaning, it is that you the perils of infection in the discharge of are conscious of much evil-doing-that their hazardous duty, in their unwearied you deplore it in your own personal case; and watchful toils at the beds of the dis- and that you resolve to cease from doing eased and the dying. Ye opulent-ye it hereafter-that you resolve to be steadprofessional men, to whom I have now alluded-let not the unfounded and insane prejudices, as I must term them, of some ignorant and misguided individuals, damp your ardour, or relax your efforts, in your godlike work of well-doing. All that is enlightened and generous, approve and Now, surely, never was there a louder applaud; and even the ignorant will even-call on Britons than there is this day, to tually feel shame, as they ought, for their adopt this language in the sanctuary, and uncharitableness and folly, while it is yours in all their future conduct. Let all ranks to enjoy, above all the praises of men, the among us, therefore, as the best preparagracious approbation of your consciences, tion for stopping this calamity as the and your God. best preparation for that death, which, if But still, again the startling question not this calamity, some other cause will recurs, under all that opulence and me- speedily bring upon us all-let men all dical labour and skill have contributed to repent and reform-let men of every rank ward off the evil from our gates, are our consult this Book of God, which explains houses, I ask again, are we ourselves for the so clearly, and which alone can explain, future, with entire certainty, secure from with authority, because it bears the the desolating disease, and that frightful stamp of divine religion-let all consult rapidity with which it hurries its victim this Book, and learn what the terms are to the grave? Never let it be forgotten on which God is willing to forgive the that opulence and medical skill are but sinner-what the terms are on which they secondary means and causes, and that their can receive the assurance in their minds efficiency depends on the influential co- of their being heirs of that salvation which operation and blessing of our heavenly the Redeemer came to accomplish. They Father. Let, then, our devout, sincere, will find, that there is only one way in and ardent aspirations-let the devout, which the sinner can hope for forgiveness. sincere, and ardent aspirations of every It was said to a person of high rank, that inhabitant of our city ascend to him-let us thrust our tears and supplications before the footstool of his throne, before the great Mediator, that he will be pleased still to be around us, and deliver us from our threatening dangers and troubles.* But, then, my people, let me impress on every conscience and heart, if we hope for success to our supplications, that it is not enough that in a momentary feeling of there is no royal road to any particular science. So in the chair of Truth, the teacher of religion is called on to tell the people, that there is no privileged road to heaven-that there is no peculiar road by which the high may reach it to the exclusion of the poor-no peculiar road by which the poor may reach it to the exclu sion of the high,-" Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto 07 life;" but there is but one gate, and one ready to be offered, and the time of my way, through which every living soul departure is at hand. I have fought a mast rise to heaven-if to heaven he rise good fight; I have finished my course; at all-and that is through faith in Jesus I have kept the faith; henceforth there is Christ, and through that holiness which laid up for me a crown of righteousness, follows that faith-if that faith is genuine. which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall Let all ranks, then, from the highest to the give me at that day; and not to me only, lowest, learn this precious truth from the but to all them also that love his appearBook of God. Believe in Christ, and being." lieve in him with the heart unto righteous- My dear friends, if this dignified terminess. This is the effectual way to be taken nation of our earthly trials be an object by every individual who wishes to obtain the diminution of the divine judgment now ravaging our land-by every individual who wishes to obtain for himself a ground of peace in the prospect of that death which its approach may bring to him, but which, at all events, must soon come to him. Let it be the business of all men to consider what faith is-to beseech the grace of God to bestow it, and to enable them to follow after holiness, without which they can never please nor see God. we desire to gain-if the state of our souls at death shall decide our eternal fate-it the hour of our departure from time shall be the hour of our passage to happiness or misery everlasting, I put it to your understanding, if you will reflect, how carefully, how intensely, how incessantly, we should prepare for its approach. Because we do not see it, we are apt to flatter ourselves that it is far distant. But need I tell you, my mortal brethren, that you were born to die? If, at this solemn moment, a heavenly messenger should descend from the sky, and announce