Chapter 1

Growing Up, Going West (1877-1895)

The Birthplace of H. Orton Wiley

The land lay flat beneath the green grass and textured crops. Billowing clouds sailed across a blue canopy. The air filled with the scent of earth. This was Nebraska circa 1877. The expansive plains held earthen dwellings that peaked over the cornstalks. The winter winds brought about an inch of snow followed by a mild, gentle rain along the Platte River during the two weeks of November 1877.[1] The Hamilton County News reported the births of twin girls to the Russell family, a boy to the Hendersons, and "also, in South Platte precinct, on Friday, the 16th, at J. Wiley's, a dashing, young chap intended for breeches."[2] Upon the prairies of central Nebraska, a young, pioneering couple gave birth to their first child, Henry Orton Wiley.

The Wileys Move to Nebraska

John Thompson and Alice (née Johnsen) Wiley moved to Nebraska from Iowa with at least four related families.[3] "Colonies of families" were common among homesteaders traveling into the western plains in the nineteenth century.[4] The Wiley family built a sod house, like many homesteaders of that time. Less than a month after arriving at their acquired property, a suitable dwelling could be constructed with the thick, rich sod. H. Orton Wiley entered the world soon after his family's sod house was completed.

Once settlers arrived on the Nebraska prairie, including Wiley's family, the painstaking process of clearing forest to build was unnecessary-there were no trees. The lack the trees also created a problem for building a house. The flat, grassy prairie challenged the first Eastern settlers moving into Kansas and Nebraska. The early homesteaders' ingenuity made the best use of the available resources. They were surrounded by acres of firmly rooted prairie sod. The earth under their feet became the roof over their heads.

Sod dwellings were common on the Nebraska prairie in the late 1800's. [5] Dugouts were easily built by burrowing into the side of a small hill or stream bed. A small entrance was covered with logs, wood planks, or a wagon covering. After a larger sod house was constructed, the dugout could be used as stable or storage area. Sod houses were constructed through a team effort. Two to three workers could construct a "soddy," as they were called, in about three weeks.[6]

The first task consisted of clearing a 16 by 24 foot floor for the dwelling. The team used a grasshopper plow or horse-drawn sod cutter to cut strips of grass sod. The eight-foot high walls included a door and possibly the added luxury of a window. The roof was made of wood planks, shingles, or another layer of sod. The ridgepole held all of these earthen materials together. It was constructed of the longest, straightest tree or wood plank found among the supplies. When put in place, the ridgepole spanned the house holding steady the forked support beams and fortifying the heavy sodden roof. A poorly hewn, misplaced, or weakened ridgepole could cause the whole structure to tumble down into a large muddy pile of sod and wood. A well-built sod house, however, lasted six to seven years without major repairs.

The materials needed to construct a sod house were extraordinarily inexpensive when compared to a wood-frame house.[7] Affordability had a cost, though. The soil used to make the walls and roof could still be a home for field mice, snakes, insects, and other prairie creatures. Also, the earthen roof leaked easily when it rained. According to Everett Dick, "subsequent to a soaking rain the roof might drip for three days after the sky was bright and sunny."[8] On the brighter side, the dwelling's sod walls protected against accidental fires and provided cool living in the summer and warmth in the winter. With characteristic imagination of the "sod-house-windmill-barbed -wire culture"[9], the ingenuous settlers of Nebraska plastered the walls of their soddies with mud, papered the walls with old newspapers, and covered the ceiling with cheesecloth to keep out the "critters."[10] Nebraska settlers not only lived in sod houses, but like H. Orton Wiley, some were born there.

