without yielding to the vices, the follies, or the weaknesses of men. They preached the Gospel, as it had been delivered to them by their divine master, leaving it to find its own way into the heart and the understanding, without attempting to remove or diminish the vast obstacles, which stood like the mountains of ages to oppose its progress.

It may be added, also, that the moral character and the purifying spirit of the christian religion, its precepts and commands, were totally at variance with the morals and manners of the whole world at that period; so that the religion of Jesus had not only to contend with the prejudices, the firmly rooted opinions, and the hereditary customs of all nations; but also their passions, their vices, their inclinations, their worldly propensities, and worldly affections.

Considering the formidable obstacles, at which we have but partially hinted, what means should we expect would overcome them? Should we look for anything less, than the highest efforts of human wisdom and learning in the persons, who should attempt to remove the prejudices, and correct the vices of a world sunk in depravity and darkened with error? Should we not even then say, that success would be wholly beyond the reach of human probability? But what was the fact? A few obscure, uneducated men, who had no knowledge of the world, without patronage or aid, without any countenance from the wise, or strength from the powerful, set out to accomplish a revolution greater than ever had been contemplated, by the most enthusiastic and fortunate conqueror, a revolution, which had for its object, not the downfal of nations and the glory of conquest, but the peace, harmony, virtue, and happiness of the whole human race. The preachers of Christianity, to all human appearance, were absolutely the last men, who could be supposed qualified for so extraordinary an enterprise.

And what kind of people did these preachers go abroad to convince and convert? The age was not more remarkable for error, superstition, and wickedness, than for intellectual refinement. It was a proud era of the arts and sciences in Greece, and the meridian glory of Roman greatness. Philosophy had taught men to reason and think; eloquence and poetry to invent, define, and adorn. The Apostles, unlettered, uninformed as they were, came resolutely forward to combat

learning, ingenuity, wit, eloquence. Imagine to yourself a small band of fishermen from Genesareth, going into the cities of Greece, reasoning with their wise men, confuting their arguments, and drawing after them multitudes of followers, adherents to a cause, which was held in universal contempt, and which subjected every person, who embraced it, to privations, reproach, and sufferings. Imagine these men in the synagogues of the Jews, reasoning with the learned doctors on the most difficult points of the law, and proving the truth of their doctrines from the very arguments brought to confute them. Imagine St Paul, who tells us he was rude in speech, and weak in bodily presence, imagine this man standing before a powerful king, and uttering his sentiments in a strain of bold, nervous, manly eloquence, which made the heathen monarch himself exclaim, Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.' Imagine him in the enlightened city of Athens, boldly chiding the Athenians for their idolatry, and their superstition, preaching Jesus and the resurrection, and making known the existence, attributes, and glory of the one true God. By what power did Paul and Barnabas preach and teach in Lystra, till the people exclaimed, 'The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!' By what magic did these Apostles, uninformed and unpractised in the arts of the world, impress with conviction and fill with astonishment the minds not only of the ignorant and simple, but of the learned, the wise, the powerful? What sufferings did they not endure? Imprisoned, scourged, and stoned; reviled and mocked; persecuted and despised, what influence could we expect they would have, in preaching the unwelcome doctrines of the cross, convincing the world of error, conquering the omnipotence of opinion, subduing the pride of knowledge and wisdom, destroying the dominion of prejudice, and in severing the unhallowed union of religion and vice, of unprincipled ambition and morals, of devotion and debasing ceremonies ?

But they succeeded; prejudice and pride yielded before them; the ignorant were enlightened, and the obstinate convinced; and the religion of Jesus rapidly spread itself throughout the whole civilised world. The Apostles themselves travelled over many parts of Asia and Africa, and to the remote regions of Europe. One generation had not VOL. XX.NO. 47

48

passed away, before churches were established in all the land of the patriarchs, in Greece, Italy, Egypt, and the far distant countries of Ethiopia ; and this, by the means we have been considering. The spirit of persecution breathed its venom; the arm of tyranny was raised in anger, and the followers of Jesus were led to martyrdom. They triumphed in their fate, and gloriously tested the strength of their faith, the firmness of their principles, and the joyful hopes of their religion, by a sacrifice of their lives. And notwithstanding these appalling obstacles, this religion advanced with a celerity altogether beyond any anticipations, which could have been warranted by the most fortunate circumstances. Had it been sanctioned by the belief, and supported by the edicts of princes and governors; had it been promulgated by preachers of the highest worldly wisdom and attainments; had it flattered the vanity and encouraged the vices of men; had it appealed to their passions, their interests, their feelings; even then, the broadest latitude of human probability could never have encouraged the hope, that its success would be so rapid, extensive, and permanent.

