conclude we were not designed for channel-service, but for some distant part of the world: O! then, seeing I have such a long voyage before me, and must live in worlds to come, how is my soul provided? what have I in hand, what have I in hope? have I the promise, and Christ in the promise in hand? and its fuil accomplishment in the full enjoyment of him in hope? Were I only to coast on the shores of time, die like the beasts, and be no more, to be unprovided would not be a crime. But to launch into eternity without the provision proper for an immortal soul, is more desperate madness than for ships to sail to the farthest Indies without bread, wood and water.

It affects me a little to go abroad, and not know if ever I shall return to my native land, or see a friend I have in life; but faith's enlarged view shall dissipate the gloom, for the sun shines as brightly on the other side of the line as this; the stars twinkle alike richly in all quarters; and heaven, surrounding the whole globe, is alike near to all places; yea, God being eyery where present, he that lives in him cannot be divideď from him, or die out of him, by distance from his country and his friends, but at the hour of dissolution shall go to be for ever with the Lord, where he shall be allowed the nearest approaches, and most intimate communion with him that dwells in light inaccessible and full of glory.

MEDITATION CVII.

ON A POPISH PROCESSION, TO PREVENT THE RE-TURN OF AN EARTHQUAKE.

Madeira, April 2, 1761.

OF all curses, those that are spiritual are most terrible; and none more dismal than to be given up to strong delusions to believe a lie. Do these men think that the Deity is like children, pleased with pomp, and novelty, and show? When the power of religion decayed in the soul, it came more and more into bodily exercises, which profit little, and into external forms and farces. Will a few boys, creeping on their hands and feet, before you through the streets, make the heart-searching God believe you are truly humbled ? do ye substitute the walking bare-footed along a stony cause-way, in the room of walking with God by faith? imagine ye to avert divine wrath by gently whipping your naked bodies? or are such touches of the flesh equal to a real sorrow for, and turning from sin? Think ye God has ceased to be a spirit, and no more demands to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, but, like the idols of old, with the fooleries of men? Are the graces of the Holy Ghost converted into bodily gestures? and can your being veiled in a mournful manner deceive him who seeth through the thick darkness? Think ye, the carrying a piece of wood, in the form of a cross, through your city, will awe the earthquake into eternal silence? or will God look down propitious on the image of your saint and patroness which ye have made in breach of his own express command? Our blessings must come through

his hands that suffered on the cross, and for his sake, but we must expect nothing from the cross itself. Of old the doctrine of the cross was foolishness to Jews and heathen Greeks; but now the cross, while its divine doctrine is dropped, is very folly among nominal Christians.

Now, if God, who has another time to judge, should, in his general forbearance and common mercy, not send a second shock, how will they be persuaded of the prevalency of their procession, and thus be hardened in their superstition and delusion! O with what fervour, for it is the interest of Christ; with what constancy, for souls are precious; with what tenderness, for they are our fellow-creatures and brethren, should all the reformed churches pray for the destruction of the man of sin, and the fall of Babylon, that nations who have nothing but shadows for substance, rites for religion, and the inventions of men for the doctrines of truth, may walk in the light, and enjoy the liberty of the glorious gospel!

But shall I forget the special favour of Heaven to me? for it was not by chance that I was born in a Protestant land, but by the good will of him who hath determined the times before appointed, and the boundsof the habitation of every individual under the sun.

MEDITATION CVIII.

SALLING IN. THE TORRID ZONE.

April 11, 1761.

What extremes are found on this little ball that is hung upon nothing! Here nations tremble among mountains of ice, and deluges of snow; there kingdoms pant under a scorching sun, and breathe in a sul

try air; while others (though perhaps not better pleased with their situation than the former) have but a moderate degree of either. It fares the same way with the rational world as it does with the terrestrial globe; here some live in chilling penury, there others wanton in enfeebling luxury and wealth, while some have the golden mean, the desirable sufficiency, and yet, like the inhabitants of the temperate zone, are scarce content with their situation,or thankful for the mercies of their lot. The inhabitants of one country think that another country abounds with the plenty of the universe; but he that tries all, finds a deficiency in each. But whatever differency there be among men with respect to the bounds of their habitation, surely the whole world. dwell either under Sinai's tremendous thunderings, or Zion's peaceful voice. The situation of the one is terrible, but of the other triumphant. And what is awfully surprizing, is, that though the thunders are both loud and long, yet, being asleep in sin, they hear them not, and so bless their state, till the terrors of death, rouse every organ to be with the deepest anguish, attentive to the everlasting thunderings of an avenging God. But the still small voice,being accompanied with divine power, speaks into the very hearts of those, who, by believing on the mediator of the new covenant, åre come to the heavenly Mount Zion.

A warm sun, and a bright day, are big words among the northern nations, who have often a cloudy sky, a short noon, and a long cold night. So affluence and plenty are words of a big meaning to them whom poverty follows, and from whom pity flies; but it is better to struggle with losses and crosses, if so the graces of the soul be kept alive, than to lie on a bed of down, fall asleep in carnal security, and never more awake. It is dangerous to swim in hot seas, where sharks, or

along shores where alligators devour; and doubly so to wallow in wealth and ease, where lusts and Satan destroy.

The European beauty would not exchange her fair face with a swarthy complexion, for all the treasures of the south; and should the Christian who is all-glorious within, choose a condition that may cast a blemish on his better part, like Jeshurun, who, when he waxed fat, kicked; and in his greatness forgot him that made him great? More venomous creatures crawl in those countries which never felt a cold day, than in such as annually feel a pinching winter. So, generally speaking, more corruptions (pride, lust, carnal security, wrath, &c.) abound among such as are finely cloathed, and fare sumptuously every day, than among those that sit down to one meal, and know but little how to provide the next.

But again, are the distant beams (for even under the meridian line the sun is millions of miles removed from us) of a burning mountain, or a measurable world of fire, so excessively hot and scorching? then. what must the wrath of the Almighty be? Though all the sky were full of scorching suns, they could convey no idea of thy terrible indignation. Who, then, can describe thy terrors, or the fierceness of thy wrath? immensity can only measure its extent, and eternity its duration; well then may it awe a finite worm into silence.