is superior to all opposition: before which all is nothing, or rather, which is itself all in all, because its efficiency communicates efficiency to all! "Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? Doth not fear appertain to thee alone?"

Perhaps the proving of a self-efficient will may be more than is necessary to the exhibiting of an object of human fear. Must such a grand spring move to destroy such a contemptible creature as man? He is only a vapour, a particle of air is sufficient to dissipate it: he is only a flower, a blast of wind is sufficient to make it fade. This is undeniable in regard to the material and visible man, in which we too often place all our glory. It is not only, then, to the infinite God, it is not only to him whose will is self-efficient, that man owes the homage of fear: it may

be said that he owes it, in a sense, to all those creatures, to which Providence has given a presidency over his happiness or his misery. He ought not only to say, 'Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain! But he ought also to say, Who would not fear thee, O particle of air? Who would not fear thee, O blast of wind? Who would not fear thee, O'crushing of a moth? Job. iv. 15. Because there needs only a particle of air, there needs only a puff of wind, there needs only the 'crushing of a moth,' to subvert his happiness, and to destroy his life. But ye would entertain very different notions of human happiness and misery, were ye to consider man in a nobler light; and to attend to our second notion of God, as an object of fear.

GOD is the only being who has a supreme dominion over the operations of a spiritual and immortal soul. The discussion of this article would lead us into observations too abstract for this place; and therefore we make it a law to abridge our reflections. We must beg leave to remark, however, that we ought to think so highly of the nature of man as to admit this principle: God alone is able to exercise an absolute dominion over a spiritual and immortal soul. From this principle we conclude, that God alone has the happiness and misery of man in his power. God alone, merits the supreme homage of fear. God alone, not only in opposition to all the imaginary gods of Paganism, but also in opposition to every being that really exists, is worthy of this part of the adoration of a spiritual and immortal creature. • Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?'

Weigh the emphatical words which we jast now quoted, "Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die?' Who art thou, immaterial spirit, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man? Who art thou, immortal spirit, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die?

Who art thou, immaterial spirit, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man? Man has no immediate power over a spirit; he can affect it only by means of body. It is only by the body that a tyrant can cause a little anguish in the soul. It is only by the body as a mean that he can flatter some of the propensities of the soul, and propose himself to it as an object of its hope and fear. But beside that

this power is infinitely small while the soul is subject to it; beside that the soul is capable of a thousand pleasures and a thousand pains, during its union to the body, which man cannot excite; beside these advantages, it is beyond a doubt, that this power of a tyrant can endure no longer than the union of the soul to the body does, by the mean of which the tyrant affects it. If a tyrant exercise his power to a certain degree, he loses it. When he has carried to a certain degree that violent motion which he produces in the body, in order to afflict the soul, which is united to it, he breaks the bond that unites the soul to the body, and frees his captive by overloading him with chains. The union being dissolved the soul is free; it no longer depends on the tyrant, because he communicates with it only by means of body. After the destruction of the organs of the body, the soul is superior to every effort of a despot's rage. Death removes the soul beyond the reach of the most powerful monarch. After death the soul becomes invisible, and a tyrant's eye searches for it in vain: it ceases to be tangible, his chains and his fetters can hold it no more: it is no more divisible, his gibbets and his racks, his pincers and his wheels, can rend it no more: none of his fires can burn it, for it is not combustible; nor can any of his dungeons confine it, for it is immaterial.

Would to God, my brethren, that we were well acquainted with our real grandeur, and, perceiving our own excellence, were above trembling at those contemptible worms of the

earth, who fancy that they know how to terrify us, only because they have acquired the audacity of addressing us with indolence and pride. There is no extravagance, there is not even a shadow of extravagance, in what we have advanced on the grandeur of an immaterial spirit. We have not said enough. It is not enough to say that a soul can neither be disordered by chains, nor racks, nor gibbets, nor pincers, nor fires; it defies the united powers of universal nature. Yea, were all the waters that hang in the clouds, and all that roll in the sea, were every drop collected into one prodigious deluge to overwhelm it, it would not be drowned. Were mountains the most huge, were masses the most enormous, were all matter to compose, if I may speak so, one vast ponderous weight to fall on and to crush it, it would not be bruised; yea it would not be moved. Were all the cedars of Lebanon, with all the brimstone of Asphaltites, and with every other inflammable matter, kindled in one blaze to consume it, it would not be burnt. Yea, when 'the heavens pass away with a great noise, when the constellations of heaven fall, when the elements melt with fervent heat, when the earth, and all the works that are therein, are burnt up,' 2 Pet. iii. 10; when all these things are dissolved, thou, human soul! shalt surmount all these vicissitudes, and rise above all their ruins! Who art thou?' immaterial spirit!'who art thou to be afraid of a man?'

