SERMON III.

GREAT EVENTS FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS.

I. KINGS Xviii. 44. Behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand.

WHEN the children of Israel, for their idolatry and wickedness, had been visited with long drought, and the land was scorched and withered for want of rain; the Prophet Elijah appeared to the people, and to Ahab their king; and, after persuading them to abandon their idols, and their idolatrous priests, he said unto Ahab, "Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain:" so Ahab went up to eat and drink; and Elijah

went up to the top of mount Carmel, and cast himself down upon the ground, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, "Go up now, look towards the sea;" and he went up and looked and said "there is nothing;" and he said "go again seven times;" and it came to pass, on the seventh time, that he said "Behold there rises a little cloud, out of the sea, like a man's hand:" then said the Prophet, "Go up, say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not;" and it came to pass, in the mean time, that the heavens were black with clouds. and wind, and there was a great rain. It is not my design to enter further into the story, than is necessary, in order to draw from it the moral, of which it is so beautiful an illustration-Great events from small beginnings— Mighty consequences from causes apparently inadequate. The speck, at first scarcely visible to the strained eye, then fancifully compared to the palm of a man's hand, spreads out into a universal cloud; that cloud bursting into a tempest, convulses the sky and drenches

the earth. In like manner, they who observe the course of human affairs, will often find,. that the greatest achievements and successes, and, on the other hand, the most fatal misadventures and calamities of mankind spring from some obscure, almost imperceptible. origin. Events, which decide the destiny of nations to slavery or empire,-events, which, by their magnitude and importance, draw the attention of the whole world, may have taken their rise, from some sudden unaccountable impulse given to the mind of an individual.That mind, once excited, ruminates in secret: thought follows thought, rapidly and irresistibly; it ferments; it bursts from its confinement; communicates itself to multitudes; and forms those torrents of popular opinions, whence, if they meet and clash, the shock is felt, far and wide throughout society-then rises the storm of human passions; the waves of civil discord begin to roll: the deep groan of war is heard: thrones are tumbled down, and sceptres broken; temples and palaces strew the ground; the peaceful citizen beholds

the flame that consumes the fruits of his toil, extinguished only by the blood of his children -then follows the shout of victory, mixed with the shriek of the widow and the orphan; the choral song of triumph, and the funeral dirge; while over the face of desolated and weeping Nature, the crimson banner of conquest waves.

If we could trace that martial spirit and thirst of power, which made the ancient Romans masters of the world, and, for so many ages, held mankind in subjection; we should probably find, that what distinguished them, at first, from neighbouring states, was little more than any other band of plunderers or fugitives, under as able commanders, might equally pretend to.-Yet from this unsuspected source, rose the surpassing splendor of that imperial city, which was afterwards the great instrument of Providence, both to Scourge and to civilize mankind.-Thus did the little cloud gather rapidly into a lowering tempest, charged with lightnings and with