morality, and contrasted them with the young and flourishing
establishments of the New World. He held up to their abhorrence the
licentious manners and atheistical principles of the French, among whom
God was disregarded or forgotten; and, elevated by the importance of his
subject, he described the Almighty as mustering his wrath to descend on
that nation, and disperse it as chaff in a whirlwind. He called on them to
look towards their home of England, and to see with what eager devotion
the inhabitants worshiped the golden image of Commerce, and laid the
tribute of all their thoughts on its altars; believing that with the power
of the idol alone, they should be able to withstand all calamities. "The
day and the hour are, however, hastening on, when the image shall be
shaken from its pedestal by the tempest of Jehovah's descending vengeance,
its altars overturned, and the worshipers terribly convinced that without
the favour of the Almighty God there is no wisdom in man! But," continued
this impassioned orator, "from the woes and the crimes of Europe let us
turn aside our eyes; let us turn from the worshipers of Commerce, clinging
round their idols of gold and silver, and, amidst the wrath, the storm,
and the thunder, endeavouring to hold them up; let us not look at the land
of blasphemies; for in the crashing of engines, the gushing of blood, and
the shrieking of witnesses more to be pitied than the victims, the
activity of God's purifying displeasure will be heard; while turning our
eyes towards the mountains of this New World, the forests shall be seen
fading away, cities rising along the shores, and the terrified nations of
Europe flying out of the smoke and the burning to find refuge here."--All
his auditors were deeply affected, particularly Mrs. West, who was taken
with the pains of labour on the spot. The meeting was broken up; the women
made a circle round her as they carried her home, and such was the
agitation into which she was thrown, that the consequences had nearly
proved fatal both to the mother and the infant, of which she was
prematurely delivered.