tje  ftltantic lelegrap.:
DISCOURSE
DELIVERED  I'N  THE'FIRSST  CHURC:1H,
AUGUST 8, 1858.
BY  EZRA  S. OANN.ETT.
liubstielt by  bequest.
BOSTON:
CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY,
117, WASHINGTON STREET.
1858.








Etct Atlantic  critgrapt:
A
DISCOURSE
DELIVERED   IN  THE  FIRST  CHURCH,
AUGUST 8, 1858.
BY  EZRA  S. GANNETT.
iltbltstberD ba    3Bequtest
BOSTON:
CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY,
117, WASHINGTON STREET.
1858.




The intelligence that the ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE had been
successfully laid was received in Boston, on Thursday, Aug. 5, 1858. The
following Discourse was delivered, on the next succeeding Sabbath, to the
members of the Federal-street Church and the First Church, assembled in
the First Church, Chauncy Street, —the two Societies having united, for
public worship, during the temporary closing of the Federal-street Church.
The Discourse is printed at the request of both Societies.
BOSTON:
PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON,
22, SCHOOL STREET.




THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.
JOB xxxviii. 35: CANST THOU SEND LIGHTNINGS, THAT THEY MAY GO AND
SAY UNTO THEE, HERE WE ARE?
THE surprise, hesitation, doubt, the belief, delight, enthusiasm, with which the intelligence that has been a principal
subject of conversation the last two days, was received in
our city, are a sufficient evidence of the interest taken in an
enterprise, the practicability of which could be proved only
by its success. That it has been attended with full success,
is by no means clear; but so much has been accomplished,
that ultimate failure may be pronounced impossible. Difficulties may remain to be overcome, before the submarine
bond of union between two hemispheres can be used for the
purposes of business and friendship, and unforeseen disaster may afterwards cause a suspension of the intercourse
that shall have been established; but skill and patience must
prevail at last. We are justified in considering the question
virtually settled, whether the greatest discovery of this age
can be put to the test of practical advantage on the grandest
scale.




4
And a grand result it is, to be realized or anticipated, that
the thought of man can travel through three thousand miles
of space, with the rapidity of the lightning, and human
hearts can use the bed of the ocean for the swift exchange
of their sympathies. It cannot be a trivial event, at the
annunciation of which worldly men broke forth into clamorous joy, and devout men bent their heads in grateful thanksgiving. It is not an improper subject to engage our minds
on this day and in this place, since we regard it as the assurance of a series of benefits, whose extent and magnitude are
beyond our power of computation.  A new channel of blessing has been opened for the world. Is not this a suitable
occasion for recognizing the providence and the goodness of
God?  Through a most unfortunate association of religion
with the dark, rather than the bright aspects of life, any
event which causes mourning is accepted as a fit theme
for the pulpit, while the joyous side of experience is kept for
the street and the domestic circle. What must be the consequence of invoking religion to add a deeper solemnity to
whatever is sad, while our glad emotions are treated as
unworthy to be brought into the house of worship, but to
implant false views of the providence of God, and to restrict
the domain of faith?  Why should death be more sacred
than life?  Why should the accident, as we term it,- the
result probably of human negligence, - by which a thrill of
horror is sent through the land, be made the occasion of address, appeal or warning in numberless discourses, but the
achievement by which the community is thrown into a transport of delight, - the fruit of a wise use of the Divine laws,
— be held as too secular for the purposes of Christian
instruction?  Away with this ungenial superstition!  God




