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 Christ going forth to pnrifn tl)e ttlorlb : 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE THE 
 
 FOREIGN EVANGELICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 NEW YORK, MAY 7, 1848. 
 
 BY RAY PALMER, 
 
 Potior of the First Congregational Church. Albany 
 
 ALBANY : 
 
 JOEL MUNSELL, 58 STATE STREET. 
 1851. 
 
'Torn 
 
 The following Discourse was delivered before 
 the Foreign Evangelical Society, just as it was 
 about to pass into The American and Foreign 
 Christian Union. It was repeated at Newark, 
 Brooklyn, Boston and some other places. The 
 reasons which have delayed its publication, it is 
 not necessary to state. It is now printed at the 
 request of the Directors of the New Organization, 
 which is efficiently pursuing the great work of 
 evangelizing the Papal World. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SERMON 
 
 Whose fan is in his hand, and He will thoroughly purge his 
 floor, and gather his wheat into the garner: but He will 
 burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. — Matth. hi, 12. 
 
 It was in this forcible and graphic manner, that John 
 the Baptist announced the presence and the purpose of 
 Christ the great Purifier. The passage has been some- 
 times understood, as merely setting forth the work of 
 judgment which he was about to do in. respect to the 
 Jewish nation. Beyond a doubt, however, it has a 
 wider sweep. We take it as a proclamation that the 
 Son of God, like the fanner intent on the cleansing 
 of the threshing floor, was then about to undertake the 
 task, in a formal and official manner, of effecting a com- 
 plete moral purification of the world. As the last and 
 most enlightened of the prophets, John knew that the 
 promised kingdom of Messiah was at that time to be set 
 up ; and that it was thenceforward steadily to progress, 
 till the blessed consummation should be reached, in 
 which light should triumph over darkness, and good over 
 evil among men. He also understood that although the 
 realization of the splendid visions of the earlier prophets 
 was not to be brought about by the immediate interposition 
 
6 
 
 of almighty power, yet that Christ, as the Head and 
 administrator of the new economy, should be the prime 
 mover in the work. 
 
 From that day to the present, the prediction has been 
 in the process of fulfilment. The regeneration of the 
 world, has, we believe, been all the while advancing ; 
 not indeed, without many impediments and a vigorous 
 resistance. The great adversary of God and man, has 
 done his best, both by fraud and force, to keep possession 
 of his old domain. He has assailed the well-being of 
 mankind at every vulnerable point ; he has had recourse 
 to all modes of warfare and to every sort of weapons ; 
 and he has, even, at times, seemed to have so greatly the 
 advantage in the struggle, that his servants have ventured 
 to begin to sound a triumph ; but in one way or another, 
 it has happened again and again, that when he has been 
 just ready to rejoice in the achievement of some imagined 
 victory, he has been effectually baffled and overthrown. 
 His mines have sprung beneath his own battalions. 
 His forces have been routed by the recoil of his own ar- 
 tillery. His troops have been set man against man 
 among themselves, and thrown into inextricable confu- 
 sion. In every great emergency, the Spirit of the Lord 
 has lifted up a standard against him. 
 
 But where are we now ? How far has the work ad- 
 vanced ? In what stage of the purifying process have we 
 our place and our duty ? This is a matter which it is of 
 great moment that we should fully understand. If the 
 day is drawing nigh, in which the nations shall rise to the 
 life and purity and happiness to which divine Truth and 
 
7 
 
 divine Love is ultimately to bring them, we ought to know 
 it for our encouragement. If it be true that, by the course 
 of events in ages past, the way of the Lord has been pre- 
 pared, and now at last the rallying for the final struggle 
 has arrived, who would not rush to fill some post? Who 
 would not feel his heart beating high with holy courage ? 
 We fully believe that the last stage of the process of 
 cleansing a world long sunk in the deep pollutions of 
 the apostacy, is now reached. We believe that it can 
 now be said in a far more direct and emphatic sense 
 than in the time of John, “ His fan is in his hand, and he 
 will thoroughly purge his floor.’ 1 This cleansing work 
 of Christ, however, will not be in respect to the manner 
 of its accomplishment, like the quiet task of the fanner. 
 On the contrary, it will doubtless involve the most vio- 
 lent convulsions the world has ever seen. Even now 
 we see all things in commotion. \\ e see, as it were, 
 the going forth of a mighty conqueror ; and we can not 
 help asking with the prophet, “Who is this that cometh 
 from Edom ? with dyed garments from Bosrah ? This 
 that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness 
 of his strength V'* Then we seem distinctly to hear the 
 thrilling answer : “ I that speak in righteousness mighty 
 to save. The day of vengeance is in my heart, and the 
 year of my redeemed is come !” Were it possible, we 
 would write, in words of fire, before the eyes of all who 
 look for the reign of God on earth, that with the resour- 
 ces of infinite wisdom and almighty power, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, is now addressing himself directly 
 
 TO THE WORK OF COMPLETING THE MORAL CLEANSING 
 
 OF THE WORLD. 
 
8 
 
 We must understand the past, or we can not under- 
 stand the present. What has Christ done already, is 
 necessarily preliminary to the question, What is he doing 
 now. The work of purifying the world, on which the 
 Forerunner saw him, when on earth, about to enter, 
 necessarily supposed three stages or periods of develop- 
 ment ; stages or periods clearly distinguishable, although 
 not marked off by precise and definite lines, but rather 
 running more or less into each other. W e say that this 
 arrangement was a matter of necessity ; because it was 
 not by the immediate power of God, but by an instru- 
 mental, and in some sense, natural growth, that the 
 divine kingdom was to rise. Such was the divine pur- 
 pose from the beginning. 
 
