“The cloud-capp’d tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great Globe itself Shall dissolve; and, like the baseless fabric Of a vision, leave not a wreck behind!” Are these nature’s _laws_? No; they are the disruption of them—the rending, not the order of the system. Who breaks in upon this harmony? The God of nature. The Creator is the dissolver of the world. He who spoke it from chaos into light and arrangement, speaks it into ruin. And those who insinuate, that “all things continue as they were from the beginning of the world,” an inspired apostle calls, “_scoffers_, who walk after their own lusts. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water; whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But, the heavens and earth which are now, by the same word, kept in store, are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment.” 2 Pet. iii. 4, 7. As, therefore, there is a Supreme Being, that made and now supporteth the world, so there is a God that _judgeth_ the earth. And as the world could not have existed in the beginning without his _fiat_, so neither can the course of nature be disturbed without his interposition. And they who are so ready upon every occasion to ascribe to second causes merely, what must be the effect of the great FIRST CAUSE, indirectly strike at the existence of _sin_, and the being of God. Leaving, therefore, the vain philosopher and cavilling sceptic to speculate about the natural causes of earthquakes, tempests, pestilences, famine, sword; come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations HE hath made in the earth. For thus saith Jehovah, “I form light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I the LORD do _all these things_.” Isa. xlv. 7. If the earth be convulsed, Jehovah shakes it. If the sword rages, _He_ “gives it its charge.” If the tempest lours, and the heavens are clothed with black, _He_ guides the storm, and rides upon the wings of the wind. If the artillery of the skies send out their voice, and shoot their arrows, it is _He_, who maketh the thunder and darts the lightening. If Jerusalem is to be buried in ruins, it is because _He_ saith, “This is the city to be visited.” Jer. vi. 6.