views. They might be wild and irrational: but God conducted them to the coast of Labrador, and made use of their enterprise to establish the claims of England to the first discovery of the continent; thus indicating a purpose to give the dominant influence in the New World to the Anglo-Saxon race.

In 1498, the younger Cabot, a truly great mind, moved by the same blind idea of the north-western passage, was available in the divine plans to open to the mind of England new sources of wealth in his further discoveries, of which he was never to become the proprietor. Why, let us ask, were these illustrious navigators not permitted to live and die in Venice, or to prosecute their adventures as Italians? The answer plainly is, The Italian people were not suited in the eyes of God to the task of founding the great empire of freedom.

In 1551, the Portuguese thought they saw great gain in the returns of the ships of Gaspar Cortereal, freighted with Indians, torn from their hunting-grounds, and doomed to inexorable slavery; but Providence intended and used the voyages of this daring mariner to reveal to the world some seven hundred miles of the North-American coast.

Three years later, it appeared that God had given to Amerigo Vespucci the idea of a new continent, and sent him out to explore its hidden lands, and report, as he did, to Lorenzo de Medici, the accession of an additional quarter to the globe; to which, as the only desirable reward of his enterprise, he had the honor of giving his name.

France, in 1523, must also undertake the discovery of " a western passage to Cathay;" and to John Verrazzani of Florence was conceded the honor of this fresh attempt to gain the treasures of that fabled land for royal coffers. This was upon the surface; but a profounder purpose appeared in conducting him to North Carolina, and far along the coast southward and northward, where "the groves, spreading perfumes far from shore, gave promise of the spices of the East, and the color of the earth gave promise of abun

dance of gold." As God willed, he brought to the knowledge of the world the spacious harbors of New York and Newport, and the rugged shores of New England; but no French monarch was ever to reign over this wonderful coast, the purposes of which were yet wrapped in profoundest mystery.

The brave and reckless Ferdinand de Soto could march with the air of a conqueror through Florida, as he had done through Peru; and advance to the Alleghanies and the great Mississippi, as he did in 1542: but he could bequeath no permanent empire to the Spanish throne. The grand Valley of the Mississippi was reserved by a higher Sovereign for the hosts of freedom in the great future.

So of every act in the scene of discovery, revealing at the same time the narrow earthly schemes of human ambition, and the stern reservations and broad purposes of the Infinite Mind. Whether thirst for gold or lust of power, ambition for fame or the vagaries of fevered brains, prompted the efforts of kings and of daring navigators, human plans were tolerated and developed just so far as the profound purposes of God would allow, and no farther, and then defeated, or pressed into the service of the exalted power, which in wisdom infinite rose above and ruled over all; and the divine plan of human freedom became the controlling law of discovery upon the Western continent. So God ordained, and history reveals.

CHAPTER II.

THE COUNTRY PROVIDED.

"It is the goodliest soil under the cope of heaven; the most pleasing territory of the world. The continent is of a huge and unknown greatness; and very well peopled and towned, though savagely. The climate is so wholesome, that we have not one sick since we touched the land."— LANE, 1585.

Ir the time had come for the recognition of higher capabilities of freedom and moral power in the human race, God would certainly furnish territory large enough, and sufficient in natural resources, for the development of a great and numerous people. This he could do, and he only. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." His omnipotent power called this globe out of nothing when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing."

He, as sovereign Proprietor, could dispose of these continents and islands according to the laws of his infinite wisdom. He might at his discretion assign them temporarily to the wild beasts, or to roaming savages, or daring offenders against his sovereign laws; but, when the purposes of his providence required it, he would surely order their possession by the people designed to illustrate his creative power and his administrative wisdom.

AREA, ZONE AND CLIMATES.

The vast extent of the Western World favored the idea of establishing here a model nation, with the opportunity of

working out, as an example to the nations, the problem of government by the people. It was not necessary that the whole of this domain should be given at once. There must be room for enlargement; and the gradual extension of territory has accorded precisely with the exigencies of the Republic. Not including the recent accession of Russian America, it has reached 3,250,000 square miles of land alone there are 3,010,370 square miles, or 1,926,686,800 broad acres! This is a "territory nearly ten times as large as that of Great Britain and France combined; three times as large as France, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, together; one and a half times as large as the Russian Empire in Europe; one-sixth less only than the area covered by the fifty-nine or sixty empires, states, and republics of Europe; of equal extent with the Roman Empire or that of Alexander.”

This is ample for the present. It is large, like the plans of God; and how utterly vain it has been thus far, and hereafter must be, for man to oppose these plans! The great Proprietor of earth will give his favored nation room.

The position at first assigned us on the continent strikingly illustrates the divine wisdom. Had our lot fallen in extreme latitudes, a symmetrical and full development of body and mind would have been impossible. We are at a proper remove from the eternal frosts of the north and the burning zone of the south. Taking a vast sweep through the heart of a continent, from ocean to ocean, there are no advantages possible to a cultivated people which are not included in the country provided.

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So wisely and beneficently has God chosen our inheritance for us. Sir Morton Peto says, " As regards climate, the whole of the United States is within the temperate zone. The settler, however, in selecting his residence, can have any temperature he chooses, from St. Petersburg to Canton. He may settle in a cold or warm climate, according to his health, his habits, his predilections, or the object which he seeks,

whether he desires to farm, to fish, to hunt, to graze cattle, to cultivate garden-lands or vine-yards. He can select the shores of the lakes or of the ocean, live on or above the tidal waters of magnificent rivers, and have his choice of mountain or valley."

ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR FUTURE WANT.

Nothing more strikingly indicates the mind and presence of God than clear and extended foresight. Anticipating the future by minute and ample arrangements for the demands of an immense population is the work of Omniscience alone. This our great Father has done everywhere; a manifestation. of paternal beneficence which the inhabitants of earth in all lands are under sacred obligations to recognize, and answer with unfailing gratitude and love.

It is eminently so in this land of liberty. Who can look out upon our extended and productive soil, our towering mountains and Eden vales, our magnificent lakes and rivers, and not feel that they are the creation of Infinite Power for the most benevolent ends? In their immense proportions and exhaustless resources, in their wealth of beauty and overpowering grandeur, they speak of God so distinctly, that all must hear.

If Providence designed to build up a great nation of freemen, he would demand of them a marked developinent of taste, and imbue them with a love of the beautiful and the sublime. But this would imply arrangements for the gratification and development of the finer and more elevated feelings of natural and cultivated humanity. A large, uninterrupted plain would not have been suited to this purpose. A land of morasses, and ditches of stagnant pools and dikes, would want the inspiration which so high a purpose implies. But no element of beauty or sublimity, no natural source of inspiration, is lacking here. Graceful hills and grand mountain-ranges break up the monotony of the