 I. We may characterize the first stage of the purify- 
 ing process as the initiative or introductory stage. First 
 of all, the cleansing fountain was to be opened in the 
 blood of the dying Lamb of God. The Cross was to be 
 set up as the source of a mighty moral power. The 
 promise of the Holy Ghost, was to be fulfilled, and his 
 mission to be opened in a signal manner. The Gospel 
 also, was to be written, and to be preached among all 
 the accessible nations ; and by the gathering of churches 
 and the establishment of Christian ordinances the kingdom 
 of God was to receive a visible, organic form. All this 
 was shortly done. From Calvary the word of life went 
 forth ; and the leaven of saving truth was soon infused 
 into the dark and corrupting masses of mankind. We 
 need not say with what results. We need not stay to 
 speak of the simplicity and power of primitive piety ; 
 
9 
 
 nor to recount the victories of Christian truth in its first 
 collision with the systems and the principles of error. It 
 is enough to say, in passing, that in this introductory 
 period of Christianity, everything was accomplished 
 which the nature of the case admitted. The first onset 
 was a victory ; so far as a victory was possible in the 
 circumstances of the times. The “noble army of the 
 martyrs” furnished an admirable demonstration of the 
 power of the Gospel to call forth the highest type of 
 human character ; and the deserted temples of idolatry 
 bore a reluctant, but emphatic testimony, to the vital 
 energy of Christian doctrine. The work of moral trans- 
 formation was thus efficiently begun. 
 
 II. The second stage of the work of the Son of God 
 in the purification of the world, we may fitly call the 
 experimental stage. This part of the process, as we 
 understand the matter, has been steadily going forward 
 from the days of Constantine, and even earlier, down to 
 the present time. The course of divine Providence 
 through this long period, as respects its bearing on the 
 spiritual enlightenment and elevation of mankind in the 
 final triumph of the Gospel, has perhaps not been suffi- 
 ciently considered. It is too commonly the impression 
 in glancing towards the past, that while these tedious 
 centuries were passing over a groaning world, the work 
 of regenerating humanity w as stationary, or even retro- 
 grade. We can not believe this for a moment. We 
 can not admit the thought that Jesus Christ has ever 
 ceased to prosecute the purifying w ? ork to the commence- 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 ment of which He put his hand when he dwelt below. 
 We are by no means of the number who adopt the 
 notion that the dark ages were really not dark at all ; 
 but rather were the golden ages of human history. But 
 dark as they were, corrupt and wretched as in many 
 respects they were, profound as was the intellectual 
 slumber in which they wrapped the masses, we yet claim 
 confidentially the entire period, from the days of the 
 decline of primitive piety, to the days of modern revival, 
 as a period of steady progress to God's kingdom among 
 men. Our meaning is, that there were certain experi- 
 ments which it was a matter of necessity, in the absence 
 of miraculous interpositions, that humanity should be 
 left to try, before it could fully and universally come 
 under the dominion of the simple truth of God ; and that 
 the divine Purifier, in his wise administration, has appro- 
 priated this period chiefly to the working out of these 
 experiments. This view strikes us as having most im- 
 portant bearings on the present and the future ; we will 
 therefore give it some little illustration. 
 
 In the first place, it was inevitable that Philosophy 
 should thoroughly try her speculative acuteness, in the 
 attempt to harmonize the truths of revealed religion 
 with her own established formulas. This would naturally 
 follow from the fact that Christianity assumed to speak 
 dogmatically and with authority, on many of the chief 
 questions on which speculative reason had been wont to 
 try its acuteness and its insight. It was not to be ima- 
 gined that Philosophy, not now in her infancy but deve- 
 loped into a vigorous maturity, would humbly acquiesce 
 
li 
 
 in this assumption and quietly abandon the field of 
 abstruse inquiry. She had imbibed her spirit, settled her 
 canons and elaborated her systems, under the influence 
 or at least within the atmosphere, of sensual Paganism; 
 and priding herself on the renown of her Sages and her 
 Schools, she was so puffed up with the conceit of wisdom, 
 that if she gave heed to Christianity at all, it could only 
 be in a patronizing way ; as if she would kindly lend her 
 light to render it intelligible to the world. The Plato- 
 nizing Fathers of the Church, led off in the attempt to test 
 the facts revealed to faith in the philosophic crucible. 
 Then followed the long array of the Schoolmen, with 
 their dialectics and subtile and interminable refinements; 
 and by them the process was carried on. Modern meta- 
 physicians have apparently well nigh completed the 
 curriculum of the possible, in the variously modified sys- 
 tems of Pantheistic Transcendentalism. 
 
 It was necessary, again, that the Hierarchical experi- 
 ment should be made ; that it should be shown by actual 
 trial, what would be the fruits of priestly domination ; of 
 the subjection of the human mind to the necessity of a 
 blind and unquestioning submission to authority in mat- 
 ters pertaining to the conscience. Those who were the 
 constituted teachers in the church, whose official position 
 at once required them to surpass others in their know- 
 ledge of divine truth and entitled them to speak with 
 some measure of authority, could not but have it in their 
 power, especially in their ministrations to the ignorant, 
 to exert an influence which should be well nigh decisive. 
 It would often seem to be really best that there should 
 
be an unhesitating submission to their superior wisdom, 
 on the part of those who were wanting in the capacity or 
 the means of examining for themselves. How easily 
 then, as human nature is, would even the most upright 
 and pious religious instructors, without the light of expe- 
 rience on the subject, convince themselves that they 
 might rightfully assume to control the faith and the con- 
 sciences of others ! How difficult would be the task to 
 those who were in the place of learners, of determining 
 beforehand what would be the consequences of implicit 
 subjection to authority, the giving up of the right of pri- 
 vate judgment ! Of this problem, the self styled succes- 
 sors of Saint Peter have wrought out an ample solution 
 in the sight of all men. The voluminous records of 
 Papal abominations, written in the tears and blood of 
 millions, and made up at some periods of but little else 
 than exhibitions of debasing ignorance and cruel super- 
 stition, detail the results in all their dark particulars. 
 
