Holy Church forgotten

Never has Holy Church forgotten, abhorrent, as she is, from the Pantheistic tendencies which in all ages have surrounded her, never has she forgotten the interests of that mighty mother in whose bosom we feed in life, into whose arms we drop in death; never has she forgotten that that mother is the special creature of God, and to be honoured, in leaf and flower, in lofty tree and pleasant stream, for His sake, as well as for our own; that while it is our primeval penalty to till the earth, the earth lovingly repays us for our toil; that Adam was a gardener even in Paradise, and that Noe inaugurated his new earth by “beginning to be a husbandman, and by planting a vineyard”.

Such is the genius of the true faith; and it might have been thought, that, though not Christians, even of very gratitude, the barbarous race, which owed a part of whatever improvement of mind or manners they had received, to the fair plains of Sogdiana, would, on occupying their rich and beautiful territories on the north, east, and south of the Mediterranean, have felt some sort of reverence for their captive, and, while enjoying its gifts, would have been merciful to the giver. But the same selfish sensuality, with which they regard the rational creation of God, possesses them in their conduct towards physical nature. They have made the earth their paramour, and are heartless towards her dis-honour and her misery.

We have lately been reminded in this place of the Doge of Venice making the Adriatic his bride, and claiming her by a ring of espousal; but the Turk does not deign to legitimatize his possession of the land he has violently seized, or to gain a title to it by any sacred tie; caring for no better right than the pirate has to the jurisdiction of the high seas. Let the Turcoman ride up and down Asia Minor or Syria for a thousand years, how is the trampling of his horse hoofs a possession of those countries, more than a Scythian raid or a Tartar gallop across it?

The imperial Osmanli sits and smokes long days in his pavilion; and thinks not of his broad domain except to despise and to plunder and impoverish its cultivators ; and is his title made better thereby than the Turcoman’s, to be the heir of Alexander and Seleucus broad beans, of the Ptolemies and Massinissa, to be the representative of Constantine and Justinian? What claim does it give him upon Europe, Asia, and Africa, upon Greece, Palestine, and Egypt, that he has frustrated the munificence of nature and demolished the works of man ?

Asia Minor

Asia Minor especially, the peninsula which lies between the Black Sea, the Archipelago, and the Mediterranean, was by nature one of the most beautiful, and had been made by art one of the most fertile of countries. It had for generations contained flourishing marts of commerce, and it had been studded with magnificent cities; the ruins of which now stand as a sepulchre of the past. No country perhaps has seen such a succession of prosperous states, and had such a host of historical reminiscences, under such distinct eras and such various distributions of territory. It is memorable in the beginning of history for its barbarian kings and nobles, whose names stand as common-places and proverbs of wealth and luxury.

The magnificence of Pelops imparts lustre even to the brilliant dreams of the mythologist. The name of Croesus, King of Lydia, whom I have already had occasion to mention, goes as a proverb for his enormous riches. Midas, King of Phrygia, so abounded in the precious metals, that he was said by the poets to have the power of turning whatever he touched into gold. The tomb of Mausolus, King of Caria, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was the same with the Greek colonies which wTere scattered along its coasts; they are renowned for opulence, for philosophy, and for the liberal and the fine arts.