A  Tha7iksgiving  Day.  757

celebrate  our  deliverance  this  day;  partly  the  result  of
causes  over  which  man  has  no  control,  and  partly  the  result
of  the  disregard  of  natural  laws ;  partly,  also,  from  the  pres-
ence of  moral  evil  amongst  us.  That  these  three  distmct
classes  of  causes  have  Wen  present  may  be  proved  by  tra-
cing its  history.  They  Avho  have  made  it  their  duty  to  trace
out'^its  progress  tell  us  that  its  origin  Avas  in  1818,  in  Bengal,
Avhen  it  arose  during  the  overflow  of  the  River  Ganges ;  and
then,  dividing  into  two  streams  of  pestilence  and  death,  it
passed  through  the  world ;  one  going  to  the  east,  the  other
to  the  west.  The  eastern  current  passed  on  till  it  reached
the  shores  of  China ;  the  western  moved  slowly  on  with  gi-
gantic tread,  decimating  nations  as  it  went,  cutting  off  nine
thousand  of  tlie  British  army  ;  and  passing  through  Persia
and  Arabia,  it  destroyed  twelve  thousand  of  the  pilgrims  to
Mecca,  till  it  paused  mysteriously  and  strangely  on  the  very
verge  of  Europe— as  if  the  voice  of  God  himself  had  said,
"  There  is  danger  near;  set  thine  house  in  order."  By  1830
it  had  reached  the  metropolis  of  Russia.  In  1831  it  was  do-
ing its  dreadful  work  in  our  own  capital,  while  eighteen
thousand  fell  in  Paris  alone ;  and  it  then  passed  on,  as  a
winged  messenger,  across  the  ocean  to  America.