Hamilton County, Nebraska

The first homesteader settled in Hamilton County in June 1866.[11] Hamilton County became a regular destination for settlers migrating into Nebraska during the 1870s. Several settlements developed in this frontier country along the old Oregon Trail that ran along the southern part of the county. These frontier stations, most notably, Deepwell Ranch, Millspaw Ranch, and Prairie Camp, supplied military personnel and travelers heading west. Nearby, Briggs Fort was established in 1871 and supplied westward travelers, such as the "forty-niners" headed to California until the railroad replaced the covered wagon.[12] The population of Hamilton County almost doubled in the early 1880s. [13] Only a few primary records have survived that depict the early years of white settlement in the county. B. G. Beamer recorded a few pages from the diary of a young Iowan named Frank Willis Karr.[14] Karr's diary offered a realistic perspective of what it must have been like for the Wileys to transplant from Iowa to Nebraska.

A Narrative of Life in Hamilton County: The Journal of Frank Karr

On August 9, 1882, Karr departed Wayne County, Iowa with three fellow travelers and made the 250-mile trek to Hamilton County, Nebraska. Although records do not exist of the Wiley's journey from Iowa to Nebraska, one can surmise that a similar route was taken. Karr and his companions traveled west to Red Oak, Iowa, heading north from there to Omaha. It took nine days to reach Nebraska. Along the way, the young men, including Karr who was 23 years old, swam in the rivers, hunted and fished for food, alternated between riding the mules and the wagon, and even attended a circus.[15] The men worked odd jobs as farm hands to meet their needs.

By November, one of the men died, and only Karr remained in Nebraska of the four that began the journey from Iowa.[16] Traveling in a family group,as the Wileys did, may have encouraged the settlers to stay in Nebraska despite the difficult conditions. Karr, the Wileys, and other Hamilton County residents experienced a harsh winter in 1882. The first entry in Karr's diary about his time in Marquette noted that a blizzard brought deep snow and subzero temperatures. [17] Other weather-related crop (and human) hazards included too much rain that washed out crops, a cyclone (in Iowa) that tore up crops, and a dry spell that later dried up what little was left.[18] The Wileys, living in the same conditions as Karr, would have had a difficult time making their land viable.

Karr worked at various jobs while relocating to Nebraska. He worked on the railroad, served as a farmhand, and became a farmer on his own land. As a farmhand, Karr worked to gather corn well into January. More than seven months after leaving Iowa, Karr purchased 80 acres of Nebraska land for $800. Overhead costs in Nebraska and maintenance on his farm in Iowa forced Karr into debt. It is not surprising, in light of Karr's experience, that Wiley's father moved into the town of Marquette to begin a blacksmith business after only four years on the farm.[19] The variety of jobs needed to maintain one's livelihood, the necessity of keeping a farm producing in an uncertain market, and the diversions of social dances and church activities collectively pulled Karr away from his roots and brought his full attention toward the venture in Nebraska. Karr's journal reflected the situation experienced by the Wileys when they moved from Iowa to Nebraska in the late 1870's.

The Beginning of Wiley's Education

The harsh elements of the prairie required a streamlined move westward. According to Everett Dick, antique furniture, family pianos, and other valuables littered the 19th-century trails heading westward. Alice Wiley, a teacher by profession, must have viewed her collection of books as a necessity to carry with the family.[20] The books were not discarded as they headed westward. The education of prairie children was a priority for the Wileys as it was for many pioneer families.

Nebraska residents sought to become a "highly literate" people.[21] Literacy may have been the primary goal, but rural schools in pioneer country also became community builders for travelers and transplanted families. The schoolhouse brought together the loose-knit pioneers and homesteaders to a common place where the ministers preached, politicians politicked, families gathered to celebrate holidays with dinners and dances, and children tested their knowledge through public spelling bees.[22] The schoolhouse truly was the center of community life. In Hamilton County's 15 precincts, there had been 100 school districts established, each district with one school.[23] In South Platte precinct in Hamilton County, birthplace of H. Orton Wiley, there were six school districts. The Pine Knot school in District #63 was the first school attended by Wiley.[24]