But if the soul, considered in its nature; if the soul, as a spiritual being, be superior to human tyranny; what homage, on this very account, what submission and abasement, or, to confine ourselves to the text, what fear ought we not to exercise towards the Supreme Being? 'Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?' God alone has the power of destroying an immaterial soul; God alone has the power of preserving it. God is the only Father of Spirits. Fear not them which kill the body: but fear him which is able to destroy the soul. Yea, I say unto you, fear him,' Heb. xii. 9. God alone can act immediately on a spiritual creature. He needs neither the fragrance of flowers, nor the savour of foods, nor any of the mediums of matter, to communicate agreeable sensations to the soul. He needs neither the action of fire, the rigour of racks, nor the galling of chains, to produce sensations of pain. He acts immediately on the soul. It is he, human soul! it is he, who, by leaving thee to revolve in the dark void of thine unenlightened mind, can deliver thee up to all the torments that usually follow ignorance, uncertainty, and doubt. But the same God can expand thine intelligence just when he pleases and enable it to lay down principles, to infer consequences, to establish conclusions. It is he, who can impart new ideas to thee, teach thee to combine those which thou hast already acquired, enable thee to multiply numbers, show thee how to conceive the infinitely various arrangements of matter, acquaint thee with the essence of thy thought, its different modifications, and its endless operations. It is he, who can grant thee new revelations, develope those which he has already given thee, but which have hitherto lain in obscuri

ty; he can inform thee of his purposes, his counsels and decrees, and lay before thee, if I may venture to say so, the whole history of time and eternity: for nothing either has subsisted in time, or will subsist in eternity, but what was preconceived in the counsels of his infinite intelligence. It is he, who alone, and for ever, can excite infinite sensations of pleasure or pain within thee. It is he, who can apprehend the soul of a tyrant, amidst the most gay and festive objects, among the most servile flatteries of a court, and, in spite of a concourse of pleasures, produce such horrors and fears, and exquisite torments, as shall change even a Belshazzar's 'counte nance, trouble his thoughts, loose the joints of his loins, and smite his knees one against another,' Dan. v. 6. And it is he also, who is able to divert a sensation of pain, amidst the greatest torments, yea, to absorb a strong sensation of pain in a stronger sensation of pleasure. He can make a martyr triumph, all involved in fire and flame, by shedding abroad effusions of love in his heart; 'the peace of God which passeth all understanding,' and which keeps the senses, Rom. v. 5; Phil. iv. 7; that is, a peace which is superior to the action of the senses, and not to be interrupted by the exercise of them. It is he, who can enable him to celebrate a victory during an apparent defeat: who can overflow, in a sufferer's heart, the pains of martyrdom with the pleasures of paradise, and fill the mouth with shouts of triumph and songs of praise.

We

Speak, ye martyrs of Jesus Christ, tell us what influence the infinite God has over the soul! Be ye our divines and philosophers. What did ye feel, when, penetrating through a shower of stones, ye cried,' Behold, we see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God? Acts vii. 56. What did ye feel, when, experiencing all the rage of cruel Nero, ye exulted, "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God? Rom. v. 2. But this is not the whole of the believer's joy. The expectation of arriving at great happiness by means of tribulation may naturally produce a patient submission to tribulations. But here is something more. rejoice,' says St. Paul, in hope of the glory of God. And not only so,' adds he (weigh this expressive sentence, my brethren,) 'not only so;' it is not only the hope of the glory of God' that supports and comforts us; 'not only so; but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given un to us. What did ye feel, when your execu tioners, not being able to obtain your voluntary adoration of their idols, endeavoured to obtain it by force; when, refusing to offer that incense which they had put into your

*Our author uses the common reading of the French Bible, which is, garde les sens. The original word is used in the Holy Scriptures for reflection, Rom. vii. 25, and for sensation, Jam. i. 23. The reason of our following the French reading in this place is obvious. Where the same reason does not oblige us, we have made it a law, in quotations of Scripture, scrupu lously to adhere to our English text.

hands, ye sang, Blessed be the Lord, who teacheth our hands to war and our fingers to fight?' Ps. cxliv. 1. What did ye feel, when, wrapping your heads in the few rags that persecution had left you, ye refused to look at the worship of idols, and patiently submitted to be bruised with bastinadoes, condemned to the galleys, and chained to the oars? What did ye feel, when, in that painful situation, ye employed the remainder of your strength to look upward, and to adore the God of heaven and earth? It is God who supports his creature amidst all these torments, and he alone can infinitely diversify and extend his sensibility. None but he can excite in the soul those ineffable pleasures, of which we have no ideas, and which we can express by no names: but which will be the objects of our eternal praises, if they be the objects of our present faith and hope. It is God, and only God, who can communicate happiness in this manner. None of this power is in the hand of man. 'Who art thou,' spiritual creature, 'to be afraid of a man?'

