[Frontispiece Image: Mount Calvary.]
THE HAND OF
PROVIDENCE,
AS SHOWN IN THE
HISTORY OF
NATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS,
From the Great Apostasy to the Restoration of the Gospel.
ILLUSTRATED.
BY ELDER J. H. WARD.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH:
Published at the Juvenile Instructor Office. 1883.
PREFACE.
Don't throw this book down carelessly. It will do you no harm. It
assumes no dictation. It may benefit you if you will read it carefully.
"We have plenty of histories."
True. But most are too large to be of practical value to the sons and
daughters of toil. Many are written in the interest of some party or
sect, and in order to gain favor, they flatter the vanity of men.
"But they tell of wonderful deeds, and thrilling adventures."
Very true. Some of them are mostly composed of recitals of legalized
slaughter, and praise of tyrants who have climbed to power over the
mangled bodies of their fellow-men, and whose names will not live
in one grateful memory; while the real benefactors of the race, the
unfolding of new and higher truths and, above all, the over-ruling hand
of God are unnoticed, or, at most, barely mentioned.
"Does God rule the world?"
Yes, verily. The greatest actors on the theatre of the world are only
instruments in the hand of God, for the execution of His purposes.
"Where have you obtained the facts contained in this volume?"
From many authentic works, some of them not easily accessible to most
readers.
{IV.}
"This will be a good book for the young, and all those who have not the
opportunity to consult larger works, will it not?"
With this idea it has been written and to this end I dedicate it to my
children as heirs in the kingdom of God, to the youth of Zion and to my
earnest friends everywhere.
THE AUTHOR.
Salt Lake City,
March 16th, 1883.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Injustice of Roman Governors--Nero Emperor--Vespasian and Titus
Sent to Judea--Fortifications of Jerusalem--Titus Offers Terms of
Peace--Horrors of the Siege--Women Devour their own Children--Temple
Burned--City Destroyed--Dispersion of the Jews--Universal
Apostasy--Priesthood no More--Ideas of God Perverted--Worship
Corrupted with Heathen Rites--Persecution of Christians--Emperor
Constantine--Rise of Monastic Order.
CHAPTER II.
Description of Arabia--Arabian Customs--Birth of Mahomet--Early
Life--Journey to Syria--Christian Sects--Doctrines Taught by
Mahomet--His Marriage--Proclaims Himself a Prophet--Persecution--Flees
to Medina--Becomes Powerful--Sickness and Death--Personal Appearance.
CHAPTER III.
Causes of Triumphs--Abou-Beker Elected Caliph--War Declared--Fall of
Bozrah--Battle of Aiznadin--Siege of Jerusalem--Departure of Roman
Emperor--Saracen Fleet--Eastern Conquests--Fall of Alexandria--Conquest
of Northern Africa--Conquest of Spain--Battle of Poictiers--Extent of
Saracen Empire.
CHAPTER IV.
Intellectual Stagnation--Saracens and Jews Revive Learning--University
of Bagdad--Public Schools--Medical College of Cairo--Circulating
Library--Modern Form of Books--Arabic Notation--Discoveries in
Chemistry--Rotundity of the Earth--Mariner's Compass--Discoveries of
Alhazin--Astronomical Observatories--Golden Age of Judaism--Cities of
Andalusia--Saracen Dwellings--Condition of Women--Female Physicians.
CHAPTER V.
Jerusalem the Sacred City--Alexandria Noted for Philosophy--School of
Hypatia--Mob Murders Her--Doctrines of Cyril--Jerusalem a Scene of
Suffering--Fulfillment of Prophecy--Herculaneum and Pompeii--Their
Destruction--Evidences {VI.} of their Wickedness--Excavations--Roman
Rule--Removal of Capital--Crimes of Constantine--Commencement
of Greek Empire--Description of Constantinople--Its
Capture by Crusaders--Taken by the Turks--Intellectual
Degradation--Priestcraft--Debauchery--Turkish Rule.
CHAPTER VI.
