[1] We see that people of every description endeavour to
appease Heaven, in time of public calamities, by prayers,
incense, sacrifices, and solemn humiliations. And though
many of them have been deceived in the object of their
worship, and have erred in many of the practises which they
adopted as proper to appease the Divinity, their actions
set forth the feelings of man's conscience, and prove that
it is a general sentiment, that in public calamities we
ought to learn righteousness.--_Superville._
[2] Judgment that falls upon another should be as a catechism
to us by way of instruction; when judgments are abroad in
the world, shall not the people learn righteousness? Shall
the lion roar and the beasts of the field not tremble?
Shall God's hand lie heavily upon us, and we stand by, as
idle spectators, nothing at all minding what is done? Shall
our very next neighbour's house be on fire, and we look on
as men unconcerned in the danger? It cannot be, it must not
be. There is, without all doubt, the same combustible
stuff--the same, if not greater sins--lodged in our hearts,
and the same punishment hovering over our heads; it is,
therefore, high time to look about us.--_Donne,_ 1573-1631.
[3] Herodotus informs us, that in a certain temple of Egypt
there was a statue of Sennacherib with an inscription, the
sense of which was, "Learn to fear the Deity, in looking at
me." The judgments of God upon rebellious sinners are
monuments which God erects in the world, and which express,
in characters which all men should read, "Learn to fear the
Deity, in looking at us." A celebrated poet among the
ancient Romans, in describing the divers punishments of
hell, presents us with a fine sentence, "Learn
righteousness by us, and do not despise the gods." It
appears by this, that the secrets of man's conscience, and
his natural sentiments, lead him to profit by the examples
which God exhibits of His justice, whether in this world or
the next, and to respect a Supreme Being who knows how to
avenge Himself, both now and hereafter.--_Superville._