5
made us to be glad, and we do not profane his temple when
we bring our gladness within its walls.  "Oh, that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them exalt him also
in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the
assembly of the elders."
The completion of the work in regard to which there has
been so much room for incredulity, is suited to awaken our
religious feelings, not only through its connection with the
Providence that includes all efforts and all results, but in
view of the illustration it affords of the mysterious yet beneficent method which that Providence observes in its care
of the world. Wonderful as are the agencies of which the
Atlantic Telegraph may be taken as the consummation, they
are only the product of human skill availing itself of means
which the Almighty had prepared for its use from the beginning of the creation. The science which has laid hold on
one of the most subtile elements in nature, and bound it in
perpetual service; the art which has constructed the bonds
of its captivity, the materials which have been woven to be
at once its chain and its pathway; the depths of the sea,
which for the first time in the history of our race have been
made subservient to the uses of humanity; the electric fluid
with which continents will hold communication through
future ages; and the mind of man, which has called science
and art to the task of combining the palpable, the invisible,
and the intangible, into a means of helping the world to
reach its goal, — all these, and that final destiny to which
the world is brought so much nearer by this means, existed
from the first in the prolific thought of God.  Delighted
and astonished as we are, we see nothing here which the




6
Eternal Mind did not foresee and arrange when He laid
the foundations of the earth. The labor and ingenuity of
man have accomplished no more than was intended.  And
it has been accomplished at the intended moment.  Of all
and each of the great agencies for human good, who can
doubt, that they come " in the fulness of time "? By all his
inventions man adds only new forms to the universe. Substance and ability are from the Uncreated One. The fabrics
which man fashions into the garments of his thought, are
furnished by Him who made all things.  Nor do any of his
inventions anticipate the Divine wisdom. From the simple
raft to the steam-ship with its complete'equipment, from the
alphabet to the printing-press, from the lowest point of
savage ignorance to the highest reach of scientific inquiry,
every stage and step of improvement has but helped to fulfil and unfold the design of the world's Author. Beautiful
and instructive is this evolution of the eternal scheme,
through the energies which now want, and now opportunity,
excites to action.  The connection of the Old World with
the New in the middle of the nineteenth century is as strictly
providential, as was the discovery of America at the close of
the fifteenth, or the arrival of a body of Christian emigrants
on these shores near the beginning of the seventeenth.
Marvellous and gracious is the providence beneath which
the generations work out their unforced, yet predetermined
history.  The properties of matter and the laws of the
physical universe were the same before Morse, Franklin, or
Newton studied them, before chemistry had a pupil, or astronomy a name, that they are now. Nothing is new with God;
nothing original with man. When the intelligence came
for which we had been waiting with more of despair than of




7
hope, our faith in God received confirmation, and piety felt
itself strengthened for its conquest over wickedness.
To God be the glory! And yet man is exalted by the
success which has crowned his undertaking.  How forcibly
are we reminded of the command given to him who was
created " in the image of God," that he should " subdue "
all sublunary things to his own will. What an example of
man's power over nature does this achievement present!
Space and force offer no hindrance to the execution of his
wish. Neither the breadth nor the depth of the ocean is an
insuperable barrier to the realization of his idea. The impracticable becomes unknown to effort, the impossible disappears
from the horizon of hope. It was but as yesterday, when
the question of four thousand years ago might have been
repeated in scornful rebuke of man's presumption, - " Canst
thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee,
Here we are! "  That question can now be answered with
an affirmation so literal that the accuracy of its terms almost
startles us.  Yes; the invisible, imponderable substance,
force, whatever it be - we do not even certainly know what
it is which we are dealing with, - the swift-winged messenger of destruction, the vital energy of the material creation,
is brought under our control, to do our errands, like any
menial, nay, like a very slave. Who shall now describe the
circle within which human ability must confine itself?  In
neither height nor depth, in neither the seen nor the unseen,
in neither the forms nor the elements which compose the
universe, neither in that which terrifies the barbarian nor in
that which perplexes the philosopher, do we recognize a
limit to our subjugation of nature.  What an amount of
proof has the last quarter of a century furnished, that man