The Pine Knot schoolhouse sat two miles south of Marquette along the Burlington and Missouri railroad tracks. Wiley began to attend the school at age four after his family moved into Marquette to be near Wiley's grandmother and new step-grandfather, Rev. John W. Ward. There was already a school for Marquette residents, but Wiley volunteered to walk the four miles round trip with the new school teacher boarding with the family.[25]

In 1872, the American Normal School Association proposed to create a multi-tiered system of preparing school teachers.[26] The "crown" of the system was placed upon the faculties of education at the state universities followed by a state normal school dedicated to training teachers and administrators and, finally, rural county schools for training elementary teachers. Locally, every county was expected to offer teacher training institutes. E. B. Barton, Hamilton County superintendent of schools, promoted a Teacher's Institute held in the county seat of Aurora.[27]

The Teacher's Institute convened during March 5-7, 1879, according to minutes printed in a later edition of the county newspaper.[28] Morning, afternoon, and evening sessions divided each day. The sessions were filled with a variety of programs, including recitations, discourse, and readings. Topics covered by the institute included English grammar, U.S. geography, history, mental arithmetic, algebra, and physiology. State Superintendent Thompson spoke on educational matters and was involved in the discourses. Some of the sessions included hymn and choir singing, a band concert, and a social hour. At the conclusion of the institute a committee of four instructors offered a series of resolutions to be adopted by the institute. The following resolutions point to the expectations placed upon subsequent teachers of Hamilton County including those who may have taught young Wiley. The resolutions appear as they did originally in the Hamilton County News:

We, the teachers of Hamilton county in convention assembled, deeming it a duty to express our wishes and feelings publicly; and in accordance therewith Be it Resolved,

That it should be made compulsory for teachers to attend a teachers' institute at least four days in each year, censuring those who do not attend.

2nd, That good moral deportment and language is undoubtedly the most essential qualifications of a teacher.

3rd, That it is the duty of the teachers of Hamilton county to sustain an educational column in a paper in the county.

4th, That we as teachers recommend the adoption of a uniform series of text books based on the system of orthography and punctuation of Webster's dictionary as a standard.

5th, That we return our thanks to Professor Thompson, our state superintendent, and Professor Olmstead, of Harvard, for their attendance, help and encouragement at the present meeting.

6th, That we appreciate the labors of our county superintendent, and return him our thanks for his effects in our behalf, not only in the institute, but during the school year.

7th, That we return our thanks to the Aurora Republican and Hamilton County News for the assistance given us through their columns.

T. B. Johnson, J. H. Smith, S. A. Miller, E. F. Simmons, Committee.[29]

When Wiley began formal education in 1882, his teachers were prepared by their attendance at the annual supplemental training institutes. The teachers of Hamilton county selected curriculum, informed the community about school activities, and expected teachers to be upstanding and "moral" examples for students and the whole community. Wiley's later experience in higher education was characterized by similar expectations.

Teaching conditions were not always conducive to these lofty expectations. In some areas of the recently settled prairie, schoolhouses usually fell in order of importance below building one's dwelling and plowing one's fields. According to Elliott West, "when busy settlers got around to building their first schoolhouses, the results usually were more primitive than their own homes."[30] Damp, abandoned soddies and makeshift, drafty tents comprised the extent of school architecture in some areas. In the case of Hamilton County's Pine Knot school, the name implied a sturdy, wood frame building. Unlike other prairie schoolhouses, it was probably a showcase of the Hamilton county community. The Pine Knot school was built within 150 yards of the railroad two miles south of Marquette. Passengers on the first trains through Hamilton County would have seen this school as a prominent feature on the landscape. The Pine Knot schoolhouse still exists as a storage garage on private property two miles southeast of its original location.[31]

Living on the Prairie

The rudimentary living arrangements offered by the prairie did not exclude an aesthetic view of life. In the Hamilton County News on February 22, 1879, advertisements for common needs included a horse veterinarian, a well drilling company, land surveyor, and loan company. A photo artist was also included in the column of advertisements-an East Coast luxury for maintaining the memories of the westward settlers.[32] Nebraska pioneers shared in the comforts of home, as noted in a newspaper article on a "Tin Wedding" for a local husband and wife. The couple celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary by receiving gifts from friends. Those gifts included a cake dish, a cake cutter, a tea canister, and a pickle fork.[33] These items were not necessary for surviving the cold Nebraska winters, but added a touch of home to the small communities of Hamilton County. The refinements of culture, however, included more than table settings and wall hangings.

