IMAGE EVALUATrON TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. {./ &.< 1.0 I.I f,^ ^== m K Ui 2.5 12.2 ^ l£ iiiil.o 1 1! 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" - ► ^% V] m

( meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever appiiea. Un daa symboies suivants apparaitra sur la damiira image de chaqi>a microfiche, selon le cae: le symbols — » signifie "A SUIVRE ', le symbols T signifie "FIN". Mapa. platea. charts, ate, may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one axpoaure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand comer, left to right and top to bottom, aa many framee aa required. The following diagrama illustrate the method: Laa cartaa. pianchea, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmia A daa taux de rMuction diff brents. Loraque te document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est fiim^ i partir da Tangle supirieur gauche, de gauche i droite, et da haut en baa. en prenant la nombre d'imagas nicessaira. Las diagrammes suivants illustrant la m^thoda. rrata to pelure, n a n 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 PROVIDENCE Mil U REFERENCE TO NATIONS. r A LECTURE 1 D K L I V^ E R E D BEFORE THE §alifa^ 13ounq ilUn's Cljdstian ^Association, APRIL 6th, 1858, BY KEY. P. G. McGRP:GOR. ff/S ♦♦ PRINTED BY JAMES BARNES, 179 HOLLIS STREET. 1858. // 'a A. I t X.ECT"Cr:R,:B. z^- •• Our fifti) scries of Lectures is closing ; and so far, tlic public A'oioe, the Christian heart of Halifax, has pronounced its approval. Durin;^ the course now closing, the young man has been instructed in the duties which he owes to Society and to the Age* and warned respecting the character and limits of his " Amusements^' f ^Hir minds have glowed with ad- miration of the grandeur and glory of the Universe as " Astro- nomy"J became the Lecturer's theme* With increasing de- light, we have heard of the diversity of the Divine works and of their perpetual progress ; variety and advancement serving the more gloriously to develope and to display " the Divine Laio and love of Vnity.^''i Nor have the themes peculiar to Revelation been neglected. The Paper on " Undesigned Coincidences in Scripture,"|| wrested the weapons of infidelity from her grasp and turned her artillery against her own Himsy defences. For our 0/d English Bible and free Press's to print it and circulate it by the million among all tribes a«d tongues on earth, as well as for the literary treasures of the Old Worla the lecture on ^'•Biblio- graphy''*^ evoked deep emotions of gratitude and joy ; and as we heard of the material intellectual and si)iritual blessings which we derive from the Sabbath,** involuntarily we ex- claimed, thanks be to God for that source of light and peace and joy to man. But we are not only Christians but citizens^ constituting part of a great nation, and being the loyal subjects of a Chri.s- * Lecture by Rev. J. Hunter, f Lectuie by Rev. R, Sedgcwick. — \ Lecture by Rev. Professor flenslow. § Lecture by Robert Miller, Es'i. il Lecture by Rev. Professor Hill. ^ L^cturo by R«v. E. Maturin.— ■** Lecture by Rev. T. Jardiue. SUi^'f I tian Queen wlio.se sway benign yet not faultless, extends over many portions of the Globe, governing millions diverse in race and langua-e, in literature and in religion. In two lecturer on " India* and its Mutiny," we have been reminded that our nation has been, as it still is sufiering under the chastisement of the Great Moral Governor. Now although I shall not say much on India still you may regard this lecture as the continuation of a theme already in- troduced. My subject, " Providence in reference to Nations " leads me to attempt to draw back the eurtain which, amidst the excitement of passing events, so often conceals the great JNIover from our view, that we may realize our responsibility to Kira, not only as individuals fbr our pergonal acts but as citizens, as a commonwealth, for the legislative and executive deeds of those who act for us in directing, national, provincial and even civic councils. " Eighteousness exalteth a nation, but sm IS a reproach to any people," and my aim is simply to exhibit by historic facts, Providence rewarding and punishincr nations as such, preserving and blessing those that walk in up° rightness, and chastising, aye, often overwhelming in irre- trievable calamities those that persist in pride and obduracy - to the find that all may know that the " Most High ruletli in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever He will." No form of skepticism is more common than rejection of Providence. Two centuries ago John Howe complained of the men of his day that they complimented the Supreme Be- mg out of the world, as a place too mean for his reception and unworthy such a presence, that they judged it too great a trou- ble to hira, and inconsistent with the felicity of his nature that he should give himself any diversion or disturbance in govern- ing the worM.. In a word he says " all converse between him and man, on his part by Providence and on ours by relio-ion is cut off;" a true account I fear of many now whose only Pro- vidence is laio, physical, organic, intellectual, moral, social LA>y. Now if Providence is resolved into mere law, prayer must be resolved into mere fanaticism. If our world, physical and moral, has self-acting and executive power, Providence and prayer are figments, and the highest charm of life, and the * Rev. C. Churchill and Mr J. W. Marriott. V*^U^ chief glory of our rational nature disappear together. Then if we are not " Creatures of blirui chance Dropped by wild atoms in disordered dance" we are at least " poor wanderers on a stormy sea" who from " wave to wave are driven," and the most that we can do is to smooth down the ills of life and nurse the slender elements of happiness whhin us. But we have not only a surer but a more joyful word from the Great Father above. His aHice to his children is, '• In all thy ways acknowledge God and he will dii-ect thy paths. He will give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways, they shaU bear thee up in their hands, lest at any time thou shouldst dash thy foot against a stone." Yes, that voice of love admonishes us, " When ye pray say our Father who art in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread." But Providence in the opinion of many has ref'^rence exclu- sively to individuals. Corporate bodies are proverbially skep- tical. Christian men in companies have oft consented to run steamers and railway trains on the Lord's day, and yet never dreamed of opening their own shops or offices ; and good men are silent when tho^e who in high places are acting for them and others, are leading the nation in a course of hostility to the law of God. Responsibility is forgotten or thought to be dissipated among the million like the electric fluid, when it strikes earth or ocean and diflfuses itself in ten thousand direc- tions. Such silence is wrong. Resp nsibihty remains. It is indeed diffused over all, and the righteous Lord will treat cor- porate bodies as well as individuals, according to their deeds. If the nation exists by divine appointment and if the legitinaate functions of government are ordained of God, then surely it is amenable to divine law. If Christian men forming an insu- rance company or a railway company are bound in their cor- porate capacity to act rightly, so are they who constitute a commonwealth, whether civic, provincial or national ; and when we open the Bible we find in fact that nations as such are ad- dressed, commanded, encouraged and threatened. A few points both of resemblance and of contrast between personal and national responsibility, may be here noted with propriety. f • m\i^t Iaj awarded in 1„ Nafumal re^-a.