-pROPERlTo^ PBINCBTOIT ntU. SEP 1860 Jt:J? KEAD, A. M., LATE MISSIONARY OF THK ^MKIUCAN BOARD. AUTHOR OF "THE CHRISTIAN BRAHMTJN,' 'INDIA AND ITS PEOPLB." ''PAHCR IF TBK GREAT KING," "COMMERCE AND CHRISTIANITY," 'THE COMING CRISIS," MEMOIRS AND SERMONS OP REV. DR. ARMSTRONG," ETC., BTC. ■tAaT AU. TBI PBOPLB OP THE EARTH MIGHT ENOW THE HAKD OF THX lO&S, THAT 11 IS MIGHTY." — Josh. iv. 24. PHILADELPHIA: JOHK E. POTTER AND COMPANY. ,..,. W. GOODSPEED & CO.. 148 LAKE STREET, CHICActO, AND 37 PARK ROW, NEW YORK. Kat«red according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by J. W. GOODSPEED U CO.. In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. PREFACE "The history of the world is gradually losing itself in tne history of the Charch." " The full history of the world is a history of redemption." '' In no period of the history of redemption, not even when preparing the fullness of time for the Messiah's advent, has the providence of God been more marked than of late y^-trs, in its bearing on the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom." " The providence of God, in respect to this work," says another, " would form one of the most interesting chapters in the history of his government " "To the casual observer of Trovidence, to the ordinary reader of this world's history, the whole appears like a ehaos of incidents, no thread, no system, no line of connec- tion running through it. One course of events is seen here, and another there. Kingdoms rise on the stage one after another, and become great and powerful, and then pass away and are forgotten. And the history of the Church seems M arcely less a chaos than that of the world. Changes are continually going on within it and around it, and these apparently without much order." Yet all is not a chaos. The Christian student, with his eye devoutly fixed on the Hand of God, looks out upon the world, and back on the wide field of its history, and takes altogether a different view. What before seemed so S 4 PREFAOX. chaotic and disorderly, now puts on tae appearance of S3'stem and form. All is animated by one soul, and that soul is Providence. The writer of the following pages believes his subject timely. Perhaps as never before, the minds of the most sagacious writers of our age are watching with profound and pious interest the progress of human events. The aim of the author has been to make the work historical, at least so abounding in narrative, anecdote, biography, and in the delineations of men and things in real life, as to commend it to the general reader; and at the same time to reveal at every step the Hand of God overruling the events of his- tory, to subserve his one great end : an attempt to con- tribute a mite to rescue history from the melancholy abuse under which it has lain almost to the present time. His- tory, when rightly written, is but a record of Providence ; and he who would read history rightly, must read it with his eye constantly fixed on the Hand of God. Every change, every revolution in human affairs, is, in the mind of God, a movement to the consummation of the great work of redemption. There is no doubt at the present time, a growing tendency so to write and so to understand history. And if the writer has contributed anything to advance a consummation so devoutly to be wished, he will feel that he has cot labored in vain CONTENTS^ PREFACE ^„ „ « » CHAPTER I. Iktrodtjction. General illustrations of Providential Agency : Joseph — Moses — Estber — Daniel. History an exponent of Providence. Eze- kiel's wheel. John's sealed Book. Pentecost. Persecution about Stephen — abo«t Paul. Dispersion of the Jews. The Roman Empire. Introduction o^ the Gospel into Aybssinia — Iberia — Britain — Bulgaria. Our plan. Chi istianity progressive II CHAPTER II. Art op Printing. Paper-making — Mariner's Compass. The Dis- covery of America at precisely the right time : a new field for Chria tianity. First settlement. Romanists. None but Puritan seed take deep root here. Character of the first Settlers. 0 ographical position. Capabilities and resources of America. Langu' ^e, lutelligenoe, Po- litical suoremacy. Coal. Steam. A cloud 81 CHAPTER III. The ReformA'vion. General remarks — state of Europe and the world. The crusade!)- • thuir cause and effect. Revival of Greek literature in Europe. Tti* Arabs. Daring spirit of inquiry. Bold spirit of adventure. ColumVuij. The Cabots. Charles V. Henry VIII. Fran- cis I. Leo X. Rise of liberty. Feudalism. Distribution of political pov«r 53 CHAPTER IV. The Retormation. Europe clamors for reform. Causes. Abases. Boniface VIII. The Great-Schism. Infallibility. Bad moral obarao- trr of Popes — Alexander VI. Leo X. Elector of Saxony. Early Re- formers. Waldenses — Nestorians. The Reformation a necessary offeot — a child of Providence. Martin Luther; his origin, early edu- cation, history. Finds the Bible. His conversion. Martin Luther ^he preacher — the Theological Professor — at Rome. "Pilate's stair- case." Compelled to bo a Reformer. His coadjutors. Opposition. Results 88 0 00NTENT8. rum CHAPTEa V. Japbst f» the t9ittt of Shem : or, the Iland of Qod, as eeen in tbe open- ing a way to India by the way of tbe Cape of Qood llope. Tbe pos- terity of Japhet. The Portuguese empire in the East — its extent and extinction. Designs of Providence in opening India to Europe— not t\\\Li and satins, but to illustrate the evil of Idolatry, and the inefiicacy of false religions and philosophy to reform men. Tbe power of true religion 85 CHAPTER VI. 90D IK IIiSTORT. The Church safe. Expulsion of the Moors from Spain. Transfer of India to Protestant hands. Philip II. and Holland. Span- ish invincible Armada. The bloody Mary of England. Dr. Cole and Elizabeth Edmonds. Cromwell and Hampden to sail for America. Koturn of the AValdenses and Henry Arnaud. Gunpowder plot. Cromwell's usurpation. Revolution of 16S8. James II. and Louis XIV. Peter the Great. Rare constellation of great- men 10# CHAPTER VII. God in Modern Missions. Their early history. lienevolent aoeietiet. The Moravians — English Baptists' Society. Birmah Missions. David Bogue and the London Missionary Society. Captain James 'Wilson and the South Sea Mission. The tradition of the fin«<«n Qod. Suo- eess. Destruction of Idols — Gospel brought to Rurutu — Aitutaki — Rarotonga — Mangaia — Navigator's Islands 123 CHAPTER VIII. Modern Missions continued. Henry Obookiah and the Sandwiob Islands. Vancouver and the Council. Dr. Vanderkemp and South Africa. Africaner. Hand of God in the Origin of Benevolent Socie- ties. Remarkable preservation of Missionaries IM CHAPTER IX. Tbk Wksletan Reforuation. Its origin and leaders ; its rapid growth and wide extension; its great moral results IM CHAPTER X. Hand or God in facilities and resources by which to spread Christianity. Tbe supremacy of England and America : prevalence of the English language, and European manners, habits and dress. Modem im- provements; facilities for locomotion. Isthmus of Suex and Darien, Commercial relations. Post-office 170 CHAPTER XI. Hans or God in faoilitiea and resources. General peace. Progresf of knowledge, civilization and freedom. The three great obstacles essen- tially removed. Paganism, the Papacy, and Muhamuedanisu VH CONTENTS. T CHAPTER XII. Thb riBLD PRBPARKD. General remarks ; — First, Papai. countries, or Europe; their condition now, and fifty years ago. France — the Revo- lution— Napoleon. 1845, an epoch — present condition of Europe. Character of her monarchs. Catholic countries ; — Spain and Rome- Austria — France, an open field. France and Rome. Geneva. Benev- olent and reforming societies. Religion in high places. Mind awake. Liberty. Condition of Romanism and Protestantism 210 CHAPTER XIII. CoifTiNTTBD. Second, Paqan countries. Paganism in its dotage. Fifty years ago scarcely a tribe of Pagans accessible. 1793, another epoch. Pagan nations, bow accessible. Facilities. War. The efi°eo- tive force in the field. Resources of Providence in laborers, educa- tion, and the press. Toleration. Success. Kirshnuggar. South India 235 CHAPTER XIV. The field prepared. Islands of the Pacific. Native agency. Liber- ality of native Churches. Outpouring of the Spirit and answers to Prayer. The first Monday of January. Timing of things. England in India — her influence. Success, a cumulative force for progress. The world at the feet of the Church 253 CHAPTER XV. Mohauuedan countries and Mohammedanism. The design, origin, char- acter, success, extent of Islamism. Mohammed a Reformer — not an Impostor. Whence the power and permanency of Mohammedanism ? Promise to Ishmael — hope for him. The power of Islam on the wane. Turks the watch-dogs of Providence, to hold in check the Beast and the Dragon. Turkish reforms — Toleration — Innovations — A pleasing reflection 269 CHAPTER XVL Band of God in the Turkish Empire. The Turkish Government and Christianity. Mr. Dwight's communication. Change of the last fifty years. Destruction of the Janizaries. Creek Revolution. Reform. Death of Mahmoud. The Charter of Gul Khaneh. Religious Lib- erty. Persecution arrested. Steam Navigation in Turkey. Provi- dential incidents. Protestant Governments and Turkey. Their present Embassadors. Foreign Protestant Residents. Late exemp- tion from the plague 288 CHAPTER XVIL Africa, the land of paradoxes — Hope for Africa. Elements of renova- tion— Anglo-Saxon influence — Colonizing — The Slave Trade and Sla- very— Commerce. A moral machinery — education, the Press, a preached Gospel. Free Government. African Education and Civili- lation-Society. The Arabic Press. African languages 3M CHAPTER XVIIL The Armenians. Their history, number, location. Dispersion and preservation of the Armenians. The American Mitsion; Aiaad SU» 8 0ONTBirT& VAOI diak ; exile of Hohannes. The great Reviral. The Peraecation, and what God has brought out of it 327 CHAPTER XIX. The Jbws. Providential features of their present condition, indicating their preparedness to receive the Qospel 341 CHAPTER XX. Ihb Nbstorians — their country, number, history. The Ten lost Tribes. Early conversion to Christianity. Their missionary character. The American Mission among them. Dr. Grant and the Koordish moun- tains. The massacre. The great Revival — extends into the mountains. The untamed mountaineer. A bright day dawning 365 CHAPTER XXI. Europe in 1848. The Mission of Puritanism — in Europe. The failure of the reformation. Divorce of Church and State. The moral element in Government. Progress of liberty in Europe : religious Liberty. Causes of the late European movement. The downfall of Louis Philippe. What the end shall be 37» CHAPTER XXIL The World in 1858. The Last Ten Tears. The Great Awakening. The Sepoy Mutiny 398 CHAPTER XXIII. Remarkable providences — small beginnings and great results. Abra- ham. Joseph. Moses. David. Ruth. Ptolemy's Map. Printing. The Mayflower. Bunyan. John Newton. The old marine. The poor Choctaw boy. The linen seller. Russian Bible Society. The little girl's tears, and Bible Societies. Conclusion 412 CHAPTER XXIV. Hard or God in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century 427 CHAPTER XXV. Increase or Wealth and other Resources and Facilities for Progress. Migrations and Colonies. Philanthropy and Reforms. The Religioui Progress of the Period under Review 4U CHAPTER XXVI. Qreat Men. Raising up and fitting Right Men for Right Places. Jo- seph, Moses, Samuel, David, Luther, Melancthon, Milton, Charle- magne, Cromwell, AVashington, Wellington, Napoleon 471 CHAPTER XXVn. Great Men. Right Men for Right Places. Edwards, Whitefield, Wes- ley, Clarkson, Wilberforoe, and Howard. Samuel J. Mill, Chalmers, Vranklin, Clay, Webster, Jackson, Madame Quyon 498 OONTZNTS. f CHAPTER XXVIIL Thb Lawsivbr op Israel. Faith tested. The Hand of God in the Character, Training, and Mission of Moses 612 CHAPTER XXIX. God in War. Revolutions. War the Precursor of Human Advance- ment, from Marathon to the British Isles 528 CHAPTER XXX. More op War as an Agency of Human Progress. The Wars of Spain with the Netherlands — with England. England with France. Eng lish Wars in India The American Revolution. The French Revolu- tion, and the Wars of Napoleon. The great Conflict 64T CHAPTER XXXI. Retribution. Perilous to do Wrong. Jacob and his Family. Jacob, Haman, Adonibezek, Ahab, and Jezebel. Pharaoh, the Herods, and Pontius Pilate. Antiochus IV. Philip II. Bishop Gardiner, Bon- ner, and Woolsey. Duke of Guise, Robespierre, and Charles IX. Aaron Burr and Benedict Arnold. Voltaire and Paine. The Liquor Traffic 577 CHAPTER XXXII. Retribution. France. Napoleon Bonaparte. National Retributions. The Jewish Nation. Nations left to Punish Themselves, or to Punish One Another. Egypt, France, and Spain — all Oppressors, Extor- tioners, and Evil Doers 59t CHAPTER XXXIII. Hand op God in Controlling Wicked Men and Wickedness for Great and Lasting Good. Israel in Egypt. The Babylonish Captivity. Caiaphas. Persecutions. Controversies. Josephus. Gibbon. Cor- ruption of the Clergy and Tetzel. Wars with India, China, and Mex- ico. Avarice. Ambition 615 CHAPTER XXXIV. God in Appiictions — Judgments — Pestilence — Death. How God brings Good out of Them. How He Works by Them in Carrying Out the Great Purposes of His Mercy toward our World. Psalm Ixxviii. 32-35 (especially 34th) (533 CHAPTER XXXV. Hand op God in Commerce. A mighty Agency in Human Adranee- ment. The Resources of Commerce. Mines, Manufactures, etc 656 CHAPTER XXXVL ComnsRCB — Its Material. Iron, Gold, and Silver. New substances and ■4rtioleB of Traffic. Commerce and the Anglo-Saxon Race. 674 10 ooNTEirrs. CHAPTER XXXVn. QoD IH Creation. The Vastness of the Material Unirerso. Boundlesi Space full of Worlda. How Governed. Forms of Matter. Animated Matter. The Minute Adaptations and Arrangement. The Eye, the Ear, a Joint or Muscle. The True Account of Creation a Revealed Truth 685 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Inn Prodigiods Productions of Nature. Extraordinary Productions. California Products. Second Blossom. Successive Crops 705 CHAPTER XXXIX. The Productivbness op Nature. New Substances. The Mineral King- dom. Eden Restored 722 CHAPTER XL. EzAHPLES PROM THE HiSTORT OF Man. Extraordinary Physical and Mental Phei» jiena — Dreaming, Visions, Insanity, Mesmerism, Clair- voyance, Spiritual Rappings. Swedenborg and his Excursions, Rev- eries, and Revelations. Extraordinary Talents and Business Capa- bilities 739 CHAPTER XLI. God in the Sea. Water — its Nature — Quantity — Sources — Relative Pro- portions— Uses. Its Distribution — Seas, Bays, Rivers 747 CHAPTER XLII. More about Water. Its Adaptation and Uses. Its Fluidity, and what comes of it. The Adaptation of Temperature to preserve Flu- idity. Steam and the Steam dispensation 770 CHAPTER XLIII. Progrbsstte Creation. The World enlarging as Man's need requires. A new Continent. Coral Formations. Divine Skill and Benevolence in Submarine Scenery and Beauty. The World not large enough. The Star of Empire moves Westward 784 CHAPTER XLIV. The Migrations op Mait as a Great Providential Scheme. Four streams from Shinar. Migration from Egypt. Phoenicia. Caithage. The Mogul Tartars. Tfae Saracens. Modern Migrations. Four Great Streams 809 CHAPTER XLV. The Present Providential Condition of the World. The Condition of Europe. The Great Conflict. The Crimean war, Sepoy Mutiny, and Great ReTiral. The Safe Place. The Atlantic Telegraph „. 832 CHAPTER XLVI. The Past Ten Years. Progress of Liberty and Christian Civilization in Austria, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Mexico, South America, France, British Isles, and China 84X Hand of God in Histort CHAPTER t btrodsettoM iSenenI fllnitrations of Proridentlal Agency : Joseph— HMes—lRth»>M> Daniel. Hlatory an exponent of Proridence. Bzeklel'e wheel. John's sealed Book. Pentecost. Persecution abont Stephen— abont Panl. Dispersion of the Jews. The' Roman Empire. Introdnction of the Gospel into Abyssinia— Iberia — Britain — Bnl- garia. Our plan. Christianity progresslre. " Bbhold, how oreat a kattsb a littlb riBB kutblbth I" — James iii. 5. A YOUNG shepherd boy, as he tends his father's flocks on the hills of Palestine, dreams a dream. No strange event this, and, accustomed as he was to gaze on the starry concave, not strange that he should dream of the sun, moon and stars— or that it should have been interpreted of his future greatness, or that his brethren should on this account hate him— or that Joseph should be sold a slave into Egypt Here seemed an end of the whole matter. The exiled youth would soon wear out in bondage, un- known and unwept ; a disconsolate father go down to the grave mourning, and the posterity of Jacob cultivate their fields, and watch their flocks, forgetful that this out- rage to humanity ever disgraced the annals of their family history. But not so the mind of God. Joseph is en- slaved— accused of crime — thrown into prison. Yet in that dark cell is nourished the germ of hope to the church of the living God. Israel should grow up on the banks of the Nile, and spread his boughs to the river, and his branches to the sea. The eye of God was here steadily fixed on the advancement of his church. Again, something is seen floating amidst the fl<%gs of the river of Egypt. A servant woman ia ordered to bring it It is an ark of rushes. Thousands of Hebrew cMl- 12 HAND OK GOD IN' Uls'l r,k'. . dren had perished uncared for ; but now, as by accident, one is found and introduced into the palace of the king and to the court. He is educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and schooled in the discipline needful *o make him a legislator and a military leader. With what care did God watch that little rush bark, and with what consummate skill order every event, till he had reared up Moses, and fitted him to act a more prominent part in the advancement of his cause than any mortal had acted before. Or, an obscure female is born in Persia. At an early age she is left an orphan. An uncle adopts her, and hopes she may yet solace his declining years. She is beautiful, lovely, modest — yet nothing points her out to any envia- ble station above the thousands of the daughters of Persia. To all human forethought she would live and die unknown as she was born. But the church of God is scattered throughout the hundred and twenty and seven prov inces of Persia. Esther is a daughter of the captivity ; and God would raise up some guardian spirit to save his people from an impending danger, and honor them in the sight of the heathen. The palace of Shushan, and tiie gorgeous court of the Shah, shall stand in awe of Esther's God. By a singular train of circumstances the obscure orphan is brought to the notice of the king — finds favor, and is called to share with him the honors of his throne. And what deliverances she wrought for her peo- ple— how she brought them out from their long obscurity, and gave them notoriety and enlargement, and prepared the way for their restoration to their native land and to the Holy Hill of Zion, is known to all who have traoed the hand of Providence in this portion of Sacred History. Again, a youth of nineteen years is carried captive to Babylon. But there was nothing singular in this. Thou- sands of every age and rank had been forced away from their native hills and valleys of Palestine, the victims of unsuccessful war. But the time had come when God would proclaim his name and his rightful claims to sover- eignty from the high battlements of the greatest of earthly potentates. Again he would magnify his church in tne sight of all nations. Hence Daniel's captiv^ity- -hcnco PROVIDENCE AND HISTORY. 13 Hial youthful saint prayed and exemplified an enlightened, unbending piety, till the king and his court, the nobles and the people, publicly acknowledged the God of DanieU and " blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to genera- tion." " Providence is the light of history and the soul of the world." " God is in history, and all history has a unity because God is in it." " The work of Redemption is the sum of all God's providences." In the following pages, an attempt is made to present, within prescribed limits, an historical illustration of the Hand of God as displayed in the extension and establish- ment of Christianity. And the author will compass his end in proportion as he may contribute any thing to a right apprehension of history — of the divine purposes in the vicissitudes and revolutions of human affairs, discern- ing in the records of all true history the one great end, " For which all nature stands, And stars their courses move." , All veritable history is but an exponent of Providence , and it cannot but interest the mind of intelligent piety, to trace the hand of God in all the changes and revolu- tions of our world's history. All are made beautifully to subserve the interests of the church ; all tend to the fur- therance of the one great purpose of the Divine mind ; the glory of God in the redemption of man. He that would rightly study history must keep his eye constantly fixed on the great scheme of human salvation. History, nowever, has been written with no such intent. "The first thing that it should have shown is the last tiling that it has shown. The relation of all events to God's grand design is by most historians quite overlooked." All past history is but the unravelling of God's eternal i)laii re- specting our race. The whole course of human events is made finally to subserve this one great purpose. The philosophy of history can be learned only in the labora- tory of heaven — with the eye fixed on the Hand that 14 HAND OF GOD IN BISTORT. moves the world, and the spirit in harmony with the great Spirit that animates the universe. It is only when we see God — Christ — redemption, in history, that we read it in the light of truth. " This is the golden thread that passes through its entire web, and gives it its strength, its lustre and consistency." With beautiful propriety the Prophet Ezekiel prefaces his predictions with a striking delineation of Divine Provi- dence. Or rather God prepares the prophet's mind to become the vehicle of the most extraordinary series of predictions concerning his people, by a vision emblemat- ical of Providence. It came under the similitude of a " wheel," or a sphere made of a " wheel in the middle of a wheel." A whirlwind and a cloud appear in the north, illumined with a brightness as of fire. Out of the midst of the cloud appears the likeness of four living creatures ; each has four faces ; four wings, and hands under their wings ; straight feet like the ox ; and the four faces are severally like the face of a man, of a lion, of an ox and an eagle, denoting wisdom, strength, swiftness and obedience. Their wings are raised and joined one to another, and when they move they move " straight forward," as directed by the Spirit, and they turn not as they go. These may be taken to represent the ministers of Providence — angels, with ready wing to obey the behests of Heaven — intent on their er- rands of mercy or of wrath — turning neither to the right hand nor the left, subject to no mistakes, hindered by no obstructions — and all their movements directed by one great Mind. " Whither the Spirit was to go, they went ; they run and return as the appearance of a flash of lightning." By the side of these was a wheel or sphere, composed of a " wheel within a wheel." This may be regarded as an emblem of Divine Providence. The wheel had four faces — looked every way, moved every way ; was con- nected with the living creatures, and moved in perfect harmony with them ; was full of eyes — never moved blindly or by chance ; its operations, though endlessly diversified in detail, were harmonious in action and one in their end. for all were guided by one great, controlling PROVIDKNCE nVrOMPREIIENSIBI-E. 15 Agent. The wheels had a regular, uniformly onward movement— no turning aside or turning back ; and so enormous were they in circumference that their " height was dreadful." And such is God's providence — a scheme for canying out purposes high as heaven, and lasting as eternity — vast, profound in the conception, sublime in result, and, like God himself, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. God is the soul of Providence. The general appearance of this singular mechanism was like unto the color of a beryl — azure — ocean-like. Providence like the ocean I — an apt and beautiful allusion. The ocean, broken only here and there by a few large patches of land sitting, as it were, on its heaving bosom, stretches from pole to pole, and from equator to equator; is all-pervading, never at rest, irresistible It ebbs and flows; has its calms and tempests, itsdepres sions and elevations. Whether lashed into fury by the storm, or sleeping tranquilly on its coral bed, it is accom- plishing its destined end. It washes every land ; its va- pors suffuse the entire atmosphere ; its waters, filtered through the earth, are brought to our door, and distribu- ted through every hill and valley. Common and useful as the ocean is, we are but par- tially acquainted with its utility, and so boundless is it that human vision can take in but a mere speck of its whole surface. We stand on its shore, or sit on some little floating speck on its bosom, and, save a little lake or pond that heaves in restless throes about us, the ocean itself lies beyond the field of our vision, shut out by the azure curtain of the encircling sky. And such is Providence — a deep, unfathomable deep — none but the omniscient eye can fathom it — none but in- finite Wisdom can scan its secret recesses ; so boundless, everywhere active, all-influential, that none but the infi- nite Mind can survey and comprehend its wonder-work- ing operations ; so mighty, all-controlling, irresistible, that nothing short of omnipotence can guide it. Like the sea, Providence has its flows and ebbs, its calms and tempests, its depressions and elevations. At one time we ride on the swelling bosom of prosperity. The tide of life runs 10 HAND OF (JOD IN HISTORY. Iiigfi ami strong. The sunbeattis ot health and joy glisten in our tranquil waters, and we scarcely fear a disturbing change. Again the tide sets back upon us. Disappoint- ment, ])overty, sickness, bodily or mental affliction, throw life and all its enjoyments in the ebb. We are tossed on the crested billow, or lie struggling beneath the over- whelming wave. Like the sea, Providence is not onh the minister of the Divine mercy, but of the Divine dis- pleasure, executing judgments on the froward and disobe dient : a minister of discipline, too, casting into the fur- nace of affliction, that it may bring out the soul seven times purified. We can see but little of its boundless surface, or sound but little of its unfathomable depths. "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is able to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book. And I wept. And one of the elders said unto me. Weep not : behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." This book was an ancient roll, composed of seven distinct parts — (the number seven de- noting universality ;) so rolled as to leave an end of each on the outside, which was sealed with a separate seal. The book w^as written within — reserved in the keeping of Him that sitteth on the throne — held in the right hand of Omnipotence — the understanding and unfolding of its secrets was committed only to the Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. None could " look thereon," or take it from the right hand of Him that sitteth on the throne, but the Lamb that stood in the " midst of the throne." This is another apt and beautiful emblem of Divine Providence. As mediatorial King, the Loi*d Jesus Christ undertakes the unrolling of this mysterious scroll — the unfolding of the eternal purposes of Jehovah — the con- trolling of all events, and the ordering and ovenuling of all the vicissitudes and revolutions in human afi'airs, to the carrying out of the Divine purposes. It was a book of seven chapters, some of which are divided yito sections UlSTOBf AND THE CIIURCD. 17 as marked by the seven trumpets, the seven thunders and llie seven vials of the seven last plagues. The Lamb takes the book — becomes the executor of the Divine will in his purposes of mercy to man : " Lo ! I come in the volume of the book as it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God." " And when he had taken the book," and thereby engaged to execute the magnificent scheme of the Divine Mind, "the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fel' down before the Lamb, having harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And the); sung a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof." Then follows, in awful succession, scene after scene in the sublime drama, till John had witnessed, in shadowy outline, as in a moving panorama before him, the great events, political and ecclesiastical, which should transpire in coming time — reaching forward to the end of the present dispensation or the full establishment of Messiah's kingdom. Holding in his hand the book of God's pur- poses, the Lamb rides forth. King and Conqueror, in the chariot of God's providences. In a word, the solution of the dark sayings of this book — the evolving of the Di- vine purposes concerning the scheme of grace, is to be sought in the progress and final triumph of Immanuel's kingdom. • Whoever will read the history of the world and of the church of God, with his eye fixed on the providential agency which everywhere overrules the events of the one to the furtherance and well-being of the other, will see all history illuminated by a light, and animated by a spirit, )f which the mere chronicler of historical events knows nothing. He will feel that history has a sacred philoso- phy— that he is standing in the council chamber of eter- nity, reading the annals of inhn'te Wisdom and Mercy, as blended and developed in the great work of human re- demption. He will see in all history such a shaping of every event as finally to further the cause of truth. Events apparently contradictory often stand in the rela- tion of cause and eflect. A Pharaoh and a Nebuchad- nezzar, an Alexander and a Nero, a Domitian and a lior- 18 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. gia, Henry the VIII. and Napoleon, men world-renowned yet oftentimes prodigies of wickedness, are in every age made the instruments and the ? gents to work out the scheme of His operations who maketh the wrath of man to praise him. " Howbeit they mean not so." The Lord's portion is his people ; Jacob is the lot of (lis inheritance. He found him in a desert land and in a waste, howling wildei-ness ; he led him about, he in- structed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings ; so the Lord alone did lead him. He has engraven him on the palms of his hands. By some anom aly of nature a mother may forget her sucking child, but God will not forget his inheritance in Jacob. The earth changes ; the sea changes ; change is the order of all ter- restrial things. They appear and pass away, and we scarcely know they have been. But not so with the church of God. As He lives so she shall live. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light ; a beautifiil emblem of a superintending Providence over his church. And " he has never taken away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night." By his sleepless energy he has prepared the way before them, and led them by his own right hand. Fcxr their sakcs he has madeand unmade kings — formed and dissolved em- pires— cast down and discomfited enemies, and raised up friends. It shall be our delightful task to trace the footsteps of Providence in the extension and establishment ol' the church. While much has been done for the spread oi ihe true religion by 7nissionary effort, much more has been done through the direct agency of Providence. Illustra- tions crowd upon us unsought : a few of which, as iso- lated cases, shall be allowed to fill up our first chapter. L Peter and the Pentecost. I do not here refer di- rectly to the extraordinary outpouring of the Sj)irit on that day, or to the great number of converts, but to the re- marKtible concurrence of circumstances, which made thai a radiat"ng i)oint of the newly risen Sun of Righteousness PAUL IN ROME. 19 to most of the nations of the earth. Had not the Parthi- ans and the Medes, the Arabians and the dwel'ers in JMesopotamia — devout men out of every nation wide? heaven, been there, the influence of that occasion had been confined within a narrow provi.ice. But as the event was, the gospel flew as on the wings of the wind, through all the countries represented in Peter's assembly on that memorable day. And as the apostles afterwards trav- ersed those same regions, they found the glad tidings oi Pentecost had gone before them as pioneers to their suc- cess, and harbingers of peace to welcome the more per- fect establishment of Messiah's kingdom. All this was purely providential — a conjunction of circumstances to bring about results which should be felt over the whole known world. 2. The persecution which arose about Stephen. Its im- mediate and obvious result was a cruel persecution against the whole church, scattering abroad the disciples through all the neighboring nations. The ultimate and more glo- rious result — the providential aspect and design, was that they should, wherever dispersed, go preaching the gospel. The converts of Pentecost now need to be reinforced, strengthened and encouraged ; and they who had sat longer at the feet of the apostles, and learned the way of life more perfectly, were sent to strengthen the things that were ready to perish. Where was the smoking flax they fanned it to a flame ; where the flickering lamp, they replenished it from the horn of salvation. And the gos- pel, too, was by this means introduced and established in other regions. They that had long sit in the land oi the shadow of death, light shined on them. 3. Paul's being carried prisoner to Rome. Rome was he imperial city, the metropolis of the world. Judea, .he cradle of Christianity, was, on the other hand, but an insignificant province ; the Jews, a hated people, and the founder of Christianity, was contemned as a crucified malefactor. But Jesus of Nazareth shall be known anri honored at Rome. Her seven hills shall be as the seven golden candlesticks to send the light of truth abroad. But with man this was impossible. There were Chris- tians in Rome ; vet Rome was a proud, pagan city. The- 20 HAND OP COD IN HISTOKT. church and her envoys were equally in bad repute. Hei excellencies were unknown, and her beauties, as dimly seen through the fogs of ignorance and prejudice, were unappreciated. But the religion of Calvary shall be honored at Rome — there shall be a church in the " house- hold of Caesar." That great pagan empire shall yield to the cross, and her proud capital shall be the radiating point of light. It is fit, then, that the prince of the apostles should go there — that his puissant arm should wield the sword of the Spirit amidst those giant powers of darkness — that his voice should be heard in the forum, and his eloquence plead in the palace of Caesar. But how can this be ? God had a way — Paul must be arrested in the midst of his successful mission in Asia Minor. This seemed a- sore evil — no one could supply his place there. But the great Husbandman had need of him in another part of his vineyard. He must be arrested — brought before a Roman tribunal — be accused — allowed an appeal to Cae- sar— and to Ccesar he must go. But he goes, though in chains, the embassador of heaven, the messenger of Christianity, to the capital of the empire, and to the palace of the monarch. He goes at the expense of a pagan government, in a government ship, under governmental protection, and for the express purpose of making a defence which shall lay a necessity on him to preach Christ and him crucified before the im perial com-t. All this is providential. On this highest summit ol earthly power, Paul kindled a fire whose light soon shone to the remotest bounds of the Roman empire. 4. The dispersion of the Jews was anotlier providential interposition which contributed immensely to the wide and rapid spread of the gospel. Jerusalem had been di- vinely appointed the radiating point of Christianity. The gospel must first be preached at Jerusalem ; then to the mongrel tribes of Samaria ; and thence, chiefly through the instrumentality of Jews, to the remotest parts oi the earth. But the Jews were a people proverbially averse to mingling with other nations ; and how shall they become the messengers of salvation to a perishing world ? THE ROMAN. EMPIRE. 2) A signal providence here interposed : Jerusalem is be- sieged by a Roman army ; her mighty ramparts are Droken down ; her palaces demolished ; her gorgeous temple laid in ruins. The nation is disbanded, and the Jewish church is no more. The fold broken up, the sheep are scattered. They spread themselves over the plains of Asia, even to the confines of the Chinese sea They wander over the hills, and settle down in the val- leys of Europe ; nor does the broad Atlantic arrest theii progress to the new world. Wherever dispersed, they bear testimony to the truth of Christianity. Whether in Kamtschatka, on the torrid sands of Africa, on the Co- lumbia or the Ganges, the Jew is everywhere a Jew — and the 'peculiarittes which make him such, make him everywhere a preacher of righteousness. The bare fact of his dispersion was a living and palpable illustration of God's truth. If not a direct preacher of righteousness, he was at least verifying the predictions of a long line of prophets, and confirming the testimony of all former ages. Nothing so abundantly favored the propagation of the gospel as the dispersion of the Jews : " Through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles." Their rejection was the occasion and the means of a wider and a richer diflu- sion of the gospel. Indeed, at every step of the progress of Christianity we meet a wonder-working Providence opening and pre- paring the way for the kingdom of God among the na- tions of the earth. 5. The extent and character of the Roman Empire, at this time, affords another notable instance. In the con- struction of that vast empire, God had, for near forty centuries, been preparing a stupendous machinery for the triumph of the truth over the sujierstition and ignorance, the learning and philosophy of the whole earth. It was the grand concentration of all that was good, and much that was bad, in the grent monarchies which had gone before it. It was, indeed, a magnificent structure ; in ex- tent, covering nearly the wiiole known world, and in po- litical, int«^IIectual, and moral height, overtopping all thai had gone before it. The mighty monarchies which had gone befoie, were schools and vast workshops in which 22 HAND OF GOU [N HISTOllY. to prepare materials out of which to uuild Rome.. In poh't- ical wisdom and the science of government, in the arts and sciences, in civihzation and refinement, Rome drew much from the ever instructive past. In point of religion, too, she had gained much. Having adopted the mythologies of her predecessors, the lapse ot time had shown her their ineJficacy and nothingness ; and, consequently, long be- fore the coming of Christ, the state of religion was little more than the ridicule of the philosopher, the policy of the magistrate, and the mere habit of superstition with the populace ; and, of consequence, in a state as favora- ble as may well be conceived for the introduction and , rapid spread of a new religion. Such, in a word, was the character, the extent, and facilities of communication possessed by the Roman Em- pire, as admirably to fit her to act the conspicuous pari in the spread of the gospel for which Providence had prepared her. A nod from the Roman throne made the world tremble. What started with a Roman influence reached the bound aries of that vast empire.* When, therefore, Paul brought the religion of Jesus into the forum and the pal- ace, into the schools of philosophy, and the chief places of learning, a blow was struck which vibrated throuj^h every nerve of that vast body politic. And we need not be surprised at the triumphant declaration of the great apostle to the Gentiles, that, in less than half a century after the resurrection, " verily their sound had gone into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." The universality and consolidation of the Roman Em- pire remarkably favored such a result. Narrow nation- alities had fallen. Rome was the world. When Chris- tianity became the national religion, it, in a sense, became the religion of the world. The observant reader of Gib- • Of the peculiar facilities afforded by the Roman Empire for the universal spre.irl ^^^ the gospel, take, for an example, her rialivnal rodj.t and wos/s. From Rome to SjcotiaiiJ ou (lie west, and to .lerusalem on the east, a distance of four thousand Roman miles — »nd from llie imperial capital throniih tlie heart of every province, there extended a national road by which even the remotest provinces v/ere accessible. This furnished focililies before unknown for the communication of knowledge and the propajration ol Christianity. To open and improve the facilities for intercommuuication, is among the first measures for effectius, or for aflvanciiig the civilization of any country. Mndcrti Europe receive 1 its first lessons here from the Saracens of the twelfth and foUo-«in« ccDturiea MADE TO SUBSERVE THE CFmRCH. 2H bon cannot have overlooked the singular fact, that not onlv every new conquest added new dominion to Chris- tianity, but every defeat. The conquerors of Rome al- most invariably embraced the religion of the conquered. The strong arm of Jehovah made the Roman monarchy a mighty engine in the advancement of his truth. Under its benign auspices the Saviour was born. Au gustus Caesar, the first Roman Emperor, began his reign about twenty-four years belbre this event. The Roman Empire had now just reached its culminating point. A-ugustus was the emperor of the heathen ivorld. Never before had Satan's kingdom attained to so gigantic a height in point of power, wealth, and learning. This was consummated but a year before the birth of Christ. Augustus having subdued his last enemy, the world was hushed into universal peace — a befitting time for the ad- vent of the Prince of Peace. The church was, at that time, brought exceedingly low — her enemies raised to the greatest height of glory and power — the four winds of heaven were stayed, and God's anointed came. Thus did God magnify the power of his church, and display the omnipotency of his truth, by bringing them in near connection with the prince of the power of the air when he was at the point of his greatest glory, and then overruling the honor and might of the enemy, to the furtherance of his own eternal scheme of mercy. The great worldly aggrandizement of the lioman Empire was, in a remarkable degree, made to subserve the rising cause of Christianity. 6. Unroll the map of history where you please, and you will meet, portrayed before you, the wonder-working tiani stretched out to protect his people, and to overrule m3n and events to ihe praise of his name, and the fur- thsrance of his gracious plans. The emperor, Antoninus, a persecutor of tlie Christian church, is warring with a barbarous people in Germany. His army is perishing with heat and thirst, and the enemy near. Being informed of a Christian legion in his army, who were said to obtain what they desired by their prayers, the emperor commanded them to call on their God for assistance. The entire legion fell on their knees 24 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. and besought the Lord for rain. Suddenly the sky waa overcast — a terrific storm of thunder and lightning burst on their enemies. They were panic-struck and com- pletely routed, while a copious shower afforded the impe- rial troops ample refreshment. The heart of the empe- lOr is turned to favor the new sect. The Christian's God and the gospel is known and honored in the high places of imperial Rome. A similar purpose was achieved at a later period by the conversion of the emperor Philip. There is light in Rome, while yet the British Isle is covered with pagan darkness. Caractacus, with his fam- ily and his father Biennus, is carried prisoner of war to Rome. They embrace the Christian faith, and, after seven years, return to their native island, accompanied by three Christian preachers, one a Jew, who introduced the religion of Calvary, in the first century. The mis- sion, sent at a later period by Gregory the great, was a child of the same Providence. Walking, one day, in the market-place, he saw some fine youths, of florid complex- ion, bound with cords and exposed to sale as slaves. Deeply interested in their behalf, he inquired whence they came. Being informed they were natives of Britain, and j)agans, he gave his spirit no rest till a mission had been dispatched to that idolatrous island. When, in the reign of the emperor Philip, the church had rest, and her ministers had quiet and comfort at home, and the apostolic and missionary spirit was declining, yet a wide and effectual door was open to the heathen — Providence had a resource little thought of: Burbanan invaders carry away among tlieir captives several Chrisfian bishops, who, contrary to their expectations, are forced to become missionaries and preachers in foreign lands, and are the instrunients of the conversion of many, who had otherwise died in the region and shadow of death. In a little town on the gulf of Nicomedia lived an ob- scure inn-keeper. Constantius, a Roman embassadoi, returning from the court of Persia, lodges in the inn — be- comes enamored of Helena, the inn-keeper's daughter — ■ marries her, and the son of their union they call Conslan tine. Constantius becomes a distinguished Roman gen CONSTANTINE. 25 era), amJ is at length honored with the purple — divorces Helena, the wife of obscure parentage, and leaves hei son to humiliation and disgrace. But he was a chosen vessel. He signalized his valor in war, and in peace showed himself worthy to be the son of a Roman Empe- ror. His father dies, and the army constrain him to ac- ;ept the imperial crown. On his way to Rome he en- counters his formidable rivals. Rallying for battle, he sees (he says,) in the air a cross, on which was written, BY THIS CONQUER. He bficomes a Christian — makes a cross the standard of his army, »'nder which he fought and conquered. He becomes the patron of the Christian chui'ch, and the royal defender of the faith. By exalting to the im.perial dignity a decidedly Chris- tian prince, God makes bare his arm more conspicuously in the eyes of the nations. The church had been withering under ten cruel perse- cutions. Long, dark, and fearful had been her night The morning dawned ; she hailed Constantine as her de- liverer. " The four winds of the earth" were restrained that they should " not blow on the earth, nor on the sea. nor on any green tree." The church had rest. Nothing that imperial power and princely munificence could do was wanting, to abolish idolatry, to erect churches, and to extend the dominions of Christianity. The Goths and Germans, the Iberians and Armenians, the refined Per- sian and the rude Abyssinian, the dwellers in India and Ethioi)ia, received, under the gracious reign of Constan- tine, the embassadors of peace and pardon, and were gath- ered into the fold of the good Shepherd. The danger now lay on the side of prosperity — and on this rock the newly launched vessel struck. Neverthe- ess, her extension and unparalleled prosperity was an act of a wise and gracious Providence ;n the elevation of thi.« Christian prince. Nothing can be more intensely interesting than the phasis of Providence at this particular epoch. While tlie gigantic fabric of pagan Rome is falling to decay — while the huge image of her greatness and glory is crum- bling to ruins, another kingdom is rising in all the beautj and vigor of youtn, deriving strength from every opposi 3 26 HAND OF GOD IN UlSTOR\. tion, towering above every human difficulty, bidding defi- ance to ihe gorgeous array of Roman power and Roman paganism, and soon waving the triumphant banner of the cross over the ruins of imperial Rome. A mighty hand was at work, as surely and irresistibly undermining, and removing out of the way, the huge colossus of Rome, as he was, with the same onward and resistless step, rearing up that' kingdom which should never end. There seemed inwrought, in the mind of the Roman army and the Roman world, the impression that Constan- tine was a signal instrument, in the hands of God, to es- tablish the empire of Christianity throughout the earth — that "his commission was no less special than that of Moses, Joshua, or Gideon." A Tyrian merchant, in the 4th century, visits Abys- sinia with two lads. Meropius is attacked by the natives, and murdered. The boys, Frumentius and Edesius, are spared, presented to the king, and taken under his pat- ronage. In due time Frumentius is made prime minis- ter, and uses the advantages of his station to introduce Christianity. A church is established in that pagan land, of which he is afterwards constituted Bishop. And, what is a matter of no little interest, Christianity has lived in that country till the present day, a bulwark against the assaults of the Moslems, or the stratagems and cruelties of popery. How great a matter a little fire kindleth ! The Iberians, a pagan people bordering on the Black sea, take captive in war a Christian female of great piety. They soon learn to rctpect, then to revere her holy de- portment— and the more, on account of some remarkable answers to her prayers. Hence she was brought to the notice of the king, which led, eventually, to the conver sion of the kincr and queen, and to the introduction by them of Christian teachers to instruct their people. Thus an- other jiortion of the great desert was inclosed in the gar- den of the Lord, through the gracious interposition of an Almighty Providence. Again, the sister of the king of the Bulgarians, a Scla- vonic people, is, in the ninth century, carried captive to (Jonstantinople — hears and embraces the truth of the gos- pel ; reluming home, spares no pains to turn her brother TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED. tf llie king, from tne vanity of his idols ; but apparently to no effect, till a pestilence invades his dominions, when ho is persuaded to pray to the God of the Christians. The plague is removed — the king embraces Christianity, and scuds to Constantinople for missionaries to teach his people : — and another nation is added to the territory of Christianity. Thus did the "vine brought out of Egypt," wiiich had taken deep root on the hills of Judah, spread its branches eastward and westward, till its songs of praise were sung on the Ganges and the Chinese sea, and echoed back from *,he mountain-tops of the farthest known west. In all its leading features, in all its grand aggressive movements and rich acquisitions, we trace the mighty, overruling hand of Providence. Christian missions did but follow^ at a respectful distance, this magnificent agency of Heaven. Missions overcame their thousands, providen- tial interpositions their tens of thousands. He that sal upon the white horse, who is called Faithful and True, whose name is the word of God, rode forth victoriously to the conquest of the world. The Christian church is the favorite child of an ever-watchful Providence. In the further prosecution of the subject, the agency of Providence will be illustrated by means of a variety of historical events, connected, directly or indirectly, with the history of the church : such as the art of printing and paper-making. The invention of the mariner's compass. The discovery and first settlement "of America. The opening to Christian nations of India and the East by the Cape of Good Hope. The reformation of the sixteenth century. The expulsion of the Moors from Spain. Trans- fer of India to protestant hands. The destruction of the Spanish invincible armada. Philip II., and Holland, The gun-powder plot. The usurpation of Cromwell. The hand of God in the origin and progress of modern missions. -And the present condition of the world as pre- pared by Providence for the universal spread of the gospel. Such a view of history, it is believed, will magnify in the reader's mind the great moral enterprise which God, through his providence, is achieving in our world ; and conduct to the conclusion that Christianity has, from the beginning, hud an onward progress. 28 HAND OP GOD IN HISTOEV She has seen days of darkness, of persecution, of ap- parent retrogression, and sometimes has seemed almost extinct. She has had her nights, long and gloomy — her winters, protracted and dreary. But is the night less conducive lo man's comfort and prosperity, or the earth's fertility, than the day ? In the morning man goes foith, in the dew of his youth, fresh to his labor ; and the earth; smiling through pearl-drop tears, appears in fresher beauty and vigor than before. Or is the winter a blank — or a retrograde move in nature ? It is a vicissitude that has its uses in the economy of the great whole, no less salutary and promotive of the great good, than the freshness of spring, or the maturity of summer, or the full sheaf of autumn. The dark days of the church have been days of prep- aration. When eclipsed as to worldly prosperity — when crushed beneath the foot of despotism, or bleeding from the hand of persecution, she has been gathering strength and preparing for a new display of her beauties, and for a wider extension of her territories. A thousand years with the Lord is but as one day. Time is but a moment to eternity. The few generations of depression in Egypt, when the people of God were learning obedience, and gathering strength for their first exhibition as a nation and a church, was but a brief season to prepare for their future prosperity and glory. The night of a thousand years which preceded the morning of the glorious Refor- mation, and the more glorious events which were to follow, was no more than the necessary preparatory season for that onward movement of the church. A complete rev- olution was to transpire in the political affairs of the world — the ecclesiastical world was to be turned upside lown — and the social relations of man to be changed. A. thousand years was not a long time in which to effect such clianges — changes, every one of which looked for- ward to the extension and establishment of the church. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. It matters not in what part of the meal it is put, or that the quantity of leaven is small, or tliat it is lost sight of in tlie mass. It works and fer- DNPROPITIOUS APPEARANCES. 2& ments, and pervades the whole mass. Yet no marked ef feet is visible till the process is complete. Such is the process and the progress of Christianity. The apostles cast the leaven into the corrupt mass of human- ity. The fermentation began and has never ceased, and shal. never cease till the whole immense mass of this cor rupt world shall be leavened. It has been a steady gilent, irresistible process — always onward, though noi always visible, and sometimes, seemingly, retrograde. Il is pervading the whole lump, yet no marked effect shall appear till the process shall be comolele. Kingdoms rise and fall — moral earthquakes shake the earth — commo- tions, unaccountable and terrific, follow on the heels ol commotions — the leaven of Christianity seems lost in the fearful and general fermentation — the sun is darkened, the moon is covered in sackcloth, the stars fall from heaven — all human affairs are thrown into perturbation, and Christianity is, from time to time, scouted from the habitations of men ; yet all this is but the silent, invisible, onward, restless workings of the leaven cast over the world from the hill of Calvary. Every revolution, every commotion, war, oppression, persecution, famine, pesti- lence, the wrath of man, and the rage of the elements, are, under the mighty hand of God, but parts of the great fermenting process, which the world is undergoing from tiie leaven of Christianity. Seasons of un propitious appe-^rances are, oftentimes, seasons of the most decided advancement — especially are they seasons of preparrtion for so Tie onward and glorious progress. Above all these contv-nding elements of hu- man strife, sits serenely the Maje-^ty of Heaven, guiding them all to the lurlherance of his cause. We may very justly regard the oresent advanced con- dition of the world, in the science of government, in phi- losophy and general learnmg, in social, national and sci- entific improvements, in the arts, in morality and religion, as a state of things providentially induced, to prepare the world for that yet more advanced condition which we denominate the millennium. We believe the world must, morally, socially, and p«-li',ically, undergo very great changes before it will becorae a fit habitation for HAND OF GOD IN niSTORT that Christianity which shall bless the eaith in the days of her millennial glory. But these changes are not the work of a generation, but of centuries. And where is the century, or the year in any century, in which this work has not been going forward — and going forward as fast as, in the nature of things, and in consistency with the mode of the Divine working, could be ? The science of government is, necessarily, a science ol slow progress. An entire century scarcely affords time for a single experiment ; and this experiment may be a failure, or, at most, may develop but a little progress to- wards the right. Half a score of centuries is but a mod- erate period in which to gather up the fragments of good which may have resulted from a series of experiments of this kind, and to form them into one. Modern liberty, though yet scarcely advanced beyond the gristle, is the growth of more than a thousand years. Indeed, she lay in embryo nearly that period before she saw daylight. And so it is in the formation and growth of other great features which shall characterize the period of Christian- ity's consummation on earth. Human improvement is the growth of centuries. It was needful, too, that, first of all, the disease, to be removed by the healing waters of Bethesda, should be known, and its evil be fully developed — that sin should have time to mature and bring forth its bitter fruits, and ex- hibit its hatefulness and ruin — that Satan should be al- lowed first to show what he can make of this earth and its resources, before the rightful Proprietor shall come, and by his all-pervading providence reduce confusion to order, bring light out of darkness, and good out of evil. Are we not right, then, in the suggestion that Chiis- lianity has, from the beginning, had an onward progress ] When seemingly overwhelmed in the commotions of po* lilical revolutions — when seemingly crushed beneath the Eonderous foot of persecution, her real progress has not een arrested. These have been as the grinding of the corn, peparins i* for ihe action of the leaven — the break- ing to pieces, and the removing out of the way, the things that shall be removed, and ihe establishing of those things which shall abide forever. CHATTER II. Ar of Frlntiog — I*apcr-inakins — Mariner's Compass. Tlie Discovery ot America, m f recisely the right tinie : a new field for Christianity. First settlement. RomamsCu None but Puritan seed takes deep root here. Character of the rirst settlers. Geo- graphical position. Capabilities and resources of America. Language, Intelligence, IVilitical supremacy. Coal. Steam. A cloud. " Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt ; thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it^ and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filed the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.^' — Psalms Ixxx. 8 — 11. The next great event by which Providence most sig- nally lengthened the cords and strengthened the stakes of his spiritual Israel, was the Discovery of America. While this will be allowed to engross our attention in the present chapter, I must briefly notice a few prelim- inary steps by which Providence has wrought, and is still working, wonders in carrying on the work of human redemption. I refer to the invention of the art of print- ing, of paper-making, and the mai'iner^s compass, and to the rise of correct views of astroncmy. These, in the hands of God, have wrought marvels in the extension and establishment of the true religion. When, in the evolutions of time, the period had arrived that God would employ the agency of the press to extend and perpetuate his truth, the first crude idea of the pro- cess of printing is, divinely no doubt, suggested to a human mind. And how natural, yet purely providential it was. A man of Harlem, a town in Holland, four centuries ago, (1430,) named Laurentius or Lawrence Koster, is amusing himself in cutting some letters on the smooth bark of a tree. It occurs to him to transfer an impressioo 82 UANU OF iiOU IN HISTORY. of these letters on paper. He thus impressed two of three lines as a specimen for the amusement of his chil- dren. Here was the whole art. An apparently acci- dental circumstance gave him the needed hint — from which hi? mind was sent out on the adventurous wing.^) of invention — contriving a suitable ink — cutting whole pages of letters on blocks of wood, and transferring them ll.ence on paper. Other minds were now put on the same track, and soon the theoiy of printing was so far made a practical art, thnt copies of the Bible were multiplied with such facility that the t^ntire book was offered for sale, in Paris, for sixty crowns. The number and uniformity of the copies excited no small agitation and astonishment. The vender was thought a magician, and, but for his timely escape, would have been executed for witchcraft. There is not, perhaps, in the hands of Providence another so powerful an engine as the press for diffusing a knowledge of God and his law, and for carrying out the Divine purposes of mercy towards our world. Books are mighty things, whether for good or evil. And the art which multiplie-s and perpetuates books by tens of thou- sands daily, is an art of vast efficiency — capable of doing more to enlighten, reform, and bless the world, than any other. In this view, we cann'>t too devoutly admire the providential agency in the invention of the art of print- ing. But what is more especially to our present purpose is the fact, that the invention of an art of such impor- tance in extending the boundaries of truth and perpetua- ting its conquests, should be made at this identical lime, (at the period of the general revival of learning in Europe and throughout Christendom,) and that the precious grant should be made to Cliristiunity — and not only be early confided to Christian hands, no doubt pre-eminently foi the jiropagation of religion, but the same Providence has kej>t it, even to the present day, almost exclusively the companion and handmaid of Christianity. And if we contemplate the power of the press, not only in the pres- ent and the past, but in the yet more important part it is destined to act in the spread of gospel truth, we shaU THE PRESS : MARINER'S COMPASS. 33 admire anew the wonder-working hand ; God working all ihings after the counsel of his own will. The influence of the art of printing, upon the condition of the world, can scarcely be exaggerated or exhausted ; * its influence upon all arts and all science — upon every physical, intellectual and moral resource — every social and religious interest — upon the intelligence and freedom the refinement and happiness of mankind — upon all mind and all matter." A few years before the invention of the art of printing the same inventive Providence gave birth to the science of navigation. There was navigation before, but till the discovery of the 'polarity of the magnet and the applica- tion of its properties, navigation was a mere coas\ing affair. The discovery was as simple as providential : som.e curious persons were amusing themselves by making swim, in a basin of water, a loadstone suspended on a piece of cork. When left at liberty they observed it pointed to the north. The discovery of this simple fact soon threw a new aspect over the whole world. Oceans, hitherto unknown and pathless, became a highway for the nations. Nations hitherto isolated, were brought into neighborhood. The wide realms of the ocean were now subjected to the dominion of man. Without this discovery the mariner had been still feeling his way along his native shore, afraid to launch out beyond the length of his line ; America had probably remained unknown, the islands of the sea undiscovered ; and all the world has gained, and vastly more that it shall gain from inter- national communication, from commerce, from immensely increased facilities for advancing learning, civilization, freedom, the science of government and religion, would be wanting. Without the mariner's compass, the work of the missionary and the Bible would be confined within the narrow limits of a coasting voyoge or a land journey. When, therefore, the time approached that God would advance, by mightier strides than before, the work of civilization and Christianity, he discovered the nation.s one to another, through the agency of the mariner's compass, and put into the iiands of his people the thou- 84 HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. sand facilities which have followed in the wake of Ihw one providential discovery. But I proceed to the topic which is chiefly .o occupy the present chapter. The Hand of God as discernible in the discovery and first settlement of America. The time had arrived when God would give enlarge- ment to Zion. For this purpose he had reserved a large and noi>le continent — a land fitted, by its mighty livers and lofty mountains, its vast prairies and inexhaustible mineral prodlictions, to be a theatre for more extensive and grand developments of the scheme of redemption than had ever yet transpired. The old world had ceased to lie a fit arena on which the divine purposes connected with the church should be carried out. Despotism hud so choked the rising germ of liberty, that no fair hope remained that she should there ever come to any consid- erable maturity. Ecclesiastical domination had so mo- nopolized and trampled down religious rights and free- dom, that it seemed vain to expect that religion, pure and undefiled, should, on such a soil, flourish, spreading her branches in all her native beauty and grandeur, and bringing forth her golden fruits. So sickly has she already become, that she could not stand, except as propped up by the civil power ; and so impotent as too often to be the sport of every changing wind of politics. And the institutions o^ caste — the usurpations of privileged orders had so disorganized the natural order of society, so broken up social relations which God and nature approved, and introduced in their stead the most unnatural divisions in society, as to make the social institutions of Europe unsuited to that free and rapid progress of the truth which the divine purpose now contemplated. These had become thorns and briars to the rising growth of genuine piety. Religion can thrive and expand itseJf in all ils native luxuriance, only in the atmosphe'-e of political freedom and religious tolerance, and where social rights are not systematically invaded, and social intercourse trammebd by aristocratic pride. It is the nature of our religion to bind heart to heart, to make all one in Christ. Free, unbounded, disinterested benevolence is its genius THE OLD WORLD AND THE CHUECfl. 35 It is a kingdom above all the kingdoms of the earth, incorporating its subjects into a society of its own pecu- liar kind. They acknowledge one Lord, one faith, one baptism by the Holy Ghost. If social relations had become so deranged, or unnat- urally modified in the old world as no longer to afford a congenial soil to the growth of Christianity ; if the prevaii- ug customs, maxims, principles, and habits of thinking, had become such as to preclude the expectation that re- ligion would there flourish in all her loveliness and vigor ; and if Despotism, religious and civil, stood up in array against its onward march and speedy victory, we see reason why God should transplant his choice vine into a soil unoccupied by such noxious plants, and more favora- ble to its growth and security. Such a soil was found in America, unoccupied, and where " the vine brought out of Egypt" might take deep root, " that the hills might be covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof be like the goodly cedars ; that she should send out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river." Here, somewhat analogous to the re-commencement of religious institutions after the flood, the church was, as it were, re-established ; here, again, an opportunity af- forded to remove the " hay, wood and stubble," on which the former building had been reared, and to build anew on the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone. Contemplate, then, the discovery of America, as one of those leading acts of Providence for the propagation and establishment of the truth. vVhen God would enlarge the theatre on which to display the riches of his grace, he caused a spirit of bold adventure to move upon the face of the stagnant waters of Europe, which found lU) rest till it brought forth a new world. I am not here to dilate on the glory of this discovery, or the magnitude of many of its results. It had political and commercial oearings more magnificent than could then have been conceived, or than are at this late period understood by us. These, however, were no more than the incidental advantages of the main design of this event. America was now added to the known domains of the world, to 86 UAND OP GOD IN HISTOBT- make room for the church, and to become in its turn a fountain, from wiiich siiould go forth streams of salvation to the ends of the earth. This I conceive to be the design of ]*rovidence in this discovery. Tlie particulars which here demand our attention, are the time of the discovery ; the manner of the first settle men t of this country ; the character of the first colonists and the geographical position and capabilities of America. These all distinctly indicate the hand of God, and our future destinies in reference to the church. 1. The discovery of this country happened at the pre cise tijne when the exigencies of the church demanded a new and enlarged field for her better protection, and for the more glorious development of her excellencies. When America had become sufficiently known and prepared to receive her precious charge, the reformation had done its work, and yet the church was but partially emancipated from the bondage of papal corruption. The reformed church of England and of Europe was, at that period, as far advanced, perhaps, towards the primitive simplicity and purity of the gospel, as could reasonably be expected on the soil where the principles of the reformation were laboring to take root. That soil was already pre-occu- pied and overrun with a growth hostile to those princi- ples. Though manumitted from the dark cells and galling chains of Romanism, religion found herself but ill at ease in her new relations. She was still laced tight in the stays of forms and liturgies, and compelled to move stiffly about among mitred heads and princely dignita- ries— to wear the gewgaws of honor, or shine in the bau- bles of vanity. Though hailed once more as the daughter of liberty, she neither breathed freely, nor moved untram- meled, nor, unencumbered, stretched forth her hand to wield mightily the sword of the spirit, to overcome prin cipalities and powers, and to dispense her celestial gifts, till man shall be happy and the world free. It was at such a time that the " woman, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars," having long, and in various ways, been persecuted by the great red dragon, of ' seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on hi.^ FIRST SETTLEMENT OP AMERICA. 87 heads," had given to her the two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, that the}' should feed her there a thousand, two hundred and three score days. And here, free, strong, lofty as the eagle, (our national banner,) she jives, and breathes, and moves, stable as our everlasting hills, extensively diffused as our far-reaching r"vers, ami free as our mountain air. Once it were enough that a persecuted church should find refuse in the straightened valleys of Piedmont and Languedock ; now she must have the valleys of the Connecticut, the Hudson, the Ohio, the Mississippi, and all the lofty hills and the rich vales that stretch out, in their varied beauty and luxu riance, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Thus did God open an asylum for his oppressed people precisely at the time they needed it.* And thus, with a mighty hand, did he establish his church in this new world. 2. There were, too, many things connected with tJie first settlement of this country, which indicate the grand design of Providence in its discovery. Follow his foot- steps for a moment and you will see it. The leading design was, no doubt, a religious one — else why should the King of nations, who setteth up one and pulleth down another, have given preference to thoso arrangements which show religion and his church to have been the chief objects of his regard and agency. That it was so, a few facts will testify : It is known that the first discoverers of this continent were Roman Catholics. America was taken possession of and made subject to Catholic governments. Bearing in mind this fact, you will, with the greater pleasure, fol- low the wonder-working Hand which overturned and overturned till this once Roman Catholic countr} has been wrested, piece-meal, (as the wants of the reformed religion have required,) from the domination of Home and the ghostly tyranny of the Pope, and given into ihe hands of Protestants, and made the strong hold of the • " The Mahammedans," says M. Oelsiier, "would have discovered America even centuries berore Columbus, had not their Deet been wrecked in a temiiest, alter clears tne the straits of Q'bi altar.— /\>«ter, vol. II. p. 237. BS BAND OF GOD IN HISTORV. Joctrines of the reformation. Nearly the whole of North America has already been transterred. Noi is this all. It was not enough that it shou i become a Pioteslam country. It should gro\/ up into a nation under tlie still more benign influences of Protestantism reformed. New England was to be the nursery, and Puritanism the spirit that should pervade this new world. And what a singular train of providences brought abom so important, yet so unlikely an event. Nothing seemed more probable at one time, than that France would be the owner of New England — that these hills and valleys, now so healthful in moral vigor, would have languished under the crucifix and the mitred priest, and groaned beneath the heavy rod of the Roman pontiff'. And New England might have been as notorious as a fountain ol abominations and papal sorceries, as she now is as a radiating point of light, and intellectual and spiritual life But mark the hand of God here. • New England was early an object of desire with the French. As early as the year 1605, De Mont "explored and claimed for France, the rivers, the coasts and bays of New England." But the decree had gone out that the beast of Rome should never pollute this land of promise, and it could not be revoked. The hostile savages firsJ prevent their settlement. Yet they yield not their pur- pose. Thrice in the following year was the attempt renewed, and twice were they driven back by adverse winds, and the third time wrecked at sea. Again did Pourtrincourt attempt the same enterprise, but was, in hke manner, compelled to abandon the project. It wa? not so written. This was the land of promise wnicli God would give to the people of his own choice. Hither he would transplant the " vine" which he had brought out of Egypt. Here it should take root and send out itf b )ughs unto the sea, and its branches unto tne river.* At a still later period, a Frenc*" • ioament of forty ships of war, under the Duke D' An vine, was destined for the destruction oi New England. It sailed from Chebuclo, m Nova Scotia, for thia purpose. In the meantime, the NEW ENGLAND FOR THE PURITANS. JJH pious people, apprised of their danger, had appointed a day of fasting and prayer, to be observed in all the churches. While Mr. Prince was officiating in Old South Church, Boston, on this fast day, and praying most fervently that the dreaded calamity might be averted, a sudden gust of wind arose (the day, till then, had been perfectly clear,) so violently, as to cause the clattering of the windows. The reverend gentleman paused in his prayer, and looking around on the congregation with a countenance of hope, he again commenced, and with great devotional ardor, supplicated the Almighty to cause thai wind to frustrate the object of tHeir enemies. A tempest ensued, in which the greater part of the French flefet was wrecked. The duke and his principal general committed suicide — many died with disease, and thousands were drowned. A small remnant returned to France, without health, and spiritless, and the enterprise was abandoned forever. It is worthy of remark, how God made room for his people before he brought them here. He drove out the heathen before them. A pestilence raged just before the arrival of the Pilgrims, which swept off vast numbers of the Indians. And the newly arrived were preserved from absolute starvation by the very corn which the Indians had buried for their winter's provisions. And here we may note another providence : none but Puritan feet should tread this virgin soil, and occupy the portion God had choi; sn for his own heritage. Before the arrival of the Pilgrims, a grant had been given and a colony established in New England, called new Plymouth. But this did not prosper. A new and modified patent was then granted to Lord Lenox and the Marquis of Buckingham. But no permanent settlement was made. The hierarchy of England should not have the posses- sion. They to whom the Court of Heaven had granted It, had not yet come. It was reserved for the Puritans. Here should be nurtured, in the cradle of hardships, and perils from the savages, and from the wilderness, and suf- ferings manifold and grievous, a spirit which should nerve the moral muscles of the soul, and rear up a soldiery of 4 40 HAND OF GOB IN HISTORY. the cross made of sturdier stuff, and animated by a purer spirit than the world had before known. " Had New England/' says the historian of those times, "been colonized immediately on the discovery of the American continent, the old English institutions would have been planted under the powerful influence of the Roman Catholic religion. Had the settlement been made under Elizabeth, it would have been before the activity of the popular mind in religion had conducted to a cor- responding activity of mind in politics. The Pilgrims were Englishmen, protestants, exiles for religion, men disciplined by misfortune, cultivated by opportunities of exteniive observation, equal in rank as in rights, and bound by no code but that which was imposed by religion, or might be created by the public will." "America opened as a field of adventure just at the time when mind began to assume its independence and religion its vitality," This continent seemed signalized from the first as the asylum of jreedom. Nothing else would thrive here. Ecclesiastical domination and political despotism were often transplanted hither, and nourished by all the kindly influences of wealth and nobility ; they basked for a time in the sunshine of the court and the king, yet they were exotics, and never thrived. While it was yet the spring- time of Puritanism, its institutions taking root and send- ing up its thrifty germs, and giving promise of a sturdy growth, those strange vines already begun to look sear, and give no doubtful tokens of a stinted existence and a premature decay. Read the records of the first settle- ment of several of the colonies to this country — especially one in Massachusetts and another in Virginia, where strenuous attempts were made to introduce the peculiar institutions of the old world, and you will not fail to observe the singular fact that all such attempts were abor- tive. Providence had decreed this should be the land of toleration and freedom. The colonies Avhich were not founded on such principres, either failed of success, or did not prosper till leavened with the good leaven of Puritan- ism— clearly indicating that Providence designed this to be a theatre for the more perfect development of his CHARACTER OF THE FIRST COLONISTS. 41 grace to man. It was Religion that built up the first nation in this wilderness, and it is only our moral pre- eminence and prospects that distinguish us from other nations.* 3. The character of the first colonists. There is per- haps nothing in which the hand of God is so conspicuous towards America, as in the selection of the materials with which to rear the superstructure of religion and govern- ment in this new world. God had been preparing these materials nearly three centuries. Wickliff was the father of the Puritans ; and from him followed a succession of dauntless advocates for the emancipation of the human mind from the power of despotism. The mighty spirits that rose at the time of the reformation were but the pupils of their predecessors. The principles so boldly proclaimed by Luther, and so logically and judiciously sustained by Calvin, were the principles, matured and more fully developed, of Huss and Jerome — of many a revolving mind in England and on the continent. Puri- tanism is the reformation reformed. The principles which led to the settlement of New England, and which pervaded her colonies, and became the only principles on which Heaven would smile throughout this wide conti- nent, are but the principles of the reformation matured and advanced. Those extraordinary characters, who, for religion's sake, braved dangers incredible, endured sacrifices that seemed not endurable, and periled all things in these western wilds, were Heaven's chosen agents, to prepare a new and a wider field for the display of what Christianity can do to bless the world. Europe had been sifted, and her finest wheat taken to sow in this American soil. Her hills and dales had been again and again ransacked, to collect the choice few who should found a new state, and plant a new church. The Pilgrims were the best men, selected from the best portion of the best nation on the face of the earth. May we not, then, indulge the delightful hope that God has purposes of yet • The first colony in North America, save Mexico, was a Protestant colony, planted by Caspar de Coligni, as a city of Refuge for Protestants. It was destroyed expressly OS Protestant. Thus was North Ameri'-a baptized by .lesuit priests with Protestant blood ; yet despite all the machinations of Rome, God has confirmed the covenant anri made tl>is and the asylum and home of Protestantism. — Bancroft, vol. I.,pp. 61, 73 42 UAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. more moral grandeur to fulfill, in connection with thh country ? Indeed, this idea seems to have been coupled with the earliest conceptions in the mind of Columbus, concerning an American continent. That great navigator is said to have been a diligent and devout student of the prophe cies, and was actuated, in no small degree, in his adven tures westward, " by the hopes he cherished of extending here the kingdom of Christ." And in the mind of his royal patroness, (Isabella of Arragon,) the conversion of the heathen to Christianity, was an object " paramount to all the rest."* It was a signal providence that prepared such mate- rials in the heart of England and in the bosom of the English church, preserved them and proved them in the furnace of affliction, while in their own land, and during their exile in Holland, and in their journeyings on the deep, and, finally, collected them on the iron bound coasts of New England, and formed them into one livino- tem- ple, fitly joined together, furnished and beautified as a model building for generations yet to come. The longer the world stands, the more profoundly will be revered the character of our Pilgrim fathers, and the more religiously shall we admire the Divine agency which so controlled events, that one of the first settlements in the new world should be composed of such characters, and should so soon gain a pre-eminence over all the other colonies, and so soon, too, and in all after time, exercise a controlling influence on the destinies of the whole country and of the world. For the institutions of this country, both civil and religious, were cast in the mould of Puritanism. Had any other of the colonief been allowed to stand in this relation to the whole, hov, different would have been the cast of American libertj and religion ! As it was, men of the most unbending integrity and untiring industry ; men humble and unob- trusive', yet courageous and immovable at the post of duty ; yielding when wrong, yet inflexible when right ; plain and frugal, yet intelligent and liberal; men who INFLUENCE OP THE PURITAR'S 48 had been nurtured in the school of persecution, and suf- fered the loss of all things, that they might breathe the uncontaminated air of freedom ; men who hated oppres- sion, abhorred ignorance and vice — who were, in theiif very souls, republicans and Christians — these were the TieD, chosen out by sovereign Wisdom, to control the destinies of the new world. And they have done it. The enterprise and intelligence, the undying love oi hberty, the religious spirit — I may say, the population oi our puritan colonies, have spread themselves over the whole continent. And what is worthy of special remark, these only prosper in our country. You look in vain over the wide expanse of our territory to find thrift and prosperity, temporal or spiritual, except under the auspices of a Puritan influence. Who people our wide western domains, and plant there the institutions of learn- ing and religion ? Who found our colleges and semina- ries, publish our books, teach our youth, sustain our benevolent enterprises, and go to pagan lands to make wretchedness smile, and ignorance speak wisdom ? By whose skill and industry rolls the railroad car over the length and breadth of our land, and whiten the ocean with canvas ? WIlo, if not the sons of the Pilgrims, nerved with the spirit of the Pilgrims ? Tell me in what propor- tion, in any section of our country, the people are leavened with the leaven imported in the May-flower, and I can tell you in what proportion they are an enterprising, prosperous, moral and religious people. Time shall expire, before the immeasurable influences of Puritanism on the destinies of our country and the world shall cease to act. Massachusetts and Mexico furnish a forcible illustra- tion of our idea. Mexico was colonized just one hundred years before Massachusetts. Her first settlers were the noblest spirits of Spain in her Augustan age ; the epoch of Cervantes, Cortes, Pizaro, Columbus, Gonzalvo de Cordova, Cardinal Ximenes, and the great and good Isa- bella. Massachusetts was settled by the ])oor Pilgrims of Plymouth, who carried with them nothing but their own hardy virtues and indomitable energy. Mexico, with a rich soil, and adapted to the production of every thing 44 HAND OF GOD FN HISTORY, wiiich gro^vs out of the earth, and possessing every nieta) used by man — Massachusetts, with a sterile soil and un- congenial climate, and no single article of transportation but ice and rock. How have these blessings, profusely ofiven by Providence, been improved on the one haml, and obstacles overcome on the other ? What is now the respective condition of the two countries ? In produc- tive industry, wide-spread diffusion of knowledge, public institutions of every kind, general happiness and continu- ally increasing prosperity ; in letters, arts, morals, re- hgion, — in every thing which makes a people great, there is not in the world, and there never was in the world, such a commonwealth as Massachusetts. And Mexico — what is she ?* But who ordered all the circumstances which brought about an event so unexpected, yet so influential as such a settlement of America ? And for what purpose — if not that he might here plant the glory of Lebanon and the excellency of Carmel and Sharon ? Here he " prepared room before it, and caused it to take deep root." 4. Again, we discover the wonder-working hand of Providence in the geographical position and resources of our country, as indicating her future destinies in refer- ence to the church and the world. There is much worthy of notice in our geographical position. This gives us peculiar advantages. We are separated, by the expanse of a wide ocean, from every principal nation on the face of the earth. We may live at peace with all. The old world may be convulsed — Europe and Asia be deluged in blood, yet not a clarion of war be heard west of the Atlantic, or a river tinged in all our wide domains. Here we may live safe from all those upheavings of revolution, which have, and which will continue to overturn and overturn, till the great fountains of error and despotism be broken up, and free institutions be planted on their ruins. Here we may direct all our energies, mental, physical, or moral, to the consummating of those stupendous plans of Providence in reference to this country. Far removed from the * See Wadd7 Thompson's Mexico. rSEOGRAPHICAL I'OSITION AND RESOURCES. 46 la..Js where errors in religion and politics had become stereotyped in habit, and interwoven in the very warp and woof of social relations, we lack no opportunity in which to try the great experiment of Liberty. Such are our local advantages — such our institutions, that we may. unlike the people of any other nation, advance learning, establish and propagate religion, and subserve the genera' interests of the church. Religion exists here untram meled, free as the air we breathe, or the water we drink. This makes our nation more suitable than any other tu become a fountain from which shall go out streams of salvation to the ends of the earth. But a yet more remarkable feature is to be found in ♦.he capabilities of our country, to become a mighty instru- ment in the hands of God for the universal spread of Chris iianity. I have referred to our facilities in free institutions, and freedom from the trammels of ecclesiastical organizations The American church, if she will go forth in the vigoi and simplicity of herself, would be like a young man pre pared to run a race. She is admirably constituted to be Heaven's almoner to the nations. Pm*e Christianity is lepublican. The American soil is peculiarly adapted to produce that enterprise, freedom and simplicity, suited to extend religion and its thousand blessings to the ends ol the earth. No church in the world is so constituted that it may put forth so great a moral power. We have only to employ the rare facilities of our position, to make 'as the most efficient instrument in the conversion of the world. But I referred more especially to the resources here prepared by Providence, for the accomplishment of the work in question — resources in territory, in soil, in popu- iation prospectively ; in wealth and language ; in learning and enterprise ; and in the power of steam. The present territory of the United States is equal to that of all Europe, exclusive of Russia. It is more than six times larger than Great Britain and France together ; and as large as China and Hindoostan united. And if we admit that our soil is not surpassed in fer tility by any other, or our climate in salubrity, there 40 BAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. seems nothing lo hinder America becoming as populous as any other portion of the world. Suppose it to reach ' the present ratio of population in Europe — 110 to the square mile — and there would teem on our vast territo- ries a population of 220 millions. Or should the density equal that of China — 150 to the square mile — our popula- tion would be 300 millions. That the soil of the United States is capable of supporting this number there can be no doubt. A European writer of credit has asserted that the " resources of the American continent, if fully developed, would afford sustenance to 3^600 millions of inhabitants, or four times the present population of the globe" — and that the actual population will not fall short of 2,000 millions — givinj7 to the United States 270 millions. Nor is this merely what may be. The present rapid mcrease of our population is actually swelling our num bers into these enormous dimensions. " And what is more surprising/' says the writer just quoted, "there is every probability that this prodigious population will be :n existence within three or four centuries. The imagina- tion is lost in contemplating a state of things which will make so great and rapid a change in the condition of the world. We almost fancy it a dream ; yet the result is based on principles quite as certain as those which govern men in their ordinary pursuits."* Our population is found to double every 23 years — say. tor safety's sake, 25 years — and we have to look forward only 100 years, and our present ratio of increase gives us 288 millions ; or 125 years, and we have on our soil 576 millions i or 150 years, and we number more than the present population of the globe. Indeed, to take the result of 100 years (288 millions) as the ultimatum ol increase to which the resources of our soil will allow our population to advance, and what a host have we here foi the moral conquest of the world. And suppose this enor- mous population to be what, under the peculiar smiles oi Heaven, they ought to be ; and what, in the singula) dcahngs of God, they were designed to be ; and what, under the quickening and transforming power of the POWER OF THE PRESS. 47 Holy Ghost, Ihey would be, and how grand their pros- pective influence on the regeneration of the world ! rortray in your mind a nation of 288 millions, imbued with the principles of Puritan integrity, enterprise, deci sion, self-denial, and benevolence ; her civil institutions so modeled as to leave Religion free as our mountain air to invigorate the plants of virtue here, or to waft its bless ings over the arid sands of Africa, or the snow- top moun- tains of Tartary ; her social relations unshackled by the iron chains of custom and caste ; her religion no longer laced in the stays of needless rites, liturgies, prelacy, or state interference ; the public mind enlightened by an efficient system of common education ; or you may, if you please, contemplate our nation as peculiarly fitted to bring to bear on the nations the power of the 'press, or to facilitate the world's deliverance by the unlimited scope of our navigation — from whatever point you look, you will find, in this land of the Pilgrims, resources laid up in store, by which Providence may, in his own set time, revolutionize the world. What means this curtailing of distances — this facility of intercourse between the remotest points of our own country and of the world, if He that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, be not about to use it for the furtherance of the cause which is as the apple of his eye ? If the introduction of the Greek classics intc Europe, drew aside the veil of the dark ages, and the invention of paper-making and of printing perpetuated the advantages of the Reformation, may we not expect that the application of the power of steam is destined to subserve a scarcely less important end, in the conversion of the world ? To appreciate the force of this, we need to contemplate \i\ the same view, three collateral facts : the extensive orevalence of the English language, and its treasures of religious knowledge ; the present supremacy, on the political arena, of the nations who speak this language, and the singular distribution of these immense deposits of coal, which are to supply the power to print and distri- bute books, and to convey them, by whom " knowledge shall increase," over the broad world. 48 THE HAND i.V GOO IN HISTORV Ours is the language of the arts and sciences, of trade and commerce, of civihzation and religious liberty It is the language of Protestantism — I had almost said, of piety. It is a store-house of the varied knowledge which brings a nation within the pale of civilization and Chris tianity. As a vehicle of our institutions and principles oJ civil and religious liberty, it is " belting the earth," push- ing east and west, and extending over the five great geo- graphical divisions of the world, giving no doubtful pre- sage that, with its extraordinary resources for ameliorating the condition of man, it will soon become universal. Already it is the language of the Bible. More copies of the sacred Scriptures have been published in the English language, than in all other tongues combined. And the annual issues in this language, at the present time, be- yond all doubt, far surpass those of all the world be- sides. So prevalent is this language already become. as to betoken that it may soon become the language ot international communication for the world.* This fact, connected with the next, that the tiuo natioiis speaking this language have, within a few years past, gained the most extraordinary ascendancy, holding in their hands nearly all the maritime commerce and naval power of the world, giving tone to national opinion and feeling, and sitting as arbiters among the nations, dictating terms of peace and war, and extending their empire over the nations of the East, holds out a glorious presage of the part America is destined to act in the subjugation of the would to Christ. I say America, believing that " Westward the star of empire takes its way , The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama of the day Time's noblest offspring is the last." If it be a fact (and history proves it,) that wealth, • The New York Oliserver recently acknowledged the receipt of the foUowia| tot HRn papers published in English : Three published at Hong Kong and Canton, China. Ten or twelve in Ilindoostan and Ihe British East Indies. Four in Rome, (Italy.) and about the Mediterranean. Four in Liberia and South Africa. Twelve or thirteen in Ajstralia and the Sandwich Island!. Four in Oregon, California and Northern Mexico. Six or seven in Southern McxIimi- POWER OF STEAM. 40 power, science, literatui-e, all follow in the train of num bers, general intelligence and freedom, we may expect that America will ere long become the metropolis of civilization, and the grand depository of the vast re- sources which Providence has prepared for the salvation of the world. The same causes which transferred the " sceptre of civilization" and the crown of knowledge fiom the banks of the Nile and the Euphrates, must, al no distant day, bear them onward to the valley of the Mississippi. But we must not overlook our third fact : the singular distribution of coal deposits. Coal, like the English language, like freedom, general intelligence, or piety, is protestant. In vain do you search the world over to find any considerable deposit of ' this agent, except where the English language is spoken, or where the protestant religion is professed. Hence the vower of steam — as the power of the press and of com- mon education, three mighty transformers of nations — has been given to the people of God for the noblest of purposes. " Steam," says the London Quarterly, " is the acknowl- edged new element of advancement by which this age is distinguished from all which have preceded it. By its magic power, distance is set at nought ; and the produc- tions of the antipodes are brought rapidly together. Coal must, therefore, henceforth be the motor and metor of all commercial nations. Without it no modern people can become great, either in manufactures or the naval art." As an illustration of this, if the digression may be allowed the mighty transformations that are this day taking place in the countries about the Mediterranean, especially among the Turks, where lives the presiding genius of Moslemism might be adduced. The paddlo wheels of European mtei'ligence and enterprJse, are there daily breaking up tne stagnaut waters of oriental supeisti- tion, ignorance and despotism. Not a steamer plows the waters from the pillars of Hercules to the sea of Japan, that goes not as a herald of civilization and Christianity to those benighted nations. And another fact . the English Steam Navigation 0 THE HAND OF GOD TN HISTORY. Company is furrowing the broad Pacific amidst its thou- sand Islands, and along the western main of America And, what is yet more in point, extensive beds of coal have been found on the western coasts of both North and South America, and also on the Atlantic side of the Isth- mus of Panama ; deposits stored away by the hand of the Great Disposer, ready, at the time of need, to generate j power that shall, at Heaven's bidding, convert the whole Pacific into one great highway for the nations to pass over.* Yet, while indulging these pleasant anticipations, I have not lost sight of the clouds that at times darken our atmosphere. When I speak of the tremendous power of the press for good, I am aware of its abuse. When I speak of American enterprise and zeal, I am not unraind-' ful that we can scarcely, for any length of time, prosecute any good cause without making it a hobby, and riding it so far and so fast, as to cripple it for life, if not to kill it. We are not always satisfied in pursuing plans of benevo- lence and reform, till Ave have driven ourselves, and all about us, into a swamp from which we can neither extri- cate ourselves nor be extricated. And when I speak of the stern principles which originated the first settlement of this country, and of the admirable institutions of our forefathers, and of our high pretensions to freedom, intel- ligence and piety, I bear in mind that we have proved ourselves unworthy our noble inheritance, and recreant to our good professions. But I would look beyond these clouds, which ever an*^ anon intercept our vision, to those better things reserved for the second Israel. Trials and calamities may even cover our land with gloom ; and so gross, indeed, have been our national sins, and so heaven- provoking our ingratitude, and our perversion of heaven's richest gifts, that we may experience the divine rebuke, sore as death, yet the counsels of God shall not come to nought. He shall not, in vain, prepare such munitions of war, and provide such vast * The late discovery of immense beds of coal on Vancouver's Island deservee a mart special notice. In the new contemplated route to the Indies, across the American continent and the Pacific, we are bei^iuning to see the reas(ms why these vaat depusitf were placed there, and why they are brought to light just at this time. OUR RESPONSIBILITIES AND UUTTES. 51 resources for his work, and then not make them effectual in the subjugation of the world to his beloved Son. In the review of this subject, the mind naturally recurs to the great Disposer of events — what a display here of his sovereignty — of his power, wisdom and goodness — how incomprehensible his plans — how inflexible his de- termination to sustain ^nd carry forward his cause — hov. infinitely foolish is all resistance. Such reflections are befitting as we read the providential history of our coun- try. Yet we ought here especially to bear in mind, 1. To what a rich inheritance we are born. One of Heaven's richest blessings, is a religious parentage. This is a patrimony more precious than fine gold. Our na- tional parentage was eminently religious. The differ- ence between a people starting into existence from bar- barism and ignorance, or amidst all the propitious circumstances which smiled on the first settlement of this country, is vast beyond calculation. We were born to a rich inheritance — -to an undying love of liberty — to toleration — to a high state of intelligence — to the sternest principles of morality — to the unv/avering practice of virtue. We ought, therefore, to be the most religious, free, hcippy, bevevolent people on the face of the earth. 2 Our responsibilities and duties correspond luith ow -privileges. God expects much of us. He has made us a full fountain, that we may send forth copious streams to fertilize the desert around. He has embodied in our nation a moral power, and put into our hands a ma- chinery, which, if kept in operation, will not fail to make ils power felt to the ends of the earth, till all nations shall b^ subjugated to Prince Immanuel. 3. America is the land of magnificent experiments — the If nd in which should be developed new principles and fc/rms of government — a new social condition, and an advanced condition of the church — popular government, equal rights and a free church. Columbus added a new province to the world, new territory for civilization and religion to expand upon — and new domains on which should flourish a freer government and purer church than was practicable in the old world. Here God is solving certain great problems: can the church support herself? 5 53>' HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Oan a people govern themselves ? Can society exist without caste ? In the great republic of North America, these experiments, which, in the old world, have resulted m so indifferent success, have been in successful progress three quarters of a century, and we hazard little, it is believed, in predicting their complete success. In no country have the ends for which governments are con- stituted, been butter realized, or the designs of religion been more nobly carried out, yet the power of governing lies in the hands of the people, and the support and extension of religion is dependent on free contributions. 4. The tremendous guilt of our dereliction in duty. After all that God has done to make us such a nation — such a one as he has need of to win over the nations to himself, if we hold ourselves aloof from his great plans of mercy towards our world, and refuse the honor he would confer upon us, in making us the instruments of his will, we must expect he will withdraw from us the light of his countenance, and choose others more worthy of his favor. How ought we, then, to fear lest we displease God by our apathy, and be left to drink the cup of his indignation for our manifold sins. 5. The immense immigration to our country at the present time, is filling a page in the providential history of America, not to be overlooked. Had such immigra- tions taken place at any former period of our history, they would have ruined us. Every receding wave of the At- lantic, returns freighted with a new cargo of foreign pop- ulation. This heterogeneous mass now amounts to near half a million annually. At no former period could our young and forming institutions have sustained the shock of so huge a mass. What would have crushed the sap- ling, may not harm the sturdy oak. Perhaps we cannot meet unharmed the shock now : certainly not, unless our mstitutions are founded deep and firm in the basis of everlasting truth, and stand as a rock amidst the rolling waves. We do, however, indulge the hope that such is now the maturity and stability of our civil and religious institutions, that we may, with safety to ourselves, and great benefit to the surplus population of the old world. open wide our arms and receive them to ir bosom IMMIGRATION TO OUR COUNTRY. 53 ind now thai we are prepared to receive them, oppres- sion, famine, pestilence and revolution, conjoin to eject mimense masses from Europe to seek an asylum in this new world. We cannot here too profoundly admire the wisdom of that Providencef which has hitherto delayed the full tide of immigration till we were able to bear it. What fear- ful responsibilities has God laid upon us ! What wisdom and virtue is needed in our national counsels ; what faith, and holiness, and prayer, in the church ! Millions of the papal world are, like an overwhelming tide, rolling in upon us, to be enlightened, elevated, Christianized, and taught the privileges and prerogatives of freemen. Hi HAND OF GOD IN HI8TOEY. ARABS— PYR A MTDS. CHAPTER III rns REPonMATioN. — General remarks— state of Europe and the world. The Cru sadcs — their cause and effect. Revival of Greek literature in Europe. The Ara^B Daring spirit of inquiry. Bold spirit of adventure. Columbus. The Cahota Charles V. Henry VIII. Francis I. Leo X. Rise of liberty. Feudalism. Uistri bution of political power. " All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as-nothiiur ; and he doeth according to his mil in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or my unto him, What doest thou?'''' — Daniel iv. 35. REFORMATION OF THE 8IXTKKNTH CENTURY. 55 IIow have the mighty wheels of Providence rolled on crushing beneath them all that opposeth, and bearing aloft, far above the stormy atmosphere of earth, the pic- cious interests of Zion ! How have the inhabitants of tlte '.arth, the great, the noble, the wise, been rejnited uo nothing, while the sovereign Lord has done according h. lis will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitam :■ f the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What doest thou ? The next event selected by which to illustrate our gen- eral subject, is the Reformation of the sixteenth century This is another of those great instrumentalities, cradled in the fifteenth century, which Providence employed, on the breaking away of the darkness of the dark aaes, for the honor and enlargement of his chnrch. We should view this extraordinary event from three points : Its causes and preliminary steps : The great transaction itself: Some of its areneral results. No attempt will be made to furnish a histor}' of the lleformation, or to gauge the vast dimensions of its influ- ence on the world. I present it only as a magnificent scheme of Providence for the advancement of his church. 1. Causes and 'preliminary steps. That we may have some just idea of the origin and real character of the Re- formation, we shall needs take a brief survey of the civil, moral and religious condition of Europe and of the world, previous to this notable event. You cannot, without astonishment, read the history ol those times. It would seem as if man had then yielded up the native dignity of manhood, and consented to pros- titute the nobility of immortal mind tt» the meanest pur- poses of ignorance, superstition, and crime. The history oi the dark ages may be written in a word — it was an INTELLECTUAL THRALDOM. The lamp of intelligence had been extinguished amidst the floods of barbarism, which swept, wave after wave, over the Romish church and empire. Hence that general corruption of religion which disgraced the church, and made the church disgrace tlve world — whence the vile brood of superstitions which over- 56 nAND OF GOD IN BISTORT. ran and spoiled the fair heritage of God, and the disgust Ing combinations of vice and crime which invaded the very temple of the church, not sparing the altar. Religion finds no rest in the bosom of ignorance Cradle her there, and she pines and dies ; or, rather, in- stead of being the bird of paradise, fledged with angels' wings, and borne aloft with the eagle's strength, and plumed with a seraph's beauty, she becomes the loathsome reptile of superstition, without form or comeliness, with- out soul or spirit. A night of a thousand years had brooded over the earth. It was long and tempestuous, as if the light of moral day were extinguished forever, and the king of darkness had begun his final reign. Only here and there, over the wide expanse, glimmered the light of science, and the lamp of religion burnt but dimly amidst the gen- eral desolation. Despotism, religious and civil, crushed the energies of the immortal mind, and iniquity, like a flood deep and broad, submerged all Europe. Nearly all the learning that did exist, was confined to the clergy ; and yet they were so profoundly ignorant as to afford a subject of universal reproach and ridicule. In a council held in 992, it was asserted there was scarcely a person in Rome itself who knew the first elements of letters. In Spain, not one priest in a thousand could address a com- mon letter of salutation to a friend. In England, not a priest south of the Thames understood the common prayers, or could translate a sentence of Latin into his mother tongue. Learning was almost extinct. Its flick- ering lamp scarcely emitted a ray of light. And, as might be expected, this long and dreary night of ignorance generated a loathsome brood of supersti- tions. Controversies were settled by ordeal. The ac- cused person was made to prove his innocence by hold- ing, with impunity, red-hot iron, or plunging the arm into boiling fluids, or walking, unharmed, on burning coals, or on red-hot plowshares. Nothing can surpass the wild fa- naticims of that period. To such a height did the l^renzy for a crusade to the Holy Land rise, that in one instance, (121 1,) an army of ninety thousand, mostly children, and commanded by a child, set out from Ger- THE DARK AGES. S9 many for the purpose of recovering the Holy Land from Infidels. Again we meet with the " Brethren of the white caps," dealing out vengeance and blood, in honor of the peaceful Lady of Loretto. Next arises a Jehu, who thinks he can in no way serve God so acceptably as by leading an immense rabble on a crusade against the clergy, monasteries, and the Jews, plundering, massacre- ing, butchering wherever they went ; and all this, ol course, for religion's sake. And as yet more character- istic of those times, and of the misguided zeal of unen- lightened piety, rose the Flagellants. This religious con- tagion, not, as usual, confined to the populace, spread among every rank, age, and sex. Immense crowds marched, two by two, in procession along the streets and pubUc roads, mingling groans and dolorous hymns with the sounds of leathern whips, which they applied without mercy to their own naked backs. The Bianchi wan- dered from city to city, and from province to province, bearing before them a huge crucifix, and with their faces covered and bent towards the ground, crying, ^'miseri cordia," " misericordia ;" and what is not to be over- looked in these phrenzied religionists as identifying them with modern fanatics, a prominent article in then* creed was, that all who did not join their craft and act as ab- surdly as themselves, were branded as heretics and en- emies. The legendary tales of those days are too absurd to re- peat, and, to save humanity a blush, we fain hope they did not gain any very general credence, even in those degenerate times. They show how faint the light of in- tellect may shine, and how groveling man may become. I mention but one more instance, which more strikingly illustrates the extreme debasement into which the human mind had fallen, and the hopeless corruption of the church. I allude to indulgences. The doctrine of pen- ance had long been taught in the church. Salvation was of works. But it did not sufficiently subserve the mterests of a mercenary priesthood, that the poor delin- quent should go through five, ten, or twenty years of penance, or submit to some barbarous austerity. An ex- fiS HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. pedient was devised, more agreeable to the penitent, more profitable to the priest. It was at length discovered that the sacrifice of Christ did much more than to reconcile God to man. It accu- mulated an inexhaustible treasury of merit in the church, left at the disposal of the Pope ! and that this accumula- tion is increased by the supererogatory merits of the saints, the reward of works over and above the obliga- tion* of duty. It now only remained to label every sin with its price, and to add purgatory to the dominions of the rope. Then the proclamation : — perjury, robbery, murder, in- cest, any thing you please ! if you will pay the price. Mendicants, friars, priests, bishops, now traverse, the country, proclaiming an eternal amnesty with heaven, provided the Pope's coffers be filled, and his hirelings be well paid. Money now became the key which alone could open heaven and none could shut, or shut hell and none could open. The most scandalous sins which, ac- cording to the orthodoxy of more ancient Romanism, would have cost years of penance, might now be com- mitted for a few shillings. This was an improvement ol the thirteenth century ! The influence of this system on public morals cannot be mistaken. Virtue was scouted from the earth — at least she sought a hiding place in the caves and dens ol obscurity. And no marvel that tb' clergy were inde- cently idle, haughty, avaricious, and dissolute ; and the common people sunk in turpitude still lower. Churches were filled with relics, the pulpit occupied by worthless priests, and the world, to all appearance, abandoned to the empire of sin. Nor was the civil condition of the world more prom- ising. Despotism had bound all nations fast in iron chains, and there was none to deliver. The Papacy in the west, and Moslemism in the east, had hushed to sleep the last throbbings of liberty. The- Pope set his iron heel on the necks of kings, and made emperors hold his stirrup wliile he mounted his horse. The dark curtain of des- potism was drawn around the world ; yet, during the long and dismal night, ever and anon a gleam of light THE CRUSADES. 