FORCES OF CIVILIZATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
THE GENIUS OF THE AGE--EUROPEAN WARS--AMERICA
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.
Human history should be a record of progress--a record of accumulating
knowledge and increasing wisdom, of continual advancement from a lower
to a higher platform of intelligence and well-being. Each generation
should pass on to the next the treasures which it has inherited,
beneficially modified by its own experience, and enlarged by the
acquisitions which itself has gained.
Sometimes the stream of human development seems to pause and the years
seem to roll on without change. Yet this is only apparent. All the
while there is a silent accumulation of forces, which at length burst
forth in the violent overthrow of evils, which had been endured for
generations.
The nineteenth century, has witnessed progress beyond all precedent,
for it has beheld the overthrow of the barriers that prevented
progress. It has vindicated for all succeeding ages, {197} the right of
man to his own unimpeded development. The genius of the age has tended
to the abolition of serfdom and slavery, and the up-lifting of the
poor, the down-trodden and oppressed. More than at all previous times
it has seen the removal of artificial obstacles placed in the path of
human progress by the selfishness and ignorance of the strong.
At the opening of the nineteenth century, all Europe was occupied
with war. From the North to the shores of the Mediterranean, from the
confines of Asia to the Atlantic, men toiled to burn each other's
cities, to waste each other's fields, and destroy each other's lives.
In some places there was heard the shout of victory, in some the wail
of defeat. The first twelve years of the century were spent by America
in profound tranquility. She looked from afar with a serene neutrality
upon the furious efforts which the European nations were making to
compass the ruin of each other.
In process of time, England and France, eagerly bent on mutual harm,
adopted measures which nearly destroyed trans-Atlantic commerce.
American ships lay in unprofitable idleness; grass grew upon the
untrodden wharfs of New York and Philadelphia. Moreover the high-handed
British enforced a hateful claim to search American ships and take away
any sailors suspected of being British subjects.
These grievances might have been peacefully redressed; but America and
England were too angry to be reasonable. James Madison was president
at that time. He did not want to go to war, but he desired to be
elected president a second time. His friends who were eager for war
informed him that unless he declared war he could not be re-elected.
With closed doors the bill proposing war was discussed. It was passed
in secret session, and on June 19th, 1812, President Madison affixed
his signature, and issued a proclamation declaring war against Great
Britain. The principal European powers, including England, were
then engaged in a mighty struggle against Napoleon. England could
spare scarcely three thousand men for the defense of her colonies.
The British forces in America were principally composed of Canadian
voluntiers and militia.
{198} Then came a war of mingled success and disaster. The surrender
of Detroit, the disaster at Queenston Heights, the victory of Perry,
the midnight struggle at Lundy's Lane, the capture of Washington,
the terrible havoc at New Orleans--all these are too well known to
need repetition here. After two years and a half of mutual injuries,
a treaty of peace was signed in which nothing was said about the
imprisonment of seamen; but from that day to the present no American
citizen has been imprisoned on board a British vessel.
Then came an era of peaceful industrial progress without parallel in
the annals of the human family. The forces of modern civilization began
to work.
North America was now divided into three great divisions, the United
States, Canada and Mexico. For obvious reasons the United States has
developed the most rapidly. The dominion of Canada is destined in
process of years to become a powerful empire. Its area is more than
three million five hundred thousand square miles, which is more than
that of the United States, and nearly equal to the whole of Europe.
Most of this enormous region proves to be of marvelous fertility,
producing in abundance nearly all the grains of temperate regions.
Millions of acres are added annually to the area under cultivation. The
vast and magnificent region watered by the Saskatchewan and Assiniboine
seems destined to become one of the granaries of the world. Quietly and
peacefully, the dominion is growing in power and influence. The area
of cultivated land is fast extending. Manufactures of all kinds are
rapidly multiplying, and in ship-building and commerce she has already
outstripped the great republic. In these respects, if considered
separate from England, Canada now ranks the fourth power in the world.
Recent developments indicate that Mexico has an important work to do
in the economy of God. In the last few years she has made astonishing
progress in the arts, sciences and social condition of her people.
As an illustration one of her sons, the late President Juarez showed
himself to be one of the most remarkable men that has lived on this
continent during the present century. The population of North America
in 1800, was scarcely more than ten millions, now it approaches seventy
{199} millions and increases in a ratio that defies calculation.
