and therefore we must believe that all the successive developments of the ways of God to man, revolve upon this Revelation as upon some great axis, on which both the terrestrial and celestial worlds will turn until the consummation of all things. The more intensely this is felt to be the case, the nearer will the Millennium be.

All the new eras, as they are called, whether in science, literature, liberty, or commerce, may be traced to Christianity, as the one grand principle, which, ever since its promulgation, is destined to move upon the face of all sublunary things. But this would be too wide a field for us now to enter upon. Let us glance at the chain of facts in support of the assertion before referred to-that the spirit of missions was the great support of maritime enterprise.

We will go no further back (although a much earlier period might be taken) than the crusades; so called from the cross borne on the right shoulder of each combatant. They began in the year 1096, and the eighth and last of these stupendous movements of murderous superstition,' took place in 1270. What were they, but a series of missionary enterprises? They were none other than a 'Holy War,' in the view of those dark ages. The righteousness of these expeditions is not the question. All wars, whether for rescue or conversion, are abominations. This question, however, has more sides than one; and the reader will find it comprehensively handled, in casuistical fashion, by Lord Bacon, in his fragment entitled, an advertisement touching a Holy War.' The founders of the new school at Oxford are forward to confess their anxiety for a Holy War.' Could the spirit of mere pelf, or mere cupidity, or the mere tricks of priests, or the well-balanced ardor of mere utilitarians, have stirred up the millions of high and low, kings, nobles, knights, and commonalty, to these gigantic enterprises? Let each of these classes speak out, now; for human nature, we are told, is the same under all circumstances-and answer 'aye' or 'no.' The depths of the human heart-the yearnings of the immortal spirit-are not such shallows and mere plash-wells of passion, as some of our savans pretend to have discovered. Bearing in mind the real character of these tremendous outbreaks, let us see what effects were produced by them on society. The substance of pretty nearly all that has been written on this subject whether by foreigners or Englishmen, is given by Mr. Campbell in his chapter on the effects of the crusades.'

Europe, previously, had for a time been an intellectual sepulchre, till Peter the Hermit sounded his trumpet, every blast of which pierced the mighty tomb, when nations awoke, and the millions of the west started into life. This mighty moral resurrection was the source of all the great European movements on earth and ocean, in religion and politics, which immediately or remotely followed. From this ultimately sprung the glorious reformation from Popery. From this, too, political society in Europe took its regular and permanent forms of freedom, and was cast into a mould entirely new.'-p. 5.

We think with Mr. Campbell, that these expeditions conferred substantial benefits on society. Referring to maritime discovery, the point before us, he says,

In nothing have the effects of the crusades been more remarkably manifest than in their relation to maritime discovery. Such was their importance with respect to this great subject, that, had no other benefit resulted, we should have deemed it an ample compensation for all their local and temporary mischief. Prior to the twelfth century, the seas of Europe and of Asia, with the exception of the Mediterranean, were almost unknown even to those nations who dwelt on their shores. At the commencement of the wars in Palestine, France had only two or three ports on the coast of Normandy, and not one either in the Atlantic or in the Mediterranean. Even England, notwithstanding her in. sular position, had not made greater advances. The insignificant navigation of that age was in the hands of a very few towns on the coast of the Baltic, in Spain, Flanders, and Holland. But on the commencement of the crusades, the spirit of devotion, such as it was, uniting with the spirit of commerce, imparted a fresh and all-powerful impulse, as well as a more extended scope, to maritime operations. The hardy inhabitants of Denmark appeared in the seas of Syria; and the pirate mariners of Norway assisted in the capture of Sidon. The citizens of Lubeck and Bremen blazed in valor at the siege of Ptolemais; and from all the coasts of the West proceeded vessels, and even fleets, with pilgrims, heroes, arms, and provisions, to the kingdom of Jerusalem, and the other principalities in Asia, which had been founded by the bravery of the crusaders. From this cause, navigators of all countries assembled in the seas of the East: and, under the auspices of the Cross, incipient commercial relations were established among the maritime nations of Europe. Early in the twelfth century, a fleet of Pisans, in conjunction with other Italians, assisted the Arragonese in effecting the conquest of the Balearic Islands; and the navigators of Italy thus extended their knowledge to the shores of Spain, of which their previous ignorance was so great, that they mistook the coast of Arragon for the country of the Moors. Emboldened by experience in distant voyages, the navigators of Lubeck, Bremen, and Denmark also explored the hitherto unknown coasts of the Baltic; a communication. was likewise opened between the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Spanish Ocean, and the North Seas; an tense spirit of enterprize and emulation united different nations in pursuit of the same advantages; and nautical science received important accessions in almost all its branches. The configuration of coasts, the position of capes, harbors, bays, islands, and headlands, were determined; the direction of winds, currents, and tides, was observed; and considerable approaches were made towards settling and systematising the first elements of the science of hydrography.