59 breaks above the horizon — a morning star amidst the sa- ble drapery of the East. Expectant piety hopes the day is breaking ; and knowledge, long benighted, and freedom, sorely oppressed, mspire the hope of speedy relief. But in a moment, all is overcast. A cloud, darker than be- fore, gathers about the eastern sky. Tlie first considerable event that moved these stagnant waters of ignorance and sin. was the quixotic expeditions of European nations to the East, called the Crusades. To the dormant mind of Europe, these were as if a burn- mg mountain were cast into the sea. They produced some light, more smoke, and much convulsion. They broke the spell of slavery, which had for more than six centuries manacled the human mind. Here was struck the death blow to mental despotism — here the work of emancipation begun, though in its details, strength and beauty, it was not completed for some centuries. Now men begun again to launch forth on the untried ocean of thought ; and, unskilled as they were, and unfurnished with chart, rudder, and compass, no wonder some foun- dered. But we must look upon this great drama a little more particularly. Deluded by the idea that the end of the world was near, and burning with enthusiasm to deliver from the profane tread of infidels the land where the Prince of Life lived, taught, suffered, and died, and where still was the Holy Sepulchre ; and, indignant at the recital of the oppressions and cruelties inflicted on Christian pilgrims, all Europe was roused to raise the banners of the cross, and march to the rescue of the holy hill of Zion, and in vindication of the Holy Virgin. All sorts of motives, am- bition, avarice, love of adventure ; the promise of exemp- tion from debts, taxes, and punishment for crimes ; reli- gious zeal and bigotry, and the confident hope of heaven, stirred up the people of all ranks, ages, and sexes, to embark their lives and fortunes in these holy expeditions. Princes hoped to enlarge the boundaries of their empire, auf Turin, called the first Protestant Reformer, bore a noble testimony to the truth. Peter of Bruges, Henry of Lau- sanne, and Arnold of Brescia, raised their voices amidst che general corruption, and in various ways and with va- rious success pleaded for reform.* So did also the learned and fearless Bishop of Lincoln, Greathead, in the thirteenth century, and the excellent Thomas Bradwardine, Arch- oishop of Canterbury, and the noble Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh, whose light from time to time made visible the surrounding darkness. Nor may we pass unnoticed a noble band of confessors and witnesses for the truth, among whom we find the indefatigable Peter Pruys, Henry the Italian, Marsilius of Padua, John of Garduno, who was condemned by the Pope, 1330, and the learned, dauntless and persecuted Barengarius, who, after having withstood the storm of papal rage to a good old age, closed his testimony in 1088. These were some of the lights which shone amidst the darkness of the middle ages, and by which an ever watchful Providence preserved his truth from the general ruin.f These, however, were but the casual outbreakings ol pent up fires that should soon burst out and burn with an uncjuenchable flame. These were the lesser lights — the precursors of the approaching morning. At length the morning star arose. Wicklif appeared ; the arm of Providence, to pave the way for a glorious onward march of the work of redemption ; guilty of daring to think out of the beaten track of the dark ages ; guilty of question- ing the arrogant claims of a haughty, avaricious, corrupt priesthood, and guilty of publishing to the world the living oracles of God, and teaching the people their right and auty to read them. By his writings and lectures in the University of Oxford ; by his public instructions as pastor at Lutterworth, and his translation of the Scrip- tures for the first time into English, he laid an immovable * Tlie fiery zol of Arnold knew no bniinds till he had carried the war of reform into Bnme itsell', and kindled a fire in the very seat of St Peter, but which in its turn kin- iled a fire about him, in which he perished, and his party (the Arnoldists,) was mip- pressei'^fixls. I'anlicinns, Catkari. Purilatts, WiUUimses, Petrobrusiuns, Heimciant, A* lol lists. Paierines in Italy. 74 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. foundation for the reform of the church. The leaven so ftfTectually wrought in the University, as to merit the charge of heresy from Archbishop Arundel : " Oxford " says he, " is a vine that bringeth forth wild and sour grapes, which being eaten by the fathers, the children's teeth are set on edge ; so that the whole province of Canterbury is tainted with a novel and damnable heresy :" an honora- ble testimony to the fidelity and influence of Wicklif He had many zealous friends among the nobility, anc even in the royal family ; which no doubt served as a shield to ward off the fiery darts of papal vengeance, and left our reformer to die a quiet death in the retirement of Lutterworth. The impression produced by Wicklif's character and labors, was tremendous on all ranks and ages. It was as the letting out of many waters. Mountains could not hedge it in, seas could not limit it. No sooner was this new light extinguished by popish virulence in England than it begun to burn with redoubled splendor in Bohemia on the continent. Europe caught the light, and the cloud that had so long hung over Christendom began to scatter. And here again mark the finger of Providence : Queen Anne, the wife of Richard II., of England, a native of Buhemia, having herself embraced the doctrines ol Wicklif, became, through her attendants, the instrument of circulating the books of the reformer in Bohemia. Who can doubt " whether she did not come to the king- dom for such a time as this." God called her to the Jirone of England, that, having learned the truth there, she might introduce it, with a royal sanction, in ner own native land Huss and Jerome of Prague, by th.s means caught the fire of the English reformer, raised the ban- neis of reformation, and ceased not, till a glorious mar- tyrdom put out their lamp, to devote their great learning and their immense influence in defence of abused truth. The execution of Huss as a heretic, furnishes a just though melancholy picture of the times of those early reformers. John Huss Avas Professor of Divinity in the University of Prague, and pastor of the church in that city ; a man as renowned for the purity and excellency BURNING OF HUSS. 75 3f his Christian character, as for his profound learning and uncommon eloquence. But his light shone too bright for the age. He was charged with heresy ; arrested, thrown into prison — condemned to the stake. Ai the place of execution he was treated with the most barbarous indignity. Seven Bishops strip him of his sacerdotal dress — violently tear from him the insignia of his office — put on his head a cap on which three devils were pamted. and the words arch-heretic written — burn his books Defoie his eyes. In the meantime the fires of death are kmdled. The undaunted martyr commends his spirit to Jesus, and, serene and joyful in the prospect of a glorious immortality, his he ^)py spirit rises from the flames of wicked loes to the bosom of flaming seraphim, who adore and burn in the presence of the eternal throne. But this was not enough : with savage fury his execu- tioners beat down the stake, and demolished with clubs and pokers all that remained of his half consumed body. His heart, untouched by the fire, they roast on a spit, and his cloak and other garments are also committed to the flames, that not a memento might remain to his friends. Yea, more, they not only remove the ashes, but they scoop out the earth where he was burnt, to the depth of four feet, and throw the whole into the Rhine. But they could not extinguish the light of the Reformation. From this new starting point the wheels of Providence gathered strength, and rolled on the more rapidly as they approached the goal. From the flames that consumed these martyrs to the truth, there rose a light which shone throughout all Germany. A spirit of inquiry was roused in schools and universities, in the minds of the common people and among the nobility, which could not be '•epressed. Though often smothered in blood, it gathered .trength — the surface heaved, the internal fires burned till the irruption came. But I shall do palpable injustice not to notice soirie whole communities which, during Zion's long and dreary night, kept their fires burning and their lamps trimmed, ready to meet the returning bridegroom. They were found among the mountains of the Alps ; in the valleys of Peidmont and Lauguedock ; in England, and over a 76 UAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. great part of Europe — known by the generic name of Lollards, yet denominated Waldenses, Albigenses, Cathari, Huguenots, from the valleys in which they resided, or from some distinguished leader. They had not bowed the knee to Baal — had endured persecutions such as make humanity blush — had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings — of bonds and imprisonments — were stoned, sawn asunder — tempted — slain — wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, afflicted and tormented. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. Since the scenes which transpired on Calvary 1800 years ago, there has not been written so black a page of man's history. Yet their light shone, and guided many an earth-worn pilgrim heavenward. And when the morning dawned — when the strong voice -of Wicklif, repeating but in louder notes the strains of Claudius, Bradwardine, and Berenger, proclaimed the approaching day — and the louder, and yet louder peals of Huss and Jerome, Reuchlin and Hutten, broke in upon the stillness of the night, these pious souls, (of whom the world was not worthy,) these dwellers in the rocks and caves of the earth were watching every prognostication of the morning, and joyfully hailed the rising light. And no sooner were the banners of the Reformation unfurled, than they, as tried and loyal subjects, came to the help of the Lord. And during the same period, and for centuries since, the Nestorians have borne witness to the truth, and kept aUve the fire of true religion in the East, in circumstances not very dissimilar from the Waldenses of the West. When dark clouds settled down on the whole land, there was light in Goshen — light amid the mountains of Kurdis- tan. And as now light returns upon the dark regions of Asia, do we not find them as ready to welcome the rising morning as were the dwellers among the Alps ? The church has already been vastly indebted to the Nes- torians in the work of propagating the gospel. Never has she had more valiant and successful Missionaries, and that, too, under circumstances the most unpropitious. Their missions form the connecting link between the aiissions of primitive Christianity and modern missions. TRANS1.ATION OF THE BIBLE. Ti hi the dark ages, (from the sixth to the fifteenth century,) we find their indefatigable missionaries among the rude, migratory tribes of Tartary, among the priest-ridden mill- ions of India, and the supercilious natives of China. We find them, too, among the barbarous nations about the Caspian sea. In the tenth century, a Mogul Prince and 200,000 of his subjects, were converted to Christianity Their Prince was the celebrated Prester John. In 877, they had erected churches in all eastern Asia. But without pursuing this line of providential develop- ment further, what presage have we here that Zion's King was about to introduce a new dispensation of his grace ! He had fitted a thousand minds for the accomplishment of his purposes. Kings, emperors, councils, the literati, philosophers, poets, the church herself, all in their turn attempted a reform, and failed. Yet each did a work, and hastened a result. It was written in the records of Heaven that this should not be done by " might nor by power." The noble, the wise and mighty, should be set at nought — Goliath be overcome by the shepherd and his sling. The Bible should be the weapon by which to overcome the principalities and powers of sin, to demolish the strong-holds of the adversary, and to dislodge from their high places the unclean birds of the sanctuary : the Bible be the regenerator of the living temple, which should rebuild the sacred altar, and restore its fine gold. Hence the towering genius of Reuchlin, (the patron and teacher of the great Melancthon,) and the masterly mind of Erasmus, were now, by the hand of Providence, brought on the stage, the one to give Europe a transla- tion of the Old Testament, and the other of the New , and both to employ their profound learning in defence of the truth. The sagacious eye of the world's wisdom could not but have seen that mighty events were struggling in the womb of Providence. The Reformation was a necessary consequence of what preceded. Internal fires were burn ing, the earth heaving, and soon they must find vent Had not the irruption been in Germany, it must soor have been elsewhere. Had not Luther led, it must ere long have been conducted by another. 78 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY, Thus did the mighty hand of God order every circum stance — remove obstacles, provide instrumentalities for the work, displaying in all the different series of events which preceded the Reformation, and which, under God, were the causes of it, the stately steppings of Providence towards some magnificent result. Let us, therefore I riefly survey 2. Hie great transaction itself. The Reformation was a great event — an event of great men, of grea* things and great results ; and the more closely it is scrutinized, the more it will appear to be the work of God. It is not my design to speak of the Reformation as a matter of History, but as a child of Providence. Were we to trace it in its progress, as we have in its preliminary steps, we should everywhere discern the finger of God. I shall rather speak of certain characteristic acts of the great drama, than of the drama itself. The whole is too large a field. From whatever point you view the Reformation, you find it the child of Providence. Look at the ?nen who were called to be its conductors ; or to the formidable opposition it had to encounter ; or to its results, and you everywhere trace the footsteps of God. When God is about to do a great work he first pje- pares his instniments. He selects and qualifies the men by whom he will accomplish his purposes. So he did, as we have seen, when he was about to enlarge the bounda- ries of his church by adding to its domains the American continent. The bold spirit of adventure which charac- terized the latter part of the fifteenth century, was an elec- tric shock to all Europe — as if an earthquake had shaken the world, and raised from the midst of the ocean a great continent. Hence such men as Columbus, the Cabots (xaspar Cortereal and Verrazzani. So, when He would, cut the cord that bound this infant nation to her mothei and wean her from her mother's milk, and remove hei from the tuition of aristocrats and church dignitaries, God raised up for the purpose such men as Franklin Hancock, Lee, Adams and Jefferson, and nerved the arm of our immortal Washington. And so it has been in all the great outbreakings that have convulsed the LEADERS OP THE REFORMATION. 79 world to make way for the church. He prepared hia instruments. It has been observed that great men appear in constella tions. The truth is, they appear when, in providence, great occasions call for them. Great men are not only made hy the times, but are endowed and moulded by the hand of God for the times. But nowhere do we find so marked a providence in the preparation of instruments as in the case of the Reformation. The leaders were all mighty men. Each was a host. Yet of all these mighties, Martin Luther was the mightiest. But wheT-se these giants, who, if they raise their voice, the earth trembleth — who shake the seven hills of Rome, and on their ruins rear a superstructure which reached to the heavens ? Were they the scions of royalty — the sons of wisdom or of might ? No. Martin Luther was taken from the cottage of a poor miner. Melancthon, the pro- found theologian and elegant scholar of the Reformation was found in an armorer's workshop. Zuinglius was sought out by Him who knoweth the path which " the vulture's eye hath not seen," in a shepherd's hut among the Alps. The history of Martin Luther is substantially the history of the Reformation. Would we come at once at the real genius of that great revolution, we must follow up the history of its controlling genius, from the time that little Martin was gathering sticks with his poor mother at the mines in Mansfeld, till he occupied the chair of Theology at Wittemburg, and was the most powerful and popular preacher of the day; or till he faced, single-handed and alone, the ravening beast of Rome at the Diet of Worms. Such as God made the instrument, such was the work. Though pinchingly poor, John Luther, the wood- cutter and the miner, resolved to educate young Martin. Thence forward mark his course. First, he was submit ted to strict discipline and religious instruction under the roof of his parents. .How much he was indebted to this, and how much the world, is not difficult to conceive. At an early age he is sent to school in the neighborhood of the mines A new light had already broken in upon 80 HANP OF GOD IN HISTOEY. the world, and the honest miner of Mansfeld deteiininea that his son should share in its benefits. At the age of fourteen, we find him at the school of the Franciscans at Magdeburg, yet so poor that he was obliged to occupy his play-hours in begging his bread by singing. Here lie first heard Andrew Proles with great zeal, preaching the necessity of reforming religion and the church Next he is at Eisenach, still poor, yet persevering, ana notwithstanding these, to common minds, insuperable difficulties, our young reformer made rapid strides in hi* studies, outstripping all his fellows. We come now to the second link of the providential chain : While begging his bread as a singing boy at Eise- nach, he was often overwhelmed with grief, and ready to despond. " One day in particular, after having been repulsed from three houses, he was about to return fasting to his lodging, when, having reached the Place St. George, he stood before the house of an honest burgher, motion- less, and lost in painful reflections. Must he for the want of bread give up his studies, and return to the mines of Mansfeld ?" Suddenly a door opens, a woman appears on the threshhold — it is the wife of Conrad Cotta, called " the pious Shunamite" of Eisenach. Touched with the pitiless condition of the boy, she henceforth becomes his patroness, his guardian angel, and from this time the darkness from his horizon began to clear away. Soon we find him a distinguished scholar in the University of Erfurth, his genius universally admired, his progress in knowledge wonderful. It now began to be predicted of him that he would one day shake the world. The hon- ors of the University thicken upon him. He applies himself to the study of the law, where he aspires to the highest honors of civic life. But God willed not so. He is one day in the Library of the University, where he is wont to spend his leisure moments. As he opens volume after volume, a strange book at length attracts his atten- tion. Though he had been two years in the University, and was now twenty years old, he bad seen nothing like It before. It is the Bible. He reads and reads again, and would give a world for a Bible. Here is the third link MARTIN LUTHER'S EARLY LIFE. 81 Here lay hid the spark that should electrify the world — the golden egg of the Reformation. But where next do we find our distinguished scholar — our doctor of philosophy — our humble reader of the Bible? Strange contrast! He is an Augustine monk, cloistered in gloomy walls ; the companion of idle monks j doorkeeper, sweeper, common servant and beggar for the cloister. But what brought him here ? He had read the Bible — was bowed to the ground as a sinner — and while in this state ot mind he was literally smitten to the eai th by a thunderbolt. This was the fourth link of the providential chain. From this hour he resolved to be God's. But how could he serve God but in a cloister ? The world was no place for him. He must be holy ; he will therefore work out his salvation in the menial services and solitude of monastic life. But the hand of God was in this. It was the school of Providence to discipline him for his future work. Here, too, he must learn the great lesson (justifi- cation by faith) which should revolutionize the church and the world ; here receive the sword that should de- molish the mighty fabric of Romish superstition, and separate from the chaotic mass of a corrupt religion, the church reformed. And where, in accordance with the genius ot the age, could this be learned but in a convent ? From his youth up, Luther had believed in the power of monastic life to change the heart. He must, as he bitterly did, learn its entire inefficacy. When he had learned this, when he was slain by the law, and lay, as supposed, literally dead upon the floor, a good " Annanias" appeared to raise him up and to con- duct him to the peace-speaking blood of Jesus, and, in Christ's stead, to tell him what he must do. This messen- ger is Staupitz, the vicar-general, who from this time becomes Luther's teacher in holiness, and his guide and patron in his glorious career of reform. This is the next link in the chain. Staupitz conducted him to Christ ; gave him a Bible ; introduced him to a professor's chair in the University of Wittemburg, and to the friendship of the Elector of Saxony, and brought out the reluctant Monk as a public preacher ; and. m a word, was the hand d2 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. of Providence to conduct Luther forward to the greai result of the Reformation. Nor was ii enough that Luthe; should serve a three years' apprenticeship in a convent. He must go to Rome —must trace up the corrupt stream to its fountain — must see what Romanism is at the seat of the Beast. His em- i">assy to Rome was the next great providential movement vvhich marked the early life of Luther. Here he beheld with his own eyes, the abominations of desolation stand- mg in the place where they ought not. Though he had more than suspected the corruption of the church, he still retained a profound veneration for Rome. He thought of Rome as the seat of all holiness ; the deep and broad well from which were drawn all the waters of salvation. Nothing but personal observation could cure him of this error. He found Rome the seat of abominations, the fountain of moral corruption. The profligacy, levity, idleness, and luxury of the priests, shocked him. He turned away from Rome in utter disgust and indignation. Nor was this all he learnt at Rome. It was here God instructed him more thoroughly in the perfect way. While performing some of the severe penances of the church, (as, for example, creeping on his knees up " Pi late's staircase,") he had a prac^/'ca/ lesson of the inefficacy of loorks ; and the doctrine of justification hy faith, seemed revealed to him as in a voice of thunder. And now was he prepared, on his return, to echo this voice from heaven till the very foundations of Rome should tremble. Soon after this, Luther was made Theological Profes- sor, or Doctor of the Scriptures. There was, in reference to the oath he was now required to take, another of those marked interpositions of Providence, to push him on in his work as a reformer. He was required to " swear to de fend the truth of the gospel with all his might." This though it had often been taken as a mere matter oi form, was now received in good earnest. Luther now felt himself commissioned by the University, by his Prince, and in the name of the Emperor, and by Rome hen^elf, to be the fearless herald of the truth. He must new, id OPPOSITION TO THE REFORMATION. H3 obedience to the highest authority on earth and ol Heaven, be a Reformer* Thus did the Hand of God resuscitate a long and shame- fully abused oath, and snatch it from the hands of pro- fanation, and arm it with a power that none could gain- say or resist. Ah'eady has enough been said to develop the genius of ihe Reformation. I am not to give a history of it. It was the child of Providence — begotten, nourished, ma- tured by the plastic hand of Heaven. Were we to follow Luther from his first putting forth his " Theses' for public discussion, till he laid down his armor at the dread summons of death, the head and leader of a great reform.ed church, we should see him in the act of accom- plishing only what we have seen the hand of God prepar- ing him for. He was raised up, fitted and protected for this self same work.f Or were we to trace the history of his great coadjutors in the work, such as Calvin, Melancthon, Reuchlin, Hut ten, Erasmas, Spalatin, Staupitz, Martin Pollich, Zuingle, or the other giants of those days, we should discover, in proportion as God deigned to use them, respectively, in the execution of his great plan, the hand of God, fitting each to his respective place, assigning each his work, and nerving the muscles of his soul for the great combat. Nor will it weaken our conviction that the Reforma- tion was a stupendous act of Providence for the ad- vancement of the true church and the spread of the true religion, if we notice the opposition it had to encounter. or on its final results. Both as to character and amount, this opposition was such as no earthly power could resist. The advantage vas all against the Reformers. The errors, vices, super- ' D' Aubigne's History of the Reformatii. i. t N.:it a few instances in his personal history illustrate the Divine care of him. Do- tennincd to cut him off by stratajem, at a period when his popularity precluded theus« offeree, the Cardinal Lecale and Pope's Nuncio, invited the great Reformer and his chief Saxon friends to a dinner ; when, according to previous arrangement tlie Pope's representative should propose the exchange of the usual glass of wine, and that a deadly poison should be infused into the portion designed for Luther. The pompous Cardinal reqtiested " the honor of drinking the learned and illustrious Doctor's health." The Cardinal's attendant presented the two glasses. But Luther's glass, as he raised it to hiB mouth, fell into his plate, and discovered the murderous potion. Thus the Ham' of an eTer watchful Pr /ividence delivered ^lis chosen one from the sr.ure oi the fowlei. 84 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. fititions, impositions or crimes which they attacked, were nurtured m the very bosom of the church, and could challenge the authority of the highest powers in church or state ; while the Reformers were without power, either civil or ecclesiastical, the sons of obscurity, sought out, ^tted, and distinguished in the work by a special Provi dence. Like the first disciples, they stood against the world. 3. And the results are too well known to need to be made a subject of extended remark. It was a revolution that has cast a new aspect over the whole world. It is under the shadow of the wings of the reformed church, that civilization has spread and prospered ; that the printing- press has flourished and shed forth its leaves for the healing of the nations — that learning has prospered ; the arts been cultivated and the sciences made to subserve the purposes of common life ; that enterprise has put forth its multifarious energies in the promotion of commerce, discovery, manufactures, and in the various forms of philanthropy and benevolence ; that the true science of government is better understood, and considerable ad- vancement made in the principles of freedom ; a broad and immovable basis laid for free institutions ; and re- ligion, pure and undefiled, has ventured to appear not only outside the cloister, or the sequestered valley, but on the wide arena of the world, in the face of Popes and inquisitors, in the face of nobles and kings, and boldly to assert its primeval claim to the earth. It was one of those vast movements of Providence, which, like angels' visits, are few and far between. It was one of those great deliverances, when Heaven deigns to inter- pose and give enlargement to Israel. We cannot review this vast transaction without in- creased admiration of an ever- working, ever-watcnful Providence, working all t' ings after the counsel of his own will, with none to stay his hand, or say unto Him. what doest thou. In concluding what I have to say on the Reformation, I may oe indulged in one general remark : How grand and magnificent, then, must thai work be which can so in- tensely engage the mind of the eternal God ! Such is the JAPHETII IN THE TENTS OF SHEM. 85 work of Redemption. The unwearied hand of Provi- dence has always been engaged, preparing for some future development of the glory of the body of Christ, which IS the church. From Adam to Christ, the lines of Providence were all converging to the Incarnatiofi. Every change and revolution was so shaped as to be preparatory to the advent of the Messiah. Tnat first grand mai^K of consummation being reached, the next principal pomt of concentration is the Millenium, or the complete development of grace, and its victory over sin. Ever since Christ offered up the great sacrifice for sin, the whole energy of Providence has been engaged to ma- ture the great plan and gather in its fruits. Ride forth, then, victorious King, from conquering to conquer, till tne kingdoms of this world become the king dom of our Lord and of his Christ. CHAPTER V. /nheth in the tentt ef Shem ; or, the ITand of God, as seen tn the opening a way to I» dia by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. The posterity of Japheth. The Portu- guese empire .a the East — its extent and extinction. Designs of Providence in opening India .3 Europe — not silks and satins, but to illustrate the evil of Idolatry, and the ineffcacy of false religions and philosophy to reform men. The power of true religion. " God shon enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents o* Shem:'— Gen. ix. 27. A REMARKABLE prophccy, and remarkably fulfilled. God has enlarged Japheth by giving his descendants, for a dwelling place, all Europe, Asia Minor, America, many of the islands of the sea, and the northern portions of Asia. Japheth has peopled half the globe. Besides his original possessions, and much gained by colonizing, he has greatly extended his dominions by conquest. The GreeKS, tne Romans, the English, have, successively, 86 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. •'dwelt in the tents of Shem." At the present time, the offspring of Japheth, the English chiefly, wield the sceptre over scarcely less than two hundred millions of the seed oi Shem. This is worthy of remark, especially in connec- tion with the fact, that Christianity has hitherto been confined, almost exclusively, to the posterity of Japheth. A line, encircling on the map of the world the nations descended from Japheth, incloses nearly all the Chris- tianity at present in the world. Before Christ, God com- mitted the riches of his grace to the posterity of Shem ; since, he has confined the same sacred trust to the chil- dren of Japheth. The mind of the reader has already been directed to one of the enlargements of Japheth — the possession of the American continent. I am now prepared to speak of an- other, an enlargement eastward, the discovery of the great East, by the Cape of Good Hope — another theatre on which should be acted the great drama of human sal- vation. When, in the fifteenth century, God was about to pu- rify and enlarge his church, when the King was pre- paring for a glorious onward march of the truth by pro- viding resources, men, means, and all sorts of facilities, LXi enlargement of territory was by no means the least providential desideratum. The church would soon need 'oom ; new provinces, new continents, whither to trans- plant the " vine" of Calvary. But God never lacks ex- pedients. A spirit of bold adventure moves again over Ihe face of the deep, and not only a new continent arises beyond the dark waves of the great Western sea, but, nearly at the same time, an old continent, scarcely more Known, emerges from the thick darkness of paganism in the far East. We have seen the church reformed and renovated, armed and strengthened for some grand onset upon the na- tions. And we have seen the field already opened west- ward, wide enough, and promising enough to engage all her renerved energies. But should the star of Bethle- aem, now just emerging from the darkness of the past centuries, shine only westward ? Should the vast re- gions, peopled by so many myriads of immortals, and once PASSAGE TO INDIA DISCOVERED. 87 cheered b)' the " star of the East," forever lie under the darkness of Paganism ? The good pleasure of Heaven is here, as always, indicated by the stately steppings oi Providence While the Reformation is yet developing in Europov and its energies are being matured for an onward move- ment, just the time when mind is beginning to assume it* independence, and religion its vitality, all the wealth, anci wickedness, and woe, of the East, with its teeming mill- ions of deathless souls, are being laid open to the ameli- orating process of reformed Christianity. It shall be our business to trace the manner in which this has been done ; and to mark the hand of God as he has compassed such a result. It is not ours, however, to stop here to deplore, as we might, man^s delinquency, as a reason why these vast and populous regions have not, since having been made accessible, been sooner Christianized and blessed, but rather to admire God's efficiency in intro- ducing them to the West, and giving them into the hands of Christian nations at this particular time. The adventurous spirit of the fifteenth century made known and accessible to the Christian world all the rich and populous countries of southern and eastern Asia, from the river Indus to the island of Japan. And it is not a little remarkable that the efforts which the Portu- guese and Spaniards made to drive the Moors from their peninsula, were the beginning of these discoveries. As, from time to time, they pursued those native foes of the cross, back to Africa, and coasted about its shores, taking revenge for the long series of outrages they had suffered from the Moors, they so improved their maritime skill, and roused the enterprise of both monarch and people, that soon they are found pushing their adventurous barks southward, in attempts to find a south point to Africa. And, after many fruitless struggles, Dias finally doubled the Cape of Good Hope, in 1486, but made no important discoveries. This was reserved for Vasco de Gama, twelve years later. He visited India, formed commer- cial relations, and laid the foundation for an empire Thus, while the territory of Mohammedanism was nai- rowing in Europe, and the progress of the Moois in 88 BAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. arts, sciences, and civilization, was forever arrested, vast dominions were added to Christendom, at least prospect- ively, in the East, as had been in the West. And though^ for the present, uncultivated and unproductive, they are capable, under proper culture, of yielding an abundant harvest. The Portuguese were soon in possession of a magnificent empire. Its extent, opulence, and the splendor with which it was conducted, has scarcely a rival in the his- tory of nations. It stretched over one hundred degrees of longitude, from the Red sea to Japan, embracing the south of Persia, India, Birmah, China, and the numerous islands of the Indian archipelago. Not less than half the entire population of the globe were thus thrown into the arms of a nominally Christian nation. But the sceptre of this vast empire soon passes away, first to the Dutch, and then to the English. The French became competitors, playing no inconsiderable part in the game for Oriental kingdoms. But they were of Rome, and Rome should not rule there. Protestant England has, at length, become almost the sole owner of the once magnificent empire of the Portuguese. From the Red sea to Japan she has no rival. Much has been written on the commercial and territo- rial importance of India. The discoveries of Ue Gama were very justly regarded as commencing a new era in the world ; and history will never overlook the undoubted benefits of the new relations which were, from this time, formed between the West and the East. Yet the saga- city of the world has lost sight of the chief design ot Providence in these discoveries. Was it simply that Eu- rope might be " replenished from the East," and " please herself in the children of strangers," that the immenvse territories of India were laid at her feet ? Was it for silks and satins, for luxuries and gewgaws — for no higiicr objects than wealth and territorial aggrandizement, or more extensive commercial relations, that the King oi nations made Europe master of Asia ? These are the things the world has so much admired in the nearer connection of Europe and Asia. History, eloquence, poetry, have wondered at these mere vicidents THE EVIl- OF IDOLATRY. 89 m the i^reat scheme of Providence, overlooking the chiei design, which we beUeve to be, first, and for a long series of years, to furnish a theatre on vihich to make certain im- portant developments, and to teach the church and the world certain important lessons ; and, secondly, to extend the triumphs of the Cross over all those countries. India affords to such as intelligently and piously watch ihe hand of God in his magnificent movements in the work of redemption, a subject for intense and interesting study. While developments in the progress of the church of a different character were transpiring in America — God transferring his church thither, and planting her in a more congenial soil, and giving her i*oom to take root and grow, India was, and has continued to be, the theatre of developments not less interesting. She has stood for centuries the teacher of nations. On that theatre, God has all this time been teaching. 1. The evil of Idolatry. In the great mental and reli- gious revolution of the sixteenth century, God was pre- paring the sacramental host for a more formidable onset against the foes of Immanuel. On the one hand, he had allowed the enemy to intrench himself in the strong- holds of the earth. The wealth, learning, philosophy, re- ligion of the earliest civilized, and the most fertile and populous portions of the globe ; their social habits, thei? every-day maxims, proverbs, and songs ; their principles of action and habits of thinking were surrendered to the foes of the cross. Centuries had riveted the chains ; and now sin stood as the strong man armed, frowning deli ance on all who should question his right to the dominion of the earth. Idolatry was his strong-hold. On the other hand, the great King had come down to earth, and cleansed his temple, and enlarged the boundaries of the true Israel. The number of the faithful in Europe were vastly increased, and armed (by means of the Bible, edu- cation, the press, and the mariner's compass,) with a uower befo7-e unknown. Colonies had been planted in this new Canaan, and here was maturing a rear guard, which may yet become the main army, and spread its wings eastward and westward, and become mighty to the pulling down of strong-holds. All seemed preparing \HJ HAND OF GOD IN HISl'ORY. for the conflict — the church to take possession of the earth. But mark here the way of the Lord. Centuries are permitted to elapse before these wide wastes are inclosed in the garden of our God. Not only must the church better prepared to take possession — her numbers u > ability be so increased that she may supply her new aUlt with the needed spiritual resources, and her active ben> /- olence and spirituality be such that her image n.uy with honor to herself and to her God, be stamped on th heathen world ; but, on the other hand, there must need* be an exhibition of the malady to be healed. It must be seen what a potent foe to truth Idolatry is — a great sys- tem of infidelity, ingeniously devised in the council-cham- ber of hell, and fatally suited to the desi^ es of the humac ' heart. The church, and the world toe must see what Idolatry is, in its power to enslave and crush immortal mind ; in its devices to deceive ; in its malignant influ- ences to dry up the social and benevolent affections ; in its withering blight on every starting germ of civilization and learning, and in the death-blow it strikes to every thing noble and virtuous. Hence the providential subjection of those vast regions of Idolatry to Christian nations. By this means, the church has had a fair and protracted opportunity to con- template Idolatry in all its odious features, and, at the same time, fairly to test her own professed principles and zeal for its abolition. Providentially, Christian men, of every condition in life, and for a long series of years, have resided among those pagan nations, and enjoyed every fa- cility to estimate the curse oi' Paganism, both in its bear- ing on this life, and the life to come. But the mere ex- posure of the evil is not all. 2. India affords a striking example of the inefficacy oj ■;yhilosophy to reform man in this life, or to save him in the next. Brahmanism and Bhoodism are refined and skillfully formed systems of Idolatry — the combined wis- dom of ages. Philosophy, metaphysics, worldly wisdom, were taxed to the utmost in their production. They pre- sent a fair specimen of what human reason can do. l\ these systems cannot ameliorate the condition of man INKFFICACY OF PHILOSOPHY. 91 here, and hold out hopes of a glorious immortality, no re- ligion of human origin can. But as the great experiment has been in progress some thousand years, and during the last three hundred and fifty under the eye of Christendom, what has been the result ? As a remedy for the moral maladies of man has it been efficacious ? Has the nation been reformed, or individuals? Has it shed a ray of light on the dark path-way to the tomb, or raised a single, cheering hope beyond the veil of the flesh ? Where has it wiped the tear from sorrow's eye, or spoken peace to the troubled spirit, or supplied the wants of the needy, or opened the prison-doors to them that are bound ? Where has il spread its fostering wings over the rising genius of civili- zation, nurtured the institutions of learning, or been the patron of virtue and morality ? Three and a half centu- ries (since the eyes of Europe have been on India,) have surely been a sufficient lime — to say nothing of the thirty or forty centuries which preceded — to test the merits of a religion. And what has been the result ? Il is stereotyped in the vices and superstitions, in the crimes and ignorance, in the debasement and corruption of those nations. In spite of the most scrupulous observ- ance of rites, and the most costly austerities, they have waxed worse and worse. In their religion, there is no principle of veneration. The more religion they have, tlie more corrupt they are. Nor has Mohammedanism been scarcely more success- ful. Incorporating more of trutli, its votaries are not sunk so low as pagans, yet it has altogether failed of an- swering the end for which man needs a religion. India has, therefore, been made a theatre from which the nations might learn the inefficacy of philosophy and man's wisdom to produce a moral reformation. And more than this : Providence has been there teaching, 3. The inefficacy of a corrupt Christianity to renovate and bless a nation. As far back as history reaches, tlie thick darkness of the East has been made visible by the faint glimmerings of the light of truth. During all her long and melancholy alienation from the true God, India has, perhaps, never been without her witnesses for the 8 92 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. truth. To say nothing of many relics of patriarchal reli- gion, a large number of Jews, after the destruction of the first temple, and the conquest and captivity of the nation by Nebuchadnezzar, (588, B. C.,) yielding to the stern necessity of the conqueror's power, forsook their na- tive land — the lovely hills and smiling valleys of Pales^ line and Mount Zion, whose very dust they loved, and their temple, the beauty of the whole earth, and sought an asylum amidst the idolatrous nations of India. They carried with them the writings of the Old Testament, were accompanied with more or less of their religious teachers, established their synagogue worship, and be- came, in all things, Jewish communities, amidst a great pagan nation. These are known by the name of Black Jews, in distinction from the Jerusalem or White Jews.- They are scattered throughout India, China, and Tar- tary. To Dr. Buchanan, who visited them in 1806 — 8, and to whom we are indebted principally for the few in- teresting items we have of their history, they gave a list of sixty-Jive places, where societies of Black Jews then resided, and among which a constant communication is kept up. Having been exposed to an Indian sun nearly twenty-four centuries, in complexion they are scarcely to be distinguished from the Hindoos. These voluntary exiles have, during this long period, been remarkably pre- served as a monument of the ancient economy. The Jerusalem or White Jews, for very similar rea- sons, bade a reluctant farewell to their native Judea, af- ter the destruction of the second temple, and the over- throw of the Jewish nation by the Romans under Titus. Says a narrative preserved among them, " A numerous bjdy of men, women, priests and Levites, departed iiom Jerusalem and came to this land. There were among them men of repute for learning and wisdom ; and Clod gave the people favor in the sight of the king, Avho, at that time, reigned here ; and he granted them a place to dwell in, called Cranganore." Others followed them from Judea, Spain, and other places. Here they pros- pered a thousand years. Since that period, they have been made to participate in the bitter cup of their dis- persed brethren. Dissensions within, and wars without. THE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. 93 have diminished and scattered them ; yet they are to be found, at this day, at Cochin, where they worship the God of their fathers, in their synagogues, every sabbath day. They have the Old Testament and many Hebrew manuscripts. Thus has Providence, for nearly two thousand and our hundred years, preserved a succession of witnesses for the truth in the land of idols — not at the first, lights of great brilliancy, and growing more and more dim as the latter-day glory approached, and the great Light arose, but sufficient to keep alive, in the heart of a great nation of pagans, some idea of the true God. Nor is this all : another succession of witnesses, of a still higher order, has existed there ever since the age ol the apostles, in the Syrian Christians. Tradition reports that St. Thomas first introduced the gospel into those distant regions, and there established the Christian church. They are called, to this day, St. Thomas Christians. Like the Jewish church, just alluded to, their light shone brightest at the first, but grew dimmer as the light of the Reformation shed its healing rays on the East. So numerous and flourishing were they in the fourth cen tury, that they were represented, in the council of Nice, (325,) by their patriarch, or archbishop. On the arrival of Vasco de Gama, (1503,) he found more than one hundred flourishing Christian churches on the Malabar coast, and though sad havoc had been made by the emmissaries of Rome, there were; at the time of Dr. Buchanan's visit, fifty-five churches, and about fifty thousand souls, who had not acknowledged the suprem- acy of the Pope. The churches, in the intei ior especially, would not yield to Rome, but continued to receive th'eir bishops from Antioch, as they had done from the first. They are a branch of the Nestorian Church, which is, at present, exciting a laudable interest, and which, in the early ages of Christianity, was favorably known in the history of the church for the establishment of missions in India, China, and Tartary. They have the Sacred Scrip- tures, and other manuscripts, in the Syriac language, and use, in divine service on Lord's day, the Liturgy formerly used by the church at Antioch ; and it is their honest tl4 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. pride that they date their origin back to that period, and to that land, where Christianity first rose, and to that particular spot where the disciples were first called Chris- tians. Their former glory has departed, and they are but the shadow of what they were ; yet, their light still flickers amidst the wide extended darkness of that land of death. For centuries has this light shone on the surrounding darkness, which has but ill comprehended it. These Christian communities bore a decided testimony in favor of the religion of Jesus, and, through successive genera- tions, exerted no inconsiderable influence in refining, lib- eralizing, and improving the moral condition of vast mul- titudes of pagans. In the ordering of an eventful Provi- dence, Christianity has had witnesses there from its ori- gin ; and systems of Idolatry have been modified to meet the advancing state of the human mind, under the benign auspices of the gospel* From time to time, light has been breaking in from other quarters. The nations of Western Asia, have, from time immemorial, sustained commercial relations with India. An extensive trade was carried on through the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, and thence over land to the great emporiums of the West. Hence Chris- tian travelers, merchants, civil functionaries, and vari- ous classes of adventurers, traversed these vast regions of the shadow of death. Many of these, at different periods, settled in the country ; others were only sojourn- ers. All added something to the general stock of a knowledge of Christianity — a further monument to the truth of God, in these wide fields of Idolatry. The Armenians, the Greeks, the Venetians and Genoese, each contributed a share to scatter light and truth in the East. These were some of the agencies in operation before the discoveries of De Gaina. And, what is worthy ol special remark, they were effective just in proportion as they contained the salt of the pure religion. Their illu- 'The idea* which the Hindoos have of an Incarnation, as discovered, particularly tn the history of their god, Krishna, and, perhaps, all they know of tlic Trinity, bM teon unuggled into HindooiBm from Christianity. ROMANISM IN INDIA. 95 minafion was in proportion to the truth they embodied and illustrated. But it is time to turn to what may be termed the great effort to convert India to the Christian faith. We have said the Portuguese established a magnificent empire in the East, embracing all the southern portions of Asia. A leading feature in their government every where, was to establish their religion, to erect churches, suppor' priests, and convert the natives, whether by persuasion or force. Thus were the banners of the Romish reli- gion fully, and for a long time, unfurled over more than three hundred millions of pagans. Every influence, (but light and love,) not excepting the horrors of the Inquisition, was used to swell the number of converts. Romanism has abounded in those countries. Tens oi thousands of churches and priests, and millions of com- municants, have represented, — rather mw-represented Christianity there, for three hundred years. And what has been the result ? Has not the leaven had time to work, and show what has been the efficacy of all that gorgeous array of the Romish faith and ritual, in ameliorating the temporal condition, and improvmg the moral state of myriads of converts to Rome ? We can bear personal testimony that, in India, there has probably been nothing gained by the change. It has been little more nor less than passing from one set of rites, usages and superstitions, to another, as worthless and debasing, and from the worship of one set of ima- ges to that of another. In general, Romanism imposes less restraint on the immoral, than Hindooism. It would, perhaps, be too much to say that India has received no good at the hands of Rome ; yet we may safely say, the experiment, so long and so extensively tried, when viewed in the light of renovating India, has been a complete failure. Nor has its influence been but neutral. The little good it may have effected, is no compensation for the gross misrepresentation it has made of the Chris- tian religion, and the consequent prejudice with which it has armed the Pagan mind against Christianity in any form. Nevei", perhaps, has the Romish church had a more JI6 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. laithlul or successful missionary in the East, than the Abbe Dubois. Yet, after a residence of thirty ijears, aurt having made ten thousand converts, he leaves in despair of ever seeing any favorable moral change in the Hin- doos, declaring that out of this immense multitude, he could recall but a single instance where he believed there was any moral renovation ; thus palpably conceding the complete impotency of Romanism, to raise, purify and bless a debased people. Providence, on a large scale, has here furnished a prac- tical illustration, that a spurious Christianity has not the power to renovate and raise to spiritual health and life a Pagan nation. Another lesson designed to be taught on the broad arena of Paganism beyond the Cape, is, that nothing short of spiritual Christianity, can renovate the great East. What Romanism has so signally failed to do, the Bible, in the hands of the living preacher, is nobly doing. Habits and usages, inveterate and formidable, have been changed; prejudices removed, and character, individual, and in whole communities, completely transformed. Pure Christianity has shown itself omnipotent there. Already we number hundreds of thousands of Protestant Christians, in India alone, many of whom give pleasing evidence of a moral change. And nothing but increased means and men, and the smiles of Heaven., are needed to increase these successes to any extent. We need no further guarantee that the gospel of Christ is potent enough to bring back to God, any and all those mighty nations of the .East. Such are the points which have already been illustra- led through the discovery of India. But this is no more than the beginning. India, and all the countries of the East, are to be, — are already being, converted to God. SVhat a field ! What teeming millions of immortal souls ' De Gama introduced to Europe half the population of the globe. Would we, therefore, scan the chief design of Providence, in the event of these Eastern discoveries, vie must anticipate the day when all their nations, tongues and people, shall be gathered into the fold of the great Shepherd. Then shall the God of Japheth indeed dwelJ KUTURE DESIGNS OF PROVIDENCI2. 91 in the ten,s of Shem, and they shall be one fold, and the great purposes of Providence be consummated in adding to the domains of the true church, all those pop ulous territories which have so long a time lain in bond- age to the prince of this world. If we may infer the future designs of Providence, from the past and the present, we shall entertain the most Jtupendous expectations of what is yet to transpire on that vast theatre. At one time we saw the empire of all the East, as by magic, laid prostrate at the foot of Rome. Then, in a little time, a sudden and unexpected revolu- tion transfers the vast possessions of the Portuguese into Protestant hands. From the time the Portuguese first gained a foothold in India, till their magnificent empire had passed away, and the English had supplanted them and become master of their dominions, was scarcely more than a single century. The transfer has supplied a marvelous chapter in the book of Providence. The ultimate design, we doubtless have not seen ; yet we have seen enough to raise our admiration. It is through Protestant England that those great and populous nations are opened for the entrance of the gospel. British rule, and admission and protection to the missionary, are co-extensive. A word and a blow, from the little Isle in the West, and Despotism and Idolatry loose the chains with which they had for so many centuries bound their stupid victims, and more than half the population of the globe are accessible to the embassador of the cross. The field is white for the harvest. Obstacles have been removed. Paganism is in its dotage. Unsupported by any state alliance, or any prop, save that of abstract depravity, it can offer no formida- le opposition to the introduction of Christianity. The liaughty followers of the Arabian prophet, too, have been humbled, and the power of their arm broken. The Romish Inquisition there has been silenced, and many a stiong-hold of the Papacy demolished. The Bible has been translated into every principal language ; the press is established in almost every important position in the great field, so many radiating points of light and truth ; education is doing its work, preparing the minds of hun- 98 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. dreds of thousands to receive the healing influence of the words of truth. An acquaintance has been formed with the rehgions, the philosophy, the languages of these Pagan nations ; with their manners, customs, history, modes of thinking and reasoning. Dictionaries and grammars have been prepared, and a great variety oi books. Schools have been established, — churches erected, and, indeed, an extensive apparatus is ready for the evangelical workman. Knowledge has been increased, the blessings of civilization, and the results of modern inventions and discoveries introduced, and, finally, the benign influences of Christianity have already, to a no inconsiderable extent, unfurled their banners over those lands of darkness and spiritual death. Among the 130,000,000, of India, there is scarcely a village which is" not accessible to some, if not to all, the labors of the missionary. Or were we to contemplate the success which has already attended the very partial endeavors which have been made to convert India, we should still more admire the . Hand that doeth wonders, and look that, at no dis- tant future, the great Gentile world shall pay their hom- age at the feet of their rightful Sovereign. Whole com- munities,— numerous, contiguous villages, as in the prov- ince of Krishnugar, South India and Ceylon, have cast away their idols, and professed allegiance to Christ. If we may take what is, as a presage of what shall be, — if we may judge what the building shall be, by an inspection of the foundation, — the superstructure from the vast amount of materials we see in the course ot preparation, we must believe Providence has a stupen- dous plan yet to accomplish, in connection with the East. The intelligent and pious reader of history will re-peruse the record of God's dealings towards the Gentiles of Asia, — especially will he ponder with new interest, that single act of Providence, which, in the close of the fif- teenth century, opened a high- way between Europe and Asia, bringing the wants and woes of Asia to the very doors of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, to prefer their own claims for aid, and pouring the light and spiritual life of Truth, as a fertilizing river, over the vast deserts of Asia GREAT DESIGN IN RESPECT TO INDIA. 99 The imperfect view which has here been taken of a subject which, of itself, cannot but interest the philosophi- cal historian and the contemplative Christian, will, at least, leave on the mind of the reader the impression that God has some great design to accomplish, in respect to India : and it urges on every friend of humanity and of truth, the duty of following in the footsteps of Provi- dence, and doing those things which, as a matter of means, shall carry out the magnificent plan of Him who worketh, and no man hindereth. The vast and pro- tracted preparation indicates such a design. Three cen- turies and a half have elapsed in preparation. What shall the end be ? Another obvious reflection is, that God takes time to carry on his work. Why has India so long been con- signed to waste and spiritual desolation ? It has been a field for observation and experiment. Sin must have its -perfect work. In its worst forms, it must have time and space to luxuriate, — to go to seed, and yield its noxious harvest. It must be permitted to show what it can do and all it can do. It must show itself. Finally, God here rebukes the impatience and distrust of his people. They murmur and faint, because wicked- ness and oppression abound, and God does not speedily avenge the cause of his elect, and bring wickedness to an end. God takes time. In the end, all shall be put in order. And, with the same propriety, it might be asked— why has Central and South America, some of the rich- est and most beautiful portions of our globe, been con- signed for so long a time, to waste and spiritual desolation ; been allowed to be trampled under foot, and devastated by the Papal Beast ? Rome has been trying her experi- nient there, and after a fair trial for centuries, we see what Rome can do. She has had the training of the aborigines of those countries all to herself, with every possible natural advantage ; and we do her no injustice, when we take their social, political, moral and religious condition, as a sample of the value of Romish missions, and of the transforming efficacy of Romish Christianity. New developments are now being made on the Ameri- 100 HAND OF GOD !N HISTOBY. can continent, in respect to India and the great East. The present " California excitement, seems to be another of the great pulsations of Providence to open a passage through the whole breadth of our continent, to form a great commercial depot and thoroughfare on the Pacific, and open a new line of communication with the whole '3astern world. It is an historical fact, often admired, :hat what is called the " India trade," has never failed to enrich and aggrandize every western nation which has been able to secure it : and that every route through which this commerce and intercourse has passed, has been most signally benefited. Of the latter, the eye at once fixes on Palmyra, Balbec, Alexandria, Venice ; all owed their grandeur, wealth and importance, to the rela- tions in which they stood to the India trade. We are yet to see whether another " Tadmor of the Desert," is not to spring up on the Pacific, — whether the stupendous bay of San Francisco is not to be the great depot of the Eastern trade, — whether a new route is not to be opened to this trade, and its advantages now be trans- ferred anothe?- step westward. CHAPTER VI. God in history . The Church safe. Expulsion of the Moors from Spain. Transfer of India lo Protestant hands. Philip U. and Holland. Spanish invincible Armada. The bloody Mary of England. Dr. Cole and Elizabeth Edmonds. Cromwell am' Hampden to sail for America. Return of the Waldenses and Henry Arnaud. Gud powder plot. Cromwell's usurpation. Revolution of 1C88. James II. and Louii XIV. Peter the Great. Rare constellation of great men. " The Lord's portion ts his people. Jacob ts the lot of his in- hcritance" Sj-c. — Deut. xxxii. 9 — 14. Nothing can exceed the tender and unremitting care of God for his people. They are termed "his portion,' " his inheritance," " the apple of his eye." " He found THE CHURCH SAFE. 101 him in a desert land and in a waste howling wilderness, he led him about ; he instructed him ; he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, flut- terelh over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." And what can surpass the beauty and richness oi the idea that follows : " He made him ride on the high place-s of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields ; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock ; butter of kine and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of wheat ; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape ;" expres- sions, though highly figurative, which indicate the exu- berance of the Divine goodness, and afford convincing proof of his never-failing care. God will honor them that honor him. They that trust in him shall lack no good thing. That God has abundantly fulfilled such rich promises, that he has uniformly acted towards his people as his " portion," his " inheritance," the " apple of his eye," has already been illustrated. We have seen the arm of the Lord made bare to defend his inheritance in Jacob, and his hands open to supply their wants. I shall now ask you to follow me a little farther, and you shall see the same mighty arm still engaged on Zion's behalf, and the same exhaustless resources at her command. The Lord's portion is his people. I design, at present, to direct your minds to several historical events which strikingly illustrate the agency of Providence in the progress and establishment of the Christian church. I can no more than select from a gieat variety of Providential interpositions. Indeed, 1 may remark at ihe outset, that the very existence of the church supposes a ceaseless interposition of the Almighty arm. It is a standing miracle, not that there should be a nominal Christianity and a large and powerful Christian church, for all this might be in perfect consistency with worldly principles; the wonder is, thatapwre evangelical chuich should live in the world at all ; that she has been l02 HAND OF GOD IN HISTOKY. allowed a permanent foothold amidst the perverse genei ations of men. The current of the world, the tide ol human affairs, has always been opposed to her. Persecu- tions, wave after wave, have rolled over her ; yet she has stood as an immovable rock amidst the angry floods. Civi! power, philosophy, history, science, poetry, fashion, custom, wit, have all in their turn been made engines to assail the impregnable fortress of Christianity. Intrigue has spared no wicked device to undermine her founda- tions ; cruelty and unrelenting hate have poured out the vials of their wrath in the horrors of the Inquisition, or let loose the bloodhounds of war to worry out and exter- minate the saints of the Most High. Heresy, infidelity, superstitions, and fanaticism, misguided zeal, unhallowed invasions on her doctrines and ordinances, and all spuri- ous forms of Christianity have, in their turn, done what they could to prostrate the fair fabric of religion, or so to undermine confidence in her, to arrest or neutralize her benevolent influences, as to make her appear to the world of little worth. The wisdom, policy, and spirit of the world — the maxims, principles, and acts of the worldly — have done any thing but foster the vine brought out of Egypt. And what has been the result ? The church has out- rode every storm. She has passed unscathed by the lightnings of human violence. Like the oak that strikes its roots deeper, and clings to its rocky soil the more tenaciously, as the storm beats and the tempest rages, the church has been strengthened amidst the rigors of persecution, and nourished by the blood of her martyrs. But if we descend to details, we shall be not the less gratified to discern the love of God engaged, and his om- nij)otent arm made bare to defend and favor his beloved Zion. I shall direct your minds to a few historical events which illustrate this interesting truth. 1. The expulsion of the Moors from Spain. IJut a few years elapsed after Mohammed broached his impostures to the world, before Moslemism spread over nearly all Asia, the eastern part of Europe, and a great part of Africa. The portions of Africa adjacent to Spain early became its strong-holds. The countries now THE MOORS EXPELLED FROM SPAIN. 103 called Morocco and Fez were then called Mauritania, ana its inhabitants Moors. They were of Arabian origin, and seem to have been an enterprising, warlike, intelligent people. They formed the channel through which the knowledge of the arts and sciences, and an acquaintance with civilization, traveled into Europe. Taking advan- tage of the distracted state of Spain, the Moors took pos- session of large portions of that country which they held near eight centuries, from 713 to 1492. Here thej established a magnificent kingdom, cultivated learning, while all the rest of Europe was sunk in barbarism, and left behind them enduring monuments of their industry and skill in the arts. We may take, as some specimen of the magnificence of the Saracen empire, the single city of Cordova ; which, in point of wealth and grandeur, was scarcely inferior to its proud rival on the banks of the Tigris. A space of twenty-four miles in length and six in breadth, along the margin of the Guadalquiver, was occupied with streets, gardens, jialaces, and public edifices. For ten miles the citizens might travel by the light of the lamps along an uninterrupted extent of buildings. In the reign of Alma- zor, Cordova could boast of 270,000 houses, 80,000 shops, 80 public schools, 50 hospitals, 911 baths, 3,877 mosques, from the minarets of which 800,000 persons were daily summoned to prayers. The seraglio of the caliph con- sisted of the enormous number of 6,300 wives, concubines, and black eunuchs. The caliph was attended to the field by a guard of 12,000 horsemen, whose belts and scimi- tars were studded with gold. Such was Cordova : and the city of Grenada was, perhaps, equally celebrated for its wealth, luxiiry, and learning. At the peric-d of which we now speak, nothing seemed more probable than that the western world and all coming generations, should receive their learning, civilization and religion at the hands of the followers of the false prophet. The tide of human affairs now indicated that the crescent, instead of the cross, would monopolize the vast resources of knowleage, of discoveries, inventions, improvements in arts, advancement in the sciences, and oi nil t'le modern facilities for the piopagation and estab- 104 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. lishment of religion which Christianity now enjoys. Haa not the tide of Mohammedan advancement been arrested just at the time it was, (a year before the discovery of America,) in all human probability the vast advantages which now accrue to Christianity from the use of the press, the mariner's compass, the application of steam to the purposes of locomotion and the arts, and from the various rich improvements of modern days, would have been engines to propel onward the terrific car of Islam, and crush in its course every rising germ of Chris- tianity. But He that watches the falling sparrow, and numbers the hairs of your head, would not have it so. The man- date had gone out from the throne of the Majesty of Heaven, saying to the rolling billows of Arabia's mad fanaticism, " Thus far shalt thou come and no farther." When the imperial city of Grenada yielded to the arms of Ferdinand and Isabella, and the banners of the cross waved triumphant over the red towers of the Alhambra, the tide of Mohammedanism was turned back, and from that good hour the religion of Calvary was fledged fo» her immortal flight. She now began to rise from the dust of her debasement, to be seated on the " white horse," to be borne aloft and far away by the hand of her God, and through the instrumentality of the facilities which the world in its late progress has afforded, for the spread and prosperity of religion. Henceforth these facilities should be the friends and servants of Christ, and not the slaves of Mohammed. A few more historical references will set Providential interposition in a still clearer light. God places the Moslems for eight centuries in Spain, just in the position where they might act most effectually as the handmaid of Europe, in the restoration of learning and general ad- vancement, uses them as long as he needed, then sends them back to Africa just in time to give the empire of letters and the power of knowledge to his church. Hoto their progress was arrested cannot be a matter void of interest. In the eighth century (732) it seemed that all Europe must yield to the arms of the Moslems. From the rock THE SARACENS DEFEATED. 105 of Gibialtar to the Loire, nothing impeded their progress. Another such distance would have made England a piov- ince of the Grand Caliph : " the interpretation of the Koran had been the scholastic divinity of Oxford and Edinburgh ; our cathedrals supplanted by gorgeous mosques, and our pulpits employed in demonstrating to a circumcised people the truth of the apostleship and reve- lations of Mohammed. Such was the destiny that seemed to impend over all Europe, from the Baltic to the Cy- clades, when the standard of Islam floated over the walls of Tours." But this cloud of devouring locusts should be turned back. The hand of Providence was stretched out to arrest the progress of the conqueror, and save the church of Christ. Charles Martel was the "hammer" in the hands of Omnipotence to break the power of the foe, and save Europe, to be a field for the development of God's truth. The finger of God is here remarkable. France (Gaul) was attacked by an army of Saracens, 385,000 strong. They were met by the French, under Charles, near Toulouse. The great Abdalrahman was slain, and, "after a bloody battle, the Saracens, in the close of the evening, returned to their camp. In the disorder and despair of the night, the various tribes of Yemen and Damascus, of Africa and Spain, were pro- voked to turn their arms against each other ; the remains of their host were suddenly dissolved, and each emir con- sulted his safety by a hasty and separate flight." So fled the Midianites, and fell on one another before Gideon and his three hundred ; and the Philistines before Jonathan and his armour-bearer; and the Syrians when Israel was afar olF. Mohammedanism should not have Europe. Again, when in full tide of successful conquest, the Saracens attack Italy, sail up the Tiber, ravage the country and besiege Rome ; on attempting to land, they are furiously driven back and cut to pieces. A storm scatters one- half of I J leir ships, and, unable to retreat, they are eilhei slaughtered or made prisoners. And again was Europe near falling into the hands of the Turks in the 17th cen- tury, (1083,) when John Sobieski, king of Poland, de* feaied iheni. 106 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. No one can take his position on this summit of his torical record, without teeling that lie stands on a high and narrow promontory between two broad seas, the one receding and rolling back its turgid waves over the burn ing sands of Africa, with hollow murmurings of woundea pi*ide and dark chagrin ; the other, placid as when the morning sun falls on the bosom of the peaceful ocean, its dee{) blue waves gently, though irresistibly, rolling on, and bearing the rich stores of grace and truth from land to land, " Till, like a sea of glory, It spread from pole to pole.'' We, after the lapse of centuries, occupy a position to appreciate the momentous and important interposition of Providence at this juncture. By turning back the tide of Mohammedanism, the way was prepared for the Re- formation ; that it might extend its peaceful, purifying influences over the wide domains of Europe, and reach the arms of its benevolence over the vast territories about to be discovered, both in the East and in the West. This singular interposition was by no means overlooked at the time. The downfall of Grenada sent a thrill of joy throughout all Christendom, which echoed back in "te deums" from every corner of Spain and Portugal, from England, from Rome, and from the whole Christian world. Infidelity was forced to exclaim — "Behold, what hath God wrought!" 2. Another event, which carried with it n:\omentous consequences in relation to Christianity, and challenges our admiration, is the ti-ansfer of the immense and popu- lous terj-itories of Asia from their Romish masters to tht hands of Protestants. I have alluded to a similar transfer in the early occu- pation of North America. The fact of the large posses- sions which the Portuguese gained in India, and so soon and so completely lost, is still more remarkable. From the time the Portuguese first gained a foothold in India, till their vast empire had fallen into the hands of the English, scarcely more than a single century had elapsed. The ultimate design of this transfer, doubtless, has nol INDIA TKANSFERRED TO PROTESTANTS 107 yet transpired, yet we have seen enough ah-eady to ex- cite our admiration of a wonder-working Providence. Through the influence of Protestant England, the great and populous nations of the East are open to the entrance of the gospel. The Romish Inquisition has been sikneed; the powerful arm of idolatry has been bn^ken ; the haughty followers of the Arabian prophet have been humbled, and the strength of their power prostrated ; knowledge has been increased, and the blessings of eivili zation and the results of modern inventions and discov- eries have been introduced ; and finally, Christianity, to no inconsiderable extent, unfurled her mild banners over those lands of darkness and spiritual death ; and, pros- pectively, we can scarcely select an event pregnant with a richer harvest to the Christian church. In the singu- lar, and, to all human sagacity, unexpected transfer of those idolatrous nations from Catholic to Protestant hands, we distinctly discern the finger of God. "Only a little more than a century ago it was as likely, to all ap pearance, that the Mogul empire, (or India,) would have passed into the hands of France, of Portugal, of Den- mark, of Holland, or even of Russia, as of England. But under the jealous despotism of Russia, or the ascendency of a Romish power, India would have been closed against the missionary." We cannot, therefore, too much ad- mire that special Providence which has given almost the entire heathen world, India, China, Birmah, Austral- asia, and many of the islands of the sea, into the hands of the only Protestant nation " capable of efficiently dis- charging the high mission of genuine Christianity throughout the East." 3. The long and bloody war which Spain about this lime waged against Holland and the Low Countries, (1559) supplies another illustration. Philip II., Emperor of Spain, was a bigoted, cruel, intolerant Catholic. Hus- band of Mary, the bloody queen of England, and imbuec* with a like spirit, he worried out the saints of the Most High, by tortuies the most barbarous, and deaths the most cruel. When he had " hung and burnt" as many as fell under the cognizance of inN ARCHIES AND INPIDEL8 OVERTHROWN. 121 Paine, rise up in i.. - wrath, to put down Christianity iiingle handed. Yet she eeds their invectives as the moon did the barking of the pc/tly cur. She moves on in her majesty, while they die in agony and shame, and their names become a stench in the whole earth. Surely the hand of the Lord has held the ark. He has conducted it thus far, and will not forsake it now. He has reproved kings for her sake, saying: "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." The Lord's portion is his people : — to lead them m a " waste, howling wilderness ;" to instruct them ; to keep them as the apple of his eye, is the sleepless care of the God of Jacob. And if, like the eagle that " stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings," the Lord, sometimes, by the sterner dispensations of his provi- dence, rouses his people from their sloth, and teaches tliem to direct their reluctant souls *?eavenward, he is none the less mindful of their eternal well-being. Let it, then, be our chief concern that we be reconciled to God ; that our discordant spirits be hushed into har- mony with the Spirit that controls all events in this wide universe according to his sovereign will. And then, though his ;hariot wheels roll on in their resistless course, we shall not be crushed, but, drawn by the sweet influ' ences of everlasting love, our spirits shall find rest from evary sorrow, and rest in God forever. CHAPTER Vll. «o» M MotiBRX Missions. — ^Their early history. BencTolent societies. The Mora- TiAtxM. — English Baptists' society. Birznah Missions. David Bogue and the London Missionary Society. Captain James Wilson and the South Sea Mission. TV.etradi tion of the unseen God. — Success. Destruction of Idols. — Gospel l)raaght to Kn. rotu — ^Aitutaki — Rarotonga — Mangaia — Navigators' Islands. " And I saw another angel fiy in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earthy and to every nation^ and kindred, and tongue, and people.''* Rev xiv. 6. This angel is believed to prefigure the progress of the gospel, under the auspices of modern missions. The fig- ure is sublime and apt. High in the air, where his course is unobstructed by mountain, lake, sea or desert, he moves majestically on, as if to extend his flight around the world. Nothing impedes his course. In trumpet tones he proclaims pardon to a rebel world. The dwell- ers on the mountains and in the vales, the inhabitants ol the isles, hear the joyful sound, and respond in heart-felt melody as they receive the law of their God. The tur- baned tribes of India, they that traverse the wide wastes of Africa, or inhabit the eternal snows of the poles, wel- come the glad tidings, and praise Him who sitteth on the throne, and the adorable Lamb. As the angel speeds his flight, encompassed in a halo of celestial radiance, and scattering in his train the royal gifts of heaven, earth's remotest ends echo to the glad sounds of salva- tion by God's (Jjear Son. Such is the auspicious event symbolized by the flight of the angel. It would be a delightful anticipation to dwell on the glory and felicity of such a period ; when sin shall no more invade the peaceful bosom of man ; tears flow no more ; men no longer hate and devour one another ; fraud, oppression, wrong, be known no more : — righteousness shall reign ; purity and peace triumph, and the earth be full of the glory of the Lord. But this would be to leap wi'h mighty strides to that glorious goal L- UOD IN MODERN MISSIONS. 19U owards which the lines of Providence I am tracing are all converging. We must linger a little longer in the outer court, and see how the stately structure of the tern pie is reared. In preceding chapters, a variety of historical events have been made to illustrate the hand of God as stretched out to extend and protect his Zion. An immense pre- paratory work was doing in three of the great quarters of the globe. In America, a nation of Protestants was growing into manhood, and preparing, as a young man, to run a race ; the church being founded on a more spir- itual basis, was more free from political, social, and intel- lectual trammels than since the days of the apostles. In Asia, a great Christian and protestant empire was erect- ing in the very heart of idolatry ; while in Europe, a brilliant succession of events were transpiring, all tending to make room for the reformed church, and the doctrines of the cross. The Moors were driven out of Spain, and thus the burning tide of Mohammedanism, which had so long threatened to roll its fiery floods over all Europe, was turned back on the deserts of Africa. Queen Mary, of bloody memory, is foiled in some of her most cruel devices to exterminate from her dominions the religion of Luther and of the cross. The mad attempt of Philip II. of Spain, to bind the chains of spiritual despotism on the half protestant people of Holland and the low countries, results in the establishment of one of the most powerful protestant states in Europe. The proud, presumptuous attempt of the same bigoted prince to subjugate England to the yoke of catholic Spain and the more galling yoke of Rome, is signally frustrated in the destruction of the Spanish " Invincible Armada." Cromwell and Hampden are providentially arrested when on the eve of joining the pilgrims in New England, and thus the whole face of things in England and in Europe is changed in reference to the reformed church. The gun-powder plot is discov- eied Justin time to save a protestant government from being buried in one common ruin. The revolution of 1688 brings to the throne of England the protestant princes, William and Mary, just in time to rescue the periled cause of the reformed religion from the confede- 124 HAND OF GOD IN HISTOKV. rated malice* of James II. and Louis XIV., who noAv seemed about to crush it forever. Peter the Great unex pectedly becomes the defender of the faith in the Rus- sias ; and a rare constellation of great and good men, theologians, expositors, controversialists, historians, phi- losophers, logicians, orators and poets rise at this period, such as never appeared in the world before, men mighty in word and in deed, to develop the doctrines of the Re- formation and to defend its truths. And to this list I may add the American and French Revolutions of the eighteenth century ; the one of which secured to reformed Protestantism a free and a better soil on which to strike deep her roots and spread wide her branches ; and the Other struck a heavy blow on Papacy in Europe, and de- creed that man should be free. But to what point of convergency were the lines of Providence now tending ? If I mistake not, all these events were but fledging the wings of the angel who was soon to commence his flight, preaching the everlasting gospel — preparatory steps to that system of eflforts which has been devised, and is in progress for the conversion of the world to God. I am now prepared to point out the hand of God in the progress of Christianity' as seen in the origin and success of Modern Missions. The early history of missions to the heathen every where bears marks of providential interposition. We have seen how the ever busy and wisely guiding Hand has prepared the way for the flight of the angel. We shall now see how he was, in the commencement of his flight, borne aloft on the wings of the same never- failing, sleepless Providence. Special providences, in the origin of modern benevolent societies, and corresponding providential movements in the different portions of the loorld where these associations are destined to act, first challenge our admiration. And nothing here is more remarkable than the spontaneous and almost simultaneous up-shooting of a numerous con- stellation of benevolent associations at this particular period Within the space of forty years (1792 — 1831,) there arose, from the kindly influences of a preceding ORIGIN AND SUCCESS OF MISSIONS. I2ft age. more than forty charitable institutions, hall of which are missionary institutions, and the other half auxiliaries to the same great work. Whether or not we may be able to trace any striking interpositions of Providence in the origin of particular associations, the hand of God is abundantly manifested in bringing into existence, at nearly the same time, such a beautiful and potent anay i'or the moral conquest of the world. The whole early history of Moravian missions, the earliest ol' modern missions, is a record of interesting providences. Two young Greenlanders are providen- tially brought to Copenhagan — come to the notice of the Moravian brethren — their history and condition is searched out, (for true benevolence has many eyes, and is fiedged with angels' wings,) and a mission is immedi- ately determined upon. Hence the origin of Moravian missions. That a congregation, not exceeding six hundred per- sons in all, and most of them exiles from their native land, and poor, should originate the idea of missions to Green- land, to the West Indies, to Labrador, to America, to Af- rica, and Asia, is., of itself, sufficiently providential to en- list our admiration." But that they should, from genera- tion to generation, amidst incredible hardships and praise- worthy self-denial, sustain these missions, is still more tc) be admired. A volume would scarcely detail the all but miracuh'Uj interpositions of Providence in behalf of those missions In the midst of extraordinary perils by sea, and by land, from the elements and from savage men, the hand of God was, in a signal manner, with those devoted and self-denying men, who, foi Christ's and the gospel's sake, braved the eternal snows of the north. <>r sforched beneath the broiling sun of the equator. (U't did they encounter famine, pestilence, shipwreck, nnd distressing extremes of heat and cold ; and the Lord delivered them out of them all. When we take into the account the fewness of their number, their circumscribed ability, anrj the humbleness of their condition, the Moravians stood on an enviable pre-eminence in the work of missions. Here, emphatically, God ordained strength out of weakness. makinL' bare his own arm, and showing to the nation.' II 126 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. that He can conquer by the few or the many : David with his sling, single-handed, against Goliath. A better day was dawning on the church. This little star which rose and shed its placid light over the dark waters of Paganism, was the precursor of a constellation that should soon rise and shine brighter and brighter till the whole earth should be radiant with their light. Next in order rose the Baptist missionary society of England. It was not an orphan — it was the child of Providence. Its origin is worthy of note. An unwonted spirit of prayer prevails. A new thought enters the mind of one of the ministers met in association at Nottingham, in 1784. It is that one hour, on the first Monday evening of every month, should be devoted to prayer for the revi- val of religion, and the extension of the Redeemer's king-, dom throughout the earth. Here commenced the monthly meeting for prayer ; and here a series of the most brilliant conquests over the empire of darkness. Carey, the pio- neer of missions to India, was now brought to light, and the subject of the world's conversion began to be a topic of public discussion. The novel idea was now broached, to form a society to send out a mission ; and, after a little time, it was matured and realized, with a fund of £13 2^. Qd. Yet they had neither experience, nor a knowledge of any country where they might expect an open door for the gospel ; nor had they the men prepared to go forth on this untried enterprise. But Providence had devised the great plan, and would now reveal it. While these things were transpiring in England, a corresponding part of the scheme was ma- turing in India. About the time that prayer began to be offered up for the conversion of the world, and the monthly meeting for this purpose was established, a sur- geon, by the name of John Thomas, leaves England for Calcutta. The Lord stirs up his heart to attempt the spiritual benefit of the natives. Though unsuccessful in the attempt, his own heart becomes interested in the inmgs of religion, and he was, on his return to England, baptized in 1785. He returns to India, gains more knowl- edge of the countrj and the condition of the heathen, and feels more than ever solicitous for their spiritual welfare. BAPTIST AND LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 127 In l>im Providence had provided the newly organized so- ciety M'ith just such a helper and guide as they needed. Thomas being in London at the time referred to, is at once solicited to engage under the auspices of the society in the establishment of a mission in Bengal. And to what stately dimensions and vigor, and beneficent activity this child of Providence has since attained, all know who are acquainted with the history of the Englisn Baptist Mis- sionary Society. And the American Baptist Mission in Birmah may claim paternity in the same Providence. Two missiona- ries while on their way to India, under the direction of the A. B.C. F. M., became Baptists ; are naturally thrown, on their landing in Calcutta, among the English Baptist Mission ; fall under their auspices, and as far as provi- dential interposition and direction are concerned, may be regarded as a branch of the English Mission. Nor can we but admire the wonder- workings of Provi- dence as He wrought in the minds of Judson and Rice, and, by changing their views on a certain Christian rite, created, in some remote spot on the ocean, the germ of the American Baptist Missionary Society, roused that great and growing denomination to engage in the work of missions to the heathen, which they have since prose- cuted with much energy and with signal success. But look from another point ; the formation of the London Missionary Society. The set time to enlarge Zion's boundaries had come. The angel had commenced his flight. Some ten years after the formation of the Baptist society, (1797,) the Rev. David Bogue, of Gos- port, visits Bristol, to preach in one of Whitefield's taber- nacles. But there was nothing remarkable in this. He had preached there many times before. But now, in the parlor of the tabernacle house, he first broaches the idea of uniting Christians of different denominations in an association for the spread of the gospel. The thought was contagious — as the leaven in the meal. Many a pious mind caught the idea. Circulars were sent out ; ad- dresses made ; sermons preached ; private conversations and correspondence maintained ; the latent spirit of mis- sions, which had for ages slept in the church, is now 128 HAND OF GoD IN HISTORY. roused ; a society is organized ; funds promptly raised and an auspicious commencement made on the islands of the Pacific. But we shall be able to discern the finger of God more distinctly, if we allow the eye to pass cursorily over some of the particular missions of this Board. We may, al the very outset, record one of those interesting prov: dential interpositions on which the eye of confiding piety delights to dwell. The first corps of missionaries were ready to embark ; and a missionary ship, the Duff, was ready to convey them. But who should command it T They needed a skillful, wise, benevolent man, a con trolling mind, who should come to the aid of the society at this crisis. Such was Capt. James Wilson. His eventful life in the East Indies had more, perhaps, than that of any man living, singled him out as an object of God's peculiar care ; a chosen vessel, and a valued in- strument in his work among the Gentiles. The life of Wilson is a beautiful illustration of our subject : while engaged in an important and perilous ser- vice for the East India Company in their war with Hyder Ally, he was taken prisoner by the French , escaped from his prison by leaping from a wall forty feet high ; swam the Coleroon river, an attempt ac- counted by the natives as certain death, on account of the multitude of alligators which infest it ; was seized by some of Hyder Ally's peons ; stripped ; his hands tied behind his back, and he barbarously driven to head quar- ters. From thence, chained to a common soldier, he was driven, naked, barefoot and wounded, a distance of five hundred miles. Loaded with ponderous chains, he was now thrown into a prison, known as the Black Hole Here he suffered incredible hardships from hunger, sulTo- cation and excessive heat. Often a corpse was unchained from his arm in the morning, that a living sufferer might take its place. Amid such accumulated misery, he was preserved for twenty-two months. Emaciated, naked, famished and covered with ulcers, he was liberated. Yet in all this, he acknowledged not the hand that pre- served him. He was afterwards successful in business, accumtda- PIET\ AND BENEVOLENCE OF WILSON. 129 ted a fortune, and returned to England in the same vessel in which Mr. Thomas of the Baptist Mission, (mark the hand of God here,) was passenger. Mr. Thomas often urged on his mind the great truths of religion, tnough apparently to little effect. Yet the eye of God was on him. He was a chosen vessel. Retired from foreign service to affluence and ease, he revelled in all the pleas- ures and gratifications which fortune and friends could bestow. Yet in the midst of nis enjoyments, a series of the most interesting incidents became the means of his conversion to a life of godliness. He became an eminent and devoted Christian. A magazine falls into his hands about this time, communicating an incipient plan of a mission to the South Sea Islands. The suggestion imme- diately arises in his mind that here is work for hvn. Willing to sacrifice the comfort and ease of an affluent and dignified retirement, he gratuitously tenders his ser- vices in this new and benevolent enterprise, to command the missionary ship. For gain, he had braved the stormy ocean ; he will do it again for Christ. His services were accepted ; and the early history of the South Sea Mis- sion is ample voucher how much, under God, the success of that enterprise was indebted to the experience and skill, as well as to the piety and benevolence of the noble Wilson. He was raised up, and by a rigid course of discipline, prepared for just such an untried and daring enterprise. While the friends of missions where maturing the plan for this bold expedition on the one hand, God was, by a singular process, on the other, preparing one who should take the command in an undertaking so novel and im- portant. The voyage was prosperous. Twenty-five laborers were taken out, and a mission established. For sixteen } ears they sow the precious seed upon a rock. No gen- erous soil receives it ; no friendly sun or fertilizing shower, causes it to vegetate. They seemed to labor in vain. The heavens over them are brass, and the earth iron. Desolating wars, and abominable, cruel idolaltries, are the all-absorbino; themes of the natives. But the dav 180 HAND OK GOD IN HISTORY. of deliverance is at hand — and in a manner to show that the hand which wrought it was the Lord's. The missionaries are unexpectedly driven from the islands by the fury of war, and their fond hopes of seeing tiieir labors successful, and the cross planted in those regions of death, seemed completely blasted. But tlds was GoiTs time to work. When the field had been abandoned to the ravages of war, and amidst the very desolations of all their expectations of success, the work of conversion began. The good seed of the woid had, unknown to the missionaries, taken deep root in the minds of two domestics who had been employed in their family. Though " buried lon^ in dust," the eye of Prov- idence watched it, and would not suffer the precious seed to be lost. Others gathered around these first fruits, earnests of a glorious harvest. The wars ceased ; the missionaries returned ; and what must have been their joy and astonishment, to be welcomed back by a large company of praying people !* They had now only to cast the seed as profusely as they could, into a soil pre- pared to their hands. There is, too, a beautiful counterpart to this signal Providence. While these things are transpiring at the islands, a dark cloud of discouragement gathers over the society at home. Years of fruitless toil had elapsed, and the Directors entertained serious thoughts of abandoning the mission altogether. This disheartening resolution was overruled by the determinate friendship and muni- ficence of Dr. Ilaweis, and the irretractable attachment to the enterprise of the Rev. Matthew Wilks. The mis- sion was sustained. Letters of encouragement were written to the Islands ; and what is worthy of remark, tchile these letters were on their way, they were passed by a ship conveying to England not only the news of the overtlirow of Idolatry, but the rejected idols themselves. Nor should we here overlook another Providence in the auspicious commencement of this mission. The shock of an earthquake is felt in Tahiti, a thing, till then, unknown to the Tahitians. This creates no little alarm. * Williams' Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands. SUCCESS OP MISSIONS IN TAHITI. [31 and gives rise to many conflicting opinions as to the meaning of such a phenomenon. At length, an old chief rehearses to the people a tradition which existed on the island, viz. : that there is an unseen God, and that stran- gers would, at some period, visit the island to tell thorn about this Being. In his opinion, he said, the earthquake vas caused by this unseen God, and that the men who jhould tell them about him, must be near at bond. In a few days a strange sail is seen standing into the bay. It was the Duff, Capt. James Wilson, with the first mission- aries for Tahiti. The destruction of their idols was the beginning of a series of successes which, for more than forty years, have blessed those numerous groups of islands, so that, witiiin two thousand miles of Tahiti, the radiating point of light in those dark seas, there is not a single island which has not been illumined by the Sun of Righteousness. Where will you find a parallel to this in all the annals of Christianity ? Instances Uke the following might be recounted to almost any extent. An epidemic prevails on the island of Ru- rutu, an island some three hundred miles south of Tahiti. The superstitious inhabitants, believing it to be the inflic- tion of some angry god, two of their chiefs determine to build each a large boat, and, with as many of their people as could be conveyed, to commit themselves to the winds and the waves, in search of some happier isle. They feared, if they stayed, " being devoured by the gods." A violent storm overtakes them ; one canoe yields to its fury, and nearly the whole crew perish ; the other is driven about for three weeks, over the trackless deep, they know not whither, in the most pitiable condition for ihe ^ant of food and water. But an unerring hand giiided them. They were driven to the Society Islands. Totally unacquainted with Christianity, or the comforts of civilization, these untutored savages were not a little astonished at the improved condition of the Society Islanders. Their books, schools, temporal comforts, mode of worship, and especially the account they now heard of the true God, were novel and astounding. They were at once convinced of the superiority and the divinity of 132 . HAND OF GOD IN HfSTORY. llie Christian religion, and believed they had been con- ducted here that they might become acquainted with a nioie excellent way. They became immediately inter ested in tlie gospel ; made astonishing proficiency i'a learning and after a few months returned to their naf've isle, accompanied, at their earnest request, by two na tire missionaries, who brought light into the land oi larkness. This remarkable providence not only brought to the notice of the mission a new island, full of benighted, im- mortal souls, and was the first of a series of events which soon added this lovely isle to the domains of Immanucl's empire, but in connection with this, appeared the first germ of the missionary spirit among the native converts, ol tile South Sea Islands. Freely they had received, and irom this time forwaiJ, freely did they give, till island after island, group after group, were encircled in the extended arms of Christian benevolence. The history of the South Sea Islands is a history of providential interpositions. Pomare, King of Tahiti, proposed to his assembled chiefs the adoption of Chris- tianity and the destruction of their idol gods. Many chief's strenuously oppose. A powerful chief comes for- ward, accompanied by his wife. They cordially second the king's proposition, declaring that they had, for some time past, been contemplating the destruction of theii own idols. This state of mind had been induced by the death of a beloved and only daughter. Having in vain sought help from priests and gods, by all that rich sacri- fices and profuse presents could avail, they were bitterly enraged at their gods, and ready to cast them away as useless. The scale now seemed turning in favor dI Christianity ; when another occurrence threatened more than to balance it. Tajma, another mighty chief and a formidable warrior, who had conquered many islands, was present at this consultation, and threatened by every means in his power to oppose the king's proposition to destroy the idols. But his puissant arm was soon palsied, and his haughty spirit yielded to the all-conquering scythe of death. His timely removal left behind no formidable ol)stacle to the destruction of idolatry and the introdur- DESTRUCTION OF IDOLS. 133 tion of Christianity.* But for the death of this chief Christianity, it is believed, could not have been in- troduced. Who can read the record of such events, and not dis- cern the hand of God ? What miracles once effected, may now be achieved by the special interpositions of l*ro\ idence. The introduction of the gospel at Aitutaki, was similar to that of Tahiti. The death of a chief's daughter so incensed the parents against the gods, and impaired the confidence of the people in their aid, that they immedi- ately abandoned them. There is, perhaps, not a more marked interposition of Providence in the whole history of Christianity, than in the extensive and almost simul- taneous movements among the Pagan nations of the Pacific to cast away their idols and to embrace a new religion. The people of another Island — Mangaia — brutally abuse the first teachers sent them, and drive them from their shores. A disease breaks out among them, which spares neither age nor youth, high nor low. They be- lieve it to be the vengeance of the " God of the strangers ;" and from this time they received the missionaries gladly, and cordially embraced the religion of the cross. In another instance a native Christian woman of Tahiti is providentially cast on the beautiful but idolatrous Island of Rarotonga. She speaks freely of the change which Christianity had produced on her native island. These things came to the ears of the king, and as a consequence the king and royal household, the chiefs and peop";©, were prepared to receive the new religion, as it was shortly after introduced. In another instance, a foul wind ar- rests the " Messenger of Peace," (the name of the mis- sionary vessel,) which was bearing Mr. Williams from one island to another in his errands of mercy, and he is, much to his disappointment, and after contending in vain for several days with the elements, compelled to put in at " While the king was meditating and proposing to destroy the idol gods, the young man who kept them formed the bold re^ulutiuii of doing the deed. A day is fixed; a (ile of conibiifiibles prepared ; the people are gathered around, and the idols aw brought out and thrown on tt'e pile. 134 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. the Island of Mangaia. Here had been gained from the moral wastes of Paganism a beautiful vineyard. The vine brought out of Egypt had been planted here, and had taken some root, and began to put forth its tender branches, but the vandal foot of war was raised over it, and but one Jay later and the hedge would have been broken down, and that vine trodden under foot. The heathen chiels had determined, by one decisive blow, to rid themselves of the whole Christian party. Mr. W., with two or three Ciiristian chiefs, hastened on shore, repaired to the hostile chiefs, and, before the deadly attack of the morrow came, die raging tempest was assuaged — the war prevented. And the happy result was the dissolution of the league against the Christians, and the removal of most of the heathen to the Christian settlement. It is, indeed, a fact worthy of remark, that no consider- able Island in the South Seas embraced Christianity with- out a war, though always defensive on the part of the Christians. Providence here singularly interposed, dis- comfited the heathen, gave the victory to his people, and established the religion of the cross. I shall adduce but one illustration more : It was long in the heart of the indefatigable Williams, (since murdered and eaten by the savages,) to carry the news of salvation to the Navigators' or Samoa Islands. The reluctance of his wife dissuaded him from the enterprise. But the tiiousands of that interesting group shall not perish with- out the light of the Gospel. Two or three years pass, and the design in the mind of Williams seems to be aban- doned. His wife is brought by the heavy hand of God to suffer a protracted and severe illness. She revolves in her mind why the hand of God is thus laid on her, and what is the lesson he would have her learn. She says to her husband;, " I freely consent to your absence in ^ youi contemplated visit to the Navigators' Islands." Nor was the iiand of God less manifest in the progress than in the commencement of this important, and, in many respects, hazardous undertaking. They touch on their way at the Island of Tongatabu — an active respectable looking native presents himself, says he is a chief of the Navigators' Islands, and related to the ULTIMATE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL. 135 mosf influential families. His assertions are corroboi ated ; and he desires and obtains a passage to his native islands in the mission ship, promising to do all in his power to favor the introduction of the gospel there. During the voyage he informs Mr. Williams that he need anticipate but one formidable obstacle to the realization of his wishes in relation to the Navigators' Islands : it was the violent opposition which might be met from Tamafainga, a kind of high-priest, in whom it was said " the spirit of the gods dwelt." If he opposed, all further attempts would be vain. But they are wafted on by the favorable breeze, and seem soon about to land on the desired spot. But adverse winds blow, and a furious storm drives them from their course. Their sails are rent, the vessel crippled, and several of the men sick with influenza. All these things seemed against them — why could they not have been conveyed by that favoring breeze to the destined landing? for they came on an errand of mercy, and Heaven is not wont to frown on such enterprises. After several days painful delay ihey arrive, and what must have been their admiration of the dealings of Pro- vidence, when they were told that Tamafainga loas dead ! He was killed but ten days before. The storm had de- tained them, that they might arrive precisely at the light time, to introduce the new religion. Ten days earlier, their efforts would have been abortive on account of the opposition of the high-priest. A few days later his suc- cessor would have been appointed, and all their attempts equally fruitless. Thus the gospel was introduced into those islands un- der the most favorable auspices, and followed by the most unprecedented success. IJut I pause for the present. To write a history of rtiissionary providences would be to write a history of missions. Our subject affords a delightful assurance of ultimate success in all our well-directed efforts to convert the v:orld. We need only to recur to the illustrations already ad- duced, to convey to our minds infinite satisfaction that He who lias begun the good work will carry it on. He that can make the winds, the waves, the pestilence, the 136 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. fury of war, his ministers, can work and none can hinder. Tlie Lord hath sworn and he cannot go back, that he will give to his Son the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. The angei having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the face of the whole earth, has begun his glorious flight. Move on, thou blessed messenger of peace, till earth's remotest bounds shall join in the grand jubilee oi the world's redemption. CHAPTER VIII. Modern Missions continued.— Ilenry Obookiah and the Sandwich Islands. Van. couver and the Council. Dr. Vanderkemp and South Africa. Africaner. Hand ol God in the Origin of Benevolent Societies. Remarkable preservation of Missiouariea. ^^ And I savj another angel jly in the midst of Heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the face of the earth." Rev. xiv. 6. In the last chapter, attention was directed to an inter- esting period in the history of Christianity. We saw the angel, having the everlasting gospel to preach, directing his adventurous flight over the broad Pacific, scattering blessings from his wings on the beautiful isles that sit on its bosom. " Truly, the isles waited for the law of their God." In not a few instances, the people, in expectation of the missionary ship, cast away their idols, erected places for public worship, and waited for the coming of the " JMessenger of Peace." It is related that in several in- stances, before the gospel was introduced, though ex- pected, " they were known to assemble at six o'clock on Sabbath morning, sit in silence an hour or more, and re- peat this a second, and even a third time, during the day.' Before leaving this new and wide theatre on which HENRT OBOOK.IAH. 137 God has of late, and in a most extraordinary manner, been pleased to display the riches of his grace, I shall recount yet another instance of remarkable providential interpo sition. The illustration is familiar — you will discern the finger of God in the tale. An orphan boy on one of the Sandwich Islands, 3f twelve years old, is seen escaping from a scene of the most disgusting carnage. He bears on his back an infant brother of only two months old. They are pursued ; the infant is transfixed with a spear, while the lad is spared and led away the captive of war. He is the only survi- vor of his family. The father and mother, with these two boys, had, on the approach of the enemy to their village, fled to the mountains ; but were soon sought out and cut to pieces before the face of their children. Henry, the surviving boy, remained for some time with the man whom he had seen kill his father and his mother — is at length found by an uncle, who takes him to his house, and keeps him one or two years. Again is he, with his aunt, a prisoner of war — makes his escape — secretes himself at a little distance, whence he soon saw his aunt conducted from the prison to a precipice, from which she was thrown headlong, and dashed to pieces. Now alone in the world and disconsolate, he determines to end a miserable exist- ence in the same way he had seen his relative meet her tragic death. As soon as the enemy disappeared from the precipice, he approached to execute his horrid pur- pose. But being discovered by one of the hostile party, he is rescued just in time to save a life which should be the hand of Providence to bring life and immortality to light among his benighted countrymen. Again we find him, by some means once more restored to his uncle ; yet weary of life, and the last of his race, he never ceases to bemoan his parents. In this state of despondency and wretchedness, he conceives the strange idea of seeking an asylum in some foreign country. While in this state of mind an American ship arrives. Young Obookiah was immediately on board to seek a passage to America. His uncle refused to let him go, and shut him up in his house. But the young adventurer 138 HAND OF GOD IN HISTOKV. finds means to escape, and is again on board, and is allowed to sail. i^ut nnark the next link in the chain. There is on board this vessel a pious young man, (Russel Hubl)aid,) a student of Yale College, who becomes a friend o!" young llonry, and takes much pains to instruct him in the -udi me. Its of learning, of which he was totally ignoiani After a few months we find Henry in New Haver. Wandering about the college yard, he attracts the atten- tion of E. W. Dwight, who, from this time, become? his friend and teacher — is introduced into the family of Dr. Dwight, and finally comes to the knowledge of Samuel J. Mills, who takes him to his father's, in Torringford. Thence, after some time, he is transferred to Andover — becomes a Christian — lives in diflerent places in Massa- chusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire — every where adorns a good profession — manifests a burning zeal for the salvation of his countrymen, and much solicitude for the salvation of all men. At length we find him in the mission school at Cornwall — the same decided, consistent Christian ; the industrious scholar ; the amiable compan- ion, ever loved and highly respected. He has by this time produced a strong interest in favor of the Sandwich Islands. A mission thither was always his fond hope and the object of his unremitting toil. It was a much cherished idea that he might return, a mes- senger of peace, to his deluded countrymen ; and for ihis purpose he used all diligence to be prepared. But, strange dispensation of Providence ! he is cut down by the relent- less hand oi' death, bsfore he sees one of his benevolent schemes for his native island executed. But let us pause here and mark the hand of God. The time of blessed visitation had come for the isles of the sea The English churches had already taken of the spoil oi their idols, and were .rejoicing and being enriched by their conquests. The American Zion must i)articipate in the honctr and profit of the war. Hence Henry Oboo- kiah, an obscure boy, without father or mother, kindred or tie, to bind him to his native land, must be brought to our shores ; be removed from place to place, from institu- tion to institution, everywhere fanning into a ilame tnt' HIS WIPELY LAMENTED DEATH. 