through the system of the universe to the Great First Cause! Blind is that understanding which cannot see, amid the vicissitudes of seasons, and the changing blessings of the spring, the summer, the autumn, and the winter, the superintendence of a faithful friend, and the bounty of an unwearied benefactor! Insensible is that man who can look upon this grand machinery, and live in the bosom of creation, yet perceive no harmony, no order, no loveliness, no design; or upon whom they make no impression! Let the friend of my choice be one who can relish the majesty of nature: who on the close of the day, from the summit of some lofty mountain, will watch the rising cloud, and observe the evening spread her grey and dusky mantle over the features of the landscape, till they are lost and extinguished: whose eye is fixed with delight on the stars as they break one by one through the increasing obscurity; and who, withdrawing from the world, and penetrating the forest, can rejoice with the laughing scenes around him, and can relish retirement, nor envy the dissipation of life, as he hears its noise swelling on the gale of the evening. The friend of God, and the admirer of nature, is the man whom I would choose as my companion, and love as my own soul.

THE BEING OF A GOD.

If the world be not the production of chance, and if it be not eternal, it follows that it must have been created-in order to which there must have

been an infinite Architect. We have seen human reason led into labyrinths, from which it could not be extricated but by the friendly assistance of Revelation. To the eye of nature, all is obscurity. We have received decisive evidences from notorious facts, that when an investigation of these subjects has been attempted by men of the first talents independently of this infallible guide, the mortifying and inevitable result has been, bewildered systems, trembling uncertainty, clashing, contradictory theories. "There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen; the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor hath the fierce lion passed by it." These secret paths are the operations of God, sought out by those who love him, and discovered only by the direction of his word, and the agency of his spirit. Admit the being of a God, and all is clear and luminous. Every difficulty vanishes; for what cannot Omnipotence perform? "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." Can he deserve a milder name who holds his irrational creed? All nature proclaims his existence; and every feeling of the heart is responsive to its voice. The instant we begin to breathe, our connection with God is commenced, and it is a connection which cannot be dissolved forever. All other unions are formed for a season only; time will waste them; death will destroy them; but this connection looks death in the face, defies the injuries of time, and is commensurate with the ages of eternity. The moment

we are capable of distinguishing between good and evil, our responsibility to God is begun-it commences with the dawn of reason, it looks forward to the judgment seat as its issue. At every period, and under every circumstance of human life, man still draws his existence from the "Fountain of life:" he may be cut off from society, but cannot be separated from God: he may renounce his fellow men, but never can burst the bonds of obligation by which he is held to his Maker, till he shall have acquired the power to extinguish that immaterial principle within him, which can never be subjected to decay, or to dissolution. The last sigh which rends the bursting heart, terminates the correspondence between man and man; but strengthens the union between God and man. All the springs of enjoyinent and of existence are hidden in the Deity, and the fates of the human race are suspended in the balances sustained by his unshaken arm. It is an object of the first magnitude, to learn something of the Being with whom we stand thus intimately and inseparably connected; who is light and warmth in the sun, softness in the breeze, power in the tempest, and the principle which pervades and animates, which regulates and sustains universal nature: but to deny his existence, is the madness of desperation, and the temerity of presumption; of all insanity it is the worst; and of all ingratitude, it is the deepest. I see him rolling the planets in their orbits, controlling the furious elements, and stretching an irresist

ible sceptre over all things created. I see the globe suspended and trembling in his presence; and the kingdoms of this world, absorbed in his empire, rising to distinction, or falling into irrecoverable desolation, according to the council of his will. My heart is not at ease. I am instructed, but not tranquillized. The infinity of God overwhelms me; his majesty swallows me up; his inflexible justice and purity fill me with dismay; his power makes me afraid. It is this volume which first brings me acquainted with him as God, and afterwards as a friend: which represents him at once the Creator and Redeemer of the human race; and while his attributes command my admiration, his mercy forbids my terror.

THE DELUGE.

THE world have ever been blind to their best interests; have ever sported with their own ruin. When Noah laid the first beams of his ark across each other, it is probable he did it amid the insulting shouts of an hardened multitude. The building advanced. Some admired the structure; some derided his plan; some charged him with enthusiasm, or with insanity; more were lost in sensuality; and all united in the desperate resolution to bury his admonitions in the grave of oblivion. Still he entreated; still they spurned his instructions; still the edifice rose day after day; still the voice of gaiety was echoed on every side. With strange

infatuation, they stopped their ears; and refused to "listen to the voice of the charmer;" who solicited them with unwearied perseverance, and reasoned "so wisely." The roof is at length covered in. The danger becomes every hour more imminent. He presses his warnings upon them with increased energy; but, pointing to the unclouded sky, they laugh him to scorn, and load his ministration with contempt. It is closed! The last exhortation has been given; and he has wiped the last tear of insulted tenderness from his cheek. Ye blind, insensible mortals! what charm has "holden your eyes," that ye cannot see? Discern ye not the cloud that gathers over yonder mountain? The brute creation see it; and hasten for shelter to the ark. The family of Noah close the procession; they have entered their refuge; and even now the door is shut!" Oh! it is too late! Fraught with heavy indignation, the tempest lowers fearfully. Every "face gathers blackness." Yet scarcely is it perceived, before a new scene of ruin presents itself. Ah! there is no escaping the hand of God! The skies pour an unabating torrent. An hollow groan is heard through universal nature, deploring the impending destruction. The birds and beasts which remain, excluded from the ark, scream and howl in the woods, whither they had fled for shelter. The sea assaults the shore; the restriction of heaven is removed; it passes its ancient boundaries; it triumphs already over the plains, and gains upon the hills. The ark floats