* =»f l'""'*'^^" Itla..', but .u,t .ho com- Too iVeuuently liowcvei uic nui ^^^.^^ u^tu t ilv Sfiisss -;•--"- ■'« «- ' "; • , In torie illustvations the fivst place is evMtot ) In glr.ncmg at 1 '» » ^^^'''^^f ^.e chosen P""!''"',,,,.!,-, Mn<. a ,lni> to the nspireil histmy "' i.nwever not as furai»im>o ?te ™ver„ment of the J ''^"^^^X; "rnntent as now exer- tonishlng a. perfect l-^jf^'' ;^^" ,'',tm«vea from '!■« -^J!; 5, there so vts.b e ,/J\'^rmachmeo- in ™"°"' ™att "e- Xol titWn -heels, and mtntUe ^^ ^ ntovcments ol tlieir true sources. The vho-rvn people liaviiig oniorgcd from slavery to freedom with songs which celebrated luitional retribution, the coininon- wcalth is in y royal misgovernment the kingdom was divided, but the eonditioi\ of prosperity was the same to the dyn:isty of the North as to that of the South. It is thus expressed, " And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper." For inoral causes, they suffered physical calamities. There were for a time partial judgments inflicted on both kingdoms.— Then first in the one, and long after in the other, an awful crash is heai'd u if the end had come. A great wail of agony rose when Shalmanezer carried away the captive Israelites, and yet a louder, deeper, tenderer lamentation, when the wrath of God burst upon Jerusalem, and Nebuchadnezzar, reduced to ashes, the city and temple and carried the people captives Jo Babvlonia. I 8 *' liy IVibrl's streams wo rat and wept When Zion we thoup;lit on, In midst thereof we hanped our harps Tht' willow treea upon." " Thy holj' cities are a wilderness." " Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation." The retribution which was ]on<]' in coming was sure. *' The mill of God grinds slowly, But it grinds exceeding small, The grists it grinds are of all sorts and sizes, But in the end, it grinds them all." Onco aijain they arc a jx'ople. ,They are pardoned and re- .uper.-trncture of unrighteousness, are destined to vanish away as a dream of the night. Patriarchal in origin, the issue in tlie end was absolute and terrible despotism. Restrained for a time by a traditionary knowledge; of the true God, which its founder trrmsmitted to his desc<'ndants, its princes and people sunk into idolatry which became more comi)lex and debasing with the growth of the Emj)ire in wealth and luxury ; and As- syria, become cruel and bloody, defied Jehovah and was con- demned to a- ' irrecoverable fall. And now " Nineveh is empty, Aoid and waste" and her palaces a desolation. The Babylonian Emj)ire was an em[)ire of concjuest. The Assyrian was of long duration, rising higher and higher for ages. It fell before the rising star of Babylon, in ^vhich mo- narchy and despotism soared to their highest flight, of power and splendour. All surrounding nations became tril)utary, and the wealth of kingdoms vas gathered within her palaces. '• The Golden City," " the Beauty of the Chaldees Excellen- cy," and Daniel's address to Nebuchadnezzar, " Thou art that head of goKl," are among tlv condensed Scripture terms which shadow f()rth tlu; power and splendour and national glory of the Empire. On the other hand, the expressions, " the haugh- ty and oppressing city," " the hammer of the whole earth," "(hou hast trusted in thy wickedness," ''weighed in the balances, found wanting," clearly show that l^abylon's rule Avas become a cur.-se to tlie earth and that its continuance was opposed to the gracious designs of heaven, r)abylon's princes and people learned no wisdom from Ni- neveh's fall. T!u!y inherited or imitated all her (>rrors and crimes and surpassed her in all. Their idolatry involved ac- cumulating guilt. Bel was worshipp!,'d in gorgeous temples and sacred inclo.^ures and in these the sacred lire was constant- ly fed, but there also human offerinys were consumed. liabylon's princes and armies too dcsolatedJudea, dostrojjed Jerusalem, burned the temple, carried the people captives. For u tills tlicy had a divine commission, but the executioner may ac- complish his work hi the spirit of an officer of justice or he may mangle and destroy with the savage cruelty of a ruffian. And what Avas the decision of the Searcher of hearts of the way in which the commission ,vas executed ? "lam jealous for Jeru- salem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And 1 am very sore displeased with the heothen, that are at ease ; for I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the aftliction." Being thus disi)leased with the power which as a hammer was still crushing tlie Lord's peo[)lc an instrument of punishment for Babylon and of restoration ibr Jerusalem was raised up in Cyrus. At the time appointed he is before the gates of the golden city and when the cup of her iniquity is filled up, by the desecration of the sacrinl vessels by B(;lshazzar, the signal is given, Belshazzar is slain, the city is taken and the Persian is on the throne. Bel boweth down I Nelo stoopeth ! In one word Babylon is doomed. And no vv where is she ? She rose the highest in pride and impiety — she shall sink the lowest. Hear Isaiah chap. xiii. 19 — -'And Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldee's excellency, shall be as when God over- threw Sodom and Gomorrah. Jt shall never he inhabited ; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation, nei- ther shall the Arabian pitch his tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there." Who dares to speak thus of the greatest city of the earth ? Even if destroyed it may be rebuilt. It surely would, is the conclusion of man, for it occupied a position most central in a land most fertih\ It is the Lord who says, even while it stands peerless in power and glory, that it shall be destroyed and be- come a scene of perpetual desolation. Jerusalem stands, Da- mascus has its place and name, and is inhabited ; but ?