13i* smoking flax oi' a missionary spirit, and giving it some definite direction ; be made the occasion of rousing tho slumbering energies of the church on behalf of the heatnen, and of kindling a spirit of prayer and benevolence in the liearts of God's people ; and finally, and principally, his short and interesting career, and, perhaps, more than all, nis widely lamented death, should originate and mature a scheme of missions to those islands, the present aspect of which presents scenes of interest scarcely inferior to those of the apostolic age. Behold, what a great matter a little fire kindleth ! But there is another aspect in which we must view the pleasing interposition. While Henry Obookiah was being used as the hand of Providence in preparing (through Mills and Hall, Griffin and Dwight, and others on whom his influ- ence bore,) the American church to engage in a plan of benevolent action, definitely directed towards the islands of the Pacific, there was a process transpiring at the islands still more interesting, if possible, and more strongly marked as the handi-work of God. Already had the decree passed for the destruction of idolatry, and those islands, too, were ivaiting for the law of their God. An incident here will illustrate. I give it as taken from the lips of the Rev. Mr. Richards on his late visit to this country. On the arrival of our first company of mission- aries, a consultation of the king and chiefs was held, whether they should be allowed to remain. Different opinions were advanced, supported by as different reasons. The second day of these deliberations had nearly closed without any decisive result. Now there came into the council the aged secretary of the late king, who had just returned from a neighboring island. He had long been a sort of chronicler of the nation. His mind, in the ab- sence of written documents, was a kind of historical de- pot. His opinion was asked, and his decision determined the momentous question, whether the " glad tidings of great joy," which had then, for the first time, reached the islands, should be proclaimed, or the darkness of death which then brooded over them become darker than before. Addressing the young king, he said : " what did the late king, your father, enjoin on you as touching these 12 140 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY, men who now ask yoar protection and a residence among us ?' " He left in charge nothing concerning these men, said the young king. " Did he not repeat to you what Vancouve7- said to him, as he looked upon our gods, and pitied our folly ? — how he said that not many years wouki elapse before Englishmen would come and teach a bettci religion, and that you must protect such teachers, and isten to them, and embrace their religion ? Now they have come, and what would your father have you do with them ?" He resumed his seat ; the young king recalled the charge of his royal sire, and this " little matter" fixed the decision that opened the flood-gates of mercy to thou- sands of the most abject of our race, and formed the, commencement of a successful career of benevolent ac- tion which shall not cease with time. Discern ye not the finger of God here ? But "the history of the introduction of the gospel at the Sandwich Islands, is too strikingly illustrative of a super- intending Providence, to be passed without further detail. Yet the history of other missions may furnish illustrations no less interesting. We shall here, at every step, trace the foot-prints of providential interposition. For some time previous to the introduction of the gos- pel at those Islands, Providence was actively preparing the way for such an event. The Islands were now brought to the notice of civilized and Christian nations ; a few such men as Vancouver had visited them and done much to prepare the native mind favorably to receive the means of civil and religious renovation, when they should be offered ; the conflicting interests of different chiefs had been very much annihilated in the conquests of Kamehameha, who had consolidated the whole group under one government, and thus prepared the way for a national reformation. As in the days of Augustus Cesar and the advent of Christ, the clangor of war was hushed, and facilities, as at no former period, afforded for the spread of the truth. And, more than all, a prediction existed that the time drew nigh when a " communication should be made to them from heaven entirely different from any thing ''i-ey had known, and that the tabus of the conn REMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF KAAHUMANU. 141 try should be destroyed." This singular prediction, the result, no doubt, of that presentiment or general expceta- tion which is wont to pervade the public mind on the eve of some great national change, did much to prepossess the minds of the popular mass to let go their idols, and accept the gospel when offered. It was the dim shadow of events yet hid in the dark future ; it was the still, small voice of God, announcing his purposes of mercy to these long-benighted islands. A few specific instances will indicate how God provi- ded himself with some of the chief instruments in the late extraordinary work at the islands, and how he re- moved obstacles. A female child is born in an obscure corner of the Island of Maui. Her parents, who had once basked in the sunshine of the royal favor, are now languishing in the shades of neglect, destitute and depressed. Twice, when an infant, was she providentially saved from drown- ing. Wrapped in a roll of kapa, she w;is laid by her parents on the top of a double canoe, t'losn which, as tossed by the waves, she fell into the se;i. The floating kapa being discovered in time, she was dravvn as from a watery grave. Again, when in her cliildh<)t)d, being near the sea with her mother, she was caught by a huge wave, rolling suddenly in, and in its recoil carried her beyond her depth, and was for the moment given up for lost. She was now a third time rescued from the jaws of death; yet none but the Great Deliverer knew for what a noble purpose. It was a stormy period of Hawaiian history. Her child- hood was spent amidst scenes of violence and blood. A revolution is in progress ; a ferocious, warlike king of Hawaii, (Kamehameha,) gains the dominion of the islands ; the destinies of the family of Kaahumanu, (the heroine of my tale,) begin to rise. Her father being one of the conqueror's chief supporters, she, like the renowned Noor Mahal, of oriental memory, is brought to the notice of this western Mogul, — is numbered among his wives, — ^becomes his favorite queen, and at his death, as regent, holds the kingdom in trust for his son. While a bigoted idolater, proud, haughty, independent, h^ HAiVU OF GOD IN HISTORY. she gave indications of possessing the elements of the noble character which was afterwards exhibited in the humble, zealous Christian, the pious Regent and the en lightened philanthropist. To her, principally, was owing the abolition of the talm system and of image worship, and to her, more than to any other person, was the American mission indebted for permission to remain on the islands after the expira- tion of their year's probation, and for their success. While yet unreclaimed from the bondage of idolatry, her proud, independent spirit, led her to seize the first oppor- tunity, (offered by the death of her late royal husband,) to disenthrall herself and the chief women of the nation from the chains and degradation of the tabu. Placed providentially next the throne, where she could speak with authority, and supported by several chief women oi royal blood, she boldly asserted the " rights of woman, unrestrained by a lordly husband," and protested against the unreasonable disabilities under which they had been placed. She demanded equal privileges with men, in re- spect to eating and drinking, and the termination of those distinctions and restraints which were felt to be degrading and oppressive. This important step gained, she had unwittingly opened the way for the introduction of the gospel. She favored the plans and wishes of the mission from the first, and was an efficient instrument in its establishment and in its progress, though not herself brought under its vital power. A withering sickness is at length sent upon her, and she seems nigh unto death; The missionaries are now afford- ed the opportunity to show what kindness, sympathy and hope, the gospel holds out to them who languish and draw near to death. She appreciates their sympathies and instructions ; seems deeply impressed ; becomes a firmer friend of the mission, yet is not converted. A few years more roll away, and we find her in a mission school ; the truth is gradually gaining ascendency in her mind ; she yields to its power, and becomes a humble, lovely, decided, energetic Christian. In the mean time, by the death of the young king, she again becomes Regent of the kingdom, and loses no KAAHUMAVU BECOMES A CHRISTIAN. 143 opportunity to use her great influence, whether in the formation of laws, the restraint of sin, or the encourage- ment of virtue ; in the promotion of education ; in tours over the islands to foster the new work of reform, or in her personal teachings ; and more than all, in the exam pie of a pure, unostentatious, effective piety, to hasten the complete subjugation of her islands to the rule oi Immanuel. I hazard nothing in saying, if posterity shall do justice to her memory, history will accord to Kaahumanu a high rank as a rUicr, a statesman and a Christian. She lived and reigned in troublous times. The nation was just emerging from barbarism. A complete revolution was to be effected, from the throne to the meanest subject. The fountains of the great deep were broken up, and a new order of things was to be established in government, in morals and in religion ; and it is believed the annals of history present few persons, under the circumstances in which she lived and reigned, who have acquitted them- selves better towards man and towards God, — more essentially aiding the progress of Divine truth and of civil liberty. Having mentioned the death of the young king, (Liho- liho,) we are reminded of another remarkable providen- tial interposition, without which all the awakened ele- ments of reform might have been crushed in the bud. The young king was a wayward, unstable, dissipated youth, easily led astray by wicked foreigners. He prom- ised little as a Reformer of the nation, — was likely to prove a formidable obstacle. But what a singular inter- position of the hand of God now ! The king suddenly conceives the idea of going to England, uninvited, unan- nounced, and seemingly for no adequate or definite pur- pose. The excellent Kaahumanu now becomes Regent. A few months elapse, and the king dies in England ; and a few months more and his remains are brought back to the island in the frigate Blonde, commanded by the excellent Lord Byron, (cousin of the poet,) who, perhaps, fulfilled the most important mission of Providence in the wnole matter. The counsels he gave to the chiefs and people, his noble bearing towards the mission and its ob (44 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. jects, the notoriety and character he gave to the mission, the rebuke which his enlightened and enlarged philan- thropy, administered to the narrow, selfish and wicked policy of many foreigners at the islands, all conspired to make the visit of the Blonde most opportune and influen- tial for good. It was worth, to the cause of moral refor- mation, the sending into the Pacific of the whole British navy. The king being removed, and certain ill-affected chiefs absent as a part of the king's suite, the good work went on apace. Now Kaahumanu, (whose regency continued nine years,) aided by the excellent chief Kalanimoku, who, from a very early period in the mission, was a staunch supporter, and Kaumualii, late king of Kauai, who had been as early and as heartily enlisted on behalf of Reform, on account of the safe return of his son from America, and the kind attentions and expense bestowed on him there to educate him, (another important link in the providential chain,) set herself in good earnest to the work of radical Reform at her islands. And so deeply had its foundations been laid before any very formidable adverse influences were permitted to return upon them, that they could not now be removed from their place. That a restless, roving, dissipated youth, clad in the robes of savage royalty, should conceive the freak of going to England, made but a small ripple on the waters of the great world; yet it was again a first link in a most interesting series of events : a little fire that kindled a great matter. Among the hostile chiefs, the mission had not a more formidable foe than Boki, the governor of Oahu. He had accompanied the king to England, and returned, hav- ing learned to admire only the worse features of civilized life. His vacillating course, wishing to seem to be carry- mg out the policy of the Regency, while at heart opposed to it, his hostility to the Reforms of Kaahumanu, and his connivance at the wicked devices of certain wicked foreigners, and his readiness to aid them in their schemes to evade or break down the laws of the government, made him truly a formidable foe. So mature did his hos- tility at length become, that he headed an insurrection SHIPWRECK AND HEATH OF BOKI. 145 against the government, with the intent to assume the reins himself. But mark the hand of God here, and you will see how he and many of his insurrectionary and most to be feared adherents, are put out of the way. Nothing is easier with Him who turns the hearts of mer as the rivers oii water are turned. Boki suddenly conceives the notion of an expedition to a distant island, to cut sandal wood, hoping thereby to repair his dilapidated fortune^ Pursuing his prepara- tions on the Sabbath, he embarks in two vessels, with more than four hundred of his adherents, natives and Ibreigners, most of whom hate the light which now for the first time is dawning on the islands. Never, perhaps, were two vessels ever freighted with more rancorous hostility to the bands and cords of a pure religion. And did they return in all safety ? No : the Lord had separated them from his people, that he might destroy them. When far out at sea, a storm arose. The vessel in which Boki embarked, is heard of no more. The other returns with only twenty survivors, twelve natives and eight foreigners. Like Pharaoh and his' host, the sea opened its mouth and swallowed them up alive. Such was probably the fate of the vessel in which Boki sailed. The other was overtaken by a mortal sickness ; one hun- dred and eighty died, and twenty were left sick on a dis tant island. Thus did God disarm the strong man, and bring to nought the devices of the wicked. His little church on those late favored islands, is as the apple of his eye. As of old. He " suffered no man to do them wrong ; yea, He reproved kings for their sake, saying, touch not mine mointed, and do my prophets no harm." Were it needful, a great variety of similar instances might be adduced ; such as the very timely vi.-it of the Rev. William Ellis, London missionary from the Society islands, and Messrs. Tyerman and Bennet, dt |)utation from the London society, with several South Sea con- veris. Nothing could be more opportune than theiT arrival at this time, to counsel, encourage and assist oui missif>n in its incipient stages, and when few in number 146 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. and of small resources and experience ; and especialh opportune and providential was the visit of the South Sea converts. They were not only living illustrations of what the gospel can do, but they brought a report ol the success of the gospel on their islands, and the readi- ness of the chiefs and people to abandon their idols, anl embrace Christianity, which was more influential in pe>r- suading the kings, chiefs and people of the Sandwich Islands, than the eloquence of scores of foreign mission- aries. Or such as the visits to the islands of the United States sloops-of-war, Peacock and Vincennes, whose command- ers and officers, by their gentlemanly conduct and en lightened Christian philanthropy, imposed a timely check, and, by the uprightness of their intercourse with chiefs aad people, administered a timely and salutary rebuke on the waywardness of a class of loose and vicious for- eign residents. And in nothing, perhaps, was the hand of God more conspicuous than in the manner in which the shameless outrages, from time to time committed by this same class of foreigners, such as ship-masters, sailors, naval officers, were overruled for the furtherance of the gospel. Not an attack was made on the mission which did not add character to the missionaries, give notoriety and reputation to the mission and its work, and deepen, in the minds of its patrons, the conviction that a great and a good work was in successful progress. But we have, perhaps, lingered too long on those specks on the ocean. Our apology is, that the arm of the Lord is there wonderfully revealed. We tuni now in another direction, where the footsteps of Providence are quite as visible in the establishment of another mission. I refer to South Africa ; and at a time when her moral atmosphere was darker than the ebon hue of her people. Scarcely has any portion of the hu- man family been so debased and abused as the South Africans. And as the day of deliverance drew near, the bondage of sin grew more and more cruel. The corrupt mass became, of itself, yearly more corrupt, till it seemed that a few years more must have exterminated a wretched race from the face of the earth. They approached the MISSIONS TO SOUTH AFRICA. 147 climas of thtir misery. They had learned that sin is an evil thing, and bitter, yet its dregs they had not drunken till they were subjected to the relentless despotism and the shameless outrages of the Dutch boers. They were treated as brute beasts — were shot down in their hunting excursions as the jackal or the hyena. A daughter of a Dutch governor was heard to boast how many natives she had shot with her own hands. Yet tiiere was deliverance for the poor Hottentot. The star of hope rose out of the darkesi cloud that ever brooded over a wretched land. Providence was all this time preparing for them the full horn of salvation. An iniquitous government was filling up its measure, and hastening to its doom ; while another nation, which Heaven has appointed to open the door of the nations to the gospel, was ready to take possession, and the almoners of Heaven's mercy were laying in rich stores for distri- bution among the needy sons of Ham. How events so unexpected and extraordinary were brought to pass, may be seen better from another point of observation. A httle pleasure boat is seen sailing on the river Maese, near Dort, in Holland. It contains a fine looking, gentle- manly man, in middle age, with his wife and daughter. They glide along in all the gay luxuriance of a life of ease, and, perhaps, never feel more secure of hfe and pleasure. A cloud has risen — the sky is overcast — a squall disturbs the waters of the placid stream. The boat is upset, and the wife and daughter are drowned. The husband, after a long struggle and hair breadth escape of death, having been carried down the stream nearly a mile, is picked up by the crew of a vessel, which, provi- dentially, had at this very moment been loosed from her moorings. As the bereaved father and disconsolate husband > turned to his solitary dwelling, his citizens recognized in him Dr. Vanderkemp, the gentleman of affluence and pleasure, who had come to spend at Dort the remaindei of his days in literary pursuits and rural amusements. They had known him only as the man of the world, the naveler, the scholar, the infidel. Though a son of an excellent Dutch clergyman, and a scholar of the first 148 HAND OF GOD IN FIISTORY. rank in the university of Leyden, he chose the army as the road to honor and affluence. Here he served sixteen years ; when, unfortunately, he made a wreck of mora] character by imbibing principles of the grossest infidelity. Next, we find him in the University of Edinburgh, pursu- ing studies preparatory to the practice of medicine. iVext honorably and successfully exercising his profes- sion on the island of Zealand ; and, finally, the retired gentleman at Dort. But from the hour that God sent his tempest and sunk his little bark, and buried his hopes beneath the waves, and made the earth around look dark, a change comes over the scene. The infidel is reclaimed. The retired soldier, the man of leisure, the scholar, that was laying down his armor, and yielding ingloriously to the fascina- tions of pleasure, enlists anew. When the Great Cap- tain had need of another Paul, to bear his name to the Gentiles — to raise the standard of the cross in Africa, he arrested the proud and unbelieving Vanderkemp — cut oflf his family with a stroke — covered his pleasant home with desolation — loosed his strong hold on earth, and then opened the way to him — to his vast learning, his long ac- cumulating experience and wisdom — his enterprise and wealth, an ample field in South Africa. On the ensuing Sabbath he is found in the long-neg- lected sanctuary, commemorating the death of our blessed Lord — and as Christ is evidently set before him, cr-U' cified and slain for the remission ofsip", his heart is subdued by the power of divine grace, and he receives the Lamb of God as the great sacrifice and atonement, and hence- forward he seeks to do the will of his new master. About this time the London Missionary Society began to diiect attention to the long-neglected and abused con- tinent of Africa. An address of that society reached Vanderkemp. Men, money, influence, learning, experi- ence were wanted for the noble enterprise. He had them all — his warm heart took fire: " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" Tliough the meridian of his life was passed, its remaining suns shall sb.ine on the benighted 'and of Ham. His purpose is fixed — and soon the winds are wafting him to the hind of the Hottentots and the UR. VANUKRKKMP AND AFRlUAMiK. 149 Calfres ; where he labors, the indefatigable and success- ful missionary, thirteen years. But this is not all : while an instrumentality is prepar- ing in Europe, the field for its operation is opening in Africa : while young Vanderkemp is cultivating his gigan- tic mind at the university, and storing it with knowledge, he icnew not why — while for sixteen years he was sub- jecling himself to the haz-dships of war, that he might " endure hardship as a good soldier"- — or pursuing his pro fessional studies at Edinburgh — or gaining wisdom and experience in professional life, a corresponding line of Providence is discovered at the Cape of Good Hope. The power of the Dutch, who have long abused and humbled the natives, and done much to scourge them into a compliance with almost any change, is on the wane ; and while the attention of the London Missionary Society is directed thither, and only three years previous to the embarking of Dr. Vanderkemp, South Africa is thrown into the hands of the British, and a wide and effectual door opened for the admission of the gospel of peace. And now, over those once sterile regions, where not a plant of virtue could grow, the Rose of Sharon blooms. Thousands of once wretched Hottentots sing for joy, and the dreary habitations of the Caffres are vocal with the praises of our God. Before quitting this interesting portion of benevolence and providential development, I must allude at least to a single individual instance. I refer to the conversion of Africaner, the most formidable and blood-thirsty chief that ever prowled over the plains or hid in the mountains of Afi'ica. He was the terror of every tribe ; the trav- eler feared him more than all other dangers that might befall him ; and he most emphatically breathed out threat- anings and slaughter against the disciples of Christ. He .lad attacked and. burnt out the mission which had settled on his territory, and dispersed the missionaries under cir- cumstances the most distressing. But, thanks to the power of sovereign grace, this lion could be tamed. The Lion of the tribe of Judah was stronger than he. His heart at length relented. Saul was among the prophets. He received the missionary into his kraal — listened to the i5t) HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. message of redeeming love, and found it the power of God to salvation. Henceforth he was gentle as a lamb — docile as a child. And he became as famous as a peace- maker as he had been as a rioter in blood and carnage. God arrested him — and through him gave the gosj)el free access to many tribes, and made him a nursing father to ill who chose the new and more excellent way. Copious extracts might be taken from the history of modern missions illustrative of the same thing. But we need not multiply exam])les. I have undertaken lo give only specimens of the manner in which God has guided the flight of the angel — removing out of his way every obstacle, giving success under the most untoward circum- stances— making the wrath of man praise Him — and" using the winds, the floods, pestilence, fire and sword, to subserve the great purposes of his mercy in the spread of the gospel. While watching the ways of an all-controlling Provi- dence in the progress of Christianity the last fifty years, other items in this connection deserve attention : As the almost simultaneous origin af modern benevolent societies — their providential history — and the remarkable preservation of their missionaries from the hand of violence. It is always interesting to watch the processes of Divine Wisdom. His purposes never fail through omissions, oversights, or mistakes. One thing is always made to answer to another. When he has opened a field and prepared it for the seed, he never fails for the want of la- borers. Or when he has raised up and pief)arcd his labor- ers, his plans never fail from a lack ol j)ecuniary means. Not only has he all hearts in his hands, but the silver and the gold are his. In accordance with the universal wisdom by which he sees from the begiiming to the end. and his universal supremacy over all, by which, with in- finite ease, he accomplishes all his purjMJses, we find there has sprung into existence a beautiful sisterhood of benev- olent societies. Is there an increasing demand for the Bible, which shall soon grow into a universal demand from the four quariers of the earth? There is a mysterious moving on the minds of a few pious persons in London — they meet to UKIGIN OF BENVEOLENT SOCIETIES. 151 provide means to give the Bible to the poor in Wales — tvhence came the first feeble cry. Hence a Bible Society But how little did those pious few expect so soon to be- come a mighty host — how little expect their deliberations woull issue in the formation of a Bible society, destined, with its collateral streams, to supply the whole world with iho waters of life — in less than a quarter of a century to issue ten millions of Bibles ; or since its formation fifty millions and in whole nations sujjplying every family with the word of life. Or have vicissitudes in nations, and changes in em pires opened new and large territories for occupancy by the gospel, a spirit of benevolence begins to pervade the church. The holy fire, kindled by some invisible agency, begins to burn, and spread from heart to heart. And as genuine piety is social, and holy and benevolent desires seek the company of their kindred, a holy confederacy springs into existence to meet the new demand. Hence a missionary society. Providence created the demand — and the same unerring councillor and unfailing executor, furnishes the corresponding supply. And hence, too, tract, education, and home missionary societies, and all those combinations of holy and benevolent energies, the objects of which are to carry forward, in their respective departments at home and abroad, the evangelization of the world. They are the legitimate ofl!spring of Piovi- dence, begotten in the council chamber of eternity, and brought into existence nearly at the same time, and at the identical moment when the wheels of Providence, in their sure and irresistible revolution among the nations, had arrived at a point where such instrumentalities could be used. I have already alluded to the providential origin of be- fievolent societies. — It is enough that they rose into being at precisely the right time, and at the bidding of Him who svake and it was done. " It is remarkable, says a late British writer," (Rev. Mr. Thorp,) " that these noble in- stitutions of Chr .itian benevolence originated at the mo- mentous crisis vvhen the pagan kingdoms begun to shake under the visitations of Divine wrath. It was amidst the I age and madness of atheism — amidst the horrors and 152 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. chaos anarchy and revolution, that these societies rose with placid dignity ; combining, as they rose, the wealth, the talent, he influence, and the energies of myriads of Christians, la various nations, and all denominations, in one general tJbrt to rescue the heathen world from the bondage of coi. uption. Verily, the finger of God is here It is the Lord's Joing, and it is marvelous in our sight.' And there is nwch in the progressive, providential his- tory of these sociv.ties, which merits a passing notice here. Take the Chu.-ch Missionary Society of England, and in reference to a single particular, viz : an increase oi funds to suit ever} exigency, and we shall see it. Items like the following axe, recorded in her history : In the fourteenth year of uie society's existence, her funds- rose from sixteen thousand dollars to fifty-two thousand. That was the year the East Jndia Bill passed, which laid open to the benevolent efforis of British Christians the one hundred millions of Hind»JOstan. In her twenty- seventh year, her funds rose from Iwo hundred and four thousand doUai's to two hundred ahj thirty-five thousand. This was the year of jubilee in the West Indies, when a new and effectual door was opened to the society by the act of emancipation. Again, in 1838, Ker funds rose from three hundred and forty-seven thousand dollai's to four hundred and four thousand. It was in this year that the spirit was poured out from on high, upon the province of Krishnughar, and an unwonted demand made for laborers in this newly opened vineyard. Thirty or fbity villages almost immediately embraced Christianity ; which num- ber has since been doubled, and some four thousand na- tives numbered as converts. God provides for every exigency. We should not soon find an end of quoting providential interpositions in the history of benevolent societies. There is one point more : the remarkable preservation of missionaries. It must have arrested the attention of even the casual observer, that this class of mt. i ha\ e been peculiarly under the protecting hand of Heaven. How various have been the vicissitudes of their lives, yei how few their casualties. By sea and by land, they have been subjecied to all sorts of perils. Their dwelling-place PRESERVATION OF MISSIONARIES. 153 has often been among robbers, and generally among savage men, and in barbarous climes. In the missionary enterprise it is no unfrequent occm'rence that expeditions are undertaken by a few defenceless men, in the face of hostile and despotic governments, and in despite of dan- gers from climate, wild beasts, deserts, rivers, or human foes, which, to the eye that sees not the protecting Hand, seems incredible and presumptuous. Yet how very few have fallen by violence. Of the thousands that have rode on the angry billows, or dwelt in the midst of thick perils, few have made their grave in the deep, or come to an untimely end. Remarkable preservations stand on the records of the flight of the " angel having the everlasting gospel to preach." God has kept his embassadors to the Gentiles, as the apple of his eye. It is enough that I adduce a few instances as specimens : To pass over the many exceedingly interesting inci- dents in the lives of the early missionaries to the North American Indians, in which the most barbarous plots for their lives were frustrated, and the most inveterate hos- tility of priests and chiefs, disarmed the moment it seemed just about to burst on the heads of the missionaries ; and, also, instances not a few in the early history of Moravian missions, in which they escaped death so narrowly ; or, as they seemed inclined to believe, so miraculously, as to induce the belief among them, that they did experience the literal fulfillment of the promise : " They shall take up --..rpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them :" I will quote from the records of providential preservation, the following : " Irritated by the unwel- come restraints of Christianity, several dissolute young men, on one of the South Sea islands, determined on the assassination of Mr. Williams and his colleagues. The time fixed to strike the first horrid blow was when Mr. W. should be on his way to a neighboring island, in the regular discharge of his official duties. To make sure their opportunity, four of the conspirators volunteered their services to convey him thither. His fate seemed mevitable. The hour for starting had arrived, when Mr. W. discovered that his boat was wholly unfit for the sea, 154 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY and the voyage, much to his regret, was abandoned But the assassins did not abandon their murderous design so. On the following day he was again saved, by the providential interposition of a friend, from the execution of a plot which had been laid to murder him in his own house. Again and again did he escape death, the fatally aimed dart being warded off by an unseen hand." The South Africa mission abounds in such incidents : a ruffian raises a dagger to plunge it in the heart of Mr. Kramar. Providentially a little girl is standing by, who wards off the blow. Again, an abandoned wretch forms the murderous design of cutting off the whole mission — missionaries, teachers, church and people, by throwing poison into their well. But the Keeper of Israel, who never slumbers nor sleeps, had again set a child to watch, and warn his chosen ones of harm. Her timely notice saved the mission, and brought the culprit to condign punishment. Again, a party of Bushmen lay in ambush near the house of Mr. Kicherer, and were preparing to discharge a volley of poisoned arrows at him, as he sat near an open window ; but the same little girl that saved the life of Mr. Kramar was near to act as the mouth of God, to give the timely warning, and, as the hand of Providence, to rescue his servant from a premature death. And in another case, a criminal, having escaped from prison at the Cape, and insinuated himself into the family of Mr. K., formed the murderous design of assassinating his host, and moving off with his cattle and goods to some remote horde. But as the villain enters the room to strike the deadly blow, Mr. K. is roused as by an unseen hand, and, in his terror, put to flight the murderer. Read the whole history of missions, and you will find on almost every page, a record of some kindly interposi- tion of the Divine Hand in the preservation of nis chosen vessels, to bear his name among the Gentiles. We might call up such examples as Judson, Hough and Wade, amidst the mad Birmese, waiting but a signal to execute the bloody mandate of the king. The signal is given — which was the roar of British cannon ; yet the execu- tioners, petrified with fear, cannot perform their bloodv PRESERVATION OF MISSIONARIES. 165 mission, and the missionaries live ; or such examples as those of Bingham, Richards, and others at the Sandwich Islands, when ferociously attacked by infuriated gangs of seamen. The idea of a special interposition here, is strikingly illustrated by a statement recently made by one of the Secretaries of the American Board. " From the organization of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in September, 1810, to tbe death of Dr. Armstrong, the number of outward and home voyages, between the United States and foreign lands, made by persons in the employment of the Board, excluding twenty-seven, of whose completion intelligence has not yet been received, is seven hundred and four. These voyages have been made by four hun- dred and ninety-six persons, male and female, not in- cluding twelve now on their way to foreign lands for the first time. Of these voyages actually completed, foui hundred and sixty-seven have each been from fifteen to eighteen thousand miles in length. If those voyages along the coast of the United States, on the great lakes, and on the western rivers, and those from one port to another in foreign countries, varying from ^ve hundred to three thousand miles each, are included, and to them are added the voyages made by the children of missionaries, the whole number of voyages will exceed one thousand ; besides many shorter trips on seas, rivers and lakes. In all these, no individual connected with the Board has been shipwrecked, or has lost his life by drowning. The number of ordained missionaries sent out by the Board, is two hundred and fifty-three ; physicians, twenty ; other male assistants, one hundred and twenty-tw^o ; and females, four hundred and fifty-seven ; in all, eight iiundred and fifty-two ; none of whom, so far as mforma- tion has been received, have lost their lives, or been seriously injui"ed, in their journeyings to or from their fields of labor, by land or water. Three — Messrs. Mun- son and Lyman, in Sumatra, and Doct. Satterlee, west of the Pawnee country — lost their lives by savage violence while on exploring tours ; and Rev. Mr. Benham, of the Siam mission, was drowned while crossing a river near 13 156 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. nis own house. * With these exceptions, all the exploia. tions and other journeyings of these eight hundred and fifty- tw 3 missionary laborers have been, so far as can now be called to mind, without loss of life or serious accident. Going back to the commencement of the operations of the Board, none of its treasurers, secretaries or agents, amounting to about fifty persons in all, have, in their various and extended journeyings by land and water, and in the almost pathless wilderness on the western frontiers and the contiguous Indian countries, met with any serious accident or calamity, till Dr. Armstrong perished in the wreck of the steamer Atlantic." In conclusion, a single inference urges itself on our attention. It is this : God's tender regard and watchful care over his own cause. This cause is as the apple of his eye. No weapon raised against it has ever pros- pered. Not one jot or tittle of all he has said can fail ; not one purpose be left unfulfilled. Has He said he will give the kingdom to his Son, and shall he not bring it to pass ? Nothing can oppose his will ; nothing hinder his arm once made bare to carry out his purposes. With what unwavering confidence, then, we may trust in God. * Since writirg the above we are obliged to add the names of Stinman, Merriam, and Coffing. CHAPTER IX. CSM Wbslbtan Ripormatiom ; its origin and leaders ; its rapid growth and wiae ex- tension ; its great moral results. Methodism is one of the most extraordinary facts of modern history. Its origin, the rapidity of its growth, its extension over so great a portion of Christendom, and the influence it has exerted, in so short a period of time, on the destinies of man in time and for eternity, give it a place in history, and especially designate it as a great WESLEYAN REFORMATION. 157 pi evidential arrangement, which may not be passed in this connection without some special notice. The Wes- leyan Reformation is the third great religious movement in the onward march of the Christian church since her deliverance from the thraldom of the dark ages. The Reformation of the 16th century, developed and conducted by Martin Luther and the extraordinary men of his time was a wonderful event, which, at every step of its pro- gress, bears upon it the impress of the Divine Hand. The great religious movement of the 17th century, which we may call the Puritan Reformation, will ever stand as one of the great landmarks of history, far reaching in its influence, and permanent as the truth and the church of God. The great movement of the 18th century, which we have denominated the Wesleyan Reformation, was another of the few leading events of a kindred character, which ever and anon, at great intervals, revolutionize so- ciety and bless the world. The first of the three named, was an intellectual, a civil, an ecclesiastical, and, incidental though not slightly, a moral and religious Reformation. It was a deliverance from the darkness of the middle ages, and from the relig- ious and civil despotism of the Romish hierarchy. Yet the restoration of the Bible, and of sound doctrine to the church and to the mass of the people, was followed by a reformation of manners and a restoration of the spirit of piety. The second was the struggle of civil and religious liberty to emancipate itself from the persecuting hier- archy and the half reformed religion of England in tht 17 th century. This was a remarkable advance both in respect to the progress of civil government and of the Christian church ; and the result of the movement has left its mark on the history of the world, never to be effaced so long as the virtues and institutions of the Puri. tans and their descendants shall bless the world. The third great religious movement named, was, in some re- spects, more extraordinary than either of the preceding. It assumed neither a civil, intellectual, nor ecclesiastical position. It begun purely as a religious movement — as the revival of a pure, evangelical religion. It sprung up in the bosom of the Established church, at a time when 158 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. spiritual religion in that church was at an exceeding!) low ebb. "In the days of Wesley many of her clergy were openly and sadly scandalous." Many even but •miserably educated ; and "even the better educated were l«ss a result of superoaiural agency thain is generaUy supposed THE SCIENCE OF ETHNOLOGY. 197 Is theie a vice that afflicts humanity, that vice is assailed as an enemy of the race. Is there oppression, persecu- tion, ignorance, superstition ; any foe to the progress and well-being of man, the genius oi modern philanthropy is instantly roused in remonstrance, and fired with indigna- tion, and demands redress, the expulsion and decapitation of the foe. So prevalent and all-controlling is such a sentiment now, that Mammon and Infidelity itself are obliged to render homage to it. Infidelity no longer sits growling in the cavern of his dark misanthropy. He sees he must come out and mingle with his race, and put on the garments of charity. He appears in the stolen robes of Christianity, the philanthropist, the reformer, the Christian. His virulence has taken the/orm of com- passion for man. The advancement and highest inter- ests of his race are his ostensible aim. Though he strike with the same weapon, his sword is unsheathed for truth ; though he kill with the same poison, it is poison disguised in the sweets of paradise. But the thought presents itself in a more pleasing aspect. The human intellect and human research are, at the present day, remarkably employed in promoting a common brotherhood of our race, and in advancing its highest interests. Late advances, not only in the sciences of history, geography and philosophy, but yet more in archeology, comparative philology, and, especially, in eth- nology, are most eflfectually contributing to bring all the kindreds and tribes of the great family of man unto one great brotherhood, and to protect and advance the in- terests of every member. The new science of ethnol- ogy, for the cultivation of which there is already a re- spectable organization in this country, is peculiarly pro- ducing such a result. For the object of this science, as the name imports, is the study of man as a social being ; as the member of a family, tribe, or nation. Whatever relates to man in his physical being ; his races, habits, locations, sustenance or .anguage ; and all that connects the present and past generations as component parts of the one great human family; their intellectual eflforts, their sciences, their struggles, their progress of develop- ment, are comprised in the objects of this science. "It 198 HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. is the science and history of the human race itself, and of the relations in which it stands towards itself, and towards the external world." Never before was science contributing so generouslj to prepare the world for its universal emancipation Railways, steamships, magnetic telegraphs, are penetra- ting into and astounding the most benighted regions. " Franklin drew the lightning from the clouds, but Morse gave it voice, and bade it go forth and speak to every nation, and kindred, and tongue. It is the voice which is to enter the darkest recesses of the heathen world and teach them how degradingly they contrast with the genius which gave it utterance." The advanced state of knowledge here supposed, is necessary to the full development and revelation of truth. Even the written revelation is to us, and has been in all passed ages, a progressive revelation. As God had regard to the then condition of society, the existing condition of knowledge, civilization and improvement, in originally making known his will, imparting the light as the world was able to receive it ; in like manner the book contain- mg this revelation, emits more or less light, according to the existing condition of the human mind and the human heart, and according to the advanced condition of the world. The sun always chines the same, though the quantity of sunshine we may enjoy, will vary as clouds intercept our rays. Truth is the same, however different may be the quantity apprehended by us. Biblical knowledge, the science of theology, has also wonderfully advanced within the few past years. Bibli- cal researches have been casting new light on the sacred f)age, or rather educing new light from it. The most audable progress is now making in those collateral studies which bring us to the study of the Bible with new interest and zest, and make the sacred volume the repos- itory to us o*" more available truth than it has ever been before. The true principles of interpretation are being better understood ; the most pleasing advances have re- cently been made in sacred geography, history and arch- eology ; and thus the Bible is made to shed a clearer and a more profuse light ; duty becomes plainer and more im- CIVILISATION ADVAWCING. I99 perative ; tne promisea richer and more comprehensive ; the threatenings more terrific ; God more lovely to the obedient, more dreadful to the wicked. The motives for extending the gospel are increased, and the guilt of neglect aggravated. Again, the Bible has been transla- ted into more than one hundred and sixty different lan- ,guages, enabling as many tribes and nations to read the word of God in the tongue in which they were born. Already is the Bible unsealed to every principal nation on earth. Or if we turn to the execution of our benevolent pur- poses in spreading the gospel, we shall not the less feel our indebtedness, under God, to the facilities in question. It is only among a free, intelligent, and civilized people, that are found the qualifications and resources for appre- ciating and prosecuting the work of Foreign Missions. In no other work is there brought in requisition such a combination of moral, mental and physical power. Learning of all sorts is now, to an unprecedented ex- tent, made to subserve the cause of truth. Eloquence, poetry, history, literature, science, the arts and philoso- phy, are all made to contribute their respective quotas to defend, enrich, adorn and advance the truth. We are also indebted to modern improvements for the cheapness and rapidity with which books are made and circulated in every nook and corner of the earth. A single Bible Society manufactures a thousand Bibles a Hay. Yet we have by no means arrived at perfection liere. All these improvements are progressive, and are yearly progressing. And we should indeed be blind to the movements of an ever-busy Providence, if we did not discern in them mighty preparations for the onward progress of His cause. And so I may say in respect to the present advanced and advancing state of civilization. Never before was the world so nearly civilized ; and never so many and such powerful means at work to make civilization uni- versal. The political, literary and commercial suprem- acy of the two or three most civilized nations, cannot but exert a powerful influence on the whole barbarian 200 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. world, to which they either give law or hold in some sort of dependence. The bearing of this on the spread of the gospel, is too obvious to need comment. It prepares the way of the Lord before him. It provides a soil made ready for the good seed. It furnishes the resources by which to sus- tain the institutions of Christianity when once established, and to make it permanent, and to extend its blessings ovei fields which lie still beyond. Both the agency and the design of Providence are here abundantly obvious. There remains one other particular not to be over- looked : It is the advanced and the still advancing progress of freedom. Christianity has as little affinity to despot- ism and tyranny, as to ignorance and barbarism ; and we cannot but hail, as especially auspicious to the diffusion of the gospel, every advancement in the cause of free- dom. But as we turn our eyes again towards the revolv- ing wheels of Providence, what do we find God hath wrought here ? How is he already bringing the nations of the earth into a state that shall give to the Prince of Peace, and to the religion of meekness and mercy, an unmolested dwelling on earth. Political liberty has, within a few years, made rapid advances. Government has become a science. The will of an individual has ceased to be law. It is now very generally conceded that the design of government is to secure the welfare of the governed. Not a poten- tate in Europe can sit on his throne without conceding in some form this principle. Absolute despotism is al- most antiquated. "A monster of so frightful mein," has slunk away before the light of liberty, into the dark regions of ignorance and barbarism. The public senti- ment of mankind has undergone an astonishing revolu- tion during the last century. The progress of free prin ciples has been by no means confined to America. The seed which took such deep root in the bosoms of the Puritans of the seventeenth century, had, if not so rapid and ostensible, as sure and sturdy, a growth in Europe as in America. Here, committed to an unoccupied soil, they took readier root, and sprung up more luxuriantly ; there they struck their roots not the less deep, or ascendea THE LATE POPE, AND LIBERTY. 'iO . With not the less perseverance, though obstruc-ted in their ascent by a previous growth. Since the upheaving of Europe, by the wars of Napo- leon Bonaparte, there is not a nation in Europe which has not made progress in liberal principles. All things have been verging towards constitutional and represen tative government. Revolutions in France, Prussia, Saxony, Spain and Portugal, cannot be mistaken, as out- bursts of the pent up spirit of liberty. And so we may say of the late revolutionary movements in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, and even in Itali/. They are the upheavings of the suppressed fires of lib- erty, giving no doubtful premonitions of the no distant downfall of the grim throne of despotism. The policy pursued by the present Pope pays a hom- age to liberty which we scarcely ex])ected. Driven by the force of public sentiment, and the conviction of an advanced condition of the world in ])oint of liberty, the Pope of unchanging Rome so far changes the policy of Rome as to make a sort of concession to constitutional government, and to grant his subjects a sort of constitu- tion ; and in some other respects to relax the rigid mus- cles of despotism which have always characterized Rome. We will not accept this as an index, that Rome has at heart changed, but that the loorld has changed, and that Rome feels if she would live in the world, she must, rn some degree, conform herself to the tidvanced condition in which she finds the world. Had we been ignorant before of the present progress of liberty and the increase of light in the world, the line of policy pursued by the present Pope would keep us informed on these matters. As a concession to these degenerate times of liberal prin- ciples, Pius IX. has instituted a system of national repre- sentation in the shape of a council of delegates from the diU'erent provinces, who are to assemble at Rome for the purpose of discussing with the government the afl!*airs of the administration, and aiding it in 'ts efibrts for the good of the people. This measure has been hailed by the Pope's subjects with the liveliest demonstrations of joy and thanksgiving. And well it might be ; for this was a new thing from the pontifical throne. In the palmier days of IP •J02 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. liome, despotism and darkness were the order of Papal rule; Then the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church were quoted as proof that Columbus was a heretic and an infidel for suggesting there was another continent ; and a clergyman actually published a sermon to show that Jen- ner, for endeavoring to check the ravages of the small- \H)X, was the beast of the Apocalypse. Late acts of toleration in Turkey, India and China, herald the approach of universal freedom. The Emperor iii' China has recently issued an edict, in reply to the pe- tition of Keying, High Imperial Commissioner, granting toleration to Christianity. The law of inheritance in In- dia has recently been so modified as to remove the former disabilities which Hindoos suffered on becoming Chris- tians. Caste is no longer a legal disability. Young Hin- doos from mission schools are alike eligible to office with those from government schools. And the Sultan of the Turkish empire has favored a system of respresentative government and of common-school education ; and more recently the Sublime Porte has issued an order fur the protection, as Protestants, of the evangelical Armenians. A hatti sherif (order of the cabinet) was issued by the Sublime Porte in 1841, placing all the inhabitants of the Turkish empire upon a footing of equal rights. And though insurmountable difficulties to its execution have as yet stood in the way, it is a presage of the rising spirit ol liberty, even in that most despotic nation. And more re- cently still — at the late annual feast called "Courban Beiiam" — an imperial order was issued, constituting the Protestant subjects of the empire into a separate and in- dependent community, like that of the Armenians, Greeks or Latins. "Reform," says Mr. Dwight, "is the order of the day m every department of the Government. The Surfan and his ministers are laboring to do away with old abuses, and to secure to every man his rights. The power of inflicting capital punishment for apostasy from Moham- medanism, has been taken away from the Turk ; and the Sultan has given a solemn pledge to the English embas- sador, that thei'e shall be no more religious persecution in kis Empire. Sir Stratford Canning is disposed to stand TIOBB HCHTINQ IN IHOIA. 204 HAND OF GOD IN UISTOKY firmly on this ground, and insist on it as a conceded righv that men shall not persecute for religious opinion." In Hungary, the law against entering the Protestant communion is abrogated. Every inhabitant may adopt jvhich church he please, Romish or Protestant, without annoyance. Under the former law of intolerance, eight hundred to one thousand Protestants embraced Popery vearly ; under the law of tolerance, nine hundred Roman • ists in one year have come over to' the Reformed faith, and only thirty-five have gone to Romanism. And what is much in point here, and truly surprising, the cabinet of Vienna abrogated the oppressive law. There has, too, during the same period, been a corres- ponding movement to loose the chains of personal bond- age. It is the spirit of universal freedom. The jubilee- triirapet sounded, in 1834, throughout the realms of the British empire. The West Indies were mad(f free ; and since that time the same glad sound has been heard in India; at Malacca, Penang, and Singapore; among the forty-five millions of the serfs of Russia ; in Wallachia ; at Algiers, and among the Moors at the strong piratical haunt at Tunis ; in the republic of Uruguay and Monte- video, South America, and on the island of Trinidad. The slave trade has been abolished by the Imaum of Muscat, the Shah of Persia, and throughout the Turkish empire. The General Assembly of Wallachia having passed an act of emancipation, March, 1847, Prince Bibesco, (the head of the government,) with whom this truly magnan- imous act of philanthropy originated, thanked the head of the Church and the Assembly for having passed a law v\hich, as he said, the spirit of the age and the progress of civilization had so long demanded. The French Chambers have begun the work of eman- cipation i„ their colonies. Indeed, the whole world is coming to a sense of justice on this subject — not only Christendom, but Moslems and barbarians. The slave trade, with almost united voice, is regarded as piracy by all nations. Indeed, such has become the public senti- ment of all Christendom and of the whole civilized world on this subject, that no nation may be the supporters and abettors of slavery, except at the peril of its reputation. Other indications that international relations are as- PBOGRESS OF LIBERTY. 206 Burning an auspicious aspect in respect to tne universal extension of the gospel, may be read in the records of a Congress of nations which from time to time meet to ad just affairs, otherwise adjusted by balls and bayonets — of world's Conventions, which do much to cement national lies ; and of arbitrations instead of arms, by which to compromise disputes. Not long since, commissioners from England, Russia, Turkey and Persia met at Erzeroom, " to settle disputed boundaries, and to arrange other diffi- culties." Nations, that by a proud isolation had strongly barri- caded themselves within the walls of a hateful and repul- sive despotism, have been invaded by the light of liberty and the love of Christianity. Austria, with all her argus- eyed vigilance, cannot shut out the all-pervading genius of liberty. Already has it cheered with the hope of better things, the cottages of the poor, and, with fearful omen, looked in at the windows of palaces. And China, though ensconced within a yet higher wall, has been compelled to surrender, and to condescend to the mutual courtesies of national intercourse. Her strong-holds are broken down ; her walls of brass are razed ; her gulf of separa- tion from European intercourse is bridged. The great family of nations, so long estranged, is being drawn to- gether, becoming acquainted, and learning their mutual duties. The world is becoming free. The Press, too, has been emancipated from its former shackles ; religion is breaking loose from the domination of priestcraft ; opinion is becoming free ; discussion un- trammeled ; and the feeling is fast taking possession ot the human mind, that man must everywhere be free. Thus, again, has God prepared his way before him. He has made ready the field ; and may we not now ex- pect that the Lord of the harvest shall send forth his la- borers profusely to scatter the seed, and in due time to gather an abundant harvest ? All things are now ready ; the hard of the Lord is stretched out, and who shall turn it back ? He is preparin^the world for the kingdom of his Son, and shall not the Prince and the Saviour speedily come and take possession ? Ride forth, victorious King, conquering and to conquer, till the kingdoms of this world 206 HAND OF GOD IN HISTOEY. become vhe kingdom of our Lord. Hushed be the voice of war ; palsied be the arm of Despotism, that Rehgion, pure and undefiled, the first-born of Heaven, the immor- tal daughter of the siiies, may find a peaceful dwelling on earth. 10. I shall advert to but one other particular : Within he last generation, God, in the vast revolutions of his prov- (lence, has removed, to a great extent, the most formidable obstacles to the universal spread of the gospel. The mighti- est bulwarks behind which Satan has ever intrenched himself are Paganism, the religion of Mohammed, and the Papacy. The great desideratum in the council-chamber of the infernal king has always been how man's innate religious feeling should be satisfied, and yet God not be served. How could the heart be kept from God, the clamors of conscience be silenced, and yet the demands of an instinctive religious feeling be answered ? The arch enemy of man's immortal hopes solved the problem. The solution appears in the cunning devices he has sought out by which to beguile unwary souls. He has varied liis plans to suit times and circumstances, the condition ol man, the progress of society, the character of human gov- ernments, and the condition of the human mind. Idolatry, multiform in its systems, yet one in essence and spirit, concedes to reason and conscience the exist- ence of one supreme God, yet disrobes this divine Being of the attributes which make him God, by multiplying subordinate deities, attributing to them the most unwor- thy characters, and making them the chief objects oi worship. Knowing God, they glorify him not as God. Such a religion was suited to a gross age of the world, — an age of subtilty and ambition on the part of a few, and superstition, debasement and ignorance on the part of the many. But when Christ had come, and new light had risen on the world, and the general condition and character of man had advanced, the same object was gained through two great modifications of idolatry, bet- ter adapted to the intellectual and moral condition of the world. Western Asia, and a part of Africa, became too much illumined by the Sun of Righteousness longer to submit to idolatry in its grosser form. Hence foi OBSTACLES REMOVED. 20") those regions there was got up a reformed Paganism, yclept Mohammedanism, taking the phice, and subserving the purposes ot" idolatry in its original form. While among the more contemplative nations of Eu- rope, where the public mind had become still more en- lightened and advanced, and could not be satisfied even with Paganism rrfunned and partly Christianized, Chris- tianity had to he paganized. Europe would be CJtristicn. So mote it be, said Satan ; and old pagan Rome rose again to life by his enchantments, — and he clothed this monstrous image in a garb stolen from Heaven's ward- robe, and commanded all men to worship it. The reli- gion of Rome is the last new edition of the same old idolatry, with a new title, amended, enlarged, on finer paper, with gilt edging and better bound, suited to the spirit and taste of the age. These are the three strong-holds of human depravity and Satanic power, by which man's arch foe has from generation to generation held the human mind in the most abject thraldom. Now what I affirm, is, that these three enormous sys- tems of iniquity are on the wane. Such, in the irresist- ible movements of Providence, have been the overturn- ings among the nations, that their great power to bind and to trample under foot the immortal mind, is broken. Paganism is in its dotage. It evidently belongs to a con- dition of the world which is rapidly passing away. Mo- hammedanism, embodying in itself the seeds of its own dissolution, already bears marks of decrepitude, and only lives and stands as it is propped up by a little doubtful political power. And Romanism, though in its dying s])asms it ever and anon exhibits an unnatural return of ''ormer life, presents no doubtful marks of its approaching loom. We are not ignorant of the strange phenomena at O.xford, or of Rome's unnatural appearance of youth ami vigor in America. While she is gaining individuals in England, and making a desperate struggle to gain a footiiold in the new world, she is losing whole provinces in Europe. Look at the general condition of Romanism. How many of its limbs have already perished, — how many more are, to all human appearance, doomed to a 208 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. speedy decay. What mean the ruins of the Papacy orei a great part of Asia, and in Central and South Ameiica? The Inquisition once flourished in India, in all the bloody pre-eminence of torture and death ; and China,* and Ja- pan, were the arena of numerous and flourishing churches. But where now are the walls of its dismal dungeons ; its courts of inquest ; the gorgeous palaces of its inquisitors, and its horrific implements of torture ? They are crum- bled to the dust. The hand of Heaven's vengeance has passed over them and left them but the ruined monument of deadly intolerance. And what mean those ruined heaps of colleges, schools, churches and other public edi- fices, met on the islands of Bombay and Salsette, in Goozaret, and on the whole western coast of India? Or the vast dilapidations of Central and South America ? A late traveler in Central America speaks of passing seveli ruined churches in a single day, and of finding as many more under a single curate. Edifices, two or three hundred feet in length, and of proportionate dimensions, of solid structure, and costly materials, and elegant archi- tecture, once the receptacles of vast multitudes of Rome's faithful and most bigoted sons, are either a ruinous heap, or the decaying sanctuaries of a miserable remhant of a once flourishing church. Surely the wheels of Providence are rolling on. Ob- stacles which have so long hindered the progress of the everlasting gospel, are fast being removed. The arm of Omnipotence is made bare. God is doing a " new thing" on the earth ; He is " making a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." In concluding what I designed to say on the facilities, which, as results of providential movements, the present age affords for the speedy and universal spread of the gospel, and the complete establishment of Messiah's king- dom, many useful and interesting reflections might be appended. The present aspects of Providence towards • Such was the success of Popery in China, that many mandarins embraced iU doctrines; one province alone contained ninety cliurches, and forty-five oratories, h uplondid cliurc'.i was built williin the palace. Tlie mother, wife and son of tlie Empa- ror, Yung Ceith, professed CUristianily, and China seemed on the eve of being unit««l x> the papal see. RECAPITULATION. 209 3ur world are most solemn and delightful. What o-vei- powering arguments here, urging us on to duty. Does God carry out his plans through human instrumentality ? How loudly, then, do the movements of his Providence call us to be willing instruments. Never before were we so imperatively urged to more fervency of spirit, to more diligence in duty. The wheels of Providence now run high and fast, leaving behind them more events in ten years than was wont a little while ago to transpire in a Iiundred years. To give point and pungency to such reflections, allow the eye to take a retrograde glance over the extraordi- nary providential developments which I have named. How singularly has God confided to the two most civil- ized and Christian nations, — the Anglo-Saxon race, — vast heathen territories, and, by extensive commercial relations, connected them with every nation on the face of the earth ; how diffused is the English language ; how popular European habits, manners and dress, and the improvements, experience and laws of civilized na- tions ; what unwonted improvements in modes of con- veyance, and the facihties of an enlarged post-office sys- tem ; how is the clangor of war hushed, and the world left in almost universal peace ; what recent advances in knowledge, civilization and freedom ; and how has the vigor departed from those mighty systems of false reli- gions which have heretofore beguiled Christianity of the laiiest portions of the eartn. Let us ponder these things, and be wise ; wait and work ; pray and watch, till the end be, that we may reit, and stand in our lot at the end of the days .' CHAPTER XII. Phk PiBiJi PRSf'ARED. General Remarks ;— First, Papal couktriBB, or Earcp«i their coiidiiinn now, and fifty years ago. France — the Revolution — Na| hundred thousand copies of the Bible have been put in circulation in France alone : or more than three niill- jons since the battle of Waterloo — and as many copies of the New Testament. In Belgium, till recently one of the most bigoted and superstitious of the Papal states, there have been circulated, within the same period, three hundred thousand copies of the sacred volume ; and there has been a large distribution, through every nation in Europe, not excepting Spain, Portugal and Italy.* The late religious excitement in France, the movement under Ronge and Czerski in Germany, the late evangelical movement in Scotland, and the tendencies to the same result in England — the late manly and self-denying re- sistance to oppression of the evangelical pastors of Swit- zerland, the numerous conversions of Jews, and the in- creased interest felt in their behalf, indicate the sure designs of Providence in the spread of the gospel over all those Papal countries. They are the pillar of cloud and of fire going before the people of God, to lead them to victory and to glory. In France, says one who has resided several years in the country, " the most encouraging accounts of the pro- gress of truth are coming to us from all parts of the kingdom. The masses of the people are demanding the Bible ; and in some places, the dignitaries of the chmrch are coming down from their lofty positions, and, in self- defence, are giving the famishing multitudes the Bread of Life, which they have so long withheld. Thousands of Ilomanists desire the word of God. The feeling con- tmues and extends. The people are tired of the yoke of the priests. If we had ten times as much money, and ten times as many men, they could all be immediately * In lie'giiim 11. e dpmand tor tlic Bible is unprecedented : and the decree of tht Bi>=l)op ol Riimi- agaiiHt the readinj; of it. only excites tlie curios ty of the jjeople, and makfs thiin more anx oils »i pnicure a book llie Pope is afraid of. In Holland greal numbers of the sacred Scrptures have been dlstriuuttd, as aii^o amon<; the CarpathiaE mountain?. In Ireland loo. more than forty Uoniish priest;?, and forty thuUi>uii>j la/ men. have, wiUiin a ftw years, come over to the Protectant churcli. PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE. 219 employed. It would be easy to open a new church everr month, every week, and to cover with churches alJ France." In the department of "Saintonge, loity com- munes are open to the Evangelical Society — in Yonne, twenty important posts are accessible." " What is now passing under our eyes is somewhat like what occurred in France in the age of the Reformation," when two thou- sand Reformed churches were established in France during the first twenty years. Nor is this movement by any means confined to France. In Germany, while there is scarcely less of development, there is perhaps more of an undercurrent in favor of evangelical principles. The phlegmatic mind of Ger- many was, perhaps, never more awake. The intellec- tual movement is a strong one, pervading Romanists and Protestants, Rationalists and the evangelical ; and we may expect the utterance shall not be less distinct thai* the cogitation, when the day for action shall I'ully come. Such a day has begun to dawn. The Reformation of Ronge and Czerski, though not so evangelical and ortho- dox as we could wish, is a great movement, when re- garded in its anti-Romish character It has fearlessly raised the standard of revolt from Roh.e ; and we may take the readiness with which tens of thousands rally about this standard, as a signal of the ripeness of Germany to disenthral herself from spiritual bondage. The Ronge movement was commenced in 1844, by eighteen persons, who were in the habit of meeting in a small town in Germany, to study the Scriptures. Two years from that time, it was stated by Doctor Guistiniana, that there " ia not a kingdom, duchy or town in Germany, where there is not a Jleformed church." The whole number of dis- senting Catholics who have attached themselves lo the new connnunion under Ronge and Czerski, is estimated to be one hundred and fifty thousand, who assemble in more than three hundred places for public worship. 'I'liis anti-Romish movement is finding its way among tlie immigrant German population of America, wliere it is making progress under auspices more favorable to truth than in Gernumy. The late meeting of Germans in iha Tabernacle, New- York, 184U, "to declare publicly their ^20 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. secession from Rome, and to form themselves into a Christian church, recognizing the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice," was a delightful token for good to our country, to the German people among us. and to the triumph of the truth.* Nor may we overlook in this survey, the condition of Romanism in South America, in Central America and in Mexico. " Things throughout South America are now exceedingly favorable to the introduction of the gospel. The severance of South America from the European world, has tended greatly to weaken the hold of Popery : and every day the field is becoming wider and riper for the harvest." And Central America and Mexico are essentially in the same condition. Romanism, like thousands of its tem- ples, is there in a state of dilapidation. Every revolu- tion is at the expense of the despotism of the priesthood. Mexico, just at this time, is, providentially, brought into a condition of great interest in a religious point of view. Precisely what God will bring out of the unrighteous war we are waging against Mexico, we cannot predict. We cannot but indulge the sanguine expectation that this war, however unjust and unnecessary on the part of the United States, is, in the permissive purposes of God, a orovidential occurrence, that shall overthrow another of the strong- holds of popery, and open a vast field for the diffusion of the principles of the Reformation and the Bible. A reverend gentleman writing from Mexico, says a political party exists there whose avowed object is to limit the power of the priests ; to confine them to their proper duties ; to break down the overgrown re- ligious establishments of the country, and to devote their great wealth to the cause of popular education. They are not protestants, yet they desire to have the Scrip- tures circulated as a means of opening the eyes of the people to the abuses of the church. * Anotlicr meeting, a sign of the times, too, has taken place in tlie Broadway Tab«r- uacle. It was a meeting of Protestants to congratulate Pope Pius IX.. on account o( hi* liberal jirtncijilesi And another meeting still, the New England Society, the genu ine desrtndants of the Puritans, to be sure — all good Protestanis — not a Jesuit among them — mc>, forsooth, to commemorate the spiritual emancijiation of their fathers — with Bishop Ilu^'hes for their invited guest, and a toast and congratjlatious for Biohoy Hughes' master at Rome 1 1 THE MONARCHS OP EUROPE. 221 Another general feature of the present condition of Europe, betokening the hand of God at work for her ame- lioration, is the character of her present monarchs. How different the noble-minded and republican king Bernadotte, who has just vacated the throne of Sweden, from the super-aristocratic Gustavus, III., and his weak, unstable son, who jointly occupied the throne from 1792 to 1809. And the present incumbent of the Swedish throne is spoken of by Dr. Baird, as one of the most in- teresting men in Europe. The son of Bernadotte,* is a man near 45 years, he was Chancellor of the University of Upsula ; a man of extensive knowledge and fine lite- rary attainments, and deeply interested in modern im- provements and benevolent enterprises. The Queen, too, is spoken of as a most lovely character, the mother of five interesting children, a daughter and four sons, who are said to be admirably brought up. Or compare the present intelligent King of Denmark with the imbecile Christian VII. ; or the pious, noble- hearted King of Prussia, and his saintly Queen, with any of the line of excellent Princes who preceded him, and you cannot overlook the interesting fact that Providence has so disposed of the political power of Northern Eu- rope, as beautifully to throw open those nations to receive a pure gospel. Or if we extend the comparison to the present com- paratively liberal and enlightened policy of the cabinets of the Catholic powers of Europe, we shall discern the hand of God quite as industriously at work to prepare the soil of Europe for the good seed of the word. Spanish despotism has appeared so modified in some recent movements of the Cortes, as to foster the hope of some important amelioration. Convents are abolished and their vast revenues taken away ; all recourse to mass dispensations forbidden, and all confirmations of eccle- siastical appointments rejected. Henceforth no money shall be sent to Rome, nor any nuncio from thence be * Bernadotte was a Frenchman ; a Marshal In the army of Napoleon; elected br th« Diet Crown Prince of Sweden, 1810; made king, 1818; a man of noble mein, of a liberal mind, sound judgment, engaging manners, and au amiable Lean ; a patriarcba) kinc;, and an huiiest man. 222 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. allowed to reside in Spain. This virtual separation from Italy cannot but work a mighty change in Europe, and set in motion an influence which shall not stop till it reach the Andes of South America. Austria, too, has become more liberal ; and Italy has been obliged to relax iicr iron sinews in her wholesale dealing of despotism •vmong the nations. Indeed, there has been a very marked progress of civil liberty in Europe during the last half century. But would we get a true picture of Europe as a field inviting the evangelical laborer, we must direct the eye to France. What Great Britain and the United States are to the world, France is to the Papal world. Indeed, France, once evangelized, would take her place among the "three mighties." Should she not be "the most honorable of three," yet she should have a " name among ihree." The Anglo-Saxon race excepted, no nation has so great an influence over mankind as France. Her language is the court language of nearly all Europe. The nations of the continent are wont to receive their philosophy at her hands, and to sit at the feet of her Gamaliels. And not only Europe, but the ends of the earth would feel the evangelization, not to say of France, but merely of the French capital. We may, therefore, judge of the prospects of Europe by the encouragement and reception which evangelical labors meet in France. I have alluded to the fact that 200,000 copies of tho Bible have recently been put in circulation in France, in a single year, 33,000 sold by colporteurs in three months ; and more than 3,000,000 since 1815. When the London Missionary Society sent a deputation to France, 1802, to inquire into the state of religion, and publish the New Testament in the French language, i> required a search of four days among the booksellers of Paris, before a copy of the Bible could be found. And it is but forty years since you would have scarcely found an orthodox, evangel- 'cal minister in France, or a pious Frenchman, who was willing to be employed as a colporteur or an evangelist. Great as has been the change in Protestantism since the uurchase of peace by the blood of Waterloo, it has been EVANGELIZATION OF FRANCE. 223 vast»y gieater since the revolution of 1830. A pure gos- pel is preached in hundreds of places, more than it was at that period. Now hundreds of Frenchmen glory in the cross, in being willing to submit to toil, trial and obloquy for the good work's sake. Bibles are now pub- lished and offered for sale in the city and the country, in the chief marts, and at the door of the private cabin, while a quarter of a century ago, it was almost impossi- ble to find a single copy in any store, either in Paris or any city in the kingdom. Roused from the fatal lethargy of Infidelity, France is at length convinced that she must have religion, and Christianity, in some form, is receiving an unwonted patronage from all classes of her people.* As a further evidence of this, we may refer to th\, spirit of benevolent enterprise, which has, within a few years past, like the sun after a dark and tempestuous night, risen on France, scattering the darkness and mists of the past, and senaing its light and its vivilying influ- ences over the whole land. Bible, Tract and Missionary Societies, are educing, gathering and combining the be- nevolent energies of a people who are peculiarly fitted for benevolent action. Paris, already modestly treading in the footsteps of London and New York, annually gathers together the different bands of the sacramental liost, that they may collectively rejoice in their triumi)hs, and recruit their strength for new encounters. As an example of their pious zeal and benevolent activity, the Evangelical Society of France employs twenty-five or- dained ministers, seven evangelists, twenty-nine school teachers, eight colporteurs, and supports six students, prei)aring for evangelists. The Paris Society employs one bundled and forty-six laborers, of whom thirty-four are preachers. And, if we admit into the account the amount of labor performed in France, whether by the French clergy or by different Evangelical Societies, as • "I am surprised," eays Rev. Pr. Diishnell. ''by what I see of the condition and «horacier i)f llie French people. Tliey are fast becomiii!; a new people. The revolu- lioii wa.s a terrible, yet I am convinced, a Kreat good to France. It has brolten up tlie old system, and blown it as chatTlo the winds. Priestcraft lias come to a full end ; th< 4>rdly manners of the hierarchy are utterly swept away. Indislryis call'-d into ac- tiou ; w>:altli is increasing; education is becoming a topic ol ^tattr imerest. N< tuuuiry lu Europe is aUvauciug so rapidly as France." 224 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. ihe Geneva and the American Evangelical Societies, and Bible, Tract and Book Societies, we meet no less than lour hundred preachers, of whom one hundred are evangelists. There are, also, three hundred colporteurs, and a large number of pious school-masters ; in all, a goodly host, who, in honesty and godly sincerity, and in the midst of great sacrifice and reproach, are raising their voice in testimony of the truth.* And Romish virulence dare not harm a hair of their heads. Is this ^he France of 1793? Such men as Dr. Malan and Professor Monod, Roussel and Audabez, bright and shining lights, and worthy to /read in the footsteps of the immortal Calvin, are travers- ing the nation from East to West, and North to South, preaching publicly and privately, by day and by night, to multitudes of the dispersed children of God, who are hungering for the bread of life ; and to greater multitudes of Romanists, who are allowed to occupy the places of preaching to the voluntary exclusion of the Protestants. These deluded children of Rome hear the strange things that are thus brought to their ears, and admire the sim- plicity of an unadulterated gospel, and many embrace it. It is a fact worthy of the most joyful reiteration, that most of the above list of evangelical laborers are converts from Romanism, now engaged to demolish, by the mighty arm of truth, what once, by ignorance and superstition, they contributed to build up. An hundred Romish priest* have been converted in France. "Never," says Rev. N. Roussel, "have the Roman Catholic people been more disgusted with the superstition of their church and the avarice of their priests, than at present ; and never has there been a more favorable op- portunity of declaring the gospel to them." We need here to descend to particulars : the following we may take as illustrations of the hand of God in France at the present moment : The departments in which the work of God has been * A single fact connected with the agents of this distribution is worthy a passinj; no- Wee : of the two hundred French distributors er colporteurs, employed by tlie Britisb »nd Foreign Bible Society, during the same period, one hundred and seventy-five wen ()rmerly Romanists, and the superintendent was not od'" a Romanist, but a pupil n. toe Jesuits. THB PHYSICIAN Ol' riENS 22£ the most marked, are Yonne, Haute 1 .enne, Saintonge Charente. In tlie department of Yonne, is the ancient and cele- brated city of Sens, whose Archbishop takes the title of Primate of the Gauls, and where priestly influence has been from time immemorial overpowering. Could pro- • estantism find room in Sens ? Heaven had decided it ; but how ? A physician of Sens is brought to Lyons,* where, with his wife, he spends some time. His wife becomes acquainted with a pious, respectable widow, whose exemplary deportment and well-ordered family quite excite her curiosity to know by what means this family differ so widely from Romish families of her ac- quaintance. It was the fruit, she found, of a pure and holy religion. She visited the widow ; admired her de- portment and conversation, and received from her hands some religious books. The physician and his wife return to Sens, but with minds troubled and uneasy. They sought rest in such instructions as Sens afforded, but found none. They then said, "let us read the tracts the good widow of Lyons gave us." They read them ; ac quire new views of Christianity ; become seriously con- cerned for their souls, and begin to pray. And so it was with other persons, all Romanists, who were present and read the tracts with them. While this was doing in Sens, the hand of Providence IS working a counterpart in Paris. A poor laboring man, a weaver, feels his lieart stirred in him to serve his Di- vine Master, and begs at the door of the British and Foreign Bible Society to be sent as a colporteur to Sens. He goes ; falls upon the house of the physician. He and his wife receive him gladly. They are instructed ; con- rerted ; their house becomes a rallying point of proiest- intism and piety. A congregation is formed ; a pastor i8 sent for ; Mr. Audebez goes and soon finds hundreds, yea thousands, flock to hear him. The whole city is moved. Men of every age and rank show an eager de- * Did space permit, we mitrht go a step further back and trace the prnvidenlial hi8- l»ry of the evangelical church In Lyons, nnil we should find matter for profound ad- Bilration. She is. peculiarly a child of Providence. A clerical visitor, ail er spending ■•lying her waste places with those who shall water them from the wells of salvation ; and the other is a sure pledge of the spirit and power of religion in a church. As ihey 228 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. water they shall also be watered again. As they mete, so it shall be measured to them. The divinity schools at Montauban and Geneva, under the auspices of their ex- cellent professors, are verdant spots — dwells of salvation, whose waters shall fertilize nations not a few. Before quitting France I would call attention to a sin- gle fact: It is the singular connection between the French nation and the Papacy. This is a matter of deep histor- ical interest. And if this providential relation is still to continue, we cannot contemplate the extraordinary reli- gious movement now going forward in France, without anticipating some movement as extraordinary in the church of Rome. France has not only been the right arm of the Papacy in the support she has lent Rome, but she has been the mighty angel with the chain in his hand, to chain the Scarlet Beast, when he has essayed to go be- yond his prescribed limits. When Rome was to be ex- alted, France has done it ; when to be humbled, France has been the instrument. France was the first to confer temporal and political power on the Bishop of Rome, and the first to lay hands on a Pope, making him prisoner, humble him, and kill him with mortification and rage. Yet no power has done so much since the days of Pepin, to uphold the Papacy. In 756, Pepin, King of the French, moved by the touching letter of St. Peter him- self, direct from heaven, (with the trifling exception of having passed through the hands of Pope Stephen III., and received his approval and emendation) crossed the Alps, took up arms for the Pope, overcame the King of Lombardy, and left the Pope in possession of the exarch- ate of Revenna and its dependencies. Thus the uni- versal bishop became a temporal prince; added "the sceptre to the keys," and France did it. Pepin conferred this splendid donation on the Pope in supreme and abso- lute dominion, as a recompense " for the remission of his sins and the salvation of his soul." Charlemagne re- ceived from the hands of the Pope the crown of imperial Rome, and thus recognized and became pledged to sup- port the unwarrantable usurpation of Anti-christ. This famous letter — and we are happy to be able to (^uote from a veritable correspondence of St. Peter hiin- FRANCE AND THE PAPACY. 229 self — was addressed to the most excellent Piince, Popin, and to Charles and Charloman, his sons, and to all bish- ops, abbots, priests, and monks ; as, also, to dukes, counts and people. It begins thus : " The Apostle Peter, to- gether with the Virgin Mary, and the thrones, dominions, &c., gives notice, commands, &c. ;" the letter ending with the very apostolic injunction : " If you will not Jight for me, I declare to you by the Holy Trinity and by mv apostleship, that t/ou shall have no share in heaven." Pope Boniface VIII. was most signally humbled by Philip the Fair, of France. Philip demanded a general council to depose the Pope ; and the Pope as readily thun- dered his bull of excommunication against Philip. The King, roused to madness, levied an army, seized his Ho- liness, and treated him with the greatest indignity. He soon after died of an illness engendered by his mortifica- tion and rage. Again we trace the hand of France raised against Rome in the Great Western Schism — the elevation of a French Pope — the removal of the Papal seat to Avignon, and the subsequent wars of rival popes. Here we may date the first great shaking of the mighty fabric of Rome. Here the Beast received his incura- ble wound. Again, France, under Napoleon, humbles the Pope, and breaks the strong arm of his temporal power. The political power and influence of France, her treas- ures, her diplomacy, her armies and navies, have been laid an offering on the altar of Rome. And France, too, has done more than all other papal countries to extend the Romish faith. She furnishes near one half of the missionaries of Rome, (total, three thousand in number,) and about one half of the receipts of all her missionary societies, (total amount, nine hundred thousand dol- lars.) The government is foremost, too, in opening the way, by its power and diplomacy, for Papal missionaries ; and freely lends its ships of war to transport Romish priests to distant continents and islands, and its cannon, to compel the people to receive them. What France will do next, doth not yet appear. The present auspicious movement in that nation certainly cherishes the hope that this right arm of the Papacy may, 230 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. ere long, prove a right arm to conduct Rome to Christ This we may at least hope evangelical France will do — though papal France may once more lend her power to uphold Rome. The recent revival of evangelical religion in Geneva, the city of Calvin, and where Beza made bare his giant arm in defence of the Reformation, may not be over- looked in our estimate of providential movements in Eu- rope. Geneva has been called the Jerusalem of the con tinent. Once purified and filled with the sweet waters of life, it would be a fountain, whose streams should flow to Europe and the world. Already France receives her healing waters, and her deserts rejoice. Late movements in behalf of reform indicate moral ad- vancement in Europe. The temperance reformation has crept into the palaces of kings, and numbers in its ranks nobles and princes, while associations for carrying out various plans of benevolent action are springing into ex- istence in almost every quarter of the continent. The travels, labor, and reception, of the Rev. Dr. Baird afford a forcible and edifying illustration of what Europe now is as a field prepared for the good seed of the word Fifteen years ago, how would the monarchical people ana aristocratic princes of Europe have received a ])rotestant, an American, a republican, a man whose principal and sole object was to search out the moral destitutions of the land, and to overflow its moral wastes with the pure waters of life ? How he has been everywhere hailed as the precursor of better days to the lapsed churches of Europe, we know. How he would have been received at any former period since the expulsion of Protestantism from France, Spain, Belgium, and Italy, is matter of no doubtful conjecture. Europe does not, perhaps, present a more pleasing fea- ture, or one of more delightful promise, than in the in- crease of evangelical religion in high places. I have al- ready nlluded to instances of this in king's palaces, ol crowned heads guided by pious hearts. What a charm- ing example of the power of religion is the Duchess ol Orleans, whom the Protestants of France had fondly hoped to nail as their Queen — Count Gasparin, a young PROGRESS OF FRKK ?IU NC'P'.E'/. '^JS • French nobleman of great promise and rness and solitary place into the garden of the Lord !" In the progress the gospel has made in the southern PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA. 247 portion of the peninsula, we meet the same pledge oi future success — a promising starting point for future oper- ations. " In Tinnevelly,'' says the same authority, Bishop Wilson, " the word of the Lord runs and is glorified more rapidly, and to a far wider extent. The inquirers and converts of the Gospel Propagation, and the Church Mis- sionary Societies, amount to thirty-five thousand. Such awakenings have not been surpassed since the days of the apostles, and there seems every prospect of all the South of India, containing millions of souls, becoming, ere long, the Lord's." Some idea may be got of the progress of Christianity in Southern India, from the following statistics of the Church Missionary Society. There are connected with this single institution, aside from the missionaries them- selves, the following native agency : 267 native cate- chists — 192 school-masters — 0,842 baptized persons, 1,245 of whom were added the last year — 19,706 candidates for baptism — 1,468 communicants — 30,000 persons under Christian instruction — and 461 villages under the care of the Mission. " The power of divine grace," says one, " seems to me to have been so sudden and mighty as to strike with wonder every mind susceptible of religious impressions." " I have but very little doubt," writes another, " the whole population of Tinnevelly will soon renounce Heathenism and come over to Christianity," If regarded in no other light, what resources has Provi- dence here gathered, in the operations and success of this single society, for the future prosecution of the work. And were we to add here similar items furnished by the Reports of the American Board, the London and other Missionary societies, we should discover a cumulative power by which to act in time to come, truly encour- aging ; especially when taken in connection with the open door of access, and the readiness of the native mind to receive the gospel. Hundreds of villages have cast away their idols, and not a few are the temples which have been unceremoniously cleared of the emblems of idolatry, and elevated to the worship of the true God. These are verdant spots on which the good seed has taken root, and 24S UAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. fruil IS now abundantly ripening with which to feed Ihe famishing tribes around. The. American Mission at Madura has seven churches, fifteen stated congregations, one seminary, five boarding- schools, ninety free schools, and four thousand pupils in the various stages of learning. Forty villages have put ihomselves under the care of the Mission, and one hun* dred would do the same if the number of missionaries would allow of assuming such a responsibility. A specimen of the preparedness of this field to receive the good seed, may be gathered from a late appeal of the American Mission at Madura : " V/e are not aware," say they, " that there is, on the whole district of Madura, a town, village or hamlet, in which we could not, as far as the feelings of the people are concerned, establish schools and Christian instruction to any extent your pecuniary means will allow. The whole district, in the most accu- rate and strictest sense, is open to the reception of divine truth and the Christian teacher. Yea, more — there is scarcely a town or village from which we have not re- ceived a formal request, an earnest entreaty to send them a teacher, A population surrounds us, who speak one language, equalling more than half that of the United States. From one end of the land to the other, in city, town or country, the living minister will find the way prepared before him, to preach the tidings of a Saviour's love, and to distribute all the Bibles and Tracts the Amer- ican church will furnish." Again the same missionaries say, " Never do we pass through the streets of these vil- lages without being assailed by the question, Why do you not Siind a missionary here ? — we will receive him gladly ; we will send our cliildren to your schools ; you must not pass us by." Such language is true, too, of other parts of India. Every missionary station is a door of entrance to a wide field beyond. And more than this is true : the Bible and the religious book is going before the living preacher, and preparing fields for his future labors, and creating demands which nothing but evangelical truth can satisfy. On a tour in the Northern Concan, beyond the reach of any direct missionary labors. Dr. Wilson finds a Brah PROMISE OF COMPLETE SUCCESS. 249 mm reading a portion of the New Testament to a com- pany of natives who are eagerly listening. In Goozarat he meets some natives, about one hundred in number, residing in seven different places, at considerable distances apart, who professed to be converts to Christianity. He found, on inquiry, they had not had intercourse with anj- missionary, but had received the knowledge they pos- sessed of Christianity principally from books, aided by a native Christian from Bengal. They had openly pro- fessed Christianity, one of their number acting as their head and teacher. " I believe," says the same mission- ary, "that instances of this nature are not unfrequent." Another missionary has recently reported a very sim- ilar case. " Recently two men came from another vil- lage, to inform us that a thousand persons — in conse- quence of reading some of our books — were desirous of putting themselves under our protection. The same messengers mentioned half a dozen villages where a sim- ilar change has been produced by the reading of Chris- tian books." Says Mr. Mather, of the London Missionary Society, "I had an interview with Mr. Hill, at Berhampore, and he told me that he and Mr. Lacroix were in conference with about five hundred natives, who were promising to come over to Christianity." And "about a year ago a ^jroposal was made by a sect of about two hundred per- sons, that I should be their Gooroo, (spiritual guide,) that they would attend my instructions, and that together we would fully investigate Christianity." Such cases as the following are now occurring : While a missionary was waiting at a rest-house, he "saw the villagers assemble, and heard them addressed on the folly and wickedness of Idolatry, by a native, who was also a resident of the village. This man was not acquainted with any missionary, but had learned wh.at he knew of tlie truth from books and tracts." Such instances aflbrd delightful testimony, not only that the field is ripe for the harvest, but that there are agencies at work, which facilitate the progress of evan- gelization in a ratio hitherto unknown, and give pleasing promise of 'peedy and complete success. fi5P HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. And here I would not withhold again the high author ity of Bishop Wilson ; who, after a residence of some fif teen years in India, discourses thus : " The fields in India are white already for the harvest. Nothing has, I be- lieve, been seen like it. An outburst of the native mhid seems at hand. The diffusion of education; the striking benefits of medical science ; the opening of an exhaust- iess commerce on all hands ; the recently ascertained riches of the soil ; the extent and magnificence of the riv- ers and mines ; its superb harbors, including its almost interminable coasts ; the rapid increase of settlers from Great Britain and America ; the security of person and property under British rule ; the number of offices thrown open to native merit ; the railroad contemplated and al- most begun ; and the incredible rapidity of communica- tion by steam, uniting the whole world, as it were, into one vast family, are bringing on a crisis in the native mind most favorable to the introduction of Christianity." Again the Bishop speaks of his " firm belief that Hindoo- ism will soon altogether hide its head — the crescent of Mohammed already turns pale — worn out and effete su- iperstition sinking before the mere progress of science and civilization, before the startling knowledge of history, the lights of chronological learning and the laws of evidence, of the incredible progress of religious principle ; of the more favorable disposition of Indian rulers towards Chris- tianity ; and of the decidedly improved moral and reli- gious character of the servants of the Honorable Com- pany." All of which help to make up the sum total of what God is doing to prepare that vast and populous land to receive the gospel of his Son. Similar testimony flows in upon us, unsolicited, from ither quarters. The excellent Rhenius, German mission- ary in Southern India, says, " The Lord Jesus Christ is certainly magnifying his name in these parts ; Idolatry \a rapidly diminishing; this wilderness begins everywheie to blossom ; many souls are delivered, not only from tlie bondage of Idolatry, but from sin in general ; villages are coming in constantly, casting away their idols, and giving up their temples to be used as Christian churches. I could furnish vou with cooley loads of their neglected INCREASING SPIRIT OF INUUIRT 25 idols." Say the corresponding committee of the Church Missionary Society, " The barriers of caste are rapidly breaking down ; there is an increasing spirit of inquiry about religion, and for moral and religious instruction ; deep-rooted prejudice against religious instruction no longer general ; the promotion of secular education a 'eading topic." " A great desire has arisen among the u^outh of Calcutta to obtain and read the New Testament. We have not to go as formerly, and beg them to accept it. They come of their own accord, and solicit this blessed book. This desire is now prevalent among the pupils and students of schools of all grades." A feather indicates the course of the wind — so little facts are sure pledges of great and wide-spread changes ; " Young Hindoos, who have received an English education, are establishing English schools in their own villages, and thus render themselves useful to their country, and effect- ually advance the truth. Rich zemindars pay them a small salary, and the parents of the children contribute their share for their support." Brahmins see the impending danger, and use every ef- fort to turn it away ; yet they say, " When Christianity obtains a permanent influence, we shall join your ranks." They are not ignorant of the influence of Christian schools over the minds of their youth. One recently said, " As soon as the boys learn to read, they become Christians ; hence I take my boy from school." A wealthy Brahmin, near Benares, recently gave up his son into the hands of a missionary with these remarkable words : " I feel convinced, after reading your sacred Shas- ters, that they contain the true religion. I have not the power to come up to the purity of its precepts, but here is my son, take him as your child ; feed him at your ta- ble, and bring him up a Christian ; at the same time making ever to him ten thousand rupees, (five thousand dollars,) to defray the expenses of his son's education." This is a new thing in India. The effect on the mind of the Hindoos will be incalculable ; a heavier blow has perhaps never been struck on the strong-holds of Idolatry. In no part of the great field has God provided a more powerful moral momentum for the future progress of the 252 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. work than in Ceylon, Birmah, and China. But we may here forego details. Were we to take a survey of those countries, as providentially opened, and of the work aa already in progress there, we should meet the same open field, the same preparation of mind, the same accumula- tion of power by which to urge onward the evangelical car, which we have seen in the instances already con- lemplated : missions established and a fund of experi- ence gained ; obstacles removed ; translations of the Scriptures, the press at work, and a store of religious books made ready ; a strong native agency, and efficient, extended educational systems in readiness for the work, and extended mental preparation in many thousands ol native minds, all so many resources and facilities in the hands of God for the future progress of the work. A "^oice from the four winds proclaims the no distant fall of Paganism. It speaks of the "crumbling of idol temples," " colleges of Hindoo learning deserted," " gen- eral abatement of prejudice against Christianity," " the gradual increasing influence of missions and respect for missionaries," " six thousand eight hundred natives con- verted through the Church Missionary Society the last year," "every prospect that India will, perhaps, in a sin- gle generation, renounce Idolatry." Indeed, writes one, " the feeling is becoming general among the people of the East, that some extraordinary change is at hand, which is to be effected through the diffusion of Christianity." And well may they look for such an event when they see so much that is ominous in the signs of the times ; in the neglect of rites and ceremonies essential to their idol- atrous systems ; in the divisions and schisms among their priests, as in the fierce conflicts recently carried .n ^n Bombay and Calcutta; in the conversion to Christianity of not a few of their priests ; in the public discussions, a- in Calcutta, where mighty champions for the truth and for the demolition of Brahminism have been raised up from the people themselves ; in the many newspapers aid periodicals, both for and against Christianity, published iv Calcutta, Bombay, and Madrass, and in the already wide diflusion of Christian and European learning. In the sacred city of Benares, among the gorgeous ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 253 monuments of Idolatry, stands a remarkable shaft, which is reputed once to have towered to the very clouds, but nas been gradually sinking for many years. This the Hindoos regard as an index to their waning and sinking religion. When the shaft shall have sunk to the surface, and mother earth shall close in upon it, Hindooism shall be no more. CHAPTER XIY. riM viKLD PREFARBD. Islands of the Facific. Native agency. Liberality of natiT* Churches. Outpouring of the Spirit and answers to Prayer. The first Monday ol January. Ttmtn^ of things. England in India— her influence. Success, a cumula- tive force for progress. The world at the feet of the Church. " hook on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.''^ Before closing our review of Pagan territories, we must cast a glance over the isle-dotted waters of the Pacific. Here God is doing a new thing under the sun ; is constructing a new world, perhaps another continent, through the instrumentality of an infinite number of in- significant animalcules. Numerous islands, smiling in all the luxuriance of a new creation, have arisen from the bottom of the ocean, fabricated by the incessant toils ol these minute workmen. They rise to the surface of the water, the waves contribute to convey materials to form a soil ; the birds of the air are commissioned to bring and plant seeds on them; a luxuriant vegetation springs up: man at length comes, and a new field is open for the rav- ages of sin, and a new field over which victorious grace shall yet raise her victorious banners. We have already traced the hand of God in brirging these several groups of islands to the notice of the civil- ized world and of the church ; how it was done just at the right time ; when religion and knowledge had become 254 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. matured foi" a vigorous onset upon the powers of dark- ness ; when an unwonted sph'it of benevolence had been roused in the church, and the angel of evangelism was prepared for his immortal flight. We are now concerned only with the present condition of those island;^. They have already, for the most part, been brought within the dominions of nominal Christianity. Ninety islands are said to have received the law of their God, and a popula- tion of some four hundred thousand have nominally em- biaced Christianity. Eight of these islands have been converted solely through a native agency, and forty or fifty are, at the present time, under the instruction of none but native laborers. In schools, in the power of the press, in a religious literature, in the experience and abil- ity of laborers, in governmental protection and aid, and in a consistent exemplification of the power of Chris- tianity in a multitude of converts, perhaps God has no- where accumulated a more efficient power for the future prosecution of his work.* In four groups of these islands, where, forty years ago, the people were gross idolaters and cannibals, are now forty thousand church members. In a district of the isl- and of New Zealand, the average attendance on divine worship is seven thousand five hundred, and one thou- sand four hundred candidates for baptism. From the Sandwich Islands we now receive such reports as these : Printed by the mission, in a single year, ten and a half millions of pages, nearly half of which were the Scrip- tures; seven boarding-schools with three hundred and sixty-one scholars ; four select schools ; a boarding-school for the children of the chiefs ; a mission seminary with one hundred pupils, to which is attached a theological class ; a female seminary v.'ith sixty pupils, and three ' We mny take (he following as a Bpecimen ofthe influence of the schnol system on the future destinies of the people : The seminary at l.aliaiiialmia (Sandwich Islands,) has Milt nut two hnndred and ninety-six pupils' of wluim forty-two have died, two hun- dred and fifty-four in the field. Of tliese, one hundred and ei^'ht are eii);aj;e(l in the work of teachiiie; forty-three in the service of^jjoveriiment ; thirty-one, though not en- ga»fed in teaching, are usefully employed in letting Iheir liglit sliirie. Of the remaining seventy-eight, some are engaged in honorable employments, while others are idle, or worse than idle. One hundred and fifteen are in good standing in the chnrch. The m Btitution is thus scattering blessings throughout the islands; its gra(hiates are every- where the leading members of society, in matters, civil, religious, and literary. "In manual labor they are several times more valuable than other natives, having acquired \iabits of industry, and learned how to work while at school." SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS. 255 hundred and fifty-seven common schools, taught by five hundred and five teachers, and containing twenty thou sand scholars. And to this prospective, though already in a degree effective, force, we add the daily preach- ing and the faithful instructions of eighty mission- aries and assistant missionaries, with six hundred native teachers and catechists, with the goodly profession and the ordinary activities of twenty-four thousand church members, and several thousands of inquirers and candi- dates, who, in the judgment of charity, are the children of God, and we have before us an instrumentality by which we may expect soon to see all those beautiful islands laid at the feet of the Redeemer ; and vast resources secured for the prosecution of the work elsewhere. Or who can contemplate the vast amount of knowledge and civiliza- tion that has been secured in other islands of the Pa- cific ; the Christian instruction that has been imparted ; the educational systems that are in operation ; the mis- sionary experience that has been gained ; the native agency that is prepared ; and the divine power that has been exemplified by tens of thousands of living examples, and not read in these things a sure pledge for the speedy consummation of the work? Or who can look for a moment at the Feegee Islands, and not be impressed that now is the accepted year of the Lord ? Where, but a few years ago, was a popula- tion of gross, greedy cannibals, now are happy, peaceful communities. There is, perhaps, at present, not a more marked or en- couraging feature of the missionary work than the prev alent conviction of the value of a native agency, and the fact that every principal mission is directing its efforts especially to create such an agency. Mission col- leges, in full growth or in embryo, with a theological class attached, are fast gathering in the choicest material from the lower schools, and preparing it for future service. A new agency is thus coming into existence, whose pro- gress is in geometrical ratio, and which shall, ere long, supply a native ministry, native preachers, literati, pro- fessional men of all classes ; book-makers and publishers civilians, statesmen, and rulers. No feature, perhaps 256 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. more distinctly indicates the designs of Providence in ref- erence to the conversion of the world. Hopeless, indeed, is the task of ever supplying the heathen world with preachers from abroad ; but the work assumes another as- pect the moment the eye turns to the native agency, which, in germ at least, is met in every mission school and sem- inary from Oregon to Japan, east or west. Such agency is already acting far more extensively and efficiently, perhaps, than is generally known. The late German missionary, Rhenius, was wont to preach in one hundred villages on every Sabbath day. That number of native preachers and catechists, on Saturday, received the word at his mouth, and thence went and preached in as many different places. Some entire printing establishments, as the extensive one in Bombay, are conducted wholly by native skill and labor.