the time of your departure, as to an ancient was done, My brethren, these are the means-the cherishings and actings of faith-these are the means by which you may make yourder selves, as I have said, instruments of good-thy sickness shall be unto death-this to the public, and by which you may make yourselves ready for the hour in which the Son of Man shall come. week shall be thy last week on earth,— even this night thy soul shall be required of thee,-who among you would be ready Now, surely, any long detail or remark for this message of terror? Alas! what the is unnecessary to convince you, that for tears of affliction would run down our the hour of the Son of Man coming, the cheeks at the remembrance of our sinsmost important duty which a mortal has what prayers we would give for a short to discharge, is in the command to make prolongation of our trials—what thoughts himself ready. O, my brethren, how de- would we have of those we left behindlightful will it be to you-how delightful what solicitude would be felt to finish our will it be to the friends that may surround work of sanctification! But is an angel ke your dying couch, if you shall be one of from heaven necessary to tell us that we those sainted men who, having been tried are mortal-that our appointed days are with tribulation, tried to the end of your few? As for the days that are gone, and earthly career by the world and seduction, the ages that are past, what has become of shall be ready, at the call of your God, to the multitude that filled them? Let us resign its enjoyments, and, standing on the look around in quest of those in our own chverge of eternity, shall be solaced with a time-let us look around us in quest of conscience void of offence, when reflecting those whom but a few moments we saw on the past, and refreshed with the pros- with delight on the stage of life, the compect of an everlasting kingdom in the panions of our youth, the friends of our heavens? The ministers of religion are bosom, the children perhaps whom nature called to furnish consolation to the dying, designed to be props of our declining and they see them in various conditions years, whither have they gone? A voice of character and feeling. But they will from their grave pierces the heart of the tell you that eye cannot behold a more thinking soul, and calls on us all to be sublíme, or more instructing, or edifying ready to follow them. Listen, then, to spectacle, than the deathbed of a good this warning voice. It accords with the man-full of humble confidence in God- dictates of universal experience-every rejoicing in the approbation of his own change in our condition reminds us of its heart-triumphing over the fears of the truth-infirmities as they draw upon us, grave andsinging, when he thinks himself tell that the hour of our departure cometh. standing on its very verge,-"I am now In this, the day of a merciful visitation * in this our present escape from the dread-ready. No painful retrospect will disquiet ful malady, let us attend to the things that our consciences-no anxious forebodings belong to our peace-let us cherish the terrify our souls. If we lead the life of dispositions, and hopes, and habits, the the righteous, we shall die their deathremembrance of which may cheer our we shall depart like them, and be with departed spirits-let us learn lessons of them-and our work shall follow us unte righteousness from the judgments of God the habitation of our heavenly Father. let us lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, and then when our Lord comes, whether he come in the first watch or in the second-whether this day or to-morrow-whether in the hour of our worship or in the hour of business-whether when we are asleep or awake-he will find us I only add, and let all join in the prayer, Do thou, O God, to whom belong the issues of life-do thou stand by us in our dying moments-support our feeble limbs in their passage through the dark valley. and receive them into their everlasting rest, for Christ's sake. Amen. ON THE AGENCY OF GOD IN HUMAN CALAMITIES. A SERMON, PREACHED IN GEORGE-STREET CHAPEL, GLASGOW, ON THURSDAY, 22d MARCH, 1832, BEING THE DAY OF THE NATIONAL FAST. By the Rev. RALPH WARDLAW, D. D. "Shall there be evil in a city, and the I NEED hardly say, that it is not moral evil that is here meant. It is not sin, but suffering. It is not the commission of iniquity, but the pressure of distress. From Micah vi. 9, The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy Name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it"-I not long ago called your attention to the lights in which that prophet taught Israel, and teaches us, to regard temporal calamities,—namely, as the warning voice of God, as a manifestation of the name or character of God, and as a corrective expression of the displeasure of God; along with the grounds on which it is our wisdom and our duty so to regard them.-The words now read from Amos are part of a similar appeal. By him, as well as by Micah, the Lord maintains his controversy with Israel. By which of the prophets, indeed, did he not maintain it? At what period of their history did they not give occasion, by their conduct, for expostulation, reproof, and warning? (Jer. xxv. 4-7.) Lord hath not done it?"