For prairie settlers, their religious practices also followed them to the prairies of Nebraska. The Hamilton County News advertised the organization of a new Presbyterian Sabbath school equipped with "a large, new library, a good supply of papers and lesson helps, and a corps of well informed and energetic teachers."[34] Churches were organized and supplied by a growing contingent of itinerant preachers from various denominations. One of those pioneer preachers had a significant influence on Wiley's life-an energetic minister named John W. Ward.

J. W. Ward

John W. Ward (1821-1899), Wiley's step-grandfather, became an influential and consistent influence upon Wiley's early life, his decision to go into the Christian ministry, and the tendency to emphasize social expressions of holiness on a college campus. Ward's life intersected with Wiley's in Hamilton County. [35]

Ward was born in Randolph County, Indiana on July 12, 1821. In 1847, Ward married Ohio native named Catharine Costlow. While living in Indiana, the Wards began to rear a family of seven boys and two girls. By 1867, Ward was a registered voter in Nebraska City, Nebraska located across the Missouri River from Iowa. Five years later, the family settled on a homestead in the Bluff precinct in northern Hamilton County, Nebraska.

In 1873, Ward operated a post office and trading store in Hamilton County. He leaned toward another vocation with pioneer spirit-itinerant preaching of the Christian message. Later that year, the Nebraska Annual Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ appointed Ward to the Bulter county mission. Soon he was transferred to the Platte Valley Circuit, which included northern Hamilton County. Here Ward passed the first year reading course for ministers preparing for ordination. At the same time, Ward served as a circuit preacher with eight appointments of 67 members.[36] He earned $10.00 annually for the assignment.[37]

The United Brethren Church in Christ

The United Brethren Church in Christ (UBC) was an influential 19th century religious movement with a concern for social issues. The UBC denomination, largely comprised of German speaking immigrants, began in the United States in the later years of the 18th century. Philip W. Otterbein, a pastor in Baltimore, Maryland with the German Reformed Church, and a Dutch Mennonite named Martin Boehm conducted evangelistic meetings in the former British colonies in America. The two met in an evangelistic meeting in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Their influence spawned small pietistic groups that propagated the evangelical beliefs of this movement until a formal conference was held in 1789. In 1800, a general conference formalized the movement as "The United Brethren in Christ."

The Constitution of 1841 adopted by the UBC General Conference became important to the church's future. This platform aggressively established and promoted a continuing history of social and moral reform. Temperance was a central concern as early as the 1841 conference. The official statement of the church prohibited the distilling, vending, and use of "intoxicating beverages."[38] The church also forbade members to support local liquor businesses. Finally, the use of fermented wines was restricted in sacramental services. In the 20th century, the last Sunday in November was named Temperance Sunday and pastors were encouraged to warn their congregations concerning the use and abuse of alcoholic beverages.[39] Ward preached temperance while in Hamilton County[40] and provided leadership toward making moral and social reforms.[41] Tobacco, gambling, women's rights, and slavery became social issues in which the United Brethren Church took progressive stands.[42] One of the demands in the Constitution of 1841 later divided the denomination-that of requiring church members to not hold membership in secret societies, such as the Masons, collegiate Greek fraternities and sororities, and other organizations that required secret oaths and initiations.