 It was also necessary that the light of experience 
 should be thrown upon the question of Religious Seclusion, 
 as a means of a highly spiritual life. The Gospel came 
 demanding entire devotion to God. It insisted on self- 
 discipline, the mortification of the appetites and passions, 
 deadness to the world, and a holy delight in God and in 
 spiritual things. It urged the duties of watchfulness, 
 prayer and meditation on divine truth; and promised 
 great rewards to those who should gain the victory over 
 the world by faith. It was the most natural thing ima- 
 ginable that minds of a contemplative and quiet habit, 
 being constitutionally disposed to seek retirement from 
 
13 
 
 the noisy world, should fancy such a state to he emi- 
 nently favorable to a devout and holy life. Asceticism 
 had existed too, before the promulgation of Christianity ; 
 and so had a traditional sanction to recommend it. The 
 early Anchorites, who obtained such renown for sanctity 
 in the deserts of Egypt, and the mountain fastnesses of 
 Palestine, while as yet Christianity was comparatively 
 pure, and the numerous monastic orders of later and 
 corrupter ages, have made full trial in this matter, and 
 the result is clear. It has been shown that holy principle 
 and affection can be effectually and happily developed 
 only in connection with a life of benevolent activity, and 
 in direct contact with the world. 
 
 It was necessary further, that the consequences of an 
 alliance between the Formal and Artistic on the one hand, 
 and the purely Spiritual on the other, should be demon- 
 strated by experiment. There is a natural affinity be- 
 tween the beautiful and the good. The disposition of 
 the mind to connect them in its associations, would lead 
 of course to a desire and effort to combine taste and piety, 
 so far as might be practicable. But how far this might 
 be effected ; to what extent the one might usefully be 
 made the ally of the other ; and at what point the danger 
 would arise that the beauty of form and sense would fix 
 attention on itself to the prejudice of the higher attractions 
 of the spiritual and divine ; all this it w'as difficult before- 
 hand to determine. Between the art and the religion of 
 Pagan Antiquity, there had been a complete alliance ; so 
 that the one was, as it were, the embodiment of the other, 
 and it was not unnatural to think that a similar alliance 
 
14 
 
 might exist when Christianity prevailed. Papal Rome 
 inherited the treasures of aft which had survived the 
 ruins of the Empire ; and thus became the centre and 
 school of taste to the civilized world. When, therefore, 
 she grew into prosperity, and surrounded herself with 
 the means of luxury and splendor, she reared her vast 
 Cathedrals, and set up her jeweled altars, and employed 
 the pencil and the chisel to add to the enchantment of 
 her worship ; and combining with the whole the magic 
 power of music and the dazzling show of imposing pomps 
 and ceremonies, she has supplied a demonstration as 
 complete as it is instructive. 
 
 It was necessary likewise, that there should be a fair 
 experiment of the practical working of a union between 
 the Spiritual and the Temporal, the connection of Church 
 and State. The Romish Church, in the ages of her entire 
 ascendancy, rendered this union so universal and complete 
 among the states of Christendom, and perpetuated it so 
 long, that even Protestantism has found it difficult to 
 escape from the entanglement. There has been ample 
 time for the unfolding of the tendencies of this unnatural 
 and adulterous conjunction. The monstrous evils which 
 have been its offspring, are fast engaging the attention 
 and arousing the indignation of the world ; and loud 
 and determined voices are now lifted up demanding a 
 divorce ; voices which will never be hushed again till a 
 divorce is finally accomplished. 
 
 It was necessary yet again, that Infidelity should have 
 time to try every method of attack on the citadel of 
 Christian truth, to the end that the impregnable strength 
 
15 
 
 of its entrenchments might be seen. English Deism led 
 on in this assault. Herbert and Tindal, Shaftsbury and 
 Bolingbroke, Hume and Gibbon, were certainly no mean 
 antagonists. They did all that eloquent, elaborate, inge- 
 nious sophistry could do, but with no detriment to the 
 stability of Revelation. The virtual Atheism of Voltaire, 
 Rousseau and their associates in France, poured out from 
 another quarter, the poisoned arrows of malignant ridi- 
 cule and cutting satire, aided immensely by the intolerable 
 abuses of the Romish Church.* Germany furnished the 
 third and latest type. Rationalism, with its coolness, its 
 learning, and its iron diligence, has raked and sifted, and 
 turned and overturned, till at last it has well nigh buried 
 itself in its own accumulated rubbish, and is beginning 
 to awake from its presumptuous dream. Strauss has 
 nauseated it with its own elixir. 
 
 And then, lastly, it was not less necessary that certain 
 experiments should be made, illustrative of the true spirit 
 and the practical efficacy of Christianity itself. It was 
 important that an illustration should be given of the un- 
 conquerable energy of Christian faith, in its calm gmd firm 
 endurance of the fiercest persecutions, and its patient 
 holding out through long and dark and agonizing days 
 of trial. It was needful that proof should be supplied 
 that Christianity possesses an indestructible vitality, a life 
 which can survive all social revolutions and even the 
 
 * See Voltaire’s General History — Passim. One can not contemplate 
 the picture of Christianity as it lay before his mind, in the unsightliness 
 of its corruptions, without admitting that it does afford some show of 
 apology for his rancorous hostility to the Gospel and its Author. 
 
