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clouds, and they came; he commanded them to unite, and they did so. It is he who sends the hurricane to desolate a guilty city, and he who, in the fulfillment of his designs, arrests the waters, restrains the thunderbolt within the cloud, or hurls it flashing through the air. His eyes have witnessed the rise and fall of every empire: his ears have heard the prayers of nations, laid waste by the sword of the conqueror, by pestilence, slavery, and famine; and he has remained tranquil and impassive, because it is he who holds, as mere puppets in his hand, the empires of the world; it is he who puts the sword in the hand of the conqueror; it is he who sends tyrants to rule over guilty nations; it is he who punishes unbelieving peoples with famine and pestilence, when his sovereign justice demands it.

There is a frightful place, the abode of horror, fear, and suffering, where there is insatiable thirst and perpetual hunger without relief; where no light ever gladdens the eyes, nor peaceful sounds reach the ear; where all is agitation without repose, weeping without intermission, and grief without consolation. There, all may enter, but none may depart. There, hope dies, but memory is immortal. The limits of this place are known to God alone, and these torments are uninterrupted and endless in duration; yet this cursed abode, with its inexpressible agonies, does not disturb the tranquility of God, because his omnipotence has so ordained it. God made hell for the reprobate, just as he made the earth for men and heaven for angels and saints. Hell declares his justice, as the earth proclaims his goodness and the heavens his mercy. Wars, inundations, plagues, conquests, famine, hell itself, are something good, because they are all ordained with regard