Already it is the theater of some of the most important events in the
world's history, and greater events still await the coming years.
At the time that America commenced to be governed by the first written
constitution that the world had ever seen, one of the great questions
that was asked by the leading minds of the age as well as by the
toiling millions of Europe was: "What will be the future of America,
what the forces that will mould and fashion it?" One of these was the
common school. Here the future citizens met upon a level. Money and
position in society counted nothing; merit won. A boy with a patch on
each knee, his jacket in rags, who lived in a cabin, whose breakfast
was potato and salt, and whose supper was mush, and milk, quite likely
stood at the head of the class; while the boy who wore good clothes and
whose father was rich, possibly found himself at the foot of the long
line of spellers.
From these schools many of the boys made their way through college,
became teachers, ministers, lawyers, legislators and governors. The
lessons there learned together, with the instructions of honest
God-fearing parents, laid the foundation of character and made them the
pioneers of a new civilization.
The education of the masses multiplied the number thinkers. As a
consequence, mechanical skill and invention is the peculiar growth of
the present century and the United States in this regard ranks among
the foremost nations of the world.
From the creation of the world down to the middle of the last century,
nearly all the work of the world had been done by the muscular labor of
men or animals.
But in England and America men were discovering that machinery might be
made to do work of human hands. It was not until 1764, that James Watt
commenced his wonderful inventions, and ten years more elapsed before
his engine was of any practical use.
Meanwhile Hargreaves, Arkwright and Crompton had invented machines for
the manufacture of cloth. In America there were lands well adapted
for raising cotton, but owing to {200} the difficulty of extricating
the seeds from the cotton, but little was used and that little was
very expensive. In 1784, only eight bagfuls of cotton were exported
from Savannah to England but when Eli Whitney invented the cotton-gin
in 1792, a great change took place. It was seen immediately that the
machine would do the work of hundreds of men and a new industry and new
product was given to the world. Inconsiderable as these inventions may
seem, they changed the clothing material of the English-speaking people
throughout the world. In a few years their costume so changed that they
might be looked upon as belonging to a different race and a different
civilization.
On August 27th, 1787, while the National convention was at work at
Philadelphia framing the constitution they were invited to behold a
sight that the world had never seen. It was John Fitch gliding up
stream in the first practical steamboat ever constructed. In July,
1788, the boat made its first trip from Philadelphia up the river to
Burlington--amid the cheering of crowds and the salvos of artillery.
It continued to make trips during part of two years but never exceeded
three miles an hour. As the machinery was imperfect and the running
expensive, it was at length abandoned.
Genius is far-sighted and prophetic. John Fitch looking into the future
saw that the time would come when steamships would traverse the ocean,
and glide to and fro upon the great rivers of the West. He went to Ohio
to spend his last days, and when the shadow of death was upon him,
he made this request, "Bury me on the banks of the Ohio that I may
be where the song of the boatmen and the music of the engines shall
enliven the stillness of my resting place." Twenty years passed away
before Fitch's idea was realized. At length Robert Fulton built the
Clermont in 1807 and started up the Hudson river. The country people
knew not what to make of it. A Dutchman shouted to his wife, "The
devil is on his way up the river with a sawmill in a boat." Fulton had
succeeded where others had failed. It was the beginning of a new era in
navigation. In 1819, the _Savannah_ was the first steamboat to cross
the Atlantic ocean. John Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey appeared in
1812 before Congress with a plan for a railroad.
{201}
[Image: An Ocean Steamer.]
{202} Two years later, July 25th, 1814, George Stevenson of England
completed and ran the Rocket, the first practical locomotive in the
world.
But it was not till September, 1825, that the first railway for
passengers was opened in England. Six years later railway trains were
running in America. The improved facilities for traveling by means of
steam, have had a wonderful influence upon society. A century ago human
society was composed of a multitude of little communities, dwelling
apart, mutually ignorant, and therefore, cherishing mutual antipathies.
Facilities of travel brought together men of different towns and
different countries. They learned how little there was, on either side,
to hate, how much to love. Thus ancient prejudice was broken up by the
fuller knowledge gained by this extended acquaintance. Peculiarities
of dialect and manners grew indistinct, and errors of opinion were
corrected by friendly conflict of mind.
