go into the kingdom of darkness he was clothed with a vesture and loose the bonds of the captive, and bring him into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Nor could he protect the church from the dangers and enemies who lie beyond her pale. As matter both of scripture history and testimony, we know that the government of the Mediator extends beyond the church, including within its extensive management universal providence. He is not only Head to the church which is his body; but it is also given him to be Head over all things to the church. So that he may conduct the affairs of pro. vidence in such a way that the prosperity of the church may be promoted; and that all things may be made to subserve his in terests. It ought to be observed that the headship of the Mediator over the world is not of the same nature with his headship over the church: to the latter he is a spiritual Head; over the former he has a moral right of control that he may use it to advance the interests of his spiritual king. dom. While God the Father says, in the 2d psalm, "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion;" he says also, "Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little." Thus the Redeemer has not only a sceptre of grace which he be. nignantly sways over the subjects of his spiritual kingdom; he has also a rod of iron by which he breaks in pieces those who set themselves against him. "And dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of Lords." Rev. xix. 13. 16. It is not the design of this article to discuss the doctrine of the mediatorial power; but to illustrate its practical employment: to show that the movements of providence are managed by the Mediator to insure the ultimate good of the church, which is his body. The preceding remarks, however, have been deemed necessary for the exhibition of the doctrinal truth, that Christ Jesus is appointed heir or Lord over all things. This principle being established, it follows that the events of providence are determined by the Mediator, and that too in view of the interests of his church. There is no subject regarding which men are more likely to commit mistakes and make misapplications, than that of provi. dence. In its development, human agency is brought into requisition. Men form and execute plans which often produce eventful changes in society, and with. out thinking of the direction and controlment of a superior government, attribute these events to the external agency which they actually observe in operation. Ungodly men seldom reflect on Divine Providence; and in lesser matters the idea is habitually excluded. Even the people of God have not so deep and constant a sense of the immediate operations of the Governor of the uni verse, in the direction of events, whether lesser or greater, as they ought to have. Christians, however, need only to be admonished of their inattention, and at once they recognize the movements of Divine Providence. Awakened from their languor of observation, they examine with pleasure the connected series of events which either immediately or ultimately bear on the progression of the church of God, as far as they are capable of taking up the dif. ferent links which form the bound. less chain of providence. To assist the man of piety, whose education and circumstan. ces do not furnish him with sufficiently extensive means of information to pursue such inquiries, illustration is now submitted. And as a selection must be made, some of those great events are fixed on, which at first sight seem farthest removed from connection with the church, and which seem to be only productions of human policy and passion, but which, on closer investigation, will be found to have an intimate bearing on the progressive ad. vancement of the Redeemer's kingdom, and have been evidently directed by him for this very pur. pose. Every reader of scripture his tory knows how the interests of the church have stood related to the great political and military transactions of the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonish dynasties: these need no illustration; the Spirit of God has pointed out the connection in the inspired his. tory. The reader is requested to make his observations on the shores of VOL. I. JULY, 1831. the Mediterranean sea, on the southern or African side of which, nearly opposite the western point of the island of Sicily, stood the city of Carthage, about fifteen miles distant from that of Tunis. Carthage was built by a Tyrian colony under the auspices of Queen Dido. It is supposed to have been founded during the reign of Joash, king of Judah, about eight hundred and fortysix years A. C. "Carthage, whose beginnings, as we have observed, were very weak, grew larger by insensible degrees, in the country where it was founded. But its dominion was not long confined to Africa. The inhabitants of this ambitious city extended their conquests into Europe, by invading Sardinia, seizing a great part of Sicily, and reducing almost all Spain; and having sent powerful colonies every where, they enjoyed the empire of the seas for more than six hundred years; and founded a state which was able to dispute pre-eminence with the greatest empires of the world, by their commerce, their numerous armies, their formidable fleets, and, above all, the courage and ability of their cap. tains."* The history and final destiny of this powerful and extraordinary republic affords us a striking illustration of the Mediator's authority in directing the inclinations and designs of men to the fulfillment of his own purposes. The avarice, the policy, and the ambition of Carthage, seemed at one time to have almost secured universal empire: her conquering * Rollin's Ancient History. 14 armies, her peerless navy, her exhaustless wealth, and her insa. tiable ambition, all promised permanent dominion. Had these prospects been realized, which then must have appeared not only reasonable, but certain, the moral and spiritual condition of those countries, which are now Christian, would have been materially different. Yet it is so obvious, that it scarcely needs to be mentioned, that the existing state of these countries; their opportunities of knowing the truth in Christ, and submitting to it, were necessary for accomplishing the purposes of God respecting the church. To arrest the progress of Carthage, the Roman republic was raised up about a hundred years later: this little state, which was marked as the prey of Carthaginian ambition, and which was long the scene of bloody conflict, was destined in the providence of the Mediator to overturn that power which was incompatible with his designs. During a period of one hundred and eighteen years, three different wars were carried on betweenthese powers; the second of these set. tledin reality the fate of Carthage, and gave supremacy to Rome. The hosts of Carthage, com. manded by the renowned Hannibal, by a master-stroke of generalship, were transported over the fearful Alps, and placed at once in the bosom of the Roman republic. The march of Hannibal was tracked