1G 
 
 worst abuses in its own organization and discipline. It 
 was to be shown, that it has an elastic force sufficient to 
 enable it to heave from itself the crushing masses of old 
 corruptions, and to evolve again spiritual life and light, 
 from darkness and apparent death. It was to be made to 
 appear quite certain, that Revelation has nothing to fear 
 from the advancement of sound learning, and the disco- 
 veries of sober science ; but on the contrary that these, 
 in their progress, are to be her friendly and genial coad- 
 jutors. There was an absolute necessity in the nature of 
 the case, that these things should have the certainty of 
 experimental demonstration. 
 
 Now all these, and other similar experiments, are 
 obviously an essential part of the purifying work of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; and what we have called the experi- 
 mental stage or period of this work, has, we believe, 
 wrought them out in a thorough manner. And this 
 especially we insist on, that these experiments are doubt- 
 less final. They are not to be repeated. Philosophy, 
 in its attempts to solve the higher problems of our being, 
 has had.its day. The Hierarchy in its assumed dominion 
 over conscience, has had its day. The Cloister has had 
 its day. The sensualism of Form and Art has had its 
 day. The alliance of Church and State has had its day. 
 Infidelity has had its day. Each has wrought out its 
 appropriate results, and the great Purifier has now nearly 
 or quite done with them all forever. While on the other 
 hand, those experiments which have served to exhibit 
 the true genius of Christianity, and to place its efficiency 
 beyond all question, are to live in the memory of the 
 
17 
 
 Church, to sustain her constancy and courage, and to 
 warm her faith and hope into a holy and unquenchable 
 enthusiasm. Here then is a great and essential work ac- 
 complished. Not in vain have these fifteen centuries, in 
 which there has been so much to the eye ot sense that 
 looked disheartening, passed over depressed and sorrow- 
 ing humanity. Christ has not rested from his undertaking 
 all the while. Not a day has been without its bearing 
 on the grand result. 
 
 III. We come now to speak of the third, and as we 
 conceive the last stage in the purifying work of Christ. 
 This we may characterize as distinctively the transform- 
 ing stage-, as the period, in other words, in which the 
 advances of humanity towards a purer and a happier state, 
 are to be rapid, manifest and permanent. \\ bile the 
 experimental period has been for some time drawing to 
 a close, the opening of this final one has been apparent. 
 Now it is felt by all men, at least by all who are 
 attentive to the movements of the times, that a new era 
 in human affairs has been commenced. By visible signs 
 the Son of Man is coming. The brightness of his ap- 
 proach is already seen streaking the retreating darkness 
 of the past, with the blushes of the promised morning. 
 Already is it plain, that the breath of his mouth is kindling 
 up the unquenchable fires that shall consume the accumu- 
 lated chaff of ages. The tide of purifying influence, has 
 hitherto been not unlike a river flowing under ground ; 
 but now at last we see it bursting forth, ready to flow 
 all abroad with a life-giving and resistless power. If we 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 read aright the tokens. Progress is henceforth everywhere 
 to be the order of the day. Every new victory of 
 truth, is to be substantially a final victory. Each really 
 forward step of struggling humanity, is to be a step from 
 which there shall be no receding. We shall be told, 
 perhaps, that we are over sanguine. It may seem, even 
 to some Christians, that to entertain such views is to be 
 borne away by a benevolent enthusiasm. But as the 
 ground of the strong convictions now expressed, there 
 are certain unquestionable facts, to which w r e will refer. 
 
 Before alluding to these, however, it is proper to remark, 
 that in what it is proposed to say in illustration of this 
 part of the subject, we shall have reference chiefly to the 
 nations of Christendom, and more particularly to those 
 of Europe. The nations of Western Europe, as the seats 
 of the highest Civilizations both of ancient and modern 
 times, as the first political powers which now exist, 
 and as the chief fountains, for the present, of literature 
 and thought, must be expected to lead off in the grand 
 march of humanity towards a final disenthrallment. The 
 signs of that event must of course be expected to l>e there 
 first unequivocally manifest. The complete moral regene- 
 ration of Christendom, must inevitably bring with it, or 
 speedily draw after it, the renovation of the world. 
 
 But to proceed now to the facts, To us, as believers in 
 the divine authority of the Bible aNd as Protestants, it is 
 an undoubted fact, that Evangelical Truth, the simple, 
 pure and vital truth which lies on the face of the Holy 
 Scriptures, will, with the divine blessing, infallibly purify 
 and save the world, if brought iptp actual contact with 
 
I!) 
 
 the minds of men. We well know that individual man 
 needs nothing but this, received into his understanding 
 and his heart, to elevate and bless him. He is a con- 
 scious sinner. The Bible tells him that through the bleed- 
 ing Lamb of God, he may have free pardon. He is a 
 child of sorrow. The Bible tells him, that in Christ 
 Jesus, God will be his Father and Comforter. Sin has 
 debased his whole nature ; and rendered his aims selfish 
 and his wishes groveling. The Bible breathes around him 
 the divine spirit of benevolence ; and at the same time it 
 leads him into the noblest the most inspiring fields of 
 thought, and presents to his contemplation the purest 
 and grandest objects in the universe. We understand 
 equally well, that Society needs nothing but the Bible to 
 perfect both its spirit and its organization. “ Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbor as thyself.” There is the fundamental 
 doctrine of equality. “ Whatsoever ye would that men 
 should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.” There 
 is a Bill of Rights in comparison with which that of 
 King John is but a trifle ; it is the Magna Cliarta granted 
 by God himself for the benefit of all men. We know, in 
 short, that wherever the Bible goes, men are taught their 
 true relations and their duties ; what their capabilities are 
 and what are the proper ends of their existence. Let 
 them learn these things aright, and they will rise in 
 ■conscious power, to think and to act with manly freedom ; 
 and they will assail the abuses and oppressions which 
 have borne them down, till the last vestige of them shall 
 be swept away. 
 