Growth of Relic-Worship--Schemes of the Roman Pontiffs--Manufacture
of Relics--Their Great Variety--Value of Relics--Insults Offered to
Pilgrims--Peter the Hermit--Crusades--Disorderly Rabble--Terrible
Suffering--Capture of Jerusalem--Terrible Massacre--Capture
of Constantinople--Crusades of the Children--Results of the
Crusades--Revival of Learning.
CHAPTER VII.
The Morning Dawns--Rise of Knighthood--Principles of
Knights--Apostate Priests Held in Contempt--Waldenses--Persecutions
in Southern France--Rise of the Inquisition--Liberal Policy of
Frederick--"Everlasting Gospel"--Its Remarkable Teachings--Bacon's
Discoveries--Geographical Knowledge--Azores and Canary Islands--Travels
of Marco Polo--Condition of European States--Modern States.
CHAPTER VIII.
Lesson from Heathen Mythology--Vicissitudes of Roman Church--Boniface
Pope--Advancement in Civilization--Work of the Roman Church--Invention
of Printing--Gutenberg--Bible First Printed--Columbus--His Wonderful
Dream--His Great Voyage--Discovery of America--Trials and Triumphs.
CHAPTER IX.
History in Words--British Coat of Arms--The Ten Tribes--Account
of Esdras--Dispersion of the Tribes--Mixed Seed of Israel--Effect
on European Society--Jewish Influence--Discovery of Cape of Good
Hope--Pacific Ocean Discovered--Magellan's Voyage--Discovers Cape
Horn--Distance Sailed--Death of Magellan--Voyage Completed--Its Effect
on the Public--Huss and Jerome Burned--John Ziska--Persecutions
of Waldenses--Capture of Mentz--Dispersion of Printers--Hans
Boheim--Joss Fritz--Sale of Indulgences--Martin Luther Burns the Pope's
Letter--Grand Council at Worms--Rome in a Rage--Luther Kidnapped.
CHAPTER X.
Germany Aroused--Peasants' War--Muntzer's Proclamation--Emperor
Quarrels With the Pope--Results in Other {VII.} Countries--Growth
in Modern Languages--Luther's Crowning Work--Power of
Superstition--Witchcraft--Reformers not Inspired--Extracts from
Mosheim--Battle-Ax of God--Copernicus--Galileo--Newton--Death of
Bruno--Change in Commercial Affairs--Spanish Armada--Blessed by the
Pope--Destroyed by a Storm--Its Effect on Europe--England's Influence
and Position--America the Land of Refuge.
CHAPTER XI.
Columbus Destroyed Papal Dogmas--Cruelty of Spaniards--Their
Retribution--Relics in Massachusetts--Newport Tower--Mounds in
Ohio--Remains Found in Iowa--Plates Found in Illinois--Ancient Mexican
Pyramids--Human Sacrifices--View from the Great Pyramid--Ancient
American Sculptures--Mammoths--Mexican Customs--Religious
Rites--Computation of Time--Arts and Sciences--Description of Peru--Its
Civilization--Massacre of the Incas--Testimony of Travellers--Indian
Traditions.
CHAPTER XII.
England's Development--Reign of Elizabeth--Influence of the
Bible--Tyranny of the Kings--Jacques Cartier--Discovery of the
St. Lawrence--Quebec Founded--Acadia Colonized--Transferred to
England--Extracts from Longfellow's Poem--Virginia Settled.
CHAPTER XIII.
Character of the Colonists--They Leave England--Sojourn in
Holland--Brewster's Printing Press--Puritans Embark for America--Their
Trust in God--Robinson's Prophecy--Plymouth Founded--Sufferings of the
Colonists--Conflict in England--Peculiarities of the Puritans--Harvard
College Founded--Extent of Settlements--First Confederation.
CHAPTER XIV.
Description of Holland--A Land of Refuge--Tyranny of Alva--The Struggle
for Independence--Siege of Leyden--The Country Submerged--Famine in the
City--Speech of the Mayor--Heroic Conduct--Trust in God--Storm Raises
the Waters--Spaniards Retreat--Leyden is Saved--Thanksgiving--Waters
Retire.
CHAPTER XV.
