No. 8.

THE

VOL. ill.

On the spot, where stood the elegant meeting house of the "Benevolent Congregational Society," lately destroyed by fire in Providence (R. I.) the foundation of a superb edifice has recently been laid. On placing the corner stone, under which was deposited a plate containing dates &c. of the church, the Rev. Henry Edes, pastor of the church, made the following address and invocation, in presence of a very numerous assembly collected to witness the ceremony. With some persuasion, I have prevailed with him to furnish me with a copy of them, believing they would not be unacceptable to the readers of the Christian Disciple. G. Address made previous to the lay

ing of the corner stone. The object, my brethren and friends, for which we are here assembled, is extremely simple and proper: We are not met, merely to witness or to engage in an idle and empty ceremony, for the purpose of ostentation, parade or display; but to discharge what we believe to be a Vol. III.

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For the Christian Disciple. sacred and incumbent duty. About to lay the Corner Stone of a new temple, intended for the worship of Almighty God, we are now in the face and under the broad canopy of heaven, unitedly to invoke the divine blessing upon our undertaking, hereby acknowledging in the language of the pious Psalmist that Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it."

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An interval of almost a year has elapsed since many of us stood upon this spot the melancholy spectators of an event as unexpected as it was calamitous. Notwithstanding the materials of which our former "holy and beautiful house, the house in which we and our fathers worshipped God," were of a combustible kind, yet, such was its insulated situation, that no idea was more remote from our minds, than the possibility of its destruction by fire, and had the earth here opened her jaws and instantly received the building within ber bowels, the surprise would hardly have been

greater than was experienced when we saw it falling a prey to the ravages of the cruel and devouring flames. Our surprise however, my friends, was not greater than our grief on account of this unhappy event; and nothing short of an unbounded confidence and trust in the wisdom of that Being, who in mercy afflicted, could then have soothed or sustained our drooping spirits. We who were most nearly interested in, and deeply affected by this occurrence, considered it ourselves as it seems to have been viewed by others, as a judgment from heaven upon us— not sent perhaps on account of our distinguished transgressions, the peculiar heresy of our doctrines, or the uncommonly wicked practices of our lives; "not because we were sinners above all who dwelt in Jerusalem," but as a merited correction from our divine Father, which, we hope, will be religiously improved by us, and ultimately made to work for our good, as we are assured all things will, toward those who fear God. Bowing, as we trust, with christian resignation to this correcting stroke, and confessing the goodness as well as justice of God in its infliction, our desire and our intention now is to repair the breach he has made upon us-to rebuild our ruined walls, and from the ashes of our old to cause to spring up a new edifice to the honor of his name, fervently praying, that both as respects the beauty and elegance of the building, and the zeal and piety of those who may hereafter worship in it, the glory of the latter temple may be incomparably

greater than that of the former. With our own we hope that the prayers of all the well disposed, of all catholic christians will ascend; at least we should be extremely sorry to suppose, that there should be any so uncharitable in their feelings and principles, so unfriendly to our interests as a christian community, as not to wish us God's speed. Towards our fellow christians of every denomination we have ever cherished sentiments of cordial esteem and good will. The rights of conscience, which we hold among the dearest, and which we are ready to defend at any risk, we have never been disposed to deny to others. Our affections have never been withheld, nor our fellowship refused to any, merely on account of a diversity in their forms or mode of worship, or a variance from our own in what we are led to consider speculative points in theology. We acknowledge all as christians who conscientiously profess, as we do, to love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth; and whether of our own particular communion or not, we never have failed, and I trust never shall fail, to pray that grace, mercy and peace may be multiplied unto them. We receive the holy scriptures as containing the revealed will of God; agreed and determined to construe their meaning for ourselves, and desiring to make them, and them only, the rule of our faith and our practice. We claim no infallibility of judgment in our peculiar construction of the doctrines they unfold; nor, on the other hand, do we shrink

from the anathemas or reproaches which our own openly avowed sense of their sacred contents may draw upon us. Our spiritual edifice we profess to build upon that foundation which God has laid in Zion, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, in whom we hope all the building fitly framed together will grow up unto an holy temple in the Lord. Such, my friends, being our feelings and such our principles, we think we have a claim upon the good wishes and fervent prayers of all who call themselves christians; and on these grounds, we presume that all, of whatever denomination, here present, will unite with us in the address which we are now about to offer up to Almighty God, Invocation on laying the corner

stone.

In the presence of that Almighty Being whose blessing we have invoked, I now lay this corner stone. May this foundation and the superstructure to be raised upon it remain uninjured in strength and unimpaired in beauty for centuries to come; may nothing but the mouldering hand of time or the general convulsion of nature disjoint or disconnect the stones, of which this building is to be composed; but compiled and arranged in architectural order, elegance, and beauty, may they long, very long, stand a noble monument of the skill of the artificer, and of the munificent spirit of the people

who erected them, a proof of their zeal for the honor of God, and of their desire to promote the influence of the gospel of his Son Jesus Christ. To this spot, as in times past, may many soon again resort, to hear those glad tidings of great joy, which proclaim peace on earth and good will to

men.

