Wesley Corpus

For if things really be as you affirm; if all these afflictive incidents entirely depend on the fortuitous concourse and agency of blind, material causes; what hope, what help, what resource is left for the poor sufferers by them? Should the murrain among the cattle continue a few years longer, and consequently produce scarcity or famine, what will there be left for many of the poor to do, but to lie down and die? If tainted air spread a pestilence over our land, where shall they fly for succour? They cannot resist either the one or other; they cannot escape from them. And can they hope to appease Illachrymabilem Plutona 3 Inexorable Pluto, king of shades 2 Shall they intreat the famine or the pestilence to show mercy? Alas! they are as senseless as you suppose God to be. However, you who are men of fortune can shift tolerably well, in spite of these difficulties. Your money will undoubt edly procure you food as long as there is any in the kingdom. And if your Physicians cannot secure you from the epidemic disease, your coaches can carry you from the place of infec tion. Be it so: But you are not out of all danger yet, unless you can drive faster than the wind. Are you sure of this? And are your horses literally swifter than the lightning? Can they leave the panting storm behind? If not, what will you do when it overtakes you? Try your eloquence on the whirlwind. Will it hear your voice? Will it regard either your money, or prayers, or tears? Call upon the lightning. Cry aloud; see whether your voice will “divide the flames of fire.” O no ! it hath no ears to hear ! It devoureth and showeth no pity! But this is not all. IIere is a nearer enemy. The carth threatens to swallow you up. Where is your protection now? What defence do you find from thousands of gold and silver? You cannot fly; for you cannot quit the earth, unless you will leave your dear body behind you. And while you are on the earth, you know not where to flee to, neither where to flee from. You may buy intelligence, where the shock was yesterday, but not where it will be to-morrow, to-day.