The quiver of Jehovah is not yet exhausted, though we take into our account the ravages of war, the desolation of famine, the fatal effects of the noisome pestilence, or the overwhelming fury of the earthquake. When he “opens his armoury, he can bring forth” innumerable “weapons of his indignation.” Jer. l. 25. He can execute his tremendous purposes by “fire and hail, snow and vapor.” Psal. cxlviii. 8, or “fulfil his word” of threatening and promise, by 5. STORMS and TEMPESTS. These are nothing more than the violent and unnatural agitation of that circumambient air, in which we live and breathe; and which might at any time be excited to such a degree of fearful perturbation, as to discharge some of the most dreadful artillery of heaven. What secret laws produce these phenomena are only known to that God, whose “way is in the whirlwind and in the storm, who maketh the clouds the dust of his feet, and holdeth the winds in the hollow of his hand.” For their dreadful effects we have no occasion to look very far back. The close of the last year exhibited a scene of desolation in the western islands, which their inhabitants can never forget; and in reviewing which, we ought to be actuated with sentiments of the tenderest commiseration and benevolence towards the unhappy sufferers, as well as with impressions full of reverential awe of that God, who sends his judgments through the earth, that the inhabitants thereof might learn righteousness. A few outlines of the devastation occasioned by the late hurricanes, will, it is presumed, convince us of this.—After the storm began, which had been preceded by weather remarkably calm, but by a sky surprisingly red and fiery; the wind was so impetuous as to bear down every object that stood in its way, with a sudden breaking in of the sea, in some places, which swept every thing away with it, so as not to leave the smallest vestige of man, beast, or house, behind; {215a} and all this scene of horror and desolation heightened by repeated shocks of an earthquake. In one island, {215b} we have been informed, that not ten houses survived the fury of the storm. Whole families were buried in the ruins of their habitations; and many, in attempting to escape, were maimed, and disabled. A general convulsion of nature seemed to take place, and universal destruction ensued. On the one hand, might be seen the ground covered with mangled bodies; and on the other, reputable families wandering through the ruins, seeking for food and shelter. Every building and plantation was levelled with the ground; trees were torn up by the roots, or stripped of their branches; and the most luxuriant spring was changed, in one night, to the dreariest winter. In vain was it to look for shelter, when all was a general wreck before the sweeping tempest. Many fell victims to the violence of the winds; and great numbers were driven into the sea and there perished, to the amount of _some thousands_.