But we add further, Who art thou,' immortal creature, 'to be afraid of a man that shall die? The immortality of the soul elevates it above a mortal power, and renders supreme fear a just homage to none but to that Being whose dominion continues as long as the soul continues to exist. Can we be such novices, I do not say in the school of revelation, but in that of the most superficial reason, as to confound the duration of the soul with the duration of life? Or rather, are we so expert in the art of going from the great to the little, from the little to the less, from the less to the least divisible parts of time, or of matter, as to assign an atom of matter so minute, or an instant of time so inconsiderable, that either of them would express the shortness of a mortal life in comparison of the duration of an immortal soul? The most accurate teachers of logic and metaphysics forbid the use of the terms, length, duration, period, in speaking of eternity. We may say a length, a duration, a period, of a thousand, or of ten thousand millions of ages: but if we speak accurately and philosophically, we cannot say the duration of eternity, the length of eternity, the periods of eternity; because all the terms that are applicable to time, are inadequate to eternity. No, no, ye would attempt difficulties altogether insurmountable, were ye to try to find a quantity so small as to express the shortness of a mortal life in comparison of the duration of an immortal soul. Not only the most expert mathematician is unequal to the attempt, but it implies a contradiction to affirm, that the infinite spirit can do this; because contradiction never is an object of infinite power, and because it implies a contradiction to measure the existence of an immortal soul by the duration of a mortal life. It can never be said that a hundred years are the thousandth or the ten thousandth, or the hundred thousandth part of eternity. The inspired writers, whose language was often as just as their ideas were pure, have told us, that life is as the withering grass;' as 'a fading flower;' as a declining shadow;" swifter than' the rapid and imperceptible motion of 'a wea

S

ver's shuttle.' They call it a vapour,' that is dissipated in the air; a dream,' of which no vestige remains when the morning is comes 'a thought, that vanishes as soon as it is formed; a phantomt which walketh in a vain show,' Isa. xl. 7; Ps. cii. 11; Job vii. 6; James iv. 14; Ps. lxxiii. 20. But by all these emblems they meant to excite humility in us; but not to give us any ideas of a proportion between the duration of 'withering grass, fading flowers, declining shadows,' the time of throwing a 'weaver's shuttle,' of the dissipation of a vapour,' of the passing of' a dream, of the forming and losing of 'a thought,' of the appearance of a phantom,' and the eternal existence of an immortal soul. Such is the life of man! and such the duration of the dominion of a tyrant over an immortal soul! a duration which is only a point in eternity. A tyrant is mortal, his empire expires with his life, and were he to employ the whole course of his life in tormenting a martyr, and in trying to impair his felicity, he would resemble an idiot throwing stones at the lightning, while, in an indivisible moment, and with an inconceivable rapidity, it caught his eye as it passed from the

east to the west.

But God is the King immortal,' 1 Tim. i. 17; and the eternity of his dominion is sufficient, my dear hearers, to demonstrate the truth of the text, and to fix all the possible attention of your minds on this question, 'Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? The immortal King is the only fit object of the fear of an immortal soul. There is no empire immortal but that of God, no dominion unchangeable but his. When the soul enters eternity it will be subject only to the God of eternity: O God, of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands: they shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end!' Ps. cii. 24. We must, of necessity, take up again the words space, duration, period, which we just now discarded for their impropriety. During the periods of eternity, through all the duration of the existence of Him, who is the same and whose years shall have no end, the immortal God will for ever produce the happiness, or the misery, of an immortal soul. His dominion over it will be eternally exercised in rendering it happy or miserable. The reprobate soul will eternally be the object of the avenging power of this God, for it will eternally be under the hand of its Judge. The faithful soul will eternally be the recipient of the beneficence of the immortal God, who is the worthy object, the only object, of solid hope and supreme fear. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell: yea, I say unto you, fear him. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? Doth not fear appertain to thee alone?'