The divisions within the church came to a head in 1889.[43] The majority "liberals" adopted a confession of faith that recognized, among other issues, membership in secret societies.[44] In 1968 this group later joined with the Methodist Episcopal Church to become the United Methodist Church. The "radicals" maintained the confession of faith of 1815 and the Constitution of 1841. Bishop Milton Wright[45] started what became known as the "Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Old Constitution)." Denominational headquarters were moved to Huntington, Indiana. The Christian Conservator became the official publication and mouthpiece for the "Old Constitution" group. Most churches in 1889 were rural, including those located in the Western states.[46] Ward's alliances leaned toward the "Old Constitution" group. Ward's obituary, however, was printed in the Christian Conservator in 1900.

During the 19th century, the United Brethren Church formalized its social reforms into a focused, though splintered, movement by organizing its publishing, missionary, and educational efforts. The Christian Conservator became a flagship publication for the church. Missionary endeavors began with a "frontier" assignment of two preachers to the Oregon territory. The church's commitment to educating its pastors and laity was represented by the founding of Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio in 1847. The United Brethren emphases on publishing, missionary, and educational ventures continued through Ward's step-grandson, H. Orton Wiley.

How Ward Crossed Paths with Wiley

1877 was an important year for Wiley and Ward. In Wiley's case, it was the year he was born. Several events, including Wiley's birth, would make this year significant for Ward. Until this year, Ward worked as probate judge, justice of the peace, and served as juror in Hamilton County.[47] This year, however, he experienced significant changes in his profession and family.

John Ward reached a significant goal in his ministry for the United Brethren Church. On August 16, 1877, Ward was ordained assigned to another district near Omaha.[48] The denominational leaders soon offered Ward a major role in the church's social concerns by appointing him to the Nebraska Conference Committee on Moral Reform in 1878.[49] This circuit preacher was also recognized as a community leader through his responsibility as a probate judge for Hamilton County. His successes were tempered with heartache. The local newspaper reported the death of Catharine Ward writing "acquaintances will be pained to learn of the death of ex-Judge Ward's wife."[50] Ironically, this issue of the Hamilton County News was published on the same day H. Orton Wiley was born--November 16, 1877.

Proximity and circumstance may have led Ward to a recently widowed woman named Elizabeth A. Johnson in Hamilton County. On January 15, 1879, John W. Ward, 57, married Elizabeth (49), in the home of John T. Wiley, her son-in-law and father of the young H. Orton.[51] In three years, Ward moved his extended family out of the sod houses and into a more populated area in Marquette adjacent to the railroad running north-south through Hamilton County. On the edge of town, "Judge Ward and Company" built a grist mill--a windmill for processing corn for animal feed.[52] In many Nebraska towns, the grist mill served as the town center. The town of Marquette was eventually incorporated on May 29, 1884. J.W. Ward was listed as a trustee on the articles of incorporation.[53]

By 1886, Ward decided to sell his property in Hamilton County. His extended family, including the Wileys, headed to Tulare, California.[54] The move was completed by the summer, since Ward was listed as a visiting minister on the minutes of the United Brethren Tulare County Circuit Conference quarterly meeting on June 19, 1886.[55] Eventually, the caravan of Wards and Wileys moved to Medford, Oregon. Ward's death at age 78 was announced in an obituary in the Christian Conservator contributed by his son T.W. Ward.[56] In the obituary, Ward's favorite Bible verse was recalled: "As in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive."[57]

J. W. Ward's influence upon Wiley could be compared to the ridgepole of a sod house. Without Ward's influence, much of Wiley's life might have been considerably different. Wiley would probably not have moved to northern California and Oregon, interacted with folks interested in Christian holiness fueled by social concern and personal piety, or had been so willing to enter the ministry in the conservative, evangelical United Brethren Church in Christ.