What then shall we say, when we compare the obstacles, the means, and the results? Is nothing but the power of man here? Since the foundation of the world, when has the power of man been adequate to such effects? It was a remark of one of the ancient fathers, who lived fifteen hundred years ago, to the unbelievers of his time; 'If ye will not believe the miracles of the Apostles, ye must at least believe this miracle, that the world was by such instruments, without miracles, converted.' In his opinion it was not a less wonderful, and in itself, a less incredible fact, that the Gospel should succeed as it did, than that the Apostles should work the miracles recorded in their writings. Without referring to a supernatural agency, one is comparatively as unaccountable as the other. But the fact of the success of the Gospel is before our eyes. It is confirmed by authentic historical records. The experience of every age has given additional proof; and one simple question remains. How is it to be accounted for? To this question there is but one answer, and it is short. What the Evangelists wrote was

true; Christ was the power of God and the wisdom of God;' his religion was from Heaven, and the Apostles published it

to the world as they were instructed by him, and assisted by the Holy Spirit of the Most High. The religion of Jesus has gone forth to every quarter of the globe, taking up its abode especially in the most enlightened and civilised countries, where its claims could be examined, and its excellence estimated. It has made reason its champion, and enlisted the affections on its side. It has become triumphant by the mild and persuasive influence of its doctrines; its support is in the conviction and consciences of men. Where has it prevailed, and has not carried light to the ignorant, consolation to the afflicted, and hope to the desponding? If such a religion be not true, well may we exclaim, with the astonished and inquiring Roman, What is truth?

ART. VI.-Pulaski Vindicated from an Unsupported Charge, inconsiderately or malignantly introduced in Judge Johnson's Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Major General Nathaniel Greene. 8vo. pp. 37. Baltimore,

1824.

THE dismemberment of Poland, effected by the perfidy and ambition of three despotic powers, has ever been regarded, by the friends of liberty and justice, with the utmost indignation and abhorrence. It was a deed of infamy, which can find no parallel in history, and which, under any of the forms of civil society, would be looked upon as a crime, that could only be expiated by the severest penalties of violated law. The government of Poland, it is true, had grown weak by factions, and was sunk under the burthen of its ill organised constitution. It had once been the pride of the Poles to rally round the standard of what was called, and what in reality was in some of its features, a republican system. The privilege of election, that great palladium of political right, was enjoyed to a considerable extent, and for a time afforded a salutary check to absolute tyranny in the rulers. In the best periods of its administration, however, the Polish government was composed of strangely mixed and discordant elements. The King was elected, but the authority conferred by the crown was almost nothing; the Diet, or legislative

assembly, was elected, but this assembly was always a theatre of anarchy and faction; it was composed of nobles, who looked only to their own interest, and who were encouraged by each other's example to practise any enormity without shame, to gain their ends. The mass of the people were serfs, degraded by slavery and ignorance. In short, the government of Poland was of a most anomalous character, exhibiting the singular union of a corrupt and factious aristocracy, a monarchy without power, and a democracy without freedom.

Such a system must necessarily decay and go to ruin; the nobles perpetually encroached on the royal prerogatives, few and contracted as they were; they controlled the elections; and at length they took the government effectually into their hands, by introducing into the Diet the liberum veto, or the privilege of any member by his single voice to dissolve the assembly, and stop further proceedings. This was usurping a power, which the king did not possess, and which was plainly destructive of all the good purposes to be effected by a deliberative body. The responsibility of public officers was destroyed, for none could fail to find a friend in the Diet, who would stop any investigation into his conduct, if occasion required.

It was at the time when these evils in the government had grown to their greatest height, and its vital energies were paralysed, that the cabinets of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, formed the insidious design of taking advantage of the weakness of Poland to crush its political existence, and, in the true spirit of freebooters, to divide among themselves the plunder of the country, which they had conspired to dismember and ruin. This scheme of infamy was carried into effect, and has fixed a stigma on the character of its projectors, which will forever remain as one of the deepest stains in the history of the civilised world.

That the Poles should be roused by so flagrant an act of indignity and oppression, was not surprising. Civil wars broke out; the despots procured partisans by the influence of money and intrigue, and by the force of arms; they spared no pains to kindle the flame of civil discord, that they might the more easily conquer and divide. The spirit of freedom is natural to man, and it was not yet extinct in the