8
was made to rule the earth! Not by force, nor by cunning;
but by honestly and patiently gained acquaintance with the
constitution of the world in which he lives.  Science is
the arm which he stretches out, and the hand with which he
seizes on the mysteries that lie around him.  The conqueror
now is not he who leads armies to the battle-field, but he who
by calculation and experiment widens the domain of knowledge.  The student and the engineer, in our age, win a
success that shames the victories of Napoleon.  What can
stand before the determination of modern science? What
can baffle its keen-eyed and persistent scrutiny? Nor is it
unworthy of notice, that the spoils which science now brings
home from the fields on which it clothes itself with glory
are laid at the feet of utility. The day of speculative inquiry
is past. The acquisitions of the scholars who penetrate the
recesses of nature, where they find richer treasures than
the cities of India or the streams of California yield to their
invaders, are freely offered to the world's use. Mind asserts
its superiority over matter, not in a spirit of self-admiration,
but for the sake of enriching life.  Our scholars are the true
philanthropists of the age. We have an example of the justice of this remark, in the enterprise which has determined
the present direction of our thoughts.  Its success is due to
a union of the most acute scientific investigation, with careful
and ingenious mechanical labor; both drawn to the work,
not by an empty ambition nor by the hope of pecuniary
reward, but by a desire to serve the practical interests of the
two countries immediately concerned —the people, let us
observe, and not simply nor chiefly the governments of those
countries, -and through them  of mankind.  It is a noble
tribute'to the utilitarian spirit of the age, the spirit which




9
requires knowledge to justify itself by promoting the general
good.
It is not without its significance, that the scene of the two
grandest exhibitions of the benefit which may result from a
combination of scientific principle with mechanic art is the
ocean, that part of the earth, which, less than the solid land,
less even than the atmosphere, might seem to be within the
domain of man.  The most perfect display of his inventive
and practical genius is a ship, bearing in its form the massive
strength with the graceful proportions which attest the right
of naval architecture to be considered one of the fine arts,
while in the forest of beauty over which the eye wanders, from
the solid trunk of the mast to the feathery lightness of the
topmast rigging, it rivals the sculptured elegance of the Corinthian temple or the Gothic cathedral. Behold this marvel
of man's production, whose weight, whose dimensions, whose
capacity seem to entitle it to be called the monster of the
deep, which yet sits with such a queenlike dignity upon
the waves that we imagine them to be proud of their burthen;
the home of a thousand men, who find comfort and luxury
in its internal arrangements; the witness of a city's wealth,
the champion of a nation's honor, a proof of the world's
advancement; see this almost living creation of man's brain
and hand, careering over the Atlantic with an air of conscious sovereignty. It is a spectacle that may well fill the
heart of man with admiration of the place which he holds
among the works of God; the ocean his highway, and the
winds his ministers.  But now from  the ocean's surface,
sprinkled all over with the evidences of its submission to
man's purposes, look down through miles of liquid distance
to its bed, and there see the last result of human toil, stretch2




10
ing its immense length across that bed, which never before
since the earth was made had yielded a single foot to man's
use, but now is doomed to own his dominion through the
centuries of the world's future history, as the loves and fears
of human hearts shall rush over its subject spaces.  Tell
me, my friends, where you will find more signal proof of
man's greatness, than in these two examples of the ocean's
subserviency to his convenience.
Still it would be a small recompense of the time and labor
and anxiety that have been expended in perfecting this last
expression of man's inventive thought, if it only supplied
fuel to his self-love, or even gave him a higher estimation of
his own capacities. The temper of the times, I have said,
is essentially practical, as the history of this enterprise may
show.  Though necessarily conducted by scientific men, it
originated in a conviction of the commercial and political
advantages it would yield, and was sustained through its
expensive period of preparation by those in private life and
in public office, who were looking at its effects on social and
national interests. The enthusiasm with which the news of
its completion was received, arose from a deeper source than
the joy we always feel when anxiety is displaced by an assurance of success.  The mind at once caught a glimpse of its
distant as well as its immediate consequences,    its connection with social progress, the world's civilization, and the
unity of mankind.  And now, when we lay our sacrifice of
praise on the altar of God, we think of the benefits which
will flow from this triumph over difficulty and disappointment.  To enumerate those benefits would be an office which
prophecy alone could undertake.  The good contained in the
future is wisely concealed from us, as well as the evil. No




