but two or three

or one of five; but where it showed its tyranny more freely, it scarce left a fifteenth or a twentieth person alive." "The method of the plague was to stay days with any person, (for it surely killed in that or less time,) and but five or six months in any place." "It took men generally in the head and stomach, appearing first in the groin, or under the armpits, by little knobs or swellings, called kernels, being boils, blains, blisters, pimples, weals, or plaguesores, generally attended with pestilential fevers, which occasioned spitting or vomiting of blood; whence for the most part they died in a manner presently, or within half a day, or within a day or two at the most. After the third day, though seldom they lived so long, there was hope; and yet, then, many falling into a deep sleep never waked more." Somewhat similar in its nature was the great plague of London, which in the year 1665 is said to have carried off no less than one hundred thousand persons. In our own times the Asiatic cholera appeared in India, and then spread through most of the European nations, extending itself to America, producing death and consternation in its progress, sparing neither the rich nor the poor, the aged nor the young, withering at once the strength of the most healthy and robust. It still lingers in the East, and still baffles the highest medical skill. Whatever subordinate and secondary causes may have been concerned in originating these frightful forms of disease, we may say respecting every one of them, as the magi

*

* Barnes's History of Edward III., p. 432. Edit. 1688.. A minute and extended account of this fearful visitation is given by this learned and accurate historian.

cians of Egypt said, when smarting under a power which they could not resist, "This is the finger of God." (Exod. viii. 19.)

In seasons of national calamity, national repentance is an appropriate duty, including a public and penitential confession of sin, and a renunciation of the evils which have excited the Divine displeasure. When the prophet Joel announced the plague of locusts, eating up the entire produce of the country, so as to cause a general famine, he said, "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts : let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord." "Then will the Lord be jealous for His land, and pity His people." (Joel ii. 15–18.)

A national fast, however, to answer the end proposed, must be attended by the abandonment of national sin. To confess sin to God, and ask the forgiveness of it, when at the same time the practice of it is obstinately continued, is a grievous insult offered to Him. To a people who practised this foul hypocrisy He said in righteous indignation, mingled with mercy, "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou

hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am." (Isai. lviii. 6–9.)

Of all the nations now existing, Great Britain is perhaps the most highly favoured with respect to religious advantages; and providential blessings are showered upon her with an unsparing hand. Among her children the knowledge of letters is general, and might be universal; the Holy Scriptures are accessible to all; Christian sanctuaries are everywhere open on the Lord's day; though Popery and other forms of error equally destructive exist among us, yet the Gospel is preached in its apostolic simplicity and form; multitudes exemplify its purity and blessedness in their lives; evangelical ordinances are administered without any admixture of anti-Christian superstition; everyone is at liberty to follow the dictates of his own conscience in matters of religion. At the same time, all the luxuries of life are supplied, if not by our own soil, by our colonies, and by every clime. It is difficult to conceive what more could be done for the people of these realms than is done for them already by the grace and providence of God.

Yet fears for Britain's safety are often expressed by good men, on account of the sins which so extensively prevail within her borders; especially the infidelity, the intemperance, the neglect of religious ordinances, the profanation of the Sabbath, the national pride, the eager grasping after wealth, and the various other forms of

ungodliness and sin which everywhere meet the eye. Many persons have therefore expressed their alarm lest Almighty God, in His just displeasure, should deliver her into the hands of those who envy her greatness, and cherish a mortifying recollection of her former naval and military victories. On the other hand, it has been observed that God is not wont to subvert a nation where a great revival of religion is in progress, and especially a revival which extends its benefits to the world at large. Such is the encouraging state of things in this country at present. Let us then use every means of defence that patriotism can devise, and then put ourselves under the shadow of the Almighty by constant prayer, and the fulfilment of all His will; and especially by the use of every means for the advancement of spiritual religion, and of a pure morality. With a rapidly-increasing population, abounding wealth and luxury, an infidel press extensively at work, and Reverend professors in our seats of learning attempting to throw discredit upon the leading doctrines of the Bible, and even upon the Bible itself; it becomes every Protestant community to put forth all its strength in providing places of public worship, and the ministers of Christ to emulate the zeal and fidelity of the apostles in the enforcement of "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

CHAPTER VIII.

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD WITH RESPECT TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

By the Christian church, generally speaking, is meant the entire body of people that bear the name of Christ, and profess His religion. In a more restricted sense, by the Christian church is meant the people who believe in Christ with the heart unto righteousness, and are therefore personally justified through His blood, and sanctified by His Spirit. They live by faith in Him, and show the power and vitality of their faith by works of evangelical obedience; not satisfying themselves with saying to Christ, "Lord, Lord;" but being careful in all things to practise what He has commanded.

Into this holy brotherhood, denominated the catholic church, individuals are admitted by baptism administered "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matt. xxviii. 19.) The children of believers are baptized in early life, and are then trained in the instruction and discipline of the Lord; and adult persons, who have not been born of Christian. parents, are baptized by their own free consent, when they give proof of a sincere desire to be saved by Christ, and to live in subjection to His will.

The Christian church is formed of many distinct communities scattered over the islands and continents