by splendid victories. The battles of Trebia, Thrasymene, and Cannae, nearly annihi. lated the Roman armies. And for sixteen years Hannibal kept his army in the heart of Italy. The Romans, exhausted and oppressed by supporting for such a period a large and hostile army ; their manufactories and commerce ruined by unavoidable neglect; their armies routed and destroyed; and the master spirit of the age directing against them the energies of the best disciplined troops in the world, what human foresight could have anticipated success in so apparently hopeless a struggle? The result has shown us that success is not always the lot of the mighty. Notwithstanding the achievements of Hannibal, and the terrible defeats which the Romans repeatedly suffered, the Carthaginians could not maintain their vantage ground. In the midst of splendid victories, prosperity withdrew herself from the embraces of the conqueror. Instead of making new conquests, or indeed preserving their former acquisitions, the citizens of Carthage became unable to defend themselves. The seat of war was changed from Italy to Africa: and the waving hosts of Rome and Carthage met on the plains of Zama; the latter were so entirely defeated, that the ruin of their country became inevitable. For though a dishonorable peace was obtained, which for a time preserved the semblance of national independence, the renewal of hostilities blotted out her exist. ence from the map of nations! Such an issue to the second punic war, which must have been unexpected to the Romans themselves, left them without an equal in the family of nations: the em. pire of Rome became daily more vigorous and enlarged; and in less than a hundred years she became the acknowledged mistress of the world. Although it is unwise to neglect the use of means in prosecuting a commendable object, because it may present great difficulties; and though it would be unjust to deny the Romans the meed of praise for the quenchless spirit of patriotism, and the indomitable perseverance which they unwaveringly manifested in their conflict for national and political existence; yet it would be equally unjust and unwise to attribute their final tri. umph over insuperable dfficulties to the unaided influence of Roman prudence and heroism! Enlightened by sound Christian principles, and directed by the word of God, the man of piety and observation traces it to another source. Beyond the operation of human agency, he perceives the dis. pensing hand of the Redeeiner settling the destinies of the conflicting parties; awarding success to the weak, and ruin to the strong. The prospective interests of the church of God demanded the ex. ternal aid of a powerful and widely diffused empire, to afford opportunity for the extensive dissemination of the gospel, which was now to be introduced. In this we see the reason of the extraordinary and unexpected turn of events in favor of the Roman republic. When the Redeemer of men made his appearance in human nature to take away sin by the one offering of himself, the land of Israel was a Roman province. Indeed at this period, a great part of the civilized world had submitted to the supremacy of Rome; the rights of individuals, and the dignity of nations, were made to succumb to her insatiable ambition. But amid the numerous evils inseparable from a despotic and military government, the Ruler of the nations produced the greatest good. Here he set bounds to the wrath of man, and caused its remainder to praise himself. Along the highwayswhich imperial Rome had made through the nations of the earth, did Messiah send the heralds of his cross. He instructed his disciples to go unto all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Had the different parts of the Roman empire been then, what they were two hundred years before, a vast number of independent and barbarous states, among which the angry tide of war was kept continually rolling by the ferment of a jealous rivalship, it would have been, humanly speaking, impossible for the disciples of Christ to have fulfilled their commission without a continued miraculous interposition. This, however, is not the mode by which the Supreme Governor maintains his rule over men. Miracles are exclusively for the attestation of a divine commission and the conformation of facts and doctrines. The accomplishment of the providential will of God is ordinarily effected by human agency. But generally, ignorant and indifferent regarding the express will of God, princes and statesmen pursue their own schemes of aggrandisement, and thus following their own ambitious views, without the most distant design of serving God, they bring to pass what he has noted down in the book of his decrees! This is evident in the case of the senate and people of Rome. Their only objects were empire and military renown: peace wasbanished from the nations till their supremacy was acknowledged by a great part of the world. By this means a vast empire was formed, in which the turbulence and selfishness of particular parts were overawed by the superior power of Rome.* Thus a great and wide field of missionary exertion was opened to the disciples of Christ, in which they could obey his command. Accordingly they dispersed from Jerusalem, and spread themselves over the whole Roman empire. Christ was preached, "the way, the truth, and the life." "The word of God grew mightily and prevailed." The ambition of Rome was thus made the means of opening channels through which the gospel was conveyed, and of affording protection to the disciples of Christ while employed in this work, which could not have been secured by the preceding state of the world. By this time the intelligent reader must have observed the link which connected the oppor. * The battle of Zama was fought one hundred and ninety-eight years A. C. and the final destruction of Carthage took place one hundred and forty-five years A. C. tunity of propagating the gospel in the days of the apostles, with the issue of the struggle for mastery between Rome and Carthage. Had the second punic war terminated differently from what it did in the battle of Zama, which was in fact the pivot upon which turned the fate of Carthage, the moral and religious state of the world would have been very different from what it now is! On this hypothesis, Rome might perhaps have been annihilated, or existed only as a powerless tributary state: and Carthage might have secured what she had long sought, unrivaled domination! The moral condition of the world would have been changed. That part which lies north and west of the scene of contention, and which afterward became civilized, and in the progress of time christianized, in consequence of the extension of the Roman arms, would have remained in its native ignorance and barbarity. Then the tide of civilization might have rolled towards the vast regions of the south; and the sable African might now have been maintaining the balance of power among the nations; and promulging in all the pride and national degradation of gentilism his unchristian laws. D. S. |