Rise of Quakerism--George Fox--William Penn--Founds
Pennsylvania--Kindness to the Indians--Philadelphia Founded--Maryland,
Carolina and Georgia Settled--Roger Williams--Rhode Island Founded--Its
Toleration.
{VIII.}
CHAPTER XVI.
Condition of English Society--Manufacture of Gin and Rum--Origin of
Methodism--Eloquence of Whitfield--John and Charles Wesley--Remarkable
Teachings--Robert Raikes--John Howard--William Wilberforce--Mechanical
Inventions--Growth of American Freedom--Three Great Battles--Cook's
Voyages--Extension of the English Language--Greatness of
Pitt--Washington's Early Life--Benjamin Franklin.
CHAPTER XVII.
Gathering of Political Forces--General Revolution--Civil
Reformers--Decay of Old Institutions--Rosseau and His
Writings--Voltaire--Holland, a Political Refuge--American
Settlers--Lines of Albert B. Street--Growth of the Colonies--Love for
England--Causes of Revolution--Manufactures Forbidden--Stamp Act--Tax
on Tea--Philadelphia Convention--Address to the King--Appeal To
England--To Canada--Incident in Old South Church, Boston--Paul Revere's
Ride.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Battle of Lexington--Officers Chosen--A Year of Discussion--Declaration
of Independence--Spirit of English Nobility--Defeat of American
Forces--Success at Trenton and Princeton--Sufferings at Valley
Forge--Washington's Prayer--Burgoyne's Campaign--Arrival of La
Fayette--Arnold's Treason--Andre's Death--Siege of Yorktown--Close
of the War--Treaty of Peace--Army Disbanded--Washington Resigns
his Commission--Constitutional Convention--Washington Elected
President--His Death--His Tomb.
CHAPTER XIX.
Influence of La Fayette--Despotism in France--The Bastile--Corruption
of the Church--Commencement of the Revolution--The Marseillaise--Its
Wonderful Influence--Reign of Terror--Napoleon Bonaparte--His Wonderful
Career--Jewish Sanhedrim--Fall of Napoleon--His Death--Progress of
Liberty.
CHAPTER XX.
The Genius of the Age--European Wars--American
Tranquil--Declaration of War--Divisions of North America--United
States--Canada--Mexico--American Common Schools--Their
Influence--Progress of Invention--First Steamboat--First
Locomotive--Electric Telegraph--Improvements in Printing--Spiritual
Darkness--The Kingdom of God--Wants of the Present Age--Joseph
Smith--His Tragic Death--Conclusion.
{9}
THE HAND OF PROVIDENCE.
CHAPTER I.
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND APOSTASY OF THE EARLY CHURCH.
INJUSTICE OF ROMAN GOVERNORS--NERO EMPEROR--VESPASIAN AND TITUS
SENT TO JUDEA--FORTIFICATIONS OF JERUSALEM--TITUS OFFERS TERMS OF
PEACE--HORRORS OF THE SIEGE--WOMEN DEVOUR THEIR OWN CHILDREN--TEMPLE
BURNED--CITY DESTROYED--DISPERSION OF THE JEWS--UNIVERSAL
APOSTASY--PRIESTHOOD NO MORE--IDEAS OF GOD PERVERTED--WORSHIP
CORRUPTED WITH HEATHEN RITES--PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS--EMPEROR
CONSTANTINE--RISE OF MONASTIC ORDER.
According to the best records that have come down to us, the last book
of the New Testament (commonly called the Apocalypse of St. John) was
written about sixty years after the ascension of our Savior.
At that time the gospel of Jesus Christ had been preached in all the
principal cities and countries of the known world. Numerous branches of
the primitive church had been planted in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Asia
Minor, Greece and Italy.
In the meantime the awful doom which the Savior predicted against
Jerusalem had been literally fulfilled. Shortly after the crucifixion
and ascension of the Savior, Judea became the theatre of many cruelties
and oppressions arising from contentions between the Jewish priests,
the depredations of numerous bands of robbers, which infested the
country; but more than all from the injustice and avarice of the Roman
governors.