 It is a second noticeable fact, that every requisite 
 
20 
 
 agency is now in readiness, for the speedy and universal 
 dissemination of Evangelical T ruth. It is a circumstance 
 worthy to be considered, that the great organizations 
 for the spread of the Holy Scriptures and other religious 
 books, should have been brought into existence just as 
 the time was coming when the work of printing them 
 could be executed with the utmost rapidity and economy, 
 and when the way was about to be opened for the easy 
 introduction of them everywhere. Imagine the forma- 
 tion of a Bible or a Tract Society in the days of Abe- 
 lard or of Roger Bacon. How many copies can you 
 conceive it to have issued annually ? By what means 
 could it have escaped the strangling grasp of Rome ? 
 Or, not to mention these things, where among the masses 
 could intelligent readers have been found ? With 
 what sort of facilities could the business of distribution 
 have been prosecuted ? But now the Bible Societies, 
 quietly planted where no hostile power can arrest or even 
 disturb their work, are issuing every day, eight or ten 
 thousand copies of the Scriptures, pouring out as it were 
 a mighty tide of light upon the world ; while kindred 
 associations are also daily striking off some millions of 
 pages of evangelical matter to which may be added all 
 that is published by private enterprizc. Thrown into 
 the great channels of intercommunication, these volumes 
 in any numbers, can be placed at any point in a very 
 few hours or days. Meanwhile all Christendom abounds 
 with readers ; and Rome, although she dreads and hates 
 the light as cordially as ever, no longer has the power to 
 hinder its diffusion. Even Spain herself, has been for 
 
some time open to a considerable extent to those who 
 distribute the Word of God; and in that strong hold of 
 Papal intolerance and bigotry, an earnest voice has of late 
 been lifted np in favor of perfect religions toleration. It is 
 but a few years since, that a diplomatic agent of Great 
 Britain had his Bible taken from him on entering the 
 Papal territory; and in spite of all remonstrance was 
 obliged to submit to the indignity. But during the late 
 commotions, on the banks of the Tiber and between the 
 Vatican and the Quirinal, the Holy Scriptures in the Ital- 
 ian language have been issued from the press, and widely 
 distributed among the people. By such agencies, not- 
 withstanding all opposing influences, the truths of re- 
 vealed religion are finding their way to the common 
 mind in every part of Europe. The batteries wherewith 
 to demolish the entrenchments of the Prince of darkness, 
 are well planted, and want only a vigorous working to 
 lay open his secret chambers to the sun. 
 
 A third fact is of equal interest and significance. It is 
 this : that over a large part of Europe, humanity exhibits 
 not a little of that peculiar restlessness and longing which 
 disposes to the reception of the Gospel, and which the 
 Gospel alone can meet. This is a circumstance of which 
 observation only can give the full impression. Pass 
 through the cities and villages of France and Belgium, 
 through Italy, Switzerland and Germany, and get a 
 free expression of the profounder current of feeling which 
 prevails among the middle and lower classes of society. 
 It may be difficult to unlock the heart. But when it can 
 be done, it will very generally be found that there is a 
 
22 
 
 deep inward dissatisfaction, a consciousness of want, a 
 vehement yearning, often perhaps vague and scarcely 
 intelligible to itself. Men feel as respects themselves that 
 they are not what they should be. They feel that society 
 is not what it should be ; that religious institutions are 
 not what they should be ; and that something higher and 
 better than anything they know, must be possible, as the 
 condition and the end of human life. They are tired of 
 empirical experiments and political contrivances for the 
 mending of the world ; and sometimes, at which we can 
 not wonder after their many disappointments, are ready to 
 despair of relief entirely. There are probably hundreds 
 of thousands to be found in continental Europe, of whose 
 present state of feeling this is a sufficiently accurate des- 
 cription.* And what is this state of mind '■ When 
 under the preaching of the Gospel we find an individual 
 who is weary of himself, sick of the pleasures of the 
 world, and pressed with a sense of his need of something 
 better, what do we deem it, but a preparation of the heart 
 by the Holy Ghost to receive the satisfying gift of God ? 
 
 * The statements of Count Guicciardini as given in the letter of M. De 
 Pressense to the New York Independent of July 17th, 1851, furnish a 
 striking illustration of what is here said. “ Seeds of Gospel truth were 
 deposited in some minds by foreign Christians visiting Florence. Bnt all 
 on a sudden, under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit, the profoundest 
 religious wants were developed and religious interest excited. The hand 
 of the Lord alone hath done it, and it hath acted in its sovereignty. Those 
 who had a long time in vain endeavored to bring a single soul to the Lord, 
 have suddenly seen numbers of Italians resorting to them hungering and 
 thirsting for righteousness, inquiring for the Scriptures and reading them 
 with delight. M. Guicciardini counts at Florence already more than two 
 thousand persons who in various degrees are under the influence of the 
 Gospel, some still seeking if, others having already found it. The move- 
 n ent spreads equally in the country .” — JJc Prestentc's Letter. 
 
And why is it not to he deemed the same wherever found ? 
 Certain it is, that many who have been met in this frame 
 of mind by Evangelists and Colporteurs, have gladly and 
 savingly received the Word of God. The truth must 
 win its way, even among blind and deluded Romanists, 
 when they perceive that it brings them just the rest for 
 which their hearts have long been aching. The famish- 
 ing will eat if you give them bread. They will drink 
 when you make the living waters to gush forth at their 
 feet. Even ignorance and superstition, are rarely able 
 utterly to destroy the moral instincts of the sOul. 
 
