Remember that the

shalt not be unpunished " goodness of God should lead you to repentance. "Despise not the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering;" lest you treasure up unto yourselves wrath against the day of wrath. But seek mercy while yet it may be found; set to repentance, while there is time to bring forth the fruits of it; that so, for our Saviour's sake, you may find favour and acceptance with Him, Who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now to Him, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, &c.

1 Ecclus. vii. 8.

SERMON XI.

ON THE THANKSGIVING FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE

CHOLERA.

JOHN V. 14.

"Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee."

WE are called upon this day, my beloved brethren, to thank and praise God for His great mercies vouchsafed to us, in delivering our land from a scourge and a pestilence, which, for the sins and wickedness of our nation, it had seemed good to Him to send. The scourge of which I speak is the fearful disorder styled Cholera Morbus, which visited this kingdom last year, and destroyed many thousands of our countrymen. It was an awful scourge; and though it pleased Almighty God, in His goodness to us, that it should afflict our country more slightly than it did almost any other, yet even here its effects were dreadful. Those who live in

the parts of the kingdom which, like our own, were almost wholly exempt from it, can form little idea of the tremendous nature of such a visitation; and may be inclined to think lightly of it. But had they witnessed the scenes which took place at Bristol, in Staffordshire, in Devonshire, they would have acknowledged that it was indeed a fearful work. They would have seen the weakness and utter insufficiency of human strength, or human skill, to stop the progress of the disorder, or to find a remedy. They must have acknowledged, as the magicians of Pharaoh did, when Moses wrought the plagues in Egypt, "this is the finger of God." When men were dying, faster than coffins could be made to receive them; when they lay unburied, because the undertakers were worn out with incessant labour; and were thrown at last by tens and fifties, without coffins, into large holes, because time could not be allowed to dig for each the last narrow bed, of which the poorest would think it hard to see their friends deprived; when the passing bell was silenced, because, otherwise, it would have tolled from sunrise to sunset, and by its incessant knell for the dead, have worn out the spirits of the living; when scenes such as these were taking place, and in many houses every soul was cut off;— they who witnessed them must, indeed, have acknowledged the tremendous power of the Almighty, of Him who made this world and all that is in it, and can destroy it as easily as He made it. They

must have felt their hearts sink within them, when they thought upon how much they themselves deserved to suffer under His hand, though encouraged and supported by the knowledge of His love to man, through Jesus Christ, and of the pardon for all sins, which may be obtained for the sake of Him who died for us, by all who, in repentance and sorrow of heart, draw near unto God in His Son's Name; and who strive, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to live in the fear of God, and to do His will, as His sons and servants should do.

But fearful as were the scenes which took place in some parts of our own country, in consequence of this disease, for the removal of which we have this day offered to God our solemn thanks, they were nothing when compared with what happened elsewhere. There were some towns in Persia where the numbers that died were so great, that it was found utterly impossible to bury them. The unburied corpses quickly became corrupted, and produced so insufferable an effect in the atmosphere, as to compel the few surviving inhabitants to retire from the cities, till the wind and sun should have dried up the bodies of their former companions, so as to permit of their being collected together and burned.

Brethren, there are many unhappy persons in the world, and many of them are to be found even in our professedly Christian country, who despise and mock at the power and wrath of God; who live without

regard to Him, neither checking themselves in the ways of sin, nor following in the narrow path of holiness, living, in short, just as if they would live, if there were no God to call them to account; or as if He were one whom they were not called upon either to fear or to love. If one of these unhappy persons had passed through one of those cities at the time of which I have been speaking, and seen nothing but desolation all around; the houses untenanted; the streets filled with dead bodies; no living creature but the vultures, and wolves, and jackals feeding upon them; and the still silence of death only interrupted by the snarls and growls of the brutes as they fought over their horrid feast. What, do you think, would have been his feeling? Would he still have scoffed at God? Would he still think scorn both of His threats and of His promises, and still dare to bid Him defiance, by living in the wilful neglect of His laws? Or would not his heart shrink within him, and he say, Is it indeed such a Being as This Whom I have dared to slight? Is it One Who holds the life of man in His hands, and gives or takes it away at His pleasure, that I have despised? Is it One Who can destroy whole cities in His vengeance, and bring silence and desolation where before there was mirth, and sin, and folly? Let me take warning from what I have seen! let me learn to fear Him Who is thus tremendous in His anger! let me praise Him for His goodness, in not cutting me off also in my carelessness and wickedness; and for awakening