In 1832, Samuel F. B. Morse, conceived the idea of the electric
telegraph, and in 1837, Congress granted him thirty thousand dollars
to aid his great enterprise. In 1844, Professor Morse sent his first
message over the world's first electric telegraph. The words were,
"What hath God wrought!" Thus it was found that the same mysterious
and terrible power which flashes out in the midnight storm was ready
to convey across continents and seas the messages of man. This use of
electricity is of peculiar interest. It is the first invention which
is apparently final. In the race of improvement all other inventions
and instrumentalities may be superceded. But what agency for conveying
intelligence can ever excel that which is instantaneous? It would seem
that here, for the first time, the human mind has reached the utmost
limits of its progress.
From the time of its first invention to the year 1814, scarcely any
improvement had been made on the printing press. A rude machine,
printing at its best scarcely 150 copies per hour, was still
universally in use. Now we have machines that print 25,000 copies per
hour; books and papers have greatly cheapened in consequence. Such were
some of the forces at work upon society during the first half of the
nineteenth century.
{203} But while mankind had progressed in science they had remained
stationary in religion; and how could it be otherwise? Invention and
discovery are but the unfolding of the laws, attributes and objects of
nature to man's limited understanding--the action of the divine will
on the minds of men. When God revealed nature's laws, man progressed
scientifically: until God revealed religious truth man groped in
spiritual darkness. The intellectual light of that age only made to
observing minds, their spiritual night more palpable; even as a candle
shining in the night only intensifies the surrounding gloom. Many
leading minds perceived somewhat, the errors of the times, and sought
to bring about reform in various ways. These attempts brought forth
discussion and division. The disintegration which had commenced in
the days of Luther, now worked with unexampled rapidity, until the
various so-called Christian sects numbered more than six hundred, each
tenacious of its own ideas, and bitterly denouncing all the others.
None of these jarring sects ever had divine authority; in fact, they
denied the possibility of revelation from God. Even admitting their
claims, their creeds are only the crystallized ideas of the leading men
of the age that gave them birth. For example, Rome depended not upon
revelation, nor even upon the letter of the scriptures, but upon the
tradition of the fathers. In other words, the rule of faith, in the
church of Rome was the conflicting opinions of men--often ill-informed
and superstitious--who lived between the great apostasy and the time of
Luther.
So again, the creed of Lutherism is only the best ideas of men who
lived in Central Europe three hundred and fifty years ago. In like
manner, Presbyterianism is the reflex of the stern and rugged character
of the Scotch in the 17th century. So also Methodism and Quakerism
are the products of zealous English reformers in the 17th and 18th
centuries. All of the religions that existed in America at the
beginning of this century, were the outgrowth of European thought. They
were systems that had been transplanted from foreign lands, by no means
adapted to the progressive ideas that prevail on this continent.
{204} Humanly speaking, it was time to establish a religion, which
should harmonize with the circumstances and age in which we live.
Divinely speaking, man had become so developed and disciplined that he
could receive the gospel. It was the Lord's due time to again reveal
His will and set up His kingdom upon the earth.
Not only was the age peculiar, but likewise the land in which this work
was to be accomplished. The governments of European countries were all
committed to some particular creed, some peculiar form of religious
worship. But in America there was no established religion. All were
free to accept or reject the truth untrammelled by the arbitrary
requirements of the civil law.
The instrumentalities used for the establishment of this work were
very peculiar. No hoary-headed philosopher, full of worldly wisdom;
no crafty politician, zealous for a party or sect; no profound doctor
of divinity, deeply versed in antiquarian lore, was appointed to do
this work. No! A pure and ingenuous youth, who had spent the few
years of his mortal life in the quiet and peaceful avocations of
agricultural life--a youth who had not yet drunk in the poison of
man's theology--such was the instrument chosen by the Almighty for the
execution of His purposes.
The sublime and tragic history of Joseph Smith is too well known to
need repetition here. A few leading facts will suffice. Joseph Smith
was born December 23rd, 1805, at Sharon, Windsor Co., Vt. He received
his first vision on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in
the Spring of 1820. Joseph was then a little more than fourteen years
of age. Three years and a half passed away, when he received his
second vision. It was September 21st, 1823; he had retired to rest
when the divine messenger made his appearance. During the night the
angel appeared three times to Joseph, and immediately after, the dawn
approached; so that their interviews must have occupied the whole of
that night. Thrice had the angel descended, and thrice had he ascended,
with all the circumstances of reality. There is something grand in the
very simplicity of the narrative of Joseph and all the more impressive
when we consider his mental and physical {205} characteristics--a
man of lofty stature and giant mind. He dwelt in the very glare and
illumination of a spiritual existence, and yet was the founder,
organizer and leader of a latter-day Israel. Not more real was Jacob's
angel with whom he wrestled all night, than were the angels of our
times to Joseph. Then he commenced a life of toil and persecution--toil
in the service of his divine Master, persecution from the enemy of all
good.