11
one can tell what changes in the relations of the two portions
of the civilized world to one another, and through them in
the relations of all the countries of the earth, may follow
upon the establishment of instantaneous communication between the two continents.  We may draw a lesson from the
fact, that remarkable inventions or discoveries have generally
produced effects very different from those which were anticipated, when they first came into use; what then seemed to
be merely incidental or insignificant becoming the most
valuable, while the results which were fondly contemplated
have sunk into subordinate importance. It is not, therefore,
an indication of wisdom, to speculate with much confidence,
on the fruits of any enterprise at its commencement. The
innocent author of the slave-trade had as little foresight of
the evils which he was introducing, as the constructer of the
first steam-vessel of the benefits which he was conferring on
the world.  Some conception, however, may be formed of
the bearings of telegraphic intercourse between the Eastern
and Western Continents on the interests of humanity. Its
final influence on mercantile affairs as no one can predict, so
its immediate effect only they who are familiar with the details of trade can describe. It is plain that the transmission
of intelligence with a rapidity that must put an end to crafty
calculation on the one hand, and to anxious suspense on the
other, will tend to give a more healthy tone to business.
When every day shall renew the solution of the paradox,
that the merchant in Boston or New York may learn as he
enters his counting-room  in the morning, what were the
transactions of the Exchange in London or Paris at noon, a
check will be placed on that wild spirit of speculation, by
which the comfort and the morals of life have been so much




12
impaired in this country. On a higher plane of advantage
we may mark the relief in numberless cases, the satisfaction
every moment arising from the knowledge friends may obtain
of one another's condition almost without delay, although
separated by thousands of miles.  Imagine your child or
your parent in Europe, and, instead of a letter's tedious
travel across the Atlantic, a message flying through the electric wires; will not space and time be virtually abolished?
What a change, when the tenant of a house in England or
Germany shall be my next-door neighbor, and soon Constantinople and Calcutta shall be but a street's length from my
own dwelling! On political affairs the influence of this means
of international conversation cannot but be important. How
many misunderstandings may be prevented from growing
into serious disputes, how many jealousies be dispelled, by a
few taps of a little machine; how much expense be saved
by the use of an invisible, yet faithful messenger, in place
of a special diplomatic agent who might only succeed in
" darkening counsel by words."  It is one of the happiest
auspices of the future, which it belongs to our age, and may
we not say to our country, to have introduced, that the intercourse of governments has been taken out of the mystery of
equivocation in which the practice of ages had wrapt it, and
been in great measure reduced to plain and frank speech.
The telegraph will compel statesmen to study yet greater
simplicity of expression.
The connection of Great Britain with our own shores is
not a fact that can stand alone. By this channel we shall
hold communication with Continental Europe, Asia, Africa
and Australia. The line of electric transmission will soon
girdle the globe.  Civilization must receive an impulse




13
greater than it has felt at any time within the last halfcentury, memorable as this period has been for the appearance of agencies suited to awaken intellectual activity. How
can we bring before our minds, with sufficient distinctness,
the consequence of a universal interchange of thought by the
speediest method?  The world, it has been said, will be
made a great whispering-gallery; I would rather say, a great
assembly, where every one will see and hear every one else.
The press has for the last fifty years been the chief agent
in educating society.  It must now  share that privilege
with another instrument. The telegraph will anticipate the
journal. Facts and opinions, the materials with which successive generations construct the road along which society
advances with unequal, but never retrograde steps, will now
be furnished to every one on the moment.  What an excitement will be given to the brain and heart of the world!
Too much, you may say.  Perhaps so. Excess, however,
will not be fatal. Society will accommodate itself to the
new conditions of its existence; and then improvement will
go on steadily, as well as rapidly.
The most remarkable effect, if I may judge from my own
narrow thought, will be the approach to a practical unity of
the human race; of which we have never yet had a foreshadowing, except in the gospel of Christ. Actually, the race
has been divided into as distinct portions as if they lived
on separate planets. Jealous of one another, or mutually
unknown, they have exchanged no sympathies, united in no
common labors, recognized no obligations of kindred blood.
What has China been to the rest of mankind for hundreds
of years? Even on the maps of the geographer, what has
the interior of Africa been, though now known to contain