—Amos iii. 6. От up from the land of Egypt, saying, You "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid?"-You can imagine-no, you hardly can-wha the effect would be, if, in a city like In the passage of which our text is a our own, there were suddenly heard part, Jehovah pleads on the ground of his" the sound of the trumpet, the alarm c peculiar dealings with Israel, by which he war"-the announcement of an approach had so highly distinguished them from other nations in honour, and in privilege, and in substantial blessing: verses 1, 2, "Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought ing enemy. What throbbing of heart! what violent excitement! what silen dread! what noisy terror! what bustle and confusion! what looking one upos another! what anxious questioning! what running together, for information, for the Ε 7 This is a supplementary topic to those discussed on the former text, from the prophecies of Micah; and I wish to be understood, although without any very pointed mention of them, as having reference to the distresses of our own times, and country, and city. mutual expression of hopes and fears, of the infliction of evil, in contradistinction wishes and alarms, of animation and dis- to three things-to CHANCE, to IDOLS, and couragement of sources of danger and to SECOND CAUSES. means of safety!-Now, when the voice of the Lord cried unto the city, the cause for alarm was as real, and far greater, than at the sounding of the trumpet of battle. This is the sentiment expressed in verses 7, 8. "The Lord God hath spoken, A truly bewho can but prophesy?" I. We distinguish the agency of Jehonevolent spirit feels it a most painful restraint, to keep back either the warn- vah from CHANCE.- Chance is a word very ing of evil, or the tidings of good. This common in the mouths of many: but it is was one at least of the impelling motives a word of the meaning of which very few The in the bosom of the apostles, when they of those who use it have ever set themsaid, "We cannot but speak the things selves to form any definite notion. which we have seen and heard;"-and in truth is, chance is nothing. It is a mere the bosom of Jeremiah, when, having been term for human ignorance. When we subjected to the persecuting violence of say that an event has happened by chance, his enemies, and having found all his we seldom think at all what we mean. If warnings so unavailing, he formed the we intend to say that it has had no cause,— But the only resolution of shunning farther suffering that is atheism. It is the exclusion of all by silence: "I said, I will not make mention superintending agency. of Him, nor speak any more in his Name: but his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.' (Jer. xx. 8, 9.) rational meaning of the word (if a rational meaning it can be said to have) is, that we are in ignorance of the cause or causes of the event. The poet speaks truly, when he defines chance in these terms "All chance-direction, which we cannot see." There is a natural atheism in the human heart, a constantly prevailing tendency to forget God. This tendency (alas! for There is an atheism, directly and properly our nature!) is more powerful amidst so called, which denies the existence of a the abundance of the enjoyments of life, God altogether. There is an atheism, than under the pressure of its calamities. which admits existence, but excludes all So true is this, that adversity has many a superintendence of human or created time been made use of as a means for beings, and of their respective concerns. counterworking the pernicious influence Such of old, was the atheism of Epicurus of prosperity, the former bringing back and his followers; which, however, had the heart which the latter had led astray. so far the merit of consistency, that it How rare is the case of a sinner brought associated the denial of providence with to repentance and serious religion by pros- the denial of proper creation. And simiperity and success in life! But the in- lar, though diversified in some particulars, stances have not been few, of persons have been the godless systems of some "chosen in the furnace of affliction," moderns. But certainly we might as well subdued and reclaimed by adversity. We have no God, as a God that takes no indare not say, however, that this is the terest in his creatures, and exercises no natural effect of divine judgments operat- superintendence over them. We might as ing on human corruption. The sentiment of the text is the exact rather to fret, and provoke, and alienate. And there is, moreover, a sad propensity reverse of this,-that there is a God, and to overlook the hand of God in them al- that he directs and governs all things. together; so that men stand always in The sentiment is not to be confined to our need of having it pointed out to them, own world. It extends to all worlds. In and pressed upon their observation. It is all parts of the unmeasured creation, He to the solemn truth of the divine appoint- is "ever present, ever felt!" This is the ment of calamities, that the attention is called, and called impressively, by the