We can only understand the life and character of Joseph Smith, when
we consider the peculiar wants of the present age. Never was there a
time in the history of the race when learning and general intelligence
were so well diffused as at the present. The press is throwing
off continually its millions of printed pages which are scattered
broadcast, as the leaves of autumn.
Never was there a time of more intense activity. Who can pass through
the crowded streets of our cities, listen to the throbbing of the steam
engine, the hum of machinery, gaze at the vast trains that are driven
with fire and vapor along our railways, or view those magnificent
structures that cross the mighty deep without feeling that this is an
earnest age?
Now this earnest, active, thinking age, demands a religion that has
life and power in it. Not a religion of cold formality and narrow
sectarianism, but a religion that will satisfy the intelligent with
its truths, and touch the heart with its love, and sway the will with
its persuasiveness, and gratify the taste with its beauties, and fill
the imagination with its sublimities. A religion is wanted that will
enlist upon its side the whole nature of man and command his willing
and devoted homage; a religion, that, bearing the full impress of its
Author's image, shall carry its own credentials with it, and which,
clothed with all the elements of truth and righteousness, beauty and
grandeur, of love and power, shall be revered by all those who love the
truth, and dreaded by all who love it not.
It is evident to every thinking mind that the strife and confusion and
babel of the six hundred jarring sects of Christendom can not do this.
Their half-deserted cathedrals and cold, formal ceremonies, as well as
the triumphant march of infidelity {206} and crime, attest the fact,
that they have lost their hold on the masses of men.
As in the days of old the Lord renewed his communications with man
through the dutiful and obedient Samuel; so in this age he spake to
the youthful Joseph. And how did Joseph accomplish so much in so short
a time? Simply because he entered into his work with his whole heart.
He allowed no inferior object to weaken his interest or divide his
attention, and he continually sought the inspiration of the Almighty,
who came to his aid and enabled him to accomplish in the short space
of a few years the mightiest work that any man has wrought since the
Savior was upon the earth. After an active and self-sacrificing life of
nearly thirty-nine years, he was brutally murdered by a mob June 27th,
1844.
Thus lived, suffered, toiled, and died, the martyr-prophet of the
nineteenth century. Thus flashed athwart the spiritual darkness of
his age, the light of the latter days. Even as in days of old the
light shone in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.
Contemplating his death the mind instinctively reverts to that scene,
when the Savior suffered on Calvary, eighteen hundred years ago. Across
the ages stride the footprints of the self-same spirit. Unconsciously
are associated the death of the Redeemer and the martyrdom of His
servant. Already the principles enunciated by Joseph Smith, have shaken
the religious world from center to circumference. The ignorant may
effect to scorn, yet the day is nigh, when America will be proud of her
prophet son.
{207}
List of Illustrations
Mount Calvary - Frontispiece
Jerusalem - 10
Coliseum - 14
Fakir - 16
Damascus - 29
Interior of a Saracen Palace - 41
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius - 46
Constantinople - 49
Church of the Holy Sepulchre - 55
Ancient Vessels - 62
Dungeon of the Inquisition - 69
Christopher Columbus - 79
Ships of Columbus - 82
Landing of Columbus - 83
The Straits of Magellan - 90
The Rack - 93
Ancient Peruvian Residence - 108
Ancient Tower at Newport - 110
Mammoth - 115
Mummy - 119
Massacre of the Incas - 151
Landing of the Pilgrims - 132
Fox in Discussion - 142
Penn's Treaty with the Indians - 144
John Wesley - 153
First American Almanac - 159
Benjamin Franklin - 160
George Washington - 174 {208}
Washington Crossing the Delaware - 177
Scene of Burgoyne's Surrender - 180
Meeting Place of Andre and Arnold - 181
Mount Vernon - 185
The Tomb of Washington - 186
Napoleon Bonaparte - 192
The City of Athens - 194
Scene in Switzerland - 195
An Ocean Steamer - 201
{209}
INDEX.