{10} The last of these governors was Gessius Floras, whom Josephus
represents as a monster in wickedness and cruelty, and whom the Jews
regarded rather as a bloody executioner, sent to torture, than as a
magistrate to govern them.
[Image: Jerusalem.]
During the government of Felix, his predecessor, a dispute having
arisen between the Jews and Syrians about the city of Caesarea, their
respective claims were referred to the emperor, Nero, at Rome. The
decision was in favor of the Syrians, and the Jews immediately took up
arms to avenge their cause.
{11} In this state of things, Nero gave orders to Vespasian to march
into Judea with a powerful army. Accordingly, Vespasian, accompanied
by his son Titus, marched into Palestine at the head of 60,000
well-disciplined troops. While Vespasian was thus preparing more
effectually to curb the still unbroken spirit of the Jews, intelligence
arrived of the death of the emperor and his own election to the throne.
Departing therefore for Rome he left the best of his troops with his
son, ordering him to besiege and utterly destroy Jerusalem.
Titus lost no time in carrying into effect his father's injunction.
Jerusalem was strongly fortified both by nature and art. Three walls
surrounded it which were considered impregnable; besides which it had
numerous towers outside of the walls, lofty, firm and strong. The
circumference was nearly four miles.
Desirous of saving the city, Titus repeatedly sent offers of peace to
the inhabitants; but they were indignantly rejected. At length finding
all efforts at treaty ineffectual, he entered upon the siege determined
not to leave it until he had razed the city to its foundation.
The internal state of the city soon became horrible. The inhabitants
being divided in their counsels fought with one another, and the
streets were often deluged with blood shed by the hands of kindred.
In the meantime famine spread its horrors abroad, and pestilence its
ravages. Thousands died daily and were carried out of the gates to be
buried at the public expense; until being unable to hurry them to the
grave the wretched victims were thrown into houses as fast as they
fell, and there shut up.
During the prevalence of the famine, the house of a certain woman by
the name of Miriam was repeatedly plundered of such provisions as she
had been able to procure. So extreme did her suffering become, that she
entreated those around her, to put an end to her miserable existence.
At length frantic with fury and despair she snatched her infant from
her bosom, killed and cooked it; and having satiated her present
hunger, concealed the rest. The smell of food soon drew the voracious
human tigers to her house; they threatened her with tortures; she hid
her provisions from them. Being thus compelled {12} she set before them
the relics of her mangled babe. At the sight of this horrid spectacle,
inhuman as they were, they stood aghast, petrified with horror, and at
length rushed precipitately from the house.
When the report of this spread through the city, the consternation was
universal and inexpressible. The people now, for the first time, began
to think themselves forsaken of God. In the mind of Titus the recital
awakened both horror and indignation, and he resolved to push the siege
with still greater vigor, aiming particularly to obtain possession of
the temple. The preservation of this noble edifice was strongly desired
by him; but one of the Roman soldiers being exasperated by the Jews,
or, as Josephus says, "pushed on by the hand of Providence," seized
a blazing firebrand, and getting on his comrades' shoulders, threw
it through a window, and soon the whole north side was in a flame.
Titus immediately gave order to extinguish the fire; but the enraged
soldiers, bent on destroying the city and all it contained, either did
not hear or did not regard him. The flames continued to spread until
this consecrated edifice, the glory of the nation, became one mingled
heap of ruins. Then followed a terrible massacre in which thousands
perished, some in the flames and others by the sword of the enemy. At
length the city was abandoned to the fury of the soldiers. It is said
that nearly one million five hundred thousand persons perished in the
siege.
The conquest of the city being achieved, Titus proceeded to demolish
its noble structures, its fortifications, palaces and walls. So
literally were the predictions of the Savior fulfilled respecting its
destruction that not one stone was left upon another that was not
thrown down.
From that day the Jews have been dispersed through the world, despised
and hated, persecuted and yet upheld--lost as it were among the
nations, and yet distinct--they live as the monuments of the truth of
God.
While the apostles lived the churches planted by them continued to
exist with more or less of spiritual life.
