THE PLAINS OF NAUSET. 
45 
fchings. Do not go about to dream that this is de¬ 
rogatory to God’s mercy, and nothing but a vain fable 
to scare children out of their wits withal. God can be 
merciful, though he make thee miserable. He shall 
have monuments enough of that precious attribute, shin¬ 
ing like stars in the place of glory, and singing eternal 
hallelujahs to the praise of Him that redeemed them, 
though, to exalt the power of his justice, he damn sin¬ 
ners heaps upon heaps.” 
But,” continues the same writer, with the advan¬ 
tage of proclaiming the doctrine of terror, which is nat¬ 
urally productive of a sublime and impressive style of 
eloquence Q Triumphat ventoso glorise curru orator, 
qui pectus angit, irritat, et implet terroribus.’ Vid. 
Burnet, De Stat, Mort., p. 309), he could not attain 
the character of a popular preacher. His voice was so 
loud, that it could be heard at a great distance from the 
meeting-house, even amidst the shrieks of hysterical 
women, and the winds that howled over the plains of 
Nauset; but there was no more music in it than in the 
discordant sounds with which it was mingled.” 
The effect of such preaching,” it is said, “ was that 
his hearers were several times, in the course of his min¬ 
istry, awakened and alarmed; and on one occasion a 
comparatively innocent young man was frightened nearly 
out of his wits, and Mr. Treat had to exert himself to 
make hell seem somewhat cooler to him ”; yet we are 
assured that “ Treat’s manners were cheerful, his con¬ 
versation pleasant, and sometimes facetious, but always 
decent. He was fond of a stroke of humor, and a prac¬ 
tical joke, and manifested his relish for them by long 
and loud fits of laughter.” 
This was the man of whom a well-known anecdote is 