>abylon is emi)ty as Sodom. How unlikely that such a city should be entirely dcpoi)ulatcd! IIow much more so that it should re- main a ruin, and oh how wonderfully Divine Providence, deal- ing with nations, travels on, in the accomplishment of its deci- sions. Does the Persian reign in the palaces of Nebuchad- nezzar and shall not a new dyna>ly have a new capital ? Se- leueia and Ctesiphon are buift. The luxurious nobles follow the court. They are followed by their retainers, and ere long the mass of the people are drawn around those new centres of 12 royalty, Avcalth and fashion, and the once great city is nearly forsaken. Next a Persian prince wishes his hunting grounds enlarged, and Babylon being included becomes the lair of wild animals. But dynasties will not last for ever— the land is fertile— shepherds will fold their flocks there. No. It has become the resort of ravenous animals. But the Arabs live in companies — they fear not the growl of the lion — they will en- camp there. He who pronounced its doom has said no, and partly from the fear of doleful creatures and partly from super- stitious dread the Arab of the desert is not found— is never found encamped on the ruins of Babel. " A drought is upon her waters and they shall be dried up." "In former times the vast plains of Babylonia were nourish- ed by a complicated system of canals, and water courses which spread over the surface of the country like network. The wants of a teeming population weve supplied by a rich soil, not less bountiful than that on the banks of the Nile. Like islands rising from a waving sea of golden corn stood frequent groves of palms and i)leasant gardens, affording the idler or the tra- veller, their grateful and highly valued shade. Crowds of passengers hurried along the dusty road to and from the busy city. The land was rich in corn and wine. How changed is the aspect of that region in the present day ! Long lines of mounds it is true mark the course of those main arteries which formerly diffused life and vegetation along their banks, but their channels are now bereft of moisture and choked with drifted sand. " A drought is upon her waters and they shall be dried up." All that remains of that ancient civilization, that glory of kingdoms, the praise of the whole earth, is recog- nizable in the numerous mouldering heaps of brick and rub- bish Avhich overspread the surface of the plain. Instead of luxuriant fields, groves and gardens, nothing now meets the eye but an rid waste — the dense population of former times is vanished and no man diceUs there."'* Let nations and cities mark well her doom. Whether it be ii Rich, a Layard or a Loftus who wanders in search of in- scriptions, each and all have found one name, on almost every brick of the ruins of Babylon. It is the name of the mighty * Picscarohcs of Mr. Loftus. I 1 13 monareli under wliose potent sway Babylon reached at once, the heiglit of its architectural grandeur and military power who walking in one of his many stately buildings, said, '" Is not this great Babylon, that I have built, for the house of the kingdom I'v the might of my poioer and for the honoi- of my majesty /" ' Behold in these scattered bricks which bear his name, the silent witnesses of his earthly grandeur, and the evi- dences of the utter ruin of all his works. So passes away all greatness \'fhich is built up by the rejection or contempt of the righteous laws of God, of whom this King records as a warn- ing to the potentates of earth, through all time, " All whose works are truth, and his ways judy merit, and those that walk in pride, Be is able to abase." Tl\e Chaldean power is overthrown and now the Persian is on his trial. Under this dynasty tiie luxuries of life were cul- tivated to the higliest pitcii. The princes and satraps made everything subservient to their pleasure. The people had no freedom. They were degraded by ignorance and enthralled by superstition. In their earlier history their idolatry was simple, consisting mainly in the adoration of the Sun. Fear fancy and passion introduced other ol>jects, and at length Per- sia had temples filled with idols, households with polygamy, a court with obscenity and a throne with a tyrant. The spirit of the people and the insufferable and awful ar- rogance at which their llulers arrived in their course of profli- gacy, are reflected strongly from ihe history of that prince who could not rest in Asia, while Freedom raised her noble i'lont and displayed her form in the isles ef Greece ; who having led his millions to the confines of Europe beheaded his engineers, because the elements destroyed the bridge which they had con- structed to convey his army across the Hellespont, who scourged the sea itself because its waves dared to rebel against liis commands, and ordered it to be fettered, wlio slew the el- dest son of aged Pithias, because the father plead that the stay of hi,s declining years might be spared, who dishonoured the remains of the vahant Leonidas, and who beguiled the shame of his defeat and retreat by sensuality prosecuted so far that he publicly ofifered a reward to the inventor of a new pleasure. That Xerxes was the Ahasuerus of the Book of Estlier, ■whose magnificent palace garden at Shushan is descril d ia I 14 tliat book, with \ifi, '• wliite, green and blue liangliLus, ftis'enr?! with cords of line linen and [)Ur[)le, to silver rings and pillars of marble ; the bedo being of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black mai'ble," is all but certain. From Shusan he set out on his disastrous ex[)edition again-: Greece, Thither he returned, d<.'[)ositing there the immense treasures accpiired by the [)lunder of the tem[)le at Delphi and uf the city of Athens. There was deposited the wealth pro- duced by the exactions of many reigns upon tliC imjjoverished districts of the one hundi'cd and twenty-seven provinces ot' that vast emj)ire which chose princes vainly imagined they had amassed for their posterity. The Persian cup of iniquity was at last fdled. The natiov. whose spirit is represented by princes who will command th-:". winds and scourge and fetter seas, must be near to letribution. Across that IIelles[>ont, where such impiety and arrogance were thus displayed sluiU the avenger come. Tiie vast host-; of Darius and Xerxes had exposed the riches and ])ride and also the weakness and cowardice of the Oriental character a'^ it then existed, and a few years brought with them the strong arm of Alexander, the chastener and avenger. The line ol" Persia's ancient nionarchs was broken ; and a son of in.-nlted vTfeece, snatched the sceptre from a dynasty rejected of God. From that time Persia has sunk in the scale of nations, and though revived temporarily, has continued to sink up to the present time. And Susa surrounded by rich pastures and gol- den seas of corn, and backed by snow-clad mountains in the distance, Susa which vied with Babylon in riches, and far ex- celled her in position, from which, issued armaments winch made Kurop(> to tremble, is now a bare mound, in a poor, ill-govern- ed country. Mark a2;ain the decisions of Providence. The Chaldean oppressed the chosen people and tram[)led their holy places in the dust, and from the ve.