 Our fourth fact is, that in the administration of his 
 Providence, God is now manifestly working with and for 
 his Truth, in a most extraordinary manner. This is 
 what the Prophets plainly intimate should come to pass. 
 It is what ought to have been expected, and is a rebuke 
 to the unbelief of the Christian Church. It would seem 
 but natural to anticipate that in going about to complete 
 his work as the Purifier of the world, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ should bring the course of his Providence into 
 harmonious and powerful cooperation with the influences 
 of his Word ; and that he should so direct the great 
 movements of society, as to cause it to be seen and felt, 
 that Nations and Kings and Dynasties were all at his 
 disposal. This he has done and is doing still. The es- 
 tablishment of our own free institutions and the French 
 Revolution which soon followed, at the close of the last 
 century, constituted the opening of the great struggle 
 which now is waxing hot, for the Cardinal Rights of 
 Man. Next came the Man of Destiny, as he loved to 
 
24 
 
 style himself : and he was the Man of Destiny in a far 
 higher sense than it ever entered into his own head to 
 dream. We confidently affirm, that Napoleon was one 
 of the most efficient Missionaries that God has ever em- 
 ployed in the work of the world’s recovery. He knew 
 not God indeed, and served him blindly and without 
 design. But who first taught the people of Europe to 
 think lightly of the sacredness of kings, and stripped 
 away from royalty at once its divine right and its vene- 
 rable associations? Napoleon, when he handled legiti- 
 mate sovereigns as mere puppets, and raised to thrones 
 men taken from the common people. Who effectually 
 broke up the habits of thought which had come down 
 from feudal ages,and to which the distinctions of hereditary 
 nobility owed their chief power to command respect ? 
 Napoleon, when in place of men whose only merit was 
 an ancient and honorable title, he gathered around him, 
 and raised to the highest posts of honor, those who had 
 distinguished themselves by their individual talent. Who 
 by the Public Works which he executed or projected, 
 waked up the idea of Progress in the general mind, and 
 shamed the indolence and selfishness of the old regimes ? 
 Napoleon; and no wonder that as the people look on 
 these, they still are impressed by the vastness of his views, 
 and still feel the stirring impulses of his mighty mind. 
 We are no admirers of the personal character of Napo- 
 leon; but it is impossible to observe the results of his 
 career, and not greatly admire the wisdom of God as 
 displayed in the ends which it used him to accomplish. 
 Other important advances were made, some of them 
 
25 
 
 peaceably as in England, after the downfall of the Empe- 
 ror, and, before the opening of the year eighteen hundred 
 forty eight. That most eventful year developed as much 
 of incident and change as has ordinarily filled a Century. 
 Where now is that proud King, who in violation of his 
 coronation oath, perverted the Charter to the oppression 
 of good men, and on the coast of Africa and in the Islands 
 of the Sea opposed the cause of Christ and vexed his 
 servants? Where now are the glories of the Tuileries 
 and of St. Cloud ? The waves of popular tumult have 
 engulphed the monarchy itself. The word of Christ is 
 no longer bound in France.* How has it fared with Pius 
 IX, the liberal Pope. He has found that the Papal in- 
 fluence of ages, has done a work of degradation which 
 it is now no easy matter to repair. With a courage to 
 be commended, he attempted to drive the Chariot of Re- 
 form ; but his arm proved too feeble to reign in the met- 
 tled steeds, and so he leaped in terror from his seat, and 
 they went dashing on, leaving the Holy Father prostrate 
 by the wayside. The Inquisition has been emptied of 
 its hapless prisoners, and its accursed implements of tor- 
 ture exposed to the public gaze; and by a variety of 
 means the subjects of the Papacy in the Eternal City 
 itself, have been filled with abhorrence of priestly domi- 
 nation. Austria and Prussia and the smaller German 
 states, have been shaken as with the rocking of an earth- 
 
 * One of the most hopeful indications for France, is an increasing 
 demand for the Holy Scriptures among the people. It is stated on good 
 authority, that the booksellers of Paris are now selling at the rate of 
 from seven to eight thousand copies a year, in addition to what are dis- 
 tributed by Bible Societies. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 quake ; and there is hardly a corner of the Continent, 
 except where the iron hand of the Autocrat is felt, 
 that has not been roused to the hope of better days. 
 Never before has God so arisen to shake terribly the 
 earth. 
 
 No one can well predict precisely what is to be the 
 future course of political events among the Powers of 
 Europe. But we may be sure of this, that the cause of 
 truth has already gained immensely by the recent move- 
 ments ; and equally sure that to recede will be found im- 
 possible. A true principle, once developed in the mind, 
 can never be wrested from it. The power of excited 
 thought is irresistible. Like the pent up fires of the vol- 
 cano it will make to itself a way, or it will shatter the 
 whole structure of society, and spread on every side the 
 fragments of its firmest institutions. Sovereigns may 
 learn little amid the storms of revolution ; but the people 
 at least have learned some lessons not likely to be soon 
 forgotten. The nations do not groan and travail in pain 
 together and all for nothing. Whatever may be the 
 immediate issues of the late convulsive throes, it will at 
 length appear, we are persuaded, that the cleansing fan 
 of the Purifier has been effectively at work. 
 