* Extensive school establishments are, in their details, carried on by the same agency. We wonder how a single missionary can act as pastor to a church of eight thousand members, scattered over an almost inaccessible country of thirty miles in extent. The won- der ceases when told that this church embraces thirty congregations, which assemble in as many different places, under the immediate care and instruction of as many catechists or sub-pastors. The heads of depart- nr>ents and the funds, in the missionary work, must, for some time to come, be furnished principally from abroad, but the details of the work are fast passing into native hands. Some fifty islands in the Pacific are said already to be under the instruction of natives alone. " Mount Lebanon," says a high authority, "will furnish missiona- ries for the sixty millions speaking the Arabic language, and noble missionaries too." Another promising feature is the liberality and self- denial of the native churches. In their deep poverty they are contributing liberally to send the gospel to the dark regions beyond them. The American Board • Thomas Graham, the euperintendent of the American press at Bombay, was oneof ttlOEC young lads wlio accompanied the Rev. Gordon Hall on his late tour, and alone witnessed the dying momenls of that excellent man, and gave him his linmble sepul- ture, far from friends, and among idolatrous strangers. Thomas was a poor boy, who early came under the care of the mission ; was nurtured and elevated by theiii--coQ- verted by the grace of God — and, after rendering various useful services, was at leugtfe rvised to this respo isible and Important trust. NATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS. 257 receutly reported one hundred dollars recei\red trom a cnurch at the Sandwich Islands for the education of a girl in the female seminary in Ceylon, collected during one year at the monthly concert for prayer. Mr. Wil- liams tells a beautiful story in point here. When on a visit to the native Christians at Aitutaki, he was explain- ing the manner in which the British Christians raised money to send the gospel to the heathen. They ex- pressed their regret that they had no money to give. He replied : " If you have no money, you have something to buy money with." What ? " The pigs I brought you ; they have increased abundantly, and if every family would set apart one, and when the ships come, sell them for money, a valuable contribution might be raised.' The idea delighted them ; and the next morning the squealing of pigs, which were receiving a mark in the ear for the purpose, was heard from one end of the set- tlement to the other. A ship came ; the pledges were sold, and the avails realized ; and soon the native treas- urer paid over for missionary purposes £l03. It was their Jirst money. We are permitted to chronicle such instances as the following : The people of Tahiti and of the neighboring islands, contributed £527 in one year to the British and Foreign Bible Society. The London Missionary Soci- ety acknowledged in one year, £17,748 from their mis- sion churches ; £5,000 of which was from Southern In- dia, as a contribution to the Jubilee Fund ; half of the latter sum was contributed by the native church at Na- gercoil; £l60 at one station in Jamaica. The English Baptist Missionary Society report £ 1,200 contributed in a single year by their mission churches towards the sup- port of their pastors. The Rev. Mr. Davis, pastor of a mission church of Africans, at New Amsterdam, South America, says, " During the five years of my pastorate there, that congregation contributed £7,000 to various objects of charity." As early as 1821, we find a native missionary society organized at Tahiti, and a " great num- ber of missionaries sent thence to other islands." The church at Hilo, Sandwich Islands, contributed to different benevolent purposes, from four hundred to six hundred 258 HAND OF GCD IN HISTORY. dollars cnnually. The Sandwich Island churches con- tributed last year, thirteen thousand seven hundred and eighty-two dollars, to different benevolent purposes, hve thousand of which came from the Hawaiian Bible Soci- 'jty, which is one of the best auxiliary Bible Societies in ihe world. iVIucn importance may, very justly, be attached to the self-denying and benevolent spirit of these churches, as indicative of God's purpose soon to convert the world. While enjoying, themselves, scarcely more than the bare necessity of subsistence, they have begun their Christian existence in a noble recognition of the first principles of the gospel. From such a generation of Christians, the church and the world may expect much. Laudable efforts, too, drawing heavily on the slender resources of native converts, are at the same time making, especially in the Pacific Ocean, to build church edifices for themselves, and in part, or in whole, to support their pastors. In the records of those missions we are fre- quently meeting items like the following : " Erecting a stone church, one hundred and twenty-five feet by sixty, and three temporary buildings at the same time at out- stations." " The walls of another church rising at one point, and materials collecting at another." In the year 1840, there were built, or in progress of building, at the Sandwich Islands, eiglit large churches, one of which was one hundred and forty-four feet by seventy-eight. For the building of one, the King gave three thousand dollars, the chiefs and people having already given two thousand five hundred dollars. And while these noble efforts are making to provide suitable and durable edifices for the worship of God, ef- forts equally laudable are inaking to provide needed ac- commodations for schools. At four stations, at the Sand- wich Islands, eighty school-houses were built in a single year — forty-two in connection with one station — " large, pleasantly situated, with verandas and play-grounds around them." And not a few of these same churches are contributing from one hundred, to four hundred and five nundred dollars a year for the support of their pas- tors. The church in Honolulu, in 1845, raised five huu- OUTPOURING OP THE SPIRIT. SJSif dred and seventy dollars for the support of their pastor The church of Wailuku paid for the same purpose, in 1844. seven hundred and twenty-five dollars, besides sup^ porting a native preacher at an out-station, and contribu- ting fifty-four dollars at the monthly concert for prayer, snd building a church at an out-station. The church at Lahaina contributed, in the same year, as follows : Three hundred and twenty-one dollars for the support of their pastor; two thousand and four hundred dollars for re- building a church ; one hundred and eighty dollars for the support of school teachers. The church of Molokai, besides the entire support of their pastor, contributed, in the same year, six hundred and seventy-eight dollars to diflferent objects of benevolence. The following paragraph recently appeared in one of our religious papers. It will further illustrate the point in hand. ' We have learned with surprise, and yet de- light, thai a Foreign Missionary Society in the Sandwich Islands has sent to the American Home Missionary So- ciety a donation for planting the gospel in our own west ! Think of it ! The converted heathen of yesterday rally- ing to bless our own land. Awake ! ye sleepy and care- less ones in our churches, who have never felt or done any thing in the cause of domestic missions. Make haste ! or these converts from heathenism will be the means of saving your own kindred. " Nor have the liberality and public spirit of the Ha- waiian people been manifested merely in supporting their pastors and erecting houses of worship. It is estimated that, during the seven years ending December, 1844, they had contributed nineteen thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven dollars ; and during the last year, they had raised not less than three thousand one hundred and five dollars."* Other encouraging features, indicating the hand of God as stretched out to bless our missionary enterprises appear in the extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit on mission churches, and signal answers to prayer. The re- cent extraordinary outpourings of the Spirit and revivals of * Report of American Board for 1845. 30 260 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. religioo on the Island of Ceylon, at the Sandwich Islands and among the Choctaws, Armenians and Nestorians, are indications full of hope. Perhaps in the whole history of religious revivals, the power of the Spirit has not been more signally manifested, revealing the mighty hand of God. Should similar displays of Divine power be expe- rienced by every Christian mission now in operation, (a thing not more improbable,) we might hail such an event as the long expected conversion of the world. Akin to this, are the signal answers to prayer, which Heaven has, within a few years past, vouchsafed. I will illustrate only by answers to prayer on a single occasion : The friends of missions have been wont, for some years past, to observe the first Monday of January as a day of prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit on the world, and especially for the success of foreign missions. Results like the following have come to my knowledge. Others, more observing of God's movements among the heathen, may add to the list. A few instances will be given where prayer seems to have been answered, on a remote part of the glob*, on the very day, and perhaps the same hour, it was offered : On the first Monday of January, 1833, there was an extraordinay and unaccountable religious movement on the minds of a class of natives who had been for a few months under Christian instruction at Ahmednuggur. The writer, then the only missionary at the station, in- vited all who wished to be Christians, to meet him for re- ligious conversation and inquiry ; when, to his surprise, thirteen responded to the call ; all, apparently, deeply con- victed of sin, and wishing to be pointed to the Saviour. The number was in a few days increased to sixteen^ most of whom subsequently became members of the church. And this self same day was distinguished in other places by the power of the same blessed Spirit. In Richmond, Va., the pastors and churches were assembled for prayer. The lamented Armstrong, late Secretary of the American Board, was there. He had been a trusty friend of missions before ; " but the time when his whole ioul seemed to be peculiarly moved for the heathen, and he was, as it were, newly baptized with the missionary EFFECT OP PRAYER MEETINGS. 26l spirit, was at the meeting for prayer for the conversion of the world, held on the first Monday of January, 1833. Standing among the ministers, and before the assembled churches of Richmond, with a countenance glowing with love, he said, " My brethren, I am ashamed that there are so many of us here in this Christian land. We must go to the heathen." " That day of prayer," says one who was present, " made an impression on many hearts, w hich was deep and lasting." This was doubtless the way in which God was preparing him to perform the labors to which he was soon to be called, in connection with the foreign missionary work. At a subsequent period, Rev. Mr. Spaulding, of Ceylon, says, " I was called up at midnight, on the first Monday in January, by one of the girls of the Oodooville school, and informed that the whole school was assembled in the large lecture room for prayer. On going thither, and seeing all present to hear what the Lord would com- mand them, I found them in a most interesting state of mind ; and this was the beginning of the great revival of religion in Ceylon. Inquiring how this thing originated, Mr. S. found the larger girls, (the younger ones having retired,) had assembled for their evening prayer meeting, and not being willing to separate at the usual hour, the interest became so intense that one after another called up a friend to share in the good feeling, till, at length, the whole school were assembled. The first Monday of January, 1838, presented a scene of thrilling interest at the Sandwich Islands. " At the rising of the sun, the church and congregation at Hono- lulu, filling one of the largest houses of worship on the islands, united in solemn prayer for the outpouring of the spirit of God." And thence followed a series of pro- tracted meetings throughout the islands, and a general re- vival of religion blessed the nation. This was the be- ginning of what is known as the "great revival." By midsummer, more than five thousand had been received into the church, and two thousand four hundred stood propounded for membership. Though there had been some favorable indications of a spiritual movement some time previous, and the preceding Sabbath had been a day 2(fi HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. of unusual interest at Honolulu, yet we may date the be- ginning of the great revival on that day. Now the win- dows of heaven were opened, and the refreshing rain came ; and, as the fruits of the remarkable work, there were gathered into the churches, (1838 — 40,) twenty thousand persons ; and more than three thousand re- mained as candidates for admission. On the first Monday of January, 1846, two of the oldei girls in Miss Fisk's school at Ooroomiah, linger after morn- ing prayers. She inquires the reason ; finds they feel them- selves to be lost sinners, and ask that they may spend the day in retirement. In a few days they are rejoicing in the hope of sins forgiven. Five others come to Miss F. the same day, and ask what they shall do to be saved ? and, with no knowledge of what had taken place in Miss Fisk's school, a considerable number of Mr. Stoddard's scholars came to him with the same inquiry. From this hour we date the commencement of the present powerful, extensive revival of religion, which has already pervaded, not only the two seminaries, but the city of Ooroomiah and the adjacent villages, and has spread even among the mountains, and already numbers more than one hundred and fifty converts ; to say nothing of the deep end far- reaching moral influence which this religious movement has produced on the Nestorian mind in general, and the conviction of the power of evangelical truth. Nor was this all: just two years before, (Monday, January, 1844,) there were decisive indications of the mighty workings of the spirit at the same station, producing a happy effect on the hearts of the native Christians and missionaries, but resulting in the conversion of only one individual, and he a young man the most unlikely to be thus effected. But he afterwards became a most efficient helper in the mission, and, perhaps, did more than any other one, to prepare the way for the great work now in progress. God first prepares his instruments, then does his work. On the same day, (1846,) the spirit was poured out from on high, upon the Choctaws. " A pleasant state of things existed a few days previous, but on Monday, (Jan- uary 5th,) the spirit came down in power, and a mighty Work began," and did not end till more than two hundred THE TIMING OF THINGS. g(;J{ were gathered into the church, which did not number be- fore above seven hundred. " Before they call I vs^ill an swer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." But I must avoid so much detail. I shall group, in the briefest possible space, a variety of providential interpo Bitions, which should by no means be passed in silence We shall discover in them many interesting coincidences and junctures, which cannot but convey to the mind of the Christian a pleasing conviction that God is in the work, and, therefore, it cannot fail. They are such as these : The timing of things so as to make one answer to an- other ; as the discovery of the South Sea Islands just be- fore that wonderful period, when, amidst the " throes of kingdoms and the convulsions of the civilized world," a missionary spirit was wonderfully diffused among British Christians. The idol gods at the Sandwich Islands are cast away while missionaries are yet on their way thither. A wise Providence had raised up and fitted such charac- ters as Kaahumanu, Kalanimaki, and Kaumualii ; char- acters so peculiarly suited to the crisis as obviously to indicate that they were the agents of Heaven, raised up for this very purpose. These islands became consoli- dated under one government, and the conflicting inter- ests of different chiefs annihilated just in time to prepare the whole group for a national reform. The young and dissolute king, from whom the mission had much to feai and nothing to hope, is cut off by death in a foreign land, and his remains are sent back in charge of the noble By- ron, whose influence is nobly employed on behalf of the mission. The most despicable and decicredly hostile chief, Boki, (Governor of Oahu,) is sacrificed to a mad project of his own devising. From small beginnings, and in a manner peculiarly providential, an extraordinary in- strument for reform is prepared in the person of Kaahu- manu, and raised to the highest pinnacie of power. The rebellion in Kanai results in the final prostration of the Anti-chnstian party. And the timeiy visit of Van Cou- ver, of the Bioiide, the Peacock, the Vincennes, and the iiobiC bearing of their chief officers towards the incipient mission, and the salutary influence exerted by them on 264 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. the minds of the chiefs and people, are providential inter- positions worthy of record. Nor was fhis all. The mission schools were caken under the patronage of the government, just at ihe time when it had become impossible to sustain them by the mission. And who has not traced, with grateful admiration, the origin and growth of the missionary spirit ; how it has expanded and warmed the heart of the church in propor- tion as the field opened to receive the gospel ; the in- creasing philanthropy of Christendom, a sensibility to every thing that effects the well-being of man, and the general expectation of the world's speedy conversion ? Whence this, but a divine premonition, a dark foreboding of idolatry's doom ? Says an intelligent missionary, " the feeling is becoming general that some extraordinary change is near at hand, which is to be eifected by the diffusion of Christianity." A singular presentiment pre- vails among the Mohammedans ; and a strange, irrepres- sible restlessness in Italy and other papal countries, pre- dicts some mighty change in great Babylon. Even in the Vatican, " Prelates and Cardinals, and the late dying Pope, have visions of threatening tempests, of disaster and trouble, from whence there is no escape." Again, we have the footsteps of Providence in the machinery prepared ; in organized action, societies — the army marshalled and ready for the field ; in the improved character of nominal Christians residing in pagan lands ; in the late divorce of the connection which has hitherto existed between the English Government and Hindoo idolatry ; in the suppression of the Suttee and Infanti- cide ; in the extreme sensitiveness of Anti-christian powers to the prevalence of pure Christianity, rousing the spirit of persecution, indicative of the progress of Christianity ; in the oppression and extortion of the priesthood, which is driving many from their long-cherished superstition to take refuge under the mild banners of the gospel ; in the decrease of the Papal priesthood ;* in the increased ai- * statistics which have recently b«en presented, on the decrease of the clerical orler. show a diniiaution or the Romish cler^;/, amounting to near 900.00(1 within tb« kst fiity yearg. GREAT MORAL CHANGE. 265 tention of Pagan nations to the study of the English lan- guage ; and in the present advanced condition of know« ledge, civilization and freedom. Advancement in the arts and sciences, in civilization and civil liberty, is a no doubtful presage that the kingdom of the Messiah is at hand. It is the hand of the Lord preparing for the universal spread of the gospel. Religion is found eventu- ally to come down to the social and intellectual condi- tion of a people. Nothing in the past history of Chris- tianity warrants us to expect that a pure, healthful Christianity will long remain among a people ignorant and unacquainted with the arts of civilized life. The moral change, too, which, during the last forty years, has taken place among European and American resi- dents in heathen countries, is an indication of, and a pre- paration for, commg good. In India, it is a presage of much good. Ihen, scarcely a righteous man could be found there. There was no church, no Sabbath, no chaplaincies, no mercantile house closed on the Sabbath. " English residents were as much strangers to the gospel as the Hindoos or the Mohammedans." But now how changed. Not a mercantile house is now open on the Sab- bath.* Instead of an " universal, unblushing disregard of religion," there are scattered over India, in its length and breadth, delightful specimens of piety. More lovely, active, and benevolent Christians are not to be met, than they whose light shines in that land of darkness. How different a starting point has the gospel now, how in- creased the resources of piety for its onward progress ! We cannot too profoundly admire the wonder-working hand that has given, as before noticed, such preponder- ance in Pagan countries, to the present two gn^at fnari- time nations ; that such a country as India, wiiich has jnce given religion, science, and civilization to all the East, should now be thrown into Anglo-Saxon hands ; into the hands of a nation of such extent and po.ver and maritime skill, and such resources and intelligence and • A late number of the Bombay Times states that the Gorernor-general hss directed ttat henceforth there shall be no labor on the public works throughout Hin.toostan, on the Sabbath. The same paper adds, "A similar measure iufroduced three years sine* by Sii George Anhur into {tombay. has been eminently sik cessful." 266 • HAND OF fiOD IN HISTOUy. piety, and every advantage for propagating the gos])el There has, perhaps, never been an arrangement of Prov- idence, in all the revolutions of nations, which, when rightly viewed, excites a profounder wonder. The rch* gious and intellectual influence of India has always been, and is likely to be, great over the whole East. Once converted to Christianity, she may again send her mis- sionaries, not as formerly, to propagate error, but to carry the full horn of salvation to the remotest extremities of Asia. Time would fail to trace out the many ways in which the wealth, power, and learning of England are contribu- ting to pi'epare the way of the Lord in India. The power of her arms and the skill of her statesmen have done it by securing protection for the missionary ; while the researches of her scholars have been accumulating a power in the hands of the same missionary for the prose- cution of his work. Colebrook and Sir Wm. Jones, and the many philosophers, linguists, historians, and literati, who have gained immortality in Indian lore, have been unconsciously forging the weapons of the missionary warfare. Every acquisition in true science, every ad- vapced step in literature, history, geography, is a blow struck at the heart of Hindooism, so interwoven is error into the very warp and woof of Hindoo learning. And the British Christian will here pardon us for say- ing that we think the providence worthy of much admira- tion, that so strong and encouraging a missionary spirit should pervade the American Church, that the gospel should be so extensively sent from this country, the land of revivals, of general intelligence, and freedom ; that religion of such a type should be so prominently stamped on pagan nations. The hand of God is abundantly visible, too, in the increased demand for the Sacred Scriptures. I speak now more especially of anti-christian nations. The people in ilmost every portion of the world show an unwonted .leaire to become acquainted with the Christian's Bible, though generally opposed by the priesthood. Whence this desire, if not wrought into the world's mind by the Spirit from on higlj ? The Bible and the Paganism of CONUinON OF THE PAGAN WORLD. 26V India, or of Rome, cannot long live together. We may, therefore, regard this desire to possess and read the pure word of God, both as a providential preparation and a premonition of the speedy coming of the Messiah's king- dom. Finally, the present condition of the Pagan world, as providenti&Jly prepared to receive the gospel, is full of encouragement. The field is open, explored ; a know- ledge of different countries has been gained, of manners, customs, languages, and religions ; a rich fund of experi- ence has been acquired. Providence has accumulated vast resources ' for the work, and provided immense facilities. The missionary work is almost necessarily progressive. Not only does each missionary station cre- ate resources and facilities for its own extension, but the success of one station prepares the way for the estab- Ushment of another, and the work thus becomes self-pro- pagating in an accelerating ratio. Take the missions of the American Board for an example. The success of these missions, if estimated only by the number of con- versions, (by no means a fair estimate of real results,) " has been twelve times as great during the last ten years, as it was in the whole previous twenty-six years of the Board's history." Ten years ago there were 2,000 members of the Board's mission churches, now there are more than 24,000. All that has been done is a cumulative force for onward progress. Our success, again, urges on the Pagan mind our most convincing, tangible argument for the divinity of our religion. Christianity now has its monuments in every Pagan country. It has transformed character, morally, socially, politically. We can now point to these monu- ments, and challenge investigation for the divine original of our religion. It has refined, elevated, purified charac- ter It has done in a few short years what the wisest and most refined systems of idolatry and oriental philoso- phy have not begun to do in as many centuries. We can point to living illustrations of the power of the gospel ; how it has gone up to the springs of moral corruption, and cast in the salt ther*). We can point lo indi-s xluals, to families, communities, nations, thai 268 HAND OP GOD IN HISTOEY. have been transformed, civilized, elevated, and radi- cally improved by the simple power of the gos|)eL This is the lever of Providence, by which to overthrow the whole Pagan world, and on its mouldering ruins to rear the beautiful superstructure of his everlasting truth. The blind votaries of idolatry are not so blind as not to see (his, and not so disingenuous as not sometimes to acknow- ledge it. " We look," says a Sandwich Islander, " at the power with which the gospel has been attended in effect- mg the entire overthrow of idolatry among us, and which we believe no human means could have induced us to abandon." In like manner, a Hindoo Brahmin is made to pay the same unwilling homage to the truth, when, on hearing the gospel preached, he said, " Nothing can stand before the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ." Thus are we furnished, from the success of missions, not only with the means of still greater success, but with an overwhelming argument on the heathen mind, in favor of the truth of Christianity. With a few exceptions, found in Central Africa, or in the ill-defined regions of Tartary and Kamtschatka, the God that worketh wonders, has, in the mysterious work- ings of his providence, opened the entire world to the gospel. The Macedonian cry comes to us from every nation, and tongue, and people, and kindred on the face of the earth. In past ages of the church, the prayers of God's people went up, that the Great Master would grant access to the unevangelized nations, and raise up and qualify men for the work. Those prayers have been heard. The world lies in a ready, in a beseeching pon* lure, at the feet of the children of the Highest. CHAPTER X?. UoBAamiBAN ooiTMTRiBs AND MoRAUMBDAMisti. The design, ongin, chanetcr, Buceeso, extent of Istamism. Mohammed a Reformer — nut an Impostor. Whenet the power and permanency of Mohammedanism } Promise to Ishmael— hope for him. The power of Islam on the wane. Turks the watch-dogs of Providence, to hold in check the Beast and the Dragon. Turkish reforms— Toleration— InnoTa- tions— ▲ pleasing reflection. " And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!" — Gen. xvii. 18. We shall now turn to Mohammedan countries, and attempt to trace the hand of God as there at work, to prepare the lands which have so long languished under the pale light of the crescent, to receive the gospel of the Messiah. Our inquiry now relates to the present condi- tion of Mohammedanism and Mohammedan countries, as providentially prepared to receive Christianity. It will not be irrelevant, first, to take a brief survey of this extraordinary form of faith — its design, origin, char- acter, success, and extent. We shall all along keep the eye steadily fixed on the providential agency engaged in this stupendous system. The whole enormous fabric of Mohammedanism is one vast monument, or arrangement of Providence, in conducting the affairs, especially the moral affairs, of this world. We may then, first, inquire t^Ay Mohammedanism was ever permitted to be — what was the providential design to be accomplished by that extraordinary man, who rose in Arabia in the seventh century ? We do not see great systems of religion, and mighty empires rise and flourish, and for centuries exert a controlling influence over large portions of the world, without a correspondingly import- ant divine purpose. What is this purpose in reference to Mohammedanism ? We may not pretend fully to answer this question, yet we may doubtless point out some of ihe purposes, which lay in the divine mind, when he per- mitted the Man of Mecca to embark in the arduous enterprise of giving to the world a new religion. 270 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Three points here claim our attention : The design of God in this system ; the design of Mohammed, and the design of Satan. The design of God seems to have been, first, to fulfill his promise to a great branch of the Abrahamic family, the posterity of Ishmael ; and secondly, to check effect- ually the power and progress of idolatry, and to scourge a corrupt Christianity ; to rebuke and humble an apos- tate church by making her enemy a fairer example of God's truth than she was herself The design of Mo- hammed— bating the aspirations of ambition — seems to have been to destroy idolatry, and to give the world a new religion, and a better one than he had met else- where. And the design of the devil was to make the new system a great delusion, by which he might hope to retain in bondage that large portion of the human race, which had become too much enlightened, longer to be held by a system of gross idolatry. A moment's glance at the origin, progress, and charac ter of Islamism, will confirm what I have said. In the 9th chapter of the Revelations, a corrupt Christianity, personified in the first Pope, perhaps, is represented as a " star fallen from heaven unto the earth," to whom was given the key of the bottomless pit. The propagation of false doctrines, especially on the nature of the Trinity, and the worship of images, saints, and angels, afforded to the prophet a plausible pretext, and prepared the way for Mohammed and his religion. He opened the pit, " and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit:" a striking description of Mohammedanism as a religious power. It is a grand delusion, which blinds the eyes of men, or so bedims and perverts their vision that they can only see as through a glass darkly. But it was more than a religious power. It was a great civil and military power. "And there came out of the smoke locusts on the earth, and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle ; and on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces MOHAMMEDAN COUNTRIES. 271 of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they liad breast-plates, as it were breast-plates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit." No one can more accurately describe an Arabian army. Numerous as the swarms of " locusts" from the southern shore ; vindictive and deadly as the " scorpion ;" consisting chiefly of cavalry, with turbans on their heads resembling " crowns ;" with long hair as the " hair of women," thus bearing some marks of gentleness and timidity, yet they have teeth " like the teeth of lions." They have faces as the " faces of men," appear like men, yet they are unchained tigers. They ravage and destroy without mercy. They are a well organized army, have a king over them, as one commissioned by the destroying angel ; are actuated by one spirit ; harmonize in their object, to scourge a corrupt church, and to destroy idolatry. They have " breast-plates of iron ;" are pro- tected by a strong civil power. They produce a great tumult in the world ; fly from one country to another, [ike an army with chariots and many horsemen. They had power to hurt Jive months — one hundred and fifty years. Mohammed began publicly to announce his divine commission in the year 612 — and the violence of his aggressions was stayed on the building of Bagdad, and the transfer of the Caliphate thither, a. d. 762. The smoke, however, the religious delusion, continued. The fierce military character — the flying, furious, stinging, scorpion-like locusts, abated in their ravages ; yet the civil and religious dominion over the fairest portions of the world continued, and is to continue, till it shall have accomplished its twelve hundred and sixty years. At the close of the one hundred and fifty years, the banners of the crescent waved victorious over the whole Roman empire. Arabia had yielded to the Prophet before his death. Syria, Persia and Egypt were soon made the vassals of his proud successors. Within twelve years after the Hegira, thirty-six thousand cities, towns and castles, are said to have been subjugated to the new con- 272 HAND OP GOD IN HISTOB¥. querors ; four thousand Christian temples destroyed, and one thousand four hundred mosques dedicated to tho Prophet. Africa was soon subdued — the Moors converted to the new reUgion ; who, in their turn, descend into Spain, and there establish a magnificent empire. '* The victorious standard of the crescent was raised on the cold mountains of Tartary, and on the burning sands of Ethiopia." The Moslem empire extended from the At- lantic to Japan — across the entire continents of Africa and Asia — into Spain, and France as far North as the ^oire, and over the Indian islands, embracing Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, and the Manillas. The island of Goram, one of the spice islands, may be taken as the eastern boundary of Islamism. The Moslems appeared even under the walls of Vienna, whence they were turned back, and Europe saved from the scourge of the East, by the noble Poles, as they had been driven out of France by the intrepid Charles Martel. At the close of its first century, the Saracenic empire embraced the fairest and the largest portion of the civ- ilized world. But let us return to the design : First, I said God de- signed now to fulfill his promise to the posterity of Ish- mael. Ishmael was a child of Abraham, and though the blessing should descend through Isaac, the child of pro- mise, yet a blessing was reserved for Ishmael. As God was pronouncing the blessing on the seed of promise, Abraham, with a father's tenderness, " said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee." Is there no blessing for Ishmael ? " And God said — as for Ishmael I have heard thee : Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly : twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great na- tion." We are, I think, to look for a parallel — though often by way of contrast — in the histories of the posterity of Isaac and Ishmael. Both should inherit a blessing— both have a numerous natural seed — twelve patriarchs should proceed from each — they should live side by side, though in perpetual rivalry. They were both sons, the one the legitimate heir, the other a spurious offspring. The one should Iwve the true Revelation, the true Reli- DESIGN OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 273 gion, and the true Messiah ; the other a spurious Revela- tion, a spurious Religion and a spurious Messiah. The blessing on Ishmael was principally of a temporal nature. His posterity should be exceedingly numerous. And, as a matter of history, it was more numerous than that of Isaac. And it should live in perpetual hostility with the other great branch of the Abrahamic family. But are we not to look for a spiritual blessing on Ishmael, that shall correspond with his constituted relationship to Isaac ? Was not the religion of the Arabs or Ishmaelites before Mohammed, a reflection, a base imitation of Judaism — the bastard religion of the promise ? yet containing many valuable truths of patriarchal theism. When Israel's Messiah appeared, they might have looked that Ishmael's Messiah should soon follow. Islamism is then the Chris- tianity of Ishmael, and the Popery of Judaism. It is a faithful image and reflection, as some one says, of the defects of Judaism. In Judaism, Isaac new-modelled and improved the faith and morals of men through his literal descendants, the Jews ; Ishmael did the same through his literal descendants, the Arabs. Mohammedanism, like Christianity, on the other line, was an advance, " a con- siderable reformation," on the then existing system of religion among the spurious seed. One is the light of the sun, the other the light of the moon as reflected from the sun. Again, in permitting this system, God designed effectu- ally to check the power and progress of Idolatry, and to scourge a corrupt Christianity. The spirit of Mohammed was singularly transfused through all the ranks of his fol- lowers : it was an implacable hatred of Idolatry. Where- ever the Moslem was found, he was the hammer of God to break in pieces the idols of the heathen. Nor was he a less signal scourge to a corrupt Christianity, or a formal Judaism. Islamism has been, in its turn, both the censor and the corrector, the scourge and the reformer of eastern Christianity. The illegitimate offspring has stolen from the armory of the true seed many valuable weapons of truth, which he has turned with signal vengeance against his brother. Mohammed was a Reformer. He intro- duced into Western Asia a better religion than at the 374 WAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. lime existed there. There was more truth — more of divine revelation — less of Idolatry in his religion, than ir. any of the existing forms of faith there prevalent , not excepting the Christianity of his time. God rebuked and humbled an apostate church, " a fallen star," by giving an enemy rule over her. And another thing he did : by the iron arm of Mohammed he has restrained the bloddy hand of persecution. The blood-hounds of Islam have been set to v^^atch the lions of Anti-christ. And well have they watched them. And they are not yet forgetful of their commission, as late acts of the Turkish govern- ment in behalf of the persecuted Armenians doth show. The character of Mohammedanism has, perhaps, been as imperfectly understood as its design. I do not think Mohammed an impostor. He was probably an honest man — though ambitious and enthusiastic. His religion, (not the abuses and corruptions of it by others,) was to him a truth, and an improvement on any system he was acquainted with. The Christianity of his time was a vile alloy ; Judaism no better, and Paganism worse. He set himself to devise and establish a better. He seized on the great truths of religion by that " inspiration which giveth man understanding" — appropriating what he knew of truth in Judaism or Christianity, his great aim being to counteract and destroy the Idolatry of his own coun- trymen. On this it was a notable advance. It was an acknowledgment of one God, of self-denying duty, and of future rewards and punishments. To him the whole world seemed given up to Idolatry. The absurd and false notions on the subject of the Trinity, had laid the Christians under the charge of worshiping a plurality of Gods, to say nothing of the prevalent worship of images, saints and angels. His spirit was stirred within him. Hence he became the bold champion of the great truth, God is one. Mohammed commenced his career under a favorable combination of circumstances. The world was provi- dentially brought into a condition especially favorable to his success. Mohammed looked on the world, with the eye of intuitive philosophy. " He compares the nations and religions of the earth," says Gibbon, " discovers the PERMANENCY OF ISL.AMISM. 275 weakness of the Persian and Roman monarchies, beholds, with pity and indignation, the degeneracy of the times, and resolves to unite, under one God and one King, the invincible spirit and the primitive virtues of the Arabs." The political condition of the w^orld was favorable. The leaven of liberty, generated in the religion of calvary, had prepared the world for a great revolution. And the moral and religious aspect of the world was still more favorable. The idolatries of Western Asia were in a tcttering state. The advent of the Messiah had cast light over the whole world. Many dark places had been enlightened, and the darkness of other places had been made visible. Christianity had reached Arabia, and had loosed the bonds of Idolatry, and " produced a fermenta- tion there." Both Christianity and Judaism were in a condition which afforded a plausible pretext and encour- agement to the career of the Prophet. And no doubt, in the then extreme military inactivity of Asia, he was not a little indebted for his success to the power of arms. But are any, or all of these causes sufficient to account for such success ? — especially for the permanency of it ? Was there not rather a considerable mixture of truth in the confused medley of the religion of Mecca, to which we are rather to reier certain well known results. It was military prowess, for example, that conquered the bar- barous, ignorant, besotted Tartars — an exceedingly rude people, roaming herds of shepherds and warriors, who neither lived in houses nor cultivated the ground. Yet their subjugation to Bagdad, wrought in them an extraor- dinary transformation. They soon formed for themselves a regular government, cultivated their large and fertile plains, cherished the arts of peace, and congi'egated in large cities. A new and independent kingdom here arose, which soon proved a powerful rival to Bagdad itself. What wrought this extraordinary transformation ? Must we not look for something beyond mere militaiy force and a happy juncture, to account for the power which this religion held over mind, and the civil, social and moral changes which it wrought ? By the mere force of arms the barbarous Moors in vaded Spain, and made themselves possessors of that rich 21 27ft HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. and beautiful portion of Europe. But what enlightened ant! civilized them — what reared for them a regular gov- ernment, and a magnificent empire — made them rule in the world of letters, and become the teachers of Europe? What made them to excel all the nations of their time, in the arts, in science, and in agriculture ? "While the greatest portion of the western world was buried in the tlarke?*. ignorance, the Moors in Spain lived in the enjoy- ment of all those arts which beautify and polish society." " Agriculture, too, was better understood by the Arabs of Spain than by any other people." When an ambitious priesthood were urging their expulsion, the Spanish barons plead, "with great power of argument and eloquence, that this detested people were the most valuable part of the Spanish population." They were characterized by " frugality, temperance and industry." The manufactures of the country were very much in their hands — the arts, sciences and na.vigation.* Or we may ask what gave rise to the college at Bagdad, with its six thousand pupils and professors — or made Grand Cairo a chief seat of letters, with its twenty col- leges, and its royal library of one hundred thousand man- uscripts— or what placed a library of two hundred and eighty thousand volumes in Cordova, and more than seventy libraries in the kingdom of Andalusia — and adorned the towns on the north coast of Africa with lit- erary institutions ; and made the sun of science rise in Africa, and soften the manners of the savage Moors by philosophy and song ? The Moors formed the connecting link between ancient and modern literature — introduced literature and science into Europe, and were the deposi- tories of knowledge for the West. The mathematics, astronomy, anatomy, surgery, chemistry, and botany, were pursued by the Moors far in advance of their age. Oi whence came it to pass that Cordova became the " centre of politeness, taste and genius ?" A religion which pro- • The introduction of cotton, and sugarcane — articles of oriental growth — info Europt by the Saracens, first gave tliat impulse to European art and luxury, and to the spirit, eoiisequently, of commercial enterprise, which issued eventjally in the openinfr'ofa Biaritime communication to India and the remote East, and in the discoTery and Mfc tlomciit o) the New Worin DOCTRINE OF THE DIVINE UNITY. 277 duces such fruits must have something in it besides error, superstition, enthusiasm, anci military prowess. JNIungo Park found, quite in the interior of Africa, a degree of elevation and improvement which quite aston- ished him ; it was so unlike what he had seen among other African tribes — "a people of very different descrip- tion from other black Pagan nations," who had adopted many of the arts of civilized life — subjected themselves to government and political institutions — practiced agri- culture, and learned the necessary and even some of the ornamental arts — dwelt in towns, some of which con- tained ten thousand and even thirty thousand inhabitants, surrounded by well cultivated fields, and the improve- ments and comforts of civilized life. All these improve- ments had been introduced into Africa by the Mo/iumme- dans. Previous to this introduction, the same tribes were as wild, fierce savages as the natives towards the South, where the missionaries of Islam had never penetrated. A glance at the religion which Mohammed set himself to propound, will discover the secret. He started out with the great leadin^truth of the Divine Unity. " He proclaimed himself a Prophet sent from heaven to preach the unity of the Godhead, and to restore to its purity the religion of Abraham and Ishmael." And a principal means by which he was to accomplish his mission, was the destruction of Idolatry and superstition. The Oriental (christian Church at once fell under the ban of his male- diction, because found shamefully allied to the great sys- tem of Idolatry. If we descend to practical results, we shall meet — not the religion of the New Testament — but a religion con- siderably in advance of any thing which came within the Prophet's acquaintance. He essentially mitigated the horro's of war. "In avenging my injuries," said ho, "molest not the harmless votaries of domestic seclusion; spare the weakness of the softer sex, the infant at the breast, and those who, in the course of nature, are ha.sten- ing frum this scene of mortality. Abstain from demol- ishing the dwellings of the unresisting inhabitants ; destroy not their means of subsistence; respect their fruit tiees; and touch not the palm, so useful to the Syrians for its 878 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. shade, and delightful for its verdure. Take care tc do th-it which is right and just, for those wlio do otherwise, shall not prosper. When you make any covenant or ar tide, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will iind some religious persons that live retired ill monasteries, who propose to themselves to seive God that way. Let them alone, and neither kill them nor de- stroy their monasteries." This was quite in advance of iiis age in reference to war. We must not be too ready to charge on Mohammed the abuses of his system, by many of his followers, or to forget that, as with other men, his impetuous nature sometimes hurried him into excesses in practice, which his theory condemned. It is not to be denied, that fraud and perfidy, injustice and cruelty, were too olten made subservient to the propaga- tion of his faith ; and that in his last days ambition was his ruling passion. Again, we find Mohammed inculcating charity, for- bearance, patience, resignation to the Divine will ; prayer five times a day ; a regard for the sabbath as appointed by him ; future rewards and punishment ; mercy to cap- tives taken in war ; the prohibition of wine ; that reli gion is not in the rite or form, but in the power of an internal principle : we find him enacting laws against gaming and infanticide ; on inheritance and the rights of property ; correcting many grievous abuses, and incul- cating many valuable moral precepts. He did not enjoin universal clarity, but implacable hatred of all infidels. This is but of a piece witii the great design of the system. Thus we see what God designed by this religion, and what he has brought out of it ; what Mohammed de- signed by it ; and what the devil has used it for, viz. as a grand delusion by which to blind men's minds, and to betray a countless multitude to perdition. Mohamme- danism, if contemplated simply as a device of the enemy, stands before the world in the character of one of his great counterfeits. " It has always been the policy of Satan to forestall the purposes of God, and to set up a counterfeit of that which the Lord hath declared he will do." We may, therefore, regard the religion of the Caaba A MINISTER OF PROVIDENCE. 279 before Mohammed, as Satan's counterfeit of Judaism : and Nlohaminedanism, or the religion of Mecca, after Mo- hammed, as the counterfeit of Christianity. Satan is a shrewd observei of providence and of revelation, and he advances in !iis systems of deception w'th the times, uith the advance of man, and the condition of the urrld Every new dispensation of grace is, on his part, accom- panied by a new dispensation of falsehood, not absolute falsehood, but perverted truth and practical falsehood. Satan is no inventor but a vile imitator. His systems of error are as much like God's systems of truth, as a coun- terfeit coin is like a genuine one. The shape, the size, the lettering, the whole external, are much the same; yet one is a base alloy, the other is pure gold. Mohamme- danism is not a simple counterfeit of Christianity alone That bad j)re-eminence must be accorded to Popery. It is a successful counterfeit both of Christianity a'ld Juda- ism, with accommodation in some of its features to the mind and the heart of the Pagan. While it incorporates in itself much of truth, it incorporates more of worldly wisdom and satanic craft. But I have already transcended my prescribed limits in a review of the past; we will now turn to the present. We have found Mohammedanism to be, on a large scale, a minister of Providence to carry forward the great plans of human redemption. It has been God's hammer, to break in pieces the idols of a large portion of the heathen world ; his scourge, to indict summary and severe judgments on an apostate church, and to check the vast power she has accumulated by which to perse- cute the saints ; and his channel in which, during the dark ages, to preserve, and by which to communicate to his chosen inheritance, (the spiritual seed of Abraham,) a knowledge of the arts and sciences, ol' literature, and of the various means of refmement and civilization. Poor I^hmael. though often with an ill grace, and sometimes with veng(^ance in his heart, has all his days been made to serve the posterity ol" Isaac, the seed of promise. " O that Ishmael might live before thee." Is there a blessing for Ishmael ? As we turn to Mohammedan countries we seem to see hope smiling over the hVa^ik 2g0 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. tents of Kedar. Writers well versed in the affairs of Islam, who look on Mohammedanism as a corruption of Judaism, " an anti-christian heresy," " a confused form of Christianity," a " bastard Christianity" as Carlyle calls it, think they see a tendency of convergence in Mohamme- dan sm and Christianity ; the " imperfect becoming ab- S3rbed in the perfect; the moon of Mohammedanism resigning its borrowed rays to meet in the undivided light of the everlasting gospel," the Sun of Righteousness.* Is there any thing in the present condition of Mohamme- danism to indicate such a convergence ? A brief survey of Islamism, physically, politically, and morally, as now to be seen, may throw some light on this question. We have seen the Mohammedan empire stretching over the fairest portions of the globe, from the Chinese sea to the walls of Vienna and the gates of Rome, and its proud waves stayed only by the broad Atlantic. The earth once trembled before the throne of the haughty Moslems, " till princes were ambitious of its alliance." Such Moslems as Ghengis Khan, Tamerlane, and the great Moguls in the East, and Abbasides of Western Asia, and the Ommiades of Spain, have ruled the world with a rod of iron. Even as late as the close of the last century the authority of the divan of Constantinople was generally respected. But where is the political power of Islam now ? It is numbered among the things that were. Except in Turkey, we search for it almost in vain. And we shall soon see how little of power the Moslems possess even in Turkey. Though the religion of Mohammed embraces in it some truth, to which we are' to attribute much of the power and permanency which it has enjoyed ; yet we must bear in mind it is characteristically a religion of the sword. As a distinctive system it exists by force. Yet when once forced on a coir^munity, or a nation, and al- lowed to develop itself, it has, with much error, brought forth some good fruit. But "all they that take the sword, Bhall perish with the sword," shall perish with the laying down of the sword. We need not apprehend that the * Foster's Mohammedanism Unveiled PRESENT CONDITION wering influence succeeded in reinstating his degraded friend, against the wishes of the majority of the inhabit- ants. In returning home, after accomplishing this piece of iniquity, he fell from his horse, and fractured his skull, and within a few days, died a miserable death. Months passed away, when, one day, as the restored ruler at Kurdbeleng was sitting in his own house, a mus- ket ball was fired through the window, and, entering at one of his eyes, passed through his head, and laid him dead on the spot ! The assassin was seized, and he con- fessed the deed, but declared that he was paid to perpe- trate it by an individual whom he named, and was also urged to it by the same head priest of the church, whu had procured the cruel heating of the young man for his evan gelical sentiments ! That priest is now 171 prison awaiting his trial, as a murderer ! But this is not the end of the story. The individual who inherited the estate and office of the Nicomedian ruler, also lent his influence for the persecution of God's people. Not long ago, some of the leading persecutors from Constantinople were visitors at his house, from which they set out in the night, on their return home, having carelessly left their lighted pipes in their bed- room. The house took fire, and was entirely consumed, with a large amount of jewels and other property, taking away nearly all the man possessed, at a stroke ! My other narrative is of a different kind, though not les3 striking as an illustration of the wonderful workings of Divine Providence. In the year 1839, the reigning Patriarch, Hagopas by name, was actively engaged in persecuting the Prosestants. He issued a thundering bull against them, and several of the leading men among them he caused to be banished. While employed in this baleful work, he was also engaged in building for himself a large house, with money procured, as usual, by exac- PROTESTANT GOVERNMENTS AND TURKEY. 30i tions from the people. Tliis house has now hecojne the Protestant Chapel in Constantinople. Thus, while with one hand he was persecuting the Protestants, and labor- ing for their complete extermination in 1839, with the other, he was erecting a chapel for them to occupy in 1 846 ; and it is the only building, so far as we know, that is suitable for this purpose, and obtainable by them, in the whole of Constantinople proper ! The Patriarch built the house for himself and brother, and subsequently gave it to the latter as a present. This brother has since be- come a Protestant, and thus it is that his house has fallen into the hands of the Protestant congregation. It is at present hired for a term of years, as a place of preaching, and we doubt not that it will be held for this purpose, until the providence of God points out to the evangelical Armenians a still more suitable place. A circumstance of no small moment to those who love to study the doings of Providence, is, that within a few years past Protestant governments in Europe have taken a far deeper interest than ever before, in the prosperity of the Protestant cause in the world, and especially in Turkey. There is no need that I should here introduce the question v^^hether this interest has always led them to the right course of action or not ; or the inquiry, which is still farther back, how far governments, as such, are called upon to meddle with religion. One point I think must be clear to all, namely, that the Protestant govern- ments of the world have a right to use a moral influence in behalf of oppressed and persecuted persons, and espe- cially Protestants, wherever they are found. And who can fail to recognize the finger of God in it, that the cabinets of England and Prussia have, within a few >ears past, exhibited an interest on this subject, which is i together new ; and I may add, which is altogether timely. Without expressing any thing to the detriment of previous cabinets, and previous embassies, it is to us exceedingly plain in regard to Turkey, that as the work of God's Spirit has gone on here, and the people of God have multiplied in the land, the Lord who is "wonderful in counsel," has put it into the hearts of Protestant sovereigns and their ministers, to sympathise with these 20 302 HAND OF GOI) IN HISTORY. people in their trials ; and he has also so ordered it, tnat seiious minded men, who feel a personal interest in the spiritual welfare of the world, should be sent here to rep- resent their respective governments. I would, therefore, here record, with gratitude, that during the course of the persecutions that have been waged here against the Pro testant Armenians, not only have the British Embassa dors, His Excellency Sir Stratford Canning, and the Right Honorable Lord Cowley, who has occupied his place during his absence in England, promptly acted in behalf ol the oppressed, but also that Mr. Carr, the Minister of the United States, M. Le Coq, the Prussian Minister, and Count Perponcher, his successor, have always been ready to address to the Porte remonstrances against the perse- cuting acts of the Armenian ecclesiastics, based upon the promise of the Sultan, that henceforth there shall be no more religious persecution in his dominions. Nor must I omit to mention that, while for a long course of years the representative of the Dutch Government here was a Roman Catholic, a native of this country, during the past year. Baron Mollerus has been sent out from Hol- land to fill this place, he being not only in name a Protes- tant, but also evincing a real interest in the estabhshment and prosperity of Protestantism in this land. In close connection with this, is the circumstance that foreign Protestant residents have been accumulating here very rapidly within these few years past, forming a com- munity of Protestants, highly important to the interests of religion in the country, A large number of English, Germans and Americans, have come out, by the express call of the Turkish Government, to engage in its service, in the various departments of agriculture, manufactures, medicine, literary instruction, and military tactics. Al- though the individuals filling these places are not all what they should be, yet many of them would be an honor to any country, and some are very dec ided re- ligious characters. About eight miles from our residence, an English colony has recently grown up, in connection with some iron and cotton works belonging to the Govern- ment, and there will soon be nearly a thousand English- men there, including men, women, and children. At rOREIGN PROTESTANT RESIDENTS. 303 present, we supply them with regular preaching every Sabbath, but there is no doubt they will, ere long, have a pastor of their own from England, and also a school-mas- ter ; and the influence of such a Protestant colony must be very important ii Turkey. A large woolen factory has been established near Nicomedia, and very providen* tially the gentleman who was first called to take the superintendence of it was an English Christian, of a very decided and consistent character. He with his family resided in Nicomedia for nearly three years, during the whole of the persecution, and from their position they were enabled often to succor the oppressed, and in other ways to exert a very happy influence in that town. When the Protestant Armenians there were driven from every other place of meeting, this gentleman kindly opened a room in his house, where they assembled, un- molested, every Sabbath. When the severity of the persecution was passed, he and his family were called to return to England, where they still remain. Last of all I would mention, among the providential circumstances which have here combined for the further- ance of the gospel, is the complete cessation of the plague. For many years before the missionaries came to this land, and for several years after their establishment here, the plague was an annual visitor, in a violent epidemic form, and there was scarcely a month in which cases of it were not reported. Its influence on missionary operations was disastrous in the extreme. Our schools had to be disbanded, our congregations broken up, and social inter- course almost entirely interdicted. For te.i years past, during which the work of God has been constantly pros- pciing here, and constant meetings, and intercourse with the people have been called for, we have been entirely exempt from this disease ! Not a single case has occurrea in this city, so far as our knowledge extends! Troily " the Lord of I:j[osts is wonderfu in counsel and excellent in working." CHAPTER XVII 4frica, the land of paradoxes— Hope for Africa. Elements of renoT»tion— Anglj SaxoB influence — Colonizing — The Slave Trade — Commerce A moral machinery- education, the Press, a preached Gospel. Free Uoverument African Education ans Oirilization Society. The Arabic Press. African languages. " Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." Ps. Ixviii. 31. Africa next demands our attention. Though both Mohammedan and Pagan, it deserves a separate consider- ation. Ignorant, debased, abused, this continent has lain, till quite recently, hopeless, except to the eye of faith. But is there now hope for poor Africa ? Does any morning star, any harbinger of light arise over that dark land ? Yes ; the angel having the everlasting gospel to preach, is flying, too, over that dark region, with healing in his wings, distilling blessings over the land of Ham. There, too, the hand of God is mightily at work, laying tribe after tribe at the feet of Christian charity, imploring the lamp of life and the full horn of salvation. The light of Christianity, which, in the early ages of the church, shone in Africa, and numbered among its disciples some of her brightest ornaments, long since set in darkness ; and long and deep has been that darkness. Africa has since been given a prey to the fierce rule of the Arabian Prophet, to the sottish dominion of Paganism, and to the cruel ravages of the slave trade. Africa has been cast out by the nations into outer darkness, beyond the furthermost verge of common humanity. But she has once more come into remembrance. The hand ij the Iiord is now stretched out for her deliverance. A brief survey of some providential movements to- wards this long forsaken continent, will verify this asser- tion. Such is the design of the present chapter. Africa is the land of paradoxes, enigmas, mysteries. If we had no other argument to show that our earth has not yet fulfilled its destinies, and, of course, is not readv ELEMENTS OF RENOVATION. 306 to be offered, we would present, as such an argument, the past and present condition of Africa. With all her vast natural resources, her fertile soil, unparalleled advantages for commerce, and "infinite variety of physical and national character," she has remained little more than a blank on the map of human development. With the ex- ception of Ethiopia, Egypt, and Carthage, Africa has strangely and mysteriously played no part in the history of man. " She has hung like a dark cloud upon the horizon of history, of which the borders only have been illuminated, and flung their splendors upon the world." Yet to the philosophic historian, there has been acting on that theatre a drama of no common interest. The great Architect has been pleased to make Africa the theatre on which to exhibit the extremes of human elevation and depression, of natural beauty and deformity, of fertility and barrenness, of high mountains and boundless deserts, of burning sands and eternal snows. Africa has furnished some of the noblest specimens of humanity — plants of renown, delightful examples of civil- ization, refinement, and advancement in the arts and sciences ; in literature and religion ; in civil liberty and free government. And the same soil, too, has been loath- somely prolific in ignorance, barbarism, superstition, op- pression and despotism. There some of the fairest por- tions of the globe have, for three thousand years, " been stained with blood and unrevenged wrong ; overhung with gloom and every form of human woe and human guilt." But there is hope for Africa. The Hand that is mov mg the world is at work in the land of Ham. We are able there to trace the same felicitous combination of circumstances, preparing Africa on the one hand for her regeneration, and on the other, providing facilities ano resources fc* '*he jvo.k. Nearly co-existent with the )irt^i 01 n.odfei-n benevolent action in England and America, there commenced a train of providences in Africa, and in respetjt to Africa, worthy of special le- mark. The first love and the first sacrifice of the Ameri- can church was given to Africa. The darling object of Samuel J. Mills, who was, more than aw o'lier ma;i, tb« 23 306 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. father of benevolent enterprise in America, (the object for which he seems to have been especially raised up,) was the melioration of the condition of Africa, The civil, moral and spiritual degradation of that benighted land, lay with continual weight on his mind. Through his instrumentality, a seminary for the education of young men of color, with a view to their becoming missionaries in their father-land, was established, and went into opera- tion under a Board of Directors appointed by the Synod of New York and New Jersey, with Mills for their agent. The last months of the life of this devoted man were spent on an exploring tour on the Western coast of Africa ; the last energies of his great and comprehensive mind, and the best affections of his big heart, were de- voted to that long neglected land. Yet some years before Mills explored the wastes of Western Africa, Eu- ropean Christians had begun their work in South Africa. Our business at present is with the Hand of God, that has opened the door to this great field, and is now hold- ing out the promise of a great and no distant harvest. i. We see the Hand of God auspiciously at work for Africa, in the introduction and increase on that con- tinent of Anglo-Saxon power and influence. We have seen, the world over, that this is a signal of advancement among barbarous nations. It is the lifting up of the dark cloud of ignorance and superstition, that light and truth may enter. It is the harbinger of the gospel ; it prepares the way, and protects the evangelical laborer, and fur- nishes facilities and resources for the work. Such a power and influence is now begirting Africa, and is waxing stronger every year. At Sierra Leone, Cape Palmas, Liberia and the Cape of Good Hope, the Anglo-Saxon element is taking deep root, and its widely extending branches are overshadowing large portions of those domains of darkness, and dropping over them go ien fruits. In this we discover a divine presage, that the time to favor this long abused, ill-fated continent, is at hand. We hazard no conjecture as to the ultimate destiny of England or America, but we cannot be mis- taken that Anglo-Saxondom is now being used as the fight hand of Providence, to civilize, enlighten and Chri«. PRESENT PLAN OF COLONIZATION. SOT tiariize the Pagan world. Whatever may be tne motives of England in extending her empire over Asia and Africa, or of America in making her power felt, and extending her commerce, it is not difficult to see what God is bringing out of such extensions of dominion and poAver. But lor British power and British sympathy, under the favor of Heaven, Africa, with scarcely an exception might, to the present day, have had the " tri-colored flag waving en her bosom, bearing the ensigns of the mystery of Babylon, the crescent of the false Prophet and the em- blems of Pagan darkness, from the shores of the Mediter- ranean to the colony of the Cape of Good Hope." 2. Another providential feature of a kindred charac- ter, is the present plan of colonizing on the coasts of Africa. The influence of colonies is not now a matter of theory but of experience. Carthage was a colony ; the wealth, power, civilization and magnificence of that ancient kingdom, was not an indigenous growth of an African soil. It was an exotic, transplanted thither, and there made to flourish till it spread its branches far into the interior, and covered many tribes and nations with its shadow. What we are concerned with here, is the influence of the introduction into a Pagan country of an enlightened, civilized, thrifty, foreign population. They furnish, first, a tangible, living example of what skill, industry and in- telligence can do. And as the superior and inferior classes mingle together, this skill and industry will be communicated and received. It will provoke to imita- tion ; and the advantages on the part of the inferior class are immense — immense before we admit into the account the moral element, which we shall see enters largely into all modern systems of colonizing. The Carthaginians too well understood the power of a colonizing policy, not to prosecute it to the extending of their empire, which, in turn, became a vast benefit to the adjacent tribes and nations of native Africans. Most ancient historians have noticed this admirable policy of the Carthaginians : " It is this way," says Aristotle, " Carthage preserves the love of her people. She sends out colonies continually, composed of her citizens, into 308 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. the districts around her, and by that means makes them men of property ; assists the poor by accustoming them to labor." The natives gradually intermingled with the colonists, and formed the strength of the Carthaginian state. Herodotus affirms that, beyond the dominions of the Carthaginian empire, no people could be found in settled habitations, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. But no sooner did these same nomadic tribes fall beneath the transforming process of Carthaginian colonization, than they became civilized, enlightened and compara- tively refined, and were found engaged in " the peaceful occupations of the field." As examples of this, another ancient historian (Scylax) describes the country around the lesser Syrtis and Triton Lake, as "magnificently fruitful," abounding in tall, fine cattle, and the inhabitants distinguished for wealth and beauty. Another region, according to Strabo, between two and three hundred miles in length, extending southward from Cape Bon, and one hundred and fifty miles in width, was also distin- guished for its fertility and high cultivation. It embraced the most flourishing sea-ports, and was crowned with agricultural settlements. Such was the transforming power of ancient coloniza- tion in Africa — a colonization confessedly deficient in some of the most powerful elements which enter into modern schemes of colonizing. For of all the transform- ing elements ever thrown into the confused mass of Pa- ganism, Christianity is the most powerful. Civil and religious liberty is another mighty element ; speculative science, another ; and practical science, yet another. The first and the mightiest of these, was entirely want- ing in the colonizations of Carthage, and the others •carcely entered ''..o the account. What, then, may we reasonably expect as the fruit of modern colonization f The hand of the Lord is in it. The two great Protestant nations, whose language, litera- ture and science, contain nearly all the truth there is in the world, and whose churches nearly all the religion, and whose religion nearly all the benevolence, and whose governments nearly all the freedom, have, in the won- drous workings of Providence, been moved to colonize in ENGLISH AND AMEEICAN COLONIES. 303 Africa.* The English have colonies at the Cape of Good Hope, and in other portions of South Africa ; on the Senegal and the Gambia ; at Sierra Leone and Cape Coats Castle ; and they are beginning to occupy the mouths of the Niger. And there are American colonies (now an independent government,) at Liberia and Cape Palmas And these colonies are very much under the auspices of religious and philanthropic influences. Now, with the example of Carthage before us, what have we reason to expect their influence will be on Africa ? Certainly nothing less than that they shall furnish tangible illustra- tions of the religion, the skill, industry and enterprise of the people there colonized ; exhibiting the advantages of science, of improvement in the arts and in agriculture, and of a well ordered government ; that they shall con- tinue to extend their commerce and other benefits gained, back into the interior, constantly reaching their arms abroad and gathering tribe after tribe within the pale of their influence. Agriculture will be encouraged ; a market opened for its avails ; the slave trade thereby be effectually discouraged ; savage life be abandoned, and the way for the gospel and all its concomitant blessings be opened. The colonist will be seen to possess almost every advantage over the native, and the latter can scarcely do otherwise than to fall in with the new order of things in proportion as he comes in contact with the colony. Experience gives no hope of success in eflbrts to evangelize Africa, except through Christian colonies. The Moravians, who have yielded to no obstacles, either amidst the snows of the poles or the burning heats of the equator, or from the wrath of man, or the elements, failed in Africa. " Attempts at sixteen different points, made with the heroism of martyrs, to establish schools and mis- sions, they have been forced to aljandon, and to retire within the protection of the British colonies. And they now despair of every process, but that of commencing at these radiating points, and proceeding gradually out- wards until the work is done." IJut there is one peculiar feature in the colonization now going forward in Western Africa, more strikmgly :nO HAND OF GOD IN IIiaTORY providential and more potent in its beirings on the na tives than perhaps has been well understood. 1 meaa the fact that the colonists are of the same race or species, as the natives among whom they are colonized. Any one ac(iuainted with the habits and modes of reasoning whicli prevail on this subject among rude barbarians, must know that their habits of generalization are very imperfect. They have no idea that all men are of "one blood" — the same order of beings — and that what is true of one people may, under similar circumstances, become true of another. You may place by the side of a tribe of native negroes, or native Hindoos, a colony of white men and women, well educated, well bred, industrious, intelligent, thrifty, moral and relig-ous, who have, iiL every thing, made decided advances beyond the barbar- ous condition of man, having convincingly demonstrated the capability and improvability of man, and yet, in theory, it will exert no influence on the barbarous tribe, and in practice, but a very slow and partial influence. And why not? Simply because the barbarian sees the development (which he may admire and wish he could imitate,) made in what he believes to be another order of beings. He does not believe it imitable by himself or his people. It is a development in the white man's na- ture, not in his. But no such difficulty impedes the progress of improve- ment in Africa. The native Ashantee or Foulah, re- cognizes, in the improved condition and character of the colonist, his own flesh and blood, his own color and species ; and he no longer doubts the improvability ol his own tribe. 3. But the thought may assume another shape, and we shall have cause to admire the wonder-working Hand. Cordially as every good man is bound by conscience ind by God, to set his face against every system of evil, and abhor from the innermost recesses of his soul every wrong, he must admire that gracious Hand in so con- trolling even man's bitterest wron":s, as to ctliice from them a lasting and general good. If God did not bring good out of evil, how little good would come of this poor world — how little praise accrue to his name. COMMERCE OF AFRICA. 313 But here we shall need to look for a few moments in another direction, that we may the better comprehend what God is working out for Africa. It is always de- lightful to observe the timings of Providence — how one thing is made to answer to another. With one hand, God is preparing Africa to receive the richest of Heav- en's blessings ; with the other, he is preparing the mate- rials and instruments by which to carry forward the ameliorating process. And, at the same time, he is arousing the energies of philanthropists and Christians, to enter the field now ripe for the harvest. America possesses tne grand lever for raising Africa " Let the foot of it be placed at Liberia ; let Christian patriots and philanthropists throM their weight upon this end of it, making the Bible the fulcrum, and ere long Af- rica, with her sable millions, will be seen emerging from the long night of cruel tyranny and barbarism, into the pure sunhght of civilization, with her churches and schools, her colleges and legislative halls, her poets and orators, her statesmen and rulers, taking their position among the enlightened and civilized nations of the earth. The Lord hasten it in his time, and to him be the glory." 4. There is another point from which we must con- template the same mighty Hand. It is in respect to commerce; a kindred feature with one already named. Commerce and the colony are working together, and much in the same way. A legitimate commerce is God's instrument for the civilization of the world, and the chan- nel through which he brings about its evangelization. It was commerce which gave to ancient states their re- nown, and laid the foundation of their greatness. Com- merce was the " parent and nurse" of civilization and the arts in Carthage, in Egypt and Meroe. Africa has long been without a legitimate commerce; and now that its white wings, in the revolving wheels ol Providence, are being spread over her, we may take it as a token for good. This, in connection with the colo- nizing policy, will do more to annihilate the slave trade than all that can possibly be effected by the combined navies of Great Britain and America. Africa has had wants to be supplied by foreign nations, but with hei $l4 HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. past habits she has had nothing to give in excliange for needed supplies, except the flesh and blood of her own sons and daughters. She is now learning from Christian colonists the worth of the exhaustless resources of her soil, her forests and her mountains, and the yet less de- veloped resources of her own industry. And we cannot doubt, when she shall have time to accept the substitute which commerce offers, she will sooner take the calicoes and trinkets, and whatever else she may need, in ex- change for her cotton, sugar, rice, grain, gums, and gold, than for the bones and sinews of her children. "The emancipation of Africa," says one, "can be ef- fected only from within herself Her nations must be raised to that moral and political power, which shall com- bine them in firm resistance against oppression. To do this, the chief points of commercial influence upon the coast, and of access to the interior, must be occupied by strong and well regulated colonies, from which civiliza- tion and religion shall radiate to the surrounding regions." This we hold to be a just sentiment ; and in proportion as we see the principal points, and the strong-holds of Af- rica becoming depots of European arts, science, com- merce, and religion, we hail the day as at hand when Christian philanthropy shall realize some of her "divinest wonders," amidst those nations that have so long sat in darkness. Providential coincidences, which we have had occasion more than once to notice, are nowhere more distinctly marked than in the movements in Africa, and in respect to Africa. The vast and extensive preparations which have been making on that continent for its regeneration, are co-existent with the remarkable waking up of the philanthropic and benevolent engergies of Christendom in its behalf As the door is opened on the Dne hand, the means are provided on the other. But we siiall fail to appreciate the prospective influ- ence of commerce on Alrica, if we do not allow a mo- ment's consideration of the resources and the commercial advantages of that continent. Few may be aware of the amount of commerce which England and America al- ready carry on with Africa; yet her resources have lip ■''-'• ■'■ '■■;^<3^:??^V':''V^ n|!!H I'll i jm 'iiiaiiiiw ■MM 1 ■i i 'mm ill 1 ; ;!i|^||^.i'i||! i lu' COMMEttCIAL ADVANTAGES. 311 scarcely begun to be developed, or her advantages to be improved. A single mercantile house in England had a trade w^ith Western Africa, the value of whose imports for the ypars 1832—33 — 34, amounted to $1,400,000 annually ; and the next year, the importations to Eng- land of the single article of palm oil, were one thousand two hundred and sixty five tons; worth $1,700,000. But. it is rather to the yet unappropriated resources of the country to which we refer, as exhibiting any thing like the due importance to be attached to the providential movement under consideration. Speaking of Western and Central Africa, a writer, re- viewing Mungo Park, says, " there is probably no other equal expanse oi territory which has such a portion of its surface capable of easy cultivation. From the base of the Kong Mountains, in every direction to the Atlan- tic on the one side, and to the deserts on the other, the land slopes off in easy gradations or terraces, presenting luxuriant plains, immense forests, and mountainous or un- dulatmg regions of great variety and beauty. It pos- sesses, almost universally, a soil v/hich knows no exhaus- tion. A perpetual bloom covers the surface, over which reigns the untroubled serenity of a cloudless sky. Aside from the splendors and luxuries of the vegetable world, the great staple of commerce may be produced here in an unlimited abundance. The cotton tree, which, in our southern states, must be planted every spring, grows there for four successive years, yielding four crops of the finest quality. Coffee grows spontaneously in the inte- rior, giving about nine pounds to the plant. Rice, with a little cultivation in some places, equals the fertility of the imperial fields of China ; and sugar-cane grows with unrivaled magnificence." Those travelers who have most carefully examined the soil and products, assure ua that there is nothing in the glowing climes of the Indies, Eastern or Western, which some parts of Central Africa will not produce with equal richness. " It cannot admit of a doubt," says Park, " that all the rich productions, both of the East and West Indies, might easily be naturalized and brought to the utmost perfection, in the tropical parts of this immense continent. Nothing is wanting to this 318 HAND OF GOD IN HISTOllY. end but example to enlighten the minds of the natives, and instruction to enable them to direct their industry to proper objects. It was not possible for me to behold the wonderful fertility of the soil, the vast herds of cattle, proper both for labor and food, and a variety of other cir- cumstances favorable to colonization and agriculture, and reflect withal on the means which presented themselves of a vast inland navigation, without lamenting that a country so abundantly gifted and favored by nature, should remain in its present savage and neglected state." Her mountains, too, are full of riches — her streams run down on golden sands — her mineral riches seem not in- ferior to the wealth of her soil. And if we add to all this the facilities which Africa enjoys for navigation and inter- nal communication, we cannot fail to get some just idea of the magnitude of the commercial element which is soon to be used, and which Providence has begun to use, for the civilization and the renovation of Africa. To say nothing of the obvious advantages of her immense line of sea-coast, Western, Central and Eastern Africa is drained by numerous large and navigable rivers, down which her gems, and gold, and wealth may flow, to enrich and beautify all lands, while she shall receive, in return, the richer gifts of science, freedom and religion. And the fact that the Niger, which, in its singularly circuitous course, visits a large portion of Central Africa, has already been invaded by the paddle-wheels of European improve- ment, (English skill and intelligence blessing the hitherto benighted regions of the Niger,) is a pleasing prognos- tication of what God is about to do for that long forsaken continent. And God is doing yet more for Africa. The Ottoman Empire has, perhaps, been the most formidable hindrance t J the redemption of Africa. By its inhumane policy and intolerant religion ; by the encouragement it has aflforded to the slave trade, and its active participation in that in- human traffick, it has stood as a most formidable barrier to all progress. But that obstacle is, in a great measure, removed. In the sure revolutions of Providence thi; Otto- man Empire is falling into decay. Its power is gone ; and henceforth, as the tide of knowledge, freedom and A MORAL MACHINERY. 319 religion shall roll on their waves eastward into the centre of Africa, they shall no longer be arrested by the intolerant disciples of Mecca, or be turned back by the witheiing sirocco of the slave trade. 5. There remains one other point from which I would have you see Africa as a land in which God is preparing his way before him. It is the providential existence of a moral machinery, already in successful operation, and in- creasing every year, which can scarcely fail to work out the redemption of Africa. Education, the press and the preached gospel, are a threefold lever, which, as has been done in so many other lands, will surely raise wretched Africa from the dark vicinity of hell into a delightful proximity with heaven. The introduction, protection and success of recent efforts for the evangelization of Africa, are purely providential. The full amount of this provi- dential agency we can estimate only by bringing before the mind a complete catalogue of all the missionary sta- tions which now begirt Africa — the number of laborers — the means of usefulness, by the press, education, or a preached gospel — their operations — present results, and prospective influence. Such a view, alone, would exhibit the /orce of the moral machinery which Providence has there prepared for the future prosecution of his work. A general idea, sufficiently accurate for our present purpose, may, however, be gained from the following general, though not complete view of evangeUcal missions in Africa. Nearly every missionary society, known to the writer, has missions in Africa. Reliable statistics make them, in all twenty one. These missions are met at Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cape Palmas, Cape Coast Castle ; at the Gambia settlement ; on the coast of Guinea ; on Fernando Po ; at various points in South Africa, and a single station on the eastern coast, and one on the northern. The following may be taken as very nearly the present effective force acting in Africa, as gathered from statistics, which may be relied on.* 8S0 HAND or aoD in history. stations. Laborers. CommunicaTtts. Scholars. South Africa, 115 260 12,000 .\4,000 West " 63 175 13,000 12,000 North " 1 11 20 234 Enst " 1 2 170 448 25,020 26,234 By laborers, we mean missionaries and assistant mis- sionaries. The above items are, perhaps, all below th< reality, on account of the deficiency of reports, but suffi- ciently accurate to give a general idea of the instru- mentality which Providence has made ready for future progress. Much has been done to introduce the gospel into Africa — and yet how little ! Cut off South Africa, and remove a narrow strip of the western coast, and only two stations will remain. The Church Missionary Society have thirteen stations in West Africa ; the Moravians, seven stations and forty- seven missionaries, and six thousand, eight hundred and forty converts, in South Africa ; in four of their congre- gations five thousand persons are wont to hear the gospel. The Wesleyan Missionary Society has been providen- tially led, by a train of circumstances which it could nei- ther have foreseen nor controlled, to extend its operations four hundred miles along the coast of Guinea, and two hundred miles interior towards Ashantee. The instance just alluded to, is too beautifully illus trative of our general position, as well as of the present movements of Providence in Africa, to be passed without a moment's detail. A number of the inhabitants of Ba- dagry, having been sold as slaves, were captured by a British cruiser, and carried into Sierra Leone. Theie they became acquainted with Christian missionaries and with Christianity. In due time they are returned to Badagry, where they make known the religion of the cross, exemplify Christianity by an improved life, and thus prepare the way for the establishment of a promising mission there under the auspices of the Wesleyans. Mr. Freeman, of the newly established mission, visits Under- stone, one hundred miles to the north of Badagry, meets there, too, a large number of these Sierra Leone Christians, ES'IABI.ISIIMENT OF MISSIONS. 3OJ (or re-captured slaves,) who are overjoyed to see him ; he receives a cordial welcome from ilie King Lodeke, who had become favorably disj)osed to the English (Jov- crnmcMt, to English missions, and to Christianity, through those of his people who had been so kindly rescued from slavery, and returned, and yet more pleased with the im- proved moral condiliun in which they had returned. This led to the establishment of another mission under royal auspices, the king himself being the chief patron. Such examples might be multiplied. The re-capture of the Mendians — their being brought to New England — taught Christianity — and their return to their own country, to report what they had learned, and the establishment of a mission in connection with them, is another example of the same character. ICings and chiefs, not a few, have favored other mis- sions, extending the arms of their protection over them; not only inviting missionaries to reside in their dominions, but olfering them houses to live in, and facilities to work with. In the colonies of Cape Palmas, Liberia proper, Sierra Leone, and on the Gambia, are more than one huridred missionaries and assistant missionaries engaged in successlul labor; some of them native Afi'icans ; five thousand regular communicants, and twelve thousand regular attendants, and tens of thousands perfectly ac- cessible to the; p'-eaching of the gospel. The Rev. Mr Wilson, in late tours to the north and south of the Ga- boon, one hundred and fifty miles, and for many miles in- terior, found " the people generally ready to hear the gospel, and they solicited a missionary" to reside among them. And all this since the settlement at Sierra Leone in 1787. Surely the linger of God is pointing to colonies as the medium through which Christian missions are to leach the one hundred and fifty millions of benighted^ bleeding Africa. The colony at Liberia affords a pleasant illustraiion of this. A population of some seven or eight thousand emigrants and others, has fifty churches, embracing a third part of the population ; common, select and public schools; a college ; five Inuulred miles of sea-coast arrested from illegal tr.iiHckers, aud a civilized and republican 24 322 HAND OF OOD IN HISTORY government which extends its sway (beyond tlie number named) over two hundred tliousand native AlVieans. And Pi'e.siilent Roberts speaks of native chiefs soliciting the protection of the Liberia governmeut, and asking annexation to the llepublic. From whatever j)oint we look, we can scarcely fail to see that Providence is accun)ulaling a vast and eflective power for the renovation of Africa. His strong arm is now made bare to break the bands that have so long held her in thraldom, and to give her the libei'ty whereby the gospel makes free. Colonies are opening the way ; com- njerce is giving wrings to benevolence; bringing mind in contact with mind; bringing the destitute in proximity with their benefactors, and the Divine agency, through a pleached gospel, is furnishing the eflective power by which to achieve the desired transformation. In Western Africa we see the banners of civil liberty unfurled in the creation of a free government in Liberia, which, w'e hope, is as the little leaven in the meal. An '"African Education and Civilization Society" springs into existence, about the same time, in New York, to aid "young persons of color, who desire to devote themselves to God and their kindred according to the flesh," and to promote " the general cause of education in Africa. And, simultaneously with these, there comes an appeal from Syria in behalf of the " Arabic press ;" arrangements being made there for the publication of a Christian litera- ture for the " Arab race," including a correct and ac- ceptable translation of the Holy Scriptures in Arabic — a language spoken by a people scattered over Africa from tae Red Sea to the Atlantic. 0. Late philological researches in Africa seem to be lieveloplnsr a fact in reference to languages, which indi- cates a mosi interesting providential arrangement for the encouragement of the missionary, and to facilitate the work of Africa's evangelization. It is the close affinity of African dialects. Investigations made by Rev. Mr. Wilson in Western Africa, and by Rev. Dr. Krapf, W. D. Cooley and others, on the Eastern coast, and in the interior of the continent south of the equator, discover a striking affinity among the languages spoken throughout AFFINITY OP AFRICAN LANGUAGES. 323 that vast territory. So close is this affinity that the na- tive of Zanzibar, on the Eastern coast, may, with hllle dilViculty, understand the language of the native of the Gaboon. Such being the fact, (and a like discovery may be made in reference to the languages spoken north ol the equator,) we at once surmise that Providence has an- ticipated one of the most formidable obstacles to the dillu- sion of the gospel among the unknown millions of that continent, and prepared the way for its evangelization, when the fiat shall be given, with an astonishing and glorious rapidity. Thus are obstacles vanishing, and means multiplying, and channels opening through the broad moral wastes ol this great desert, by which the pure waters of salvation siiall course their way, and bear spiritual life and health to that parched land. Christian missions are, m a word, following up com- mercial enterprise, and the laudable eflbrts to suppress the slave trade. And, at the same time, Heaven is over- ruling that nefarious traffick to the great and permanent good of that long-abused and degraded continent. Thou- sands of her long-lost sons are returning to bless the land from which, by the hand of violence, they were so cruelly torn away. They that were lost are found ; they that were dead are alive. They are acting the part of the little Israelitish maid. They have brought with them a good report of the God of Israel, and thousands of their benighted countrymen are sharing with them the riches, civil, social, intellectual and spiritual, with which they have returned laden. Let the present plans of coloniza- tion be carried into effect, and tiie advancement of Africa, under God. is secured. It is a delightful feature of our times that a Divine agency is at work among the nations of the earth, re- moving obstacles, demolishing the strong-holds of Satan, and galiiering resources and providing facilities for ihe moral conquest of the world. And in relation to no country is this agency more visible than in Africa. " And unless nature's resources must be squandered in vain, and Christian philanthropy be baffled, and the great move- ments ->{ the moral and political world come to naughty 324 BAND OF GOD IN IIISTORT. llie period will ere long arrive when she shall be en- lightened and powerful, and shall lavish her blessings ainong the kingdoms of the earth as freely as they have lavished on her chains and ignominy." Christianity once flourished in Africa. A thousand churches once adorned her northern border. She had her "colleges, her repositories of science and learning her Cyprians and Bishops of apostoJic renown, and hei noble army of martyrs." There was light in Africa when there was darkness in all the world beside. Nowherr has learning, and empire, and civilization, and refine ment, and Christianity, more prospered. But their light has been extinguished, and no land has been covered with a denser darkness. And as we now see the Sun of Right-' eousness again beginning to cast its healing beams over that sable land, and the spirit of former years to revivify her moral deserts, we may indulge the pleasing hope that this long neglected, fruitless field, is about to be inclosed within the domains of civil liberty and a pure Christianity. The view we have now taken of Africa and things pertaining to Africa, supplies an argument in behalf of colonizing our colored population on the coast of Africa. Hundreds — thousands, and many of them emancipated slaves, may now, with their own consent, be transferred to their native land, greatly to the benefit of our own country, and more to their benefit, and most of all to the advantage of Africa. The American Colonization So- ciety is limited in its laudable work only by the want of funds. Africa now holds out every reasonable inducement to colonists ; a reward to industry ; freedom to all ; an abundance of good land ; schools and seminaries of learn- ing ; the privilege of being men and not " goods and chattels." And a free Government — a Republic, opens wide her arms to welcome them to all the prerogatives of citizens and Christians. Perhaps, in the whole range of benevolent enterprise, we shall seek in vain for an- other cause, which promises more immediate success, or more lasting and extensive good, than the cause of the \merican Colonization Society. JSEUSALKIL CHAPTER XYIII rmi AuiaKiAiia - tlitir histni y. niimhor, location. Pispprsioii nml prcFfnration of Um Aimcniaiiii. Tlie Air.rnuaii Mlssimi : Aiuiail Sliiiliak : cxjleof Iluliaiines. llicgiaat Rtrival. The IViticcJtioii, atid wliat Uud lias bruii^la uui of it. *'Il is a righteous thing with God to rrcompense tribulation to them thai trouble you.^' — 2 Thes. i. G. It now only remains to lake a survey of some of the ancient Christian chinches: and should we discover in ihem, too, the workings of the same Divine Hand, [•re- paring them to receive a [uire gospel, it will strengthen the conviction that the dawn of a better day draws near. 'J'he simple existence of these churches is a matter of no little interest. They date back to a very early period in the annals of Christianity. IMiey have, each in its day, nobly .served the cause of truth — each cast her light over the surrounding darkness ; and each in turn, sunered an eclipse ; and now they seem once more emerging from the cloud which has so long overshadowed them, lo send forth the beams of a new day. We shall now attempt to trace the Hand of God as at present engaged lo reclaim and revivil'y those long waste and barren domains of nominal ('hrisliariity. We begin with The Ak.mkmans. The original countiy of the Arme- nians lies between the Mediterranean, the Black and the Caspian Seas. The Armenians are a very ancient lace ; and as Mount Arrarat occupied a central position in ancient Armenia, and on this notable mount they still, in their dispersion, make their religious centre, (at Eck- nnud/.in on Mount Arrarat,) we may as well fancy their pedigree to reach back to the first |)eoj)ling of the earth on the disembarkation from Noah's ai'k. Amidst all the revoluiion.s ol" the Assyrian, Persian, Gresk, and Roman emi/irei;, the Arnieniars remained a civiliyed and cultiva- ted ueople — early embrace! Christianity —tradition siVf 828 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Thaddeus, one of the seventy, introduced the gosf»el among them, and history responds to its very early intro. duction. The Armenian Church was found completely organized and established in the beginning of the fourth century. And before the middle of the sixth century it separated from the Greek Church, Though most per- severing in their attempts, the Papists have never been able to unite them generally or permanently to Rome, while the Turkish Government has constantly protected them against these wily invaders. Few nations have so varied a political history as the Armenians. During the respective existence of each of the four great monarchies, Armenia was frequently con- quered and re-conquered, ever clinging to her national life with undying tenacity. Since the middle of the six- teenth century, the Armenians have mostly remained subject to the Turks. Armenia has long since ceased to exist as a distinct nation. Like Poland in Europe, she has been divided among her more powerful neighbors, and her people dispersed into almost every part of Turkey and Persia, into Russia and India ; and not a few found a refuge and a lucrative business in Amsterdam, Ant- werp, London and Marseilles. Wherever found in their dispersion, they are an enterprising, frugal, industrious peo|)le. Their number in the Turkish empire is estima- ted at three millions ; one million in Russia : and one hundred and fifty thousand are to be found in Constant! nople and its suburbs. They are also numerous at Broosa, Smyrna, Trebizond and Erzeroom, in ancient Armenia ; at each of which points the American BoarJ have missions acting in connection with the most impoi- tant station, which is at Constantinople. The chief points of interest which demand attention as llustrating our present subject, are the dispersion ana preservation of the Armenians ; the history of the late mission among them ; the late revival, and the consequent persecution. The Armenians, as I said, have long since ceased to exist as a distinct nation. Driven out from their coun- try by political revolutions, or enticed away by ihe desire of gain, they are to be found not only in every DISPERSION OF THE ARMENIANS. 32ll part of the Turkish empire, from the Caucassus to the Nile, and from the Danube to the Persian Gulf, but they are found in Koordistan, in different parts of Europe, in Persia and India; and wherever found, they are generally an enterprising, infliaential and wealthy class of citizens. " In Turkey, they are the great pro- ducers, whether they till the land or engage in manu- factures. They are the bone and sinew of the land — at once the most useful and peaceful citizens. Were they removed from Turkey, the wealth and productive power of the country would be incalculably diminished." Already is Providence developing a design to be an- swered by this singular dispersion of the Armenians, W'orthy of infinite wisdom ; a design in reference to Mohammedan countries, not dissimilar, perhaps, In that to be achieved towards the luhole vmrld by the disper- sion of the Israelitish race. The Armenians are likely to prove the regenerators of the Turkish empire. This is a feature, we shall see, which has been peculiarly de- veloped in the late revival and the recent perseculion. In no other way, perhaps, since the rise of Islamisni, has the power of Christianity been so directly and ellectunlly brought home to the jMohanunedan mind. No accident or blind chance has dispersed the Armenians and j)re- served them in their scattered condition. We shall discover more of this design as we proceed to the other particulars which claim our attention. The unwritten history ol" the Armenians is full of in- terest. The lust quarter of a centur) has been to them the season of hope and j)reparalion ; the return of spring alter a long and dreary winter. We may date the es- tablishment of the American Mission among the Arnie- nians in 1831, and the late spirit of in(|uiry siMnewhat earlier. We are unaccjuainted with the secondary causes which conduced to rouse the Armenian ntind into t«ie interesting slate of activity which has existed duiing the last twenty-five years. The time had come for God to work ; the lime for the great Head of ihe church to send his embassadors among this people. A mission was es tablished just in time to meet the state of things which the spirit of God had prepared. 330 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. It does HOt fall within th0 present plan to enter into the history of this interesting mission, but to present cer- tain aspects and features of it, which shall exhibit the Hand of God as engaged to renovate a corrupt and long forsaken church, and, perhaps, to re-establish a long scat- tered and oppressed nation. The whole history of the mission is a beautiful delineation of Divine Providence. As early as 1833, the mission at Constantinople report that " many Armenians regard their national church as encumbered with numerous burdensome ceremonies not required by the Scriptures, and of no practical advantage, and sigh for something better, without knowing exactly what they want — as if the Lord were preparing them for a gracious visitation." There was at that period a singular moving of the stagnant waters; a vague pre-, sentiment of a coming change ; a manifest dissatisfaction and restiveness under the yoke of ecclesiastical bondage; a mental activity that presaged emancipation ; doubt ; skepticism : a spirit of investigation ; some embryo breathings after liberty. The leaven was at work, for the most j)art secretly, yet, as the event has shown, effectively. For the next three years the woik of reform goes on steadily, and for the most part quietly. " There is now a growing spirit of inquiry, not only about the truth as a matter of speculation, but after salvation through tlie Lord Jesus Christ. No doubt much of this nmy be re- ferred to the agency of the Holy Spirit." The Arme- nian mind was roused to seek after truth. But here we should fail to honor the Hand of God in this extraordinary work, were we not to recur to some incidents of an earlier date. In the little village of Hardet, five miles from Bey root, lived a widowed mother with five sons and ihiee daughters. At the age of sixteen the third son enters the college at Ain Waka, passes throrgh the prescribed course of study, and then spends two years in teaching ilieology to the monks of a convent near Hardet. Ho afterwards serves the Bishop of Beyroot as Scribe, as he also did at another time the Patriarch. Having occu- pied these conspicuous stations, lib gained still more no loriety by the manner he fell under susjjicion and was PERSLCUTION OF ASAAD SHIDIAK. 331 dismissed from the Patriarch's service. But this nas the incident which brought him to the notice of Mr. King, and in connection with the American INfission, and finally led to bis conviction of tlie truth and ids conver- sion to God. His candid, shrewd, powerful, comprehen- sive mind, could not resist the simple truths of the gosprl when thus presented. He now became a victim of per- secution, merciless and unrelenting, by the Patiiarch and his church. He is decoyed into the iiands of his ene- mies— thrown into a dungeon, confined in chains, diiily beaten, and here lie languishes for years, firm in the faith and rich in hope, till the kind angel of death set him free. Thus lived and thus died the well known Asaad Shi- diak, a martyr and an ornament to the truth, and a gem in the diadem of the King. But he died not in vain He was a remarkable illustration of the power of Chris- tianity. A gi'eat mind, once entangled in the meshes of superstition and error, now briwaid the work. In no other feature, perlia[)s, has it loen more obviously distinguished as a work of God, in- dicating the working of some mighty power on the Ar- menian mind. The avidity i'or books and the inlluence they are exerting, will ajjpear in an extract from an ap- peal of the Mission to the American Tract Society: "The call for books increases continually. We can now advantageously dispose of hundreds of tracts, wliere, formerly, we could tens. A new desire is springing up in the hearts of the people for reading' the Scriptures and tracts. Many whole families are furnished with a complete set of our books, and men, women and children read them with great interest, and anxiously wait for ev- ery new woi'k. Hundreds, icho never heard our voice, read them, and have their minds opened and their hearts impi'essed. " Our books are also finding their way to distant places. The good work at Nicomedia, you know, commenced from the reading of a single tract. The present state of the Armenian mind is such that it needs to be i'ed with S|)iritual lood. God himself has given them the appetite. God is working here, and how much better to work with him than to be left to work alone. Never did we need your help as now. Old editions of our books are ex- hausted, new ones should be printed immediately. Many new works of diHerent descriptions are this moment called lor. The hopes of inquiring multitudes are defer- red al the very time when this state of mind is most crit- ical. And the danger is, God's spirit will be grieved away, and leave us to toil on alone, unblessed, because we refuse to be co-operators with Him." When on missionary tours among the Armenians, it is now not uncommon to meet persons for the first time, who have been converted by reading Bibles and books, which have been p; eviously distributed. Little circles o' THE GREAT REVIVAL. 33.) fifleeii or twenty are found, who are wont to meei for prayer and the reading of the Scrijjtures. This is the iirst notice the missionary has of their existence. The leaven is everywhere at work, and we hope the whole lump will soon be leavened. "I feel confident in the as- surance," says Mr Dwight, "that, with the blessing of Clod, there will be a certain and speedy triumph of tlip gospel here." How the good leaven is at work in diflercnt and dis- tant sections of the Armenian population, is beautifully illustrated by an incident which recently came to the knowledge of the mission. Mr. Van Lennep, of Constan- tinople, was on his way to Aleppo, whither he was going, in answer to an urgent request irom certain evangelical Armenians at that place and at 'Aintab, in the same vicin- ity, for a spiritual teacher. He touched at Cyprus — spending a day at Larnika, where two Armenians were known to reside who had expressed an interest in the gospel, but not openly, for fear of their people. He in- quired after them with misgivings, fearing they had fallen back to the world. On finding one of them, he was joyi'ully surprised to learn that he had not only. professed Christ openly and honestly, but through his zeal and labors, eighteen others had been brought to Christ. He gladly received the missionary, and took him to his little shop, where, he said, " they had been roused to their duty by the Spirit of God and his word ; that they immediately began to hold meetings, to which they invited their friends ; that God has most wonderfully blessed their ef- forts in silencing all objectors, and convincing all that God was among them ol'a truth." This solitary disciple, so honored as an instrument, is iescribed as a hard-working, poor man, toiling in his lit- th shop 10 support a numerous family, with his Bible by hii side, which he always kept open while at work, his eye passing constantly from liis work to his IJible, and from his Bible to his work. In that little shop, a work of grace was achieved of which angels might covet to be the instrum2nts. Yet such are the things now witnessed in many a s])ot throughout the Armenian nation. The hand of the Lord is there. Of this we should feel a yet 33(i HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Stronger assurance were we to follow Mr. Van Lennep to AI('|i|)o and 'Aiiilab. At the latter place, especially, Afr. V. j^. met a joyi'ul reception from twenty-five praying souls, w lio had recently come to a knowledge of the truth. Two handled and fifty others were fully convinced that the sujierstitions of their church were wrong, and ad- hered to ihe gospel only ; and nearly the whole Armenian p<>)»ulalion, (filteen or sixteen hundred heads of lamilies,) were convinced of the truth of evangelical doctrines. This work had, up to this time, been begun and carried forward almost entirely by the reading of tlie Scriptures and religious books. And here we would not avoid noticing a beautiful in- terposition of Providence in making the wrath and wick- edness ol" man to praise him : " VVhen only a few had read the Scriptures, and had had their eyes opened to the errors of thei charch, a letter came from the Patri- arch at Constantinople, stating that, whereas a certain heresiarch, Vertannes by name, had lelt the capital to travel through Armenia, the faithful flock, all over the country, were warned against listening to his deceitl'ul woiils. He had filled Constantinople with heresy ; a great nwuiy priests and learned men, and the patriarch hiuiself, had endeavored to convince him of his errors, but without success. All people were, therefore, warned against him. When this letter was read in the church, the evangelical men received the first information that there existed other people besides themselves, who ad- here to the pure gospel ol' our Lord Jesus Christ. And many people said : ' Why, if the patriarch and learned men have not succeeded in convincing this heresiarch, as they call him, how can they expect us to withstand his reasoning? It must be that he is in the right.' There f.s an«)lher interesting fact. Theie was a certain priest, of gieat talents, but a drunkard, who, for reasons best known to himself, professed to be evangelical. He went to 'Aintab, and there ])reached the truth with such elo- quence and boldness lliat many were convinced by him. His real character was then discovered, and he was sent out of the place in disgrace; but the fruits of nis preach- ing remained " EXTENSIVE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. ii'J'i After a lapse of fifteen years from the commencemeni of his missionary labors in Constantinople, Rev. Mr. Goodell, a time-honored servant in that favored field, looking back on the way the Lord had led them in their \v >rk, contrasts the present with the past. "Then ev- ery thing, in a mora^ sense, was without form and void. All direct acc(!ss to the Armenians was closed. What a change! Now is an open door, which no man is able to shut ; although the mightiest ones in the empire had once and again conspired together for the express purpose ol closing it forever. Then, there was but one Protestant service in this great city on a Sabbath, and none during the week. Now there are thirteen on the Sabbath, and not less than twenty during the week." An extensive system of education has, during the same time, been brought into active operation — Lancasterian schools, high schools and seminaries ; the press has been made largely to subserve the cause of the truth, and an evan- gelical literature has been created. The elements of growth and progress have been generated and fostered under the benign influences of the mission, and a moral momentum has been created in the form of knowledge diffused ; mind enlightened ; experience gained ; books prepared and published, and souls converted and made the ready and efficient agents for farther progress ; which, in the hands of God, cannot fail to work out the regener- ation of the nation, and through that nation we may ex- pect the regeneration of the countries about the Levant. May we not hope the Armenians shall become the instru- ments of restoring the power of the gospel to the regions where, m ancient times, its triumphs were first wit- nessed ? We can in no way, perhaps, get a juster idea of the glorious rapidity with which God is bringing about a great moral change among the Armenians, and turning the hearts of the powers that be to favor them, than by transcribing a single paragraph of Mr. Schneider's jour- nal, when on a late tour to Ada Bazar, one of the places favored by the recent revival. He contrasts the changes of but a single year, (1845 — 6,) the time which haa elapsed since his previous visit : 25 33S HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. " Then, but few of them could call on me, and we could hardly have a prayer meeting ; now, they could all assemble without fear. Then, as soon as my arrival was known, a plot was formed for my expulsion, and I was actually driven away, though I had a regular passport and trav- eling firman ; but now, no one even inquired for my pass- port, or thought of any forcible measure. Then no one dared be seen with me abroad ; now, the brethren walk with me in the most frequented part of tht city with en- tire fearlessness. Then they were an unorganized body ; now they are gathered into a regularly constituted church, with officers and the regular administration of the ordi- nances. Then, no one could imagine what would be the destiny of the truth in this place ; but now, its foundations are deeply laid, and the prospects of its future extension are truly cheering." The mission is encouraged to believe that the " whole of the Armenian community are more or less pervaded by a special divine influence." " The door, says Mr. Dwight, " is wide open for the prosecution of missionary labor in its several departments, of training youth, circu lating books, and preaching the gospel. At present there is a listening ear. If we are furnished with suitable means for seizing the advantages God is offering us, there is every reason to believe this whole people may soon be- come truly enlightened and evangelical Christians." Thus writes a hopeful missionary when he sees the hand of God working mightily to turn a nation from darkness to light. Nor had his far reaching mind overlooked the cloud that was gathering in the dark caverns of the foe. Oft he had heard the distant grumbling thunder, and oft seen the lightnings of wrathful persecution play about him and strike down one and another at his side. The cloud blackened and drew near, and he knew it was the hour and the power of darkness. For long ere this he had expressed himself thus : " We notice the wide-spread alarm and the stern hostility which the slightest success awakens, and we can scarcely be mistaken as to the in- fluence of future and more decided progress. We can- not hide from our eyes the approaching struggle, the gath' ering storm. We wish not to hasten it prematurely, bu PERSECUTION OF THE ARMENIANS. 