But the spirit of apostasy was already at work. In some places pagan
rites and ceremonies had perverted the worship of the true God and but
few could be found who remained {13} pure amid the corruptions of the
age or undaunted by the trials and persecutions that surrounded them on
every side.
So universal was this apostasy that only seven churches throughout
Asia, Africa and Europe were considered worthy of being either reproved
or blessed by the voice of revelation. (_See Revelations 2nd and 3rd
chapters_.)
The whole eastern continent of which we have authentic history was at
that period under the control of Rome, and paganism was the religion
of the empire. Thus the whole power of the realm was brought to bear
against the infant church.
Pagan priests excited the populace to frenzy, and royal decrees
delivered the saints to the most terrible tortures and death.
In a few years the apostolic organization and priesthood were no more.
A few glimmerings of spiritual light remained for a short time, among
those who had taken refuge in the catacombs or subterranean vaults of
Rome, or had fled to the wilds of the Libyan desert. But even this
light was soon extinguished, and then fell that mental, moral, and
spiritual night from which mankind are only now slowly emerging.
But false religion could never satisfy the cravings of the immortal
soul.
Paganism presented only a cheerless prospect. It gave itself no concern
for the lowly and unfortunate, limited the hopes and destiny of man to
this present life, and taught him that temporal prosperity might be
selfishly gained at any cost to others in property and suffering. For
example, Rome, for many ages had enriched herself with the wealth of
conquered nations, and impoverished them that her sons and daughters
might live in luxury and grandeur. Yet throughout her vast dominions
there were no institutions of benevolence; no hospitals for the sick,
no asylums for the afflicted or unfortunate. The pleasant pastimes of
her populace were to witness scenes of cruelty; and the most refined
ladies of that period eagerly thronged the amphitheatres to view the
agonies of captives from distant tribes or early Christian martyrs as
they were thrown to famished and enraged wild beasts in the public
arena. Many of the early Christians were thus put to death {14} in the
Coliseum, the ruins of which are shown in the engraving.
[Image: Engraving of Coliseum in ruins.]
No wonder then that when the church was taken from the earth, and its
forms amalgamated with pagan institutions, the {15} world presented an
unparalleled scene of carnage and cruelty, bloodshed and terror.
But Rome was destined to endure a terrible retribution. The northern
barbarians whom she had so long oppressed, and from whom she had drawn
many of the victims of her gladiatorial combats now wreaked their
long-sought vengeance, spreading terror and devastation wherever they
went.
One of them, Attila, king of the Huns, called himself the scourge of
God, and boasted that grass never grew where his horse had trodden.
These incursions spread an intellectual famine throughout Europe. The
only men of learning were the monks, who seldom left their cloisters,
and the only books were manuscripts concealed in the libraries of
the monasteries. Not only were the common people extremely ignorant,
but also the rich and noble, and even the kings could scarcely read
or write. The reign of superstition was universal. The simplicity
of primitive worship was changed to an unmeaning round of rites and
ceremonies: and the glorious principles of the gospel were hidden
from sight by a dark cloud of ignorance, mysticism and unintelligible
jargon, out of which there too often flashed the lurid lightenings of
priestly vengeance and persecutions.
The Lord, speaking by the mouth of Jeremiah, says, "My people have
committed two errors; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living
waters and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no
water." When the voice of revelation was hushed men began to follow
fables and traditions, and he who possessed the liveliest imagination
invented the greatest number.
They, instead of the word of God, became the rule of life; and men
sought by bodily suffering to purchase admission to the courts of
heaven.
{16}
[Image: Fakir.]
We pity the devotee of India, who measures by the length of his body,
the wearisome journey of hundreds of miles; or the fakir who sits with
his legs in an upright position, for years until the limbs becomes,
withered, distorted and useless. But what shall we say of a professed
follower of the Savior who makes a pilgrimage of a thousand miles with
sharp spikes driven into the inside of his shoes, by which his feet are
lacerated {17} at every step! Or of one who spends the greater part of
his life sitting on a column thirty feet high and only three feet in
diameter, through all the vicissitudes of the seasons, storm and
sunshine, cold and heat, with the idea that, by this means, he could
secure salvation and exaltation in the presence of God! Surely it was
the self-same pagan idea that actuated all.