Moving to California

Prairie settlers usually found it difficult to put down roots. When the Homestead Act was passed in 1863, 349 entries were made to claim 50,000 acres. By 1900, homesteaders claimed 20 million acres through 150,000 entries. Only half of those land buyers were successful in converting miles of prairie grass into profitable living.[58] The grasshopper plague of 1874 chased away many farmers and railroad investors. During the early 1880's, settlers entered Nebraska in rapid succession. Land speculation peaked in 1887. Afterward, the asking price dropped sharply with the decreased demand.[59] Just prior to this sharp decline in land speculation, the Wards and the Wileys sold their property in Nebraska and headed for the promising land of California.

According to Ramquist, the idea to move originated with Grandfather Ward.[60] The families began the journey on the Union Pacific railroad in Central City and traveled the 1500 miles to Sacramento, California. The Wards and Wileys made the seven-day trek to California by immigrant train car, in which they provided their own bedding and bought provisions at whistle stops along the way.[61]

The families moved south of Sacramento to Tulare and bought a ranch.[62] Here the curious, preadolescent Wiley collected rattlesnake skins. In two years, the families were on the move again to Coalinga in Fresno County to begin raising timber.[63] Without water, the business of growing trees was not possible. Grandfather Ward and Father Wiley attempted to dig a well to find water, a common and mostly successful task on the Nebraska prairie with its high water tables, which was not present among the foothills of the Sierras. Instead, "each time they struck oil."[64] Frustrated, they were without water and for little use for oil prior to the combustion engine. The families decided to raise hogs.

Young Wiley helped with the chores for meat preparation and tilling the fields. It was not uncommon, according to Elliott West, for children as young as twelve to work the fields and care for crops among frontier families.[65] When Wiley was 13, he was working a rough field with a horse-drawn plow. Something spooked the horse and it ran dragging Wiley behind it. The boy's leg was injured so seriously that he walked with a limp for the rest of his life.[66] Elliott West suggested that pioneer children, such as Wiley, carried heavy, almost adult, work responsibilities, many times working alone, such as plowing fields or curing pork. Also, these children identified readily with new environments, such as his curious investigation of rattlesnake skins.

Along with work and chores, Wiley also attended school. Twelve-year old Wiley's student notebook from September 15, 1890 shows the course of curriculum. His studies ranged from Barnes' Primary History, Ward's Business Forms No. 2, Prang's Drawing No. 6, Slate Physiology, and History. [67] Most of Wiley's assignments seem to be repetitive drills in spelling, arithmetic, and a steady stream of notes and inspirational quotes from famous people.

One of his assignments was to make a scale drawing of his school. Wiley drew a layout of the Johnston School House as it looked on October 1888.[68] The rectangular, one-room schoolhouse had an exterior door entering a cloak room with two doors to the right and left entering the main room. The teacher's desk was just inside and centered along the wall. In front of the teacher's desk was a recitation bench. Along each wall were 17 desks, nine on one side, eight on the other. A stove seems to be drawn three-fourths of the way to the back wall in the middle of the room. Four windows on each wall provided light and fresh air. Wiley's grammar school environment and curriculum corresponded to the one room schoolhouses described by Elliott West, including multi-age classes, recitations, and subjects, such as reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, drawing, physiology, and citizenship.[69]

Still frustrated in not finding water on the timber ranch, the extended family moved to Red Bluff north of Sacramento. From here Wiley's uncle, aunts, and grandparents moved to Medford. Wiley's parents stayed in the northern valley of California. It could have been that Wiley's mother had placed him in a good school and wanted him to finish grammar school. Wiley's pragmatic and developmental view toward life tended to take shape early in his scholastic career. In an undated literature report on the Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar, Wiley wrote, "[These writings can be] compared to life in which people do good and are always fond at work striving to do the better things. It shows that we have power in our hands to mold our life and [make] it a success or failure."[70] Wiley graduated from grammar school and the eighth grade on May 22, 1892, prior to moving to Medford, Oregon.[71]