339 we dare not try to avert it. It will come, must come, and ought to come. No one of our plans can be accom- plished without it, no one of our prayers heard, no one of our hopes realized. We pray that God may pour out his spirit on this people ; but that cannot be without pro ducing instant commotion. We long for the conversion of sinners ; but this, soonest of all things, will turn up- side down this ecclesiastical world. There is no possible way of avoiding this but by concealing the light of the truth." But they did not conceal the light of the truth. They prayed — God poured out his spirit — sinners were con- verted, and the " commotion" did come, fierce, unrelent- ing, overpowering as the mad billows of the ocean ; and, but for the signal interposition of the Almighty Arm, it would have engulfed, in one. undistinguished ruin, the whole evangelical effort among the Armenians, the sub- jects of it, the agents, and all who dared ally themselves with it. We have less to do with the details of this shameful outrage on all humanity, than with its providential fea- tures— the results which were providentially brought out of it. Let it suffice that it was a virulent, religious perse- cution, a veritable consequence of the gospel truth, which had been diffused among the Armenians, and of the prac- tical results which followed. The design was to sup- press the truth, and to crush the rising reformation. For this purpose the Patriarch forces on the evangelical por- tion of his church an act of conformity ; a creed pre- pared for their signatures, which was as redolent with ropery as any thing could be, not coined at the mint of the Vatican itself. Conformity or excommunication was the only alternative. Conform, they could not. They knew the truth; they had felt its power. They had con- sciences, and they could never again bow their necks to the yoke of spiritual bondage. They saw the storm gath- ering, and prepared themselves to meet it. The frightful act of excommunication was passed. The fearful and faint hearted went back and followed no more after the Man at Pilate's bar. Others met the thunderbolt like men, and, the first shock passed, they gathered up their 340 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Strength, leaning on the arm of their Beloved, and pre- pared for the conflict. The next day after the act of excommunication and anathema in the cathedral, began the work of violence and persecution. The anathematized were driven out of their shops and houses, and spoiled of their goods ; im- prisoned under false pretenses ; their debtors prevented from paying them their demands, and they forced to pay before the time ; permission to trade taken away, and themselves expelled from the trading companies ; cut of! from all intercourse with their people, social, domestic, and commercial ; cast into prison and cruelly bastinadoed ; children turned out of doors by their parents ; the sick, the infirm and the aged dragged from their very beds into the streets, and left without a shelter ; water-carriers, who are Armenians, will neither bring them water, nor bakers, bread. Nothing but the want of power in the Patriarch was wanting to have consummated this persecution in all the virulence and madness of the bloodiest days of the Romish inquisition. But our business is with the hand of "God in this strange affair. What has God brought out of it ? Al- ready have we seen enough to regard it as an essential and active element in the renovation of that rising na- tion. Doubtless we shall see more ; but already enough appears to kindle our admiration, and to vindicate the ways of God in this seemingly mysterious catastrophe. 1. If not the most obvious, perhaps the most far-reach- ing result of the late persecution, is the practical recog- n'tion, the formal embodiment of the great principle of religious toleration throughout the Turkish empire. And this, too, in the very capital, immediately under the eyes of the Sultan himself, and of the highest dignitaries of the Mohammedan creed. We can scarcely attach too much importance to this event. It has relations to society, to the spread of the gospel in those countries, and to the whole civilized world, which it is scarcely possible for us to appreciate. " It is a vast step in the breaking up of the stagnant pool of Oriental mind and character, and cannot but be the piecursor of great and wide-spread blessings." Yet how unexpectedly brought about. The Patr'arch A NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION 341 pronounces an anathema on the scripture-readers ; a cruel persecution follows ; many a good man suffers ; yet his faith is tried, he is invigorated for the warfare which must sooner or later come. The Sublime Porte is moved by this unreasonable severity to interpose his mighty arm, and come to the help of the persecuted, suf faring Armenians. The crescent protects the cross. Tne power of the state throws its arms around the Ar- menian converts, and saves them from the fury of their persecutors. The Moslem is still, and he always has been the sworn foe of a corrupt Christianity and a persecuting church. The Grand Vizier of the Turkish government, Reshed Pasha, and one of the most enlightened and liberal men in the empire, whom Providence had prepared by foreign travel and a residence at the most enlightened courts in Europe, for the part he would now have him act, acts a most important part in the whole affair. The Sultan re- cognizes the existence of the evangelical Armenians as a protestant church in the Turkish dominions — sends out an edict in favor of religious toleration, and the mission- aries and scripture-readers enjoy a measure of freedom unknown to them before. 2. The persecution not only opened the way, but laid a necessity on the evangelical party to seek a new church organization. The time had come for God to emancipate his church from a most unnatural alliance, and this Pa- triarch seemed raised up for this very purpose. Like Pharaoh, he was allowed to persecute just so far, and no farther, than needful to show the impossibility of the evangelical party longer remaining in connection with a corrupt church. Thrust out from their cruel mother they are now forced to seek an organization of their own which they may, at once, fix on the New Testament basis ; a measure of immense moment to the successful progress of Christianity in the Armenian nation, and per- haps throughout the whole Turkish empire. Nothing could so effectually have brought about an event so .much to be desired by the mission, and so much to be dreaded by the Patriarch, as the persecution in question. Hitherto the mission had avoided all interference with 342 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. the church relationships of their converts, laboring to save souls i-ather than to sever men from a corrupt church. The difficulties attending the existing state of things were thickening upon them daily, and all human sagacity was found inadequate to devise a mode of relief The lion seemed too fierce and mighty to beard, yet the lion him- self is left to open the way of escape to the lambs. The Patriarch pursues a course which leaves no alternative to the "evangelicals," but to organize a new church. Henceforward we meet little flocks gathered almost im- mediately, in Constantinople, Nicomedia, Ada Bazar. Trebizond, and Erzeroom ; the shield of the Turkish gov ernment is around them, and the banners of God's love is over them. Constantinople is said to contain more than a hundred converts, who are regarded as suitable persons for church membership ; ninety-three are already inclosed in the fold ; one hundred and forty-three in the four churches. 3. It has served to make evangelical Protestantism and the gospel known to the Turks, and given the world a fresh illustration of the power and vitality of the Christian re- ligion. Nothing, perhaps, could have brought the work of evangelism so conspicuously and forcibly home to the Turkish mind. The Turks had seen Christianity before ; but it was a Christianity of form — the body, the gilded corpse, and not the soul. Now the vital godliness of the persecuted is brought into vivid contrast with the for- malism of the oriental churches ; and to whom would not such a contrast bring conviction ? " The aspect of the two parties," says an eye witness, " was, and is still one of great moral sublimity. On the one side all the power, influence, wealth and numbers of a great nation ; on the other, fewness, feebleness and poverty. On the one side were age, wisdom, experience, cunning, craft, dissimula- tion ; on the other, youth," inexperience, and utter sim [•licity. On the one side stood up the whole Armenian liierarchy, excited to the utmost pitch of hate and fury, and arrayed by all the sacredness of antiquity, and all the authority of the nation, and with the panoply of civil and ecclesiastical despotism ; on the other was neither Urim or Thummim, neither tabernacle nor ark, neither priest- APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY 343 flood nor church; nothing sacred, nothing venerable, nothing to inspire terror, nothing to attract notice, nothing outward to encourage the least hope of success. On the one side were cunning and falsehood, and blasphemy, the thunder of anathemas, the threatenings of annihilation, the cutting off of bread and water, the driving out of fam- ilies and individuals from their inheritance and their homes, from their shops and their business ; the forcible wresting from them of their necessary protective papers, and thus exposing them, without the possibility of redress, to all the insults and frauds of the most unprincipled and villainous, to a Turkish, filthy prison. On the other side sat patience and meekness, peace and truth. There was joy in tribulation. There was the voice of prayer and praise. The New Testament was in their hands, and all its blessed promises were in their hearts. Their song of praise went up like the sound of many waters, and re- minded me of the singing of the ancient Bohemian brethren amidst the raging fires of persecution."* It was the fire of persecution, but a fire that cast abroad and throughout the whole Turkish empire the bright ra- diance of divine truth. " I have known many cases," says Mr. Dwight, " in which Turks, high in office, have expressed their sympathy with our brethren, and say that their way was the way of truth." And another says : " The Turks have heard and learnt more of the gospel the last year than in all their lives before." 4. This persecution has served to give the world, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, a fresh example of apos- tolic Christianity. It has shown the spirit of primitive Christians revived in the regions where it had so long appeared to be extinct. Martyrs, bold, meek, enduring to the end, have again periled all things, and not counted I heir lives dear in defence of the religion of calvn y. The thunder and the storm of persecution, while they huve »efl behind some marks of desolation, have been followed by a fresh and luxuriant growth of piet)% all th3 deeper, all the purer for the violence of the tempest. I'or there was reviving rain and genial heat amidst the strifes of the 344 HAND OF GOD IN niSTORY. tornado. It is a resuscitation of primitive piety, fraught with rich blessings to the Armenian nation, to the Turkish empire, and to the whole Christian world. It is the spirit I'evived, which nerved the soul of Paul, which brought apostles to a glorious martyrdom, which filled with joy and praise a noble company of martyrs. It is a delight- ful presage of better days to the church of the living God The spirit of her martyrs shall live again ; the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, shall rise and flourish again on the earth. It inspires with hope the awakening energies of the corrupt and formal churches of the East ; it speaks encouragement to the benevolent enterprise of Christendom. It predicts the day as near when the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom shall be given to the saints of the Most High. 5. The late persecution is a witness to the success of our mission to the Armenians. The outbreak is but an expression of hostility to the truth — a fearful apprehen- sion that the truth shall prevail and undermine the co- lossal fabric of error and superstition, as found embodied in a formal, corrupt church. The Patriarch and the high dignitaries of the church see their craft to be in danger, and they have made one desperate struggle to save the falling Babylon. It is an unwilling concession that truth is mighty — that it is very generally difTused — that it has taken deep hold of the Armenian mind, and that it is likely to prevail — a stone from the sling of David against the head of Goliath. It has done much, too, to create a native agency among the Armenians, and thus to favor the work of evangeliza- tion. It has given character, and vigor, and zeal to the nati\e converts. It has greatly increased their moral power. It has assured them that God is at work with them and for them. It has inspired the mission with fresh confidence and courage. It has, as in the days of the persecution about Stephen, scattered abroad many who wo everywhere preaching the gospel. It has disburdened the rising seminary at Bebeck of a class of ungodly youth, from whom the mission had little hope of future useful- ness, and has filled their places with a greater number of pious, promising young men, who, being by the persecu- PROTESTANT EMBASSADORS. Sli tion thrown out of the secular employments to which they seemed destined, were at once brought into the seminary, where they are now preparing to be the pastors of the newly organized churches, or missionaries to their be- nighted countrymen. 6. It has created a common sympathy among the evan. gelical A-rmenians themselves, binding them together by the ties of a common brotherhood ; and it has created a common sympathy in their behalf throughout Christen- dom. And not only so, but locality and definiteness are now given to the prayers and benefactions of those who may come to their aid in this time of need. And it would here be overlooking a very essential providential feature in this wonderful work, not to allude, at least, to the care and skill with which God has provided his agents wherewith to carry it forward. To say nothing of the peculiar fitness of the missionaries whom he has, with much care and training, raised up and stationed there for such a time as this, (and we should, perhaps, in vain look the world over to find the same number of men elsewhere, so beautifully adapted to act in such circum- stances,) we cannot too profoundly admire the providence that brought together in the Turkish empire, at that par- ticular time, such men as Sir Stratford Canning, English embassador, Mr. Le Coq, Prussian embassador, Mr. Carr, American minister, and Mr. Brown, American Charge d' Affaires in the absence of Mr. Carr ; and perhaps more especially than all others, Reshid Pasha, the liberal and enlightened Prime Minister of the Turkish Government. Rarely do we meet a happier combination of talent, firm- ness. Christian decision, and enlightened tolerance, than Providence had thus concentrated in the capital of the Turkish empire, to be used at this verj crisis. And the Hand that provided them and placed them there, has nol failed, effectually, to use them for the protection and es- tablishment of his cause. We may now dismiss the Armenians, with the delight- ful reflection that the hand of the Lord is enKajied on their behalf He has, in a remarkable manner, prepared them to receive the gospel. He has raised up a strong native agency by which to carry forward among them iTie work 346 IIANU UF 'it 111 IN UiSTuRY of evaiigeliJ.ation — has created an evangelical literature~ accumulated vast resources in the form of printed matter, Bibles and religious books — brought into being an efficient system of education — provided an active mass of intelli- gent, sanctified mind for the future progress of the work ; and given them protection under the strong arm of the Turkish Government, endorsed and guaranteed by the organs of the three principal Protestant nations. With such elements of progress — with such prepara- tions for advancement, have we not the most substantial grounds for the expectation that the work of Christianiza- tion in that land shall advance, till not only the Armenian nation, but many tribes and kindreds in Western Asia shall be inclosed in the fold of the Great Shepherd. CHAPTER XIX. Vn Jkwb. Providential features or their present condition, indicating their prepared- ness to receive the Gospel. " And as F prophecied, there vms a noise, and behold a shahing?^^ Ezekiel xxxvii. 7. We shall next turn to the Jews, and see what an evei active Providence is doing to prepare them for restora- tion to the land of their fathers, but more especially for a return to them of the favor of their God. The Jews ha\ e a history of intense interest. God honored them from their beginning — granted them a rich and beautiful coun- try — conducted them thither by his own strong arm, sig nalizing the whole way by monuments of his goodness — preserved them two thousand years amidst the commo- tions of a most revolutionary period — made them the de- positaries of his grace for the world — Zion, his eai'thly temple, the place of the promises, the covenants, the living Israel's afflictions. 347 oracles. And he has made Israel the key to empire. Kingdoms rose and fell, prospered and decayed, according to the good pleasure of God as touching Israel. And the great drama is yet in progress. The prelude and some preliminary scenes have been acted ; a long and Tielancholy interlude has interposed, and now the shadows, A'hich coming events cast before them, indicate the ter- mination of Israel's afflictions, and the opening of another scene more resplendent in promised glory and Divine munificence than any preceding one. The day of Israel's visitation came. The crown is taken from his head ; the priestly robes fall from his shoulders; the sceptre departs from Judah, and he be- comes as ignominious, weak and poor, as he had been honored, rich and powerful. Not a jot or tittle of all the evil spoken against Israel shall go unfulfilled. Their mis- eries begun with their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. When they signed his death-warrant, they signed the death-warrant of their nation. When the earth quaked, and the sun hid his head, their nation was shaken to its centre, and the sun of their political existence was covered in sackcloth. When they cried, " His blood be on us and on our children," they put to their lips the cup of the wine of the wrath of God, poured out without mixture. But a brighter day is dawning. The page of Provi- dence is at this moment sublimely interesting in reference to the seed of Abraham. Every year brightens the signs that the time to favor Zion is near. The spirit of God IS moving on the face of her dark waters. An angel ol mercy is seen walking on the troubled sea of Israel's afflictions, saying, " peace, be still." " These bones are the whole house of Israel." " They are very many and very dry" — indicating the extremely depressed and hopeless state of Israel ; hopeless in the estimation of those who would come to their relief, and hopeless in their own estimation. The "noise," I ap- prehend, means the two-fold proclamation of the Chris- tian church and of Christian nations, the one proclaiming the truth as it is in Jesus, the other proclaiming by va- rious legislative acts and movements, the removal of theii 348 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORV . civil disabilities, thus creating an interest and sympathy on their behalf. While " the shaking," on the other hand, refers to a movement among the Jews themselves — a stir in their own camp. The " noise" and the '' shaking" are related as cause and effect. For the civil disabilities ol the Jews, and the neglect and contempt of nominal Christianity, have been the most formidable obstacles to their reception of the gospel. I may range what I shall say on the providential features of the present condition of the Jews, as indica- ting a preparation on their part to receive the religion of the Cross under the following heads : 1. There is much at present in their civil condition, that indicates the returning favor of Heaven. Nothing, decisive or permanent was done to remove the disabili- ties of the Jews till the beginning of the present century. The first recognition that the Jews had rights, was made in 180G, by Napoleon Bonaparte.* The German states, however, led the way in actually conferring on them the rights of citizens, and disenthralling them from the untold, unpitied wrongs of eighteen centuries. Other states of continental Europe begun to extend to them the reluc- tant hand of fellowship. In England, a single ray of light darted above their horizon, but was soon extinguished. An act passed in Parliament, (1753,) in favor of Jewish emancipation, but was repealed the next year ; and not till the year 1830, was the question renewed, and ther only to be lost. Yet in the same year a bill in their favoi wjis carried in France. Within the last few years, indeed, successful attempts have, from time to time, been made to bring relief *o the wronged and oppressed Jew. Amid recent commotions in the East, the Jews in Turkey, Egypt, Arabia and • We may take the following as a specimen of the cruel intolerance of the Romiah Church ajisiiiKi ilie Jews : Speakini; of the Jews in the twelfth century, Uerk fays, thej were special objects of hatred durins the ceremonies of Easter week. T* e misguided mulliliiile llioimht they were doing a service to the Redeemer, whose suflrerliij;s they then coninieninraled, by persecuting the descendants of those wno had nailed him to the cross. Thus, at Ueziers. every year, on Palm Sunday, the Bishop mnunltd the pul- f\it of the <^nhedral, and addressed the people to the followin;; elTfCt : "You hav« unong you, my brethren, the descendants of the impious wretches who crucitieil th« Lord Jenus Christ, whose passion we are to commemorate. Show yourselves anima- ted with the spirit of your ancestors; arm yourselves with stones; assail the Jewi with them : and thus, as far as in you lies, revenge the sufferings ol that Saviour who redeemed you with his own blood " JEWISH EMANCIPATION. 349 Algieis, have been recognized as citizens, and their hfe, property and honor protected. In Greece, in the islands of the Indian Archipelago — in South America and the United States, they have flourishing synagogues and schools enjoying governmental protection. In Norway, the prohibition that Jews enter the kingdom is removed. In Denmark a bill has been lately introduced in favor ol Jewish emancipation. In England and Holland, the Jews are exciting unwonted interest. In France, Prus- sia, Austria and the German States, restrictions have been taken off; Jews are allowed to purchase estates, invest funds, prosecute education ; are eligible to ofllice, and allowed the rights of citizens. The Senate and Council of Hamburg have recently passed an act in favor of the Jews. And even in the Pope's domains, and in Russia, the Jews have hope. Throughout Tuscany, they enjoy perfect liberty, and partially so in Piedmont. Political changes are every year taking place in the East, which augur well for the Jews ; and present ap- pearances favor the expectation that further changes will soon so dispose of the nations about Palestine, that the scattered remnants of Israel may be restored to theii native land. The late projects of two eminent European Jews, Rothschild and Sir Moses Montefiore, the first to purchase Jerusalem and its environs, as a refuge and home to all Jews, wishing to return to a land consecrated by a thou- sand sacred associations ; and the other to secure by a sort of lease, the possession of several towns and villages, held sacred by the Jews, for the purpose of colonizing there the children of Israel, may indicate one means by which Israel may be reinstated into more than his original civil privileges. Sir Moses is at this time on a mission to St. Petersburgh, to negotiate with the great Autocrat of the North, that the Jews of Russia, against whom a barbarous edict had been issued, should be per'mitted peaceably to emigrate. Sir Moses writes that " he lias been graciously received by the Emperor," who has favored his wishes to visit his brethren of the dispersion in Russia, and consented to the emigration of ten thou- sand to Palestine, or some other settlement which Sir 350 HAND or .'OD IN HISTORY Moses may fix upon. The British Government recently appointed a Consular Agent to be stationed at Jerusalem, with instructions that he should, to the utmost of his power, afford protection to the Jews. The Emperor of Austria has recently issued two ordinances in favor of the Israelites, conferring on them unwonted privileges. 2. Corresponding with the great political movement in behalf of the Jews, is an interest and sympathy on the part of the Christian church. Nothing, perhaps, more than this, has quickened into i'*e, in many a Jewish bosom, a generous feeling towards Christianity. The time was, and not remote, when the poor Jew was kept without the pale of Christian sympathy. He was despised and ab- horred of all men — had no home am«ng the nations, no pity from the church. In his miserable wanderings he had strayed into those dark and frigid regions of humanity on which the genial rays of human kindness never shine But they that were afar off are brought near. The partition wall is broken down — the alienations of centu- ries removed. A generous warmth in the heart of the Christian church is winning back the long exiled sons of Israel. It is but a few years since the church evinced any dis- tinctive interest in behalf of the Jews. Prayers were offered of old, but they were prayers without charity There was faith, but it was faith without works. It is a matter of just marvel that the early Christians, in their laudable zeal to spread the gospel, so soon overlooked the Jews. After the death of the apostles and their imme- diate disciples, the poor Jew could say, " no one careth for my soul." Nor did the glorious revival of the sixteenth century bring pity or relief to afflicted Israel. But we live in a day of better promises. The daughter —the daughter-in-law rather, the adopted child, is beckon- ing the exiled mother to return to the bosom of theii common father's love, that they may sit together in heavenly places, the first last, and the last first. Ecclesiastical bodies now discuss and pass resolutions in behalf of the Jews. The press espouses their cause. Kings, and high dignitaries of the church, lend their great influence The royal patronage of the King of Prussia MISSION OK MOUNT ZION. 351 deserves particular regard. The Archbishop of Canter- bury, is Patron of the London Society, and the Bishops of London and York, Vice Patrons. "No meetings in England are more crowded, or excite more interest, than meetings in behalf of the Jews." It is this feeling which has called into existence socie- ties for the evangelization of the Jews. The mosi efficient is the London Society. This has been in oper- ation near forty years ; has thirty stations, in France, England, Holland, Germany, Poland, Prussia, and among the Spanish Jews about the Mediterranean ; employs eighty missionaries, forty-five of whom are of the house oi Israe.. An interesting result of this society is the establish- ment of a mission on Mount Zion. This mission has done much to direct the attention of the Jews in all parts of the world towards Jerusalem and their own best mterest. " The church and bishop at Jerusalem, says one, kindles the hope of the approaching revival of the Jewish church. Jerusalem may now, again, be regarded as the cent.e of the Jewish nation. Any influence exerted here will tell on the whole Jewish world. For here are Jews, resident or visitors, "out of every nation under heaven.' And not only this, but the Jewish Rabbis of Jerusalem maintain a constant communication with their brethren in all parts of the world. These two facts deserve regard in all onr plans for the conversion of Israel. Another fact worthy of notice is, that, for the first time since the Babylonish captivity, the Hebrew lan- guage, in its ancient purity, is again a language of con- versation in Jerusalem. However manifested, the fact is obvious, that Christen- dom, now as by a common impulse, is beginning to feel a deep and solemn interest and sympathy for her elder and long exiled sister. We have seen how this interest is manifested. A few other facts will show how readily the sympathy of Christian nations can be drawn out, if the arm of persecution be stretched out against the Jew. I refer to the late barbarous persecution of the Jews at Rhodes and Damascus, (1840.) The details of this atro- ious outrage I need not repeat. It was as if a demon 352 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. of the dark ages, suddenly roused from his long slumbei, had re-appeared on the earth, and, unmindful of the age, boldly and bloodily recommenced his old work. Scarcely has the black history of persecution a blacker page than the brief one to which I here allude. Atroci- ties hardly paralleled in the foulest days of the Inquisi- tion, are perpetrated in the nineteenth century — in the light of this enlightened age — in the presence and in spite of the predominant influence of Europe and America. Those tragic scenes here supply, to all who love to watch the varying star of Jacob, an instructive lesson, and one much to our present purpose, as auguring well for Israel : It is the simultaneous and deep sympathy ex- cited in behalf of the sufferers of Rhodes and Damascus Fifty years ago every Jew in the Turkish empire might have been slaughtered, and no great sensation produced anywhere. But now, so changed is public feeling to- wards the Jews, let the foot of oppression attempt to crush them, or the bloody mouth of persecution to devour them, and ten thousand voices are raised in one general remonstrance. Meetings are held in London, Liverpool, New York, Philadelphia, Constantinople ; the most cor dial sympathy expressed, prayers offered to Israel's God for their relief, and petitions sent to the several govern- ments of Europe and the United States, that these gov- ernments would make it the duty of their respective Consular Agents in the East, to urge on the Pacha of Egypt the necessity of treating the Jews in Damascus and throughout his dominions as men who have rights like his other subjects. And what is more, these govern- ments listened to such petitions, and instructed their agents accordingly ; and so promptly, as to indicate a public sentiment against persecution, strong enough to prevent the recurrence in our world of another such scene. Thus are the Jews learning, for the first time since apostolic Christianity, that the Christian church has a heart, which can be touched in pity for the poor exiles of Israel ; yea, that the world, too, feel its cold heart legin to warm with indignation, if, in these latter days, upstart vandalism dare lay its uncircumcised hand on earth's SHAKING AMONG THE JEWS. S^tli nobility. Too long has the poor Jew had but too much reason to regard Christianity either an idolatry towards God, or contempt, cruelty and outrage towards the liouSe of Israel. The " pillar of cloud and of fire," has long turned its dark side towards them, and God has treated them as aliens and enemies ; and now that the light side is beginning to shine on them, we may indulge the de- lightful hope that God's former love is about to return. There is a " noise," a sound like the low murmuring o( many waters, distant, distinct, and gathering strength with every new commotion, now pervading the whole Gentile world, in behalf of the seed of Abraham. It is the precursor — it is to a considerable extent the cause of the present movement on the Jewish mind. Though it- self not a feature, directly, of the Jewish mind, it is a feature of our times, which has had much to do in makins the Jewish mind what it now is in its favorable disposi- tions towards Christianity. 3. The " shaking" among the Jews themselves. Re- cent religious and intellectual movements among them indicate that the day of their redemption is near. The Jewish mind is everywhere awake. Never was there among them such a spirit of inquiry. A few facts will illustrate : From a communication by the Rev. Mr. Goodell, Con- stantinople, it appears that the Jews in the metropolis of the Turkish empire are agitated by an unusual spirit ol religious inquiry. Some are anxiously looking for the speedy restoration of their nation to their beloved Pales- tine ; others expect the immediate advent of the Messiah ; others doubt whether he be not already come. " The chief Rabbis had led them to expect that, according to their books, the Messiah must absolutely api)ear during Hie y( ar 1840. A learned Jew occasionally visits me, and almost the first, and sometimes the very first (|ues tion I ask him is, Has he come?" "Not yef," has ahva; s been his reply, till his last visit, when, laying his hand o>. his heart, he said, in a low and solemn tone, " If you asK me, I say he has come ; and if you w'll show me a safe place, I will bring you ten thousand Jews to-morrow who will make the sniiic confession." 1 rp{)lied. " the apostk.*^ 2i 354 HAND OF GOD IN HISTOR?. and piophets had no safe place shown them to cont'esii truth in, but they made the confession in the face of stripes, imprisonments, and death." But what more particularly demands attention here, as a proof of the awakening energies of the Jews, are the PUBLIC DISCUSSIONS among them in regard to the Talmud and Rabbinical traditions. The Talmud is a medley of traditions, claimed by the Rabbins, (the modern Pharisees,) to be the oral law, gi ren through Moses, and of equal authority with the written law, not unlike the traditions of the Romish Church. Bating a sparse sprinkling of good throughout, the Talmud is a mass of crude fables, superstitions, and absurdities. From the bondage of this yoke the Jewish mind is laboring to be free. A large class of Jews, prin- cipally in Germany, called the Reformed, have taken strong ground against the Talmud. Conventions of Rabbis and learned men have from time to time been held, to discuss the authority of the Talmud, the expedi- ency of an alteration of the liturgy, a reform of the ritual, and a new translation of the Scriptures. Convince the Jews that the oral law is only of human authority, and the colossus of modern Judaism will fall to the ground. The question, therefore, before the Jew- ish mind is nothing less than this : WJiat is the basis of our religion, the word of God, or the commandments of men ? Precisely the question which divides the Protes- tant and the Romish churches. British Jews have already adopted a Prayer Book which is free from all references to the oral law. Leading Jewish writers, also, freely discuss topics like these : the present position, character, and privileges oj the Jews, past and present, their degradation, hopes, and /ears. Another question of much practical importance, and much discussed, is, Is it necessary that Israelitish worship should be conducted in the Hebrew language 1 In some places, the Reformed Jews have organized societies, binding themselves to the non-observance of Rabbinical rites and injunctions. They regard circum- csision as non-essential, and the promise of the Messiah JEWISH MIND ROUSED. 353 as fulfilled. In Gallicia, there s a secret society, the nl>. jecl ot" which is to undermine the authority of the 'I'al- mud, and the whole fabiic of Judaism. 'J'he Scottish depiiiation to Palestine found the influence of this -ocieiy to be working a secret, though powerful influence, air.iuig the Jews in the southern provinces of Ilussia. " 'J'lie field," they say, "in Moldavia and Walachia, is ripo lor Ihe harvest. The Jews are in a most interesting state, IMaiiy here have their confidence in the Talmud com- pletely shaken," Of their interview with the Jews of Jas.sy, the capital of Moldavia, they say: "All had an open ear to our statements of the truth." Jn France, Germany, and Poland, there is a very general abandonment of llabbinism. In England and Holland the Jews are catching the spirit of life which is abroad on the stagnant waters of Judaism. In Berlin, the capital of Prussia, a writer says, "there is an extraor- dinary stir among the dry bones of Israel, The time has come when they themselves feel dissatisfied with the Rabbinical and fanatical systems of Judaism." A Jewish preacher recently said in a public discourse : "It is, alas! too true, that our religion does not answer what God had in view — which is not, however," says he, " the lault of Judaism, but of the Jews. Our state is certainly lament- able." " Within the last few years," says another, "every event connected with the Jewish people has assumed an intense interest and importance." We may, then, well creilit the preacher in a Jewish synagogue in London, who recently said: "We are hajipily emerging from the darkness into which persecu- tions of unparalleled intensity and duration had banished us. Our domestic, social, and political life is assuming g brightness, which we leel assured will become more and more cheering." Or, Lord Ashley, who in a late meeting of the Jews' Society in London, said: "At no time liaa the hori/on been so bright for the Jewish people. At no time prophecy so near its lulfillment. A year ago no imagination was lively enough to conceive one-tenth of what we have heard this |icar on the carlh, T le tiiiic eople can possess so much interest to the ('hristian. The destinies of the worl(h are bound up in the destiny of Israel. And as we see this destiny developing, and sub- iimer scenes in the great Jewish drama transpiriiiir. we can hardly mistake that a new dispensation is unl'olding itself, niore extensive, more sublime, than the world has yet witnessed. Every feeling of piety will, therelorc, respond, with unfeigned gratitude, to what God is now doing to recover the house of Israel ; every pious ell'oi t be put forth to bring Israel again into the pale of the di\ine favor, and of the visible church of God. The 304 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Jewish mind is ripe either for the messenger of the go* pel, or for the teacher of infidelity. If we do not so'W the good seed, while we sleep the enemy will sow tares. 3. What kind of efforts will be Ibund more efrectual to the conversion of the Jew ? Whether for Jew or Gen- tile, it must be in substance the preaching of Christ au cified; but to the Jew, not precisely in the same way To him it is not a new presentation of Christ, but an identification o{ \\\e. Messiah already come, with his ex- pected Messiah. He is ready to Ijelieve, if he can identify Jesus of Nazareth as the Ibretold Christ. Hence these "dry bones" must be "prophesied" to. Correct exposi- tions of the prophecies must constitute the burden of the lai)ors of the missionary to the Jews. He must j^reach Christ the end of the Jewish law ; Christ, the reality of all their types, the substance of all their shadows, the thing signified by all their signs, the great sacrifice and sin-otVering, the Lamb of God, the Messiah so long looked for. They cannot believe till they see Jesus the prophet like unto Moses; the spirit ol' prophecy, a testi- mony concerning Jesus. Already much has occurred to force the Jewish mind to the study of their prophetic writings. The word of God is becoming more and more tiie only authority in religious controversy. 4. All things are prejiaring for, and approaching a crisis of intense interest to ovr entire race. This is an in- ference Irom a survey of the present condition of the Jews, as connected with their prouidential relation to the whole world. Any divine purpose lulfilled towards Israel, or any movement in their camp, involves in it a series of purposes and movements towards the whole Gentile world. Every leaf that stirs on the mountains of Israel, is a signal of a mighty commotion among the nations ; every ripple on the waters of Judah, a precur- sor of a storm that shall shake the foundations of the great deep. When God shall deign to smile again on his ancient people, and restore them to their promised in- heritance, all that have opposed his ))ur]xjses shall be taken out of the way; all that have wronged and op- pressed Israel shall drink of the cup of his indignation. U shall be the overturning of the world ; shall bring peace THE NESrORIAN CHURCH. 305 lo them who love the Prince of Peace, but destruction to them who have lought against the Lord's anohited ones. Are you prepared, reader, for the coming of su(;h events : laboring, watching, praying, waiting, hoping, till I he Son of Man come in his glory, restore his peoj)le to lis favor, avenge himself on their enemies, convert lh« A orld, and lake the kinr Grant nml llie Ki")nlisli mountains. The nia.-isai.Te. The ijreat llevival— extends inlo the uiuuntains. The untamed mountaineer. A bright day dawning. " They shall build the old wastes ; they shall raise vp the former desulationsV — Isa. Ixi. 4. We shall pass over the Syrian, Coptic, and Greek churches without any particular notice, not being aware of any thing in their [)resent condition especially en- couraging to the labors (jf the evangelist. That a reno- vating process has begun among them — that the hand of God is at work, pre{)aring the way for the recovery, at no very distant day, of those lapsed portions of the one threat fold, we do not doubt. Already facts indicate such V process. Yet the linos of Providence are not distinct; the ])oint of their convergence not certain. iXor need we speak immaiurely. It is (juite suflicient that we laks a cursory survey of but one other of these aitcieut churches. The Nestorian's. This ancient people ocrup}' the border country between the Turkish and Persian em- pires, riiey aie found mostlv among the mountains ol •J(J6 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Kooidistan, (the ancient Assyria,) and in the prirvince ot" 0(jioumiah, in western l*ersia. The western portion ol" this territory is subject to the Turks, the eastern to the Persians, while the central portion, among the wild raii<;es of almost inaccessible mountains, is nearly inde- pendent— ignorant and barbarous. 'J'he Nestorians, computed now at 150,000, are tin; remnant oia noble race. They have a history ol" thrill- ing interest ; a history not yet written, and perhaps never can be. The anti(|uity of the Nestorians, their luctition, their preservation as a distinct peofjle, and a Christian church; their doctrinal and Christian purity and spirituality, compared with all other oriental churches; their entire exemption from idolatry, and their remarkable missionary character, are lacts which bespeak an atten- tive perusal of their history, and which can scarcely fail to suggest to every rejecting mind, that a people who have so long been the objects of an ever-watchl'ul Provi- dence, are reserved for some signal display of his grace. An intelligent traveler, the late llev. Dr. Grant, who recently visited them among their mountain fastnesses, has, with much i)lausibility, claimed for the Nestorians a Jlehrcio origin. They are, he believes, the remnant of the Ten Tribes, which Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, carried captive into Assyria 121 years before Christ. They are I'uund in the very same spot where, twenty-five centuries before, God put the Ten Tribes. They resem- bll" eating unclean animals; of the cities of refuge and the avenging of blood ; the extraordinary sanctifica- tion of the Sabbath ; the appointment of a High J'riest, TUEIU HEBREW OtlGIN. 3fi7 and the peculiar structure of their places of worship, in wnich the " Holy ol' iiolies' is still to be seen. Though these " beggarly elements," the relics of a by- gone dispensation, but ill become the simi)licity cf a Christian church, they are just what we should expoot to find on the hypothesis that these Nestorians were con verted to Christianity at a very early period, and that they were Jews before their conversion. That the Teu Tribes, wherever they were at the time of the first pro- mulgation of Christianity, did very early receive the gos- pel, admits of little doubt. For the gospel was, in the order of appointment, first of all to be preached to the " lost sheep of the house of Israel." The work of evan- gelization among the Gentiles was deferred till this prelim- inary work was done. Both the Twelve and the Seventy were especially charged with a commission to the seed of Abraham. And it must further be borne in mind, that a full eight years elapsed from the Resurrection to the calling of the first Gentile ; an eight years of unusual Christian activity and missionary zeal, yet not a suspicion seems to have been breathed, during this time, that this activity and zeal had the slightest concern for any one beyond the seed of Abraham. At the beginning of tnese eight years occurred the notable Pentecost, in which three thousand Jews were converted, Jews " out of every na- tion under heaven." In this remarkable assembly were Jews from the very regions into which tiie Ten Tribes were carried, and where Josephus and other historians allirm they still were in the first century of the Christian era ;* and these, the Parthians and Medes of Peter's assembly, were no doubt the first to bring the gospel to the notice of their brethren among tlie mountains of Assyria, to meet, perhaps, a ready reception. Perchance they had already heard of Jesus, the King of the Jews, and the long looked for Messiah. Perchance the " wise ' Jjnephus sayB : " The Ten Tribes are beyond the Eiiphratra till now."— Antiii. B. XI Ch. V. King Afn'ipp^' i" a i<|>i'*'i'h to the Juws, alluiles, as to a well-known Tact, to tleir" fellow tribes" dwelling in Adiabeiie bi-yunil the [Cu|ihrale8. Adiubene was a Dame given to the central pari of Assyria, where these tribi-s were place J by their royal eap'or, and where the Nestorians are still found Anil Jerome, the most ler.rned of the Latin fathers, very expressly and repeatedly states, that the Tcu Tribes were to b< found iu tl at region in the fie a rem- THEIR PRESENT CONDITION. 371 naiit may remain, who, even in those new idolatrous lands, shall be roused from their long slumbers by the trump which seems about to shake the mountains of As- syria, and who, risen again, shall once more stand in their lot, witnesses for the truth, which they once so fearlessly professed and beautifully adorned in the days of their first espousals. Through them we may renew their missions in all Central Asia and China. Let the present Patriarch feel as Patriarch Tamotheus did a thousand years ago, and we should need to send very few men from the West to evangelize Asia. We should find men nearer the field of action, oriental men, with oriental habits, and better fitted to win their way to oriental hearts. And as the re- turning fire of Christianity shall again warm the centre, may we not expect its benign heat shall extend to the ancient extremities, and China and Tartary again be- come, through their instrumentality, vocal with the praises of our God ? But let us take a cursory glance of the present condi- tion of the Nestorian Christians, and see what the hand of God is now doing for them, and what prognostics there may be that their winter is passed and their spring Cometh. The American mission was commenced at Ooroomiah in 1835; just in time to frustrate the nefarious schemes of the Jesuits to entangle the Nestorians in the subtle folds of Rome. A Jesuit offered the Patriarch ten thou- sand dollars on condition that he would acknowledge al- legiance to the Pope ; to whom the Patriarch replied, " Thy money perish with thee." And later still the assu- rance has been tendered him, that if he would so far be- come a Catholic as to recognize the supremacy of the Pope, he should not only be Patriarch of the Nestorians, but a:! the Christians of the East should be added to his jurisdiction. To this the Patriarch replied : " Get thee hence, Satan."* The providential interposition of the American Board saved this lapsed, yet interesting branch of the Christian church from a catastrophe so disastrous. From this time forward the providential history of this 373 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. mission is full of interest. When God would send vhither his servants, he sent before them to prepare the way such men as Sir John Campbell, Lord Ponsonby, Commodore Porter Dr. Riach, and Colonel Sheil, not to mention oth- ers of L'ke noble character and expansive philanthropy, to whom Providence had, at this time, given power and in- fluence at the courts of Persia, and of the Sublime Porte. It was through the very timely instrumentality of these men, that our mission found so ready access to the Nesto- rians in Persia and among the Koordish mountains Nooroolah Bey, the fierce Koordish chief of the inde- pendent Hakary, who had put to death the German trav- eler Shultz, the only European who had ventured in his territories, s disarmed and made a friend by the profes- sional skill of Dr. Grant. Being seized with a severe ill- ness of which Dr. G. restores him, he is made ever after- wards his friend. Who does not discern the hand of God in this ? The raising up and qualifying such a man as Dr. Grant, and the protection afforded him throughout his hazardous excursions among the barbarous Koords, is sufficiently providential to excite our admiration. Such travelers are few and far between, and such excursions are under the guidance of a specially protecting Provi- dence. Again, the general favor our mission met from the ecclesiastics of the Nestorian church, is to be re- garded in the same light. The missionaries were re- ceived as fellow laborers, to resuscitate a lapsed and dor- mant church. The mission schools were welcomed as a public blessing ; priests and bishops put themselves under the tuition of the mission, and at the same time became efficient helpers ; their places of public worship were thrown open to the preaching of the missionaries, and all strove together to give to the Nestorian nation the Bible in their veiiacular tongue. All seemed prosperous, and a brighter day dawning , when, suddenly, the heavens were overcast and portended a storm. The Koords rise on the mountain Nestorians, massacre a great number, and drive others from their homes. The mission in the mountains, which had already cost much in life and treasure, is broken up. The Pa trial ch and the higher ecclesiastics, acted on, no doubt, FIRST MONDAY OF JANUARY. 373 by the emissaries of Rome and of Oxford, allow their in- fluence to go against the mission. The village schools, forty-three in number, are disbanded ; the two boarding- schools broken up ; all looks dark. But it was the dark- ness that precedes the dawn. There was a bow on that cloud. God was about to appear for his down-cast peo- ple, and to prosper the labors of his faithful servants. A delightful presage of what God was now about to do, had been given in the beginning of the year 1844. While assembled on the first Monday of January, there appeared an unusual seriousness, betokening the presence of the Spirit. The result was the conversion of a few individ- uals, mostly young men from the seminary. During the next two years the mission was not left without tokens, from time to time, of a work of grace. But the year 1846, was the year of the right hand of the Lord. While the little church were again assembled on the first Mon- day of January, praying for the descent of the Spirit, the windows of heaven were opened, and a copious blessing came down. The first cases of inquiry appeared in Miss Fisk's school. Almost simultaneously, similar scenes were witnessed in Mr. Stoddard's seminary. From that good hour the work extended through the year, and over the plains of Ooroomiah, and among the mountains of Koordistan, till, in the judgment of charity, it has num- bered neai two hundred hopeful conversions. Indeed, no number can safely be named. The effect is well nigh national. The common mind has been moved. While a large number have been converted, a vastly larger number have been brought under the influence of evan- gelical truth, and may be said to be in a state of inquiry. It has never been the writer's privilege to be made ac- quainted with a revival of religion which bears more marks of a genuine work of grace. If deep and pungent convictions — abasing, self-loathing views of sin — if still- ness anl solemnity, prayers and tears, be an indication of a work of the Spirit ; if ecstatic views of pardoning love and joy in sins forgiven ; zeal for the honor of Christ ; tenderness of conscience, and ardent solicitude for the salvation of others, be evidence of a gracious work, such a work was witnessed among the Nestorians. 374 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY But it does not fall within the limits of our preseiil plan to go into the details of the work, truly interesting as they are. We are to contemplate it only as a provi- dential jneasure preparatory to future progress. And the first thing which demands our attention is, the moral power for the evangelization of the Nestorian na- tion, which Providence created and secured by this re- vival. Mind is hereby sanctified and prepared for moral activity. But it is not the amount of mind now brought into the .work, so much as its character, which develops the providential bearing of the revival. The same num- ber of souls might have been converted, and yet no great moral result follow to the church and nation at large. But when we recur to the character of the converts — bishops, priests, deacons, members of the Patriarch's fam- ily ; the most influential part of the nation ; nearly all that portion of the youth of the nation who are in the process of receiving an education, and, of consequence, being prepared to exercise a controlling influence in time to come, we discover the finger of God at work there in reference to some great, prospective good. Here are provided mental and moral resources, which we may con- fidently expect shall be employed for an adequate end. Does God design to convert this ancient people, and re- vive this ancient church, that he may again employ them as they were nobly employed a thousand years ago in the work of evangelizing Asia, he has provided himself with just such instruments as we should expect. Another providential featui'e of this revival is, its diffusive character, and the long time of its continuance. These two features blended, exhibit a beautiful providence. It was widely extended because it was long continued. It wag continued till the seminaries should have their vacations, and a large number of the recently converted should be scattered through the villages and among the mountains, everywhere carrying with them the light and love of the gospel, and kindlir^ a flame in the bosom of their several family circles, and in their neighborhoods ; and, till the inhabitants of the mountains should witness the wonderful power of God, and many of the mountaineers become vi- tally interested in the work. The most interesting sea* THE MASSACRK AND THE REVIVAL. 375 son was in the winter, when thousands of the poor mount- ain«*ers are forced down to the plain of Ooroomiah to seek food. T*-ey now found the bread of life, and re- turned rejoicing in the fullness of Christ. But there is at this point a yet more remarkable providence to be no- ticed. The unprovoked and shocking massacre by the Koords, had now driven thousands more from their mountain recesses, where there seemed little hope the missionary could reach them, and forced them down upon the plain, and thus brought them in contact with evan- gelical influences. Their children were unexpectedly brought into the schools, their priests enlightened and converted, and the people brought to hear a pure gospel. And not only so, but the revival extended into the mountains. In this, too, the hand of God was signally manifested. An instance or two will illustrate : A little girl from Hakkie, in a mountain district, joins Miss Fisk's school, and, during the progress of the revival, becomes a Christian. Her father, an untamed mountaineer, soon visits her. The silken cords of a daughter's love are thrown about him, and these young disciples point him to the cross of Christ. He hears with indifference, then with wonder. Light increases ; conviction presses on him that he is a sinner, and his heart rises in opposition He struggles with his feelings. The strong man bows anc weeps like a child — the trembling sinner becomes a peace- ful Christian. This man was deacon Guergis. Having consecrated himself to the cause of Christ, he returns home to make known the more excellent way to his friends and neighbors. The light thus kindled, spreads till evangelical doctrines are promulgated from village to village over the whole district. Many inquire the way of life — many are converted. And when, after some months, the missionaries visit Tergarwer, the district in question, they meet a hearty welcome, find the people everywhere waiting to receive the word ; deacon Guer- gis, who had been a principal instrument in the work, la- boring with great zeal, prudence and efficiency, and the good work widely extended and extending. The position of this district, and the character of its in- haoitants, are represented as giving this religious move- 376 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. nieiit a peculiar interest. " Familiar as they are from in- fancy with the Koords, accustomed to mountain life and its attendant hardships, they will be able, if truly con- verted to God, to carry the gospel into the districts of Koor- distan under more favorable circumstances than our help- ers in Ooroomiali can command for some time to come.' The commencement of the work in Gawar, anothei mountain district, fifty miles still further among the mountains, and more especially in the heart of the mount- ain population, is not the less worthy of note as a provi dential movement. A rough mountaineer from Gawar, comes to Ooroo- miah on business ; is persuaded to remain a few days in the hope he may be led to attend to the concerns of his soul. He is immediately made the subject of prayer and exhortation ; is soon effected by the truth, which, in turn, increases the anxieties of others for him, and the fervor of their prayers for his salvation. He is deeply and pun- gently convicted as a sinner, and soon hopefully a new creature, sitting at the feet of Jesus. He returns to his mountain home, with no one to instruct him, sympathize with, or encourage him, and himself unable to read. Months pass, and . nothing is heard from Gawar, or the mountain convert. The vacation of the seminary comes, when a younger brother of the convert returns home and finds there a blessed work of grace in progress, which he does not a little to advance. The mountain convert had gone in the fullness of the Spirit and in the power of his Master, told the simple tale of the Lord's doings for his soul, exemplified the truth in a life of prayer and simple faith and holy zeal, and it was the mighty power of God to the pulling down of strong-holds. His honest labors had been signally owned, and he had prepared the way for the labors of other converts, who now fo41owed, and who were more perfectly instructed in the way of life. A glorious work of the Spirit was the result, which spread throughout the district. Thus, before the missionaries had made their first visit, an extensive work was in progress, commenced without any direct agency of theirs, and in a district of country hitherto inaccessible, and where, too, the preav- THE NESTOKIAN CHURCH TO BE REVIVED. 377 lence of pure religion must be peculiarly salutary and efficient on the neighboring population, and bring the gospel in contact with the barbarous Koords, It is, probably, in this manner that the gospel is to make its way, without observation or display, into the mountain districts, independent of human government or protection. All opposition seems hushed, and a conviction to per- vade the common mind, that the hand of the Lord is at work to revive the Nestorian church. There is almost a universal readiness* to listen to a preached gospel — a general spirit of inquiry pervading the nation. And there is, too, an efficient and suitable instrumentality prepared, to advance the work till the whole nation shall be regenerated. It has never been the policy of the mis- sion to organize a new church, but to resuscitate the old one. And present appearances indicate that what has proved impracticable among the Armenians, may be achieved for the Nestorians. Already an extensive native agency is in the field. Ecclesiastics have generally shown themselves the friends of reform, and are the principal instruments in advancing the work. Four bishops are pupils and helpers to the mission, and a large number of priests and deacons ; and successors to bishops and priests are pupils in the Mis- sion Seminary, and converts of the late revival. Says the Rev. Dr. Perkins of Oorooiniah : " The light of true piety, kindled at various points on the plain of Ooroomiah, and in the neighboring mountain districts, is brightening and extending, and we have more and more evidence of the power and extent of the revival of last year. Indeed, in its blessed effects, this revival has never yet ceased, but has been, and is still, constantly advan- cing ; and where it has taken the strongest hold, the entire mass seem to be pervaded by its influences. Some of our native evangelists are itinerating in remote districts ot this province, and with encouraging success." Reference has already been made to the character of the converts. No feature of the late revival, perhaps, is more strikingly providential, or possesses a higher in- terest to the pious mind, than the activity and zeal of the converts, to extend the work throughout the nation— 378 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. especially that the gospel be preached to their brethren in the mountains of Koordistan. District after district of those almost inaccessible regions has been visited, and the gospel preached, as one door after another has been providentially opened, with a zeal and self-denial worthy the days of the apostles ; and soon we may expect to hear that those hills and valleys have become vocal with the praises of our God. The hand of the Lord is in the thing for good, to that long forsaken but truly interest- ing people. But Providence has provided other resources there for carrying forward his work, in the form of the press, of education, and the preparation and publication of the Scriptures. Three millions of pages of printed matter have been scattered among the Nestorians, within scarcely more than twice that number of years ; and an efficient system of Christian education is preparing the mind of a large class of youth to act for the further regeneration of their nation. Do not these things indicate that the night, which has so long covered the Nestorians, is far spent, and the day is at hand ? And have we not some pleasing indications that the Lord of the harvest has important purposes to accomplish through the Nestorians — a conspicuous part to act by them in bringing in the latter-day glory ? "What position could be more important and advan- tageous, in its bearing on the conversion of the world, than that occupied by the Nestorians, situated as they are in the centre of Mohammedan dominion ? And is it too much to believe that this ancient church, once so re- nowned for its missionary efforts, and still possessing such capabilities, as well as such facility of location for the renewal of like missionary labors, will again awake from the slumber of ages, and become bright as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners ! that it will again diffuse such floods of light as shall "forever put to shame the corrupt abominations of Mohammedanism, roll back the tide of Papal influence which is now setting in so strongly and threatening to overwhelm it, and send forth faithful missionaries of the cross in such numbers and with such holy zeal, as shall bear the tidings of sal- EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY -EIGHT. 371) vadon to every corner of benighted Asia. We confi- dently look for such results, and that at no very distant period The signs of the times in this eastern world betoken the speedy approach of mighty political revolu- tions. The Mohammedan powers are crumbling to ruin. Christian nations are soon to rule over all the followers of the false prophet. Turkey and Persia are tottering, and would fall at once by their own weight, were they not upheld by rival European governments. The uni- versal catastrophe of Mohammedan dominion cannot, in all human probability, be much longer postponed."* They that take the sword shall perish with the sword — when the sword shall be taken from them. We look, perhaps, in vain over the whole face of the earth for a spot where the arm of the Lord is more man- ifestly revealed ; and we wait with increasin^interest to see what shall be the future developments of rrovidence. concerning this ancient and interesting people. CHAPTERXXI. EpmopB nf 1848. The Mission o! Puritanism— In Europe. The failure of the Reform*. tion. Divorce of Church and Slate. The moral element in Govemment. Progrew of liberty in Europe ; religious Liberty. Causes of the late European moTement I'he downfall of Louis Phillippe. What the end shall be. " / will overturn, overturn^ overturn — till he come whose right i« w."— Ez. xxi. 27. The time has not come to write, in the annals of the world's history, the Chapter on Europe in 1848. Yet liie time has come to begin to write such a chapter. This, however, Joes not fall within the province of the 380 DAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. present treatise. It is ours to take history as we find it, and in its ever interesting evolutions, to watch the Hand of God as He reigns in all its events. Since the forego- ing cliapters were prepared for the press, revolutions and changes have transpired in Europe, which beautifully sustain our main position. Precisely what will come of these revolutions, we have not yet seen enough to pre- dict. But we are quite sure God is in them, and that He will, in due time, educe results which shall honor himself, and signally advance the kingdom of truth and right- eousness. We took occasion in a foregoing chapter, to speak of the Hand of God in the discovery of America, and of the controlling influence here given to the Puritan element ; how it has given existence, ibrm and character to our government, been the main spring of our national pros- perity, formed our social relations, entered largely into all our commercial, educational and industrial enter- prises, and set religion free from the trammels which fettered her in the old world, disrobing her of senseless rites and more senseless trappings, and giving her a new vitality : and how this same controlling influence has followed, wave after wave, the tide of population west- ward, fulfilling its mission none the less eflectually in the remotest settlements of the West, by incorporating itself with the heterogeneous materials collected there from every nation, tongue and kindred, softening, melting, fusing and running them into the New England mould. The Puritan seems the true type and representative of the Anglo-Saxon race, a race which seems destined to be a chief instrument in the rapid progress and elevation of man. New England is at once the nursery, the re- pository and the school-master of the whole nation. The Puritan element is every where the motive power. It has set in motion the wheel of the manufacturer ; opened the mine of precious and useful metals and minerals; pio- jected our canals, railways and telegraphs ; spread "Ui canvas on every sea ; covered our rivers and coasts with steamers ; built our colleges, and given existence, character and efficiency to our common schools, and published our books. Go West or South, and you will L THE REFORAIATION INCOMPLETE. 381 find this same Puritan character telling on the industry and enterprise, the thrift and prosperity of the people. Ask who teaches this scliool, who the president, and pro- fessors of this college, the cashier of this bank ; who your lawyers, physicians, preachers, statesmen ; who your most thriving farmers, mechanics, merchants, manufacturers ? Such having been the domestic fruits of Puritanism, vve are prepared to inquire whether there be a-ny foreig?t fruits which at all correspond. Nations have within a few years been brought into a strange proximity ; and if, as has been affirmed, our civil and religious institutions are more nearly, than those of any other nation, in har- mony with the religion of the New Testament, are we to expect their renovating influence will be confined to America ? Truth is mighty ; and institutions which har- monize with truth, shall extend. Oceans cannot hindei them ; national boundaries form scarcely an obstacle to their progress ; the iron gates of despotism cannot shut them out. Truth is a strong leaven, and though it work unseen, it is sure to leaven the whole lump. We hesitate not, therefore, to assume, that the presenj condition of Europe — the condition since the 23d of February, 1848, is but the carrying out and maturing ol the magnificent scheme of Providence, begun in the dis- covery of America, and yet more ostensibly begun in the safe landing of the Mayflower at the Rock of Plymouth. In support of this assumption, the following considera- tions deserve attention. 1. The Reformation of the sixteenth century, both in respect to civil government and religion, was arrested before it had completed half its work. Luther left un- touchQ4 some odious features of Romanism, 'i'he Re- formed religion needed to be immediately reformed. Bui v\e allude at present to a single feature, which, it is be- heved, contributed vastly to check the hopeful progress of the Reformation. We mean the neglect of the early reformers to effect a separation of Church and State. The Christian church was but halt emancipated. Like her great Apostle, she sighed for deliverance : " O wretched man that 1 am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death" — from this dead body, the State ? Puritan- 28 382 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORlf. ism cut the cord, and the church began to be free. The Relbrmation did not reach the depths of religious free- dom. Next to the usurpation and tyranny of Rome, this miserable union with the state has inflicted the severest blow. Puritanism proclaims a divorce ; and so univer- sally and successfully has the " voluntary system" been adopted in this country, that no sect would for a moment consent to such an alliance, if it were proffered. It would be regarded as death to the vitality of religion. It ia under the voluntary system, that personal piety has so far pervaded the public mind, revivals prospered, our charitable enterprises originated and sent the gospel over the whole earth, and made Christianity so beautifully ag- gressive. This is essentially American — an advanced step under the favoring auspices of Puritanism — but not' confined to America. It has found its way back across the Atlantic. The little leaven, which was not allowed room to work in England, was transported to America. Here it worked successfully, and has returned, with the accumulated power of two centuries, to do its destined work in Europe, and thence to fulfill its mission round the world. How this work is advancing in England, the present struggle, indicated in the term Church Reform, is ample voucher. The mass of the English nation has willed the severance of the Church and State, and Church and State must be severed. It is but the sure consequence of prin- ciples which have taken deep root in the English mind — an effect so imperative, that neither the power of the throne, nor the pride of the aristocracy, nor the piteous remonstrances of church dignitaries can long hinder it. What the Reformation unfortunately left undone for Eng- land, is likely soon to be done ; and once done there, where will this miserable relic of Romanism much longer find a foothold ? The late secession from the establishment of the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel, of London, is at this time ominous of coming change. It has undoubtedly struck a blow at this unhappy alliance, which will be felt throughout the English Church. Mr. Noel has sent through v.he press an explanation of the bold step he has taken, and a do THE MORAL ELEMENT. 383 fence of his present position, which, if we may judge from the obvious merits of the book itself, and from the eager- ness with which it is sought by thousands of all denomi- nations in Great Britain, is destined to exert a no insig- nificant influence in the final emancipation of the Church from the incubus of the State. But we have, perhaps, a more forc/ole illustration of the progress of this feature of American Christianity, in the present religious condition of the continent. So accus- tomed had European Christians become to see Chris- tianity dwindle under the shadow of the State, that they scarcely knew she could survive the open sunshine of heaven — stand by her own native strength, and grow and expand as the plant of heaven, unpropped, unaided, unfed by the beggarly elements of the world. Yet, within a few years, and especially during the present year, an aston- ishing change has been wrought there. The union of Church and State has become irksome and offensive in proportion to the progress of civil and religious liberty. Persons well informed in the affairs of France, say that faith in the " voluntary system," and the disunion of State and Church, is making great progress among Catholics as well as Protestants ; and there is, in the Catholic church, a great disposition to throw off" the supremacy of Rome. And such a sentiment, it is confidently believed, is per- vading most of the European states. The public mind is very generally agitated on this question. Societies are formed for the purpose of realizing sugh a result, and the spirit of the age favors it. 2. To Puritanism we must accord the honor, under God, of developing a new element in the science of civil government — the moral element. Heretofore, bayonets and cannon had formed the substratum of governmental authority. Might gives right, was the motto of kings. Certain men were born to rule ; and certain others were as undoubtedly born to regale themselves in the royal sunshine ; and vastly larger classes of men, the masses, were as surely born for the king and his nobility, to live and toil for his profit, to be ruled for his pleasure, or to be " flesh for his cannon." Such is government by one man or by the few, who rule irrespectively of the suffrage or 884 HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. the good of the people. It is a government of force aa opposed to a government of choice. The one requires implicit obedience, the other rational obedience. Under one, men worship gods they know not whom, and obey laws they know not what. Under the other, reason guides, and an enlightened private judgment decides. One IS the self-government of rational and moral beings ; the other, the application, by a few, of brute force, to keep in subjection the mass. The one makes freemen, the othei slaves. Liberty was born in America. Long had she travailed in birth in the Old World. Many a throe had convulsed Europe to the very centre, till, in this fair land, liberty first saw the light. There had been before much in the world called liberty, but it was the mere glimmering of star-light, or the meteor's blaze, compared with the full- orbed luminary which now arose. Puritanism gave birth, form and ascendency to the moral element in govern- ment. From time to time nations had given signs of woe, and sent up their aspirations for deliverance, vindicated their high claims to freedom, and gained a temporary re- lief. But it was in America the great experiment was first fairly tried, whether self-government is yet prac- ticable. And, though our ship has not steered clear of rockp and quicksands, nor shunned the storm and tempest, yet we have found our vessel sea-worthy, able to ride on the crested wave, and to breast the roaring storm. A result lias already been gained, which has demolished thrones, and sent disease and decay into every system of absolutism in Europe. The Declaration of American Independence passed over Europe, yet it was as the voice of distant thunder. It was an ominous sound, starting from his throne the too long quiescent monarch. Yet the danger seemed distant. lie hoped that that cloud, which turned so dark and threatening a face towards the kingly estates of Europe, yet a face so bright and promising towards the free-born sons of America, would scatter with a brief outburst of popular indignation. But the establishment of American Independence came like a thunder-bolt, or like tie shock of an earthquake, and made thrones tremble. Fi ance first FRAVCE THE LAST YEAR. Sb^i received the shock, and, unprepared as she was, what a shock ! The French Revolution was a premature birth, and the birth of a monster, conceived in America, but ji^estatod and L'rought forth under auspices ahogether unfavoral)le I) tne beauty and proper developnient of theofls j)ring — a moiiiiter-birth, whose history is written in violence, criuie and blood. Yet it indicatetl the power of the new ele- ment which had been cast among the nations. It was a burning star cast into a stagnant sea. France was un- prepared, yet her mercurial sons, driven into a ])hren.sy by the first gleam of liberty that Unshed across the western main, kindled a fire, soon to be quenched in blood. Though smothered and (juenched for a time, it burnt un- seen— its internal fires ever and anon finding vent in some outburst for liberty. We need not trace its several steps. Liberty was not extinct in France from the day of the return from America of young La Fayette to the event- ful twenty-third of February ; nor did she ever cease her struggle against the incubus of royalty when a befitting occasion ofi'ered. France lived half a century in a single year. Wiiat she so long struggled for, she obtained in a day. Year after year the unseen Hand had been i)reparing men, means and resources, yet all things seemed to remain as they were; but the moment of consummation came, and all was (bine. And, what may well astonish the unbeliever in Divine Providence, all was done at the very moment when human sagacity, and diplomacy, and skill, and perseverance, were the most diligently employed to prevent such a result. Louis Phillippe is driven from his throne, the monarchy demolished, and a republic formed, just at the time, and in the manner, which seemed the m:)st unrelentingly to mock all the efii'orts he had made, all the alliances he had formed, and all the precautions he hud taken to ward oflT just such a disaster. With Paris so admirably fortified ; and a rich, numerous and influ- ential priesthood for his allies ; and the Pope as the right- arm of his strength ; and a cringing alliance with England and Russia, there seemed — there was no human power that could molest him. Yet we see him fleeing from hi* 386 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. palace and his throne, as helpless and unresisting, as if all human powers were in league against him. Providence had done with him and with his throne, and where is he ? But what progress has liberty made in other States of Europe ? On the outbreak of the late French Revolution, the people of Holland demanded a larger liberty. The king is made to feel the necessity of granting it. He chaoses' new ministers — proposes important reforms in the constitution, and promises to govern agreeably to the na- tional will. The King of Belgium yields to the liberals, and on this condition keeps his ci'own. The kingdom of Prussia is shaken to its centre, and its republican tenden- cies are gaining the ascendency. Poland is agitated and ripe for revolt. Venice is a republic. But more remarkable than all, the stagnant waters of Austria are all at once thrown into a foam. The tide of revolution came rushing into Austria like a cataract. The Austrians had seemed completely under the yoke. Yet, in a moment, as unexpected to Prince Metternich as if the tenants of the grave-yard had awaked, the people aroused from their long sleep, and proclaimed democratic principles. Prince Metternich, who had, for more than forty years, ruled Austria with a rod of iron, flees before the vengeance of an indignant people — an idiot monarch quits his throne — despotism is struck to the heart, never to recover. All Germany, in a word, was on fire — insurrection everywhere triumphant. Germany was the land of Mar- tin Luther, the land of reforms, in whose rich soil lie deeply planted the seeds of liberty. The waiting friends of freedom throughout Germany had felt the electric shock from Paris, and saw that their hour had come. Consternation and dismay seize the heart of every abso- lute power. The people seem rising over the continent like ihe waves of the ocean, and kings and ministers feel that their hour is come. The people are ripe for liberty, and now is the time to strike the blow for rights too long delayed. A German Parliament is convened, elected by universal suffrage, and composed of delegates from the kingdoms of Austria, Prussia, Hanover, Bavaria, and the smaller principalities. The objects of this parhameut are THE POPE AND LIBERTY. 38'i lo unite all Germany into one confederation- -to lelieve the different states from the oppressions and exactions oi their present rulers, and the more effectually to establisu free institutions. This parliament is truly a stran^ts feature in European politics, and a more sure index ot ino real progress of free principles than any thing we have yet seen. A promising feature, not of this parliament only, but of the French republic, is, that they have pro- claimed the true American doctrine o^ non-interference — a delightful pledge that when the moral element shall pre- dominate in the construction of governments, nations shall learn war no aoore. In Italy, too, liberal principles have made gigantic strides. Constitutional laws are universally promulgated. To say nothing of Sardinia and Florence, Naples and Milan, where the moral element is allowed to take the lead in the formation of their new governments, Pope Pius IX. was compelled to concede a constitutional gov- ernment to the long-oppressed and priest-i'idden people ot the Papal states. The press is made free — laymen are admitted to a participation in civil affairs — an inde- pendent judiciary is organized — a Chamber of Deputies is appointed by the people, and free schools for fhe poor are established in every district in Rome. An act was passed, April, 1848, to provide means for the better education of the people. Yet the battle in Italy is stiU to be fought. Here are the strong-holds of despotism. The grim giant, though bearded in his den, and lying prostrate with his deadly wound, fearfully growls, and rouses to the encounter. Rome is divided against herself — a pitiable anarchy. Two great conflicting parties have been con- lending for the mastery. On the one side, the Pope and his adherents ; on the other, the political councils and the legislative assemblies of the people. The irritation be- came more and more violent. The Pope had granted much ; the people demanded more. The Pope at length becomes virtually a prisoner in his own palace ; the car- dinals dare not appear in the streets ; many of the priests are ill-treated and even beaten, and the liberals openly declare that Pius IX. will be the last ot the Popes. Bui ihe popular indignation against the ghostly tyranny of the 388 HAND OF aOD IN HISTORY. Vatican remained unappeased. Unwittina:ly liad the peo- ple been allowed to taste the sweets of liberty. The clarion of freedoM Iiad sounded from afar. Crushed in the dust by the foot of the Beast, the poor, oj>pressed Italians start to their feet, awaked from a tiiousand years' slumber. The bow, too far bent, rebounds with a ven- geance. The Pope is driven from his ]>alace, glad to ^vrap up his marvelous infallibility in a footman's coat, and to coil his once dreaded supremacy in a footman's hat. Democracy was in the ascendant; the temporal power of the Pope, was for a time suspended. How the struggle shall end, remains to be seen. ^ coalition of Catliolic ])owers restored the Pope to his throne, and the power of the bayonet may, for a little time, keep him there.. And this may be the occasion that shall light the torch of war, and set all Europe in a blaze. All this may be ; but that liberty will be again suppressed in Italy for any great length of time, and the Italians be made to bow again to the yoke, is less problematical. Cold murmurs of discontent were heard, too, from the hyperborean regions of the Muscovite Czar. The tocsin of liberty has been heard over Russia, and many a brave heart echoed back the sound. The Revolution of France came on Nicholas like a thunderbolt. His alliances with Austria and Prussia were disturbed, his plans defeated, or, at least, retarded. Nicholas received the dispatches an- nouncing the events of February with amazement. A deadly paleness came over his face as he read, and the paper trembled in his hand. A Republic in France! A new appeal to the nations against tyranny ! A dan- gerous experiment for kings. A death-blow to tyrant? How this Anglo-Saxon element mocks the divine rights of kings, and proclaims the people the only legitimate sovereigns ! Nor have wretched Spain and Portugal escaped I he shock. A ■ suppressed but deep indignation rankles be- neath the surface of those ill-fated nations — an ominous calm that precedes the irruption of a volcano. All Europe is in motion — all Europe has entered on a new course of action. Altogether a new principle of government is in successful operation ; and though we I LIBERTY AND THE JESUITS. 389 may expect commotions, and anarchies, and re-actions — disorderly progress, and seemingly disastrous retrogres- sions, yet we may confidently await the establishment of a new order of things, which shall more beautifully har- monize with the present advanced state of Christianity, knowledge, and civilization. 3. The progress of religious liberty in Europe still more directly illustrates the extended and the extending pro- gress of the Puritan leaven ; and indicates, too, the steady workings of a sleepless Providence. The progress of religious liberty has, within a few years, been truly astonishing. Since the breaking out of the late French Revolution, the severe laws against Protestants have been relaxed in every country in Europe. In some of these countries full religious toleration is al- ready enjoyed. The revolutionary tide spared not even the seven hills, demolishing dungeons and extinguishing the fires of persecution. The right of private judgment seems virtually conceded, even in Rome. The ancient Waldensian church, the true link between the apostolic age and ours, has at length been allowed liberty of con- science and of worship. Austria, despotic Austria, "whose frowning ramparts presented no chink through which even one ray of light might penetrate to the darkness within," is now open to the Bible and the missionary. In Ger- many all restraints to the spread of the gospel are removed. The Press is free, and never was its power more manifest than at the present moment. Full freedom of religious profession is enjoyed. The exercise of religious rights no longer depend on the profession of the Romish faith. And yet more astonishing has been the progress of le- ligious liberty in France. The zeal and prompt unanimity with which ihe Jesuit.i. have been expelled from nearly every state in Europe, not excepting Rome, is an undoubted index of the prog- ress of religious liberty. The Jesuits are but too well known, the world over, as the implacable enemies of lib- erty, equality, and civilization — the sworn allies of abso- lutism— always ready to use the rod and the sword, to stille the first symptoms of liberty, making religion the CI uelest weapon of oppression. This general and simulta- 390 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY, neous rising against the Jesuits, and a growing aversion to religious orders, is an unmistakable symptom of the prog- ress of free principles. The people of Europe have been brought to feel that liberty and the society of Ignatius can never prosper together. Their expulsion at this time is significant, Pius IX, had declared the Jesuits the strong ind experienced oarsmen that keep from shipwreck the hark of St. Peter, yet he was obliged, in obedience to the de- mands of the people, to expel them from the Papal states. The concession, significantly, bespeaks the weakness of Rome, The power of the Papacy is terribly shaken. Though still claiming infallibility in doctrine, the Pope very prudently concedes that ''the Church must follow the necessary requirements of the age^ The opinion of a Romanist is worth something here. The Tablet, a Romish paper, says : " The rising persecu- tion is not confined to the Jesuits, but is directed against every religious community. The Dominicans, the Capu- chins, the Augustinians, have all received unequivocal notices of their approaching fate." And he might add the " Sisters of the Sacred Heart," While on the other hand it is now not uncommon to meet Romish ecclesi- astics, who, disgusted with the mummeries of Rome, boldly expose her errors — "earnestly advocating the abolition of compulsory celibacy of the clergy, the abro- gation of fasts and abstinences, and other Popish ob- servances." Thus is God moving on in the might and majesty of his providence, overturning and overturning, till his church shall be disenthralled from the bondage of the world, and established on the everlasting foundation o. truth and righteousness, 4, Or do we inquire after the causes of the great Euro- pean movement, we are again brought to the same con- clusion. These causes had been in secret and active operation, at least, since the American Revolution, and only waited a favorable opportunity. Intensely did the internal fires burn, and an irruption was inevitable. Liberal principles wwe daily gaining strength. All classes of the people were feeling their burdens more and more grievous, and their growing discontent gave no VAPOLflON i*VD LIBERTY. 39] doubtful signs of an outbreak. Radicalism had given birth to numerous societies throughout Europe — many ol them secret associations, all animated by one spirit, a de- termination to throw off the shackles of despotism. The death of Louis Phillippe should be the signal to strike the blow. The French Revolution, however, indicated that the hour had come. They arose by one common impulse, and despotism quailed before them. Again, facility of communication greatly hastened such a result. Books, journals, newspapers, travelers, reach the remotest parts of Europe in a few days, give timely notice of change, and communicate every new opinion. And all the vigilance and precautions of an argus-eyed absolutism cannot shut them out. The nations, as never before, flow together; a common sentiment pervades them. An electric spark thrilled Austria, Russia, Italy Poland, the moment an explosion took place in France. We discover another cause in the fact, (instructive to kings,) that the potentates of Europe turned a deaf ear to the cries of their oppressed subjects. They had neither listened to their wants nor been careful to keep their en- gagements with them. Napoleon had done much to pre- pare Europe for liberty, and when the people of Europe were called on by the allied powers to take up arms against him, they did it with the promise that their rights should be respected, and liberal laws granted. The rulers promised, and the people freely shed their blood. But the danger past, the " scourge of Europe" put down, kings forgot their promises. " Austria did not grant to the Italians the institutions she promised. The king of Prussia conceded to his subjects only some petty reforms. Germany was held under a slavish yoke." Poland was crushed. Italy was left the miserable dupe of tyranny — the prey of every unclean bird. Nowhere was there re- sjtect for law, or security against arbitrary power. The rights of conscience were systematically invaded. The judiciary was a mere tool for kings. " The nations bowed their necks, but they meditated the hour of deliverance. That hour is come ; they have seized it ; they have risen like one man, and the well-trained armies of king:s have a92 HANI) OF GOD IN HISTORY. scaicely opposed an obstacle to the realization of theu wishes." The day of retribution has come. Kings tremble, and their thrones crumble. The haughtiest inouarchs, who could once insolently put their foot on the neck of na- tions, now in vain sue for mercy at the hands of their re- rolted subjects. Deeply, indeed, do they drink to the iregs ihe cup of their debasement. The last was a hard year for kings. Late have they learned the humiliating lesson that kings are made for the peo])le, not the people for kings ; that the rights of the peoj)le are as sacred as those of princes, and that their only chance for quiet and safety, is to live in good understanding with their sub jects. The dow^nfall of Louis Phillippe is here ominously in-' structive. What would a serious observer of Piovidence expect would be the end of a powerful prince in the nineteenth century, who should pursue the course Louis Phillippe pursued ? Did he so demean himself in the high and responsible station to which Providence ex- alted him — especially when we bring into the account the manner and aniditi(mo\' \\\^ taking the crown — did he so demean himself as to guarantee the continued smiles of Jrleaven ? Jn many respects Louis I'hillippe was a very worthy man. He possessed many excellent traits of character. But in his regal life, when weighed in the balance, he was found wanting. He did more than to commit fatal political blunders. His sceptre was stained with palpable injustice and outrage, both towards man and God. He came to the throne as a liberal prince. Heaven and earth heard his vows, that he would reign as a re- publican king; would surround the monarchy with re- publican institutions. The peOUIS PHILLJPPK. 393 tain fiis throne ami to vindicate his legitimacy; at least, had he been hail" so ambitious to render stipulated ^.75^/cc to his people, he might still have been the king of a pros- perous and atlectionute people. Or had he been half so careful to act the liberal Catholic prince, extending the arms of liis regal inHuence to promote, wherever French interests exist, education, civilization and Christianity, as he was to impose, by his strong arm, on an unoH'ending people just emerging from heathenism, corps after corps of Romish })riests, who, he could not but know, would, it they acted in character, cripple, and, if possible, destroy every Protestant mission within their influence, he might still have been the head of a great and noble nation, on whom should come the blessing of many. That dark page in the history of Tahiti, will ever remain a darker page — an indelible disgrace, in the history of Louis Phillippe. When he directed his cannon against that newly Christian island, he directed them against his own throne. Those missions live and prosper, while Louis Phillippe has gone into an inglorious exile. An influence exerted in Greece, flowing from the throne of France, drove Dr. King from Athens and from his mission, a tem- porary wanderer ; Dr. King has returned to his work, and Louis Phillippe has bid farewell to his throne forever !* We may subjoin as subordinate causes of his downfall, regal extravagance, heavy taxation, a monstrous army, the fortifications of Paris, opposition to electoral reforms, the press subjected to vexatious embarrassments, money and other favors lavished on the priesthood, with a hypocritical attachment to Popery, hoping thereby to strengthen his dynasty at the expense of the people. Like Saul, who, in his troubles, had recourse to the witch A' Endor, Louis Phillippe sought the favor of the Romish ( lergy, flattered the bishops, and favored the establish- ment of monasteries. But this resource failed liim, and did but hasten his downfall. Such are some of the cause? which irrepressibly irritated the public mind, and • The very law which hail been eo often. «f late years, applied by Louis Phil .\pite anil his governnienl to itn|ifi of ihe L'uKpel, aiul suppress free iliticua- sion. became, at length, th« oi:ea:ars ; yel no one so eventful as the last. Never were so many momentous events crowded into so brief a period ol time. Bloody wars have been waged, finished, and made to result in opening large territories to the reception jf the gospel, and inclosing lands, before benighted, within the pale of civilization and Christianity. China has been opened to the missionary ; India has been strangely revo- lutionized, and no doubt prepared for great and good THE COMING CRISI3. Si)"* things in the future. The "fierce fanaticism" of the cres< ent has waned almost to extinction, and Turkey is bec( me the protector of Christianity. The conflict between barbarism and civilization was never more severe or successful. Never in the same brief period was the progress in human affairs so great: advances in science and the arts, in commerce, in developing the resources of the earth, and in bringing the power of the press and of education to bear on human advancement. Human affairs are fast hastening to a fearful, a glorious crisis. And no year of the ten has been so eventful as the past. In 1848, the foundations of the great deep in the political world — more especially in Europe — were broken up. Europe was terribly shaken ; kings stood aghast before the roused spirit of liberty, giving no doubt- ful tokens that the days of civil despotism were num- bered. It seemed overthrown, and freedom installed in nearly every nation in Europe. But the tide of revolu- tion was strangely stayed; and for a time — may it be short — all things remain as they were. Yet much has been gained. The liberal parties have learned their strength — mighty elements are at work — free principles are yearly taking deeper root — the destired leaders of the coming revolution are daily gaining wisdom and experience, and preparing for a more deadly onset and a more complete victory. The work, begun in 1848, developed just enough of its power to give to despotism no uncertain presage of what the end shall be. Those were premonitions of the final battle, which must, ere long, be fought between truth and error, between liberty and civil bondage. The four angels are holding the four winds of the earth until the servants of God shall be "sealed." The judgments, the carnage, the devasta- tions of the great and terrible day of the Lord, are delayed that the number of the elect may be gath- ered in. Such a harvest season was the year 1858. In no year since its origin has Christianity made so signal a conquest. Beginning in our chief emporium of trade, it has extended through the length and breadth of our land, 29 398 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. scarcely leaving a town, village, or hamlet unblessed. And the rich fountain of mercy, here opened, seems not likely to be circumscribed within the oceans which bound our land. Its healing waters seem destined to reach other lands. The British Isles are already feeling the blessed influences. Else what means this universal stir about the working classes, this breaking down the bar- riers of ecclesiastical formalities, this starting up ot evangelists, this opening of our churches, abbeys, and cathedrals for the word of God to the masses, this entrance of the gospel into places of trade and amuse- ments ; and the lapsed churches on the continent, we may hope, will not be passed by in these kindly visitations ot Heaven. The work bears on its face the most indubitable maiks' of Divine origin. It is the work of God ; yet not with- out secondary causes, means, and instrumentalities. And it has a providential history of no common inter- est. It is another of those peaceful, powerful triumphs of truth, which are wont to follow the earthquake, the fire, and the storm. As a people, we were driving, with sails swollen by the enchanting gales of prosperity, upon dangerous quicksands. We were "hastening to be rich." In the midst of a singular profusion of Heaven's blessings, we were forgetting the Giver. In the hot pur- suit of an earthly treasure, we were neglecting to secure a treasure in Heaven. Engrossedness in things seen and temporal, had become the besetting sin of our nation. The world had gone wild after mammon — and the church, alas ! was hard in the pursuit. All needed a rebuke together — an arrest — a revulsion. They must be taught the insufficiency, the sad instability of all earthly good. They would never seek the durable riches while the things of the present life engrossed the whole field of the mental vision. In a moment, when least sus- pected, the cloud gathered, and the storm beat upon them The whole commercial world was thrown into con- vulsions. The sea roared and the waves thereof — and how soon the frail bark, which but a moment before seemed riding so safely, and nearing the desired haven so prosperously, lay stranded on the desert shore. THE FINANCIAL CRISIS. 399 The financial crisis came ; and in that dreadful crash He buried the hopes of thousands, who in their prosperity feared no change. They are hurled in a moment from the pinnacle of prosperity into the depths of depend ence. But more are hereby most impressively taught the vanity of all human vanities ; and have their thoughts and aspirations directed heavenward to seek the endur- ing treasure. Nothing short of such a scathing rebuke would have arrested them. Not till they saw their earthly treasure fail, did they set their hearts to seek the heavenly. We may therefore believe that the great commercial convulsion of the closing months of 1857, had much to do in preparing men's minds for the gracious visitation of 1858; a year ever to be remembered as the "accept- able year to the Lord." Never before have the win- dows of Heaven been opened so widely, and such a rain of righteousness come down. The " crisis " was the thunderbolt that arrested atten- tion— that made men stand aghast and wonder amidst the wreck of their earthly hopes, and bade them give heed to the " still small voice," about to speak. For back of all these thunder-tones of rebuke, God had been preparing those quiet, invisible influences, which were about to sway the mind well-nigh of a nation; and per- haps set in motion a wave of moral influence, which shall not lose its power till it shall have rolled over all the nations of Christendom. But here again, how great a matter a little fire kin- dleth. In that great emporium of wealth and sin, and where the financial storm had beaten in merciless fury, there was moving, unknowing and unknown, a humble preacher of the gospel.^ As he pursued his seemingly thankless, self-denying labors ; the thought occurred to him of a Union Prayer Meeting — a mid-day Business Men's Prayer Meeting. It seemed no mighty thought, and was in the beginning a very small thing. But it was the little fire that kindled a great matter — the incipient step to results boundless in time, and durable as eternity. * ReT. Mr. Lamphir, emplcfed by the Reformed Dutch Church. ^Wb b'aWd of god in history. This was the bow that spanned the cloud which had darkened the commercial sky. Here begun the greai awakening ; an event more radical, far-reaching, and per- manent, than any revolution which has distinguished a century remarkable from the beginning. Christendom, in America more especially, has been moved to its center. It was now a moral and peaceful revolution. The little prayer meeting became a thou- sand. The key-note was struck — the Holy One had inspired it. The fire from the upper altar had warmed the hearts of a few — it spread from heart to heart, till from the great multitude the incense of united prayer went up daily as a sweet smelling savor, and the arm of the Lord was revealed. God heard the prayers which his own Spirit had inspired ; and multitudes, of all ranks and conditions in life — the rich and poor — clerks, apprentices, and their employers — the old and the young — in the city and in the remotest hamlet — seamen, firemen, men of every craft and calling, have, as by one united impulse, heard the voice of the Son of man, and acknowledged the claims of duty and of God. They have, as never before, been roused to consider the great realities of eternity. No extraordinary instrumentalities were employed, either in the commencement or progress of the work. United prayer, christian harmony and co-operation, family visitations and personal address, connected with and subordinate to the simple, cogent preaching of the gospel, have constituted the agencies through which God has worked. " No Edwards, of resistless force in argu- ment ; no Whitefield, of commanding eloquence ; no Summerfield or McCheyne, of impassioned feeling, was raised up to be the herald of the Lord." Every thing about it proclaimed it to be the work of God and not of man. It came not with observation, but distilled like the gentle dew on the mown grass. Many a church could find an appropriate utterance of ner grateful emo- tions in the words of the Psalmist : " When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then said they THE REVIVAL, OF 1858. 401 among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things foi them. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." Any number of instances like the following might be cited to show it was not of might or power, but of the Spirit of God. In a large town in Massachusetts, which has been richly honored with a visit from on high, the good work is said to have commenced, not only in an obscure part of the town, but with an individual who was a stranger to religion, and far removed from religious influences. His attention, he scarcely knew how, became aroused to seek the welfare of his soul ; and scarcely was he less solicitous for the conversion of his family. Often, during the past winter, would he awake in the silent watches of the night, and rise and pray for himself and his house- hold ; and, when out at work during the day, he would feel impelled to go in and call together his family, to plead before God for mercy. Soon he was rejoicing in hope, and ready to tell what God had done for his soul. It was a little beginning — yet it was the mighty working of God where no eye saw or human hand interposed. It was the little rill which gathered strength and volume as it flowed onward, till it brought health and joy to many a barren, joyless soul. Never did that large and beauti- ful town enjoy a more delightful work of Grace. Or take one example more. A few pious ladies are living in a secluded neighborhood, where no Sabbath bell calls them to the house of God, and no voice of prayer and praise makes vocal their humble homes. Some unseen impulse moves them to meet together and pray for a gracious visitation from on high. Strange enough, a little boy of eleven years, whose heart had been WTOught upon, no one knew by what means, had been brought to the Saviour. Hearing of this meeting he felt constrained to go and tell what the Lord had done for him. A careless, godless young man, too, by some means, found his way to the same little gathering • and, hearing the boy's simple story, he scoffed and ridiculed. " It is all show and trash," said he, roughly and insultingly. The 402 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. boy was abashed, and the meeting was broken up in con fusion — but only to convene elsewhere to pour forth their earnest petitions for the young man. The scoffing youth was smitten to the heart — he sought out the little boy, and in tears grasped his hand, saying — "Oh, Willie, J have had no peace or sleep since I treated you so badly. I am a poor miserable sinner. Pray for me and tell me what I must do." God spake peace to his troubled spirit. He went again to the prayer meeting, Willie leading him by the hand. Thus began an extensive and powerful revival of relig ion. All the neighborhood was moved. With no preaching of the gospel save the prayers and exhorta- tions of these simple people, numbers were led to tlie cross. A church was organized, and a pastor about to be called, where four months ago there was not a relig- ious service, not even a prayer meeting. Truly out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God had perfected praise. A writer in the London Christian Times has very graphically portrayed some of the leading features of this delightful work. He speaks as an eye-witness. Let us look at New York, Boston, and Chicago, those teeming cities, and behold church after church, and room after room, the public halls and theaters, filled daily with people who meet to -pray and "exhort one another." These halls, in the commercially and socially busiest part of the day, are thronged with devout and earnest wor- shipers. We go from church to church, and hear each minister ascribe the glory to God of numbers of sinners convinced of sin and seeking instruction in the way of salvation. Not in these large cities alone, but in the interior towns, in the ports along the western lakes, and in the secluded villages of New England, the noon-day prayer meetings have been introduced, and the churches are rejoicing in a season of universal prosperity. From every place we hear of sinners being brought to God ; not the poor and uneducated, but of all classes. States- men, who have grown old in the service of their country ; philosophers, who possess a world-wide reputation ; phil- anthropists, who have worked hard in the cause of suffer- THE REVIVAL OF 1858. 403 ing humanity, the rigid moralist, and the formalist, are to be seen sitting at the feet of Jesus, along with hardened outcasts, who have experienced the truth of the invita- tion— " Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Inquirers are counted not by hundreds but by thousands; multitudes pour into places set apart for prayer; impenitent sinners surrender their hearts to Jesus. Visit Philadelphia — that cold, formal city, which still bears the impress of the quiet, Quaker influence. Walk down its busiest street, at eleven in the morning, and stand opposite the entrance to the largest hall in the city which accommodates 4,000 people. Already persons turn aside to enter that immense room. The number gradually increases ; it is composed of people of all ages, from twenty-eight to eighty, and of every grade in society. Half-past eleven arrives, and by this time streams of people come down from the western part of the town, and ascend the steps gravely and silently. Soon the crowd thickens, and the pavement is all black- ened with the throngs of men from the business locali- ties. There are to be seen leading capitalists, prominent lawyers and judges, eminent physicians, merchants, bank- ers, mechanics, tradesmen, clergymen, with some of the wives and daughters of all classes of the citizens, min- gled in one moving mass, bending their steps toward the now hallowed hall. Solemnity is to be seen on every face, deeper than we are wont to see, even on the Sabbath day, for many go up to the place in which they were first convinced of sin, and " born again unto righteousness." At twelve the crowd entirely fills the entrance, and within 4,500 human beings are congregated, in profound silence, which produces an impression of awe even upon the unthinking, who may have been attracted tiiither by curiosity. The clock strikes twelve, a hymn is an- nounced by a well-known merchant, or an unknown clerk An appropriate prayer is offered, a passage of Scripture is read, with a brief comment added, and the leader of the meeting invites any Christian man to pray or exhort Usually a layman accepts the invitation, and offers a few sentences of prayer out of the abundance of the heart 404 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. or speaks a few earnest words on some text of Scrip ture. One succeeds another in these prayers and exhoit- ations, till, as the hour of one approaches, the emoticn caused by a service so solemn becomes scai'cely repress- ible ; a verse of a hymn is sung standing, and the crowd is dismissed with a benediction from the minister. I saw many tearful eyes in that assembly ; I know that many hearts in that house experienced emotions of solemnity, and desire after better things, to which hereto- fore they had been strangers ; that many were convinced of sin; that Christians had gained higher views of duty; and that ministers had been more fully awakened to a sense of the responsibility of that stewardship of which they must hereafter give a solemn account. Such sketches send the thoughts back to a period eighteen hundred years ago, when multitudes were brought under the influence of the Gospel ; when Satan's fortresses fell, not by gradual approaches, but by storm and assault. The Holy Spirit was then sent down upon a waiting and praying people ; and He, who promised that it should abide with the church forever, is " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." America has been distinguished as the land of revi- vals, but no previous work has been so all-pervading. "It has penetrated not only the ordinary spheres of relig- ion, but has made the voice of God to be heard in the busy scenes of trade, the colleges of learning, the resorts of fashion, the ships, the schools, the hotels." Men of all political parties, of all religious denominations — infidels, Unitarians, Romanists, Jews — are singularly impressed with the importance of eternal realities. Merchants, scholars, philosophers, who, in the twirl of business or the absorption of their calling, have given little heed to the claims of religion, now readily yield to these claims. And not only has no condition of life, no profession, or calling been unblessed, it is not the less remarkable, that every portion of the country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, has been pervaded by the same Divine influence. Nearly every ecclesiastical body reports that "there is not within our bounds a church in which the tokens of the Divine presence have not been distinctly seen, THE AEVIYAL 01* 1858. 