-sels of th<> I.ord's House drank wine in honor of the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood and of stone. That city shali become a perpetual deso- lation, aye, and that ]>eople shall cease. They shall have n - kingdom or place anumg men. But the iVn-sian restored the Lord's peoi)le to freedom, to the Holy Land and to Moun' Zion. Persia has a place on the map. Our Queen has an Ambassador at the Persian Court. 'J'he I'ersian power exists. 1.3 and in weakness and degnvlat'iop doubtless, but still capable of re- suscitation., under tlie influence of Christianity. Take another view. From Susa went iorlli the myriad hosts ot" Persia to crush the fretMlom of Greece and as the re- sult of the Expedition of the East against the West Athens is sipoiled. Behold the reversal by Providence. Athens is now the residence of a King who reigns over a free people. All that remains of Glorious Snsa is the mound vShush.* How are the mighty fallen ! Here again in the presein state of Susa and Persepolis, those seats of ancient power and sj)lendour, whence laws went ibrth to the world, there is a voice of warui'.ig to all nations and cities. Let them know that ])Ower built up by violence and injustice and wielded by sel- fishness Avill never be dm-able. Let them know that the Most High ruleth ni the kingdom of men and them that walk in pride God is able to abase. And now supremacy is given to the European, and the soih of Japhet are entrusted v.'ith power. Let he experiment l»<' tried out whether any race in any clime can without God, without revelation, raise the human family, or so act their part that the continuance of such pre-eminence would prove a bless- ing to humanity. First the Grecian and then the Roman is tested ; but 1 must condense. We are coming too slowlj down the stream of time. The people lirst named were reuowried for military glory and love of freedom, but especially for in- tellectaal culture. Their progress in science, literature and the fine arts, presents the utmost of what human intellect could do without the guiding star of Divine truth. No ancient na- tion ever produced such a number and variety of works of gt'.- nius, in every department of human researcli. Profiting )vy the experience jwid accmnulations of ages j)ast, the Greeks carried to the utn.ost stretch the power of unaided intellect. — Rome followed, and if tlie sons of Javan Avere intellectual th'/. sons of Romulus were strong, enduring, enterprising. Greece was refined, Rome was majestic ; and her conquest of thi' M'orld, and the durati(Mi of her power furnished s])here and space, am[)ly to dcN clop what she could achieve for humanity. ■* Ijy a suitable diagram the discoveries by wliich Col. Williams and J\{r Lol'tiis, have proved ttie mound Shush to be the ruins ol" the ancient Shushar. the I'lilace, were brieily explained by the Lecturer. I IG IMighty indeed were lier works ! And yet, wc have no tears to wa>te over the full of either of tliese powers. They histed loiiji enoiij^h. They could no mor(,' bhiss the world than :he despotisms which they succeeded. They themselves lay un- der a withering curse, the curse of a del)asing idolatry. As the Grrecian arms extended they gathered in all the idols of the known world into their Pantheon. Greece gathered from the East and Rome gathered from Greece. They had their cribing an altar " to the unknown God ;" and the learned Roman at last declared his contempt for the national religion as a thing useful chiefly for controlling the populace. Thus it was the arrangement of Infinite Wisdom that those semi-barbaric kingdoms in the East and West, in different climes and of different races, but all represented by savage wild beasts, should be tried and found wanting and punished, to make w%'iy for the dominion of one like unto the Son of ]Man whom all people and nations and languages should serve. — Then we say let the cruel kingdoms of antiquity be forgotten or remember^ d only that we may rejoice in their overthrow. Let Nineveh be heaps and the mounds of Nimroud remain the "raves of Assyrian glory. Let Babylon be a desolation and a dwelling place for dragons. Let the screech owl for ever give the dir,"e over its just fate. Let Shushan remain in dishonour and Ispahan in weakness till that power learns that the Hea- vens do rule. Let the profligacy and domertic impurhy and social corruption, and Idolatry and Atheism of Greece and Rome perish with Juno and Venus and Bacchus, and let the nations become powerful who serve the Lord and His King whom he hath set on Ilis holy hill of Zion. We pause for a moment to exclaim,* AVhat a roll of def\mct empires ! Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Tyre, Egypt, Carthage. In all, we see the morn, the day, the night — 17 progress, glory, decline. And so often has this been repeated tluit° mankind have almost come to regard it as the natural and necessary order of things. It must be confessed that history exhibits efforts successful up to a certain point, which once reached, all the accumulated results of warriors, legislators, philosophers and artists have been successively swept away, and the human family, Sisiphus like, doomed to repeat the same laborious process, toiling upward from the same gulf only to be overtaken by another disaster. Who can deny that the rock temples of Pctra, the tombs of Etruria and the mounds of Assyria, Babylonia and Susiana, all speak of civilization and powe" succeeded by barbarism. The bright day of Grecian glory terminated at last in unbroken night. At the fall of tte Roman Empire barbarism overspread Europe. Even in Arae* rica there are traces of a lost civilization, and, while the hiero- glyphics have not yet been deciphered, and may remain for ever unread, still crumbling monuments, wrecks of palaces and temples overgrown with hoary forests, tell that a race, proba- bly of Asiatic origin and religion, have risen and decayed, having dwindled down, with the exception of the Aztec race, the occupants of the palaces of the proud Montezumas, to the untutored redmen, who roam through the forests and over the prairies, knowing nothing more than to construct the canoe and the wigwam. The Mahommedan Empire is certainly waning. And now they say that the cycle li^s come round to the na- tions of modern Europe. The glory of Venice, of Italy and of Spain has departed. Tourists at least report that Southern Europe generally is in a rapid decline, and many in the Old and especially in the New World hint that Albion's Sun will never be higher, and that British power and glory have reach- ed their zenith, and will in future exhibit retrogression and de- cadence. Is there then no immortality for nations, and must they con- tinue to die as in times past ? Must history in the future be what it has been in times past, a series of alternating epochs of partial civilization with destructive barbarism ? Surely we niay reply negatively, seeing that the Author of Revelation «ind the Ruler of Nations is One, and that there is harmony between his promises and laws. Let the laws of Heaven be «ijbeyed and nations will not be sliattered as they have been.