Naval architecture, also, during the crusades, received its first principal improvements. Vessels were more substantially constructed, while their size was likewise increased; and it is also a fact which deserves notice, that they were, for the first time in Europe, provided with several masts, in order to multiply their sails, and enable them to

VOL. VIII.

G

shape a course upon a wind. During the same period, too, a code of maritime laws was framed which gave protection to navigators, and enabled them to reap the fruits of their lengthened enterprises and perilous toils. In short, it is more than probable that, without the crusades, the science of navigation would not, till at least a much later period, have enabled men to traverse the immense space which separates the Baltic from the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean; and far less to shoot across the mighty waste of waters interposed between the Old and the New World, an event which has proved of the utmost importance to mankind.'-pp. 6-8.

It is clear from Mr. Campbell's deduction and relation, which we regret our inability to extract entirely, that the spread of Christianity was the ruling element in the minds of prince Henry, John II., Emmanuel, and the great Columbus. Superstition might mingle with their religion; but religion, not science, still less cupidity, was the main motive in all their stupendous projects. As to the mere priests, they were as ignorant as the lowest rabble on these matters-in fact they were hostile to every one of these schemes. When the discoveries had been made, the ecclesiastics were, of course, quite alive to the aggrandisement of the holy see. After Columbus had made his first voyage, that generous pontiff, the infamous Alexander VII. conferred on the crown of Castile, vast regions, to the posses'sion of which,' says Mr. Campbell, he was so far from having 'any title, that he knew nothing of their situation, and was igno'rant even of their existence;' yet according to the vain boasting of the wicked impostor, this was done, 'out of his pure liberality, 'infallible knowledge, and plentitude of apostolic power.' The professed teachers of religion can take no credit to themselves in this cause. We are speaking of those who either patronised or accomplished these labors; and we assert that religion suggested, sustained, and supported, their efforts. Our readers will recollect the Latin prayer of Columbus, when he first landed on the shores of the new world.

'O God, eternal and omnipotent, by thy holy word thou hast 'created the heaven, and the earth, and the ocean; let thy name 'be adored and glorified, and thy majesty exalted, which has 'vouchsafed that through thine unworthy servant thy Son's sacred name may be known and proclaimed on the other division ' of the globe.'

The exchangeable faculty in man, the thirst of gain, or the mere love of plunder, rapine, and domination, could no more haveoriginated these high enterprises than they could have projected all Europe upon the holy sepulchre. These passions are too poor, peddling, and cowardly, to undertake such immense risks. When difficulties are either partially or wholly overcome, then, and not till then, do parties influenced by such motives play their parts; and we all know

what sort of a game it is which they play on these distant stages.