405 although in many there has been no general awaken- ing." We may not yet speak definitely of numbers. From statistics already known, it would seem that the whole numbei exceeds 200,000. Indeed it has been stated* that, in one week, during the late revival, 50,000 were hopefully converted to God. Suppose this gracious work to continue — and there is no reason why it should not, for the same God is ready to vouchsafe his aid — how long would it require to convert our entire country — the whole ot our population above fourteen years of age? Scarcely more than four years ! We need not then despair of the conversion of the world. We will thank God and take courage. The same Spirit that in the beginning moved on the face of the deep, and made a new world to emerge from chaos, giving form and life to all things, can at any moment restore the ruins of the fall, and clothe humanity again in robes of Eden. In less time, should it please God, than we have assigned for the inau- guration of the millennial day in America, might the strong man in Europe, that keeps "his goods," be disarmed, and the desolations of many generations be built up. Never was a work of grace more timely. Iniquity abounded — the love of many waxed cold. The church seemed to need some reassurance of the power and faithfulness of the Lord, to fulfill his promises, and make his gospel triumphant and universal. Our half skeptical, cold-hearted piety, was ready to call him "slack con- cerning his promises :" for, since the fathers fell asleep, all things seemed to remain as they were. But hope revived. God hath spoken in great power and love. Faith has put on a new vitality. Every precept, every docti'ine of our blessed religion, assumes a new life. Religion has now a soul, which addresses itself to the soul of the world, vindicating itself to be from heaven, and for man. Zion mourned because so few came to her solemn feast. The Lord hath put into her mouth a new song. He hath lifted up the hands that hung down. The blessing came to inspire her ministers and members ^ In the Report of the General Assembly, lU. S-,) 1868. 406 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. with renewed confidence in the power and promises o\ her Lord. Religion has assumed a higher level — the church girds herself with a new courage and vigor for the conquest of the world ; fortified for the great battle, without which there is no conquest. It has restored to the church much which the enemy had stolen from her while she slept. Her conhdence in the Divine promises seemed marred — her interest at the mercy-seat impaired — the presence of her Lord not realized— the hope of his coming lost sight of — and that golden chain of love, which bound together the hearts of the early disciples and is ever the bond of their strength and the hope of their power, was sadly weakened. The Lord has comforted his Zion, and restored her strength and comeliness. And this new dispensation of grace seems the way of restoring to the church another of the shorn locks of her strength. I mean, her "daily relig- ious service." This was an apostolic practice of great value in the primitive church, yet not of the apostles, but of Moses and the fathers. It was the order of God'a house of old ; an order doubtless to be revived, when the type of primitive piety shall be restored, and to be prac- ticed in the millennial church to the end of time. As Christians shall love more, their hearts will the more naturally flow together, and their common wants and aspirations will constrain them to assemble daily, and with one heart and voice lift up thei'* ^^ouls to their com- mon Father. The great ingathering of this notable year is proba- bly, as 1 have intimated before, but another "sealing of the servants of God," which, in the kingdom of Provi- dence and grace, is wont to precede a new series of the Divine judgments. When God was about to destroy the old world by a flood, he first gathered his chosen ones into the ark. When he would rain fire and brimstone on Sodom, he first rescued the righteous. He would not strike the fatal blow on devoted Nineveh, till he had given the timely warning. Before he should destroy Jerusalem, or let loose the fires of persecution, and the carnage of war, in the first century of Christianity, he THE REVIVAL OF 1858. 407 heard the earnest, united supplications of the early dis- ciples, and blessed the preaching of the gospel to the ingathering of a great multitude. The winds of the earth were restrained, till Jews and Gentiles not a few were sealed as the people of the living God. Before the invasion of the Roman Empire, on the death of Constantine, by the ncrthern barbarians, and the untold calamities of war and devastation — the hail and fire mingled with blood — which overwhelmed the Roman world, and precipitated the church into persecu- tions and afflictions before unknown, there was vouch- safed another of those ])recious "sealing' times, or ingatherings into the Christian fold. That other angel, our King and Priest, came and stood at the altar, having a "golden censor, and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer it, with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which is before the throne." And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God, and brought down bless- ings. And the same censor, filled with fire of the altar and cast into the earth, produced " voices, and thunder- ings, and lightnings, and an earthquake." Here is the power of prayer, through the intercession of our Great High Priest, to open the treasures of heaven to the righteous, but to bring down the Divine judg- ments on the wicked. The united, fervent prayers of the saints, presented by the Great Intercessor, brought down the Sanctifier, to set his seal on the chosen ones. And how strikingly like this has been the history of the present work of grace. But prayer has another aim. Every prayer for the prosperity of Zion, is indirectly and really a prayer for the removing out of the way, and the destruction of Zion's enemies. Every accession to Christ's kingdom, is an inroad on Satan's. Every sealing time is closely allied with the day of vengeance — wrath being deferred that the elect may be gathered in. The angel, having the everlasting gospel to preach, urges his claims on the ground that the "hour of his judgment is come." He comes to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God. 408 HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. Shall we not, then, ao3ept the present spiritual har- vest as a gracious preliminary to the day of vengeance ? And if the four winds of the earth are ere long to be oosed, if the hail and fire, mingled with blood, is soon to scath the nations, and the great battle to come, how gracious are the present arrangements of Providence and grace, by which the gospel is being preached to all ■people, and the dayspring from on high is so richly visit- ing us. He is now sending forth his angels, with a great sound of a trumpet, to gather the elect from the four winds. But this is not the conversion of the world and the beginning of the millennium. The gospel must first be nreached to all nations for a witness, and great multi- tudes be saved from the coming destruction. Let the thoughtless, then, heed the warning voice : " Seek ye the Lord — it may be ye may be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." "Watch ye and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things which shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." "Come, my people, enter into thy cham- bers, and shut thy doors about thee ; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over- past." Then shall the hearts of the wicked fail them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. But mercy now calls. The portals of heaven are thrown open. A great multitude of every tongue and kindred are passing in. Providence and prophecy combine with the Spirit and the Bride, and say, come — and, as never before, whosoever heareth, says, come. "All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see ye when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountain ; and when he bloweth the trumpet, hear ye." We may, therefore, regard this extraordinary move- ment in the church, if not as an immediate precursor of the latter-day glory, yet as a great ingathering of the elect before the coming of the Son of man, in the clouds of his glory, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel. THE SEPOY MUTINY 409 But the year in question is not the less distinguished by another series of events of thrilling interest. The Hand that worketh wonders is conspicuously active in the far East. India is, at the present moment, the theater of vast interest to the philanthropist and the Christian. The latQ bloody, savage revolt, sent a thrill of horror through all Christendom. But we are not con- cerned at present to recite its appalling details. We only inquire — What is God bringing out of it ? Is this another of those terrific convulsions which break to pieces, that the great Restorer may raise up from the ruins a more sightly structure ? Already we think we see that God is bringing out of it results eminently wise and benevolent. We may name the following as some of the probable issues of this seemingly disastrous revolt. We believe it to be the precursor of a better day for India. We seem to see on that dark cloud the bow of promise. And — ■ 1. God designed by the Sepoy mutiny, to humble Eng- land, and make her feel the arm of the great King laid upon her. England is a powerful and a proud nation ; and, as we verily believe, she is to be, in the hands of God, a chief instrument in the coming great revolution of the world, we do not wonder that Heaven should ever and anon rebuke her pride and check her overweening spirit. She must be made to feel her dependence on the great King of nations. And most signally has she been made to feel it. 2. Another design of the Great Ruler doubtless was, to administer a burning rebuke to the East India Com- pany ; and either to force her to a radical change of pol- icy, or to take away her power and to destroy her. Her policy has been any thing but a Christian policy. She has patronized idolatry — supported heathen temples — shut out the Bible from her schools — and dismissed from her service the Hindoo that would become a Christian. In a most signal manner does she now stand rebuked and scourged. And if she repent not and turn from her evil ways, and fulfill the mission given her to execute, God will take from her the scepter of her power, and give it to others who will use it more to his honor. 410 HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. 3. Nothi ig, since the establishment of Satan's seat in that ancient land, has so shown up India and her idola- tries, as the late Sepoy mutiny. This is the living spirit of heathenism, broke loose from restraint. Kind, amia- ble, and inoffensive as that people appear, when subjected to a higher power, and the subjects of a Christian govern- ment, their tender mercies are the veriest cruelty, when they break loose from the ruling power. The cold- blooded murders, the savage cruelties, the shameless tor- tures, which, in the late insurrection, they have practiced on helpless women and children, proclaim, in a voice which humanity will not refuse to hear, what a nation must ever be, without the humanizing influences of the gospel of peace and purity. The late atrocious mutiny has, like some great civil and moral volcano, cast up from dark chaos a nation of idolaters, and thrust them; as it were afresh, on the attention of Christendom, to show what a people without a gospel really are, and to urge on us, as never before, to send them, without delay, the means of renovation. 4. The Christian church stands rebuked in the face of this appalling outbreak, that she has not sooner sent to that nation the gospel of peace. Had that vast mass of moral corruption been leavened with the pure and peace- able spirit of Christianity, when, in the providence of God, it might have been done, these things had not been. The church is guilty. But, thank God, she has heard the call to duty, and is nobly responding. Never before was the whole Christian community of Great Britain so thoroughly and universally roused to prompt and united action. They now strike for the complete subjugation of India to the gospel — for the diffusion of the Bible — a Christian government — and Christian edu- cation. And the American church is following hard in her footsteps. Such order is God bringing out of confusion — such mercy out of wiath. And another lesson which the church has been taught by this dark dispensation of Providence, is that the work she is engaged in is a very great one ; and that the Omnipotent arm alone can accomplish it THE SEPOY MUTINY. 411 She will now, as never before, feel her dependence on God. 5. As another issue of the war, we expect the over- throw of the native, civil, and religious prestige — the abolition of caste, and the renovation of all the nations of the Peninsula of Hindoostan — mountains are to be, re- moved, colossal systems of error and false religion to be taken out of the way, before the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in that land of idolatry; and no event has done so much to take out of the way what hindereth, as the Sepoy war. We regard the late con- flict as the last dying struggle of Pagan despotism, and an effectual means of its annihilation. Henceforth, we expect the chosen race to take possession, to drive out the Canaanites, and to erect there the altars of liberty and true religion. It is probably the iast strike of the Moslem in India, for the civil power, or of the worship- ers of Brama for the altars of their gods. A terrible tempest has swept over that land — a con- vulsion has shaken it to its center. These are the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, which go before and break to pieces all that oppose the peaceful reign of righteous- ness and true holiness. The still small voice shall follow. Those sunny lands shall not always remain the prey of the Destroyer. 6. And this seemingly disastrous outbreak of violence has yielded yet another pleasant fruit. It has served to test the faith and fidelity of the native Christians. The martyr spirit has been revived. We feared that, in the day of temptation, these "little ones" would fall away. But they stood the fiery trial like men in Christ ; they met death like martyrs. Offers of exemp- tion from prison and death could not draw them from their allegiance to their Divine Master ; tortures the most inhuman could not make them deny the Lord that bought them. And not only have numbers of mission churches manfully met death rather than abjure Christ, but others have avowed themselves Christians and unit- ed with the church, although assured that the spirit ot the mutiny was deadly set in vengeance against all native (christians. 412 HAKD OF GOD IN HI8TORT. We may therefore regard this dreadful civil convul- sion as anotlier of those Providential judgments, the design of which is to produce a real and permanent advancement in human affairs, Late events in the history of India fully justify such an expectation. The late Sepoy mutiny, a terrific remedy for a most inveterate disease, struck the death- blow, we believe, to the native regime — destroyed the long-established prestige of the Hindoo and the Moham medan religion — extinguished the last hope of tlie re- establishment of a native government, removed some of the most formidable obstacles to the free access of the Gospel, did much to demolish the strongholds of caste. And now that great and populous country is, as never before, lying at the feet of the Christian Church, ready to welcome the good news of great joy which shall be to all people. Never was India so open to the Chris- tian missionary — never could he labor so unrestricted before; and never with so sanguine a hope that the teeming millions of that idolatrous land shall soon be- come the inheritance of our Immanuel. CHAPTER XXIII. Remarkable proridences — small beginnings, and great results. Abraham. Joseph. Moses. David. Ruth. Ptolemy's map. Printing. The Mayflower. Bunyan. John Newton. The old marine. The poor Choctaw boy. The linen seller. Bri» sian Bible Society. The little girl's tears, and Bible Societies. Conclusion. " Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth." After having completed the task originally contem- plated, there still remained in our repository, shps, mem- orand'a, a budget of unappropriated items ; not a few in- stances of remarkable providential interpositions, which iid not find a place in the general illustration of our sub- jeci, but which all go to illustrate it. We can no more than allude to a few of them in a succeeding chapter. We shall see in these how great a matter a little fire kindleth. SMALL BEGINNINGS AND GREAT RESULTS. 4:l'd It, cannot but interest the pious mind, and confirm the «'avering, doubting soul, and quell the rising fears of unbelief, and give confidence in God's purposes and promises, and foster a delightful anticipation cf the cei- tain triumph of Christ's kingdom on earth, to see how, out of small beginnings, God is wont often to bring the most stupendous results; setting at naught the wiscTom of man; ordering strength out of weakness, and making the most wonderful effects follow the most unlikely and insignificant causes. It seemed a little matter that Abram should migrate from his country, an adventurei*, he knew not where — or that Joseph should dream a dream and tell it to his brethren, or that the youthful Daniel should be carried with the host of Israel to Babylon ; or that David should be sent with supplies to his brethren in Israel's army. And it seemed a trivial circumstance that a Dutchman should cut a few letters of the alphabet on the bark of a tree, and prmt therefrom. A vessel of 180 tons called the Mayflower, was a small aflair. But what did God bring out of it? There was hid in that little nutshell of a vessel the germ of our free in- stitutions, of oar present advanced condition of knowl- edge and virtue. Wrapped up in the bosom of the men of the Mayflower, were the principles and the ideas, which, when clothed in real acts and institutions, pre- sented to the Avorld a form of government, and a pure, evangelical, free Cliristianity, and a system of popular education and morals, and an industry and enterpri; the hand of Pharaoh, or the forty years' wanderings hard- ships and temptations o^ the wilderness ; yet their settle- ment in Palestine would, then, have been no more than the making stationary any other wandering tribes from the desert. The history of that whole eventful period A^as full of God and his grace, full of man and his rebellion. Or the Reformation of the sixteenth century might have l»een the work of a day, instead of a result of three cen turies' preparation. Or the teeming millions of Asia might have received the gospel without a train of pre- paratory events running through several centuries, ex- hibiting the wickedness and the withering influences of idolatry ; the inefficacy of every conceivable form of error and false religion, to ameliorate the civil, social and reli- gious condition of a nation ; and finally producing the conviction that nothing short of a pure Christianity can do it. Or the dark continent of Africa might have been evangelized in a single generation, instead of the pro- tracted, mysterious process, which Providence has pur- sued, administering a burning rebuke on Africa for her long-protracted sins, as a gi'ossly wicked abettor of the slave-trade, yet visiting the captives in their cruel bondage, and by his converting grace preparing thousands to re- turn to that ill-fated land, laden with the best of Heaven's blessings for poor, forsaken Africa. Had the shorter pro- cess been pursued, God's glory and his abounding, con- descending grace had been but sparingly developed, and man's sin but partially exposed. God takes time. 2. We may infer, from facts stated, that often the oru gmal and direct object which men have in view in their endeavors to do good, or to benefit themselves, is of less importance than the incidental and indirect objects which Providence brings out of it. We may be doing the greatest good where we least suspect it. The original and direct object for which Columbus entered upon the adventurous voyage across the Atlantic, was to find a shorter passage to India. The incidental advantage which was gained by the prosecution of the enterprise, was the discovery of the New World. The alchemists toiled for generations, in pursuit of the philosopher's stone : their HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. 417 original an^ ^ irect object was of no value. Yet their re- searches incidently led to the discovery of facts, in con- nection with the properties and composition of bodies, which served as the foundation of the science of modern chemistry. The inventor ofm-inting had no object in view beyond the amusement of his children or of himself; or, at farthest, his own emolument. The incidental benefits are world-wide, and past all human calculation. Luther buckles on the harness as a Reformer, simply to oppose an abuse in the sale of indulgences ; at first, perhaps, incited only by the fact that that sale was likely to be monopo- lized by the Dominican monks. The incidental advantage which grew out of the original controversy, was the ever glorious Reformation. Some men toil all their life long to accumulate wealth, a penny of which they will not give to the Lord, yet the Lord takes the whole in the end. Others, like Saul of Tarsus, toil for years to perfect them- selves in learning for some selfish end ; God frustrates them in that, yet makes them accomplish an infinitely more worthy end in the building up of the Redeemer's king dom. Nations engage in expensive; bloody wars, for most unworthy, trifling purposes ; He that sitteth King of the nations brings out of such wars incidental advantages of a noble and enduring character. One nation is thereby opened to receive the gospel, and, in another, mountain- like obstacles to the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, are removed. Man, in his schemes and operations, means one thing ; God, in his plans and agencies, means quite another thing. Hence, 3. We may with perfect confidence leave results with God. God will complete what he has begun. Not one of his purposes can fail. Man sees but a little way ; God sees to the end. Examples already referred to will illus- trate the thought. Little did the young Chaldean ad- venturer anticipate the illustrious race of kings that should descend from his loins, or his more illustrious spiritual seed. Little did he conceive that his departure from Chaldea was the first link of a most brilliant series of events. Little conscious v.ere the brethren of Joseph, when they nefariously sold their brother into slavery : or Pharaoh's daughter, when she drew the babe Moses from 418 RESULTS ARE GODS. the rush cradle ; or the captors of Danie , when they forced him into exile, that theirs were preliminary steps to the establishment of a power which has again and again revolutionized the world, and shall continue to revolu- tionize it till the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord. Little did Columbus think of the amazing consequences which have resulted to mankind from his adventures ; or the Pilgrim fathers, the grand and truly astonishing effects of their zeal, and faith, and love of liberty, in their consequences on the history of man- kind ; or Faust, in his invention of the art of printing ; or Luther, in his bold essays to reform a corrupt church. And that little band of Christians met in London to de- vise means of supplying the poor in Wales with the Bible, were as far from foreseeing that their deliberations should result in the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which, with affiliated societies, (all her own le- gitimate daughters,) should so soon enter on the work of giving the sacred volume to the entire world. And as httle did Robert Raikes think what an instrument for the renovation of the world he bad originated, when, having gathered about him a few beggarly children in the by- ways of London, he embodied the idea suggested by a benignant Providence into the form of a Sabbath-school. A child may set a stone rolling which the mightiest man cannot stop. We look back through nearly sixty centuries, and see with what a steady, irresistible step God has carried for- ward the great work. Not a failure has occurred — not a mistake — not an obstacle that could stand in the way. The mountain has been made a plain when He would pass over. Kingdoms and dominions — the stateliest fabrics of human power and skill have been as nothing before him — as the cobweb in the path of the giant. What perfect confidence may we then have that God will complete what he has begun ; and especially as we now see he is, as never before, bringing all things into sub- serviency to the one great end. Learning, skill, inven- tions, improvements, discoveries, governments, all human activity is so shaped, or such a tendency given to it, that HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. 4:19 it is made, in an unwonted manner, to subserve tiie work of human salvation. 4. Another conclusion to which we arrive is, that the church is safe. No opposition has ever prevailed, no weapon formed against her, prospered. Ten heathen per- secutions raged, and their fire was hot enough to dissolve any thing but God's Church, In the last, her enemies boastea that " now they had done the business for the Christians, and overthrown the Christian Church." Yet, in the midst of their triumph, the church prevails, while the persecuting power, the great Roman Empire, is brought to nought. Again, the Arian heresy threatens to swallow up the church ; or the beast on the seven hills makes war on the saints, and seems to overcome them ; or the unnumbered hosts of the Saracens spi'ead like lo- custs over the Christian world, and seem for a time com- missioned to annihilate it ; or Protestantism is assailed by an Invincible Armada ; or likely to be blown up by the Gunpowder Plot in a Protestant Parliament. Yet all these mad endeavors avail nothing. God signally appeared for the deliverance of nis people, and turned the machinations of the wicked against themselves. And so it has been in every age of the Church. She has outrode every storm, though shaken by the thunder- bolt and scathed by the lightning. No confederation has been half so much assailed or opposed with half so much power and virulence ; none has stood so firm, none with- stood so long. And, as it has been, so it shall be. " Judgment shall return unto righteousness" — the seeming darkness and disorders of Providence shall issue in the furtherance of the cause of righteousness — the progress of truth. All shall be so overruled that the right and the good shall triumph. The righteous shall see it, and be glad. The arm of Omnipotence is engaged to carry for- ward his cause — to make every one feel that if he be on the side with God, on the side of truth and righteousness, he is safe. The stars in their courses may fighi against him — ail may appear dark, and confused, and adverse — the tempests may beat, the floods come, yet his founda- tion standeth sure. It is the rock. His house will not Call. All his earthly interests may fail, the earth be burned 420 THE GREAT CRISIS. up, the elements be dissolved, yet the man who has God for his portion can suffer no loss. His treasure lies too high — his home beyond these temporary turmoils of time — his interests are all in the safe keeping of One who never allows a single purpose of his to fail. But on the other hand, how different is the condition of the ungodly man ? He may seem to prosper for a while ; but his prosperity is as the " baseless fabric of a dream." It has no foundation. Be it riches, honors, pleasures, any thing in which God aftid eternity do not enter, it will change with the changes of time. It hath no permanence. 5. Again, we are led to conclude that all human affairs, and the great work of redemption, are approaching a crisis. The lines of Providence seem fast converging to some great point of consummation. Great events thicken upon us. Events which were wont to occupy centuries, are now crowded into less decades of years. The wheels of Providence run swift and high, far outstripping in theii magnificent consummations any thing that a few years ago imagination could conceive or faith realize. We now see the whole world in motion, animated by a common soul ; and that soul is Providence. All is gloriously moving forward to a destined point ; and that point the next great step of advancement in the sublime economy of grace. There is commotion among the hosts of Rome. The waters of the mystic Euphrates are glimmering for the last time in the rays of the setting sun. The Pagan world IS shaken to its very centre — its temples crumbling, its idols falling, its darkness dissipating, and, as never before, it is prepared to receive the gospel. And the spirit of life is passing over the face of the stagnant Christianity of the East, and preparing those lapsed and corrupt churches once more to arise and 'et their light shine. And there is discovered, too, a shaking among the dry bones of Israel, a spirit of renovation and life, betokening the long nighl of their dispersion and affliction to be nearly passed, and the day of their redemption at hand. In correspondence, too, with all this, there is a move- ment in the sacramental host, and a counter move- ment in the camp of the enemy, both heralding the HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. 421 approach of the same crisis. This heaving of the hmgj of a new spiritual life in the Church — this recent movement of the moral muscles of the body of Christ, has given birth to a delightful progeny of benev olent associations, brought into being just in time to meet the demand created by the movements of Provi- dence in opening the field. The Church has at engtb roused from her deep sleep of apathy over the Pagan world, and is extending the arms of her compassion to the ends of the earth, and reaching the bread of life to wait- mg millions. While, on the other hand, the enemies of the truth are on the alert, ready to contest with the saints the last inch of ground. The adherents of infidelity, error and Anti-christ, are gathering up their strength, com- bining their forces, and preparing to come up to the la&t great battle. " Satan is driven from one strong hold to another and foiled at every turn. Expedients are failing him. He stirs up war, and it becomes the occasion of spreading the kingdom of peace. He excites persecution, but instead of exterminating the saints of God, it brings about full liberty of conscience, and favors the organiza- tion of independent Christian churches. He panders to superstitions, by devices so successful in the dark ages, but only provokes another reformation in the land of Luther. His old arts will not serve him now." All things betoken the approach of another great crisis in the work of human redemption. 6. Another conclusion, therefore, to which we are brought, is, that although the world is soon to be given to Christ, yet there shall come a dark day first. The enemy has usurped the dominion of this world. He is the god of this world ; the prince of the power of the air. Though overcome, he is not yet dispossessed of his usurped inheritance. " The strong man armed is still spoiling the goods. Often he is made to feel the weight of a stronger arm, and, like a chafed lion, is roused in his wrath. Truth is mighty. He fears its invading footsteps as he sees its irresistible progress. Yet he will not yield the possession of six thousand years without a last des- perate conflict. Nothing so soon brings on this conflict aR the progress of truth. li is but the legitimate effect oi 4:22 THE WORK C » THE AGE. ihe diffusion of the gospel. And as the probability in creases, that Christianity shall fill the whole earth, that all shall be brought into subjection to Christ, all learning, wealth, earthly power, manners, maxims, habits, human governments, and whatever belongs to man — the rage of the enemy becomes more and more rampant ; and as he sees his territory diminishing, and his last foothold threat- ened, he will make his last grand rally, and never yield while there remains a forlorn hope. The friends and the enemies of the truth are no doubt fast bringing things to \ grand and dreadful issue, which shall for a little time cover Zion with a cloud, but which shall soon bring her out fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. 7. The missionary work is the great work of the age. It is the work to which God by his providence is espe cially calling his church at the present day. Our age is not characterized by wars and rumors of wars, nor even by great political revolutions. In nothing is it so re- markable as for increased facilities for the spread of the gospel, and the actual diffusion of civilization and Chris- tianity by means of Christian missions. Few are fully aware what has been the progress of evangelization since the world was hushed into peace on the plains of Water- loo. But a single generation has passed, yet the moral changes which the world has undergone during this short period, are truly astonishing. The historian who shall write the history of this period, will needs fix on the work of evangelizing the heathen, as the great work of the age. Infidelity and fanaticism concede this, when they so carefully hold up the amelioration of the condition of man and the conversion of the world, as the Ultma Thule of all iheir systems, and of all their wild or wicked devices. No one would now think to hazard a nev, scheme, which should not hold up the spread of civiliza- tion, knowledge, and Christianity, as the consummation to be reached. 8. The present is the harvest age o( the v,'or]d. A busy and all-controlling Providence has been preparing the ground for centuries past, and sowing the seed, and watering it with the heavenly dew, and warming it with BAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. 423 the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. He has, too, been preparing laborers for such a harvest, and now he ia gathering in the sheaves. Indeed, for the last thousand years, all things have been preparing for this very age. Midnight darkness then covered the earth. That was the crisis of spiritual night. From that gloomy epoch nauses have been at w^ork; revolutions taking place; in- struments, resources, facilities accumulating, which have all been employed to bring about just such a day as the present. The lines of Providence seem converging here. The labors of Wicklif, Huss, and Jerome, the ever-glorioua Reformation of the sixteenth century, prepared agencies, established principles, recovered, from the rubbish of a cor- rupt church, doctrines, and restored to the church vitality and spiritual vigor, all of which seem to have been look- ing forward to the present age. The revolutions and activities, and the great and good men of the seventeenth century, were especially contributing to this same end. Baxter, Bunyan, Doddridge, Flavel, and the hosts of giants of those days, were laboring for our times. Great and good men are always as the tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, whose leaves were for the healing of the nations; yet those men seemed more especially to have been raised up for our age. Never more than now, perhaps, were the writings of those men fulfilling their divine commission. And, in like manner, the wars and political movements oi the eighteenth century, with all its intellectual and mora) advances, were contributing to the same consummation. The American Revolution ; the conquests of the English in the East ; and the career of Napoleon Bonaparte, were all far-reaching events, and immensely influential n bringing in the present harvest season of the church. By these means modern liberty found habitation and rest ; the territories of Paganism were thrown open to the benevolent action of the church ; and many a for- midable obstacle was broken down by that hammer of Providence, the hero of Corsica. Before him quailed the despotisms of Europe ; Rome shook on her seven hills, and the internal weakness of the Turkish empire was re- ^24 CONCLUSION. vealed, and from that time Mohammedanism began t« dechne. 9. Finally, if such be the indications on the part of Providence, such the facilities and resources secured for evangelizing the world, and such the preparedness of the world to receive the gospel, what is the duty of the CHURCH, what the duty uf every individual Christian at such a time, and under such circumstances ? This was announced as the third general topic of tho present treatise. But our volume has already swollen to its prescribed dimensions. We may not, therefore, enter upon any discussion of this topic, but we leave it with the pious mind to infer his duty in the solemn and inter- esting circumstances in which, at the present moment . he finds himself providentially placed. We possess advantages which neither the apostolic age, nor any subsequent age ever yet enjoyed. Such improvements, inventions, discoveries, facilities of com- munication and intercourse with all parts of the world, have been the heritage of no preceding age. The Print- ing Press, the Mariner's Compass, modern improvements in Navigation, and Magnetic Telegraphs, were equally unknown in the early ages of Christianity. Different portions of the world were estranged, one portion not ' even knowing of the existence of the other. Commerce was restricted to a small portion of the earth's population, and education was confined to a few individuals of a few nations. Science had scarcely been made to favor Christianity at all, and governmental power was generally opposed to it Liberty, the only political atmosphere in which Christianity can flourish, scarcely existed, even in name. The literature of the world, too, and its philoso- phy, were opposed to the progress of Christianity 13ut in the revolutions of Providence, how different it 18 now ! What immense advantages does Christianity nDwenjoy for its universal propagation and establishment over the whole earth. The mighty power of God is everywhere at work, accomplishing the one great end for which the earth was made. All things are being brought into subserviency to this one purpose. God has risen up, and by the strong arm of his providence, is pre- HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. 425 paring to give the kingdoms of this world to his Son. The church has never before been brought into a position so favorable for the conquest of the world. What, then, is the duty of the church? and of the individual Christian ? She should work when and where God works. She should follow the leadings of Provi- dence ; take possession of every inch of territory open for her occupancy ; send a missionary, plant a mission, wherever she may ; erect a school wherever pupils may be found, and give the Bible and the religious book where- ever she may meet the reader. The harvest of the world is at hand ; the fields are ripe ; every disciple of Jesus Christ is a reaper. Each has his own sphere, and befit- ting capacities, and opportunities for using his capacities. He must, therefore, serve his Divine Master in his own sphere ; which, if he do with fidelity, his reward is as sure, and he may feel as delightful a confidence that he is performing a useful and important work, as the man who may be laboring in a very different sphere. Causes may be at work, or instruments be preparing, in some obscure corner, which we may help mature ; and which, when matured, become potent engines to build up truth or demolish error. Duties are ours ; events, God's. The work to be done is as varied as it is vast and im- portant. None can be idle for the want of an appropriate work ; none, whether high or low, rich or poor, can bo idle innocently. God now, as never before, is calling every professed disciple of the Lord Jesus to stand in his lot ; to do his duty as, in providence, it now devolves upon him. The Great Captain is rallying his forces for the great battle. He expects every man to do his duty. Ride on, victorious King, conquering and to conquer, till the kingdoms of this world shall be thine, and thou shalt reign forever and ever. CHAPTER XXIV. Hand nf God in the Fitst Half of the Nineteenth Century. " Thou shall remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee" — [these fifty years]. — Deut. viii. 2. The history of the first half of the nineteenth cen- tury has not been written. It has thus far been an eventful century, and when its history shall be written it shall tell of progress such as the world has not hitb erto known. It can not, therefore, be void of interest to pause at this middle point of the century and re- count some of its leading events, and therein trace the footprints of a wonder-working God. Our review must necessarily be a cursory one, yet enough may be said to justify the intimation already made, that during the last fifty years the wheels of Providence have rolled on with an accelerated motion, and great events have, in quicker succession than ever before, trod upon the heels one of another. We shall be able at every step to discern the Hand of God, so controlling these events as to make them all subserve his purpose in carrying forward the great work. 1. The posture of the political affairs of the world on the opening of the present century commands our profound admiration. Mighty strides were being made by the three great Christian nations — especially by the two of the Anglo-Saxon stock. The American States were consolidating into a great empire, rapidly grow- ing in power, and as rapidly extending their bounda- ries westward. England, having already augmented 427 428 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORF. her strength by a union with Scotland, now receives Ireland to her embrace ; while at the same time she is making stupendous accessions to her dominions in the East. The Carnatic and Mysore in the south of India, the Empire of the Mahrattas in the west, and large domains in the north, are now added to her al- ready immense possessions. These things give no doubtful sign of the conspicuous part the English race are destined to play in the great drama now about to be enacted, France, too, gives signs of being about to act a no insignificant part in the same drama. The " reign of terror" was passing away. France had preyed upon herself till madly satiated with her own blood. Murder, rapine, uncontrolled licentiousness, and disgusting infidelity had made France an object of pity as well as disgust. She presents herself at the threshold of this century amid " blood and fire and vapor of smoke,'' her sun turned into darkness and her moon into blood. From this moment she receives as her governing star the Great Unknown from Corsica ; himself a fiery meteor suddenly bursting upon her, he shall soon set all Europe in a blaze. He flies to Egypt, designing, no doubt, by the conquest of that country, to open the way for the subjugation of the British possessions in India — hopes to make Constantinople the capital of an universal empire — hastens back to Europe — mounts the whirlwind that now is devastating France — makes himself First Consul — Dictator — Em- peror— conquers Italy — subjugates all Southern Eu- rope, and makes all the northern nations tremble. The Pope is hurled from his ghostly throne and made a prisoner. His temporal dominion is taken away. Napoleon Bonaparte was a signal instrument in the hands of the King of nations to scourge and to break up the old despotisms of Europe and to prepare the way for better formations. He was a fire-brand among the nations — a scourge — cruel, blood-thirsty, ambi- tious, yet not destitute of noble qualities — ^just righ/- sentiments enough in respect to the claims and nature of liberty and of the mission given him to perform U make him a fit instrument for his work. He inflicted 31 FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTUkY l.H 1 a wound on the ^^hostlj tyranny of Rome — he struck a blow on civil despotism which will tell till thestj despot /sins shall be no more. His fearful career prf>- duced an explosion which shook the old foundationn to their centers, and, as with the voice of a thundtr bolt, awoke the stagnant mind of Europe. This was but the iirst scene in the great political drama of the century. Though less territic and dazzling, the siic- cessive scenes have been scarcely less interesting. The American Republic has made her chief develop- ments in this century ; she has added State to State, till she has extended the broad belt of her territory quite across the continent. The number ot States has grown from 16 to 37, and her population increased from 5,000,000 to 40,000,000. Then the Mississippi formed her western boundary, and the thirty-first de- gree of latitude the southern. Now the Gulf of Mexico limits her on the smith and the Pacific on the west ; she then contained 1,000,000 square miles ; now, 3,250,000. The area of the United States might con- tain 600,000,000 population without being more densely inhabited than Great Britain and Ireland, "It has been computed that the States have a frontier line of 10,750 miles; a sea-coast of 5,430 miles; a lake-coast of 1,160 miles. One of our rivers is twice as hmg as the Danube, the largest river in Eun^po. The Ohio is five hundred miles longer than the Rhine, and the noble Hudson has a navigation in the 'Empii-e State' one hundred and twenty miles longer than tiie Thames. Within Louisiana are bayous and creeks al most unknown that would shame, by comparison, the Tiber and the Seine. The State of Viri;inia alone is one third larger than England. The State of Ohio contains 3,000 more square miles than Scotland. The harbor of New York leceives the vessels that navigate the rivers, camils, and lakes to the extent of 3,000 miles, equal to the distance from America to Europe. From the capital of Maine to the * Crescent City' is two iiundreJ miles farther than from London to Con- stantinople, a route that would cross England, Bel- gium, a part of Prussia, Austria, and Turkey." 4^]2 HAND OF GOD iN HISTORY. England, in the mean time, has been adding new do- mains to her empire in every continent and on every sea. Birmah, China, and large portions of Hindoostan^ and many islands of tlie sea, have been made to ac- knowledge her sway. France has been circumscribed within her ancient boundaries. Spain, Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Persia, each one the representa- tive of a vast empire, have within these fifty years all fallen into political insignificance. Or, I might say in a word, if you will lay before you a j^oLitical map of the world, yon will find that the Pagan, the Moham- medan, and the Roman Catholic nations have, during this period, all been gradually, and some of them rap- idly, waning and losing their political power and im- portance ; while, on the other hand, Protestant nations have been as gradually and rapidly rising. England and America alone, doubtless, possess a larger polit- ical life than all the Pagan, Moslem, and Romish countries put together. They have more political vigor, more right government, more commerce — and are more powerful, either in the arts of war or of peace. Political changes in South America and in Africa should not here be overlooked. A great part of South America has passed from the hands of despotic Spain and Portugal, and of more despotic Rome, and ranged themselves under the banners of Republican- ism ; and the political power of Africa is fast pass- ing into the hands of English races, or of such as have been trained under the auspices of England or America. During this century, Sierra Leone has gr OF GOD IN IIISTORT. 18 a matter of yet livelier interest, the heart of Chri» tendoni has, during the same period, been singularly moved in commiseration of Africa's wrongs, and a corresponding benevolence kindled, to bring her speedy and effectual relief. Some of the greatest hearts that have throbbed with Christian love during the last fifty years have opened wide the bowels of their mercies toward poor Africa. How glowed the generous bo- soms of Clarkson, Wilberforce, Buxton, Mills, and Finley when bleeding Africa became the object of their benevolent labors! There is scarcely a mission- ary society which has not its agents in Africa ; and, while we can distinctly trace the Hand of the Lord in so awakening our interest and sympathy far the sons- of Ham throughout Christendom, we can as distinctly trace the working of the same benevolent agent in preparing the African mind to receive the Gospel. Wherever the missionary has gone, and as far interior as he is able to penetrate, he everywhere finds a peo- ple ready to hear his message and gladly to welcome the institutions of the Gospel. The signs of the times abundantly indicate that the time to favor the outcasts of Ham draws near. God is engaged for their deliver- ance. Light begins to penetrate the thick darkness which has so long settled down upon them, and soon shall Ethiopia stretch forth her hands to God, and tiie tents of Dedan and of Slieba shall be radiated by the lifjiit of the Sun of Righteousness. The following paragraphs, taken from the New York Tribune most happily and succinctly sketch with a masterly hand the chief political events which have characterized the last fifty years. Though long as an extract we need crave no indulgence for it. It is a beautiful miniature of a great and interesting picture. Group after group appears, the mind ranges over an expansive map of history, and yet the whole is presented to the eye in the narrow compass of a few paragraphs. Fifty years ago, George Washington had just gone to his grave amid the tears and blessings of the people he had been foremost in rescuing, first, from tyranny, then, from anarchy; and our country, having just FIRST HALF OF THK NINETEENTH CENTURV 435 escaped the imminent peril of a war with France, after securing by th* federal constitution the power of protecting and promoting her own Jn-^ dustry, was beginning to realize the blessings of independence and free- dom. Thomas Jefferson had just been designated for next president by a majority of the American people, but had not yet been actually elected, there being an equal number of votes for him and his associate (Burr) on the " Republican" ticket, as it was then called, requiring an election by the House, which took place in February following. The population of our country was over 5,300,000, or considerably less than one-eighth the present number. The Union then consisted of sixteen States — Vermont, Tennessee, and Kentucky having been added to the original thirteen Ohio had begun to be settled at Marietta, Cincinnati, Warren, and, perhaps, one or two other points, but had not yet popula- tion enough for a State. There were small settlements at Detroit, and, perhaps, at one or two ether points west of Ohio ; but Louisiana was a Spanish province, including St. Louis as well as New Orleans, and the Mississippi a Spanish river, through which our people, then settling in the valley of the Ohio, were demanding egress for their products Florida was, of course, all Spanish, and what are now Alabama and Mississippi partly Spanish and wholly a wilderness. Our own State had scarcely a white inhabitant west of the sources of the Mohawk and Sus- quehanna ; Buffalo and Rochester were forests traversed only by sav- ages. The Erie Canal had hardly been dreamed of by the wildest castle-builder, and the western limits of this State (which a few months more will bring within twenty-four hours of us) was practically farther off than Paris or Geneva now is. This city had a population of 60,000 (less than one twelfth its present number), mainly living below Cham- bers Street, while Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Jersey City, and its other sub- urbs, did not contain a fiftieth part as many inhabitants as now. Phil- adelphia was a sixth larger than New York, now one fifth smaller, with a far greater disparity of suburban population. Boston had 25,000 in- habitants; Baltimore 26,.500; Washington City (whither the Federal Government had been just removed) had 3,200. A few daring spirits were just beginning to migrate from the older portions of New England to Western New York (" Holland Purchase") and Northeastern Ohio ; an enterprise quite as arduous and perilous as emigration hence to Cal- ifornia and Oregon now is. In Europe, Napoleon had just reached the topmost round of the lad- der by overthrowing the Directory and causing himself to be proclaimed First Consul, though he was not crowned Emperor till 1804. He had returned from his abortive invasion of Egypt in 1799, but the battle of Marengo, which made Italy a French province for twelve years there- after, was not fought till June, 1800. The Austrian monarch was still known as " Emperor of Germany." Poland, after a melancholy, fitful Btruggle of twenty-five years against internal anarchy and the conspir- acy of kings for her destruction, had just ceased to exist. Alexander had not yet ascended the throne of Russia, his father, Paul I., not being assassinated till March, 1801. Prussia had preserved peace since the defeat of the allied invasion of France in 1792, her councils inclining for or against revolutionary France as fortune smiled or frowned, and BO remained until 1806, when she engaged Napoleon single-handed, and was utterly subdued in a single brief campaign, commencing with the double rout of Jena and Auersberg and closing with the French armie* rictorioos on her eastern frontier. Thin completed the virtual conquest 436 HAND OF OOD IN HISTORy. of all Germany by Napoleon. Austria having been fully crushed by hini in the battle of Austerlitz, December 2, 1805. j^'ifty years ago, George III. was in the miiKUe of his reign over the British Empire, with Pitt and Fox, the Ijaders of the Tory and Whig parties, at the heig'.it of their life-long struggle. They both died su i- denly six years afterward. Trafalgar was yet unfought, but Nelson was already idolized lor his victories of Capo St. Vincent, Aboukir, et.; His attack on Copcnlmgcn was not made until April, l&Ul. All this continent, south and west as well as north of the l,Oi10.COO square miles belonging to the United Stiites (^s'nce increased to 8,2oU,U00), was claimed by various European powers as their respective colonial possessions ; all north of us (as now), o.>:cept a vaguely defined and inhospitable portion of the northwest coast, belonged to (^reat Britain, while all south and west of us was ruled by Spain anJ Portu- gal, except a small portion of the eastern coast of South America, lying between the mouths of the Orinoco and the Amazon, which was shared by England, France, and Holland, and known as British, French, and Dutch Guiana. Great Britain, already bereft of her most valuable colonies by the American Revolution, has built up two new empires within the present century — the first by successive conquests and annexations in Hindoo- Btan, where her possessions now cover a territory as large as Europe south of the Rhine and the Danube, and peopled by hardly less than 100,000,000 of humnn beings. From the Indus on the west to the Irra- wadi on the east, from tlie ocean on the south to the Himalayas on the north, almost the entire continent is now under British rule. In Aus- tralia, a still vaster and more prosperous, though far less populous, British empire is now rapidly forming, from what were in 1800 immense wil- dernesses, scantily inhabited by the lowest grade of savage beings, and infected along the coast by a few cargoes of expatriated rascality. The growth of British Auati-alia is now proceeding with « rapidity scarcely ctaralleled. and apparently with entire solidity and health. The culmination, decline, and overthrow of Napoleon's colossal power belongs to the first quarter of the present century. In 1800 First Con- mi, in 1804 " Emperor of the French," in 1811 master of nearly all continental Europo except Russia, with Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain at his feet, and even Russia, Turkey, and the United States virtually his allies, and only England stubbornly resisting his strides to universal do- minion, 1814 saw him defeated and exiled, 1815 a disc-owned prisoner for life, and 1821 witnessed his death "-on a lone, barren isle," almost equidistant from the Eastern and Western hemispheres. On his complete discomfiture, Europe reverted very nearly into the condition which it exhibited prior to the outbreak of the French Revolution, France being restored to monarchy and reduced to her modern limits ; Germany re- constituted a despotic anarchy ; Italy surrendered to Austria and abso- lutism ; Poland left a wreck and a divided ruin ; Turkey still further crippled and hastening to decay ; while only Russia manifested external growth combined with internal vigor. Since Napoleon's death, Spain, Poland, Italy, and Germany have been by turns the theater of revolu- tionary commotions looking to republican freedom ; but these ebullitions have all been quenched ju blood, and monarchy, more or less absolute in tbrm but generally de;l S'oys far less freedom than the smaller kingdoms, Sardinia, Sweden, and >unmark. SwiL'.erland still retains her ancient liberties, though con- vulsed by faction within and menaced by binded despotisms without. So all on the Continent seems fixed as royalty would have it, but it is -n\y seeming. France is a volcano ready for eruption ; her millions w.il never acquiesce in the arbitrary and unlawful robbery from nearly \\.'.\i' their number of the right of suffrage; her aristocratic predomi- nance is undermined by intestine feuds, which will yet divorce the sword, Ifhe money-chest, and the miter from their present alliince. in 1 restore the rule or the masses ; and the day which sees a democratic ;is- cendency restored in Paris will arouse the republicans of (jerninny, Italy, Hungary, and perhaps of Poland, to another vehement struggle for the liberties of mankind. Despotism has now the bayonets and liie arsenals on its side, as of yore ; but in popular intelligence, in compre- hension of the rights of man, and the necessary iniquities of kingcrai't, the world has made vast progress since 18t)0. Catholic Emancipation in Ireland and Parliamentary Reform in Great Britain are two of its peaceful trophies. Such are the political aspects on which opens the lat- ter half of the nineteenth century The evacuatioji of Egypt oy the French, by which India and the great East were saved from a French domination and Popish despotism, and the destinies of the world changed — the taking of the island of Malta by the English — the emancipation of Greece from Turk- ish yoke — and, finally, the extraordinary revolutions of 1848, and the occupation of a large territory in the north of Africa by the French, are events belonging to the period under review, which, severally, were tlie beginnings of a series of providential arrangements, wliich have done much to preserve the balance of political power in the scale of Protestantism, and to save the East from the domination of Rome. A way to tiie East was thereby opened to England, and her j)osse.ssions in India secured to her by the possession of Malta, Egypt, and Gibraltar. 2. The last fifty years have been characterized by an unwonted advance of the principles o\' L'he/ty. At tlie commencement of the century Liberty was young and crude. In America she was born, and already half fledged, and promised an adventurous flight. VV^iiile in France she appeared rather as an untamed tiger, unchained, and maddened by the taste of blood. Yet with each recurring year the free principles, which were proclaimed by Cromwell, Hampden, and Sydney, hut en)boJied and matured in America, have been 438 HAND OF OOD IN HISTORY. taking root in Europe. The idea of the divine right of kings has almost become obsolete, and the doctrine, that all legitimate sovereignty lies in the mass of the people has been yearly gaining ground. In no respect, perhaps, has there been a more palpable advance during the last half century than in respect to Liberty. The vear 1848 will ever remain a remarkable year in the annals of Liberty. It finished nothing, yet it was sig- nilicant of progress not long to be delayed. It was a sort of prelude — perhaps better to say a sort of pro- gramme— to a political religions Drama which shall astonish the world and shake Europe to the center. The internal lires of liberty, which had been smolder- ing for years beneath the ponderous impositions of despotism, rankling, burning, gathering strength, and' rieeking vent, now by one territic explosion, gave no uncertain token of the convulsions which shall ere long revolutionize Europe. The prelude is passed ; the curtain has dropped ; the half century expired in an ominous calm. When the curtain shall again be drawn tve may expect scenes more terrific, more brilliant, more bloody, more decisive in their character, than the world has yet witnessed. The present reaction of the portentous ebullitions of Liberty in 1848 is producing the dreadful conviction that the despotisms of Europe will yield to no compro- mise. T)ie peace of Europe depends on the extinction of one of the great antagonistic parties. The despotic powers of Europe rightly regard free principles as altogether incompatible with, and destructive of all, their hereditary and most cherished interests as abso- lutists. Light and darkness may as well hope to dwell together. Liberty in Europe has but one alternative. She must either be smothered in blood and perish for- ever, or fortify herself on the ruins of a pjostrate and completely exterminated despotism. While popes, kings, absolute monarchs, royal estates, and privileged orders are allowed a being, there will be found no f>lace for Liberty. This appalling conviction is doubt- ess taking possession of the minds of the recently defeated, but not vanquished, liberal party on the con- riRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 439 tinent of Europe. Hence our inference, that the next "var for Liberty will be bloody, appalling, extermina- ting, and triumphant. It is principally during the last fifty years that the public sentiment of the world has undergone such an astonishing change on the subject of personal freedom and human rights. The right to personal freedom is now maintained throughout the whole civilized world, and nearly every nation that claims a place among the great civilized and Christian families of man have passed acta of emancipation by which all are liberated in their own nation or colonies, and in this good work some nations have joined whose claims to be within the pale of Christianity and civilization are scarcely admitted. Oppression of every sort with intolerance and bigotry, have become unpopular in the world. Hence not only the loosing of the bands of such as have been here- tofore bought and sold under the laws, but the remov- ing* by most nations, of the disabilities of the Jews, the emancipation in England of the Catholics, the Tolerance Act of Turkey, and the late Liberty of Con- science, or Inheritance Act of India. And it is prin- cipally during this period that such laudable and effi- cient means have been employed, and so much accom- plished, in the suppression of the Slave Trade. In what has been said of the political aspect of the world during the period in question, and of the pro- gress of Liberty, we are obliged to make the vast empire of Hussia an exception. At the commence- ment of this period, Russia was a young giant in the " raws." We have seen him augmenting in physical dimensions, and putting on a more refined exterior, and improvinii; in social character and in manners; yet politically and religiously he has remained unchanged — or, if possible, more despotic and intolerant. While the nations over "which the religion of Home, and of Mecca, and of Braiima, and of Boodha prevail, are evidently in their declinature, the regions over which the Greek Cliurch holds sway are as evidently in the ascendant. The growing, grasping character of Russia 440 HAND OF GOD IN HISTOJIY. gives rise to the most serious specuhitions in the miud ot" both the Christian and the statesman. Whereuntc shall this colossal, anti-christian power grow? What part is it to play in the great drama which lies before us? What is to be its destiny, what its end? A sublime and awful mystery hangs about this great Northern Power. Bound in the chains of her own frozen regions, and bound faster 3'et in the iron chains of her own despotism, we look, that, at no far distant day, she shall break away from her adamantine fasten- ings, and come down upon the nations like an over- whelming avalanche. Russia is no doubt to play a conspicuous and terrific part in the coming conflict among the nations. What it shall be doth not yet appear. Yet we look upon' the strengthening of such muscles, and the invigorating of such a soul, as the m-aturing of a mammoth that shall yet trample beneath his feet, and devour nations not a few. The last half of the present century may be as re- markable for the overt activity of this power as the firs\ half has been for its growth. The political, as also the religious tendencies of the world have, during the present century, been toward one or the otlier of two great centers. In the civil world all the despotic tendencies of the nations have been toward a great concentration of political despotism in the north of Europe and Asia, under the iron rule of the autocrat of Russia. Already Poland is swallowed up. Prussia and Austria are fairly in the vortex. Turkey is poising on the verge of the whirlpool, and must soon be drawn in. France and Italy are playing about amid the perilous eddies, not long, perhaps, to resist its all-absorbing power. Little now remains but that a coalition be formed with Rmne and Kcr ghostly dominion, and the great Gog and Magog of the North will be able to draw after him nearly all the abso- lutism of the earth. On the- other hand, the last fifty years have exhibited equally marked tendencies of concentration among Protestant nations ; and among the more free and enlio:htened of these nations mind FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 441 is liberalizing, knowledge increasing, education every year being more diffused among the masses of the people, liberal principles taking stronger hold on the mind, and free institutions more deeply rooted. The African Slave Trade has been abolished by them, and the stigma of public reprobation has, with some little exception, been affixed thereto. About the Anglo-Saxon stock have been gathering the floating fragments of freedom from the four quarters of the globe; and from the same center have the prin- ciples of liberty been difi'using. The embodiment of these principles is more especially found in America, the growth of whicli body has been contined almost to the period now under review. The establishment of our national existence belongs to the last century, but our growth in power, in numbers, in commerce, in the arts, in knowledge, in the science of government, be- longs almost exciiisively to this century. The hand of progress has been mightily at work during these years, in England, in the passage of the justly celebrated Reform Bill of 1836 — in the extinc- tion of " rotten boroughs ;" in the reforms of Parlia- ment, and in the extension of the right of suffrage ; in the extinction of the monopoly of the East India Com- pany, and a reiorm of its misgovernment ; and, still later, in the establishment of cheap postage and the repeal of the Corn Laws. 3. Considerable progress has been made during the last fifty years in respect to loar, and more has been done to hush the world into universal peace. In the philosophy of history war holds a conspicuous place, both as a scourge and a reformer. Scarcely can we point out a single advance, either religious or national, which has not been iieralded by the strife of battle and garments rolled in blood ; and not only so heralded, but war has been the instrumentality of such advance- ment. Wars have become less savage, less frequent — have partaken largely of the improvements of the age, and are now made more directlv, perhaps, than for- merly, the instrument of advancing Christianity and Liberty. We love to contemplate the present pros- (43 HAND OF OOD IN HISTORV. perous condition of Liberty, and at the same time the enlarged arena which has already, in our century, been opened for the occupancy of Christianity. But when and where has advance been made in either except through the intervention of war f Yet war is a sore evil, and it is for this very reason that God uses it to break down and move out of the way, or destroy what- ever hinders the progress of his own chosen work. Yet more has been done during the same period to secure ih& peace of the world. Though wars hav" not ceased, yet the present extended commerce of Chris- tian nations, the multiplied facilities of international communication, the ties of Christian brotherhood, and science and literature, and various schemes of benevo- lence and philanthropy, and the dearest interests of civilization and religion, all combine to deter nations from embroiling themselves in war. 4. In the progress of the arts and sciences^ in inven- tions and discoveries, in an increase and diffusion of useful knowledge, in improvements of education, in facilities for intercourse and communication with all parts of the world, the last fifty years have been re markably prolific. We can only refer to a few of the topics which might be brought into our illustration. The art of Printing has been known in Europe nearly four centuries, yet such have been the improvements in the art since the commencement of the present ceiitury, and such the unprecedented extent to which the Press has been used, that in some peculiar sense the Press may be said to be the mighty power of the nineteenth century. Stereotyping and the Steam-power Press are almost exclusively the inheritance of the last fifty years. And we speak at a venture, yet it may not be so wide of the mark, were we to assert that the amount of printed matter which has been thrown out upon the world during this half century quite equals the entire aggre- gate of the three and a half centuries preceding. 3 his is doubtless more than true in reference to newspapers and periodical literature; as also in respect to the pub- lication of the Bible and religious books; and may it FIRST HAI.r OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 443 not be equally true in respect to books of art, science, and history ? We were forcibly struck with the change which in our own country has come over this art by the follow- ing instance which appeared a few months ago in tiie newspapers. Near the close of the last century, the Rev. Dr. Lyman, of Hatfield, Massachusetts, had writ- ten to a clergyman in Boston, suggesting the idea of publishing an American edition of the Bible for the " supply of our great and increasing destitutions,'' and inquiring into the practicability of achieving such a work in the present condition of the American press and of American liberality. The subject was long and duly considered by the clergy in Boston ; careful inquiries were inade of printers and book publishers as to the feasibility of the work, and a result arrived at, and at length commu- nicated, that it would he utterly impracticable^ in the Present condition of the art, to undertake such a work, he truth, as stated, was, that there was not type enough in Boston to set up so large a book ; and, as showing progress in a kindred department, the letter making this communication was delayed a fortnight after written, as appeared by a postcript, because there had occurred no opportunity of sending from Boston to Hatfield. In the three counties intersected by tlie Connecticut River there were, sixteen years later, but three post-offices. Indeed, we can scarcely select a more striking illustration of American progress than is supplied in the history of our post-office. In 1790 the whole number of post-offices in the United States was 75, and the miles of mail route 1,855. In 1870 there were 27,000 post-offices, and 225,000 miles of mail route. The Newspaper Press, which has at length attained so goodly a stature, and has become a source to almost every family in the civilized world of so much im- provement, and so essential as a vehicle for the con- veyance of intelligence, is of comparatively modern date. The first idea of a newspaper in England is said to have originated in the days of Queen Elizabeth, It was a sheet circulated at tiie time of the expected at- 444 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. tack from tlie Spanish Invincible Armada to convej information from one part of the kingdom to another of the progress of that fearful invasion.* From that time to the present that mode of communication and of instruction has been growing in importance till it has at length reached a magnitude which surpasses all possible conception of a hundred 3'ears ago. The monthly, weekly, daily issues of the periodical press throughout the civilized world amount to some millions of sheets. At the beginning of the present century there were published in the United States 200 newspapers in all. In 1840 they numbered in all 1,400, and in 1850 they had reached 1,600. At the present time there are 4,575 in all, 4,050 of which are in English, and 525 in German. The iirst newspaper published in America, was the Boston News Letter, first issued April 24, 1704; it was published regularly for nearly seventy-two years. The first religious paper was the Boston Recorder, in January, 1816; the second was the Religious Intelligencer, in June of the same year ; the third, the New York Ohserver, in 1823 ; the New York Evangelist, in 1836. There are at the present moment noi less than 125 religious newspapers published weekly in this country, nearly every association or religious interest having its own organ of communication, while the number of periodical journals have gone up, during the same pe- riod, from 0 to 6,000. An auspicious sign of the times is, theprogress which tliis kind of periodical literature has made in countries Papal, Pagan, or Mohammedan. In Ilindoostan twen- ty-live or thirty papers and pamphlets are weekly issuing from the press in other tongues, filled with facts, truths, and discussions which ai'e scattering light in the midst of darkness. Turkey has already become a land of newspapers and journals. More than 160 of these light-giving mediums speak through the press in • There seemg to have been a tiew«pnper publiehert in Venice in 1586, thongh tba arst published in England was in 158S, as stated above. Next we meet newspapcn In Gtrraanv, and then in France. FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURT. 445 despotic EiiBsia — sixty-four in St. Petersburg, thirteen in Moscow. One hundred and eight of the whole are printed in the Russ language. A comparison of the Book Trade of to-day with the same trade fifty years ago shows a striking contrast and improvement in the manufacture of books, and the facility and rapidity with which they are multi- plied have kept pace with the general extension of the trade. Compare the workmanship of the present day with that of fifty years ago — the typography, the bind- ing, and the improved quality of paper. Indeed, the amount of printed matter sent out annually from the press, secular and Christian, in Christian and in Pagan lands, is vastly beyond any thing that could have been conceived two generations ago. And there has arisen a corresponding spirit of dis- covery and of benevolent enterprise which has given the Press its present tremendous power. The following paragraph from the London Patriot^ so happily char- acterizing the progress of the last hundred years, is, with very slight exceptions, true of the last fitly years, most of the events alluded to being embraced within the first half of the present century : " One hundred years ago Cook had not navigated the South Seas; Polynesia and Australia were names unknown to geography ; no Humboldt had then climbed the Andes ; the valley of the Mississippi had not been explored ; no European traveler had ascended the Nile beyond the first cataract ; the Niger was wholly vailed in mystery ; and the Brahmapootra was un- known, even by name, among the rivers of India. The language and dialects of the Eastern world were as little known as the physical aspect and phenomena of the countries. No Sir William Jones had arisen to set the example of Oriental scholarship as a polite accom- plishment ; the Sanscrit had as yet attracted no atten- tion from Western philologists; the Holy Scriptures had been translated into few vernacular dialects, ex- cept those of Western Europe ; no Carey or Morrison, no Martyn or Judson, had girded themselves to the task of mastering those languages which had hitherto 32 446 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. defied, like an impenetrable rampart, all attempts to gain access to the mind of India and China. A hund red years ago there were neither Protestant mission- ary societies nor Protestant missions, save only those which had been formed for the propagation of the Gospel in the American colonies, the Danish missions in Southern India, and the Moravian missions in Greenland and South Africa. In fact, the obstacles to success in almost every part of the world, arising from the ascendency and intolerance of the Papal, Mo- hammedan, and Pagan powers, added to the deficiency of our knowledge and the poverty of our resources, would have proved little short of insurmountable." The present century has already witnessed a very marked and advanced progress in Science and Philoso-- phy, as also in general learning. Astronomy has been every year revealing new wonders. She has been lay ing open to the intelligent mind illimitable fields of ether, studded with countless worlds before unknown, c.nd continually enlarging our acquaintance with those already known. She has introduced to our acquaint- ance several new planets aud not a few new satellites in our solar system duriiifr the same period of time ; their dimensions and orbits calculated, and their relations to other bodies explained. Geology and chemistry — sci- ences which almost belong to the nineteenth century — have revealed their new wonders in the earth beneath, and new properties of bodies already known. Natural science in all its branches has made some of her rich- est acquisitions ; and especially has natural science been made, during this period, to illustrate and con- firm the truth of Divine Revelation, and abundantly to vindicate the Bible from the doubts and misgivings which in the former part of the century seemed to be gathering about it. Indeed, nearly all we know of the natural sciences, 18 distinguished from mathematical and moral sci- ences, is the fruit of the researches, the experiments, and the reasonings of the last fifty years. Some have wholly originated within this period; others have been 80 advanced and perfected as to give them all but their FIRST HALF OF THE NINBTEENTH CENTURY. 447 birthright in the passing century. There have also been improvements and advances in the medical sci- ence, a better understanding of the laws of life and health, and the manner of treating diseases. Yet it is not so much the extraordinary ^o^^« in science which characterizes our age as it is the a/pjpli- cation of the sciences to useful purposes. Chemistry had made known the powers and properties of sub- stances before, and philosophy had searched out the reasons of the discovered phenomena, and constructed valuable theories ; yet it was reserved for this utilita- rian century to make science more especially the hand- maid of the arts — to rescue learning from the cloister — to evolve the well-constructed theory — to embody the philosophical idea in the tangible form of an every- day utility. Hence our modern improvements in ai;:ri- culture, in navigation, in the mechanical arts ; aiui hence the many useful discoveries of the present cen- tury ; of this we have interesting illustrations in tlie case of steam and electricity. Fifty years ago those substances were as well known as now, yet, under the magic wand of our present age, what wonders have they wrought ! The one has become a motive power that has converted every river, lake, bay, and ocean into a highway of commerce and international commu- nication ; which has quite changed the aspect of the commercial world, and put into the hands of the man- ufacturer and the mechanic a power before unknown ; and the other has been made a telegraphic power, which has brought the remotest ends of the earth with- in speaking distance. In nothing, perhaps, has the nineteenth century been more remarkable than in the new applications of these substances to the great prac- tical purposes of human advancement. Already have these applications reached a surprising result ; yet this is but the commencement of a consummation still more astounding. Fifty years ago Steam Navigation was unknown, and railway communication less a reality than traveling by air-carriages or flying-machines is at the present moment. **8 HAND OP aOD IN HISTORY The man who should have predictea onlj a half of a century ago, that our present facilities for com- merce, intercourse, and travel should exist even at the €fnd of the nineteenth century, would have been de- nounced as a visionary, only fit for the mad-house. Yet we are the living witnesses of these sudden and extraordinary results. England is brought within ten days of America — the extreme eastern and western limits of our country — the Atlantic and Pacific — New York and California — within six days. A gentleman in Trebizond, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, in a letter to a friend, says : " Last week 1 received news from America only twenty-eight days old, yet it had traveled probably more than 8,000 miles, and been reprinted twice on the way." A message was recently sent from America to our consul in Egypt in nineteen days. It went to London in a steamer, thence by tel- egraph to Trieste, thence to Alexandria by steam. Ocean Steam Navigation is a new feature in history. It has suddenly thrown among the elements of pro- gress a power of no secondary order. The first regular sea steamship commenced running between Scotland and Ireland in 1818. After this, sea coasting steamers multiplied with great rapidity in England ; but their adaptability to ocean navigation was long esteemed problematical by many who were termed " the most Bcientific men of the day." The year 1838 was a new era in steam nav- igation. On the 23d of April, the Great Western, an English steamship, entered New York harbor, and from that period there has been regular communication by steam between Europe and America. When we look back to the early Atlantic steamships, we see that it was no easy mat- ter to establish and render ocean steam navigation successful. The Great Western, British Queen, Great Liverpool, and, alas, the unfortu- nate President, were all failures, excepting the first. In 1841, " Cunard'a Royal Mail Line" was established to run between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston. This line consisted of five noble vessels, of 1 ,400 tons bur- den, built on the river Clyde. For seven years they maintained, exclu- Bively, punctual communication, every week in summer, and every sec- ond week in winter, between the Old and New World. In 1847, Amer- ica sent out her first ocean steamship, the Washington, which was suc- ceeded by the Hermann. These vessels established an American line between New York, England, and Bremen. By way of allusion, it should not be forgotten that France commenced a line of steamers be- tween Havre and New York in 1846, which turned out to be a very un- fortunate affair; they ceased to run in twelve months. In 1849, almost all the old vessels of the Cunard line were sold, and new cues, of a very superior character, put in their place ; the line was also extended to run alternately between Liverpool and Boston, and New York. FIRST HALF OF TH3 NINBTKBKTH CENTURY. 449 Tie year 1850 marks a memorable era in the advancement of ocean Bteam navigation. On the 27 th of April the Atlantic left New York on her first Atlantic voyage to Old England ; and since that time her thre« noble partners, the Pacific, Baltic, and Arctic, have taken up their places in the line. These steamers are the largest vessels in the mer- cantile marine in the world; conjointly their burden is 12,000 tona. They are truly " leviathans of the deep." The discovery of gold in California, by the extraordinary emigration from the Atlantic to the Pacific shore, aroused an energy and called into existence a spirit for rapid transit which has been the cause of a most extraordinary multiplication of steamships to meet the demands of mercantile excitement. Ten years ago there was not a single steamship running on the Pacific ; now there are ten regular packets running be- tween San Francisco and Panama. Ten years ago there was not a Bingle steamship running regularly from New York down the Gulf of Florida ; at the present moment there are no less than eleven. The mails leave every week for Chagres, where they are discharged and transmitted across the Isthmus ; from whence, at Panama, on the Pa cific, they are carried by American steamers to California. Since the year 1850 commenced, no less than twenty-nine ocean steamships have been finished, or are now being constructed, in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Their aggregate burden amounts to 42,097 tons. These comprise all the Collins' steamers, and the new steamers, Franklin and Humboldt, of the Bremen line. This, to use a common, but pithy ex- pression, is " going it with a rush." Never since the world began has there been such activity in our dock-yards and machine-shops. And what is all this going to amount to ? Well, the half is no more than told. In Europe the same activity and progressive spirit is manifested. One single company, the Peninsular and Oriental, have lately ordered fourteen new steamships to be constructed; and another company, the West India and Brazil, will soon, in addition to their present fleet, have five new first-class steamships, like the Asia and Africa, the largest of the Cunard line. At the present moment the Atlantic is bridged by five lines of steamships, numbering twenty-six first-class vessels, and the number is since doubled. Next year the Pacific will be bridged, and China and California united by a steam line belonging to New York. All mankind will soon be next-door neighbors ; for fleets of steamships cover almost every sea and ocean, and every nation in the world is look- ing on with wonder at the Anglo-Saxon enterprise and adventure of America and England ; for these two great nations, divided by the broad Atlantic, are now linked together by a steam-bridge, whose number of arches amounts only to twelve days. The same mighty agent which, by the locomotive, conveys with unparalleled celerity and punctuality the news of the day, with almost the same punctuaUty carries similar intelligence over the rough paths of the ocean, fearless of " the winds, the water, or the weather." The benefits of steam navigation are inestimable— the steamship is a humanizer. The facilities for travel are greatly extended by steam navigation, and the tendency of the people of different nations meeting and traveling often together is to promote unity and universal concord.* Thongh the triumphs of steam navigation are to be * PbreuoloericBl Jonmal. 450 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. numbered amons^ the triumphs of the present century — it being only within this period that the great principles involved have been made practical — yet the principle itself seems to have been discovered more than a cen- tury and a half before Robert Fulton broached his important discovery. From a singular letter recently brought to light, and published in Miss Costello's " Sum- mer among the Boages and Vines," it appears that the inventor and the invention of steam as a locomotive power did not escape the fate of many wise inventors and valuable inventions. The letter is dated Paris, 1641, and written by Marion Delamore, then a travel- ing companion of the Marquis of Worcester. They visited the mad-house at Bicetre, where "a frightful face appeared behind some immense bars, and a hoarse voice exclaimed, ' I am not mad ! I am not mad ! I have made a discovery which would enrich the coun- try that adopted it.' ' What has he discovered V ' Something trifling enough,' answered the guide. ' You would never guess it. It is the use of the steam of boiling water. This man is Solomon de Cans. He came from Normandy, four years ago, to present to the king the wonderful eftects that might be pro- duced by the invention. To listen to him you would imagine that with steam, you could navigate ships and move carriages — in fact, there is no end to the miracles which he insists could be performed. The Cardinal sent the madman away without listening to him. But far from being discouraged, Solomon fol- lowed the Cardinal wherever he went, till His Grace, wearied with his perseverance, ordered him to be cast into prison. Here he has lain three and a half years, calling out to every visitor that he is not mad, but that he had made a valual)le discovery.' He had written a book detailing his discovery, which, when the Marquis had read a few pages, he said, 'This man is not mad.' He was conducteti to his cell. But, alas, misfortune and captivity had alienated his reason, and he was indeed mad, though, as the Marquis declared, the greatest genius of his age." What use the Mar- q[ui8 of Worcester made of a discovery thus accident- FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 451 ally brought to his knowledge, to what extent the idea lived in the minds of men for the next one hun- dred and fifty years, we know not. Like most other great discoveries, it was permitted, as far as any prac- tical result was concerned, to lie dormant for five gen- erations, till the " set time" should corne when its bril- liant results should appear. Plank-roads, canals, steamboats, and railways are the products of our century. And electric telegraphs are, in this line, quite the glory and boast of the age. It was some years after the beginning of the century that the mail was eight days in being carried from Al- bany to New York. And only twenty years ago emi- grants to the Genesee valley were twenty days in reach- ing their new destination. And a journey from Boston to New York was quite an enterprise. During a corresponding period in England, the internal trans- port of nearly all the trade of Great Britain was per- formed by wagons, at the slowest rates, and at an enormous expense. The charge for freight averaged fifteen pence, or thirty cents, a ton per mile. Similar articles are now conveyed over the same ground and the same distance for a penny a ton. And correspondingly great has been the change in the useful arts — in manufactures and the mechanical arts. More than fifteen thousand patents have been issued from the patent-office in Washington during the last fifty years ; most of which have been brought into operation, saving time, greatly reducing the amount of manual labor, and in a thousand ways contributing to the comfort and advancement of man. It has been a period of unprecedented invention and discovery. But a little while ago a man could grind in his hand- mill but a bushel of corn a day. Now a siitgle mill will grind one thousand bushels in twenty-four hours. Nails once hammered out by a tedious process, have ceased to be a handicraft at all, but are made almost without the aid of human hands. One man can now produce as much cotton yarn as in the same time 25,300 could have produced under the old system of Bpinuing. One water-wheel or engine will set at work 452 HAKD or GOD rv bistort. one thousand looms, one of which will do the work of four common looms. Nor has our age been less productive of improve- ments in agriculture — in farming utensils — in labor- laving machines. Scarcely any one of the useful Tocations has profited more by advances of science. CHAPTER XXY. loereMO of Wealth au^. other Resources and Facilities for Progress. Migration* and Colonies. Phllanthiopy and Beforms. The Eeligious Progress of the feriod under KeTiew. The period under review has, also, been equally re- markable in disinterring the hidden resources qfnatitre, and subjecting them to the control and benefit of man. The wealth as well as the wisdom of the world has vastly increased. Immense beds of coal, immense mineral wealth, and no less valuable stores in the precious and useful metals, have been made the heritage of our century. But what has yet appeared, we may take as but the opening of nature's exhaustless store- house to supply the means and the motive-power to an indefinite and incalculable system of human advance- ment. Nature, too, has, during the same time, been donating new substances, which have already, though as yet but in an incipient state of utility, proved of great worth in the mechanical arts, in commerce, and as articles of clothing and diet — of such are India rubber and gutta percha. It seems not unlikely that the common and simple substance of water is about to yield an inflammable substance which shall prove invaluable for light, and perhaps for heat. The place of the sperm whale, when the race shall fade away before the harpoon of the merciless hunter, and even the place of the coal-mine, if its vast resources should ever be exhausted, may be supplied by Paine^s light and heat. When forests fail, and coal-mines give out their last supply of fuel, and the sea become exhausted of her abundance, a simple machine may extract from water a substance that shall ligbt and h<^at the world for long ages yet to come. Without investigation we have very inadequate con- ceptions of the quantity of coal which is already taken 453 454 HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. from the earth, and still less adequate notions of the quantity still remaining in the earth. In England alone there are more than 3,000 coal-mines, which employ 250,000 men in the working, with a capital of £30,000,000. From these mines are taken 90,000,000 tons of coal annually, worth at the pit's mouth ,£12,000, 000. Only forty-four years ago, the boundless coal fields of North America remained untouched. In 1820, 363 tons were taken from the mines of Pennsyl- vania; in 1847, the supply amounted to 5,000,000; in 1868, probably to 32,000,000. In nothing perhaps have the last fifty years been more remarkable than in an increase of wealthy hnowl- edge, and numbers in those portions of our race which eeem destined to act as the most efficient contributors to the world's advancement. These elements of power and progress have been confined to Christian and civilized nations — and more especially to Protestant nations. These countries have been characterized by a singular increase of population, which has been spreading itself over the four quarters of the globe, and by as remarkable a difi'usion of knowledge among the masses of the people. Two thirds of the commerce of the world is in the hands of the English race — and three fourths of it in the hands of Protestants. Of the entire bank currency of the world, more than one half belongs to Great Britain, France, and the United States ; as also, nearly one third of the specie circulation. Such facts are Bignificant. For coujmerce, which has its foundation in the world's wealth and numbers, wields a power mightier than tlie combined power of human govern- ments. It is at once both the progeny and the prop- agator of Christianity, the pioneer and tiie promoter of civilization. With it rises or sinks the scale of all human improvement. "The counting-room," says one, " is the council cham- ber of enlightened enterprise, of civil liberty, and human rights. The custom-house is the grand Temple of Peace." But cotton and coal rule the great world of commerce and of manufacture. And here again we FIRST HALF OF THK NINKTEKNTH CBNTURY. 455 meet these world-moving powers principally as grown in the United States, in Africa, and India, all under the auspices of the same race. The United States is the greatest cotton producer in the world, and, what is more remarkable, as the susceptibilities of Africa and India for cotton growing are developed, they are being developed by and under the control of this same English race. And almost the same thing may be affirmed of coal. Withhold from the arena of human advancement, all the coal and cotton which are produced under the direct or indirect control of the English race, and you would put out nearly all the fires of the manufacturer, stop nearly all the steam- engines — dismantle nearly all the ships of the world's commerce, and turn back the dial of human advance- ment for at least two centuries. The following statis- tics will give us some idea of the increase of the manu- facturing interests during the last fifty years. The quantity of raw material manufactured in Great Britain was in — 1800. 1349. Wool 3,200,000 lbs 76,750,000 lbs. Silk 1,2-50,000 "-. 6,750,000" Hemp 500,000" 1,000,000" Flax 250,000" 1,750,000" Cotton 20,500,000 « 750,750,000 " But there is a kindred topic already alluded to which we must not, in this connection, overlook. It is the Extinction of Races. We have alluded to the fact of the increase of certain races. The decrease of other races is quite as remark- able : all heathen tribes have for the last half century been rapidly decreasing ; Mohammedan nations have been dwindling nearly as fast, and the population on nearly every Roman Catholic territory has been grad- ually growing less. Wars, pestilences, famines- - causes apparent and causes latent — have been busily at work, gradually exterminating these different races. As the great King rideth forth to victory, "out of his mouth goeth a sharjpe sword., that with it he should smite the nations," and " before him went the pesti- lence, and burning coals (diseases) went forth at his 456 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. feet." *• The Lord is known" — the Lord makes him- self known to the nations, "by the judgments he exe- cutest "The nation or kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." No denunciation has been more literally and awfully fulfilled. And so it is at the present day — and so it shall be till all Heathen and all Christian idolatry shall be purged from the earth. The inhab- itants of the South Sea Islands — the North American Indians — the populations of India and China, have been gradually diminishing for the last two or three generations, and this devastating process was never perhaps in more active operation than at the present moment. And all this is but a yielding to the benign influences and the increased population of Christen- dom. The Sandwich Islands aflford a melancholy illustra- tion. In 17Y8 Captain Cook estimated their population at 400,000. Fifty years after, Mr. Ellis, who in his " Researches" gives his opinion in confirmation of the above statement, then sets them down at 140,000 ; a decrease of nearly two thirds in fifty years. We find by the last census — twenty years after the last estimate, the population set down at 84,165, an average decline of two per cent, a year. Such a rate of decrease will extinguish the race in thirty or forty years. We have referred to the expiring life of the Mos- lems. That proud empire which once wielded the destinies, as with a rod of iron, of nearly all Asia, and of a large portion of Europe, is already among the weak things of the world, and ready to perish. A late writer and traveler in Turkey, speaking from personal observation, says: " What is it you find over the broad surface of a land which nature and climate have favored above all others, once the home of art and civilization? Deserted villages, uncultivated plains, banditti-haunted mountains, torpid laws, a corrupt administration, a disappearing people." Yes, a dis- appearing people ! Of this his lordship's book fur- nishes most undoubted evidence. There is no soul in the body politic. It is partly a gilded and partly a FIRST HALF OF THK NINETEENTH CENTT7RT. 451 putrid corpse. Certain reformers, among whom is the present enlightened Sultan and his noble vizier, have given to the body a sort of galvanic action, which has been mistaken bj the transient visitor for a symptom of renewed life, betokening a final renovation. But we may be sure that Turkey, as a Mohammedan power, is dead — past all resuscitation. The only practical question with regard to her future now is, the disposal of the ca/rcass. The plastic hand of reform may inter- pose, and the benevolence of the Gospel may restore a member of the decaying system and inoculate him with a new spiritual life, yet the body itself is doubt- less doomed to a speedy and hopeless decay. Identified as the political life of Turkey is, not with the religion of Calvary, but of Mecca, and obsolete and impotent as this latter religion has become in the pres- ent advanced condition of the world, the whole must fall as a baseless fabric. It lacks the breath of the new life which nations as well as individuals must have, in order to grow and prosper in the times that are coming. But there are other and more obvious signs of decay in that empire: the masses of the people are exceedingly ignorant, corrupt, and incorrigibly indo- lent. Neither in the muscle or the mind of the people is there any reliable element of advancement. "Per- haps the most fatal, if not the most faulty bar to national progress," says his lordship again, "is the incurable indolence which pervades every class alike, from the Pacha puffing his perfumed narghile in his latticed kiosk on the Bosphorus, to the man in the ragged turban who sits cross-legged with his un- adorned chiboque in front of a moldy coffee shop in the meanest village." And the Turks themselves indulge a presentiment that their star is rapidly in the descendant. Intel- ligent Moslems, it is said, are heard to say that the Turks, without the help of violence or war, may van- ish from the land in from twenty-five to forty years. Already they acknowledge that " it appears inevitable that the chief employments, and offices of government, and the army itself, must be recruited from the Chria* 458 HAND OF OOD IK HIBTORT. tian population ; and then, some day, the ministen will tell the Sultan that he must become a Christian, and he will do so." The Turkish Empire is undoubt- edly among the things that must vanish away, and the Turks themselves shall soon be numbered among the extinct races. Or we may turn, as another illustration of the same thing, to the Roman Catholic populations of South America and Mexico. Their singular decrease or ex- tinction, and the growing influence of the Anglo-Saxon race, in the places which once knew them as the proud lords of the soil, is a significant fact. It may be suffi- cient here to quote a single paragraph from the book of a late traveler, Captain Mayne Reid : "It is a melancholy fact, that the Spanish Americans — including the Mexican nation — have been retrograd- ing for the last hundred years. Settlements which they have made, and even large cities built by them, are now deserted and in ruins ; and extensive tracts of country, once occupied by them, have become unin- habited and gone back to a state of nature. Whole provinces, conquered and peopled by the followgrs of Cortez and Pizarro, have within the last fifty years been retaken from them hy the Indians / and it would be very easy to prove that, had the descendants of the Spanish conquerors been left to themselves, another half century would have seen them driven from that very continent which their forefathers so easily con- quered, and so cruelly kept. This reconquest on the part of the Indian races was going on in a wholesale way in the northern provinces of Mexico. But it is now interrupted by the approach of another and stronger race from the east — the Anglo-Americans." Romanism has done what it could on that soil — has had all things in its own way, and made a fair trial of Its moral power ^ and of its civil, social, and intellectual capabilities, to bless a people. It has had a fair field, a plenty of time, one of the best of countries, and all the facilities and appliances it could wish, and what has been, the result ? It is written in a word : it is South America. If any one can tell us what South TIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURT. 459 America is^ he will be able to solve for us a problem which is, at the present day, a matter-of great concern- ment to every friend of free government and a pure evangelical religion. The problem is this : What is the actual value of the religion of Rome as an agency by which to promote simply the temporal elevation and prosperity of a nation ? History here pronounces a verdict, which no religious bigotry or fanaticism can gainsay. A single moment's comparison of Popish with Protestant countries will furnish a solution to our problem. As a specimen of what Rome can do when all things favor her wishes, take South America, or Mexico, or Spain, Portugal, Italy, or any exclusively Papal country, and let England or the United States of America stand as the legitimate fruit of Protestant- ism. Suppose the religion of Rome once annihilated in the states of South America, and Protestantism, of the Puritan Anglo-Saxon type to have taken its place, and what might we expect as the legitimate result? Soon that vast moral wilderness would be converted into a fruitful field, the land would be filled with Evangelical Churches and a teaching ministry — free schools and colleges, and all sorts of institutions of useful learning, would pervade all parts of the continent. Under the benign and all-transforming influence of the pulpit, the press, and the school-master, a population would soon appear to whom republican governments and free civil institutions would be, not, as now, a bane, but the greatest blessing. The exhaustless riches of her soil, her forests, and her mines would be developed. Her noble rivers would teem with the busy crafts of commerce, and the "floating palaces" of a thrifty people ; and the land, which the God of nature has made the most rich and beautiful on the face of the earth, the God of providence and of grace shall reclaim from the ruins of superstition and sin, and shall make it a delightsome land, the habitation of freedom, and a pure religion. Or we might refer to Ireland : for some years past and especially since the late famine, there has been, 460 HAND OF GOD IK BISTORT. among the Roman Catholics, a d&populating procesa going on, which an intelligent observer, recently from that country, calculates must make Ireland a Protest ant country in about forty years. Such facts, when contrasted with the singular in- crease of the Anglo-Saxon races, in numbers, in wealth and commerce, in learning, and in every thing which gives power and influence, must strikingly indicate the direction in which the God of providence is at work ; and as strikingly indicate the ends he will shortly accomplish. On one class of nations and relig- ions is the mark of decay and the token of perdition ; on the other rises the day-spring of hope and the cheering prognostic of final triumph. It is the hand of the Lord, working all things after the counsel of his own will. 5. Another feature of our century, which should be noticed in this connection, is the spirit of emigration which has played so conspicuous a part in its history. These migrations of mankind have not been the least among the elements of human progress. Often have they quite changed the face of human affairs. Civil- ization was brought into Greece by her colonies from Egypt and Phoenicia ; and Carthage, too, was another wave of civilization, and learning, and general ad- vancement sent out over the north of Africa, and far into her interior, from that same Phoenicia. The Greeks and the Carthaginians, in their turn, sent out their transforming colonies into the countries on either side of the Mediterranean. Roman civilization and greatness was an offshoot from Greece, propagated by schemes of colonization. France and Spain, the island of Sicily, as well as the northern nations of Africa, were indebted for their acquaintance with the sciences and the arts, their learning and civilization, to im- portations from Greece or Carthage. They came in the wake of migrations into those countries ; and, in like manner, and on a yet grander scale, the Romans sent forth their colonizing armies over the whole ex- tent of their vast empire. Whenever they conquered a country they immediately established a Roman col- FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURr. 461 ony, that they might hold and enjoy it. By this means the advantages of Rome, her language, laws, and learning, were introduced into all her provinces. En- gland now shared in her boon. It was a Roman lever, playing over the sure fulcrum of colonization that first raised Britain from her low depths of civil and social debasement, and prepared her in turn to send into this New World colonies of a nobler and a more influential character than the world ever saw before. For it was in Britain that these elements of human progress, which had so regularly flowed in the sure channel of emigration, first fairly came in contact with the yet mightier elements of advancement which have charac terized the modern migrations of our race. Chris- tianity from this time poured her living, quickening, fertilizing waters into the migratory stream, and hence- forth, as it flowed onward, it imparted to society, to national existence, and to religion a richer and a higher life. The migrations of the seventeenth century into North America were therefore of a higher order — more influential, elevating, abiding, than had been known before. The colonies of Jamestown and Ply- mouth should grow into a nation that sliould reach from ocean to ocean, and where religion and liberty, civilization and society, the pursuit of knowledge and industry, should have a fairer scope for expansion and the realization of their legitimate fruits. But these colonies were but the beginning of a series of kindred migrations, the object of which has been to carry out the same great end. Neither in extent nor influence are ancient migrations to be com- pared with modern. The first half of our century may, with much propriety, be called the colonizing age. We justly speak of discoveries, inventions, the general difl'usion of knowledge, advances in the arts and sci- ences, as hopeful indications that a better day is about to dawn upon our world. But none of these are so potent and far-reaching in their influence as the col- onizing movement of the present day. This move- ment is no longer confined to a few nations about the Mediterranean, or to an area vast as the Roman Em- 33 462 HAND or aoD ik history. pire. Now Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and nearly every island on the ocean, is feeling the benign influ- ences of this comprehensive movement. The emigrations of the present century present some interesting peculiarities. 1st. The emigrations are principally of masses inhabiting or having originated in Northern Europe. 2d. The emigrating classes be- long, for the most part, to the nations which are in- creasing in population and strength. The only excep- tion is in the instance of those who, in the arrangements of Providence, are moved to emigrate in order to receive^ rather than impart, good to others. Such are, for the most part, Irish emigrants, and those of a kindred faith from the Continent. Theirs is a deliverance from the worst despotism on earth, that they may be brought under auspices altogether more favorable to their im- provement. We lind the principal migrations of the present age running in four great streams ; two issue from their fountain-head in Northern Europe — one bearing its moving, living masses toward the East, and the other toward the West ; and two, also, take their rise among the Anglican States of America — the one bearing on its bosom the multitudes who seek a West- ern home, and the other freighted with the sable sons of Africa, who seek an asylum from the oppressor among the graves of their fathers. The tide is moving from Russia into Siberia, re- claiming vast moi-al and pliysical wastes, and extend- ing the boundaries of that gigantic and fearful ])Ower. From the British Islands it is also setting eastward into Asia, carrying with it into India, Birmah, China, and Australia a thousand elements of civil and social ad- vancement. A.nd westward, by one continuous stream, myriads are annually drifting into the New World, as into a mighty reservoir, while this reservoir is sending forth its streams to people the vast regions of *^ West. Few are aware of the present amount of this European emi- gration, or in what an accelerated ratio it is annually increasing. Last year the emigration from the British Isles alone to her colonies and to the United States ▲fUCA. L riRST HALI- OF THB KIKETBBNTH CSNTURT. 