Early Influences in Wiley's Life

This overview of early influences in Wiley's life illustrates the role that his environment play in his education. The environment was unduly harsh. Even in this harsh environment, communities attempted to educate their children. Wiley was an early beneficiary of these attempts at formal schooling in Hamilton county, Nebraska and Red Bluff, California. J. W. Ward, his grandfather, became a significant influence in Wiley's religious development. Wiley would eventually become a United Brethren minister in northern California. Ward's sensitivity toward social issues and reform would influence Wiley's concerns about how a moral atmosphere could permeate a college campus. Wiley's education as a child occurred not only in the classroom, but also at the hands of a plow or while exploring the wildlife on his parents' land. In his remarks on Julius Caesar, an adolescent Wiley emphasized two characteristics of his emerging educational philosophy: "work [at] striving to do the better things" [i.e. developmentalism] and the "power in our hands to mold.life to [make] it a success or failure" [i.e. pragmatism].[72]

Graduating Oration

H. Orton Wiley, Southern Oregon State Normal School, 1898

Ashland, Oregon.

History where rightly written is but a record of Providence and he who would read history intelligently must read it with his eye fixed on the hand of God. To the casual observer of Providence, or this ordinary reader of this world's history, the whole appears like a chaos, no system or form. No line of connection running through it. One course is seen here, another there. Kingdoms rise on the state of action one after another, become great and powerful then pass away. But viewed in the light of Providence, what before seemed so chaotic and disorderly now has the appearance of system and form. "Providence is the light of history." "God is in history and all history because God in it."

Unscroll the map of history where you please and you will meet portrayed before you the wonder-working Hand stretched out to protect his people, and to overrule men and events to the praise of his name and to the furtherance of his gracious plans.

In the first settlement of this country there are many things which indicate the grand design in its discovery. Follow his footsteps a moment and you will see. Social relations had become so deranged or unnaturally modified in the old world as no longer to affect a congenial soil for the growth of Christianity, or the progress of the world. Despotism was strangling the natal child of liberty. No hope remained that she should blossom into a beautiful maturity. Ecclesiastical domination had so monopolized and trampled down religious rights and freedom, that it seemed vain to expect that a religion pure and undefiled should flourish on such a soil. The time had arrived when God would enlarge the civilized world and for this purpose he had reserved a large and noble continent, -- a land fitted by its mighty rivers and lofty mountains, its vast prairies and inexhaustible mineral production to be a theatre for more extensive and gradual developments of the scheme of redemption than had ever yet transpired. Accordingly, he caused a spirit of bold adventure to move upon the face of the stagnant waters of Europe which found no rest until it brought forth a new world. The discovery of this country happened at the precise time when the interests of liberty and Christianity demanded a new and enlarged field for their protection and the better development of their excellencies. America at this time had been sufficiently known and prepared to receive the charge which the Reformation then closing had prepared for her.

Since the new continent was to be reserved as a home of religious freedom, it was necessary that it be settled by a liberty loving class of people, and it was to the Puritans, bound by oppression, and hardened by persecution in the old world, that this lot fell. When we remember that America was discovered by a Roman Catholic and taken possession of and made subject to Catholic gov't, the wonder-working Hand which has turned and overturned, till this once Catholic country has been washed perennial (as the wants of reformed religion have required) from the domination of Rome and made the stronghold of the doctrines of the Reformation, the subject will present more [sic]. New England was early the object of desire for France. As early as 1606 De Mont" explored and claimed it for France," but hostile savages prevented its settlement. The decree had gone out that they should never rule this land of promise and it could not be revoked. Thrice in the following years was their attempt renewed, and twice were they driven back by adverse winds, and the third time suffered shipwreck. Again it was tried by Pourtrincourt but he was compelled to abandon the project, and at a still later time the French armament of 40 ships attempted its destruction but a tempest ensued in such a greater part of the flue was wrecked, the duke and his principal general committed suicide, many died of sickness and thousands were drowned.

On the other hand, it is worthy of remark how God made room for his chosen people before he brought them here. He drove out the heathen before them. A pestilence raged just before the arrival of the Pilgrims which swept off vast numbers of the Indians. And the newly arrived preserved from absolute starvation by the very corn which the Indians had burned for their winter's provisions.

