sermon better than that from the God
of the elements.

Yes, it is through the elements that the Almighty has ever deigned to
commune with man, or to execute his supreme will, whether it has been by
the wild waters to destroy an impious race--by the fire hurled upon the
doomed cities--by seas divided, that the chosen might pass through
them--by the thunders on Sinai's Mount when his laws were given to man--
by the pillar of fire or the gushing rock, or by the rushing of mighty
winds. And it is still through the elements that the Almighty speaks to
man, to warn, to terrify, to chasten; to raise him up to wonder, to
praise, and adore. The forked and blinding lightning which, with the
rapidity of thought, dissolves the union between the body and the soul;
the pealing thunder, announcing that the bolt has sped; the fierce
tornado, sweeping away everything in its career, like a besom of wrath;
the howling storm; the mountain waves; the earth quaking, and yawning
wide, in a second overthrowing the work and pride of centuries, and
burying thousands in a living tomb; the fierce vomiting of the crater,
pouring out its flames of liquid fire, and changing fertility to the
arid rock: it is through these that the Deity still speaks to man; yet
what can inspire more awe of him, more reverence, and more love, than
the contemplation of thy falling waters, great Niagara!

VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Two gentlemen have left their cards, and will be happy to see me on my
route; one lives at Batavia, the other at Pekin. I recollect going over
the ferry to Brooklyn to visit the Commodore at the Navy Yard; I walked
to where the omnibuses started from, to see if one was going my way.
There were but two on the stand: one was bound to _Babylon_, the other
to _Jericho_. Buffalo is one of the wonders of America. It is hardly
to be credited that such a beautiful city could have risen up in the
wilderness in so short a period. In the year 1814 it was burnt down,
being then only a village; only one house was left standing, and now it
is a city with twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The Americans are very
judicious in planning their new towns; the streets are laid out so wide
that there will never be any occasion to pull down to widen and improve,
as we do in England. The city of Buffalo is remarkably well built; all
the houses in the principal streets are lofty and substantial, and are
either of brick or granite. The main street is