465 amounted to 300,000 ; and if we add to these the teem- ing multitudes that come to our shores from other na- tions of Europe, and the vast numbers of our own pop- ulation that are moving westward, and to this add the masses that direct their course from Russia and from England eastward, we have the spectacle of at least a million of souls leaving the lands of their fathers, they scarcely know why, yet every man charged with a mission by a directing Providence, on which is sue- pended the weal or the woe of millions yet unborn. Discovering as we do the Hand of God in these move- ments, wo look for yet greater results. But the most extraordinary of all is the colony which has been formed within these few years on the western coast of Africa — the Republic of Liberia. " In future ages," says the venerable Dr. Alexander, " when the impartial historian shall survey the events of the first half of the nineteenth centur}', he will be apt to fix on the planting of this colony and the estab- lishment of this Republic by a society, unaided by government, as the most remarkable achievement of the whole period. Perhaps it is one without a parallel in history. I would therefore congratulate the friends of Colonization on the extraordinary success which has attended their exertions. They have achieved a glo- rious work." In that little Republic we seem to see the germ of a great nation extending her protecting arms over the barbarous tribes of Africa, and carrying Christianity far into her interior. Already have these colonies extended the banners of civilization and Chris- tianity over tens of thousands of native Africans, built churches, established schools, introduced the arts of civilized life, and suppressed the Slave Trade for some hundreds of miles on the western coast of Africa. After the late purchase of the Gallinas, it was stated by Gov. Roberts that this is the last point at which the Slave Trade could be carried on for about 1,200 miles of the coast. Various have been the exciting causes which have led to the emigrations of the present century : wars, despot- ism, famine, love of adventure, gold, benevolent and 46B HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. philanthropic enterprise, etc., etc. Civil oppressions in Europe, force myriads of the oppressed to seek an asylum in the land of the free. An Irish famine sends out an- other stream to a land of plenty — a stream destined to exert influences of the most powerful kind upon the home population of the Green Isle, for to the ties of kindred and friendship are added the glowing descriptions of plenty and content enjoyed in distant America. Also, the mere love of adventure, and some vague hope of improving one's condition, send their tens of thousands yearly, floating westward, to extend our empire to the Pacific ; and not the least of the impelling causes has been the gold excitement begun a number of years ago and heralded everywhere throughout the world in the most exaggerated manner and by the employment of the most extravagant terms, to build up a new state beyond the Rocky Mountains, and toconstruct an em- pire in Australia. There is not at the present moment a more interest- ing feature of this subject than the migrations of the Chinese to California. This singular meeting and min- gling of the " celestials" with the great reforming race of the age may be but the beginning of a series of events, in relation to the greatest Pagan country on tlie face of the earth, worthy of the great civil and moral transformations which we wait for as one of the realizations of the last half o^ the present century. The grievous famine which a few years ago spread such havoc over the Emerald Isle, read us a chapter in the book of Providence which we would not forget. Aside from any interpretation which should make it one of God's judgments on Great Babylon, we may contemplate the mercy which was mingled with the judgment. God brought a great good out of this sore catastrophe. It forced on the starving inhabitants of Ireland, as we have said, another of those extensive emigrations which have so often blessed a people. The Irish were driven to England, Scotland, and America, where they breathe altogether a different religious at- mosphere— where they are comparatively free from the despotic priestcraft of their native land — where, persist FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURT. 467 as they may in their blindness, they can not avoid see- ing the contrast between the social, civil, and moral influences of Protestantism and Romanism, and where Protestants in self-defense are obliged to instruct them. Now Romanism is starved out ; it has been forced by oppression or poverty to seek the plenty and freedom of Protestantism. The late famine did but reiterate tlie lesson which other providences have clearly taught, that Ireland must be evangelized, or she must perish. Under Popery she must starve, as she always has. As poor, famishing Rome seeks the rich fields and the full garners of Protestantism for the meat that perishes, may she ever find the bread that endureth to everlast- ing life. Already has the world become familiar with the in- structive spectacle of Rome begging bread at the feet of Protestantism. Every year now witnesses millions of Rome's paupers fed from the liberal hands of those whom they feign to regard as heretics. Bishop Hughes claims the spiritual supervision over our hospitals and poor-houses on the ground that the vast majority of the inmates are of his faith. Three fourths, possibly seven eighths, of the entire population of hospitals and asylums for the poor are Romanists. And the same thing appears, too, from the reports which are now constantly made in relation to the dis- bursement of the enlarged charities of the present winter to the suffering poor. From 75 to 95 per cent, of all that receive these charities are foreigners, and nearly all Papists. While probably more than 90 per cent, of the money is contributed by Protestants, less than 10 per cent, is applied to the Protestant poor. Romanism and Protestantism is now each fast working out its respective problem : the one how to elevate, enrich, enlighten, and liberalize a people ; the other, how to demoralize, degrade, enslave, impoverish, and drive a people to starvation and beggary. The next fifty years will probably make yet stranger revela- tions. 6. The Hand of God has been especially conspicU' ous the last fifty years in the origin and progress of 168 HAND or GOD IN HISTORY. philantkropy and moral reformation. The history of the Temperance Reformation, one of the most gigantic enterprises of our age, scarcely dates back more than forty years. Within this short period of time the most astonishing change has taken place in public sentiment, as well as in the social habits of our country, in respect to the use of intoxicating drinks. Though so much re- mains to be done, yet much has been done, for which we should be unfeignedly thankful. The good hand of our God has been in it, and we would accord to him the honor. Temperance is a Christian grace, the legitimate fruit of evangelical piety. The graces are social, loving, purifj'ing. They come in clusters. " Open the door to one, and they will all enter and abide," if the house be "swept and garnished," to welcome such guests. Sweet charity has visited our world, and during the period under review, her benignant smile has warmed into being the benevolent affections of man ; as never before, human sympathies have been excited, human rights vindicated ; the wrongs, the woes, the misfor- tunes, the vices of humanity pitied. Hence the origin of that whole sisterhood of philan- thropic institutions which are the glory of our age. The blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the diseased are healed, the abandoned are re- claimed, the inebriate reformed, the ignorant instructed, prisons visited, the insane restored to soundness. For each of these objects the philanthropic spirit of our age has originated institutions. Insane asylums have been endowed; prison-discipline societies organized; a strong public sentiment has set in against slavery ; in- stitutions formed to give instruction to the blind ; infant schools, sabbath schools, and ragged schools have each been made to play a benevolent part in the passing scenes. In and around London alone there are already one hundred and ninety-five of the recently instituted, but truly benevolent institutions called Ragged Schools, at which there are 10,000 scholars, tauglit by 1,400 unpaid teachers. Most of these are open during the week, as well as on the Sabbath. At some of these FIRST HALF OF THE NINKTEKNTH CBNTURT. 469 schools the pupils are fed and clothed, as well as in- etrncted, and with some are connected " industrial classes," in which young men are instructed in trades. In nothing, perhaps, is our century more delightfully characterized, than by the humane feelings which have sprung up in the breast of man toward his fellow- man. The bitter alienations which have so long existed between the different members of the great family have been yearly lessening. The tendency has been to restore the hrotherhood of the race. Hence the peculiar sensibility to any thing pertaining to the welfare of man. " Touch man, and you touch my brother." Persecutions have, therefore, either ceased, or become for the most part bloodless, and divested of physical cruelty; wars diminished, and not entered on but with great caution ; the right to hold property in others has become extinct. Arbitrary imprisonment and punishment are no longer tolerated ; torture in a great measure done away with ; the horrors of the inquisition in a great degree abolished. There is an impulsive resistance to all human oppression, a spon- taneous remonstrance against the men or the nation that now dare so outrage humanity as to persecute for opinions' sake. As an illustration of the change of feeling, in refer- ence to persecution, we may refer to a few instances still fresh in the public mind. Had the shameful and bloody persecutions against the Jews of Rhodes and Damascus in 1840 taken place half a century earlier, it would scarcely have attracted the notice or secured the sympathy of either Turk or Christian. But how ciianged the feeling with which such an outrage on all luinianity is now received throughout the whole civil- ized world! One simultaneous burst of indignation arose. Meetings were convened in London, Liverpool, New York, Philadelphia, and Constantinople, and the most spirited remonstrances made to the Turkish Gov- ernment ; remonstrances which not only serve to ex- press the change of sentiment which prevails on the subject of persecution, but contributed their full share, no doubt, to bring about the remarkable Toleration 470 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Act, which soon after became a law of the Turk- ish Empire. Or we might refer to the late Armenian persecution, when the persecuted "Evangelicals" re- ceived not only the full-hearted, out-spoken sympathy of the whole civilized world, but more especially of the Turkish Government, which energetically interposed, and suppressed it. And yet more fresh in the memory of all Christendom is the case of Francesco Madiai and Rosa his wife, in 1851, and the sensation of horror it produced, and what a stern and indignant remon- strance was offered by the whole Protestant world ! 7. The religious history of the past half century yet more clearly indicates the gracious interpositions of Heaven. Ours has been an age of the more perfect develop- ment of evangelical piety, of extensive revivals of religion, and, more especially yet, it has been an age of unwonted benevolent action. Fifty years ago all Christendom seemed in danger of being overwhelmed in a deluge of Infidelity, Voltaire had boasted he would annihilate the Christian Religion, and multitudes not a few believed it no vain boast. The echo of this presumptuous boast was made to reverberate by Paine, and others of a like infidel memory, throughout the Christian world. But the nineteenth century should not be an infidel century. It has been a religious cen- tury. Never before has the Christian Church taken so deep root in the world ; never before has she extended herself over so large portions of the earth, or held so commanding a position, or made her influence to be so deeply felt in all the relations of life — in education, in politics, in science, in social and domestic relations, and in the whole business of life. And certainly never before has the Church of Christ exhibited so much of the lencvolence of the Gospel. Nearly the whole of the benevolent action of the Church belongs to the present century. The whole amount contributed for Foreign Missions by the whole Christian Church in England, America, and on the Continent did not at the commencement of the century exceed $20,000. FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENT0RT. 47j There existed then the society for " Propagating the Gospel among the Indians," and two smaller societies in New York for the same purpose. In addition to the scant income of these three associations, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church appropriated $200 for missionary purposes annually for three years. The British Baptist Society, and three or four other little associations, existed in England. The sum total of all the charitable revenues for the Christian Church for the conversion of the world then amounted to $20,000! Fifty years have fled, and now the contri- butions of the British Churches alone amount to $5,000,000 annually, and £14,500,000 ($70,000,000), during the last fifty years ; and the development of benevolent feeling, the march of benevolent action has been proportionally rapid in America, though it must be borne in mind that the American Church is charged with a mission, more especially at present, to her own continent. She has given largely to foreign missions, yet her munificent donations have been to the cause of home education. To the one, the poor and the pious annually give some hundreds of thou- sands ; while our Girards and McDonoughs give for education by the million, and our Bartletts, Law- rences, Oliver Smiths, and Willistons, give like princes. But our century has been no more remarkable for benevolence than for the results of benevolent action as met in the extension and success of Christian missions. Late statistics exhibit a very gratifying picture here. There are abroad, under the care of dififerent associa- tions, 2,000 missionaries and 7,500 assistant missiona- ries ; 4,000 mission churches with 250,000 members ; 3,000 schools with 250,000 pupils. The Bible has been translated into 200 diflerent languages and dia- lects, in which more than 50,000,000 copies of the sacred Scriptures have been scattered abroad, and may be read by 600,000,000 of the race. But we should quite fail to arrive at any thing like full results of mis- sionary labor if we do not follow each individual of the 250,000 converts in all his labors, intercourse, 472 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. example, and instructions among his Pagan fellow- countrymen, and also pursue the track of every Bible and religious book, and measure the influence of every school, and the effect, though latent for a long time it may be, of every Gospel sermon. At the commencement of the century the missionary could gain no access to the heathen. Even British India, though for a considerable time it had been governed by a Christian nation, was scarcely more accessible than China. Kow it is almost literally true, and perhaps quite true, that there is not a nation or a tribe on earth to whom the missionary may not have access ; and not only is the way open for his reception, and safe and quite residence, but the heathen mind is as remarkably open to the reception of his message. And all these colossal changes have been brought about in less than fifty years. Yet so quietly have they, for the most part, been effected, that we have scarcely thought these years to be a revolutionary period. He who rules among the nations, disposes of them as he will, fixes their bounds, builds up or pulla down, has done it all. The half century which we have now but partially reveiwed, went out in an ominous lull which followed a most extraordinary series of revolutions. The revo- lutions of 1848 (the most eventful year of the fifty) were a befitting close for an era which commenced in the stormy reign of the First Consul of France. The calm with which we enter upon the last half of our century we regard as ominous of yet greater revolu- tions and progress. Were we to characterize the period under review by a single word, we should call it an age oi progress. "We may, therefore, befittingly conclude what we have to say on this topic, with the inquiry, What agencies h(we been used chiejly as the elements of this progress f The mightiest has no doubt been Christianity ; for a mightier never wrought among men. Wars, com- merce, diplomacy, human' learning, inventions, dis- coveries, the shortening of distances, and bringing the different nations and tribes of men together by improv- FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 473 ed modes of conveyance, have done much. Tho Press has done much. But all these have wrought effectually only as the handmaids of Christianity. If we were to select one of these subordinate agencies as more potent than another, we should select the Press — especially the Religious Press. But for the increased power of the religious press which has contributed so largely to the last litty years' advancement, we are very much indebted to the London Religious Tract and Book Society, and to her legitimate daughter, the American Tract Society. The London society has published from the iirst 500,000,000 copies of books and tracts at an expense of $7,000,000. This society was organized in 1799, just in time to hail the opening of a most eventful century ; and if in connection with this institution we contemplate the issues of the American and other kindred institutions, we shall get Bome adequate idea of the present power of the Chris- tian press. The American Tract Society is not yet 40 years old ; yet it has sent forth over the whole earth more than 297,000,000 publications, including twenty-three millions of books; 234,000,000 tracts: 50,000,000 periodicals; 20,000,000 in foreign lands; making a grand total of 303,330,000 publications. In no respect has tho present century been more happily distinguished than in the increased power which has been given to tlie religious press. But the issues of these institutions by no means measures tlie increase of the religious literature of this period. It rather in- dicates what, by private enterprise and otherwise, is the present prodigious power of the press. The mere mention of the Periodical Press, in this connection, suggests at once an agency of immense po- tency in the formation of the present age. Had Solo- mon lived in our times, what would he have said of the " making of books?" — of the ponderous issues of the Press, and the perfect inundation of the world with endlessly varied publications? The American Tract Society alone sends out daily (including periodicals) more than 50,000 publications, 3.000 of which are volumes. 4t4 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. But there is one other public institution that claims a special notice. There sprung up, in the committee of the London Tract Society, some four years after its organization, the germ of an institution wliicli lias done more to shape the destinies of the world, and to reform, elevate, and bless nations and individuals, than all that the Press has done besides. We refer to the Foreign and British Bible Society. Organized in 1804, it had its birth, and has had its growth, and wielded its great moral power, in the present century. This noble institution has already printed and issued not less than 80,000,000 copies of the sacred volume in 150 diflerent languages, and at an expense of $20,000,000. And if we add to the number which this society has issued directly the amount published by kindred asso- ciations of which she is the common mother, we shall find the number swollen to 50,000,000 copies, which have been printed and scattered broadcast over the world during the last fifty years. Since the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, more than threescore kindred institutions have sprung into being, the largest of which is the Ameri- can Bible Society. Its issues, from its organization in 1816, amount to near 14,000,000 volumes ; the Prus Bian society's to a million and three-quarters ; and we may safely estimate the issues of other societies at five millions and a quarter — making up a grand total of 50,000,000 put into circulation by this one species of agency. And to this we have to add the multipli- cation of copies of the Bible by private enterprise. Having added the latter item, and made a due deduc- tion for wear and waste from use, we may safely, perhaps, set down the number of copies of the Bible now in existence at 40,000,000, or one copy to every six families on the face of the globe. This is an in- crease of tenfold during the last fifty years. At the commencement of the present century it is believed there were in circulation not above 4,000,000 copies; and we need not say tliat existing socieiies have al- ready at command facilities and appliances adequate to multiply copies of the Bible another tenfold before riRST BALI* or THB NINETZENTH CENTURr. 475 the present century shall half expire. Nothing, we apprehend, is now needed but an increase of funds, in order to put a copy of the Bible into the hands of every destitute family on the face of the globe in the space of the next ten years. The American Bible So- ciety alone, we are informed, has the facilities of print ing, if necessary, 2,500 copies per day. And were we to attempt to estimate the change which such an increased diffusion of the Bible has f)roduced, the change in respect to science and legis- ation, and on the social and moral condition of the world, on its civilization and general advancement, we should be constrained to accord to the Bible Society an agency in human affairs second to no other agencj now in operation. CHAPTER XXVI. Grkat Men. RalBtnf; op and fltting Right Men for Right Places. JoB<*ph, Mnaet Samuel, David, Luiber, Melaocthon, Milton, Charlemagne, Cromwell, WaBhinglon, WellingtoD, Napoleon. Every age has its controlling spirits ; and in nothing is a remarkable age more remarkable than for its great men. There is, perhaps, not a more interesting chap- ter in the history of Divine Providence than that which relates to the leading spirits who ever and anon ap- pear to give direction to human affairs in great emer- gencies ; or, rather, when God is about, by the strong arm of revolution, to make an onward movement in human affairs. Who has not observed and admired the wisdom of God in providing for such emergencies suitable instruments ? And it is interesting to see how these are fitted for their particular work. « Scripture history furnishes delightful examples of this kind. Joseph is hated of his brethren ; cast into the pit ; sold to a company of Ishmaelites ; carried a slave to Egypt ; maligned, falsely accused, and cast into prison ; liberated, exalted, and honored to be governor of Egypt. And why all this ? Why, God was prepar- ing an instrument by which to bring his chosen people into Egypt that he might, first of all, sustain them dur- mg a long and painful famine, and then that they might, for several generations, enjoy the advantages of a resi dence among the most civilized, refined, and enlight- ened nation that then existed ; that they might, under these favorable auspices, be the sooner and the better fitted to commence their own national existence, under leaders instructed in the arts and sciences, and in all the learning of the Egyptians, The train of circum- stances which followed the deportation of Joseph into Egypt was long and illustrious; the result far-reach- ing and magnificent. But for the wrojjgs, cruelties, and 4t6 RIGHT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 471 violence inflicted on Joseph by his brethren, and the subsequent afflictions which he suffered as an Egyptian slave and prisoner, we should have heard nothing of the brilliant career of usefulness which he afterward passed through as an eminent and timely instrument in the hands of God in carrying on the great work of redemption. Had he not been crossed and thwarted in his plans, and crushed in his hopes, and checked in his course of youthful vanities and ambition, he would never have been brought into Egypt, or been made governor there, or been fitted to act the noble part he afterward did. He was prepared and disciplined in the school of affliction. But for Joseph's seeming affliction, Israel had not been reared in Egypt amid the most advanced civil institutions at that time known. But these fugitive tribes, after being schooled for their future mission, were to be conducted out. God had a great design to accomplish by them. He was about to give them enlargement as a people, to organ- ize them into a civil polity, and to give form and stability and locality to his Church. A church had been in the world before, and religion there had been. But it was a church that dwelt in tabernacles — a religion unorgan- ized and without form and law. And God had yet greater purposes, which he was now about signally to advance through the instrumentality of his people. In them He was about to give the world a model nation, and to the scattered fragments of religion a model church, or at least give her habitation and rest from her wandering. The world, the church, religion, were now about to make one of those signal advances which ever and anon in the history of human affairs are wont to take place. And this important mission God had delegated to those poor oppressed Israelites who were making brick without straw under the lash of the task-masters of Egypt, and were thus being schooled for their future mission. But this people were without laws and institutions ; without a government ; without a fixed habitation in 34 478 MAHD OF OOD IN HISTORT. which to place those needful agencies and appliances of a nation ; without a national history or a national character by which to act on the nations of the earth The land they claimed in virtue of the promise to their great progenitor was possessed by warlike tribes of heathen. And the community that were to form a new nation, take possession of the territory, and fu Hill a great mission of Heaven, were yet a community of slaves in Goshen, far from Palestine, and without the remotest probability of ever emigrating thither ; held in bondage by a people who were never likely to be compelled to give them up, and less likely to do it willingly. But who should, under God, emancipate this body of slaves ; march them off in a mass ; organize them- into a nation ; into a church ; give them laws and in- stitutions and ordinances; conduct them forty years through the wilderness ; open a passage all the way from Egypt to Canaan through the ranks of their ene- mies ; conduct them through every kind of warfare, from the galling petty guerilla fight to the pitched battle with a trained soldiery, and tinally displace the warlike tribes of Canaan and"plant themselves on the hills and in the valleys of the promised land ? Only men could do this, men who had morally and politically attained to the stature of giants. But how are such men made ? are they rocked in the cradle of indulgence? dandled in the lap of inglorious ease 'i No ! they are the legit- imate sons of affliction ; hardy, stern, iron men ; the moral muscles of their souls have been nerved and hardened by use. Such a man was Moses ; and we shall see how God fitted him for the extraordinary part he was now to act. He was subjected to a long, and, a part of the time, to a severe course of discipline ; first, in the schools of Egypt, then in the court of Pharaoh, and finally in a forty vears' residence in the land of Mid- ian. The design "on the part of God was to raise up, in the person of Moses, a military leader, a lawgiver, and a guide to his people through the wilderness. Seldom has it been the wont of Providence to unite so RIGHT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 479 many and so important offices in one man. Hence the extraordinary training of Moses. It was needful first that he should be endowed with an uncommon share of human learning ; he was, therefore, in his very in- fancy, inducted into the royal family, that he might be educated as a prince in all the learning of the Egyp- tians. This connection also brought him in intimate acquaintance with the usages and advantages of the most refined and enlightened court of the age. Here he formed his character as a statesman and a legis- lator. He is also believed to have been the com- mandant of Pharaoh's armies ; where he formed that skillful military character which is so justly accorded to him. But he needed yet another character — lie needed patience, meekness, hard endurance, and per- severance abov^e other men ; for God would lay on him a task which few have been called to bear. Hence that peculiar, and of all perhaps the most important training during those forty years in the land of Midian. In that far-ofi' seclusion, far away from the pageantry of courts and the tactics of schools, or the bustle of the camp, Moses pursued the hardy life of a shepherd ; where, in the solitudes of the desert, or amid the rug- ged hills of Iloreb, he meditated on the things of eter- nity, worshiped his God, and prayed for his oppressed people, unconsciously preparing himself for the illus- trious part he should take in their deliverance. The Midianites were a branch of the Abrahamic family, which had retained much knowledge of the true God and his religion ; and perhaps no other sit- uation could have been so favorable to the develop- ment of Moses' religious character — and certain /y no condition so favorable to give him an acquaintance with that great desert country in which he was to igpend another forty years of his life, conducting the hosts of Israel, providing for their support, and pro- tecting them from the common foe — to acquaint him with the geography of the country, and the manners, customs, and modes of life of its wandering tribes. It was in the desert of Midian that Moses went to com- plete his education for the fulfillment of the mission 480 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. confided to him. Yet to Moses, not unlikely, these long and solitary years seemed a waste in his life. He had been obliged to exile himself from his native land and from his kindred — exchange the station of a military chieftain for the humble calling of a shep- herd— the gorgeous court of the Pharaohs for the sheepfold — the fertile banks of the Nile and the pleas- ant abodes of learning and wealth for the humble and solitary life of the desert. All these things seemed against him. In these solitudes he doubtless expected to spend the remnant of his days, fulfilling in patience and meekness the humble mission then assigned him. As he approached the goal of fourscore years, little did he dream of a return to his native land, or of the conspicuous part he should yet act in the deliverance of his people, and their safe conduct through that same wilderness. Who, after so many years, should think of the unfortunate exile ? Who should search him out, and bring him back, and gain him audience before Pharaoh, and make him the leader of his people? But the eye of Israel's God had never lost sight of him. It had been especially on him during those forty lonely years ; and the moment he was fitted for his mission, means were not wanting to bring him to light — to restore him to his native land — to reinstate him in more than his former honors and influence, and to enable him to fulfill, perhaps, the most important mission ever committed to a mere man. Out of this long, and wearisome, and self-denying discipline God brought a moral result, which now appears fully com- mensurate to the protracted and severe training to which he subjected his servant. Few men have left so deep and indelible an imprera of their minds and character on the world as this same Moses did. He was a man of no particular age. He belongs to all ages — his influence, like a fertilizing river, widening as it descends into the boundless ocean of eternity. From this time forward it is remarkable how God raised up men to meet the exigencies of the times and RIGHT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 481 to snpplj the wants of his Chnrch. In the days of tho Judges, near the close of the life of Eli, we find Israel had relapsed — iniquity abounded — revelation was sus- pended. God spake neither by dream, nor vision, nor prophet. The enemies of Israel were triumphant — the ark of the Lord had been carried away as a trophy of war, and the hearts of God's people fainted. Yet in this dark hour it was in the purpose of God to arise on his people with a new light — to give them victory over their enemies — to revive religion — to give his people clearer views of truth by a succession of new revelations, and especially to reveal to them more of Christ and his salvation. For this purpose he was about to institute a regular succession of public teachers, called prophets, who should watch over the law al- ready given, be the spiritual teachers of the people, write the history of the nation, and, by a wonderful series of predictions, reveal the Messiah yet to come, and thereby till up the canon of the Old Testament. Tlie Church was now about to be revived, reformed, enlarged, and placed on a higher level, and made to take a more commanding position in the eyes of sur- rounding nations than ever before. The people must be more thoroughly instructed. Hence the necessity ei'eated for those '"schools of the prophets" — semina- ries of theological learning, which should immediately enlarge the number and elevate the qualifications of the reaching priesthood. A great work was now to be done. God was about to adva'ice his work by one of those might}- strides which ever and anon the world is allowed to witness. But is there a master-spirit — is there a man now living who is good, wise, bold, energetic, discreet enough to cast himself in the l)reach, restore the ruins and build a superstructure more beautiful than Israel lias yet seen — who can rescue Israel from the enemy — rebuke the prevailing iniquity — energize a spiritless nation — create institutions for the rearing up and educating a class of religious teachers, and put himself at the head of a succession of j)ropliets who should shine for a series of ages, aud leave behind them a luminous path 482 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. that should reach down to the end of time? Israel'a God had prepared for the exigency. I see in the Temple a little boy, who ministers day and night with the aged Eli. Save once a year, wlien the kind mother comes and brings the "little coat," ho knows not the caresses of parental love. Sanctified from his birth, tlie child of many prayers, little Sarmiel grows up in the fear of the Lord, increasing in wisdom as in stature, and serving the Lord he departs not from the Temple day nor night. Such a child, such a man, becomes the Hand of God to reform tlie nation ; to work its deliverance ; to extend the Divine Revela- tion and to give to Israel a succession of religions teachers who should cast a light about his path that Bhould shine brighter and brighter till the ])erfect day. Samuel was reared up and litted for this very work. In like manner we might speak of David, Solomon, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, or of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and we should find they were all tnade what they were to accomplish some definite divine ])urpose. When God would greatly enlarge the territorial limits of the Jewish commonwealth, add most eftectually to her spiritual privileges, and give her a striking type of tho expected Messiah, and give locality and per- manency to divine worship by the erection of the Temple, and give his Church a visibility and a prom- inency in the world which she had never enjoyed before, David was sought out and called fi-om the sheepfold in Bethlehem, and placed upon the throne, and fitted to become the instrument of such signal advancement. And David's wiser son was in some respects a yet more notable instrument of advancing the external prosperity of the church and the nation. The greatest benefit conferred at this time were the iid- m\ra.h\fi Spiritual Songs which David gave to the Church. These wi re both ])rophetic and devotional. Pro})het- ically, they set forth Christ with a clearness lierefofore unknown, and as devotional aids they have in all ages since stimulated the devotion of God's people and been an exhaustless source of consolation and instruc- tion in ri'diteousness. In the Psalms of David tha RIGHT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 48d Church received one of the richest of Heaven's gifts to man. By David the Church was more perfectly organized, and the state brought to its zenith ol prosper! t3\ When God would paint, as it were on canvas, the future glorious condition of the Church and the advent of the Messiah, he raised up the evangelical Isaiah. To comfort, guide, and instruct His people during their wearisome captivity in Babylon, God gave to them the weeping Jeremiah, the far-seeing Daniel, and the spirit-stirring Ezekiel. And when that notable event drew near for which so many had prayed and wept ; when Jerusalem should be built in "troublous times," and the scattered remnants of Israel be brought back amid the hostilities of strong foes, and Israel again become a nation, the learned and accomplished Ezra, and the fearless, lion-hearted, iron-sinewed Nehemiah appeared ; and none other than men educated as the apostles were, could serve its purpose at the first in- troduction of the Gospel. Paul was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, that he might be the great defender and pnblisiier of the truth, sending it, with a com- manding influence, over the whole Roman Empire. And d(t\vn through the whole history of Christianity, it is remarkable that whenever dangers have arisen, here- eies invaded the Church, or artful and corrupt teachers assailed the flock, the Lord has always raised up some noble champion to defend his cause and confound the enemy. The noble Athanasiusis prepared to meet the seducing Arius. Pelagius finds a champion in the learned and excellent Augustine, bishop of Hippo. And during Zion's night of a thousand years thore were not wanting witnesses for the truth. But as t!ie dawn approached and the day appeared when God would again shine on his Zion, there were not wanting men equal to the crisis. There were giants in tho>e days. The times called for stern, iron men ; fearless. God- fearing, learned, and holy men. And such m^in God had prepared for the occasion. TVickliflfe, the mornino:- Btar of the Pefoi-matidii, was a host ; and we need bul name such men as Huss, Jerome of Prague, jMartin 484 HAND OF GOD IK HISTOKX. Luther, Zuingliiis, Calvin, and Melancthon. Each nauie is a history of the mighty Hand of God. Martin Luther stands the second of the world's three mighties : Moses the lirst. The third is yet to come ; and may come when the Church shall have reached its next grand climacteric. When God shall arise to deliver liis Church from that low spiritual prostration — from the dismal, though we trust the short, night tliat shall pre- cede her millennial day, we have no fear that he will not raise up another, yea, more than another Luther, who shall be equal to that emergency. Having referred to Luther as a signal instrument in the Hand of God to do a very extraordinary work, we can scarcely withhold an allusion to other illustrious agents who were at this period brought upon the stage and htted to act a scarcely less important part. Essen- tial to such a work as a man like Luther was, agents of a very different character were equally essential. His impetuous, fearless, and even rash temperament, peculiarly fitted as it was to the performance of the part assigned him, might have demolished the super- structure which he labored to raise. Luther was the . sledge-hammer of the Reformation. Li Melancth.on, Cal- vin, Erasmus, and Zuinglius, God raised him up coad- jutors, who took the rough block f ram the hands of the great master, and with a patience, skill, and elegance for which Luther had neither the time, the taste, nor the ability, brought forth the well-proportioned work of the Reformation. Without the profound reasonings of Calvin and the elegant scholarship of Melancthon and Erasmus, the results of Luther's giant labors had been quite another thing. Luther himself was not in- sensible to the different and the essentially important department of the great work which was hlled by Melancthon. " I am born," said he, " to be forever fighting at opponents, and with the devil himself, who gives a controversial and warlike cast to all my work. I clear the ground of stumps and trees, root up thorns and briers, till up ditches, raise causeways, and smooth roads through the woods ; but to Philip Melancthon it belongs, by the grace of God, to perfornj KIGHT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 48T a milder and a more grateful labor — to build, to plant, to sow, to water, to please by eiegauce and taste." Melanctiiun was great in the sanctity of his study, lie was the best Greek scholar of the age — a clear and profound reasoner, an accomplished student, an elegant writer, and an impressive preacher. He was the very counterpart — rather, the complement — of Luther, with- out whom Luther was not perfect. Luther, with a giant's hand, hewed the rough blocks; Melancthon, with the skill of an ingenious artificer, put the finish to the work. "Even Luther's translation of the Bible — no mean proof of his scholarship — received not a little of its excellence from the revision of Melancthon." In Luther, God raised up another Paul, and in Melanc- thon a John, and his hand appeared conspicuous in their " diversity of gifts" for the accomplishment of the same gi-eat work. And it was a providence worthy of admiration which put Melancthon in the position which he so success- fully occupied. Frederic the Wise at this time founds a new university at Witten}berg, and wants a Greek professor. And who but the accomplished Melanc- thon is recommended, and at once accepted? This was a providential step of immense moment to the rising germ to the liefoitnation, which tlie pen of the histo- rian has not |)assed unnoticed. "It was an important thing," says llaidc, " that a perfect master of Greek arose at tliis moment at a university where the devel- opment of the Latin theology already led to a return to the first genuine documents of primitive Christianity. Luther begun to ])nrsue the study of Greek with earn- estness. His mind was relieved and his confidence Btrengthened when the sense of a Greek phrase threw a sudden light on his theological ideas. When, for ex- ample, he learned that the idea of repentance {rxeni- tentia), which, according to the language of the Latin Church, signified exj)iati(m atid satisfaction, signified, In the original conception of Christ and his apostles, nothing but a change in the state of the mind, it seemed as if a mist was suddenly withdrawn from his eyes." Many a precious truth of revelation had for 488 HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. ages been locked up in the Greek language ; a 1(vd guage, in the earlier ages of Christianity, rich in the pre- cious stores, but which had been, in a great measure, supplanted by the Latin, which had become as preg- nant with the errors of liome. The learned Greek pro- fessor, in the seclusion of his study, disinterred many a resplendent gem which had for ages lain hid beneath the rubbish of the Papacy, and from the pulpit and the professor's chair, with an impressive eloquence, he proclaimed the long lost and newly discovered truths of a pure Gospel. The Christian Clnirch is in no dan- ger of over-estimating her indebtedness to God for this learned, amiable, judicious, and accomplished coadjutor of the master-spirit of the Reformation. What God beo;un to do through Melancthon the Greek professor, he completed through Melancthon the theo- logical professor, in the same university. But we may not pass, without a more special notice, the immortal Calvin. He was, in his way and place, an extraordinar}' agent in the great work of his day. Besides being one of the most profound and volumi- nons writers that ever blessed the Christian Church, his labors in other departments are all but incredible. lie was a member of the Sovereign Council of Geneva, and took a great part in tlie deliberations as a politi- cian and a legislator; and he corrected the civil code of his adopted country. He corresponded with Prot- estants throughout Europe, both on religions subjects and state atfairs, for all availed themselves of his knowledge and experience in all difficult matters. He wrote innumerable letters of counsel and consolation to those who were persecuted, imprisoned, and con- demned to death for the Gospel's sake. As a preach- er, ho entered the pulpit every day of the week ; on Sundays he preached twice, and the Public Library at Geneva preserves Irom twelve to fifteen hundred of his manusci'ipt sermons. He was, too, professor of theol- ogy, and lie delivered tliree lectures a week. He was president of the consiRtory, and addressed i-emonstrances or pronounced sentences against delinquent membej's. lie was also head of the pastors, and every Fjiday, in RIGHT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACEh. 48? an assembly called the Congregation, lie pronounced before them a long disccairse on the duties of the evan- gelical ministry. His door was constantly open to refugees from France, England, Poland, Germany, and Italy, who flocked to Geneva ; and he organized par- ishes for the Protestant exiles. We can scarcely esti- mate the amount and variety of labors, cares, visits, and meetings, and consultations which such a multi- plicity of duties devolved on this one man. And the more astonished are we when told that he found time to compose eight or ten folio volumes on the most elaborate and complicated subjects. "What power of faith — what indomitable perseverance I Calvin did all these things — did more than twenty common doc- tors— struggling all the time with feeble health and a frail body : he died at the age of fifty-five. Incompara- ble activity — unparalleled devotion to the s^irvice of the Divine Master 1 He was a man for the times, and, in the Evangelical Church throughout the world, a man for all times." Did we need a further illustration at this point, we might find it in the history of the Pilgrim Fathers of New England. If we contemplate them simply in ref- erence to their selection for the mission committed to them, or the providences engaged in training them for their work, and giving them the ^qcwWqx fitness which they possessed, we shall see in the whole nothing but God and the power of his grace. Nowhere in the his- tory of the world do we meet another such class of men. They possessed elements of character which, in the production, marked them out as the instruments appointed by Heaven for a great work ; and the work which they achieved fully justified the presentiments they entertained, that God had a great mission for them to execute. We need here no more than allude to the remarkable discipline to which these men were subjected, to the character they formed under thiu dis- cipline, and to the far-reaching results of their mission in this country, and we shall not cease to admire the wonder-working Hand in the timely preparation of in« 490 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Btruments for the establishment and extension of lib- erty and religion in this New World. Wlien liberty was oppressed and cried for succor in England in the reign of Charles I., there was not want- ing a Cromwell, a Hampden, a host of men such as the world seldom sees, to come to her rescue. And it is a matter of no small interest here to observe that the war waged, and so nobly commenced, by Cromwell and the truly extraordinary men of his day, was the war brought to a crisis and consummated by our own Washington. It was a war of principle — a war for civil and religious freedom, begun by Cromwell about the middle of the ITtli century — prosecuted in some form during the last half of that century, and during the first half of the 18th — sometimes openly, some- times covertly, sometimes civilly, and at other times ecclesiastically, but always with essentially the same end in view, and brought to an issue on the establish- ment of American Independence. And perhaps the world has never witnessed so extraordinary a succes- sion of men as were engaged in this protracted and extraordinary v/arfare, beginning with Oliver Crom- well and ending with George Washington, but in- cluding some of the most remarkable statesmen, war- riors, and divines who have ever lived, among whom our Pilgrim Fathers were not the least remarkable. This period was distinguished by the consolidation and extension of the British Empire and the diffusion of Christianity by means of a rare succession of states- men, soldiers, and divines, whom God raised up for this self-same purpose. With such intellectual giants in the councils of her nation as Pitt, Fox, and Burke; with a Wellington and Nelson at the head of her army and navy, England has been lengthening her cords and strengthening her stakes till her Anglo-Saxon in- fluence is felt around the globe, and civilization and Christianity have followed in the wake. A lecturer on the heroes of the English Common- Mealth says it was Ilamjxlen who established in the English mind the idea of liberty, Cromwell who estab- Mblicd the idea of toleration, Blake the idea that Britain WASHINQTOO. jlIGHT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 493 fliu^t be master of the seas, and Milton the idea of the liberty of the Press. This was the special work of these four men, all Puritans, the fathers of English liberty. Cromwell, Hampden, Milton, and Washinijton will ever stand associated in the history of revolutions and of human progress as four of the most extraordinary men that ever lived — at least, they were used for the most extraordinary purposes. They were men of great purity and elevation of character, each in his own way — each possessing peculiar traits of excellence, and each acting a conspicuous yet difi'erent part in the same great drama. John Milton was the writer^ Hampden the talker, and Cromwell and Washington the actors, in the great war of Liberty. The first wielded the mighty power of the Press, the second moved Parlia- ments, and the two last broke the power of despotism by the sword. Or we might have spoken of Alfred the Great, who was at the time brought forward, and in a peculiar manner fitted to give character and consolidation to the British nation ; or of Peter the Great, of Russia, who, by a rare combination of character and endow- ments, did for the barbarous hordes of Northern Eu- rope the work of centuries in one short lifetime. He found his nation a vast, filthy, misshapen monster ; he made that monster a man. By a series of self-deny- ing, persevering efforts which few men could make, and fewer still ever would make, " he placed the dia- dem of civilization on the rugged brow of the North," In like manner we might speak of Charles Martel, and Charlemagne, Christopher Ct)lumbus and his roy- al patrons of Spain ; or of Charles V. and the great political actors of his day, who unconsciously pre- pared the way for the great Luther and the Reforma- tion. Nor may we overlook in the brief survey the less conspicuous but the not less essential and effective agent in that great moral Revolution, the Diike of Saxony, one so opportunely provided, and so peculiar- ly fitted to be the guardian spirit of the great reformer. But for the extraordinary martial skill and heroism of a Martel, France and England, and the wliole 35 494 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Anglo-Saxon race might have been this day languish- ing under the pale light of the Crescent. The Sara cens had already possessed themselves of all Western Asia, of the northern states of Africa, and of all East- ern Europe ; and, turning their hostile spears still westward, they vrere making victorious strides toward the Atlantic, and soon their triumphant banners might wave over the towers of Paris and London; and, un- der the auspices of the Crescent, instead of the Cross, how different would have been the destinies of those nations, and, through those nations, how different would have been the destiny of the world ! Charles Martel, the Heaven-commissioned for this great uct, met the conquering hosts at Tours, and, with one dreadful thunderbolt of war, turned them back for- ever. Thus was the great arena, on which Christianity and a higher type of civilization than had yet existed should have room and expand, saved from the all- absorbing grasp of the Moslems, But who should now consolidate the great Christian Empire in Europe, for which the way was thus pre- pared? Who should form a government and give laws to the semi-barbarous tribes of Gaul and Ger- many, and all the west and center of Europe? Who introduce education, and the cultivation of the sciences and the arts, and lead on in the way of a substantial and lasting social and civil advancement ? There was but one man that could do it, and that man was the Great Charles (Charlemagne), and he could do it be- cause he was the identical man whom Providence had fitted and commissioned to do it. He made and un- made kings, destroyed and constituted kingdoms, and consolidated an empire, and infused into the discord- ant, ignorant masses with which he had to work the elements of advancement, with all the ease with which a man of Destiny works till his mission be fulfilled. Coming nearer our own times, we might speak of England's great hero and statesman, and his great an- tagonist, the man of Corsica, the hero of the Gauls. Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte were the two great men of their age, each fulfilling a distinct mis- flON. DANIEL WEBSTEB. RIGHT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACE8. 491 sion, apparently antagonistical, yet each working out the same great end. Wellington leads the armies of Protestant Europe against France, the right arm of the Pope, and breaks that arm, and in a day takes away the mighty power in which Rome trusted, and Rome has since been as a beast bereft of his horns. Nothing short of the singular courage, and firmness, and far reaching sagacity and endurance of a Wellington could have successfully coped with the justly celebrated mar- shals of France, one by one, and, having overthrown them, lay prostrate the lion himself, and thereby save England and the whole Protestant world from the dread- ful ravages of the Papal Beast. And Najpoleon^ on the other hand, was, too, not the less acting an effective part in the same great drama. He was a Heaven-sent scourge on the Papal nations — humbling the Pope, breaking nationalities, striking with a deadly blow old despotisms, and most efli'ectually preparing the way for a series of revolutions and overturnings which shall finally break the strong arm of civil despotism and Popish tyranny and intolerance, and prepare the way for the kingdom of peace and righteousness. CHAPTER XXVII. Okieat Mkh. Bight Men for Eight Places. Kdwards, Whltelleld, 'Wesley, ClarRwn Wilberforce, and Howard. Samuel J. Mill, Chalmers, Franklin, Clay Webster Jackion, Madame Ouyon. The religious history of the first half of our century is equally rich in illustrations to our purpose. A little more than a century ago a singular spirit of apathy had passed over the Christian Church, both in Great Britain and America, Religion had sadly lost its vitality. The great and essential idea of the "new birth" had been almost lost sight of. Little more was required, in order to a fair standing in the Church, than a formal adhesion to a few of the externals of religion. The eighteenth century was distinguished by a remark- able revival of evangelical religion, and the commence- ment of a religious movement which has given a sin- gular extension to vital piety throughout England and America. And most remarkably did God prepare his agents for this great spiritual renovation. The times and the work to be done especially required, to say nothing of subordinate agents, a most skillful and pro- found theologian, a powerful pulpit orator, a wise and untiring evangelist, and a sacred poet. And how singularly these were all made to appear in the person of an Edwards, a "Whitefield, and the Wesleys! Each was a giant in his way ; each performed an extraordi- nary part in the great work. The profound reason- ing of our Edwards rescued the great saving doctrines of the New Testament from the accumulations of soph- istries and errors under which they had lain buried for years. He restored the idea of regeneration to its place among the doctrines of grace. Whitefield, with an eloquence that seemed superhuman, gave a living form to the great idea and engrafted it on the heart of the Church. And John Wesley not only acted a very 498 RIGHT MBN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 499 conspicuous and influential part in the great religioua movement which redeemed the English Church from a most deplorable declension, but he was the great apostle of modern Methodism, the father of the largest branch of the Christian family. Nor should we here overlook the peculiar adapted- ness of Charles Wesley to act his part in the great movement. To say nothing of him as a preacher, and a bright and shining example of Christian piety, he furnished the Evangelical Church with a collection of spiritual songs, the influence of which, in the advance- ment of spiritual religion at that time, we can now scarcely form a correct estimate ; an influence which has acted on the Church at large, but more especially on the Methodist branch of it, and is acting at the pres- ent day on millions of hearts, as any one who knows the power of singing in every Methodist assembly will at once concede. Has the time come when the British Government shall proclaim liberty to the enslaved throughout her vast dominions, and raise her puissant arm for the sup- pression of the slave trade — the God of the oppressed has prepared for this noble work a Clarkson, a Wilber- force, and a Buxton. Has the time come when the benevolence of our age shall look into the gloomy re- cesses of our prisons and bring alleviation and instruc- tion to them who are bound in chains — a, Howard, a Fry, a Dix are the angels of mercy commissioned and fitted to the work. Are the burning floods of in- temperance to be turned back; the ravages of that angel of death to be stayed — a pitying God has made ready for this work of love a Beecher, an Edwards, a Hunt, a Mathew, a Gough. Has the time come when God will take pity on the Gentile world ; when he will visit the house of Israel and of Judah ; when he will compassionate poor, bleeding Africa; when he will come down upon the sea and gather in the abundance thereof; when he will make the great and the good of by-gone days again speak, though dead, through the pages of Gospel truth ; when he will give wings to the sacred volume, translated into every language, and 500 HAND OF GOD IN BISTORT. Bend it to every nation and tribe — he opens the hearts of his people ; he inspires the wise and the good to join their strength in united bonds; he raises up men and fits them to go to and fro in the earth, to execute hia mission of love. In nothing, perhaps, do we more dis- tinctly mark the Hand of God at work, to carry out his purposes of mercy in our world, than in the origin of our benevolent societies. "When, in the revolutions of time, any particular department of benevolence was to be provided for, how timely the provision has been made ! Men have all at once appeared and seemed in- stinctively to imbibe a love and zeal for a cause for which, but a little time before, they had neither love nor zeal. As soon as in the purposes of the Master they were needed, the spirit sought them out and fitted them for their particular work. He can make the dumb speak, the blind see, the lame walk, the churl liberal. He can make the stones of the valley voc;:l, to spread his word abroad. We might here cite, as a befitting example, the brief and truly illustrious history of Samuel J. Mills. The time had come when the latent spirit of benevolence should be aroused in the bosom of the American Church. Long neglected and abused Africa should now come up in remembrance, be redressed of her un- told wrongs, and her sable sons stretch out their hands to God. American piety should now send forth its healing streams into the great moral deserts of the earth ; a beautiful sisterhood of benevolent institutions should come into being which should send the Bible, the religious book, and the man of God to every kin- dred and tongue where man is found. But who should do it? Who should be charged with a mission so re- plete with the divine mercy, and so productive of the most far-reaching and benevolent results ? We see him, but not on the high places of Zion ; not in her halls of learning, or among her mitred ones ; but he is as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. We find him in some sequestered glen among the hills of New England, with no genealogy to recount but that of an obscure coimtry pastor, with no ancestral inher- RIGHT MEN FOR RIOBT PLACES. 503 itance but that of a pious parentage. Unknown to fame, meek, unpretending, he goes forth to the execu- tion of a mission more honorable than ever fell to the lot of the statesman or the warrior, more lasting than the most stable thing of time. Mills, under God, was the father of benevolent en- terprise in America. How quietly, how effectively, how universally he made his influence felt through every branch of the Church, is known to every one who has read his interesting biography. Through his indomitable energies most of our benevolent institu- tions sprung into being ; from the burning flame of his piety, the great souls of Livingston and Griffin caught the fire which shed forth such light and heat in ser- mons on the " Missionary Enterprise," and which in turn kindled a flame throughout the American Zion which has already shone to the ends of the earth. Short and brilliant was the career of this sainted young man. He was soon transferred to higher spheres of labor, but not till he had originated a system of be- nevolent action, and drawn out and given direction to benevolent feelings which have gained strength and volume with every revolving year until they have ex- panded into a score of mighty streams, which are bearing on their bosoms life and salvation to the ends of the earth. If we may devoutly thank God for the man who led his people from the house of bondage, formed them into a nation, gave them laws, and organi- zed them into a Church ; or for the man who gave to his people their sacred songs ; or for him who was the learned expounder of the Gospel, the writer of a greater portion of the New Testament, and the great apostle to the Gentiles ; or for him who, with apostolic heroism, delivered the Church from the strong arm of great Babylon; or for those heroic men and meek disciples who brought hither and established the Church in this Western wilderness, under better auspices than she had before existed since the days of the apostles, we cer- tainly have reason for unfeigned gratitude for the man whom God made his instrument to bring into opera- tion the benevolence of our great nation. With few of ft04 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORT. those qualities which, in the eyes of tne world, con- Btitute human greatness, Samuel J, Mills was a great man, and was commissioned of God to do a great work. Is the Church of Rome to be scourged and humbled, and the old despotisms of Europe to be broken up, and the way prepared for new organizations both in Church and State, the Great Unknown of Corsica is called from an obscure island and clad with fearful power, and made the sledge-hammer to break in pieces and de- vour nations not a few, and to inflict a deadly wound on the sorest despotism that ever scourged the earth. Is the Church of Scotland to be shaken, sifted, revolutionized — a free evangelical working Church to be redeemed from the moral stagnations of a state religion — a Chalmers, with his band of coadjutors not unworthy the land of Knox, is found ready to meet the crisis. And so it has always been. God has never failed to raise up champions to meet any crisis on human affairs, whether in the civil or religious world. Is Liberty to have a new birth and a new develop- ment ; is a great nation of freemen to be established in this New World ; the science of self-government to be demonstrated; the Christian Church to be placed upon a higher level and to be nourished by her Lord under better auspices than had ever blessed her in the Old World ; is God, in respect to Religion and Liberty, about to make one of those signal advances which ever and anon mark the onward movements of Emmanuel, he raises up and fits for the work a Washington, a Franklin, a Hancock — men brave, prudent, wise, good. Without such men there could have been no Amer- ican Revolution ; the Declaration of Independence would have been a vain boast, and the Revolutionary struggle an abortive effort, which could only have es- tablished political absolutism on a firmer basis and put back the reign of Liberty perhaps for ages. But other thoughts possessed the Divine Mind, other purposes were to be accomplished. And in nothing does th& mighty Hand of God appear more conspicuous than in his preparation of his instruments for the achievement of this singularly grand providential scheme. RIGHT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 505 And we should here, perhaps, make a more spe- cial and distinct mention of the immortal Franhlin. Our historian assigns to him a singularly interesting part in the great drama of our Revolution. "Not half of Franklin's merits," says Bancroft, "have yet been told. He was the true father of the American Union. It was he who went forth to lay the foundation of that great design at Albany, and in New York he lifted up his voice for freedom. Here among us he appeared as the apostle of the Union. It was Franklin who sug- gested the Congress of 1774, and but for his wisdom, and the confidence which that wisdom inspired, it is a matter of doubt whether that Congress would have taken eftect. It was Franklin who suggested the bond of the Union which binds the States from Florida to Maine. Franklin was the greatest diplomatist of the eighteenth century. He never spoke a word too much ; he never failed to speak the right word at the right season." And not the less remarkable, in our onward history, has been the care of an ever-watchful Providence. When our political bark was to be guided through the Sylla and Charybdis of a reckless democracy on the one hand, and a monarchical concentration on the other, we were not without the Roman firmness and wisdom of a Clay. Nor have we lacked the eloquence, and consummate statesmanship, and diplomatic tact of a Webster, when great political principles were to be ex- pounded and settled, or perplexing questions in our foreign relations (as the settlement of our northwest boundary, etc.) were to be adjusted. Only a man form- ed, as was Daniel Webster, for such a time and occa- sion, could save us from an expensive and harassing war. When our battles were to be fought and the honor of our flag to be supported, we were not wanting a Jackson. But the " old hero" fulfilled his great mission neither at New Orleans nor in the Everglades of Flor- ida. The peculiar inflexibility of " Old Hickory" await- ed another occasion. It was for such a time, the time of a South Carolina nullification, that he was raised up. There was, perhaps, not another man in America that f)06 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORT. could have met and suppressed the insurrectionary spirit of that State and of the party that sympathized with the insurrectionary doctrines of that period. The native character of the man — the fact of his being a native of the South, and his re-election to the Presi- dency, all combined to fit him to render his country a service which it has fallen to the lot of few men, if any, to render since the days of the immortal Washington. The pernicious doctrine of nullification produced a dreadful rebellion, and, although we looked anxiously and almost despondingly through the long and tedious years of war and carnage for a heaven-sent, and great controlling spirit who should be able to break the strong arm of rebellion and secure to us an honorable peace, there came at last an inflexible and triumphant leader "to do the will of Him who maketh the right" to triumph. "While we regarded the result with confidence, and recognized the fact that the Great King would make himself manifest therein, we could not decipher His majestic hand throughout it all with that clearness with which we now behold it. We will here hazard a remark or two in reference to the great revolutionary chief of the "Celestials." While we will not claim him as the chosen agent for the work soon, no doubt, to be done in that great empire, still we can not but regard him as an extraordinary instrument in the hands of God for a great work — if not to build that which shall be, to pull down that which shall not be — the "Breakei*" that is to come up — the rod in tlio hand of the Great King, by which he will break to pieces and remove out of the way and prepare for the coming of the kingdom of the Messiali. This singular man has a providential history not to be overlooked. He appears before ns first at the great Literary Examination at Canton in 1834-. Thither, too, had Providence directed the steps of Leang Afa, a con- verted Chinese, who distributed there a large number of books, one of which fell into the hands of young Tae Ping Wang, the destined chief of the Kevolution. He read it, pondered its strange contents, came to Canton, BIGHT MKN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 50t and received further instruction from a missionary, and then disappeared for near a score of years, to emerge in due time to fulfill his great mission. We do not see the end — which is sure, though it may tarry — though He that demolishes may first give place to him that builds. Or to retrace our steps once more, we go back into the reign of Louis XI V. of France, and into the bosom of the Romish Church, and find the same truth beau- tifully illustrated. It was under the reign of the haughty and bigoted Louis — a reign distinguished for a most extraordinary mixture of good and evil, of great and good men, and great and bad men ; the age of Fenelon, Bossuet, and Massillon, when learning and the arts were singularly patronized, and the monu- ments of an illustrious reign were seen in every part of France ; a reign stigmatized by bigotry and foul per- secution ; it was in such a reign that there occurred one of the most extraordinary religious movements of which we have a record. The time at which it occur- red, its circumstances, origin, the subjects of it, and the instrumentality by which it was carried on, all tend to excite our admiration. A pious Protestant lady from England finds herself in France unexpectedly reduced to dependence and want; she is brought to the notice of M. de La Mothe, the father of the afterward justly celebrated Madame Ouyon. He ofters her a home. His daughter was now in an in- quiring state of mind — in a condition peculiarly sus- ceptible to religious impressions. This Protestant lady nobly fulfilled in that Catholic family the mission Providence had assigned her in guiding the mind of this interesting girl. Here was a " kernel of seed-corn dropped from the granary of Protestant truth in En- glaud," and planted by the sure Hand of God in a susceptible and fertile soil. And how it took root and bore a hundred, yea a thousand, fold, the history of the great awakening near the latter half of the seventeenth century is ample voucher. Just at the time when Protestantism was reviving and strengthening in En- gland, this remarkable spiritual movement was taking &08 HAND OF GOD IN HISTOKr. place in France, and all this through the instru mentality of a single individual, and that a woman. Perhaps individual personal piety v^as never more mighty. The Edict of Nantes had been revoked — the agita- tion of the Reformation liad in a good degree passed away. Protestantism had been compelled to quit her favorite fields in Gaul and to seek the dens and caves of the earth ; and now the dark cloud of Komanism had settled down on France, and threatened to be darker and more terrific than ever. But God had yet more people in Babylon that he would deliver. The soil of France had been wet with the blood of the saints which flowed so freely on St. Bartholomew's day. That blood of the martyrs was the seed of the' Church, and it was time it should spring up and bear its harvest. The time had come when God would gather in this harvest, and in a manner, too, the most unexpected. A remarkable divine influence everywhere accom- panied the prayers and the humble, unostentatious la- bors of Madame Guyon. At Gex, Thonon, Grenoble, in France, and Turin, in Italy, religious awakenings occurred which, in modern phrase, would be called powerful revivals of religion. " Friars, priests, men of the world, maids, wives, widows, all came one after another" to hear the wonderful things spoken by this wonderful woman. So great was the interest felt, that for some time, she says, "I was wholly occupied from six in the morning till eight in the evening in speaking of God." Under her instructions knights abandoned the profession of arms and went to preaching the Gos- pel, and multitudes of all classes became the genuine disciples of Jesus. Madame Guyon numbered among her friends and fellow-disciples counts and countesses, dukes and mar- quises, and many of the guiding spirits of France, not to speak of the thousands in humble life who were taught by this extraordinary woman the way of life and immortality. The great Fenelon, archbishop of Cambray, was, EIOnT MEN FOR RIGHT PLACES. 509 under God, indebted to her for that striking religious character which made him so truly a light shining in a dark place. Some sixty or seventy years ago you might have met a young man but just launched forth for the first time on the broad ocean of life in a sparse portion of our Southern country. Jle had gone there as a family teacher. Personally knowing nothing of the power of religion, he found himself a temporary resident in a family who were yet more strangers to irs saving vi- tality, and he was far removed from any place where the Gospel was wont to be preached. At a distance of five miles there was occasionally preaching, but it was the crude ranting of one but ill fitted to secure the attention of, or favorably to impress, the minds of an intelligent family. The consequence was, they seldom attended on the public means of grace anywhere. They " were doomed, for the most part, to silent Sabbaths." Hopeless, to all luiman sagacity, was the religious condition of that 3'oung man. Thrown now upon the world, under so unpropitious circumstances, he would probably yield to the temptations which beset him, and make shipwreck of his eternal interests. But he was a chosen vessel. The e^'e of God was upon him. He should turn many to righteousness — should stand long a pillar in the Church of the living God. He should, as a preacher of the Gospel, as a writer, as a theological professor, and as an eminent Christian, for more than half a century, exert an influence in the Church which seldom falls to the lot of a single man. But how was such a result to be realized ? He who has all hearts in his hands, and all events at his dis- posal, did not lack means of compassing such a pur- pose. The story shall be told in the language of the venerable Doctor, who was once this young man : There was an old, infirm lady who, though she had once lived in afflu- ence, was now, through the profligacy of a bad husband, re H.-md of Qod in the Character, Training, auil Miasiuii iif Muaeit. Moses was the Wiisliington of tlie Jewish Common- 'vealth. Considei-iug tl)e age in which he lived, he was, perliaps, the most extiaordinai'v man that ever lived. We have already briefly alluded to liis histoi-y in the foregoing chapter. We then contemplated the Divine ngency in iitting him as an eminent instrument for the mission given him to fultill. We now take, at least, a cursory survey of that mission irself. Jt forma a prominent cliapter in the world's hist(»ry, and the more intently we study it the moi'e clearly shall we discern, thi-oughout the whole, the footsteps of a won- der-working God. A single passage of the Sacred Tlecord lets us into a secret in the history of Moses which is not so obvious to the superficial reader : " lie siipjmsed that his brethren would have understood iiow tliat God by hi& hand would deliver them : but they undei'stood not." Moses was the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was reared up, as 1 have before said, in all the re- finements and usages of the most enlightened court — was educated in the best schools of E«rypt, for he was " learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." lie spent the first forty years of his life as a pi-iuce of the Egyptian court, and in high esteem with the king. He held — as we may gather fi-om this same speech of Stephen — high offices, and occupied elevated stations in the government, and discharged the duties of his Btation with great honor to himself and fidelity to his government. " He was mighty," says Stephen, '• in words and deeds." We know but the general fact. TTVta^werc the sta- tions he occupied, or hoio particularly he distinguished 512 THE CHAKACTEK AND MISSION OF MOSBS. 513 lifitiReir, Sacred Tlistoiy does not infonn ns. From other sources (wlierlier to be relied upon I do not know) we learn that it was principally as a i/tUltai'y cltieft;e came over the mind of this yuun^, as- piiiiiiT, hitnored man, Ni;w aspirations evidently swell liis bosom. All the offices of Pharaoh's court, all the h«'nor.s Phaiaoh could best«»w, and all the pleasures of Eyrypt, could no h>n«rer sativsfy him. P'or some un- explained reason — and we will suj;:^'est the y;reat moral Change here referred to — we tind Moses (juits the Court of Ejryi't, resi^^ns the hiij:h |)laces of litmor and profit which had bi-en c<»nHdeeen fi»r sevt-ral irenerationn an atliicted and op- ]iressed j)e<>pk'. and more e>pecially so \\*v the last f<»r;y years; for at the lime of the birth of Moses the must bloody decree was enacted aiiainst them. But such had been the chanj^e which had come over the mind <»f the once aspiriuir and honored man, Moses, that he now '•(•h(>^e rather to sutler atHiet'on with the pe, a chief shepherd, perhaps. No partof Moses' life is invested with more curious interest than the forty years he spent in Midian. Yet we know little of the history of tliose years. They Were not years of inactivity, but of toil, and thought, and untiring industry. We meet Moses, after he quits 518 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. his retreat, and forty years' exile, a man of matured experience ; discreet ; his mind highly cultivated ; his zeal chastened ; his heart disciplined — a very different man than when he fled to Midian, and such a man as could never be made simply by the listless life of a shepherd. He evidently exercised himself in things above the ordinary routine of his daily avocations. Once he had believed himself commissioned of Heaven to lead God's people out of bondage, and perhaps to establish them as a nation in the promised land. After such singular rebuffs and disappointments he was probably forced to the conclusion that he had mistaken his calling as touching any such mission. His first attempt had sent him into a hopeless exile, where his liie depended on his seclusion. Any move- ment now on his part to interfere with the relations of his people with the king of Egypt would be certain detection and death. And as years rolled on, and as, toward the latter part of his forty years' exile, he ap- proached the verge of fourscore years, probably the last ray of hope had vanished that he should ever again see his native land, or be used in any way in their deliverance. What sympathies smoldered in his bosom for his oppressed and suffering fellow-country- men— what prayers he offered up for their deliverance, — what hopes he cherished — what promises confirmed his faith that God would interpose his arm in behalf of his people, we can only conjecture. While the lapse of each succeeding year diminished any lingering hope that he might be personally en- gaged in the deliverance of his people, his faith failed not that they were the chosen seed, nor did his interest in them diminish. This is believed to be the period in which Moses wrote the Book of Genesis as inspired of God, or compiled from pre-existing fragments already in his possession ; and this, too, the period in which he composed (if at all) that extraordinary portion of Sacred Writ which so beautifully portrays patriarchal religion in the person of Job and his friends. Mosea was now exactly in the right position to compose such a book as Job. Certain it is that he was not idle dur THB CHARACTER AND MISSION OF MOSBS. 51 i) ing the years of his exile. He was gaining experience, increasing in divine knowledge, disciplining his spirit, invigorating his mind, and unconsciously gathering up his strength for the execution of his, as yet, unknown miesion. How different a man do we find this Moses at the close of the second forty years of his life ! At forty we found him impetous, sanguine, self-relying, and bold. At the close of this period he is meek, subdued in spirit, self-distrusting. He can not now believe God has sent him. He could believe it forty years ago ; but after such a rebuff, after so protracted a delay, after God has dealt with him in so peculiar a manner, he could not believe that he would, at this late day, send him to be the deliverer of his people. And how vain, apparently, for him to return to Egypt — to appear before Pharaoh and the Egyptian court, from whom he had been obliged in such a manner to flee! There was much signilicancy in Moses' appeal to God, that he should not be sent on this weighty em^ bassy to the oppressed people of the house of Israel : " Who am /that /should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Aside from any distrust which possibly he might have entertained at this late period of his life, and after the singular dispensations of Providence toward him, of his own qualifications to perform such a work, the in- terrogatory is doubtless intended to imply the most serious misgivings in the mind of Moses in relation to the reception he might expect in Egypt. It seemed past all human probability that Jie could exert any influence in Pharaoh's court; and least of all that he might favorably interfere in behalf of his Israelitish brethren. For it was at this very point he had com- mitted the offense which had made him odious in the sight of all Egypt. Had he wished to return to his former allegiance as a subject of Pharaoh, or even to his former domestic relations as a son of Pharaoh's daugh- ter, he might possibly expect a pardon for the past and a reinstatement in the favor of the proud monarch. IJnt he wishes to return to take up his work where he 520 HAND OF GOD IN nitiTOUT. had, by coercion, laid it down forty years before. He will now return as one acting under the coniniission (now renewed) which, twoscore years before, had led him to slay the Ei^yprian, and for which act he had been obliged to tlee his country. 1 here was not the slightest human probahility that any but the most ex- traordinary man, and he acting as the commissioned and favored agent of Heaven, could successIuUy exe- cute such a mistsion. What an idea, then, does his triumphant success give us of the man Moses! We mean here to speak of him merely as a man — aside from any inspiration or special divine aid — as a man for the times, a control ling spirit of the age. The achievements of Moses, the results of his missiitn, are obviously the im{)rinr8 of a great mind. Bating all the miraculous circumstances that attended the deliverance from Egyj)r, the {)assage through the wil(lerne.r the most j>art, in the ordinary course <^^ Providence, and through human instrumentality, llumaiily speaking, Moses was the author and origiti- ator of the political system, the moral code, and the ecclesiastical establishment <»f the Jewish people. 1'he uiost extraordinary thiuir in the whole is the intellec- tual and moral character of Moses. In him the lluud THE CHARACTER AND MISSION OF M0SK8. 521 of God is the most conppiciions. That such a man phonld live at such a time and do sncii a work as ho did is the threat miracle. This view of the character and greatness of Moses as a man quite harmonizes with a sifiijjular declaration concerning him in the eleventh chapter of Exodus. The passage seems quite unnecessarv to the connecricm in which it is found, yet it is a fair deduction from what is there related of him. It is said: "Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people." Such a character, it is asserted, was accorded to iiim by his enemies; and it seems from the connec- tion that it was very much tlirough the personal char- acter and individual worth of Moses that the "Lord gave the peoj>le favor in the sight of the Egyptians." We must bear in mind, when estimating the charac- ter of Moses, that when he entered on his last period of forty years, the most important and conspicuous one of the three similar terms in which we find his life di- vided, he was already anoldman. Though the term of human life had not then reached its briefest limit, yet more than four centuries before Moses, Abraham spoke of himself, when a hundred years of age. as beingold. it is therefore one of the most extraordinary features in the history of Moses that he was singularly invigorated, and his life prolonged to accomplish the most ardent and responsible part of his mission after he had reached that period of life when most men are obliged to cease from their activities, if they have not already yielded to the stern mandates of death. At eighty he emerges from his hmg retirement, and with all the ardor and vigor of youth buckles on the harness of the stales- man and the warrior, the diplomatist and the divine, and enters on an illustrious career of another forty years. Surely the hand of the Lord was in it. Wonld we estimate Moses according to his actual worth as a man, and be in a })osition snitably to ad- mire the Hand of God in his history, we must fix an eye njion wfuit he did. AVhat impress of his mind was left on his age, and on all after ages ; what monuments 522 HAITD OF OOD IN HISTORT. remain of his moral and intellectual character ? What works follow him? It is not only true that God did a freat work through Martin Luther which he might ave done through the weakest mortal, but it is true that there was a suitable correspondence between the work and instrument. Martin Luther left on all after ages the imprints of his own giant mind. The Hand of God was in the Reformation of the sixteenth centu- ry ; but in nothing does it appear more conspicuously than in the character and labors of this great man. Would we know the measure of the man, we may find it in the magnitude of the work he accomplished. On this principle we estimate the character of Isra- el's great lawgiver. During the forty years now under review, the op- pressed, servile tribes of Israel, serving under task masters in Egypt, are delivered from their servile rela tions to a strong nation, transported as a body into Canaan, and there organized into a commonwealth, with a form of government and a code of laws centu- ries in advance of any other nation on the face of the earth, and a system of religion which more remarkably distinguished them from all other nations than their civil polity. Now by what human means came to pass this stupendous result in this short space of time ? for human means were employed throughout the whole. We have before us, in some of their highest functions, the work of the liberator, the diplomatist, the lawgiv- er, the conqueror, the statesman, and the theologian ; and in whom did all these offices concentrate? Un- doubtedly, in the man Moses, God surely wrought wonders for Israel; but in nothing does the wonder appear more conspicuous than in the character, train- ing, and mission of Moses. As the father of his coun- try, a deliverer and a conqueror, he was a Washing- ton ; as a legislator, he was a Franklin or a Hancock ; as a statesman, scholar, and poet, he was a Milton ; as a reformer, he was a Luther ; as a meek, devoted saint, he had power with God as an angel. Clad in the panoply of Heaven, he was the mightiest man that ever lived — an extraordinary instrument in the THE CHARACTER AND MISSION OF MOSES. 523 hands of God for the accomplishment of a most extra- ordinary work. But we should quite fail to do justice to the character c>f this extraordinary man if we did not refer, in a more particular manner, to his generalship as a great military leader. We may conceive, to some extent, what mili- tary tact and foresight and talent must have been brought into requisition in order first to subject to military discipline such a "multitude of miserable slaves," and then so to organize them into a regular army that they should do his bidding during forty years, amid all the difficulties and privations of the Arabian desert — cope with the well-trained armies that opposed their passage to and their entrance into Canaan, and finally become the victors of strong kings. No one can read the records of Moses' wars, the history of his battles, without feeling that the organization of such an army out of such hopeless materials — that such discipline, such efficiency, such prowess, were the re- sults of an extraordinary mind. Had Moses come down to us simply as a skillful military tactitian, a wise and brave general, he would deservedly rank among the greatest men that ever lived. After mak- ing all possible allowance for miraculous interposition and assistance, still there remains overwhelming evi- dence of the greatness of the man. The assembling of such a multitude (two or three millions of souls, with their flocks and herds, their utensils, property, and all the needful outfit for such an undertaking), to- gether with the daily oversight of them — reducing the mixed multitude to order, and raising up from them a disciplined army of 600,000 men, acting as the prophet, Eriest, and king of this newly organized people — imply uman capabilities such as, perhaps, have not met in any other mere man. And in no respect, perhaps, does the mental superiority of Moses appear to better ad- vantage than when we meet him as the adjudicator and pacificator of this unwieldly multitude in the wil- derness. Envyings, jealousies, distrustings of man and of God, rebellions, open insurrections were contin- ually arising, which threatened the dismemberment of 524 HAND or OOD IN III8TURT. a community but slightly cemented, and the frustration of the \v'hi)le enterprise. But ni) sooner did Moses appear among the malcontents, and briiig to bear on their discordant spirits the singular energies of his mind, than all was hushed into harmony. When lie said, "Peace, be still!" the tutniilrnous waves of human passion ceased, and the voice of many waters was hushed. A lit type, indeed, was this mighty man of Israel of Him whose voice even the winds and the sea did obey. But we are here brought to contemplate another ex- traordinary feature of this extraordinary nmn. We refer to Moses* faith — his strong and comprehensive grasp on the divine promises — his unwavering trust in God, that, in his contemplated undertaking of conduct- ing two or three millions of people with their lincks and herds, and all their substajice. through the deserrs of Arabia to Canaan, the God of Abraham would be a ready help in every time of need ; and in nothing did this trust more strikingly appear than in reference to the means by which this immense host were to be sus- tained on the march. Moses knew his ground, lie had already spent forty years in this same desert, and well knew how ditticult it often was for even an ordinary caravan to secure supplies of water and provisions f ^r the journej'. And equally well did he know the ditH- culties and dangers to be encountered from marauding tribes and hostile nations. He had led armies in Egypt, and was not ignorant of the difficulty of provis- ioning a large body of men in an enemy's country, either by conveying supplies or by forced contribu- tiims — even in a country which abounded in the needed supplies. But here was a multitude, including cattle and beasts of burden, equal to three millions of men, to be provided for in a desert. It was indeed a stupendous act of faitli in Moses to engage in this undertaking, believing that God would ])rovide for such a host under circumstances that should seem to im])lya constant miracle. The records of faith do not furnish another such example. As Moses leads this vast multitude away from the eastern THK CHARACTBR AND MISSION <^F MOSES. 595 flhore of the Red Sea, and plunges into the desert with a full and happy confidence that they shall be supplied with all needed provisions, and be able to conquer all that shall come against them, there is in the movement a joral sublimity which the annals of history nowhere else furnish. There is but one man with whom we can compare Moses, and that is the great Napoleon. And yet in the most important features of Moses' character there is more of contrast than of comparison. Mentally and physically they were much alike. Their exhaustless energy and endurance, their eagle-ejed sagacity and ■quick and vast comprehension and untiring activity, were strikingly alike. In the arts of war and of peace, in the cabinet and in the field, they stand alike unrival- ed, but morally they stand in as striking contrast. Ha'l Napoleon lived in the times of Moses, and enjoyed the opportunities and been endued with the moral qualities of the reputed son of Pharaoh's daughter, and been ac- tuated by the same motives and impelled on by the same spirit, he would have been second only to the great law-giver of Israel, and the extraordinary captain of Israel's host. Devoutly thankful ought we to be for the gift of great men. They are God's noblest work. And when intellectual greatness and great moral worth are found united, the gift is doubly precious. Great men are the mainspring in the wonderful machinery by which God from time to time revolutionizes the world, and thereby advances his cause among men, and more es- pecially when these great intellects and mighty ener- gies are sanctified, as they become yet more directly and doubly the engines of advancement. For nothing should the people of God more devout, ly pray than that their great men may be good men. One honest statesman — one great, sanctified, devout, Christian man in the senate or cabinet of a nation, or at its head — is worth more to a nation than all the riches of El-Dorado, and is a surer defense than all her armies and navies. There remains but one other view which we would 37 526 HAND OF QOD IN HISTORF. take of the great Hebrew statesman. It is the *»»• 'press which his great mind made on the- future legisla- tion of the world. The Mosaic code was the first in the world to recog- nize the equal rights of the citizen; reverence for law, constitutional government, the principle of trial by jury, general education, freedom of opinion, social order, and individual enterprise and industry as sources of national prosperity and happiness. And it is not, perhaps, too much to assume that the idea of free government and free civil ins'itutions originated in the mind of Moses. "While I do not forget that the "inspiration of the Almighty" gave Moses "under- standing," I mean " there was a spirit in the maw," com- mensurate with the extraordinary work given him to do. The human conception of the idea belonged to Moses. What he did, as a man, to develop the con- ception, to illustrate it, to clothe it in language and reduce it to a system, to enforce the code on the people and to execute it, indicates a strength and scope of mind, and a vigor and decision of character, which has rarely, if ever, fallen to the lot of a mere man. The freedom, the republicanism of the Mosaic cod* is the most extraordinary feature of it. It anticipates by more than thirty centuries the progress of civil liberty, and was, indeed, the parent of it. We admire the liberty which, in those early ages, favored Greece. Whence such an anomaly amid the surrounding despotisms of that age? And ws honor the political sages of that land as prodigies. But that beautiful idea of civil liberty was not Grecian, but Hebrew ; not of Plato, or Solon, or Lycurgus, but of Moses. Plato's ideal republic is perhaps a fairer specimen of the real conception which the intelligent Greeks had of civil liberty, than any realization of liberty which they could furnish. This ideal republic bears evident marks of being borrowed from the Hebrew commonwealth, and Plato's ideal laws and institutions from the code of Moses. And this Grecian liberty — this Hebrew element — became incorporated into the Roman republic ; where THK CHARACTER AND MISSION OF MOSES. 521 It found even a more congenial soil, till choked and smothered by the avarice and ambition of selfish men. The famous Twelve Tables were confessedly borrowed from the Greeks, and betray a Mosaic origin. Through these channels, as well as from the Bible itself, the principles of the Mosaic code have found their way into the jurisprudence of all civilized nations. "Sir Matthew Hale has traced the influence of the Bible, generally, on the laws of England. Sismondi testifies that Alfred the Great, in causing a republica- tion of the Saxon laws, inserted several statutes taken from the code of Moses, to give strength and cogency to the principles of morality. The same historian also states, that one of the first acts of the clergy, nnder Pepin and Charlemagne, was to improve the legisla- tion of the Franks by the introduction of several of the Mosaic laws."* The laws of Sweden were per- meated with the same leaven. And no laws and insti- tutions are more thoroughly pervaded by the spirit and wisdom of the Hebrew legislator than those of the United States. As despotism vanishes away, as free- dom advances, governments will be more and more molded after the pattern shown to Moses in the mount. The mighty impress of his great mind will appear with new distinctness. The views which have now been expressed qnite harmonize with the conclusions of Dr. Milman in his " History of the Jews." After having thoroughly can- vassed the character and intellectual dimensions of Moses, and the widely extended influence of his legis- lative wisdom and political sagacity, he says that " the Hebrew law-giver has exercised a more extensive and permanent influence over the destinies of man than any other individual in the annals of the world." * ProfBMor E. 0. Wines on " The Laws of the Andent Hebrem." CHAPTER XXIX. Ood in War. Berolutions. War the Precursor of Iluman Adraneement, ftom Vt* athoD to tbe British Isles. * Out of his mouth goeth a sword, that with it he should smite the nations." — Rev, xix. 15. The inquiry which claims our attention in the pres- ent chapter is, How has God carried forward his work through tlie instrumentality of war f How He has^ by this terrific agency, removed people and nations out of the way that obstructed his purposes, and brought into being other nations which he would fit, better to advance his work. War removed the Canaanites out of the way, and war made Israel a nation. "War, car- nage, conquest, built up Greece, Rome, England, America. War has plowed through the troubled wa- ters ; wave of commotion has dashed on wave, and the warring elements have presaged dissolution ; yet at but a short remove in his foaming wake have followed the arts of peace. Science, civilization, freedom, and re- ligion have had their way heralded by the thunders of war. Rough places have been made smooth, the crooked made straight, mountains removed out of the way, and valleys exalted by this dreadful engine of the Almighty Hand. War is the bitterest scourge of Heaven. Yet how many things in this apostate world of ours can be done only by the scourge ! Violence and outrage had arrived at such a pass in the antediluvian world that no remedy short of extermination could reach the case ; and such has been the character of man in every age since, that the same specific has ever and anon to be applied. Though God does not again give up the en- tire race to destruction, he often commissions war, famine, or pestilence to exterminate individual tribes or nations. 528 WAR, AN AGENCY OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 629 In order to a right appreciation of our subject, we must bear in mind that God is not, as we may gather from his providential dispensations, wont to advanca his cause among the nations by reformation so much as by revolution — not so much by their conversion aa by their destruction. Individuals are converted and a Clinrcli built up and perpetuated ; but tribes and na- tions that cast off God are themselves cast olf and destroyed by some commissioned scourge — usually war. Pagan nations almost constantly carry on the work of extermination one on another. Butchery is among them quite the occupation of life; but what they fail to do, as civilization and Christianity advance, civ- ilized and Christian nations consummate. God has a rich scheme of mercy to cari*y out in this rebellious province of his empire. Satan is the god of this world. By usurpation on his part, and per- mission on the part of God, and for wise and myste- rious purposes, he has been allowed to exercise a uni- versal dominion on the earth. Chi-ist comes with the claims and armed with tlie prerogatives of rightful proprietor and king; but he csimes into an enemy's country. Every inch of territory lie gains is at the expense of blood. A sword goeth before Ilim — with it he smites the nations. He came not to send peace on earth, but a sword. Christianity, with all its concom- itant blessings and peaceful results^ has been ushered in ; room has been prepared for her, and she has been installed in one country after another by the terrific agency of war. Her way has been prepared by the confused noise of war and "garments rolled in blood. '^ As a confirjnation of this awful truth, introducing ua at the same time to a more heart-sickening acquaint ance with the wretched condition into whicli this world has been brought by sin, we may let the eye or>c.e more glance over the pages of the world's history. We need only select examples. When God would make room for his ])eople in the land which had been long before granted them ; when he would drive out nations strong and hostile, and put his people in their stead, and defend them there, and 530 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. nourish them into a great nation, and make them re Bpected by all the nations around them, and a blessing to, all those nations, by what means did he principally do it ? A sword went before Him. The angel of death, clothed in the dread panoply of war, smote the nations on either side and opened a highway for them from Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, and gave them for an inheritance the land of their enemies. When civilization and the Church of God were about to pass from the effete races of Shem, to expe- rience a fuller and richer development among the races of Japheth, what had the puissant arm of war to do in this singular transition? By what means was the western progress of Orientalism arrested — by what means Oriental government, philosophy, religion, so- ciety, prevented from extending over all Europe and across the Atlantic into this New "World? What call- ed Greece into existence and made her what she was ? What Rome, England, America? Our minds at once recur to great battle-fields which decided the fate of these nations, and made them the mediums through which God wrought out their high destinies. War, in the hands of the great King, saved Europe from the blighting invasions of Paganism and the religion of Mecca, and prepared her for the higher destiny that awaited her. War was the solvent before which melt- ed away her gross barbarism — the sledge-hammer which broke to pieces the baronial despotisms of the feudal system, and prepared Europe for an advanced civil condition. ' And what but the wars of Charles V". of Germany, Francis I. of France, and Henry YHI. of England, checked the usurpations of the Pope, made a favorable disposition of military power, and prepared the way for the Reformation ? The wars of Philip H. of Spain in the Netherlands, and against England, are singularly overruled to establish the Reformation : and the wars of England in India, and the East, and in America, to extend Protestantism into new continents. The wars of Napoleon humble Rome and check the usurpations of Popery. The hostile bayonets of the English open vast domains to Protestantism in Bir WAK, AN AGENCY OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 531 inah and China ; and, more recently, the American arms gain from the Pope large territories in Mexico. It is impossible to go into the details of the wars here alluded to, or to trace, in more than a general survey, their results on the destinies of the world, what 36 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. curbed and prevented from occupying that place iu Europe which was reserved for the future Roman Em pire. The Athenian Republic had formed the plan of universal empire. Having already successfully re- pelled the Persians at Marathon, she designed to con- (j^uer Sicily, Italj', Carthage, Gaul, and the Grecian states. This would be to conquer the world. Romo dien had not been ; and the states and kingdoms which have arisen out of that empire had been penetrated with the semi-heathenisli civilization, philosopliy, civil polity, and religion of Greece, instead of that higher order of civilization which pervaded Rome and the nations which sprung from her. But how and where again did Heaven decide whe- ther rising Rome should be crushed in the germ that Greece might give laws to the world ? The Athenians had laid siege to Syracuse, a strongly fortiiied city in Sicily, and in the i-esult of this siege lay hid the des- tiny of Athens, Greece, and the future progress of the world. If victorious, the grand scheme of Grecian conquest might be carried out ; if unsuccessful, Greece must retire into her little peninsula and become ab- sorbed in the conquests other northern neighbor. We watch the deadly struggle about the walls of Syracuse. We see in it only armies marching and countermarch- ing— the deadly onset — the heart-sickening carnage — the stratagems and wicked schemes of war — the wicked men engaged, and the seltish, wicked passions engen- dered. But as the historian looks back on that scene of carnage now, he sees something more than the death-struggle of a few thousand men. The destiny of the world was suspended on that light. The aspiring Grecian state was vanquished, and Europe was spared for a better destiny. While the Great Warrior of Macedon was fulfilling his mission in Asia and Africa (a mission of carnage and bloodshed), the beneficial results of which were felt in Europe a thousand years afterward, the colos- sal Roman Empire, like a young giant preparing to run a race (and what a race!), was growing into a gi gantic manhood. But by what means did she begin tc VTAR, AN AGENCY OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 531 exist — bj what means grow to her enormous stature, and with her great iron feet trample the nations in tlie dust ; and by what means was she at hist compelled to yield the scepter of empire into better hands? The hoarse voice of war replies. The history of Kome is little else than a liistory of her wars. And when the glory should depart from her, and she should cease longer to be Heaven's medium throuorh which to ad- vance the cause of man, and when he would transfer still farther westward all of Rome that was worth pre- serving, a sword still went before. War prepared the way for the establishment of the Germanic Empire, built up the European states, planted the Saxons in Great Britain ; and as the star of empire moved west- ward, it was everywhere heralded and the way pre- pared by the confusion and carnage of the battle-field. Did space here allow of details, we might easily quote the records of the wars and battles which amid ignorance and barbarism opened a passage for the on- ward march of civilization. The first liglit that dis- turbed the darkness of the barbai'ous nations of Europe was the light which flashed out from the dark cloud of war. The first thunder that shook those slumbering nations was the thunder of war. We might refer to the wars of Rome, which added conquest to conquest, and made Rome the world ; and then extended the language, the laws, and institutions of Rome to her re- motest provinces. Or we might speak of the war in Germany, near the commencement of the Christian era (A. D. 9), when the renowned Arminins, the old Saxon, turned back the Roman legions, and thereby determined the grave question, whether Rome should transmit to Europe the civilization she had received from Greece, and the rich accessions which she had added, through the Germanic race and the Anglo-Saxon stock, or whether it should travel through Gaul and Spain, and become identified with races as diflereni from the old, pure, hardy, brave, industrious, virtuoua German races, as the present Anglo-Saxons are from the giddy, mercuriai French, and the surly, indolent Spanish. This point, a turning-point in the destiny of 538 HAND OP GOD IN HISTORY. • Europe, was gained at the famous battle 0/ " Winfield," where the noble and brave Arminius overthrew the Roman legions, and forever arrested Roman power in Germany, and prepared the way for the establishment of the future German Christian empire, out of which come our Anglo-Saxon fathers, and whence arose the English nation, English law, language, civilization, society, and whatever of English power and influence is, the world over, the acknowledged, modern element of human advancement. "We might here trace the agency of a series of wars which subdued many a barbarous nation and gave nationality to Germany ; which kept at bay the over- whelming power of Rome, and which opened the way for the establishment of the chosen race in the British Isles. But the history of those tumultuous times fur- nish us with a yet more signal instance. The Roman Empire, Germany, all Europe, seemed on the verge of being overwhelmed by a terrible avalanche from the highlands of central Asia. The barbarous Huns, under the guidance of the fierce, brave, and sagacious Attila, had swept, like a meteor of desolation, over all Northern Asia, including China, and ruled with a rod of iron all the nations between the Baltic and the Levant. All Eastern Europe was theirs, and one deadly blow more, and all Western Europe would be brought within their dreadful embrace. The work of centuries, the fair fabrics of Greece, and the still statelier structures which Rome had added, would be trampled beneath the Vandal feet of the barbarous Hun, and the hope of Europe and of the world would set in darkness. Then "Modern Europe" had not been. England, with her world-encircling influence for human progress, had not been, and the star of Liberty had never arisen in America. But the great Eastern " Scourge" had fulfilled his dreadful mission ; his bounds were set; he had inflicted the just judgments of Heaven on corrupt Christian nations ; and now his mighty arm must be broken. Flushed with the victory of a hundred tights, these barbarous foes (A. D. 451) invaded Gaul, and nothing seemed to hinder that WAR, AN AGENCY OF HUMAN PR0ORK88. 539 in a few years all Europe would groan beneath their heavy tread. Rome, though she had nearly accom- plished her destiny, had yet another bloody mission to execute. The degenerate Romans were once more roused to their ancient prowess, and Actus, the last of their generals, led a formidable army into Gaul, and ic conjunction with the brave Theodoric, king of the Yisigoths, joined in deadly strife the Great Barbarian and struck the death-blow to the power of the invading Huns. By this means Germany was spared, that the German states might consolidate an empire and form a nationality ; receive the heritage which had been for centuries accumulating ; prepare the race which should transmit it to the farthest and the latest nations of the earth. "This victory over the Hunnish host not only rescued from destruction the old age of Rome, but preserved for centuries of power and glory the Ger- manic element in the civilization of modern Europe." Historians have not failed to note the important issue t^. ' he world of this contest against Asiatic bar- barism Rome had fulfilled her destiny. " She had received and transmitted through her once ample do- minion the civilization of Greece. She had broken up the barriers of narrow nationalities among the various states and tribes that dwelt around the coasts of the Mediterranean. She had fused these and many other races into one organized empire, bound together by a community of laws, of government, and institutions. Under the shelter of her full power the true faith had arisen in the earth, and during the years of her decline it had been nourished to maturity, and overspread all the provinces that ever obeyed her sway."* Rome was no longer needed ; yet it most deeply concerned the destiny of the world what nations should receive and transmit " Rome's rich inheritance of empire." Whether the Goths and Germans should, out of the splendid fragments of that broken empire, construct states and kingdoms that should become " the free members of the commonwealth of Christian Europe ; • Bankers " History of tb« Popca." 540 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. or whether Pagan savages from the wilds of Central Asia siiould crush the relics of classic civilization and the early institutions of the Christianized Germans in one hopeless chaos of barbaric conquest." Such waa the question decided on the plains of Chalons. But we may trace the same terrific agency in an- other line. Passing over the well-known Punic wars, in which Rome and Carthage, the two great rival pow ers for universal empire, after many a hard-fought bat tie, finally settled, on the banks of the Metaurus, the question of Roman supremacy, and gave a death-blow to the rival race, we turn to the great Saracenic Em- pire which, like a great cloud of locusts, arose in the seventh century, and, at the end of its first centenary, had spread over a great part of the known world. Mo- hammedanism was a Heaven-comuiissioned scourge to chastise corrupt Christian nations, and to inflict the just judgments of God on all Pagans. And most em- phatically was this dreadful mission executed by the sword. The Moslems covered the earth with carnage ; and they thought to do more than to execute their ap- pointed mission. They turned their hostile spears to- ward the very heart of Europe, and, to all human ken, it seemed impossible that their career should be ar- rested. Rome had lost the power of resistance ; tlie German Empire was but crudely formed, and there seemed no power that could turn back the fierce and victorious warriors of the Crescent. But God prepared a " Hammer" which should break them in pieces. Charles Martel (Charles, the great mallet) had been raised up at this time, and prepared to confront as brave a man as ever led a Saracenic host. Already had the followers of the Prophet dissevered half the Roman Empire, and Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, and Spain lay prostrate before them. The great Abderah- man was now placed at the head of one of the best armies that ever took the field ; and nothing that bravery, discipline, ambition, pride, past success, and confidence could do, was wanting to secure for this army a victorious career through all the rest of Eu- rope. This formidable host cross the Pyrenees ; their TAKING OF CONSTANTINOPLS 38 WAR, AN AOBNOT OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 54b march is signalized by an almost unparalleled havoc and devastation. Nothing can stand before them. They at length appear before the walls of Tours. Here the Saracenic Napoleon meets in deadly strife the man of destiny. An awful death-struggle follows. For seven days the dead are piled on dead, and the earth drinks in blood without measure. Charles and his brave Franks are victorious. Abderahman is slain ; a wretched remnant of the countless hosts of Mecca are driven back, and Europe is forever saved from the iron rule of the calif. The spirit ot the Cross, and not of the Crescent, shall henceforth energize the west- wardly advancing civilization of the world. We have seen how the lines of Providence had foi generations been converging toward the British Islands, and pointing that out as the center of the next great empire, and they who speak the English language the next chosen agents in the ever-onward progress of man. But the mission to be executed by the nation that should now have the supremacy, and by the race that should next be the ministers of Providence, must dif- fer in their character from any that had gone before. No preceding nationality and no preceding national character would serve the Divine purposes now. The Roman Empire and most of the nations of Europe had already contributed largely to the construction of the new and reviving empire. The ravages and issues of war had already brought together Romans, Celts, Sax- ons, Goths, Danes, and Norwegians ; yet the com- pound was not complete. There must needs be anoth- er element of a higher metal. In the formation of na- tional character is displayed the same Divine wisdom as appears in the formation of other agencies by whicli to advance his cause. The whole is a system of recon- structing and new compounding. By the strong power of His arm ; by war, more usually, he breaks to pieces old systems ; and by another series of wars, perhaps, he constructs out of such of the broken fragments as he does not reject a new system better suited to the- times. Already the Saxon element had become pre- dominant in Britain. There could be no better sub- 544 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Btratum of national character. It is the groundwork of the English character ; and yet scarcely more than the groundwork. English character had been quite another thing, had it not been incorporated with the Norman. England and her descendants are indebted to the Norman Conquest for the brave, enterprising, chivalric character which distinguishes them the world over. The native nobility, the high bearing of the English race is the Norman element. The Saxons were of Germanic origin, staid, industrious, persever- ing, plodding, patient, distinguished for the more quiet and enduring virtues and higher moral developments. They exhibited, as far back as we can trace their his- tory, an innate love of liberty, and were a law-loving and a law-abiding people. But not till the blood in their veins had been '''' high-Tnettled''' by the chivalrous Normans, were they full-grown Englishmen. Never was there a happier mixture of blood. The result was, the noblest race that ever lived. It was the Conquest that infused in the Saxons a new virtue, and it was from this union that the political liberties of England arose and have been so nobly maintained. ' By what means was this singular element infused into the then dominant race on the British Island? Undoubtedly by war and conquest. Had the battle of Hastings issued in the expulsion of the invading Nor- mans, we might have heard nothing of the British Empire, of constitutional government, of American liberty, and of the present advanced condition of the world in every thing that goes to aggrandize and bless man. This, under (rod, has been achieved through the mighty power of English character and English insti- tutions. Amid the carnage of the hard-fought field of Hastings was laid the foundation of English great- ness and power. Still the superstructure was to be raised Nothing was yet matured. There was no England — no Magna Charta — no well-arranged gov- ernment— no potent institutions that should revolu- tionize the world. The English Empire was to be con- Bolidated — its nationality to be created — the native tribes of the island must be absorbed in the two prn- •WAR, AN AGENCY OF HUMAN PROORKSS. 