 We add, as the last fact to be noticed, that there is an 
 evident reviving of the life and power of Spiritual Piety in 
 the Evangelical Churches of Christendom. That such 
 is, really, the fact, will doubtless be generally conceded. 
 It has been evinced by the increased frequency and power 
 of special seasons of refreshing under the faithful preach- 
 ing of the Gospel. It has appeared in the indications of 
 
*27 
 
 a deeper sense of obligation among Christians of all 
 classes, to live and labor for the glory of Christ and the 
 coming of his kingdom. It has been manifested in the 
 encouragement and faith, the primitive zeal and self- 
 devotion, which for the last few years have been exhi- 
 bited by the feeble bands of disciples scattered here and 
 there in Papal countries, at Paris, at Geneva, at various 
 points beyond the Rhine and in the North of Europe, 
 where there have been raised up living and powerful 
 witnesses for the Truth as it is in Jesus. It has revealed 
 itself in a growing unity of spirit among all who have 
 genuine faith in Christ. And it can not reasonably be 
 doubted, that the great movements of the Church for the 
 conversion of the entire world to Christ, have been at 
 once the fruit of the quickening breath of the Holy Ghost, 
 and the occasion of the bestowment of his gifts in richer 
 measure. Is it not plain, my brethren, that great as the 
 deficiencies still are, there is an increasing number who do 
 glory in the Cross, and who can say with Paul, “For me 
 to live is Christ.” Is not the divine life, in its deeper and 
 more spiritual experiences, coming to be more extensively 
 and practically understood ? The nature of prayer, the 
 necessity of prayer, the power of prayer, — are not far 
 better views in respect to this whole subject, at least 
 beginning to pervade the church ? And finally, are there 
 not signs of a growing faith in the mission of the Divine 
 Spirit, and larger expectations of such displays of his 
 transforming grace as have never yet been witnessed ? 
 As it is by the Church, as the human instrumentality, 
 that Christ will carry forward his cleansing work, in the 
 
28 
 
 world at large, such indications of a purifying process in 
 the Church herself, is an omen whose significance can 
 not be mistaken. We know that the powers of darkness 
 will then tremble and recede, when bearing the Word of 
 God, and led on by the Providence of God, the Church 
 shall be seen advancing in the simplicity of faith, in the 
 prevalence of prayer, and in the commanding beauty of 
 true holiness. 
 
 We ask now any candid person who believes the Bible, 
 to place before him the great facts to which we; have 
 alluded, in their just relations, and then to say, if there 
 are not solid grounds for the belief that our blessed Lord 
 is at this time entering on the final, the consummating 
 stage of his work of love in the moral cleansing of the 
 world. You will admit, my brethren, that there are im- 
 pressive indications of such a manifestation of the Son of 
 Man. You believe the truth of prophecy. You believe that 
 Messiah’s holy and happy kingdom is certainly to come ; 
 and in its coming to fill and to transform the earth. Con- 
 sider, then, that it passed its initiatory period many centu- 
 ries ago ; and that the practical experiments connected 
 with it which were necessary, have been tried and are 
 tending fast to a conclusion ; and lastly, ponder the ad- 
 mitted facts, that Evangelical Truth, the Bible, in a word, 
 is God’s appointed means for the purification of the 
 world ; that the agencies for its universal dissemination 
 are now ready ; that the hearts of hundreds of thousands 
 in Christendom, particularly among those who have been 
 the victims of the Papacy, are deeply conscious of their 
 
spiritual wants and so in a measure prepared to welcome 
 it, that the Providence of God is almost working miracles 
 among the nations for its advancement; and lastly that 
 the Holy Ghost is breathing on the Universal Church 
 and warming it to vigorous life and action. In such a 
 view of the whole subject, can you doubt, dare you doubt, 
 that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is going 
 forth at last in the glory of his own transforming power, 
 to consume the chaff, and thoroughly to cleanse his floor. 
 
 And what, my Christian brethren, — what is the bearing 
 of this deeply interesting truth on our individual duty ? 
 Is it not this : that it is the hand of Jesus Christ himself, 
 that has laid out before us the work of thoroughly evan- 
 gelizing Christendom ; and that it is his own voice that 
 is calling all his friends to urge it on with unfaltering 
 zeal. Ah yes, Christians! The cry that comes to you 
 from many of the strangers that are crowding to your 
 shores ; that reaches you from Canada, from Mexico, 
 and South America, from wretched Ireland, from France, 
 Switzerland and Italy, in short, from every part of Eu- 
 rope is the call of Christ the Purifier, summoning his 
 people to cooperate with him in his last, his transforming 
 work on earth. His fan is in his hand! He is sepa- 
 rating the precious from the vile. This is a sufficient 
 explanation of the terrible convulsions that of late have 
 rent the nations. It is he, that has marshaled the forces 
 and set in order the battle, partly of physical and partly 
 of moral power, that now is well begun. We can not 
 understand it. W e see the mustered hosts sweeping now 
 
30 
 
 this way and now that. The combatants are marching 
 and counter marching, and are often so obscured by the 
 smoke and dust of the encounter, and so mingled in the 
 great melee, that to our limited observation, all is confu- 
 sion and uncertainty. But not so to Christ. To his eye 
 all is clear. He is directing every movement. He 
 comprehends the whole affair. There is to him no such 
 distinction as we make between the religious and the po- 
 litical. All that is going forward in the struggles of the 
 civilized world is religious, in his view ; that is to say, 
 all stands alike related to the advancement of his King- 
 dom. When he shall say to the conflicting forces, 
 Peace , be still ! — the tumult of the people will die into a 
 calm ; and then it will be more clearly seen for what the 
 battle has been fought. It will appear that all this agita- 
 tion and overturning is but the breaking open of the way, 
 that his servants may go forth everywhere and scatter 
 the good seed of the kingdom. 
 
 It is true, as we are well aware, that there are darker 
 views than those which we have taken of the present 
 state of the nominally Christian world. We presume 
 there are those who still look forward only with sad fore- 
 boding; who have no eyes to see the signs of promise 
 which are offered for the encouragement of Christian 
 faith and effort; and who even despair of the power 
 of Christianity itself, as a spiritual system, to hold on 
 its way to a universal triumph. It will be suggested 
 that there is yet great strength in the Papal system, that 
 Infidelity is still furiously rampant, and that there is 
 great imperfection in the Church. W e admit the facts. 
 