III. Here, my brethren, could I think that

I had been preaching to marbles, and to rocks; could I think that I had been discoursing to men, who attended on the preacher without hearing the sermon, or who heard without understanding it; I should think other proofs needed to demonstrate, that God alone merited the homage of supreme fear. Could I think that I had been preaching to men, who were all absorbed in sense and matter, and who could form no ideas in their minds unless some material objects were presented to their senses, or some imagery taken from sensible objects were used to excite them: I would insist on the third part of this discourse. If the idea of a Being, whose will is self-efficient and who can act immediately on a spiritual soul, were not sufficient to incline you to ren der the homage of fear to God, I would represent him under the third notion, which we gave you of him, as making all creatures fulfil his will. If tyrants, executioners, prisons, dungeons, racks, tortures, pincers, caldrons of boiling oil, gibbets, stakes, were necessary; if all nature, and all the elements, were wanted to inspire that soul with fear, which is so far elevated above the elements, and all the powers of nature: I would prove to you that tyrants and executioners, prisons and dungeons, racks and tortures, and pincers, caldrons of boiling oil, gibbets and stakes, all nature and all the elements, fulfil the designs of the King of nations;' and that, when they seem the least under his direction, they are invariably accomplishing his will.

These are not imaginary ideas of mine; but they are taken from the same Scriptures that establish the first ideas, which we have been explaining. What do our prophets and apostles say of tyrants, executioners, and persecutors? In what colours do they paint them? Behold, how God contemns the proudest potentates; see how he mortifies and abases them. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in your hand, is mine indignation: howbeit thy heart doth not think so. The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and

the sceptre of the rulers. Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cast down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations. Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt De brought down to hell. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way thou camest,' Isa. x. 5. 7; chap. xiv. 5. 11-15; chap. xxxvii. 29. O how capable were our sacred authors of considering the grandees of the earth in their true point of light! O! how well they knew how to teach us what a king, or a tyrant is in the presence of Him, by whose "command 'kings decree justice,' Prov. viii. 15; and by whose permission, and even direction, tyrants decree injustice! The last words that we quoted from Isaiah, relate to Sennacherib.

And who is this Sennacherib, whose general, Rabshakeh, is' come up with a great host' to overwhelm Jerusalem? Where is this' great king of Assyria?" What is this insolent mortal, who says, 'Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of mine hand? Shall the Lord deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?' 2 Kings xviii. 17. 34. 33. What is this Sennacherib? And what are all those who tread in his arrogant steps? They are wild beasts; but wild beasts in chains, conducted whither an Almighty arm pleases to lead them. The power of this arm is 'a hook in the noses' of these animals, a bridle in their lips;' it turns them by the hook to the right or to the left, and it straightens or loosens the bridle as it pleases. By this hook, by this bridle, God led the Assyrian beast without his knowing it, and when his heart did not think so: he led him from Assyria to Judea, from Judea to Assyria, as his wisdom requíred his presence in either place.

The prophets meant to inspire us with the same notion of insensible and inanimate beings, so that every thing which excites fear might lead us to fear the King of nations,' who has all things in his power, and moves all according to his own pleasure. We will not multiply proofs. The prophet, in the chapter out of which we have taken the text, mentions an object very fit to inspire us with the fear of 'the King of nations,' who disposes inanimate beings in such a manner: he describes a tempest at sea. The gravity of this discourse, the majesty of this place, and the character of this auditory, will not allow those descriptions which a sportive fancy invents. We allow students to exercise their imaginations in an academy, and we pass over their glaring ima ges in favour of their youth and inexperience: but sometimes descriptions supply the place of arguments, and a solid logic, not a puerile rhetoric, requires them. We are now in this case. In order to humble man in the presence of the King of nations,' we tell him that this King can make all creatures fulfil his will. With the same design, our prophet gives a sensible example of the power of God, by transporting man to the ocean, and by showing him the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. God uttereth his voice, says he, in a verse that follows the text, 'and there is a noise of a multitude of waters in the heavens. 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 treasures,' Ps. cvii. 24. 13. Thou dull stupid man! who art not stricken with the idea of a God, whose will is self-efficient, and who alone can act immediately on an imma terial soul, come and behold some sensible proofs of that infinite power of which metaphysical proofs can give thee no idea! And thou, proud insolent man! go aboard the best built vessel, put out to sea, set the most vigilant watch, surround thyself with the most formidable instruments; what art thou, when God uttereth his voice? What art thou, when the noise resounds? What art thou, when torrents of ran seem to threaten a second deluge, and to make the globe which thou