545 vailiug races, and Britain must be cut aloof from Con- tinental alliances and dependencies. But to tell how this was done would be to rehearse the records of a score of wars. " The long and obstinate conflicts," says Alison, " which the Anglo-Saxons had to maintain, first with the natives, and afterward with each other, were the first cause which, in the British Isles, revived the en- ergy of the people. The small divisions of the Saxon kingdoms, by producing incessant domestic warfare, and bringing home the necessity of courage to every cottage, eminently contributed in this way to the form- ation of national character." Indeed, he afiirms that these laid the original foundation of English character. We read the records of the inveterate and bloody wars which were for a long series of years waged be- tween England and France. Those were wicked hos- tilities which engaged the worst passions of man. Yet seldom have we occasion so profoundly to admire how God, in all the bloody, wicked conflicts, made the wrath of man redound to his own glory. In the flrst series of these wars we find England losing one after another of her provinces on the Continent, and solid- ating and strengthening her empire at home. And next we find the very existence of France threatened by the power of British arms. Modern France was essential to European civilization, and therefore she must not become a subject province of England ; and modern England was equally essential to the civiliza- tion and social and moral advancement of the world, and therefore she must not be allowed to become (as at one time she seems in danger) a province of France. Both these objects were secured by those long pro- tracted and desolating wars which make so large a part of the history of England and France — from the date of the battle of Hastings, in 1066, to the battle of Orleans, in 1429, which was followed by a speedy and final expulsion of the English from France. Few wars are more distinctly marked by the Divine interposition than the one last referred to. England had possession of all the northern portion of France 546 HAND OF GOD IN BISTORT. as far as the river Loire, and her victorious army, led by one of the bravest and most experienced generals of the age, was marching to the conquest of the south- em portion. To all human foresight nothing would prevent the conquest of France, and the annihilation of her nationality. Already the stronghold of Orleans was in possession of the enemy, and from that point the conquest of the country seemed inevitable. This was a dark and desponding day for France. But mark hero the interposition of the Divine Hand I Deliverance arose from a source the most unexpected. In the little retired village of Domremy there dwelt a poor peasant, who there, from year to year, pursued in quiet his hum- ble avocations and reared up his children in the strict Practices of piety. These secluded villagers had often card of the ravages of the invaders, and at the age of thirteen his daughter Joan, afterward known in history as the celebrated Joan of Arc, or the " Maid of Orleans," believed herself to be divinely commis- sioned to deliver her country. Strengthened by the convictions of five years, she caused herself at length to be brought before the Prince, who, after some hes- Hation, encouraged her wishes, and at length put her at the head of his armies. She won a signal victory, which saved France from dismemberment, and left her to become a nation only second to England in the great arena of human advancement. " It is impossible," says Prof. Creasy, " to deny her paramount import- ance in history. Besides the formidable part that she has for nearly three centuries played, as the Bellona of the European commonwealth of states, her influence during all this period over the arts, the literature, the manners, and the feelings of mankind, has been such as to make the crisis of her earlier fortunes a point of world-wide interest ; but it may be asserted, without exaggeration, that the future career of every nation was involved in the result of the struggle by which the unconscious heroine of France, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, rescued her country from be- coming a second Ireland under the yoke of the triumpli- ant English." CHAPTER XXX. More of War as an Agency of Hnman Progress. The Wars of Spain with the Netii. erlands — with England. England with France. English Wars in India. Tha American Revolution. The French Eerolution, and the Wars of Napoleon. The Great (Conflict. We have already followed the bloody footsteps of war, and seen how, as the smoke of the battle-field cleared away, and the groans of the dying ceased, He who extorts life from death, and brings lasting good from the sorest evil, has made the desolations even of the battle-field to germinate and bring forth some of his choicest fruits. We paused in our survey of the great arenas of national contests when we had seen the threatened nationality of Fiance secured at the battle of Orleans, and that (prospectively) great nation fairly launched in the important career which she has since run among the nations of the earth ; and, at the same time, England, who had so glorious a destiny to fulfill, secured too, in her nationality, by the unfortunate is- sue of her wars on the Continent. She was, by this means, driven back to her own island, and compelled to develop the resources of her own people, and to lay the foundations of those institutions and of that char- acter which has made England what she is, and, at the same time, to cultivate a closer alliance with the Ger- man races ; an alternative for which the world has reason to be devoutly thankful. For, important as the influence of France has been on European advance- ment, her influence on the world at large scarcely ad- mits of a comparison with that of England. But a graver question remained to be decided. It related more especially to the religious element that should energize the nation and the race which should go forth to the nations as the divinely-commissioned agents of their civilization and moral advancement. Should the Pope and the priest ; should old Roman 547 548 HAND OF OOD IN HISTORT. Paganism, profanely baptized in the name of Christ, yet full of the spirit of Anti-Christ ; should Romanism be the religious element that should leaven the civil- izers of the world, that should dwarf the mind, and curb the enterprise, and chill the hearts of the nations ; or should the life-inspiring, the elevating, the enlight- ening, the mind-emancipating, the purifying religion of the ^ew Testament be the religion of the civilizing race ? — a religion of form or of the heart — Romanism or Protestantism ? Another grave question to be decided amid the commotion and carnage of war. The great Reformation of the sixteenth century had terribly shaken the nations of Europe, and dissevered large domains from the ghostly dominion of the Pope. Now commenced a struggle on the part of Rome (which continued near a century) to regain her lost possessions. Philip II. of Spain, with his lieutenant, the Duke of Alva, of notorious and bloody memory, became now the champion of Rome. Spain was at this period at the zenith of her power and glory, and seemed fast on the high road to universal empire. There was no power in Europe, but England, that dared question her supremacy, and her colonies ex- tended from the western coast of America to the east- ern limits of Asia. Peru, Mexico, New Spain, Chili, the richest portions of the New World, owned the sway and enriched the cofi'ers of Philip, and rich provinces in Asia and Africa bowed at the foot of the Spanish throne. Spain had now just been enriched by the ex- haustless mines of America ; her army was the best disciplined and furnished of any in the world, and was commanded by the Prince of Parma (Alexander Far- nese), the most distinguished military genius of the age. Portugal, with all her dependencies in the far West and the far East, had just fallen into the hands of Philip. France had become too weakened to ofier any effectual resistance to his ambition. Philip, therefore, had on his side the power of enormous wealth, of numbers and extensive territory, and of the best army in the world ; the power of the Pope and the priest, of superstition and tlae most unrelenting WAE, AN ELEMENT OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 549 bigotry ; and, to human sagacity, no earthly power could stand against him. Thus fortified at every point, and replenished with all imaginable resources, Philip turned his arms to- ward the Low Countries to suppress, with the sword, the rebellious tendencies of Protestantism in the Neth- erlands ; and the result was the establishment there of a Protestant kingdom. Irritated by his reverses there, though not yet glutted with the blood of 36,000 mar tyrs, and determined to attack Protestantism in its stronghold, Philip fitted out an armament against England, known as the Spanish Invincible Armada, which for pride, wealth, magnificence, the munitions of war which it contained, and the provisions and re- sources of all kinds which it carried, and the number and character of the men who accompanied it was, per- haps, never excelled by any armament that ever fioat- ed on the deep. It threatened to annihilate England at a blow ; and with England, to prostrate the reformed religion. But the overruling Hand was most signally in that war, and he brought out of it results the most glorious, and as lasting as time. He had placed upon the throne of England at that time the stern and invin- cible Elizabeth ; he had trained in the navy of that country some of the most distinguished admirals that ever commanded on the seas — such men as Prake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Howard, and Walter Raleigh ; he had sent a series of disasters on the invaders. The crisis came, and the enemy were scattered as by the breath of the Almighty. England triumphed ; Prot- estantism, liberty, and religion were established on a surer foundation than ever before. England should henceforth become the palladium of the reformed faith, and the medium of transmitting its blessings to future times and nations ; and the strong arm of Spain was here broken. She never recovered from the disasters of these wars. The Duke of Alva, in his merciless ravages in the Netherlands, kindled a war which burned sixty-eight years — till the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War— and cost Spain $800,000,000. Spain, spoiled of her treasures, bereaved of her best 550 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORT. men, and suffering the righteous retribution of Heav en, has, from that hour, fallen from her high estate and become one of the most helpless and despicable na- tions on the face of the earth ; while England, on the other hand has, during the same period, been filling up a history grand beyond any thing the world has before known. The Thirty Years' War, which devasted Europe, was but the protracted struggle of Protestant nations, on the one hand, to protect themselves against Romish invasion ; and of Popish nations on the other, to re- conquer the states which, by the Reformation, had been wrested from the iron sway of the Pope, If Prot- estantism gained nothing by the struggle, it is much that she secured what she already had. She parried the thrusts of the Beast, and kept him at bay till the English lion was grown. A crisis was approaching. "We have but recently seen Spain grown into the great power of the Beast ; gaining the ascendency and threatening to trample the Reformed Church and all Protestant dominion in the dust. And we have seen, too, how God interposed, through the terrific engine of war, to arrest and pros- trate this power. We shall now see the Beast gather- ing strength again, and consolidating his powers in France, and preparing for another onslaught upon Protestantism. Spain, paralyzed by the shock which demolished her Invincible Armada, had sunk to a second-rate power, and has never recovered herself. France now in her turn became the Euphrates which nourished the great Babylon. How great were the swellings thereof the history of the French Empire in the reign of Louis XIY. doth abundantly testify. As Spain declined, France grew. When Louis XIV. ascended the throne she had already for nearly a cen- tury been gaining strength and consolidating into a great nation ; but not till this extraordinary man came to the throne did France become a formidable power in Europe. "Not only was his government a strong one, but the country he governed was strong — strong in its geographical situation, in the compactness of ita WAR, AN ELEMENT OF HUMAN rftOGRESS. 551 territory, ii the number and martial spirit of its inhab- itants, and in their complete and undivided national- ity." Yigor was displayed in every branch of the government: in finances, in military arrangements, in public works, in a vigorous police and judiciary. Already the colossal power of France threatens the liberties of Europe and the safety of Protestantism. But next we see the late formidable empire of Spain annexed to France. The ambitious Louis now sways his scepter over the united empires of Francis I. and Charles Y. In the acquisition of Spain he had extend- ed his empire over the Netherlands, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, Milan, and other possessions in Italy ; over the Philippines and Manilla islands in Asia ;' and over the greater part of Southern and Central America, California, and Florida. Spain, though debilitated by misrule, yet with her immense colonial possessions and wealth, both at home and abroad, possessed enormous resources, which only needed a vigorous hand to resuscitate. Louis had both the ability and vigor to wield the power thus placed at his command. His throne was the embodiment of the power of Rome. The Protestant nations were fully apprised of this, and had already formed an alliance against France. No one European power could hope to stand against this formidable nation, and it seemed a hope against hope that all united could stand. England was to Protestantism what France was to Popery, and consequently the subju- gation of England was the darling project of Louis. And the probabilities at this point are altogether in favor of his success ; and what then would have been the condition of Europe, and the prospects of the world, and of the Protestant religion? These are so admirably summed up by Alison that I will quote his words: "Had a power, animated by the ambition, guided by the fanaticism, and directed by the ability ot Louis XIY. gained the ascendency in Europe, beyond all question a universal despotic dominion would have oeen established over the bodies, a cruel spiritual thrall- dom over the minds of men. France and Spain united 552 HAND OF OOD IN BISTORT. under Bourbon princes and in a close family alliance — the empire of Charlemagne with that of Charles Y. — the power which revoked the Edict of Nantes and perpetrated the massacre of St. Bartholomew, with that which banished the Moriscoes and established the Inquisition, would have proved irresistible, and beyond example destructive to the best interest of mankind. "The Protestants might have been driven, like the Pagan heathens of old by the son of Pepin, beyond the Elbe ; the Stuart race, and with them Roman ascend- ency, might have been re-established in England ; the fire lighted by Latimer and Ridley might have been extinguished in blood ; and the energy breathed by religious freedom into the Anglo-Saxon race might have expired. The destinies of the world might have been changed. Europe, instead of a variety of inde- pendent states, whose mutual hostility kept alive courage, while their national rivalry stimulated talent, would have sunk in the slumber attendant on univer- sal dominion. The colonial empire of England would have withered away and perished, as that of Spain has done in the grasp of the Inquisition. The Anglo- Saxons would have been arrested in their mission to overspread the earth and subdue it. The centralized despotism of the Roman Empire would have been re- newed on continental Europe ; the chains of the Ro- mish tyranny, and with them the general infidelity of France before the Revolution, would have extin- guished or perverted thought in the British Islands." But the Divine purposes could not fail. England should not be subjugated — France should not prevail — the progress of the world should not be arrested and turned back into the darkness of the dark ages. No good destiny could be associated with France. She was a doomed nation. She was drunk with the blood of the saints; the mark of the Beast was upon her, and she should remain reserved in chains of darhness until the great day of her reckoning. And how aw- fully has the past history of France verified such an anticipation ! Her kingdom has been full of darkness ; her counsels have been confounded, and the energies ■ ■-.-■■iLunwnnaaq!;^ WAR, AN KLKMBNT OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 555 of a sin-gularly energetic and active people have not, except during some short spasms, been able to make France scarcely more than a fickle and a frivolous nation. Sad indeed would be the condition of the world at the present day had France and the French people been permitted to take the lead in the work of human advancement. With her religion like an incu- bus upon her, she can not herself progress ; and with the indignant frown of Heaven upon her for her past guilt, she could at best be but a blind leader of the blind. The crisis came ; and war again decided the great question between Rome and the Bible. England, Sweden, and the Protestant states were found in alli- ance against France and her dependencies. The base and brave — the great and truly heroic and sagacious Marlborough led the allied forces. After much tur- moil and carnage of war, the two armies stood con- fronting each other on the banks of the Danube, near the village of Blenheim, and here, by a slaughter almost unparalleled in modern warfare, the ascendency of Protestantism was established. France was hum- bled, and the Anglo-Germanic race were left unim- peded by the great Romish millstone, to prosecute their mission of human progress. Yet the struggle did not end here. Though in the supremacy of England and the weakening of France the power of Rome had been checked in Europe, yet both in the far East and in the far West the world went wondering after the Beast. The Scarlet Lady of the Tiber seemed more than compensated for her losses in Europe by her vast acquisitions abroad. Asia, " the world of the hoary past, and America, the world of the brilliant future," seem about to meet and bow to- getJier at her footstool. In America, France, the right hand of Rome, claimed as his nearly the whole of the !New World. The French flag was seen on the shores of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, and through the rich prairies of the West to the Mississippi, and the whole of that wide and beautiful valley from St. Anthony's Falls to the Gulf of Mexico was, by reason 556 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORT. of French dominion, the land of the priest and the crucifix. Pittsburg (Fort Du Quesnes) was a French settlement, and the rich lands of the Oliio, French ter- ritory, and Lake Champlain and Lake George were held by the same authority. Central America and nearly or quite all South America were bound to Rome by the same " chains of darkness." Rome, in her pride, already saw the Amazon and Orinoco, the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, pouring into her lap the riches of a continent, and the Seven Hills adorned by the exhaustless treasures of our mines. While, on the other side of the globe, the wealth of India and her teeming millions of immortal souls, seemed quite as nearly in her grasp. "At the middle of the last century [says one in whose language I am happy to speak*] the peninsula of India, containing about one sixth of the human race, seemed about to pass from the dominion of the Great Mogul to that oi ' his Most Christian Majesty' of France, ' the eldest son of the Church.' France had established her em- pire over thirty millions of people in Southern India, M'hile yet England had only a few trading agents at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and these despised and insulted both by French and natives. The idea of an Indo-British empire had occurred to no human mind. The existence of England's commercial factories even was in peril. But the idea of an Indo-French empire, to be governed nominally by native rulers, and sup- ported by native armies under European discipline and command, had occurred to the sagacious and aspiring Dupleix, French governor of Pondicherry ; and he was marching triumphant and almost unresisted to its fulfillment. The throne of Delhi trembled before this son of the Church. And what a prize stirred his am- bition! The realms of the Great Mogul, stretching from the peerless heights of the Himalaya to Cape Comorin — surpassing in extent the twenty-five Amer- ican States east of tlie Mississippi, with revenues more ample and subjects more numerous than belonged to * Add real of Eev. .James Kilboume. WAS, AN ELBMENT OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 559 any European state — India, the goal of the merchant, and the conqueror for thousands of years — India shall be a province of France, and the jewels of Golconda and the gold of Delhi shall enhance the magnificence and the power of the Holy Catholic Church. Well might France and Rome exult. The one should see her power forever exalted above that of her Saxon rival. The other might install her priests and saints in every Hindoo temple, transfer the funeral pile from the widow to the heretic, and compel a hundred mil- lions of people to be baptized and saved at once. But India is the heart and crown of Asia, and they who rule in India rule sooner or later from Egypt to the Yellow Sea. A hundred years ago, Rome might think she almost saw her crucifixes erected by the valor of loyal Frenchmen upon all the mosques and pagodas of Asiatic infidelity, from Mecca to the Chinese Wall. " But God said to Rome, ' Thy counsels shall not stand. India and Asia are not thine.' " Sitting by a writer's desk, in an English commercial house in the city of Madras, was a young man twenty- five years of age, who knew not God. Desperation showed through his sullen face. A dark soul looked out from under his black, heavy brow. His temper is fierce. lie can not bear restraint. lie knows no fear of God or man. lie loathes his daily duties. Ilis pay is small. No joys of friendship cheer his weary life. His health fails. Of either pleasure, wealth, or dis- tinction he has no prospect. lie vows, " I will not live. My pistol shall yield me quick relief." He loads well the deadly thing. With desperate heart he holds it to his head. It snaps ! But the instrument will not do the guilty deed. He loads and snaps again, but still in vain. "The name of this young man was Robert Clive, or- dained of God (whom he neither loved nor feared) to annihilate the French empire in India and blast the purposes of Rome. Circumstances compelled him to lay down the pen and take up the sword. This re- vealed his talent and his mission. By sustaining the siege of Arcot fifty daj'S and then repulsing the be- SCO HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Biegers witli almost incredible skill and valor, he strnck the death-blow of French and Papal power in that quarter of the world, and the Indo-European empire which Diipleix had projected for Papal France was turned over to her great Protestant rival. Again the rising empire which Clive had founded w^as in peril. Its fate depended upon his vanquishing sixty thousand hardy troops from Northern India, rallied by tlie base Surajah Dowlah. Clive had but three thousand men. For once he yielded to the counsels of fear and con- sented not to light. But he could not rest. One liour of agonizing thought alone, made him Robert Clive again, the desperate. One hour of battle more, and the victory of Plassey revealed God's decree, that British dominion in India and Asia should endure. Thus did Jehovah smite the scarlet hand stretched out to grasp the Eastern hemisphere, a hundred years ago." The battle of Plassey decided the question of an Anglo-Indian empire laying at the feet of a great Protestant nation the wealth, the power, and the teem- ing millions of liindoostan. T^irough the dreadful instrumentality of war, not only was French rule and Romish domination extin- guished, and a Protestant government established in its stead, but the same bloody agency haj» been en- gaged till all liindoostan, and Birmah, and China are made an open field on which the good seed of Euro- pean civilization and the reformed religion may be freely sown. English dominion, if not supreme in every nation of Asia, is everywhere powerful and dominant. But while war was achieving its deadly, its all-in- fluential mission in Asia, the "French wars" in Amer- ica were working out a result not the less enduring or far-reaching. Wolfe struck the decisive blow at Que- bec, a blow which loosed the bonds of French domin- ion in North America, and finally extinguished it throughout the whole continent. In like manner we might open to the records of the American Revolution — of the bloody conflicts which, following upon the war for American Independence, WAR, AN ELEMENT OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 563 agitated Europe, and made France what she was un- der the great Napoleon ; and then the wars of the " Allies," which arrested the fearful power of this ex- traordinary man, and took from France the dangerous power which she had acquired. And the same line of illustration would lead us (for we should see sus- pended over them all the same all-controlling HandJ to traverse the battle-fields of the protracted ana devastating warg of the English in India, Birmah, and China ; or to follow the footprints of the bloody demon, as he relentlessly stalks over the plains of Mexico. In the war that separated the American colonies from Great Britain, neither Americans, nor English- men at the present day, nor the well-wishers of human progress in any part of the world, are slow to discover or unwilling to admit that an issue was secured of the most momentous consequence. It gave birth to the American Republic — to American liberty — to all those free institutions which distinguish our country from the governments of the Old World. On the clearing away the smoke from the battle-fields of Saratoga and Yorktown, the germ of a great empire which had for a century and a half been taking root, sprung into existence and rapidly grew into the dimensions of its present colossal stature. America was undoubtedly a field reserved for the development of a higher civiliza- tion and Christianity of a higher type than had been, or was ever likely to be, realized in the Old World. We have already seen how the sword, as overruled in its dreadful career by the Almighty Hand, pre- pared a people in Germany to become the substratum of that extraordinary race which at present seems des- tined to revolutionize the world, and signally to ad« vance all the great interests of man ; how war pre- ceded their westward march and established them on the British island ; grafted upon them other races, and finally compounded the present English race ; and how from time to time war broke the strong arm of Home (nerved generally by France), and saved Protestantism from annihilation ; and when for the more perfect cod- 564 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. summation of Providential arrangements the time ap- proached that Protestantism should have a freer and more perfect development in the New World, and a second great family of the English race should have a separate existence and field of action, we have again seen the sword cut the ligaments that bound the daugh- ter in the New World to the mother in the Old, A new nation in consequence sprung up under auspices better suited than any previous nation to be used in the more rapidly advancing condition of the world. It may be too common, and seem to savor too much of national prejudice, to dilate on the present import- ance and the prospects of America. Yet we should be blind to the singular providential dealings of God with this countr}' not to indulge the idea tliat the En- glish race in this New World have a part yet to act in in the great drama of human affairs which has yet scarcely begun to transpire. The extent of our terri- tory ; the unexampled ratio of the increase of our pop- ulation ; the exhanstless resources of our soil, forests, and mines ; the aggressive, enterprising character of our people ; our commercial advantages ; our institu- tions so admirably suited to the general progress of the world, and its final emancipation from ignorance and despotism ; j^overnment, society, education, the Press, and the Christian Church organized on a platform which allows theso potent elements of progress more freely and effectively to fulfill their mission in the world — these are some of the things which indicate the part which America is yet to play in the great drama of nations. But we have no need here to speak the language of national partiality. We may quote the opinions of those whose sin it never has been to be blinded by prejudice either toward us or our institutions. An English journalist, speaking of the unexampled growth ol the IJnited States in all the elements of national prosperity, sums up in this wise : In an interval of little more than half a centnry, it appears that this efftraordinary people have increased above 500 per cent, in numbers, their national revenue has augmented nearly 700 p*r cent., while theii WAR, AN ELEMENT OF HUMAJ> PBOUKEBB. 6H5 public expenditure has increased little more than 400 per cent. Th« prodigious extension of their commerce is indicated by an incrense of nearly 500 per cent, in their imports and exports, and 600 per cent, in their shipping. The increased activity of their internal communica- tions is expounded by the number of their post-offices, which has been increased more than a hundred fold, the extent of their post-roads, which has been increased thirty-six fold, and the cost of their post- office, which has been augmented in a seventy-two-fold ratio. The aug- mentation of their machinery of public instruction is indicated by the extent of their public libraries, which have increased in a thirty-two- fold ratio, and, by the creation of school libraries, amounting to 2,000,000 volumes. They have completed a system of canal navigation which, placed in a continuous line, would extend from London to Calcutta, and a system of railways which, continuously extended, would stretch from London to Van Diemen"s Land, and have provided locomotive machinery by which that distance would be traveled over in three weeks at the cost of 1^6?. per mile. They have created a system of inland navigation, the aggregate tonnage of which is prob*bly not infei'ior in amount to the col- lective inland tonnage of all the other countries in the world ; and they possess many hundreds of river steamers, which impart to the roa'&s of water the marvelous celerity of roads of iron. They have, in fine, con- structed lines of electric telegraph which, laid continuously, would extend oV^r a space longer by 3,000 miles than the distance from the north to the south pole, and have provided apparatus of transmission by which a message of 300 words, dispatched under such circumstances from the north pole, might be delivered in writing at the south pole in one min- ute, and by whic'u, consequently, an answer of equal length might bo sent bade to tho north pole in an equal interval. These are social and commercial phenomena for Tvhich it would be vain to seek a parallel in the past history o' the human race. The same srcnerous and noblo sentiments toward tins rising Republic are beginning to be reiterated by not a few of tlie ablest journals in England. The Lon- don Ch'ristian Exaiminer speaks without stint or grudging ; On America, in her present positioSj we look with intense interest. Her whole history is interworau with the fate of Europe, and there is not a state in the wide-spread continent of the Old World which is not destined to feel and to bo affected by her influence. No force can crush the sympathy that already exists, and is continu.illy augmenting, be- tween Europe and the New World. The eyes of the oppressed are turn- ing wistfully to tho land of freedom, and the kings of the Continent al- ready regard with awe and disquietude the new Rome, rising in the West, the foreshadows of whose greatness, yet to be, are extending dark and heavy over their dominions, and obscuring the luster of their thrones ! Since t^iese enlightened utterances were given forth, America has doubled her population, and such are her national resources, that her influence is confined by no shore. During the last quarter of a cen- tury she has made astonishing progress, and ere long will challenge the older states of Europe to divide with them the honor of taking the lead ia the advancement of society Her canvas is now spread to every 666 HAND OF GOD IN IIISTORT. breeie, and covers every sea. Her flag is •ckncwledged and honored oas every shore. She is a country of daring enterprise, and is not only communicating to those who occupy her consecrated soil a " a freer life and a fresher nature," but she is spreading oiviliiation, knowledge, and .religion among the most distant nations of the earth, America is a commercial nation, and it is on her commerce and her religion that she must depend for her influence among the nations. It was commerce which gave to Tyre, and Babylon, and her rival, Nineveh, and other ancient empires, their proud and lofty distinction ; but it was com- merce which had no connection with the religious and the true. It was. therefore, but temporary. Tiieir greatness has passed away. The waves of the sea now roll where once stood the vast and magnificent palaces of wealth and luxury. The monuments of their commercial enterprise and prosperity are now crumbled into ashes. Britain and America are taught that if the sun of their prosperity is yet to ascend and shine forth full orbed, not only must both nations enjoy a free and unfettered commerce, but that commerce must be sanctified. " Right eousness exalteth a nation," and this righteousness, the great principles of justice and truth, must pervade its commerce, its science, its enter- prise. In this is the stability as well as the strength and power of states. In this America holds no common place. Both her navy and her merchant service are greatly under a religious influence — and this influence affects her commerce, which now extends to every coast, and claims the confidence of every people. The influence of commerce on the improvement and the destiny of the world is secondary only to the all-powerful, all-superior economy of grace. In her commercial position, America is great; but her true strength lies in her religion — in her free, pure, Protestant Christianity America has the most ample resources to spread the knowledge of the truth over different countries ; and which, in its rapidly-increasing greatness, will find aids and supplies larger than have yet been pos- sessed by any empire for benefiting mankind. They are descended from ancestors who, like the Father of the Faithful, for the sake of truth, went to a land which they knew not ; and, like the children of Abraham, as they have the truth in their keeping, we trust that they will carry it wide, even to the ends of the earth. They bad no need of a dispersion to spread them abroad among the nations ; for even now, in the infancy of their origin, their vessels touch upon every coast, their inhabitants sojourn in every country, and religion grows with their growth, and strengthens with their strength. They carry their altars with them into the wilderness, and through them civilization and Chris- tianity will flow on with an ever-enlarging stream till they cover the shores of the Pacific. Even then the ocean will not terminate their progress, but rather open out a passage to the shores of Eastern Asia, till both the Old and the New World are united, and flourish beneath the same arts and the same religion. We have already referred to what America is doing to pour the clear, full stream of her living Christianity mto those channels which an all-wise Providence has laid open both at home and abroad. Her benevolence, annually exceeding the sum of five millions sterling for education and religion, is graduated on a noble ■cale ; her first talents and most hopeful energies are devoted to the spread of religion ; her churches and her missionaries are to be found whithersoever her commerce has been carried, and her moral influence Vi as wide as the world This, in union and co-operation with that of WAR, AS BLKMBHT OV HDHAN PR0QBIS8. 667 Britain, is chan^ng the vhole aspect of society. The children of both countries are spreading over the globe, carrying with them the elementa of universal regeneration. Already all things are becoming new. The fuperstitions and errors of ages are melting away ; human systems are being shaken to their foundation ; earthly creeds are crumbling into fragments ; mind is bursting its fetters, and all creation is sighing for freedom. The day of redemption draweth nigh. Borne on the char- iot of inspiration through ages of time, we are set down in the midst of scenes of surpassing loveliness and glory, when this earth shall be as chaste in principle as it is now impure, and when a brighter light than that which invested the rising world of waters which Omnipotence called oat of chaos and darkness shall clothe the whole moral creation, its more than sun-like brightness reflect the glory and happiness of heaven. Such are the lofty principles and sentiments which possess the bosoms •f the descendants of the Pilgrims. In these we have at once the prom- ise and the pledge of American greatness and enterprise. America is now strong in moral power ; and so long as she breathes the spirit of the Pilgrims, we hope well, not only for the United States, but for Christendom and the world. In the great conflict which is now opening on the Church of God she will take the front of the battle. In the effort to compass and subjugate the world to the Cross she will press into every field of action. Her eagle stands with unfolded pinions, ready to take her flight to the ends of the earth, and in their upward, onward passage, to scatter blessings richer and more precious than drops from the wings of the morning. May those pinions never be folded till the whole world, renovated and purified, shall repose beneath the shadow of eternal love, waiting for the glorious liberty of the chil- dren of Ood ! " The American Revolution," says one, " was but the winding up of the conflict which brought Charles I. to the scaffold." ,The battle was for civil and re- ligious liberty ; it was not for England and America alone, but for the benefit of mankind. Nor was the American Revolution, properly speaking, " the wind- ing up" of the conflict ; it was but another scene in the same great drama, followed by the bloody and tragic scene of the French Revolution, and more re- cently followed by the recurrence in quick succession of the scenes of 1848, and not to be closed till by some dreadful civil convulsion European despotism, to its deepest foundations, shall be broken up and liberty founded on its ruins. We can not here avoid a single reference to our last war with England (the war of 1812-15). Though it was generally an unpopular war, and in the estimation of many an unnecessary, and certainly an unnatur war, yet it accomplished lasting and beneflcial pur- HAND OF GOD IN HISTORT. poses, which nothing else could. The war of the Kevoliition had secured the separate existence and the independency of our portion ol the great x\nglo-Saxon family, and the far-reaching results of such a separate national existence. At the time of the late war we had arrived at a period in our existence when it became necessary that we should assert and be able to maintain a commanding position by the side of Great Britain. And more especially was it needful that we should evince our capabilities to execute our future mission among the nations, by vindicating our power on the ocean. A sense of invincibility had long in- spired with courage the people of Great Britain and made her the eldest sister of Neptune. A like sense of invincibility must be infused into the American people, that they may march hand in hand with the mother country in the peaceful conquest of the world Such was the result of the late war. We select a single victory which served to infuse into our navy the feeling of supremacy which had already given such a sense of superiority to the British navy. In a speech delivered, 1852, in the American Senate, Commodore Stockton says : One battle — the battle of the Constitution and Guerriere — vr&a worth more to this nation than all the treasui-e that has ever been expended upon the Navy. Remember, that at the time of which I speak the British navy and invincibility were, in the minds of most of our countrymen, one and the same thing ; and remember, also, that your Executive quailed before the terrors of that invincibility. Your ships were ordered to be laid up, and your coast and mercantile marine abandoned to the enemy. It was an officer of the Navy (Hull) who, against authority, without orders, in opposition to the will of the Government, went to sea, and with his noble ship and gallant crew achieved for you that victory which as- tonished the world and electrified our own Government and people, and from its moral effect was worth, as I have said, all the money you have ever expended upon the Navy. The importance, the effect, the value of that fight of Hull's, it is impossible to measure or to explain. In fifteen minutes the trident of Neptune was wrested from the grasp of that here- tofore invincible Navy. At that time, sir, the idea of British invincibil- ity was so common, that there was hardly a man out of the Navy, perhaps, who did not believe that one British frigate could take two or three American frigates. Now, sir, in this state of public feeling, with such odds against them, let me call up here before the Senate some reminiscences of the past. Let mo state one fact, if no more, to show the obligation you are under. WAR, AN ELEMENT OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 57 1 BOC only to the ship, bat to the officer, and to illustrate the cause of tiiis victory to have been the superiority of your men. You have as good materials now, but they must keep up with the progress, the improvement of the age in which they live. "Sep the bold Constitution the Querriere o'ertaking, While the sea from her fury divides." See, likewise, that haughty, invincible British frigate lying to leeward «nder easy sails, impatiently waiting the encounter. See her crew, elated with the remembrances of a hundred battles, in the hope, the joy, the expectation of an easy conquest. Hear their shouts of anticipated triumph, only checked by the certainty of too easy a victory. Now, sir, look to your own " Constitution." See her bearing down to that frigate, that invincible frigate, with St. George's imperious and arrogant ensign. All is silent ; no hurrying to or fro ; no confusion — all ready to fight and to die for their country. Again, sir, on board the British ship ail is bustle and hurry, and exult- ation of anticipated victory. All is still and silent as death on board the Constitution. They could not hope for an easy victory, but there they were. I speak not merely of their courage, but of their devotion to their country and to their flag ; they resolved to do or die. They bore down on the British frigate without a whisper being heard on her peo- pled deck. They had heard of raking fires; they well knew their destructive «flFect. They had heard of the memorable tactics of the British Navy, •nd soon perceived that the captain of the British frigate was not to be satisfied with simply taking them, but he would do it in the most ap- proved manner. Steadily Hull goes down, nothing daunted. The British frigate fired a broadside, and then wore round and fired an- other. Steadily Hull keeps his course. By-and-by the first lieutenant of the Constitution asked Captain Hull if he should return the 6xe. Hull inquired, " Have you lost any men ?" " No, sir." " Wait awhile," said Hull. Steadily he keeps his course until he gets within pistol shot, and then rounding to as if for a salute, with one broadside gains the ▼ictory. If such be the character, such the resources, and ench the sources of influence, and the opportunities and the prospects of America, we may, as a nation, thank God and take courage that, despite our many and grievous sins, he will cast his shield about us and keep us as in the hollow of his hand. When the noble spirits of our Revolutionary strno^ glo pledged their sacred honors and lives on the issue of our war for independence, little were thev able to estimate the full importance of the struggle i:i which they were engaged. Out of the hardships an i death- struggles of the war arose a nation which, like Israel of former times, seems destined to bless all the nations of the earth. 672 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY, Or we may tnrn to the wars of France in the latter part of the last and the beginning of the present cen tury ; and desolating and, in many respects, disas- trous as they were. He who brings good out of evil educed from them results not to be lightly estimated. We may look on the French Revolution as a result of our own Revolutionary struggle — a monstrous result. Yet even in those wars, so brutal and relentless, there was soraethinof more than tlie diss'ustinp' carna. aiul Ji-zcIk'I. Pharaoh, tlie IIeroiis,iiiid Poiiiius Tiliile. Aiiliocliua IV I'hiliji 11. B s'lop Garniiifr, Boiiuer. and Ui.lst-y. Duke of Ouise. Ituhespit rre, and (Jharlcs IX. Auroa Kurr and Benedict Arnold. Votlairu and i'alue. Tbs Lrquor Truffle. " It shall not he well with the wicked.'''' — Eccl. A'iii. 13. " Be sure your sin will Jind you out." — Num. xxxii. 23. " As J have done, so God hath requited me." — Judges, i. 7. IlrsTORY makes some singular developments in re- spect to the retributive justice of God. Nations, com- munities, families, individuals, furnish fearful illustra- tions that the " wicked is snared in the work of his own hand," and that the " way of transgressors is hard."* Wrong doing, ojjpression, crime, are, by no means, re- served only for a future retribution. They draw alter them an almost certain retribution in this world. There is no peace to the wicked, lie may seem to prosper — riches may increase — he may revel in pleasures, and shine in honors, and seem to have all that heart can wish ; yet there is a canker-worm somewhere gnawing at the very vitals of his happiness — a blight somewhere upon all Jie possesses. History bears at least an inci- dental yet decisive testimoii}' on this point. Perilous indeed it is to a man's well-being in this life — to his peace. Ins reputation, his best interest — to do wrong. Possibly the wrong-doer may not suffer him- self, yet most certainly his children and his children's children will pay the penalty of his misdeeds. Man is undoubted!}' so constituted, whether regard be had to.liis physical, social, intellectual, and moral nature, as to make him a happy being. The right, the unper- verted use of all his powers and susceptibilities would not fail to secure to him a high and continual state of 3artlily happiness and prosperity. And not only is the 5T1 578 HAND OF QOD IN BISTORT. human machine itself so fitted up as to accomplish such an end, but the whole external world, the tlieater in which man is to live, act, and enjoy, is fitted up in beautiful harmony with the same benevolent end. F4very jar to human happiness, every arrest or curtail- ment or extinction of it, is the fruit of transgression or perversion. The violation of a natural law is as sure to be followed by retribution as the violation of a Divine law. The history of individuals, families, com- munities, nations, is full of such retributions. The domestic peace and prosperity of the good f»ld patriarch Jacob was sadly marred, lie is compelled to become, at an early age, an exile from his father's house — to tiee before the justly aroused wrath of his brother — to suft'er a long oppression and wrong in the family of Laban, his kinsman ; and no sooner is he re- lieved from these domestic afiiictions, than he is sud- denly bereaved of his favorite wife — Joseph is violent- ly torn from his embrace b}' his own sons, who seem kto have possessed few qualities that could make them a comfort to their father; and at length Benjamin, the only object on which the aflections of the aged father seemed to repose, must be 3'ielded up to an uncertain destiny. If there had lurked in the bosom of Jacob no painful suspicion that a worse violence than that of " evil beasts" had dev(mred his son, he too well under- stood the character of his wayward sons to indulge aught but the m(>st painfid distrust as to what mi>iht be the fate of Benjamin. As the aftiicted father (pon- dered on these things and bemoaned his domestic trials, did he not see in them the hand of a ri^^hteous retribution? He had sinned — his nutther had helped him sin — he had wickedly deceived his father — he liad grievously and without provocation injured his broth- er, and thereby was left, during many subsequent years, to eat the bitter fruits of his own tolly. And the sons of Jacob were not long left to enjoy the relief they felt after they had ridtien themselves of tliL'ir hated brother. The •'twenty pieces of silver'' burned in their hands. Yet they did not feel the crush- ing weight of the retributive Hand till they found THE VOICE OF RETRIBUTION. 579 themselves arraigned before the bar of the Great Man of the imperial court of Egypt, whom tliey knew not as Joseph. Tliej were treated as "spies," as wicked and designing men, and were in danger of arrest and punishment in a land of unsjmpathizing strangers. Joseph spake roughly to them, and made them feel the heart of a stranger — what it was to be suspected and maltreated in a strange land. In the absence of ac- quaintances and friends they might plead in vain that they were " true men." One of their number is i)onnd before them and they know not what shall befall him, how long he shall languish in ]irison, or what sum- mary fate may await him. And Benjamin, the darling of a broken-hearted father, is demanded to be brought. They must now return with the sad tidings, to increase the anguish of a father whom for years they had seen, through their great misdeed, going down in sorr<»w to the grave. They were in distress. Bitterly did they feel that their sin had found them out — that the way of transgressors is hard. A keen sense of their guilt now flashed upon them. And they said one to another, " We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us." Tlu'y now remembered their barbarity to Joseph — how that when he entreated them in anguish they only spake roughly to him, and cast him into a pit, and afterward sold him to a rigorous bonres>ive — the murderer of his nearest kindred — the husband, successively, of at least ten wives, several of whom lie put to death — the persecutor of the infant Saviour, and the murdere' THB TOICS or RXTBIBaTIOX. 583 of the children of Bethlehem. He died a miserable death. A plot against his life was formed by his son, which hastened his death. Having unjustly put his son to death, he fell sick : his disease soon became violent, his sufferings became extreme, " attended in Iho lower parts of the body with extreme pains and strong convulsions. His torments, instead of moving him to repentance, seemed rather to excite anew the cruelty of his temper." He imprisoned the chiefs of the Jewish nation, and ordered that as soon as he should be dead, they should all be put to death, that the joy which he knew would be felt on that occasion might be turned into mourning. Herod Antipas, a worthy son of such a father, paid the penalty of the murder of John the Baptist. He died in disgrace, a miserable exile. And Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, who won the wicked pre-eminence of being the royal murderer of James, the son of Zebedee, and the im prisoner of Peter, whom he designed to ex- ecute probably " after Easter," was instantly smitten with a loathsome disease. Racked by the most tor- menting pains, and "devoured by worms," while life yet lingered, he died another awful example of the Divine retribution. Of Herod the Great it is said "that his illness be- gun about the time of the slaughter of the innocent babes — that he in vain traveled about his kingdom to obtain a cure; no earthly hand could heal him; his disease grew worse and wort^e till he became intol- erably offensive to all about him, and even to himself. He expired two years after the murder of the infants, eaten by worms." And so have often perished tiiey who touch the Lord's anointed. Kot a few persecutors have died in a similar manner, at least by a sudden and miserable death. Pontius Pilate, vacillating between the monitions of conscience and a miseralde titne-serving policy, de- livered up Jestis to be crucitied. He believed him to be innocent ; yet that his own loyalty to Cassar might not be suspeett'd, he did violence ^o his conscience and coudemned the innocent. He must secure the friend- bS4 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORT. ship of CcBsar^ though it be at the expense of the most appalling crime. But how miserably he failed ; and there was in the retribution which followed a striking Utness of the punishment to the crime. He hesitated at nothing to please his imperial master at Home. Yet but two years afterward he was banished by this eame emperor into a distant province, where, in dis- grace and abandonment, and with a burden on his conscience which was as the burning steel, he put an end to an existeuce which was too wretched to be borne! Antiochus lY. was an unrelenting enemy of the Church of God. In a furious passion he vowed the utter destruction of Jerusalem, and the chosen people. He took an oath that he would make a national sep- ulcher for the Jews and exterminate them to a man. "Even while the words were in his mouth the wrath of God fell on him with a horrible disease. In spite of all the arts of physicians his body became a mass of putrefaction, whence there issued an incredible number of worms," and the torture of his mind was in- finitely worse than that of his body. Before he sunk into delirium he acknowledged that it was the Hand of the Almighty that had crushed him. Like Ilerod, like Philip II. of Spain, he felt in his bitter end the quenchless fire and the never-dying worm. Philip of Spain was a notorious persecutor. He thought, by the terrific scourge of war, utterly to ox- terminate Protestantism both in England and Germa- ny; and, by such agents as the Duke of Alva, he seemed for a time likely to accomplish his purpose. But the retributive Hand cut short his mad career. He was made to drink to the dregs the cup of trem- bling. He died a miserable and loathsome death. His flesh consumed away on his bones. The Romish Bishop Gardiner, of unenviable fame in the annals of Papal persecutions, had sworn that he would not eat till he had heard that the two pious Protestant bishops Latimer and Ridley were burned, they being already under sentence of death as martyrs for the truth. He usually dined at twelve, but on the THE VOICK OP RETRIBOTIOX. 687 Jay of the execution the news not reaching him till four in the afternoon, he then sat down to liis dinner, and the lirst mouthful he took he expired. Tims perished that wicked persecutor wlio, in the garb of the Church, and with a pretended zeal for the truth, used his power to kill the saints. And the infamous Bonner, co-partner with Gardinei and Wolsey in the blood of the martyrs, came to an end yet more miserable and ignominious. After lan- guishing during ten long years in the prison of the Mar- siialsea, he died, forsaken of all, and in extreme dis- grace. " He was buried at midnight, to avoid any disturbance on the part of the populace, to whom he M'as extremely obnoxious. And Cardinal Wolsey, too, was left to outlive the popular favor, to forfeit the favor of his king and his God, and to die from anguish of spirit under arrest for high treason. The infamous Alexander VI., and his yet more, if possible, infamous son, Caesar Borgia, died of the very jtoison which they had prepared for their rich cardi- nals. With the design of perpetrating this nefarious deed, they had invited the Sacred College to a sump- tuous banquet. Poisoned wine had been prepared for the unsuspecting guests, which, by mistake, was hand- ed to the father and the son, who di-unk without know- ing their danger, and died. " Is not destruction to the wicked, and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity ?" And what was the end of the Duke of Guise, who murdered the excellent Coligni, and barbarously par- ticipated in the dreadful massacres of St. Bartholo- mew's day? He ingloriously fell by the daggers of the guards of the king's household as he was enterinjf the royal palace. He miserably perished at the age uf thirty-eight, a victim to the distrust and hate of the very king under the abuse of whose authority he had BO disgracefully participated in the great massacre of the Protestants. A large class of young noblemen in France previous to the Ilevolution were the lirst and the loudest to adopt and applaud the iutidel writings of Ilayual,Yol' &88 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORT. taire, and Rousseau ; and the faithful historian has nut failed to record the remarkable coincidence, that these young men were the first to fall victims in that dreadful reign of terror which their own infidelity had contrib- uted so largely to produce. In like manner the Romish priesthood of France be- came the early victims of that reign of terror. In that they did but expiate innocent blood. For in the dis- graceful massacre of St. Bartholomew's day no class of men so greedily thirsted for the blood of Protestants as the priests. It was the murderous voice and the bloody hand of the priests which then inundated the streets of Paris with the blood of the martyrs. And, by a most marked retribution, the unrelenting ven geance of the infuriate populace first fell on them ; and, blood for blood, they were made to expiate the crimes of their predecessors. The infamous Robespierre is at last forced to yield his own neck a victim to the same knife which he had so often and with such unsparing ferocity made to fall on the necks of his countrymen. Charles IX. and the miserable authors and chief actors of that dreadful massacre seemed paralyzed with shame and remorse. Charles especially, from that time forward, seemed as one struck by the hand of avenging retribution. He became restless, sullen, and dejected, and labored under a slow fever to the day of his death. He confessed to his physician, that ever since the commencement of the massacre he felt as if he had been in a high fever, and that the figures of the murdered people, with their faces besmeared with blood, seemed to start up every moment before his eyes, both when he slept and when he was awake. Aaron Burr, once Vice-President of the United States, and fitted by God and nature for a high destiny in this country, died, after years of disgrace and misery, in a miserable cottage on Staten Island, alone, in the dark, " despised and forsaken by all the world, Matthew L. Davia only excepted." Tlie ignominious close of the life oi Benedict Arnold. THE VOICE OF RETRtBCTTlOW. 6H\) and Lis obscure and miserable death, supply a melan- choly commentar}'^ on his depraved and taithless life. His notorious treason to his country was but of a piece with the waywardness and depravity of his previous life. " He was headstrong, disobedient, and vindic- tive in his early life, and often gainfully wounded a mother's heart. In maturer yeai^, the same character- istics were visible, strengthened by power and rendered perilous by the absence of moral principle and self- control." Such a life crowi.^d with the basest act of treason, yielded in age a bitter harvest of degradation and misery. "The close of Arnold's ignominious ca- reer," says one, " was claracterized by the loss of caste and the respect oi everybody. A succession of personal insults and pecuniary misfortunes followed his treason, and full abiditig retribution was meted out to the degraded culprit before he died." After the close of the American Revolution, and Arnold had consum- mated the work of a traitor by the perpetration of various atrocities against his countrymen, he went to England, received a commission in the British army, was frowned upon by the officers, and everywhere received with contempt, if not indignation. He was publicly insulted and privately despi ed. After a res- idence of some time in St. John's, New Brunswick, where he covered his name with new obloquy by fraudulent business transactions, he went to England, became lost to the public eye, and died in degradation and obscurity. The infidel Yoltaire, who expended the energies of a great mind in attempts to dishonor God and overthrow Christianity, furnished, in his awful death, a befitting comment on his wicked life. " He complained that he was abandoned by God and man, and frequently he would cry out, 'Oh, Christ! oh, Jesus Christ!' Mou- cher, his physician, withdrew in terror, declaring that his death-bed was awful, and that the furies of Orestes could give but a faint idea of those of Voltaire. The Marshal de Richelieu also fled, unable to stand the terrible scene." Bishop Wilson stated that the nurse who attended Yoltaire being many years afterward 590 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. requested to wait on a sick person refused, declaring that she would on no account incur the danger of wit nessing another such scene as the death of Voltaire. The impious wretch who had dared to lay his sacrile gious hands on the ark of the Lord, found himself crushed, before the time, by the wrath he had pro- voked. But this is not a solitary case. The ranks of Infi- delity are awfully prolific in such examples. The notorious Tom Paine gained a rare eminence as a depraved man. To his disgustingly gross and ag- gressive infidelity he added the sins of defaulter, a base and cruel husband, a vulgar, intemperate, and profane man. We need not recount his history. His bloody footsteps left their prints on his generation. His pathway was marked with the moral desolations of a host whom he ruined. But did he prosper? was his end peace ? God has said, " Them that honor me I will honor ; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." Paine came to America in 1801, invited by President Jefierson, who dispatched for him a gov- ernment vessel. He was introduced at Washington, only to be shaken ofi" in the shortest possible time as too vile an appendage for the infidel school of that pe- riod. They hoped in him an able coadjutor. They were likely to realize in him only shame and confu- sion. Arriving in New York, he was set down at the City Hotel ; but his habits being an outrage on all the com- mon decencies of life, at the end of the week he was politely informed there was no room for him in that inn. His trunk was carried from hotel to tavern, from tavern to boarding-house, and still the answer was, " We have no room." Inquiry for accommodation was made at a dwelling whose inmates were wretched- ness personified ; but it was written on the door as with the point of a diamond, " No admittance for Thomas Paine." In this dilemma William Carver received him into his own house. After a miserable life, which contributed honor nei. ther to God nor man, Paine died in Greenwich, New THE VOICK OF RETRIBUTION. 59) York city, " forsaken by all the world, W. Morton and T. A. E., only excepted,"* William Carver, who became the host and the will* ing dupe of Paine's pernicious opinions and the com- panion of his practices, was found dead on the floor of a wretched brothel in 37 Walnut Street, abandoned by all except a single companion of his profligacy. And 80 we might recount a long list of men of a kindred class whose names were a stench in the nos- trils of the generation that knew them — whose end was as the gnawing worm and the quenchless fire, and whose memory is left to rot. How many of the most famous infidels of the period to which we have re- fen-ed were not only despised and forsaken while liv- ing, but their remembrance has perished from among the living, even before their bodies were hid in the dust. "So dead were they before they died," says a writer who still survives, " that the living were taken by surprise when their death was announced in the papers. Reader and hearer exclaimed, " I thought he was dead many 3'ears ago !" How often, indeed, is the peace and comfort of fam- ilies blighted, children prove profligate and prodigal, and a series of untoward circumstances blast their prosperity ; when, if you were permitted to read their whole history, you would find that sin lay at their door — some conjugal unfaithfulness — some previous mar- riage contract unfulfilled — some plighted faith vio- lated— Bome youthful trifling with afiections — some frievous indiscretion and guilt to be atoned for. he history of families not unfrequently furnishes the most melancholy illustrations that family sins are vis- ited by family afflictions, defection in parental re- straint, by the insubordination and licentiousness of children, and the extravagance, intemperance, or skep- ticism of parents ; by immorality and profligacy in children. And how often does the pursuit of an unlawful business in the domestic head, the practice of fraud or oppression, entail on the members of a * Orant Tborburn'a " BeminiBceacea of Thomas Paine." 592 HAND OF GOD IN HISTOKTf. family a blighting cnrse. The annals of the " liquor traffic" are here prolific in examples. Where investi- gations have been made, it has been found that a most fearful proportion of the children of such trafBckera have withered imder the blight of a ruinous retribu- tion even in the first generation, while children's chil- dren have been made partakers of the bitter cup ; and scarcely less marked is the retribution that follows a violation of the Sabbath, No one can trace, for any length of time, the history of those families who do not sanctify God's Sabbaths, and not be forced to the conclusion that it is no more their duty than it is their highest interest to honor God in the observance of his day. Ask any intelligent octogenarian where are the fam- ilies he knew in his early manhood, as the distillers and traffickers in intoxicating drinks, or as the open violators of the Sabbath, and he will be able to point to scarcely more than a battered fragment of a once thriving family. If the brief space of fifty years has not quite blotted their name from off the catalogue of families, it has sunk it into comparative oblivion, if not into irrecoverable disgrace. Whoever shall un- dertake to write a history of families that fear not God nor regard the duties they owe to man, but live and riot on the frailties and miseries of their kind, will portray to the world an awfully instructive chapter on the retributive justice of God — many a family that started out in life and formed a family connection un- der the most auspicious circumstances. They were industrious, enterprising, frugal, and seemed to have started fair for domestic peace and a happy compe- tency. Yet in an evil hour they yielded to the delu- sive bait of temptation — they were in haste to be rich. They turned aside from the quiet paths of an honest industry and domestic tranquillity, and plunged into a dissipating and iniquitous business, which, while it seemed to promise wealth and future independence, was but the sure precursor of ruin and disgrace ; or the same ruinous result was arrived at no less eflfectually by the violation of the holy day. How awfully in the TBS TOICB OV R£TRIBUTION. f»93 history of families is the truth sometimes illustrated that God will "pour out his fury upon the families that call not upon his name." " They that despise mo shall be lightly esteemed." Examples crowd upon us from every quarter ; every neighborhood furnishes them. The man of but limit- ed observation can summon one or more cases from the records of his memory. We select a few which have been furnished by an intelligent friend,* and may be relied on as neither overdrawn nor invidiously reported. H. M. was left, on the death of his father, the possessor of twelve or fifteen thousand dollars, and with a strong desire, inculcated by his father, to be rich. He purchased a farm in Dutchess County, and for a few years, by industry and the most rigid economy, added several thousand dollars to his patrimony. About the year 1844 he erected a cider mill, and, having a quantity of cider on hand, he commenced sell- ing it to those miserable men whose appetites were already depraved by Btrong drink. Finding his custom increasing, something stronger was demanded, and a few barrels of cider-brandy were his first stock in the liquor traffic. He was prosecuted by the authorities for selling con- trary to law, but by some error in the complaint escaped a fine. Again he was prosecuted, and again, by some flaw in the writ, he triumphed. He grew more bold, sold to any one, drunk or sober. He was remon- strated with by his neighbors and the friends of temperance. He de- clared he would sell, and said " he would take the last cent from the drunkard if he knew his family was starving." Thus he grew wise in his own conceit, self-willed, above the laws, for he thought he could easily evade them. Thus Providence left him to follow his own coun- sels and work out his own ruin. Three years ago a well-dressed, genteel man put up at the hotel near H. M.'s residence. He inquired of the taverner respecting the neigh- borhood, and in the conversation H. M.'s name was mentioned ; this was apparently accidental. His character, circumstances, and habits were mentioned, and at length his whole history detailed. The stranger had an interview with M., secured his confidence, and opened to him a fine opportunity of realizing a fortune. The golden bait succeeded. He was invited to New York to be further let into the plans of opera- tion, and judge for himself. He went, met the ostensible company, and they agreed to build a steamboat, and carry passengers between some of the principal ports of South America. Each member of the company was to pay a first installment of $2,500. M. paid it. On his return home he was cautioned by several of his friends not to venture any more. But he knew best. He who had sold rum contrary to law, and had triumphed over the law, could not be instructed. Soon another Installment was called for. He went to the city. He was half-in- clined to give it up. As he was in the office, he announced his inten- tion. " Did 1 understand you to say, sir," said a well-dressed man in 594 HAND OF aOD IN HI8TOBT. gold spectacles, " that you wished to sell your interest in this com- pany ?" M. said he had thought of it. " Will you take 10 per cent, advance for your stock ?" said the man. " It is the best chance for a fortune I know of," he continued. " My name, sir, is so and so, in Street, No. — . When you wish to sell, your money is ready." The stratagem took ; the blackleg had gulled his victim, and before M. left the office he had entered into bonds to advance $12,500 more, when called for. In less than a year it was all required. M. borrowed the money and mortgaged his property. About six months since another demand for $1,700 was sent up, and found M. a bankrupt. Suit after smt has been brought against him, and now all his patri- mony, all his hard-earned money in honest farming — and above all, the dollars red with blood wrung from drunkards' wives and children, have all gone into the pockets of swindlers. M. is now a poor man — poor in property, reputation, health, and friends. Here is retributive justice — a signal instance of the woe pronounced against him who " giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth his bottle to him and maketh him drunk- en, the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be against thee, and shameful spewing shaU be on thy glory." One of my neighbors (L. C.) was left with a farm and money worth ten thousand dollars, and clear of debt. He had no moral principle, was determined to make money, right or wrong. He hired low fellows, and took them out in his back fields, away from public observation, and worked them and himself regularly on Sabbath day. Soon things had a bad look ; cattle died, debtors ran away or failed, crops were short, and about four years ago he failed, and all his property was attached. His farm is now mortgaged to its full value, and he waits a legal process to eject him from the house in which he was born, and from the farm which he tilled, but tilled on the Lord's Bay. Another case : A man whom I well knew. Fowler by name, had a large family of Bons and daughters. He was a God-despising, Sabbath-breaking man ; habitually worked Sundays, and of course drank and swore. He died a miserable drunkard, and three of his sons have gone down to dishonored graves; and his daughters were all women of depraved character. " They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." CHAPTER XXXII. ftiTKiBonoN. France. Napoleon Bonaparte. Kational Retributions. The JowUh Nation. Nations left to Punish Themselves, or to Punish One Another. Egypli France, and Spain — all Oppreasors, Extortioners, and £vU Doert. NoK have the modern Nebuchadnezzars, Pharaohs, and Herods escaped the righteousjudgment of Heaven. Queen Mary, of bloody memory, died in the midst of her days, after a brief and detested reign of five years, hated by her subjects, chagrined at the loss of some of her most valued possessions, neglected by her hus- band, and tormented by the most painful apprehen- sions. James II., after a short and infamous reign em- ployed against Protestantism, was driven from his kingdom and forced into an inglorious exile. But we gladly pass to another nation. The history of France, since that blood-stained day in 15T2, has not a chapter which is not fraught with examples awfully illustrative of our sentiment. " On hearing of the horrid and treacherous massacre of Protestants on St. Bartholomew's day, John Knox boldly declared, that the name of the French king would remain an execration to posterity, and none proceeding from his loins would enjoy his kingdom in peace. The Edinburgh Witness says : ' Charles IX,, by whom the dreadful tragedy was enacted, died soon after in awful horrors, the blood flowing from every pore of his body. Henry III., his successor, fell by the hand of an assassin. Henry IV., after a reign <'f twenty years, distracted by civil wars, died by the d^jgger of Ravillac- His successor, Louis XIIL, after a reign of thirty-three years, spent mostly in warring with hia subjects, died on his bed. Of Louis XIV., it is impos- sible to say whether the opening of his career was the more brilliant, or its close the more disastrous and un 595 596 HANU OF GOD IN HISTORY. happy. The reign of Louis XY. was marked by pri- vate profligacy, public profusion, increasing financial embarrassment, and growing discontent. The king expired of a mortal distemper, caught in the pursuit of his pleasures. In the next reign the Revolution ap- peared upon the scene, and Louis XVL perished on the scaffold. The troubled lives and unhonored ends of the French kings since that period are too well known to require that we should dwell upon them. And now the death of Louis Philippe adds another to the list of discrowned heads which have gone down *n exile into the toncb.'' The history of the great Napoleon is not void of a melancholy interest here. He does a base wrong in order to see an heir to his magnificent empire. The divorce of Josephine was an act of most palpable wrong. But the prosperity and perpetuity of the em- pire demanded it ! Had Napoleon waited a few years he might have been spared both the wrong and itc "ioo sure retribution. He had no throne to give — no em- pire to bequeath. From the fatal hour that Napoleon did this flagrant act of injustice his bright horizon began to lower. And how singular that the son for whom his ambitious heart so ardently sighed, and for whom he sacrificed all sense of right and all affection, should 80 soon languish and die, heir only to the passing- away shadow of his father's greatness ! And equally wonderful is it that the grandson of the same injured Josephine should have cast on him the imperial pur- ple which the hand of retribution had wrested from the shoulders of his uncle, and Napoleon HL should be placed on the throne from which Napoleon L had been ejected. In vindication of his mother's wrong he stands ; in retribution of his own transgressions he may fall into a profounder abyss of infamy. And not the less remarkable is it that a Spanish countess should be called to share the honor of the imperial crown with the son of Josephine. For, per- haps, the second palpable wrong, in point of magni- tude, which Napoleon committed, was the dethrone- ment of Charles lY. of Spain, and Ferdinand his son. CHABLES. THE VOICE OF RETRIBUTION. 599 Tliis nefarious act of injustice and tyranny was, as I have elsewhere said, followed by a series of wars which were exceedingly harassing and disastrous to Napoleon, and which he confessed ruined him. In less than forty years we see the daughter of injured Spain joined in destiny with the injured family of Josephine, as if, by one farce of human greatness to mock the pageantry of another long since vanished, and to lay all human pride in the dust, and rebuke all hu- man wrong. Or we might ask. Where are the Stuarts, who gloried in the Non-Conformity Bill, and thus expelled from their pulpits two thousand of the best preachers and the best Christians in England, and finally drove from the realm not a few of her best subjects ? Or where is the once powerful and famous Bourbon dynasty, which reveled in Protestant blood during the terrific day of St. Bartholomew, and grew fat amid the persecu- tions and wrongs that returned like an inundation on poor, ill-fated France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes ? The former has vanished into air, as a thing scarcely to be remembered ; the other has been shattered to atoms by a succession of political volca- noes, and sunk in an inglorious oblivion. Communities, churches, nations, illustrate the same truth. Indeed, corporate bodies and civil polities, hav- ing no souls, and, of consequence, no future retribution, are more sure to meet a temporal retribution. It is not uncommon that corporate bodies commit acts of injustice and oppression which no one individual com- posing such a body w^ould dare to do. Throwing ofl individual responsibility, they go with the multitude to do evil ; but does the collective body go unpunish ed ? Does a community that legalizes a vice, does a church that perpetuates a wrong, escape a righteous retribution ? How many instances might here be cited where a people suffer for generations on account of the wrong-doing of their fathers. It \x\\\ sufiice to speak only of nations. The govern- ment of Egypt, the king and the court, committed a nefarious wrong against the Hebrews, and their sin has 600 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. been visited upon them down to the present day. The oppressors have not ceased to be oppressed, nor the spoilers to be spoiled, till Egypt is but a nation of slaves and her land a civil and moral desolation. And not only so, but a more speedy and special retribution awaited a guilty king and people. They are made to drink to the very dregs the bitter cup they had held to the lips of afflicted Israel. As they had covered the habi- tations of the Israelites Math lamentation and woe by the murder of their male children, so in awful retribu- tion and a fearful adjustment of the punishment to the sin, the Angel of Death visited every dwelling of the Egyptians, and tilled every family with anguish and wailing, because he had slain the first-born son. Egypt had drunk in the blood of the innocents. That bl-ood cried from the ground for vengeance. And aw- fully was it avenged, when all the first-born of Egypt were slain in a single night. With double measure was Egypt's sin meted to her again, and with a dread- ful correspondence of the reward to the sin. The He- brews bemoaned the cruelty which had slain their in- fant children ; the very heart of the Egyptians was wrung with anguish because their children, their first- born sons, their hope, and the pride of their families, were all numbered with the dead. If Rachel mourned because her children were not, what terms can express the anguish of the smitten Egyptians? The heir to the throne of Egypt, as well as the heir to the heritage of the meanest beggar, lay a ghastly corpse. Nor had Egypt yet expiated her grievous sin. Already had ten successive plagues swept over her, and left her land desolate and every house the abode of mourning and wretchedness. But the end was not yet. The guilty perpetrators of Israel's wrongs found reserved for themselves a further retribution. Though compelled by the mighty Hand of God to let Israel go, yet they relented, and pursued the departing tribes, and now determined to overwhelm them in one final ruin. " The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My lust shall be satisfied on them ; I will draw the Bword ; my hand shall destroy THB TOICK OF KKTRIBUTION. 60l them." But was not the God of Israel there ? And did He not interpose the arm of his mercy ? The op pressors now had it in their hearts to finish the work of subjugation, if not of annihilation. But how were they in a moment brought down and utterly destroyed ! *' Thou didst blow with thy wind ; the sea covered them ; they sank as lead in the mighty waters." Tliey meditated destruction — they met an utter destruction. And the history of the Israelites^ too, stands as a signal monument of the truth that they can not prosper who forsake God. How often was their defection fol- lowed by the Divine displeasure ! None of the rebel- lious, murmuring generation in the wilderness was al- lowed to enter Canaan. How grievously they were " plagued" for their disobedience in not driving out the Canaanites from the land, or, rather, for their assimilat- ing with these wicked races — " cor'-upting themselves" — "following other gods to serve them and to bow down to them !" and what a long series of sore and sad calamities fell on the Hebrew nation in conse- quence! "The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he said, Because this people have trans- gressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened to my voice, I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the na- tions which Joshua left when he died, that through them I xix'cxy jprove Israel." And how the Lord proved Israel through these troublesome and corrupt neigh- bors with whom they had contra'^ted a forbidden in- tercourse— what perplexities, wars, and calamities be- fell them in consequence — is written in the Book of the Chronicles of that nation. -It was the most prolific source of Israel's afflictions. And in their subsequent history, the same retributive Hand, with an awfully unerring certainty, followed their oft-repeated trans- gressions. A seventy-years' captivity in Bab^^lon tells the sad tale of /•iolated Sabbaths and national sins. And the sore dispersion of the last eighteen centuries does but realize to dispersed suflfering Israel the dreadful imprecation, " His blood be upon us and upon our children." 602 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. But we may come to modern timesy and here we need select but two examples — France and Spain. With one of the finest countries on the face of the earth — with a singularly susceptible people, capable of the highest order of civilization, refinement, and social advancement ; of superior mechanical skill, and of the highest attainments in literature, art, and science, and above all, perhaps, in religion, what is France? What the French people? With all her natural advantages and singular capabilities, France ought to be the first nation on the face of the earth. But what is she ? A nation tossed on a volcano — like the troubled sea when it can not rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. With no security for the future, with no permanency in her institutions, what can she be ? Once in about fifteen years all is overturned by a rev- olution. Statesmen, capitalists, merchants, mechanics, artists, can but begin to erect the edifice of national prosperity before a revolution demolishes the whole, and all is to be begun again. The history of France, especially since the fatal day of St, Bartholomew, 1572, has been a problem solved only in the burning page of Heaven's retributive jus- tice. If God had never revealed himself from heaven as a jealous God ; " if his own autograph in retribu- tive providences were not written in the pages of his- tory ; if his own priceless volume of inspiration had never been committed to man ; if the human con- science were a dreary blank upon which no character of solemn responsibility had been inscribed," we should be totally unable to account for the singular history of France during the last three centuries. But with the light of prophecy " flinging its bright radiance across our path," with some knowledge of tlie well- attested yet awful fact that there is not an attribute in the Divine character which can take part with a nation glutted with the blood of martyrs, we cease to be as- tonished at the many paradoxical developments ot that nation. France is an enigma, to be solved only by the devout observer of Providence and the student of Kev- elation. She is like a strong man bewildered — frenzied THE VOICK OF RETRIBUTION. 603 —drunk with the blood of the saints — a fit and deserv* ing instrument to be used, as she has been during the whole period of her retribution, as the right horn of the Scarlet Beast to extend his spiritual tyranny among the nations. The retributive justice of God never appears more manifest and terrific, or his wisdom more wonderful, than when guilty nations are left to punish themselvea for their own wickedness ; or, if they have been joined in the sin with other nations, they are left one to punish the other. France and Spain were leagued together for the extirpation of Protestantism ; and it is remarka- ble with what awful exactness the severities which they inflicted on Protestants were visited with dreadful usury on their own heads. And finally how they were made, mutually, the executors of the Divine judgments on one another. History scarcely records so heart-sickening a drama as the French Kevolution. Yet its cold-blooded murders and disgusting carnage was but a re-enacting of the dreadful scenes of St. Bar- tholomew, and of the heartless severities of Louis XIV. "Those severities made France what she was at the Revolution, and prepared the nation for scourging themselves, while acting as the scourge of their guilty companions in crime. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." The king of France and the royal family received in the Revolution only what the king and the royal family had in a fore- going generation inflicted on the people of God. The procedure of the persecutors on St. Bartholomew's, the domiciliary visits, the various modes of murder, are so much like the measures adopted in the Revolution, that the history of the one furnishes a portrait of the other." The agonies of France during the reign of terror were but the death-tones of a former generation — the voice of the blood of saints crying for vengeance. Yet the miseries of that terrific reign were but a small part — were but the beginning of sorrows to the French nation. She had laid her hand on God's anointed and did his prophets harm ; she had shed the blood of the saints ; and now blood should be her drink. " Under 604 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. the empire, the able-bodied men of France perished in her wars at the rate of more than two hundred thou sand a year." And what we may not overlook, the very classes of men who made themselves the most promi- nent and guilty in the Papal persecutions referred to, were made to suffer the most severely in the day of the Divine retribution. No class, as has been said, sc freedily sought the blood of the Protestants as the loraish priesthood ; and it is not a little remarkable that though the priestly estates spared no pains, on the approach of the Revolution, to establish themselves on the popular side, yet they were first to drink, and to drink to the very dregs, the bitterest cup of the Revolu- tion. As they unsparingly measured out vengeance to the poor, persecuted Huguenots, so did unpitying ven- geance overtake them in the day of their visitation. There was no mercy for them who had not showed mercy. First they were reduced to beggary by the suppression of tithes and the confiscation of Church property, con- sisting of immense landed estates, amounting to nearly a third of all France. But they were among the first that were made to feel the weight of the popular fury. Freely and unfeelingly had they shed the blood of the martyrs, and as freely and unrelentlessly was their blood poured forth. The government was made the instrument to plun- der and spoil the Church, and thus to inflict on her condign punishment for her merciless persecutions and butcheries of the saints ; j'et these ill-gotten treasures did not benefit the state. Instead of relieving an empty treasury, it only drove her the more rapidly to bankruptcy. " The fruits of this injustice" says Alison, " proved no relief to the public necessities. Extraor- dinary as it may appear, it is a well-authenticated fact, that the expenses of managing the Church property cost the nation £2,000,000 a year more than it yielded, besides in a few vears augmenting the public debt by £7,000,000." It was the wages of iniquity, and could not prosper. The nation had set the example of a public robbery, 42 THR VOICB OF RETRIBUTION. 607 and it was impossible to restrain her subordinate agents from robbing her in return. No land has so profusely drunk in the blood of the saints as France; and no country has been the scene of such reckless carnage and bloodshed. She has taken the sword against the Lord's anointed, and awfully has she been left to perish by the sword. But who shall divine the future of France ? Has she expiated all her guilt — has she ceased to be the right arm of the Papacy and the scourge of the reformed religion ? As we see her once more gathering strength, and the imperial power returned under a sturdy son of Rome who will not hesitate at the adoption of any measure that will secure the power of the Papacy and thereby further his own ambitious schemes ; and as we see, on the other hand, the Romish hierarchy putting forth the unnatural strength of a dying struggle, if not to extend his power to maintain his existence, France stands forth in the present European war, as the champion of Rome. But in all these coming commotions, in which no doubt France will bear a signal part (deadly toward others and finally suicidal to her- self)— in the terrific billows which shall seem to over- whelm the very ark of the Lord, our confidence is that " our Father is at the helm." Though she shall be tossed on surges more fearful than has ever yet beat upon her, she shall not founder. The Church is safe. And in her turn, Spain, too, has been made to drink to the very dregs the cup of miseries which she had so relentlessly held to the lips of others. Like France her soil has been saturated with the blood of the saints. In no country did the doctrines of the Reformation Bprcad more rapidly or obtain a stronger hold on the liigher classes of society ; and no country has been so tlisgraced by the horrors of tlie Inquisition. During the thirty-six years preceding the commencement of the Reformation, nearly two hundred thousand persona were condemned ; thirteen thousand burned; and during the eleven years Cardinal Ximenes was at the head of the tribunal, more than 50,000 were con- demned ; more than 2,500 burned alive. History has 6.08 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. not failed to record the unblushing atrocities commit- ted by Spanish kings and the people of Spain against Protestants until they were finally exterminated or driven from the country. But Spain had been com- paratively guiltless if there had rested on her only the blood of her Protestant population. She was a nation laden with guilt before. Her avarice, ambition, and unparalleled cruelties in her conquests in Central and South America had already sealed over that guilty nation to an irrevocable perdition, and she needed but a little to fill up the measure of her iniquity. And aw- fully was this consummated in her barbarous persecu- tions of the Reformed Church. But the day of her judg- ment came. Her sins had reached unto heaven, and God remembered her iniquities. He rewarded her even as she had rewarded others ; and doubled to her double according to her works; in the cup which she filled, He has filled to her double. "The Spanish nation," says an intelligent writer, " has become effete on both sides of the water, worn out and exhausted by tyranny, luxury, and lust, inca- pable of any thing great and good ; or doomed to destruction for crimes which for three centuries called upon Heaven for vengeance. There is neither national pride nor individual enterprise, neither intelligence nor virtue; and, like other inferior races, they must melt away and disappear before the march of superior civilization, knowledge, energy, and virtue." This is but too sadly true of that guilty people in their ancient domains. Bat have they not improved by transplant- ation? A«i they have taken root in an American soil, have they not, like other races transplanted hither, siiaken off their fathers' curse, and revived amid the genial air of Liberty? The same retributive justice — the same curse of Rome — has pursued them here Take, for example, the Spainards of Mexico. Climate, Boil, mineral wealth, fine rivers, and harbors ; almost every thing gave her advantages not a whit inferior to those enjoyed by the Anglo-Saxon race of North America. The world all the while advancing, and she possessing the most favorable opportunities for calling THE VOICK OF RETRIBUTION 611 out tlie noblest capabilities of man, what is sbo! " Her only developments," as the same writer says, " have been imbecility, treachery, and baseness." Curs- ed by a most demoralizing religion, and fleeced to the amount of $20,000,000 annually by a voracious priest- hood (to say nothing of the immense revenue the priests receive from lands), the Spanish race in Mexico, as elsewhere, writhe under the withering malediction of Heaven. Gilded Spain was stained with the blood of the martyrs. Gigantic frauds, appalling oppressions, and persecutions the most bloody and relentless, still send up their united cry to Heaven for vengeance. For Spain, poor, unhappy, abandoned Spain, and all her race wherever scattered, there is no help but in her national repentance and cordial reception of the Gos- pel. She is without the Bible, without the Sabbath, and without the Christian faith. At the accession of Philip H. the Spanish Empire was one of the richest and most magnificent that ever existed. Enriched by the spoils of Eastern nations, and more enriched by her exhaustless mines in Amer- ica, and with a country of uncommon beauty and fer- tility, and one of the finest armies in the world, she only needed the smiles of Heaven to have perpetuated her greatness, and to have given her the first place among the nations of the earth. But what is she? There is perhaps not now a more imbecile, base, and contemptible kingdom on earth. A voice from the throne of retributive justice has pronounced her doom: " How much she glorified herself and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her." And hence- forth we find Spain afflicted with the most singular succession of national calamities. The wars of Napoleon in Spain were signally calam- itous, and finally disastrous to the nation. Hand joined in hand, France and Spain had been the two great persecuting powers, and now they are strangely left to become, mutually, the executors upon each other of the Divine displeasure. During seven bloody years the French waged the most vindictive wars 612 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. against Spain. The French army in their march through the country left behind them a complete des- olation. The inhabitants were remorselessly plun- dered ; food, raiment, domestic animals, and all sorts of vehicles, and whatever the army might need, or avarice or lust or wantonness desire, was forced from a helpless people. Her finest towns were subjected to all the horrors of a siege ; her peasantry were murder- ed, and the whole country ravaged by lire and sword. Both parties became at length exceedingly vindictive and barbarous. Steeped alike in blood and crime, and lost to all human feeling, God made them mutually the awful instruments of his wrath upon their own guilty heads. Speaking of Massena's retreat frojn Santarem, Napier says : " Every horror that could make war hideous attended tliis dreadful march. Dis- tress, conflagration, death in all modes — from wounds, from fatigue, from water, from the flames, from star- vation !'' At the storming of Saragossa : " Upon the defenseless inhabitants the storm of the victor's fury fell with unexampled severity. Armed and unarmed, men and women, gray hairs and infant innocence, at- tractive youth and wrinkled age, were alike butchered by the infuriated troops." More than six thousand defenseless human beings were massacred on that dreadful night — a night '• to be remembered in Spain as long as the human race endures." The streets and houses of Saragossa were "inundated with the blood of Spaniards." Thus was Spain made to expiate all the "righteous blood" that had been shed upon her soil ; and France, her old ally in persecution, was made her tormentor. And, what we must not overlook, Spain in her turn became the scourge and tormentor of France. "It was," said Napoleon, " that unhappy war in Spain which ruined me." "The unfortunate war in Spain proved a real wound, the first cause of the misfortunes of France." Surely, then, sin is a fearful thing. It arrays against itself incensed Omnipotence. It contains within itself a sure element of destruction. It draws after it, sooner THE VOICE OF RETRIBUTION. 613 jr later, a certain retribution ; and especially is it found to be true that no nation, people, or individual may raise a hand against the Church of the living God and be held guiltless. God is a jealous God ; and never is it more sure that he will vindicate his honor than in the case of persecution. He has solemnly charged all men, saying, "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." And all liistory bears abundant testimony that He has suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he has reproved kings for their sakes. Oppressors, extortioners, persecutors, and all sorts of evil-doers, have but too truly had their history indi^ vidually drawn in these few words: "He made a pit and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." The history of our apostate race is full of illustra- tions. We i-ernember to have read of an intolerant law passed by the Legislative Assembly of the Island of St. Vincent, which for a time broke up a successful Wesleyan mission tliere. The first offense for preach- ing the Gospel was eighteen pounds sterling, or im- prisonment for not more than ninety days, nor less than thirty. Second offense, corporeal punishment as the court should see fit to inflict, and hanishmsnt. Third offense, death. This persecuting law was con- cocted and pressed through the Legislature by a few intolerant individuals who, neither fearing God nor regarding man, hoped thereby to purchase the favor of a party as destitute of all right principle as them- selves. Missionaries were compelled to abandon tlieir work ; some were cast into prison, and the mission was broken up. At length the home government (of England) interposed and ordered the repeal of the offensive law. Those wicked legislators soon found their vile machinations turned against themselves. Not only did they fail in any object of immediate ben- efit, but almost immediately on the repeal of this law a wvir broke out with the Charaibees, and, what %vas remarked by the people as a signal judgment, the 614 HAND OF GOD IN BISTORT. " greatest part of these persecutors fell victims in the sanguinary conflict." It is indeed awfully interesting to read, as we often may, the character and the magnitude of the sin in the punishment which follows it. Persecutors are in their turn persecuted ; defrauders are defrauded ; covenant- breakers are made the dupes of those as false and un- principled as themselves ; and they who lightly esteem the character, happiness, or life of another, are often left to have it meted out to them as they have meas- ured to others. Some of the finest countries on the surface of the globe are still in the hands of the Man of Sin, — countries of vast natural resources, and excelling all others in salubrity of climate and natural beauty, — and countries that no doubt await a destiny altogether different from anything that now appears. Why is this? Why is Spain, Portugal, South America, Africa, allowed to lie upon the surface of tlie globe as worse than moral wastes and at present almost natural wastes? What do they contribute to the general good ; what to commerce, or to political wisdom ; or the advancement of learning, the arts, or science, morals or religion? What, for any essential good, would be lost, if all these nations, and their like, were blotted froiu the face of the earth? Yet they are not left to the destroyer for naught. They are, by way of contrast, working out the first part of a stupenduous problem. They are, on a large scale, and for a limited though not for a short time, illustrating the bitter fruits of a perversion of the natural good with which Heaven has favored them. They are showing how ignorance, and misery, and degradation, depravity and despotism are, in spite of every natural advantage, the legitimate fruit of the reign of the Man of Sin. But how striking the contrast when these same countries shall, for limitless ages, flourish in beauty and excellence under the reign of Immanuel ; when their immense natural resources, the riches of their mines, of their soil, and their peculiar commercial advantages, shall all combine to honor virtue and bless man. CHAPTER XXXIII. ffind ofOod tn OontroUing Wleked Men and Wickedness for Great and Laattni; Good. Israel in Egypt The Babyionisli Captivity. Caiphaa. Persecutions. ControveN sles. Josephas. Oibbon. Corruption of tho Clergy and Tetzel. Wart witli India, China, and Mexico. Ayarice. Ambition. Wb took occasion, in a preceding chapter, to direct the mind of the reader to great men as the divinely- appointed and the divinely-qualified agents in the progress of human affairs. We then spoke more espe- cially of great and good men. It is, hoM'ever, often- times of still greater interest, of profound wonder, to see how God overrules the conduct of had men^ and the working of bad institutions, and bad principles and practices, to the furtherance of his wise and benev- olent purposes. Men are allowed to commit giant wrongs, to defraud, oppress, persecute, and by the most wicked machinations, ruthlessly, to prey on the peace, the happiness, and the life of their fellow-men, and God seems not to regard it. The evil-doers go unpunished, and the injured seem to suffer without pity or alleviation. The wicked prosper, and the righteous are cast down and afflicted. But we follow on a little space and the case is reversed. God's ways are vindicated. It is well with the righteous ; but the feet of the wicked stand on slippery places, and ere long they slide. And not only so, but the wrong doing itself is overruled to the furtherance of the cause of truth and righteousness. Wealth, gotten by fraud and high-handed wickedness has, after having proved a curse, perhaps, to its owner and to his generation after him, passed into other hands, and often been made, contrary to all the designs and wishes of the original owners, to subserve some of the noblest purposes of philanthropy and benevolence. Wars, undertaken from mere ambition, or revenge, or the most sordid avarice, and prosecuted with the most virulent Aud 615 616 HAND OF GOD IN HI3TORT. brutal passions which ever disgraced humanity, are so controlled by the all-guiding Hand as to become effi- cient and lar-reaching means of good, removing obsta- cles, openmg the way and introducmg civilization and Christianity, and all the benign institutions which fol- low in their train. Systems of oppression the most grievous have been practiced ; impositions the most debasing to humanity have been palmed upon the world; persecutions the most bloody and relentless have been suffered, as if the fires of the pit were loosed before their time, and seemed to threaten the extermi- nation of God's heritage on earth ; yet, as they who have learned to " wait upon the Lord" are able after a little while to see, these terrific engines of evil do lit- tle but to spoil the wrong-doers and to bless the suf- ferers. Though for the time not joyous but grievous, the sufferers writhe in a furnace lighted up by the wrath of puny man, whose fires must soon go out ; while they that inflict the wrong are gathering fuel to heat a furnace that shall never be extinguished. Or if we look not beyond the limits of this brief life, wrong doing is almost sure to meet its reward ere it go to the final judgment. Nor are they who suffer the wrong without a present reward. The fire they pass through is the " refiner's fire." They come out of it better men — purer, firmer when right ; meeker, more yield- ing when wrong. It is to them a purifying, elevating process. They are made "perfect through suffering." It was a nefarious transaction that tore Joseph from the fond embrace of his father, sold him into Egypt, and doomed him to a hopeless slavery ; yet this very transaction was an important step in the achievement of the benevolent purposes of God toward his people. The affliction of the Hebrews, under Pharaoh's cruel task-masters was a sin in the perpetrators of it chat cried to Heaven for vengeance, and which was sig- nally avenged in the spoiling of the kingdom of Egypt; yet every groan, every tear, every act of hardship and oppression to which the afilicted people were subject- ed was, in the mysterious orderings of Providence, working out a wise and benevolent result. In no WICKEDNESS AND WICKED MEN. 617 Other way, perhaps, could the chosen people have been BO efFectually prepared for their future nationality and for the illustrious career which awaited them. In no other way could they have been so thoroughly schooled for their future condition. In the mysterious manner in which God conducts human afi'airs, he is wont to use wicked men and wicked nations, and sin itself, as instruments by which to carry forward his work. They do not mean to honor God and subserve his purposes; they mean to dis- honor him ; yet he so controls their evil doings as to make them subserve his great and good purposes. The mad " Assyrian" comes down on the plains of Israel blaspheming the God of heaven, and defying his power, having it in his heart to destroy and cutoff nations not a few. He comes with evil intent, and has made himself strong to do mischief; yet God has a great and good purpose to accomplish by him. He would chasten his people for their sins, and thus bring *hem back to their love and allegiance. The King of Assj'ria was therefore the rod of His rage and the staff of his indignation to accomplish this end. No sooner was liiis accompiisiied than the blaspheming king and all the wicked agents of his will were summarily pun- ished. The "rod" and the "staff" were broken and cast away in righteous indignation. The Babylonish captivity was a sore and a bitter thing to the whole Israelitish nation. Sorely did they sigii in a foreign land for their Temple now in ruins, and their homes now desolate. The hand of the Lord lay heavily upon them for seventy long years. It was a judgment for transgression, and it was a fatherly chastisement. This sore and temporary evil was pro- ductive of a great and permanent good. The nation had before been strongly prone to idolatry. Th-^y were now forever cured. Under the gracious smiles of Heaven the}' return to their native land. Jerusalem again rises from her ruins ; the Temple once more beautiiies Mount Zion ; the sacred !aw is revised, copies multiplied, and daily read to the people But what is especially to be noted here is, that Uie desire 618 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. and determination which now prevailed to hear the Word of God read, led to the erection in every town and village over the whole land of places of worship, called synagogues, where the law should be read and divine worship be performed. Heretofore Jerusalem had been the only place for public worship, and con- sequently tlie mass of tlie people worshiped nowhere, and seldom heard the law read. Now a sanctuary was open in every town and village where there were found as many as ten adult persons who might be re- lied upon to attend upon the stated services. But what is especially worthy of remark here is, that this singu- lar multiplication of synagog.ues became at length a most important facility for the rapid spread of Chris- tianity. Here tlie Great Teacher, and the apostles, and the early teachers of Cliristianity, found prepared for them a place and a home for religion ; here they met, with none to molest or make afraid ; and here they gathered the few scattered fragments of piety which then existed, or, rather, we may say, here they gathered the half-quenched coals that had been scat- tered from the altar of the true sanctuary, and bap- tizing them with an intenser tire, made them as the "burning coals" at the feet of the new King. Here they miglit read and expound the law and tlie prophets, worship the risen Saviour, and teach the doctrines of the Cross. Here, indeed, they might find so many starting places and radiating points for the new relig- ion. This, together with the dispersion of the twelve tribes (another vast good out of a sore judgment), fur- nished in every place where they went a preaching place and a ready reception to the early missionaries of Christianity, which greatly favored its rapid diii'u- Bion It was needful that Christ should die for the sins of the world. He came into the world for this end, and he must not fail to execute his infinitely benevolent mission. But how shall such an unearthly deed be brought about — who be found bold enough to accuse, arraign, condemn, and execute a person so pure, so holy and harmless — one who had, in the face of all the WICKEDNESS AND WICKED MSN. 619 people, wrought such mighty works, and in every re- spect sustained so extraordinary a character ? During His whole sojourn on earth there shone in his charac- ter a moral excellence which distinguished him as a being altogether unearthly. Scribes, Pharisees, and Priests felt this, when they would lay hands on Hira but were restrained, not so much perhaps from a fear of the people, as they pretended, as from a fearful con- sciousness that the object of their hate held some mys- terious, awful relations to the eternal God which they feared to encounter. The soldiers who were sent to seize Christ in the garden felt this when they shrunk back and fell to the ground as dead men. Pontius Pilate lelt it when he thrice essayed to set his prisoner free, and washed his hands in tiie presence of the peo- ple as a token of his innocency. Judas felt himself crushed beneath the same awful presence when he confessed that he had betrayed innocent blood and went out and hanged himself; and the Roman sol- diers felt the same when they said, "Surely this was the Son of God." • How, then, in the ordinar}'^ course of Providence, could the death of such a personage be brought about? Witii whom should the thought originate ? Who should first broach the idea of Ills death with any hope of success ? A more infernal idea never entered the human mind. And to whom has history accorded this vile pre-eminence but to tlie high priest of the Jews, the miserable Caiaphas ? If another were capa- ble of entertaining and giving expression to snch a thought, there was, [lerhaps, not anotber person living whose character and position could divest such a thought of the utter abiiorrence with whicli it was likely to be received. This- most ap])alling crime was suggested by the ])erson who then tilled the nnst holy otiice in the world ; and couiing as it did wit is such a sanction, wielded under so specious a pretext, it would tind a ready response in hearts already wishin;: to find occasion of death against Jesus. "' It is expedient for us," said the high priest, "that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation perish not.'' 620 HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY. Better that this seditious Nazarene be put out of the way than that our nation fall under the ban of Cfesar. But a word from such a source, and the dogs of war were loosed. "Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death." Bat how remarkably did God overrule this wicked scheme of Caiaphas to the accomplishment of the most glorious event ! It brought about the death of Christ, wliich brought life and immortality to light for a wick ed world. Though the wicked man had it in his heart to find a fair pretext to shed innocent blood, yet he was made unwittingly to announce truths of the pro- foundest interest. The merciless persecutions which swept over the early Christian Church like a desolating tornado, and seemed to prostrate all before them, were made the occasion of a wider extension of the Gospel, and the cause of confirming the early Christians in the faith, of elevating Christian character, and giving notoriety and importance to the Christian Church, which noth- ing else could. The persecution which arose about Stephen, though so disastrous in the execution, was so overruled in the result as to be really a prosperous event. And the persecutions in which Saul of Tarsus bore so unenviable a share were made to furnish one of the most prominent and influential ministera and writers of the New Testament. The early religious controversies, which to many ap- peared so disastrous to the best interests of the Church, and much to be deplored, were nevertheless made, in the wise orderings of Providence, to be productive of a great good. They not only kept alive the activity of man in ages in which there was danger of a general letliargy, and led to the establishment of schools of learning, but they guarded with the most scrupulous vigilance the written Word, and every doctrine and precept therein contained, against the slightest atte