31 
 
 But (hen we ask, what of them ! Have we affirmed that 
 this last contest between vital Truth and deadly Error, is 
 going to he a trifling skirmish ? Or that we imagine it will 
 very soon be over ? We entertain no such opinion. We 
 doubt not that the resistance will be desperate beyond all 
 precedent ; and the more because the event of the struggle 
 must obviously be decisive. But on tin* other hand, we 
 are sure that the onset is going to he such as no past age 
 has witnessed. The reigning Potentates of Europe may 
 still retain their crowns, perhaps it is best they should ; 
 to bring back the days of Absolutism, however, will be 
 utterly beyond their power. The unhappy Pope may 
 yet wear his tiara for a while ; by the aid of others, we 
 presume he will. But with what opiate can he put to 
 sleep again the roused up spirit of the Italian people, or 
 quench their burning irrepressible desires for freedom. 
 With what form of conjuration will he exorcise the evil 
 spirits which, in the shape of Bibles, books and tracts, 
 have taken possession of the Patrimony of St. Peter ? 
 Not even another Hildebrand could restore to the Roman 
 See its lost dominion over mind. And as to Infidelity, 
 routed as she has been everywhere in argument, repudi- 
 ated as she is and must be by the moral instincts of the 
 soul, she can have no new victories to gain in a general 
 conflict with the Gospel. She is doomed to be consumed 
 among the chafif.* 
 
 * The signal failure of Infidelity to find any tenable ground on which 
 to contend in argument against Divine Revelation, does not indeed prevent 
 the prevalence of avast amount of practical unbelief. But the scepticism 
 which has so extensively pervaded France and other parts of Western 
 
32 
 
 Yes ! carry directly to the heart of Christendom the 
 simple, saving truths of the New Testament, and nothing 
 more is needed. And this is the work which Christ is bid- 
 ding us to do without delay. We rejoice in what is doing 
 to send life to the heathen nations ; but we know that 
 we are effectually helping on the conversion of the 
 Pagan world to Christ, while we are laboring to take up 
 the stumbling blocks of nominal Christianity. The hand 
 of God has wonderfully guided this Evangelizing move- 
 ment from the first, and never so clearly as at present, 
 could the wisdom of his purpose in its origin and progress 
 be discovered. The good which has been done already 
 is, we are satisfied, but small, in comparison with 
 what, by the divine blessing, it is about to do, in this 
 great juncture for which especially it seems to have 
 been raised up. It has already cheered, by its efficient 
 cooperation, the faithful servants of God to whom it has 
 borne the timely aid, along with the sympathy and 
 prayers, of American Christians. It has made its influ- 
 ence felt in various ways in almost every part of Europe. 
 In doing this, it has won the confidence of the friends 
 of Christ both at home and abroad, and gained the most 
 valuable kinds of information and experience. Now 
 then, the organization is all ready for the larger and 
 more vigorous operations which the times demand, if 
 
 Europe, must yield and will yield under the direct and faithful application 
 of Evangelical Truth. As it has its seat chiefly in the heart, and is nour- 
 ished by ignorance and false views of Christianity, there is nothing to 
 prevent its complete removal by the clear presentation of the Gospel in 
 its divine simplicity. 
 
33 
 
 those to whom it looks for its resources, will place at its 
 disposal the necessary means. 
 
 And shall we, fellow disciples, fail to do this ? . Shall 
 we be wanting in our duty now? Shall we see our 
 Saviour going forth to cleanse the deep pollutions of the 
 world, and not promptly rally round him, all ready to 
 do whatever he shall indicate- Oh ! it our sovds have 
 ever felt the power of dying love, if we have wept and 
 been forgiven at the Cross of our adorable Redeemer, 
 if we are jealous for his honor and longing to see the 
 world which he has ransomed, bowing in homage at his 
 feet : now' — now is the time to manifest our devotion 
 to his cause ! 
 
 Never, certainly, was there so much as now' to stir 
 the hearts of the friends of truth. Never had they so 
 much to rouse their courage and inspire their hopes. 
 There was an astonishing waking up of mind in the 
 sixteenth century ; but it w r as as nothing to the rushing 
 activity which marks the present day. The voice of Lu- 
 ther was a glorious voice ; and effectually did it scare 
 the dreaming owls of the spiritual Babylon, and set them 
 in commotion. But believe it, my brethren, it is not 
 mere human utterances that now are startling Christen- 
 dom. The voice of the Reformation was but the bugle 
 blast that aroused the sleeping forces. The sounds which in 
 this our era are coming up from every side and at which 
 the mighty tremble, are the deep thunders of God’s ow r n 
 artillery ! The matchless pen of Calvin told on the mind 
 of Europe with wonderful effect, and was justly terrible 
 to the enemies of truth. But the agency which to day is 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 bearing on the cause of liberty and truth and holiness is 
 the putting forth of the arm of Eternal Strength ! Who 
 can doubt that wonderful transformations are speedily 
 to surprise the world ? 
 
 Brethren ! let us understand the crisis. Christendom 
 waits for the living word. Christ bids us give it promptly. 
 Let us do it. Faith in the power of truth, faith in the 
 Holy Ghost, faith in the Son of God ; and a holy earnest- 
 ness and energy in duty ; these are what we want. 
 With these we shall see the Saviour’s Kingdom rise. 
 We may not hope indeed to linger here, till the joyous 
 anthem that celebrates its final triumphs shall go up from 
 all the earth. But we shall hear the tidings in the world 
 of light. Then shall we know, as now we can not fully, 
 the meaning of that thrilling saying of the Prophet, 
 “They that he wise shall shine as the brightness of the 
 firmament, and they that turn many to righteous- 
 ness AS THE STARS FOREVER AND EVER ! ” 
 
 May God grant it, in the riches of his mercy, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord ! Amen.