inhabitest one rolling sea? What art thou, when lightnings emit their terrible flashes? What art thou, when the winds come roaring out of their treasures? What art thou then? Verily, thou art no less than thou wast in thy palace. Thou art no less than when thou wast sitting at a delicious table. Thou art no less than thou wast when every thing contributed to thy pleasure. Thou art no less than when, at the head of thine army, thou wast the terror of nations, shaking the earth with the stunning noise of thy warlike instruments: for, at thy festal board, within thy palace, among thy pleasures, at the head of thine armies, thou wast nothing before the King of nations.' As an immaterial and immortal creature, thou art subject to his immediate power: but to humble and to confound thee, he must manifest himself to thee in sensible objects. Behold him then in this formidable situation: try thy power against his: silence 'the noise of the multitude of waters :' fasten the vessel that 'reeleth like a drunken man;' smooth the foaming waves that ' mount thee up to heaven;' fill up the horrible gulfs whither thou goest down to the bottoms of the mountains, Ps. cvii. 27. 26; Jonah ii. 7; dissipate the lightning that flashes in thy face; hush the bellowing thunders; confine the winds in their caverns; assuage the anguish of thy soul, and prevent its melting and exhaling with fear. How diminutive is man! my brethren. How many ways has God to confound his pride! He uttereth his voice, and there is a noise of a multitude of waters in the heavens. 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 treasures. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?'

In this manner the prophets represent all beings animate aud inanimate, material and immaterial, as concurring in the Creator's will. This is not a truth which requires the submission of faith, but every branch of it proceeds from reason, and is supported by experience. When God wills the destruction, or the deliverance of a people, all creation executes his design. When he is angry, every thing becomes an instrument of vengeance. A cherub, brandishing a flaming sword, prevents the return of guilty man to paradise. The air infected, the earth covered with noxious plants, the brute creation enraged, wage -war with the rebel. Grasshoppers become 'the Lord's great army,' Joel. ii. 11. flies swarm, waters change into blood, light turns to darkness, and all besiege the palace and the person of Pharaoh. The heavens themselves,' the stars in their courses, fight against Sisera, Judg. v. 20. The earth yawns, and swallows up Dathan and Abiram in its frightful caverns. Fire consumes Nadab and Abihu, Korah and his company. A fish buries alive the prevaricating Jonah in his wide mouth. But on the contrary, when God declares himself for a people, there is nothing in the universe which God cannot make a mean of happiness. The heavens unfurl their beauties; the sun expands his light; the earth adorns herself with flowers, and loads herself with fruits, to entertain the favourite of the King of nations;' while the animals become teach

able, and offer to bow to his service. 'All things work together for good to them that love God. 'All things are yours, whether Paul, or Cephas, or the world. Behold, I will do a new thing. The beasts of the field shall honour me. The beasts of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Drop down, ye heavens from above, let the earth open and bring forth salvation!' Rom. viii. 28; 1 Cor. iii. 22; Isa. xliii. 19. 23; lv. 12; xlv. 8.

Thus, my brethren, has God proportioned himself to our meanness and dulness, in order to inspire us with fear. Is it necessary, to make us fear God, that we should see bodies, in various parts and prodigious masses of matter, march at his word to fulfil his will? Well, behold bodies, in various parts and in vast masses! Behold! universal nature moving at his word, and fulfilling his will. Let us fear God in this view of him, if our minds enveloped in matter cannot conceive an idea of a Being, whose will is self-efficient, and who alone can act on immaterial souls. But, my brethren, a mind accustomed to meditation has no occasion for this last notion: the first absorbs all. A God, every act of whose will is effectual, is alone worthy of the homage of fear. A just notion of his power renders all ideas of means useless. The power of God has no need of means. Were I existing alone with God, God could make me supremely happy, or supremely miserable: one act of his will is sufficient to do either. We do not mean to enlarge the idea, when, speaking of an all-sufficient Creator, who is superior to the want of means, we treat of a concurrence of creatures: we only mean to level the subject to the capacities of some of our hearers.

Let us sum up what has been said. To consider a creature as the cause of human felicity is to pay him the homage of adoration, and to commit idolatry. The ayaricious man is an idolater; the ambitious man is an idolater; the voluptuous man is an idolater. And to render to a creature the homage of fear is also idolatry; for supreme fear is as much due to God alone as supreme hope. He who fears war, and does not fear the God who sends war, is an idolater. He who fears the plague, and who does not fear the God who sends the plague, is an idolater.

It is idolatry, in public or in private adversities, to have recourse to second causes, to little subordinate deities, so as to neglect to appease the wrath of the Supreme God. To consult the wise, to assemble a council, to man fleets, to raise armies, to build forts, to elevate ramparts, and not to consider the succour of heaven, which alone is capable of giving success to all such means, is to be guilty of idolatry. Isaiah reproves the Jews in the most severe manner for this kind of idolatry. In that day,' says the prophet, speaking of the precautions which they had taken to prevent the designs of their enemies; In that day thou didst look to the ar