In those days, also, even the forms and ceremonies of the primitive
church underwent complete transformation. Pagan rites were celebrated
at Christian festivals, and days commemorative of great events were
made to conform to the times appointed for the worship of heathen
divinities.
For example, the festival of Easter as observed by the Catholic church,
was and still is degraded by pagan rites. And the day that commemorates
our Savior's birth, which event took place in April, when the shepherds
were abroad on the plains of Bethlehem, with their flocks, was changed
from the beautiful Spring time to the dark and gloomy December, that it
might conform to a day already set apart for pagan ceremonies, and by
this means was secured its universal observance.
The ideas concerning God were also perverted. Space will permit only
a glance at this subject. The passions that were said to control the
character of heathen gods were attributed to the great Creator and
loving Father of us all. He was represented as delighting in vengeance;
and glorying in the eternal sufferings of His creatures. Thus the
most inhuman persecutors claimed they were doing His will; and hence
arose the doctrine of endless torments beyond the grave, which still
disgraces nearly all the sects of Christendom. The doctrine of fate has
ever been a prominent doctrine of pagan religions.
This dogma was also engrafted into their creed; hence, we find learned
teachers of the present age gravely asserting that, owing to the
unalterable decrees of God, there are young and irresponsible infants,
scarcely a span in length, who are and ever will be doomed to suffer
the torments of the lost.
Such was the condition of the social and religious world at the time of
the Emperor Constantine.
{18} This politic prince was not a man of religious convictions, but
hoping to consolidate his power and gain vast numbers of adherents
he granted universal religious toleration and even went so far as to
proclaim himself a Christian.
This act of toleration gave a temporary protection to all classes
and was of especial benefit to those who wished to retire from the
confusion and corruption of the age, and spend their lives in pursuit
of science, literature and philosophy.
Such were the tasteless and often brutal amusements, the low
sensuality, the base intrigue and bloody warfare of those times, that
many longed for retirement and seclusion.
Men and also women, sometimes of the highest rank, awoke, suddenly to
the discovery that life was given them for nobler purposes.
Loathing society, despising themselves, and often their companions,
to whom they had been wedded in loveless marriages--companions whose
infidelities and licentiousness they had too often, to endure, they
fled from a world which had sated and sickened them.
Thus arose the monastic order.
By the side of Alpine torrents and in the valleys of Piedmont, by the
rocky shores of the beautiful Aegean sea and on its lonely yet lovely
islands, as well as on the classic hillsides of Judea, arose thousands
of monasteries.
At first, no doubt, the inmates sought for a higher and purer life; but
after a time they too sunk into luxury, licentiousness and debauchery.
Yet these monastic institutions served one good purpose, and that one
was important. During these perilous times science and literature here
found an asylum. Libraries were formed and carefully preserved, which,
on the restoration of learning, were of great value to the world.
The foregoing will indicate to some extent the condition of mankind
at the close of the sixth century of the Christian era. The light of
antiquity had perished. The dawn of modern days had not yet gilded
the eastern horizon. The world presented over its whole surface one
vast field of contention and {19} bloodshed, with scarcely an object
sufficiently prominent to excite interest or deserve attention.
It was the midnight hour of human history.
Though the early church had been destroyed and the priesthood taken
from the earth; yet God did not give it up as lost, nor entirely
withdraw His Spirit. Then as now "the earth is the Lord's," and He will
yet make good His claim to it. It is a blood-bought world, and He who
ransomed it at so dear a price will one day return to rule over it as
King of kings and Lord of lords. The earth that was bedewed with the
Savior's tears and sweat--the earth that was trodden by His hallowed
feet--the earth that drank His life blood shall yet throw off the curse
that has so long blighted it and receive its paradisaic glory.
Through agencies the most diverse the minds of men were developed and
disciplined for the reception of truth until in the Lord's due time in
a prepared place and among a people prepared to receive His truth, He
would again restore His priesthood, and set up His kingdom upon the
earth.
{20}