14
populous cities, but an arid desert?  Can such ignorance
and isolation continue after the lightnings shall have been
taken into the service of man, to go hither and thither at his
command, saying, Here we are?  The death blow has been
struck to barbarism. An exclusive policy must yield to the
universal solvent.  The telegraph is cosmopolitan.  Not
more British than American, it can neither be monopolized
by government, nor stopped in its work of civilization by
neglect.  It is an institution for the people.  Its office
is, to diffuse intelligence; its effect, to allay differences.
Men who talk together daily cannot hate or disown one
another.
Learning and freedom must be promoted by this disperser
of darkness, this intruder into the haunts of senile conservatism.  By many persons it is thought that an increase of
religious faith and life must follow. But this effect seems
to me more doubtful, because I do not perceive any direct
bearing of an open intercourse among men on spiritual
character, and because facts show that neither learning nor
freedom is the sure precursor of virtue.  We may indulge
the hope, that men will not abuse an increase of light and
opportunity, but their past history should teach us that such
abuse is not impossible, nor improbable. God unquestionably meant, that all our powers and all the circumstances of
our being should bear the seal of consecration: but men do
not believe with a firmer faith because they have more light,
nor do they render a more strict obedience because it is
made to depend on their own will.  One of our most common mistakes consists in imputing the end as a certain consequence of an enjoyment of the means; whereas knowledge
is often a cause of increased vice and misery. The greater




15
the ability, the greater may be the wickedness. The introduction of a new  means of improvement and happiness
should render us more watchful over ourselves, rather than
less faithful. The most intelligent community is not always
the most moral.  The common school is not an inevitable
blessing to all whom it gathers under its instruction. It
may be an effect of augmented facilities of communication,
that men will become less patient, less contented, less mindful of the Power that upholds their lives. It is not good to
live too much abroad, too much in society. Retirement and
repose are needful for the maturity of religious character, as
both the little flowers and the great trees need night as well
as day for their growth.  There is danger, therefore, that
the circumstances which might assist, will impede our excellence.  Religion must have its root in the soul; it cannot
flourish as a parasite on some other stock. Religion is spiritual experience, not mental development. A Christian is
not one who cultivates his powers to the utmost, but one who
subjects his whole nature to the guidance of Divine truth.
Two different, but not very dissimilar forms of error captivate many persons in our day.  One represents honesty of
purpose and activity of life as the fundamental laws of our
being, and repudiates faith as a weakness or a misfortune.
A body who have taken to themselves the name of Secularists, that there may be no disguise over their purposes, have
for some time been busy in propagating their opinions in
England, through the efforts of a man of undeniable sincerity and ability who stands at their head. The want of a
similar organization or name does not prevent the existence
of the same class of minds in this country.  The other
error induces a reliance on education, taste and physical