— 18 Let the Bible be the nation's Statute Book and society will have a Morions future and fullil its high and holy destiny. ^ Why^'have nations died the death ? Because they were im- mor'\l as men and vicious in their constitutions as common- wealths ; and their false religions had no power to elevate the man or heal the diseases of tiie State. Even where the nati- onal mind was /or a time overawed and checked, by sui)ersti- tiou^ beliefs, progress in knowledge in time discovered the cheat and a fearful revulsion followed. In every fahe reli- gion and even in corrupt forms of Christianity, there is a point of pro<^ress at which the man of intellect must become skepti- cal, biit in pure Christianity there is no stage of intellectual ad- vancement at which skepticism becomes a necessity ; but on the contrary, the most advanced of modern nations are the most firmly convinced of the truth and glory of Christianity. They have found that it meets all the wants of human nature and ot society, that it develops intellect, strengthens conscience, con- firms patriotism and elevates character. The world does not furnish an instance of a nation which has retained pure Christianity and perished. While great Eome is surrounded bv an impoverished people, and V enicc sits in widowhood on "the Ad"iatic, the poor Waldenses arc still a people. The world tried, but could not extinguish them. They have sustained thirty-four or thirty-five distinct wars, and twelve of these were jvars waged with the avowed design of exterminating them. The saving element was pure Chris- tianity. If wars and persecutions could have destroyed the Hussites or Bohemian Protestants, they would have ceased to l,e —but wherever the Moravian Brethren are found diffusing the Glorious Gospel, there that people are seen blessing the world. The saving element again is pure Christianity. If then we are a Christian nation and transgress, we must be chastised, for we cannot be saved in our sins. Three wars, an«l an Indian mutiny unprecedented in extent, 1 11 within as many years, may teach us that retribution is accelerated.-- The whole age is faster than any previous one, and retribu- tion has been coming recently like the rushing of an express train. The train has been long in getting under way, but once in motion it has rushed at the swiftest speed, and the crash has been as if a thousand cars had been dashed against a mouniain. A wail of agony has arisen, which has made ta will 10 tingle tiip ears of the civilized worUl, but there has been, and there will be, no relaxation of the laws of God. England miif«t (;onsider her ways, and prove true to her God, or ano- thnr will be raised up to Uike her crown. She may be set aside as others have been. Are we to suppose that Ood will stay his liand, if the nation should continue its course of sin? No, for it is written, " the nation aiid Icingdom that icill not serve thee shall perish:' Not only India, but Australia and Canada might be reft in a single year from the British Em- pire by the hand of rrovidenee, and a million in London sw^allowed up by an earthquake, as easily, and without an hour's warning, as thirty thousand in Naples. The British isles might sink under the ocean waves, and their place be scai'cely missed from the map. riie voice of warning has been coming in loudest notes from India, and thither I turn for a few moments, believing that such providential phenomena as are there exhibited, demand our attention. Who can deny, or even overlook the hand of Providence in giving India to England, the instructions given to her servants bearing " that to pursue schemes of con- quest there was repugnant to the wish, the honour, and the policy of the nation." Human agents were marshalled on the field, but there was an invisible mover presiding over them. Human measures were adopted, but there was One who di- rected them for his own ends. There was the valour of disci- plined troops, whose hundreds met and defeated thousands on the field, but the Lord was above them all and ruled them all. Amid the complex and often distracted counsels of Govern- ment there was one unerring counsellor. Over the martial prowess of warriors, European and Asiatic, presided the Lord of Hosts. The council chamber and the tented field were alike spheres in wdfich moved a special Providence, and India has been given to Britain by the hand of God. The humblest Christian knows the reason, however great statesmen may have overlooked, and may continue to overlook it, that the Church of Christ fnay bless the Indians by giving them the gospel Audibly from the days of Clive, and loudly from the days of Hastings, has Providence cried, " Preach to the Indians the everlasting gospel." Oh why to Britain, and not to Portugal, with her early territorial settlements and forts, and colonization and intermarriages designed to cement the 20 East wUh .ho Wcs., has Goi subjectoa India ?S^^^^^^ largely and built ff '*f '"Jl. ^If u sit on • but she l,as lost Chapels, and 'he JesuUs an^ 'he Im^^ ,^ ^ ^,,^,j„„._ '^'•'^^^ eruKoTgi've India the saving elentent of nations, P»^« ^''"'Sf ucrsclf dorious in Indian history Franee sought to maKe ucrsc i ^^^^^ ^,_g «„a to secure terntorjal fe-- '"^f „^^-;i »']i,„ed to wave start of Britain. .^''X /,',., ,.„,.„,,se Franee could not over the sacred cities of I"f " ' /^ ,' "'li.Uig Christianity. „ive what she had not herself, /.«, P"" \ ,» ^j,,, „„ the ind why was not P™'-'™' S"?™' " '"« ^I''"" field, -»'!'' '''%"";iXd„eretiuL^diminished by Con.i- r^t:r=;:ai'dyf>^^^^^^^^^ ble alone is its religion ! transfer ? When the And .hen did ^-;*»- "f^ t Co'iuS^ntal Churches livins waters were visibly .aiim lu ii corrup- tliich had eommeneed to evangelize Into when socm ^P^ tion in France was seething, and "hdUity p j^ j^j „,.sses !0-f *at « ,-ig ^-''llel'sday ; but retribution f"-- <''?,°'* S bv means of the Wesleys and it was when the Pivme fP» >'>y f''^ [ „ther worthies, was Wbitflelds. the Willi^ons Eiskines and ^^^^ ^^^^.^^.^^ ^^S':i:^^T^^s^^^ worU to which rrovi. ^To:r s '.hTciiu'ch - «; Sy^ tntt e-i: of Providence, she -"".^ '^jfj^^^^^^f ^e was that it the Heavenly summons ! J'"' '''';" '"..•tlyzed her movements. deliberately »PJf«'''''!„f^":to™n£tf connected with the I do not intend '".■•.^P'=«' *^ ''^^ Xment in India of Carey, Company's °PP°/'''™'°X" given to Carey when Marshman and Jud on ^ 'he cha. g ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ Professor in the College ot*ort\vima ^^^^ ^^_ interfere either in his ^-'^^^'J.