Here may a new altar for spiritual worship be erected, and therefrom may pure and abundant incense of prayer and praise rise up in acceptance before the throne of God. Never within these walls which we hope to see swiftly rise upon this foundation -never may the bloody or persecuting spirit of bigotry take up her residence or erect her standard. There may religions intolerance, gloomy fanaticism, ignorant and overheated zeal, or pharasaical pride never find a place; but there may the angel of love descend, the heaven born spirit of charity ever delight to live and dwell.

To this spot, at no distant time, may many come to plume their wings for flight to happier worlds, and in the temple, about to be here erected, may thousands, born and unborn, become prepared for a building of God, a

house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

And now unto him that is of power to establish us according to the gospel, to God only wise, be glory, through Jesus Christ. AMEN.

THE Crusades against the Mahometans as infidels, for the recovery of the Holy Land, may be regarded as a custom distinct from the propagation of the gospel by the sword; because the conversion of that people was not so much as the avowed object of those expeditions. Extermination rather than conversion was the object of the Crusades. Never was а custom more popular in Europe than this. All Europe seemed ready to precipitate itself in one united body into Asia. Nor did the fumes of this enthusiastic zeal evaporate at once; it was as lasting as it was extravagant. During two centuries, Europe seem ed to have no object but to recov. er, or to keep possession of the Holy Land; and throughout that period vast armies continued to march thither. If we may believe the concurring testimony of cotemporary authors, six millions of persons assumed the cross, which was the badge that distinguished those who devoted themselves to this holy warfare."*

After the proposition was made, two ecclesiastical councils gave their opinions on the question. The council of Placentia, where upwards of 30,000 persons were assembled, pronounced the scheme to have been suggested by the immediate inspiration of Heaven. In the council of Clermont, still more numerous. as soon as the matter was proposed, all

cried out with one voice "It is the will of God."

Nobles, ecclesiastics, men of all classes, and even women and children, engaged in what was thought to be a meritorious enterprize. As inducements to volunteer their services, those who assumed the cross were exempted from prosecution for debt, from paying interest for the money borrowed to equip themselves, and from paying taxes. They were allowed to alienate their lands without the consent of the lords, of whom they held them. Their persons and effects were taken under the care of the Pontif They enjoyed the privileges of ecclesiastics, in being under spiritual jurisdiction only. In addition to these allurements, they were promised a full pardon of all their sins and the joys of heaven, without any other evidence of a penitent heart but that of engaging in what was impiously called the holy war.

One of the leaders in this mad enterprize wrote a letter to his wife, in which he probably expressed the views and feelings, that then prevailed. An account of this letter is given by Dr. Robertson in the 14th note of the first volume of the history of Charles V. "He describes, says the Doctor, the Crusades as the chosen army of Christ, as the servants and soldiers of God, as men who marched under the immediate protection of the Almighty, being conducted by his

hand to victory and conquest. He speaks of the Turks as accursed, sacrilegious, and devoted by heaven to destruction: And when he mentions the soldiers in the christian army, who had died or were killed, he is confident that their souls were admitted directly to the joys of paradise." p. 198.

Such were the delusions of the war fever which reigned and raged in Europe for two centuries; and by which millions of professed christians lost their lives. These armies of maniacs, deluded by promises of pardon and salvation, indulged the vil est passions, and committed the most atrocious crimes. The first army of invaders amounted to eight hundred thousand in separate divisions. "The first division of this prodigious army committed the most abominable enormities in the countries through which they passed, and there was no kind of insolence, injustice, impurity, barbarity and violence, of which they were not guilty. Nothing perhaps in the annals of history can equal the flagitious deeds of this infernal rabble." See Dr. Maclaine's note in Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History. Vol. ii. p. 431.

In describing the terrible effects of the Crusades, Dr. Mosheim says, "Without determining any thing concerning the justice or injustice of these holy wars, we may boldly affirm, that they were highly prejudicial both to the cause of religion, and to the civil interests of mankind; and that in Europe more especially they were fruitful of innumerable evils, whose effects are

yet perceivable in our times. The European nations were deprived of the greatest part of their inhabitants by these illjudged expeditions. Immense sums of money were exported into Asia for the support of the war; and numbers of the most powerful and opulent families became either extinct, or were involved in the deepest miseries of poverty and want." Vol. ii. pp. 437,438.

Christians of the present day, who read the history of the Crusades, can view the clergy and nobles of Europe at that period as men more fit to be confined in bedlam, than to run at large and be employed as instructors or rulers. It is a matter of amazement, that a few deluded characters with whom the scheme originated, could diffuse their wild enthusiasm and barbarous insanity through all the nations of christendom, so as to inspire people of every grade with a disposition to hazard their lives and their all in such a murderous enterprize. Infidels also of the present day can reproach christianity on the ground of these delusions and extravagancies. But neither christians nor unbelievers seem to be aware, that the history of our times will afford matter of equal astonishment to future generations.

I have no desire to exculpate professed christians from the charge of the most glaring inconsistency and infatuation; but unbelievers of the present age have little ground to boast. The reign of infidelity in France, produced scenes of horror, which were never exceeded in the pa