History also makes some singular developments in the respect to the retributive justice of God. It is interesting to read as we often may, the character and magnitude of the sin in the punishment which follows. Persecutors are persecuted; defrauders defrauded; covenant breakers are made the dupes of those as false and unprincipled as themselves and they who lightly esteem the character happiness or life or another are often left to have it meted out to them as they have measured it to others.

Nations, communities, families, and individuals furnish fearful illustrations that the "wicked is snared in the work of his own hand" and that "the way of the transgressor is hard." Wrong-doing, oppression and crime are by no means left only for future punishment but draw after them an almost certain retribution in this life. The transgressor may seem to prosper; he may revel in pleasure and shine in honor, yet somewhere there is a cankerworm gnawing at the very vitals of his happiness, --a blight somewhere upon all that he possesses.

The retributive justice of God never appears more merciful or terrific, or his wisdom more wonderful than where guilty nations are left to punish themselves for their own wickedness, or if they have been joined in the sin of other nations they are each left to mete out punishment to the other.

France and Spain were leagued together for the extirpation of Protestantism, and it is remarkable with what awful exactness, the severities which they inflicted on the Protestants were visited with dreadful usury on their own heads, and finally how they were made mutually the executors of Divine justice on each other. Where is there another such a heart-sickening drama as the French Revolution. Yet its cold blooded murder and disgusting carnage were but a re-enacting of the dreadful scenes of St. Bartholomew's Day, or the heartless cruelties of Louis XIV.

Gilded Spain was stained with the blood of martyrs, and the persecutions and oppressions which took place about the 15th and 16th centuries are dark pages in her history. Under the reign of Philip II she was at her height, and, enriched by the spoils of eastern nations and the exhaustless mines of America with territory covering half of Europe, and one of the finest armies in the world, she only needed the approbation of Heaven to make her the strongest nation on the earth. But she disobeyed the heavenly decree, and what is she now? Probably the most imbecile and contemptible nation on the earth, the strength and glory that might have been hers, being reserved for those more worthy. A voice from the throne of retributive justice has pronounced her doom. "How much she glorified herself and lived deliciously on the earth, so much torment and sorrow gives her."

Henceforth we find Spain afflicted with the most singular succession of national calamities. Hand in hand, France and Spain were the two great persecuting powers of the world. Now France under Napoleon turns upon her old ally, and during seven years waged a bloody and vindictive ward against Spain. The French in their march through the country left complete devastation, and at Saragosso, the streets and houses were inundated with the blood of Spaniards. Thus was Spain made to expiate all this religious blood spilled on her soil, and France once her ally became her tormentor. And what we must not overlook, Spain in her turn became the scourge and tormentor of France for "it was," said Napoleon. "That unhappy war in Spain that ruined me." This unfortunate war proved a real wound and was the first cause of many misfortunes in France.

So God has always shaped the destinies of nations to suit the prosperity of his people turning the hands of kings, princes, and people to favor them as their needs require or blotting out of existence the nation that should dare to raise its hand against the Lord's anointed ones. Beautifully have all things from the beginning been brought into subservience to this end. Political changes and state revolutions; wars and peace; plenty and famines; the virtues and vices of mankind, and all the minute and mighty movements of man are under the control of an invisible and Almighty hand, which without breaking in upon the established laws of nature or in entrenching on the freedom of human action makes them all subservient to the purposes of his infinite wisdom and perfection in the progress of the great work of human redemption. Here all opposition, however, skillfully concerted is unavailing. No weapon ever formed against the truth has prospered. Its victories have been as certain as they have been triumphant and glorious. The rage of persecution is either restrained or overruled for good. "However furiously the troubled waters have beat against the ark of the true Israel, however madly dashed against the rock of our salvation., that ark, that rock has remained immovable as the everlasting hills."

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