^ZtoX^^-m^o'' «'' '''"- perstitions of the natives ; nor to he "^°""P^ 7; ; i" f,„„. the C;Rcr-ntroV»™i;^^^^ *--, 21 ;xpended ests and ; has lost uulow. — element n history o hud the to wave could not iristianity. ly on the the ppiri- by Conti- lest island jtutes, the nd the Bi- When the [ Churches nal corrup- litating the ,rovidential 's day ; but esleys and rthies, was d Christian lich Trovi- ard the call response to was that it movements. ;ed with the a of Carey, Carey when ! was not to with the su- ipporL of ido- ity from the s unquestion- •d,ly responsible for these acts of hostility to the God who gave her for a very different end, her position among the nations ot the'earth. I pass over the easily proved fact that many a na tive has been frowned upon and indirectly punished on account of his Christianity. . ,1. , . I wish to show that the British Government itself, by two overt acts, placed the nation in open hostility to the propaga- tion of Christianity in the East. First. In 1793, when a new charter was being granted, Mr. Wilberforce had succeeded in persuading the House of Com- mons in general terms to pledge themselves to the duty of pro- moting^ by all just and lawful means the religious impiovement o{ the"natives. But two days afterwards, when specific reso- lutions were submitted for ai)pointing schoolmasters and chap- lains throughout India, they passed on the first reading. But whenever there appeared the least probability that something would be really done for the moral and spiritual good of the millions of the immortal souls which the Ruler of nations had placed under British rule, the directors and proprietors repro- bated the clauses. And noiv the crisis came. Shall these- myriads be taught by schoolmasters? Shall they have the go-*pel ? Shall the nation bow to God or to Mammon .'' ihe British House of Commons struck out all the clauses in defer- once to the Mammon power of Leadenhall Street, and Wilber- force went home with a heavy heart to spend a sleepless night and next morning writes to a friend, " All my clauses^ were last night struck out on the third reading, and our territories in India, with twenty millions of people included, are left in the undisturbed and peaceable possession of Brahma." I ask was there ever a more manifest rejection of Divine authority and of acknowledged duty on the part of the representatives of any people ? , . , cc i i. . Secondly. An opposition just as determined was ottered by the Government to voluntary efforts to evangelize India. It is well known that a few years after this, Robert Haldane, Esq., had selected Benares, the metropolis of Oriental pagan- ism, tlie holiest of the holy cities of the Hindoos, Benares with its glorious temples and gorgeous shrines, as the site for a Christian Mission on an extensive scale, that he had secured the services of Dr. Bogue of Gosport and two other devoted missionaries, that he sold a magnificent estate to defray the ex- 22 ncnr. Duff's testimony to the fact that the native Christians of India are the only class who are cordially attached to British rule. 28 ilanthropy, tlicir religion, tlicir of litorature, tlu-ir vhi All was in vain liodriin fj;o any fartlu-i- when thoy forl.a.lc Peter and John to thi? ? Alaa for our country :he name . ,r.i - :iu was deliberate, and it was the sin of the nation. The vo.c^ ^ .ri^ d v^vs h^vrd saying. " Allow these n.en, "^7 -- ;^^' to ean-y the Gospel to India." Mammon however forbade it^ nn I 1 . British people, by their rulers, say to the Great King of t ons " We are not eareful to answer thee m this mat er We will not give the Gospel to India, neither wdl we allow thy servants to proceed thither." ^ But these acts belong to a Sf «f ^ ^^'^^'^ th.ntrcial ,vav ! I answer, they were the de^ds of men n then o .ual ca a ity, and th^. nation for which they acted has not pa.^ed away Neither England nor India has parsed away. T.e "illlquences of thesS national misdeeds have not ceased to bo felt, as thousands of bareaved mourners can testily. lias the nation, in pe.itence, forsaken its f^ yoh^-- In part it has, and thankfully we ^^Y\!^'';;^'^^^;,r^ w ^ these^u-e fostered by their British ^'"1^^'^;.. ^/^^f ^^'r and it is true must be overcome in dealmg with this suyect, ami ■i 'Xe Z greate,- need ^^^^^^^^^^^^Z ltd' 1 clearer stron-er expression of the national will, ^^ftoie tnc acKcUti, Miwio»-i I , inauf'uration ot a great conflict now raging shall end "), ^^ l^"^""-'^^ Hrvdodrsl-oull now be hailed and m»-^ -^ ^^ Utary Saviour of that country ; while h.s son was tueic I 21 cotM and fitted to address the nation, from the Editorial Chair Tf tL " in a series of articles, tlie truth and power of which havTbeen felt from the Throne and the Senate to the humblest cottage in the land. vecuHar I turn to the Opium traffic of Ind.a and a.k »« .( peaumr 10 the generation past ? Has it passed away or ^'^ .t»,P'J portions less colossal than the n»''°™\"''»'"; '''I'^Uons of l,e miffhtv DOwer of Mammon to destroy the perceptions oi ChrSt'mrn and induce them to be -lent,wd>en great wrong i- hpin'"'y J^e f en^t nine o'clock in the evening, in all '''^ '^'«''^<'"' f -^^^uXy entering half distracted to feed the craving •''1^''''^. ^ ' J^^^^^^^^^^^^ have been obliged to subdue during the day, o hers ' !"!=>"= and ta^'in- wifdly under the eHects of a first pipe win st the eouehes round at^ filled with the diflerent occupants, who He « ;■ ft I 25 languid with an idiot smile upon their countenances, too much under the influence of the drug to care for passing events. — The hvst scene in the tragic play is generally a room in the rear of the building, a species of dead house, where lie stretch- ed those who have passed into the state of bliss which the vic- tim madly seeks, an emblem of the long sleep to which he is blindly hurrying." " Walking skeletons, (says Dr. Ball,) fa- milies wretched and beggared by drugged fathers, and hus- bands, and who have lost house and home, may be seen dying in the streets, in the fields, on the banks of rivers without even a stranger to care for them v/hile alive, and when dead left ex- posed to view till they become offensive masses." Time for- bids me to add the united testimony of Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries. To what extent does this destructive hahit noiv prevail ? Its apologists concede that between nine hundred thousand and a million are indeed victimized smokers, while its opponents maintain, and in fact maintained at the breaking out of what was called the Opium "War, that the number could not fall far short of two millions and a half. These victims then far ex- ceed the whole population of Australia, or of all these Lower Colonies. Why do not the Chinese exclude it ? Because they are cor- rupted and paralyzed by it as we are by the influence of strong drink. For sixty years it has been prohibited, and occasional- ly sincere efforts have been made to exclude it. Why unsuc- cessful ? 