question in the text-"Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" We shall consider the Lord's agency in They tend well have no God as no providence. uniform affirmation, and the pervading principle, of the Bible. It runs through all its contents, with an application such as the most heedless reader can hardly overlook. Its maxim is-" All things are of God." At every turn of its historical may say, in terms of the text-If " withdetails, we meet his eye, we discern his out our heavenly Father a sparrow falleth hand. No such thing as chance is ad- not to the ground,"-how then, “shall mitted by its writers, in even the smallest there be evil in a city,"-evil which affects matters. It is much more consistent with the condition, whether temporal or spirititself than the systems of some philoso-ual, of intelligent and immortal beings,—of phical speculators, who would grant a beings who are susceptible, not merely of providence in great, but question it in physical suffering, but of all the pains little things;-forgetting, first, that the that arise from the tender sensibilities of true majesty of God consists in the unem- social life, the sweet and powerful " charibarrassed universality of his superinten- ties of father, son, and brother," from dence,-in its embracing, without confu- which it is in times of public calamity, sion, and without an effort of thought, all that the most exquisite distresses arise? the endless complication of events, and all What I wish, then, first of all, to impress the immense variety of being;-and for- on the minds of my hearers, and on my getting, secondly, how intimately and in- own, is, that in the heavy gloom that hangs separably great events and small are over our city, in the variety and accumuinvolved and linked together-so that the lation of personal and domestic, bodily and continuity of the chain depends as much mental suffering that is endured, whether upon the least of the links as upon the occasioned by the state of trade or the greatest, the working and efficiency of state of health, it is "no chance that has the complicated machinery, and the evo- come upon us." It is the hand of the alllution of the designed results, upon the seeing and all-disposing Ruler of the Uniminutest wheels as upon the largest and verse that is laid upon us, and laid upon most prominent and imposing. The ma- us in a merited and righteous judgment. chinist, when he looks at the great wheels, II. We consider the prophet as distinis well aware, although his eye does not guishing the agency of Jehovah from that penetrate to them, any more than that of of IDOLS. the novice, on what little, secret, and I have said, that there is a natural seemingly trivial movements the effective atheism in the human heart. This is a revolutions of these depend; so that, position which some may be inclined to were a single pin taken out, or the small-dispute, as not only painfully degrading to est wheel in the unseen interior shifted our nature, but contrary to fact. Where, or broken, all might be impeded or brought it will be asked, do we find men without to a stand. Thus it is in the intricate some form or other of religion? And if movements of Divine Providence; as we religion, in some form or other, is everymight show you by ten thousand striking exemplifications, of which not a few, and the most satisfactory of all occur in the inspired history. where to be found, it must certainly be natural to man. Nor am I disposed, taking the term in a vague amplitude of accepta tion, to dispute the truth of this; though In what strong and delightful terms is it may be remarked in general, that it is the doctrine of a universal and particular not easy to separate, in such matters, beprovidence expressed by Him who "spake tween what may be the suggestions of naas never man spake!" Are not two ture, and what the corrupted remnants of sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of an early tradition. Suppose it true. The them shall not fall on the ground without religion to which men are thus naturally your Father. But the very hairs of your disposed, we dare not, without impiety, head are all numbered. Fear ye not there- admit to be worthy of the name:-it is fore, ye are of more value than many spar- only one of the many forms of irreligion. rows. (Matt. x. 29-31.) There is The truth seems to be, that there is a hardly any thing we can imagine less in tendency to two opposite extremes, both apparent magnitude, in itself or in its equally at a distance from truth and recconsequences, than the death of a sparrow: titude,-the extremes of atheism and su-and, in the words I have just quoted, perstition. Superstition is the offspring the inference is drawn from the less to of guilty fears; and the general character the greater, in a form, and with an em- of the gods of the Heathen, in many cases, phasis, most encouraging and cheering to indicated by their very forms, accords with all the intelligent creatures of God, and the nature of their origin. Superstition especially to all his redeemed children. On ascribes every thing to some dreaded suthe principle of inferential reasoning, we pernatural agent or other,—every calami |