16
comfort for the production of a spiritual character; as if the
buttresses and ornaments of a building could take the place
of substantial walls. There are reformers among us, worthy
to bear the title, who, adopting this error, fall into the delusion of confounding philanthropy with piety.  Now  it is
clear, that men may be highly educated, and yet lack both
conscientiousness and devotion; not thoroughly educated, of
course, for the noblest part of their nature is neglected; but
educated according to that false use of the term -so common, alas! here and everywhere -  which confines it to
mental accomplishment.  It is equally clear, that a community may possess every means of outward prosperity, and
yet be corrupt at heart.  Let us, then, not be caught by the
fallacy which substitutes material and social blessings for
personal righteousness, issuing from  the fountain which
Christ opens within the believer, and which " springeth
up into everlasting life."
After such cautions I need not be timid in the expression
of a belief, that the ultimate, if not the immediate effect of
that discovery, of which we are now gathering the first ripe
fruit, will be a diffusion of Christian principles and sentiments through the earth. It is not self-conceit which moves
us to notice the fact, that the two countries which are not
only united by a chord along which every pulsation in the
heart of one may be borne to the other, but which joined
their efforts in laying that chord where neither the hand of
violence, nor, as we may hope, the chafing of time can reach
it, that these two countries, I say, stand in the front rank of
Christian nations, - the representatives and guardians of the
most vital forms of religion on earth. Is there not a meaning and a prophecy in this fact?  May we not believe that




17
the Providence which uses human freedom for the fulfilment
of its own designs, and which announces the redemption of
man from all evil as its final design, has committed to these
two nations the sacred trust of bringing mankind into harmony of faith and life?
The signs of the times-may appear to some eyes gloomy.
But to the believer in God's eternal purpose of regeneration for the race which was "made subject to vanity by
reason of Him who subjected the same in hope," the hour is
auspicious, for it betokens union, progress and success. I
do not ask you to indulge any unreasonable expectations.
I do not say that the next intelligence from the island, which
has sent its first message as a vibration of joy through our
land, may not overwhelm us with disappointment; but not
such as shall last. No. Enough has been done to be taken
as a pledge that the work will neither be relinquished nor
defeated. I dare not hope that the amicable relations which
now exist between our Republic and the British Empire will
never be disturbed by a feeling of jealousy or animosity.
The time when wars shall cease, has not come.  I am not
blind to the symptoms of uneasiness and misunderstanding
between the governments of Europe.  But why need we
look only on omens of disaster?  Why construe outward
courtesies as a mask to hide secret hatred? Why shall we
distrust, not only the generous sentiments, but the sound
policy by which rulers profess to be governed? Why not
have a little more faith in man, and very much more faith in
God?
My friends, let us hail the event, which we have thought
it no profanation of the sanctuary to make the subject of our
discourse, as the harbinger of a closer sympathy and a more
3




18
effective co-operation by which not only England and the
United States, but the nations of Christendom, and soon all
the people of the earth, shall be bound together in the interchange, not of friendly messages alone, but of kind offices
and fraternal regards. In one of our cities, we are told, the
indubitable confirmation of this event will be announced by
the sweet music of bells ringing out their anthem of praise.
Let us forerun that chime of metallic voices, while with our
tongues and hearts we celebrate the triumphs of science, the
goodness of God, and the hopes of humanity. It is no more
than sober anticipation, which sees in the future history of
our race achievements of mind over matter beyond any that
have yet been chronicled, blessings scattered in wider profusion than has ever yet gladdened the eyes of the philanthropist, and a social progress in comparison with which the
movements of the present age shall seem  slow.  It is not
a dream  of the fancy, but a lesson of our faith, which we
interpret into a promise of universal civilization and universal righteousness. The era of peace and goodwill, is it a
vision never to be realized? The kingdom  of Heaven embracing and sanctifying the various communities of mankind,
is it a mere figure of speech? I trust in God it is not. The
world will be redeemed from  the bondage of corruption.
The gospel of the Father's love will run through the earth,
and win all souls to a grateful obedience. Hope, prophecy,
faith, they are not blind teachers of the blind. It was in an
hour of holy exultation that Jesus exclaimed, " I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven." The overthrow which
to his vision, familiar with the measures of eternity, appeared
as swift and as resplendent as the lightning's course, centuries of patience and struggle will yet be required to effect.




19
But it is as sure as the Eternal Word.  May not we take
the lightning as a type of its certainty, when we see that,
which has been the world's admiration and dread, converted
into the messenger of its pleasure and the minister of its
profit?