Abou-Beker 28
Adam Smith 71, 154
Alhazin 37
Andalusia 31, 40
America Discovered 84
American Antiquities 109-112
Africa, First Map of 89
Apostasy of Primitive Church 13
Arabia, Description of 20
Arabic Notation 36
Ayesha 28
Armada, Invincible 104, 105
Ancient American Races 114, 117
Acadia, Colonization of 126, 127
Almanac, First American 158, 159
Adams, Samuel 167
Antimony, Why so Called 73
Arnold's Treason 182
Andre, Major 181
American Revolution 173
Al Mamun Measures the Earth 37
Andalusia, Conquest of 31
Atmospheric Refraction 38
Arabian Astronomy 36
Arnold of Brescia 67, 68
Bacon, Roger 73
Bastile 188,189
Bozrah 22,28
Bagdad, University of 35
Boheim, Hans 94
Balboa Discovers Pacific Ocean 89
Bruno, Death of 104
{210}
Barbarism of Europe 42
Boniface IX. 76
Byzantium 48, 50
Bible First Printed 78
Brewster 129, 130
" Library 134
Brindley, James 154
British India 155, 156
Burgoyne's Surrender 180
Bonaparte 180
Bible, Influence of 124
Caaba 21
Cadijah 24
Caliphate 27
Caliphs Patronize Learning 35
Chivalry, Rise of 65, 66
Canada 198
" First Settlements in 126
Common Schools, Effect of 199
Christians Persecuted 13
Christian, Early Sects 23
Columbus 78
" Vessels of 81
Compass, Mariner's 37
Constantine, Crimes of 47
Constantinople 48
" View of 49
" Siege of 50, 51
Cholula, Pyramid of 112
Cotton-Gin, Invention of 200
Copernicus 103, 104
Constitutional Convention 185
Coliseum 14
Crusades 59
" of Children 61
" Results of 63
Culture of Women Among Saracens 42
Cyril of Alexandria 44
" the Priest 71 {211}
Civilization of Mexico 117, 118
" of Peru 118, 120
Champlain's Voyages 126
Chatham, Earl of 168
Cromwell 133
Confederation, First American 135
Colonizing of New England 128
Charles I. 133, 134
Chemistry, Origin of 36
Carver, John 131
Cartier, Jacques 126
Damascus, Capture of 29
Destruction of Jerusalem 11, 12
Destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii 45
Dominicans 67
Discovery of America 84
Declaration of Independence 175
Delaware Crossed by Washington 176
Diet of Worms 95
Earth Proved to be Round 37
" Circumnavigated 89, 92
Earl of Chatham 168
Extent of Primitive Church 9
Extension of English Language 157
Europe Assumes Modern Form 74
Everlasting Gospel, The 71, 72
Everlasting Gospel, Its Teachings 72
Everlasting Gospel, Its Influence 73
Esdras, Account of 87
English Revolution 149
Electric Telegraph 202
England's Dominion 156
Ebn Junis Invents the Pendulum 38
Franciscans 67
Frederick II. of Italy 70
" His Liberal Policy 71
Fox, George 141-143
Fitch, John 200
French Revolution 189 {212}
Fall River Skeleton 109
Franklin, Benjamin 158, 161
Female Physicians 43
Gregorian Calendar 37
Gutenberg 77
Gin First Made 151
General Gates 181
General Revolution 162
Galileo, His Degradation 104
Globes First Used by Arabs 34, 43
Greece, Kingdom of 194
Hampden, John 133
Harvard College Founded 133
Holland, Description of 136
Henry, Patrick 168
Heraclius, Emperor 30
Haroun al Raschid 36
Herculaneum Destroyed 45
Huss Burned 92
Hypatia 44
Huguenots, Massacre of 136
" Flee to America 146, 155
Howard, John 153
Henry IV. of Germany, a Penitent 55
Human Sacrifices 113
Incas, Massacre of 120, 121
India, British 155, 156
Indians, Penn's Treaty with 146
Indian Races Destroyed 107
Inquisition Established 70
Innocent III. 67, 68, 70
Influence of Minstrels 66
Invention of Printing 77
Invention of Steelyards 38
Jamestown Founded 127
Jerusalem destroyed by Romans 12
" Captured by Saracens 29
" Taken by Crusaders 60
Joss Fritz 94 {213}
Juarez 198
Judaism, Golden Age of 39
