Litchfield enquirer., 1853-12-22
5lfkkn fN.

lne is,,sraasi affairs, God is won't 70 use s,s;eled men and wicked nations, and
 ;efSd'Ssss ifsslE as in9sFunisnls by which so carry Cn bis work. They do rol mean tu.b0nnr God and sIhservs Ills parI,osas, yst lie 9 controls Their evil doings as to malte them subserve His great and good purposes. Tue mad ( Assyfian comes down on lIie plains of Jadea, blasphening the GDd ofllsaven and det, ing His power, and having t in lis heart 10 destroy and cut olf nations noi | feM. He comes with evil intent and has made himself strong lo to mischief. ye, God las ! great and good purpose to accomplish by hiin. He will chasten his people for their sins, and thus bring them back to their love and allsgiance. The king ofAssyria was therefore the ss rod of his ;aneer'' and the | slaf Ol his indigna-l ,ion'' to accomplish this end. Yet, noI sooner was ,his accomplished, than ilSe blaspheming king and al the wicked agents of flis will are summarily pun- ished. The .'rod" and tho staff" were broken and cast away In bis righteous indignation.
 The merciless prosecutions which swept over tie early christian church like desolating tornado, apparently SO Icalamitous, were made llle occasion of a wider extension of the gospel-of confirming the early christians in the 'faiih--of elevaiing christian character, and giving an importance and and . good notofiety 10 the christian chIfch which nothing else could. The pefse- culion which arose 'aboul Steplien, though so immediately grieyons. was, sin the result. s0 6vetrsiled as to be re- ally ! prosperous event. And the spersecutions in which Saul Of Tarsus iacfed % conspicuous part. conribu- ted, among other results, 10 furnish the church with one Of tae most prominent and influential ministers of ,lae new testament.
 The easly religious controversies, which to many appeared So disastrous to the best interests of the church and much to be depiorea, were neyertlfc. less made, in the wise orderings Of Providence, productive Of great good. They not only kept dive the aciiciyI of men in m age in which there was danger of . general le,hargy, and led doaiie esiablishmentof of schools of iearh- ing but they guarded. with tlls most scrupulous vigilance, the written word and every doclrino and precepr sherein contained, agains. the slightest attempts of san opponent 10 cnniuie them.
 Josephus, the Jew, sets himself tc write history Of she destruction 0 Jerusalem by the Romans. He design, sgo please his R0snan masters, to dispar age tbe clains of Jesus of Nazareth and 10 cast contempt on the christial church ]; yet the mind of this man, con trary to his own feelings and intentions isso restrained and guided that lie be cones oneOf tho most inpnrian. wit nesses to ihe truth cf Revelation --is inc mission of Jesus, and 10 the divinil, ofthe christian ciurch Mafihew z tho @sssngelisi, wrote the prediction of the dreadful downfall Of Jerusalem Jose phus, the unbclieying Jew, furnished he most exaci and ample faltillmsn, q that prediction .a ssanding witness ia allgr1eraiions of the divinity Of sl,e Snu Df David oa accoant of Nbase rejection and murder all these xnlan,ilies has come on The Jewish people.
 Gibbon with III the sell-complacen of geHieel infidelity. sits down hy tiis lake ef Geusva n wife tn. history . the decline and lall nf the Roman ena. 'pise. He never lost an oppoFlsniiy q cast gibe as the christians, or ever, possible siigana nn christianity, and l is hul too probable that he w1ose will The secnet lnIElll 10 siab christianity is lhe heaft. es,inspile of himself ans his worst intentions, his mind was un witiingly dirse,ed oyer | fsld of re zeafeh and his pen so guided by m un seen Hind. thal he has been made ss snbservs the pefy cause whicllshe es- sayedi io destfoy. He Is. move than any 'olhef historian the clfnniclsr ol iacss and events. which most ronvincingly attest the ,suih of divine Revelation and especially serve as | commentary on slas sy,nbolical, prophetic Bool called the Anusaly pse.
 he corruption of inc clergy -th. nnbhnshine usl1gpasiops ol Popes ---thl l1orrprs ol religions Bssecutinns -sh isnnranse dsspoiism and seqsFsiisions | ihn 1 6lh century N50nsla slIieientlj ss psedisposing canses, 70 hfing ahou she Relonnaiion of lIls lliih century