1. Because those smugglers are swift, well armed, and man- ned by daring men. 2. Because those ofiicials are, but men, and liable to corrup- tic:!. They may be corrupted by bribes to be elsewhere when the daring smuggler glides along. They may be doubly cor- rupted by relish for the fatal drug. 3. I>ecause no heathen people have sufficient patriotic and moral principle to resist such influences. But whence come those bribes ? Not from Christians certainly, but from those who hail from Christian nations and are protected by their Consuls ; and thus the prohibitory law of half a century is ren- dered null and nugatory for want of moral power in the peo- ple, integrity in the officials, and justice, honor and the love of humanity in Christian nations. I 26 Do the British officials really approve of the trade ? Hear tlie Directors of the East India Company in language printed thirty years ago, " So repugnant to our feelings is the Opium traffic with China, that were it possible to prev.ent the use of the drug altogether we would gladly do it in compn>sion to mankind." Hear Captain Elliot, the Superintendant ut" Trade at Canton, writing to his Government, " If my private feelings were of the least consequence upon questions of an important and public nature, assuredly I might justly say that no man entertains a deeper detestation uf the disgrace and sin of this forced traffic, than the humble individual who signs this de- spatch. 1 see little to choose between it and piracy" Again, " This course of traffic is rapidly staining the British character with deep disgrace, and exposing the regular commerce to im- minent jeopardy." Is this its real character ? Why then is it not prohbited by the British authorities ? The reason given thirty years ago was thus expressed, " In the present state of the revenue ot India it does not appear desirable to abandon so important a source of revenue ." The character of the trade and the rea- son for sanctioning it remain unchanged. The question is be- tween Mammon and God, between unrighteous gain and the high interests of humanity, and the world knows which has prevailed. " Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord, and sliall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ?" _ And must not the attentive observer of the doings of a retri- butive Providence see in the Indian mutiny the punishment of British 3fammon loorship. All have noted the fact that at JMeerut where Christianity, in the person of the converted Se- poy was expelled from the liengal army, there the want of that saving element was exhibited in the first outbr(!ak of the explosive '^forces. Is it less remarkable that in the Madras Presidency, where no Opium is grown or shipped, there has been no rebellion, that in the P)ombay Presidency, where much is shipi)ed, though not grown on British territory, where the chief profit of the Malwa Opium is realized, the waves of re- tribution have been painfully felt, whereas in the Ikngal Pre- sidency, where the largest quantity is grown and shipped, the British Opium garden which distils such deadly influences on China, the flames of rebellion have rolled with the destructive desolation of a lava tide. 27 And now the main question regards the future. Shall this iniquii]] continue ? Shall we go on poisoning until the vic- tims ol" our unholy gains shall equal in number the population of the British Islands ? Is it Rigiit ? Is it in accordance with the Statute Book of Heaven or the Royal Law of Love, that our people should be encouraged to violate the laws of anotlier nation, in prosecution of a trade but one remove from murder, because that nation is too feeble to resist? If the right's of humanity prevailed against mammon to abolish the Slave TraiHc and Slavery wherever our national banner floats, why should they not prevail against the Opium traffic abroad, and tlie equally destructive Hum traffic at home ! Ah, when men and governments grow wealthy by wrong doing, it is dif- ficult for them to discern the right. But it is the more incum- bent on all who do see the wrong to raise a voice of warning, and to say, " It is the price of blood !" Is IT SAFE ? The doom of Tyre was pronounced when she was where Britain now is, at the height of her maritime great- ness, her sin being an all- engrossing selJisJmess^ causing her to rejoice in the calamities of' Jerusalem, and in makirg mer- chandize of her children. Who can measure England's sin, if, after warning from God and from man, from Bible and Pro- vidence, she, honoured and blessed among the nations of the earth, should persist in a traffic quite as iniquitous, and for a reason quite as selfish and unfeeling ? If Ave are Christians our hearts will mourn in secret places, at the fact that our breth- ren in the southern portion of a great and growing republic, are involving themselves and their nation in the crime of ex- tending and perpetuating a trade in slaves and in the souls of men ; we will hang our heads in shame at our own national vice of Intemperance, sustained and pampered by the State for purposes of revenue ; but, to crown the whole, tins drug, the culture of which our Indian Government monopolizes, seizes its victim by a yet more terrible grasp, and gives promise of destruction on a still more gigantic scale ! We have sent a million of Nev/ Testaments, prohahhj in 0- pium vessels^ but we could not thus send the blessing of Uiat God who saith, " I love judgment and hate robbery for burnt offering." The Chinese hold up to scorn the inconsistency of sending men with the Bible in one hand and Opium in the other. 28 England is again thundering at the gates of China and may again be successful in opening them still more widely, and thus the designs of Providence be accomplished for the gospel to reach those teeming myriads, but we may rest assurevl, that the conquering nation will be called to account. There must be national repentance or punishment. Our safety lies in turn- ing to God. Ilis judgments are disciphne. They are sent first to reform, but next to destroy. We have encountered in 'the East the outside sweep of the whirlwind ; and the Pulpit and the Press, England's Queen and England's people,^ have bowed before the Most High in humihation for unfaithfulness to the Lord and his anointed in India. Should they refuse thus to acknowledge the wrongs of China and the sin commit- ted against Jehovah, by casting a stumblingblock in the way of the conversion to the Lord of those millions, we may see the poisonous vapours of that drug rolling back in dense death clouds, and enveloping the British Isles in a funeral \rd\\ of deepest gloom. Should the wrong be acknowledged and re- medied, as we fondly trust it will, as a consequence of the abo- lition of the double government, then we shall have another happy evidence that God is fitting our nation for triumi)hs of a higher character, and involving truer and more endurng glory, than any which it has hitherto achieved or enjoyed. It is time to conclude, and what is tli. conclusion of the whole matter. It is that our Bible, with i light and life and power and freedom, our open Bible, lo\ed and obeyed, is our glory and our defence. It has been to us the source of national life and power. It has proved itself the mighty lever of our social and political elevation. It has not only tians- formed individuals, but it has given us a national heart and con- science, which oft slumber, but to which we can appeal with confidence. It has made Britons freemen, aye sovereigns, a royal generation who