Mr. Campbell has drawn in a masterly style the character of prince Henry, who was the first to open the portals of the world. We had marked several other admirable passages for quotation; but having already exceeded our limits, we must forego the pleasure of presenting them, and conclude with a portion of this sketch as a further illustration of the point referred to:

The religion of the Prince purified his motives, and elevated his designs; and the propagation of the gospel was the sublime object of all his enterprises. It is also a fact of much importance, that, from the first, the prime supporters of the prince in Portugal were the ministers of religion. While the multitude were indifferent, and the nobles and statesmen were opposed, the clergy rose in a body and bore down the opposition; and, inspired with ardent zeal for the diffusion of what they deemed the gospel in new countries, they promoted the prince's projects of discovery to the utmost of their power. If we may rely upon the historic testimony of Caude, Garibay, Quintana, Ferreras, Yriarte, and others, Henry was urged on through life by the resistless impulse of a sincere desire to spread the gospel, according to the imperfect notions which he entertained of its nature and character. This spirit was essential to his office of Grand Master, for it was the duty of his order to use every effort to conquer and convert all who denied the truth of their holy religion.' However much we may deprecate conquest as a means of bringing mankind over from idolatry, the fact of the prince's motive remains the same, and that motive was indispu tably a desire, both strong and pure, to diffuse a knowledge of Christianity, such as it then existed in his mind, and in Europe. It is not denied, that the desire of gold and empire may have chiefly animated the bulk of the minor agencies employed in the accomplishment of the mighty enterprises carried on by Henry, but it was certainly a principle of a higher order which animated himself; while, at the same time it is not contended, that he was insensible to the temporal good, and the political greatness of his country.

We have now reached a period in the world's history which enables us to form a very different estimate of the prince's undertakings and achievements, from that in which they were held by his contemporaries. He was the founder of the School of Modern Navigation. He merits, in the highest degree, the praise of invention-the chief attribute and the principal test of genius. Henry had no predecessor, and he was his own patron. He drew on the resources of his capacious understanding at once for guidance and for encouragement. His rank, fortune, and royal relationship were greatly subservient to his glorious objects, and every advantage, arising from these accidents of his birth, was zealously devoted to his maritime enterprize. Forsaking the court, the cabinet, and the camp, he wedded the ocean; and in youth, mature years, and old age, hers was his whole heart, and to her he dedicated all his talents, time, and labors. This great prince was clearly raised up by heaven for the performance of the exalted part

assigned him; and when the last abode of savage man shall have been discovered, when the voice of the missionary shall have sounded the accents of mercy in every ear of the human family, when the gospel of Christ shall have subdued the earth, and blended all nations into one, when an enlightened and Christian commerce shall have waved her flag on every shore and diffused her blessings through every clime, then, an instructed, a liberated, and a regenerated world will exhibit the consummation of the work begun by Don Henry, Duke of Viseo.'-pp. 23, 24.

The work which we have thus briefly introduced to the favorable notice of our readers ought to be in the hands of every Christian philanthropist.

Art. VI. Prophecy, Types and Miracles, the Great Bulwarks of Christi anity or a Critical Examination and Demonstration of some of the Evidences by which the Christian Faith is Supported By the Rev. E. THOMPSON, M.A., &c. 1 vol. 8vo. London: Hatchard and Son.

THERE are two methods of treating Sacred Prophecy.

The

one consists in selecting a given passage as clearly foreshowing a certain event or person, and then bringing into comparison with it the historical evidence which exhibits the alleged fulfilment. This method may be called that of induction or detail. It admits of almost endless variety, and becomes strong by the accumulation of individual prophecies almost without end, and by the special and striking minuteness of many of them. This method is of great importance, and, in fact, constitutes the very nerve of the argument from prophecy, in favor of a divine revelation-since, if each alleged prediction would not sustain the rigid application of such a test, the proof of its inspiration would unquestionably fail. This method of reasoning on prophecy is the one most commonly employed by Christian advocates; perhaps it has proved the most extensively successful. Its validity depends upon the three following conditions. 1. The alleged prophecy must be shown to have been promulgated prior to the event; and the longer the interval the more fully and satisfactorily is this condition complied with. 2. The alleged fulfilment must clearly and palpably answer to the terms of the prophecy, without forced or fanciful construction; and the more minute and complicated the agreement, the more satisfactorily will it fulfil this condition. 3. The nature of the event itself, at the promulgation of the alleged prophecy, must lie remote from human anticipation-and be such as could not be foreseen upon any general principles, or be inferred by the laws of probability or the light of experience. It does not follow that whatever is deficient in any one of these