Jews Expelled from Spain 109
Koran 23
Khaled 28
La Fayette 187
Leyden, Siege of 137-140
Luther, Martin 95,96
Locomotive, First 202
Levaur, Massacre of 70
Massacre in Southern France 68
Mahomet 21-26
Mahometan Schools 38
Marco Polo, Travels of 73, 74
Magellan's Voyage 89-92
Monasteries, Rise of 18
Munzer's Proclamation 98
Mexican Pyramids 112
" Year 119
" Arts and Sciences 118
Mammoth, Remains of 115
Maryland Colonized 146
Methodists, Rise of 151
Montesquieu 155
Marseillaise 191
Morse, Samuel F. B. 202
Nestorians 22
Newport Tower 110
Newspaper, First 150
Napoleon Bonaparte 192
" his Influence 193
" his Death 193
Netherlands, Independence of 136
Omar Caliph 29
Ottoman Turks 33
Oliver Cromwell 133
Old South Church Incident 170
Peter Waldo 67
Peter the Hermit 58 {214}
Pompeii Destroyed 45
Peasant's War 97
Printing, Invention of 77
Persecution of Christians 13
" of Quakers 148
Peru, Description of 118, 120
Penn, William 143-146
Pennsylvania Founded 145
Pitt, William 155, 157
Paine, Thomas 175
Pilgrim Fathers 129, 133
Pyramids of Mexico 112
Quebec Founded 126
Quetzalcoatl 112, 122
Quakerism, Rise of 141
Queen Isabella 81
Raymond, Earl of Toulouse 68
Relic-Worship 54
Richard the Lion-Hearted 61-63
Rise of Chivalry 65, 66
Reformation 95-99
Religion of Mexico 116, 117
Roger Williams 147
Rum, First Made 151
Revolutions General 162
Rosseau 163
Revere, Paul 172
Rouget de l'Isle 190
Revolution, French 189
Railroad, First 202
Robinson's Prophecy 130
Saracen, Conquest of 30
" Discoveries 36
" Expelled from Spain 109
" Cities 40
" Schools 42
Ships of Columbus 81
Servetus, Death of 103
Smith, Adam 154 {215}
Stamp Act 166
Steamboat, First 200
Smith, Joseph 204
" " His Birth 204
" " His Death 206
Spain, Degradation of 109
Spanish-American Revolution 193
Skeleton, Fall River 109
Ten Tribes 87
Treaty of Peace 183
Telegraph Invented 202
Twilight, Reason of 138
Valley Forge 178
Vasco de Gama 89
Vesuvius, Eruption of 46
Van der Werf, Speech of 139
Voltaire 163
Worms, Diet of 95
" Synod of 192
Worship, Corrupted 17
Waldenses, Rise of 67
Waldo, Peter 67
Witchcraft 100, 101
Williams, Roger 147
Whitfield, George 151
Wesley, Charles 152
Wesley, John 152
Wilberforce, William 153
Watt, James 154
Washington's Boyhood 158
Washington Chosen General 174
" as President 184
Washington's Death 187
Woman, Condition of, Among the Saracens 42, 43
Wyandotts, Tradition of 122
Ziska, John 94
Transcriber's Note:
Some obvious printer's errors have been corrected as seemed reasonable,
such as certain punctuation errors (like omitted periods, periods
to commas or semi-colons to commas, and some mismatched quotation
marks, etc.). Some inconsistent or obvious spelling errors or typos
within the text were also corrected (e. g., make to made, begining
to beginning, conviced to convinced, satisfiy to satisfy, immedite to
immediate, successsful to successful, maratime to maritime, gunpower
to gunpowder, bowlder to boulder, asend to ascend, degardation to
degradation, forgivness to forgiveness, en to ten, myrtyr to martyr,
continet to continent, gratitute to gratitude, loyality to loyalty,
philanthrophist to philanthropist, extavagant to extravagant,
justifiying to justifying, weakend to weakened, Fich's to Fitch's,
Reedemer to Redeemer, matyrdom to martyrdom, etc., etc.).
The book used as a reference for this e-book transcription originally
belonged to O. N. Toomey, and was digitized by the Harold B. Lee
Library at Brigham Young University. It can be viewed or downloaded
free at https://archive.org/details/handofprovidence00award.