are a law unto themselves, and qualiiied for self-government in the highest degree. It humanizes and civilizes while it saves. The public conscience which it creates restrains from crime and imparts the greatest security to life. The^ military governments of Continental Europe rest for se- curity on ])hysical power, as our ancient aristocracy once trust- ed to their broadsivords and castles ; but Victoria reigns far more securely in the affections of her people, and they dwell safely under the powerful protection of moral influence. A 29 Let our Bible be open, loved and oheyedy and Freedom will ever dwell with us. That sacred Book publishes Liherty, and all slaveholders, secular and spiritual, are opposed to the free dissemination and universal usp, of it. Nothing else will secure liberty, for all national experience has shown that free institutions do not long survive morals and religion ; and the foundation of these is the Word of God. The nation then which rejects that W( rd, or, partially receiving it, proves un- faithful to its trust, rejects the elements of progress and pros- perity, and seals its own doom. It is nearly three hundred years since Spain discovered that many of her people had joy- fully welcomed evangelical truth ! But their blood was shed, the Bible closed, and the Reformation trampled out ; but dearly has she paid, and dearly she is still paying the forfeit of her foliy and crimes, in the loss of civil freedom, in the ar- rest laid on the progress of knowledge, in the stagnation of commerce, literature, and arts, and in the degradation into which she has sunk among the nations ; while the people of the Netherlands, then a mere tributary of S^ain, having ac- cepted the lively oracles, in defending their religious rights, achieved national independence and freedom, and now consti- tute a flourishing commercial nation. Spain began to retro- grade, while Holland entered on a career of progress and pros- perity. Fi-ance in like manner expelled in great part the saving element of a pure Christianitj^, destroying in the next century half a million of her best citizens, expatriating another half million, while about another million, seemingly converted to the national faith, maintained in secret, amidst tears and deso- lation, the faith of their fathers. But that rejection of the glo- rious gospel of the blessed God, and of the Bible, and of at least a million of hearts who understood and loved liberty, in- volved incalculable loss to the Empire. To use the language of the elo(pient Melville, " With the removal of the gospel of Christ must be tlie departure of whatever is most precious in the possession of a people. It is not merely that true Chris- tianity is taken away, though who shall measure, — who ima- gine the loss, if this were indeed all ; but it is that God must frown on a land from which he hath been provoked to with- draw his gosi)el, rnd that if the frown of the Almighty rest on a country, the sun of that country's greatness goes' rapidly 30 down and the dreariness of a moral midnight fast gathers above it and around it." The same author, referring to the cities o the East which enjoyed without appreciating tlie shining ot Divine trutli, says, " With scarce an exception they wasted from tlu3 day when the can^Hestick was removed— and grew- into monuments— monuments whose marble is decay and whose inscription is devastation, tolling out to all succeeding nrres that the readiest mode in which a nation can destroy it- self; is to despise the gospel with which it has been entrusted, and that the most fearful vial which God can empty on a hmd is that which extinguishes the blessed shimngs of Christianity. Retribution came. France, for want of the principles and people whom she destroyed and expelled, was soon in the throes of the most appalling of all revolutions, which ended in military despotism. Often since have the streets of 1 aria been delu-ed with the blood of its own citizens, and now her people appear as far from freedom as ever. But as there was no Inquisition in France, the Word of the Lord remained amon-the people, literature and the arts have survived al these "hocks, and France still holds her place among the great powers of Europe. i . i , TiTK GREATNESS OF ENGLAND then must bc traced to hei Christianity, and can be retained only by fidelity to God and to hi^ Truth. Let the nation acknowledge and obey his Word, and we fear not the predictions of its enemies. Lut they say the march of Empire is Westward, and hitherto, it must be acknowledged, the fall of an Eastx^rn kingxlom has been followed bv the rise of another farther West. 1 rom ^ i- neveh and Babylon and Susa, the seat of Empire was trans- ferred to Greece and thence to Rome. From Rome it travel- led west to Germany, and then the armies of the Ldies and the lavies of the Rose prevail in succession, and even now they say the sceptre of the Seas may be departing from old Albion to voung Columbia. The Car of Clio rolls westward, they -ay. ^Lct it roll where it may, we reply, it is the chano of Messiah which is destined to prevail and to give power and prosperity to nations, and Britain will never sink nor will her qlcry ever he dimmed, so loiuj as she remains true to lier Bible, her Sabbath and her God. Let her act in the spirit of our noble Queen's reply to a Sister Potentate from a distant i<;le, who sought to know the source of England s greatness.— 31 Victoria transmits a copy of the Holy Scriptures with the mec- sage, " The Bible is tlie source of England's greatness " We have no fear that her sun is setting, so long as the maidens ot J<.ngland prefer that precious volume, to gold and gems and sparklmg diamonds, as a parting gift to their illustrious Sister, dechiring their convictions that the principles of truth and righteousness, which that Book inculcates, are, and Ion- have mtedanr ^^ ^^^^'^'^^^' ^^'' ornament and safeguard of our Let England prove false to her trust, through unbelief, fear or pride, and like a millstone shall she be cast down with vio- lence. Let her prove faithful and the gates of Hell shall not prevai against her. And let Nova Scotians, sharin- as they do 111 the substantial privileges, the security, freedom and glory ot the highly fovoured BritouG, blessed as they are " with the precious things of Heaven, with the blessings of the dew and ot the deep which coucheth beneath, with the fruits put forth by the sun and by the moon, with the precious thinn-s of the ancient mountmns, and of the lasting hills, and of the earth and fullness thereof," prove faithful and true, suffer no breaking down of the barriers of their Sabbath, maintain in its place iS their hearts and homes, their Churches, Colleges and Schools, the A\ ord of the Lord which liveth for ever, and to which we owe every thing which is precious to us as a people. " That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace. Happy is tlie people that is in such a case, yea happy IS that people whose God is the Lord."