The discovery of America by Columbus was situated, in point of time, between two great events, which have caused it to be much more noticed, and have rendered it far more important than it would otherwise have been. I mean the art of printing, which was discovered about the year 1440, and which has been and will be of infinite use to mankind, and the Reformation from popery, which began about the year 1517, the effects of which have already been highly beneficial in a political as well as in a religious point of view, and will continue and increase.
These three great events—the art of printing, the discovery of America, and the Reformation—followed each other in quick succession; and, combined together, have already produced much welfare and happiness to mankind, and certainly will produce abundance more.
By the discovery of America there was much room given to the inhabitants of the Old World; an asylum was prepared for the persecuted of all nations to fly to for safety, and a grand theater was erected where Liberty might safely lift up her standard, and triumph over all the foes of freedom. America may be called the very birthplace of civil and religious liberty, which had never been known to mankind until since the discovery of that country.
But the importance of the discovery will appear greater and greater every year, and one century to come will improve America far more than the three centuries past.
The prospect opens; it extends itself upon us. "The wilderness and solitary place shall rejoice, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." I look forward to that glorious era when that vast continent shall be fully populated with civilized and religious people; when heavenly wisdom and virtue, and all that can civilize, adorn, and bless the children of men, shall cover that part of the globe as the waters cover the seas.
Transported at the thought, I am borne forward to days of distant renown. In my expanded view, the United States rise in all their ripened glory before me. I look through and beyond every yet peopled region of the New World, and behold period still brightening upon period. Where one contiguous depth of gloomy wilderness now shuts out even the beams of day, I see new states and empires, new seats of wisdom and knowledge, new religious domes, spreading around. In places now untrod by any but savage beasts, or men as savage as they, I hear the voice of happy labor, and behold beautiful cities rising to view.
Lo, in this happy picture, I behold the native Indian exulting in the works of peace and civilization; his bloody hatchet he buries deep under ground, and his murderous knife he turns into a pruning fork, to lop the tender vine and teach the luxuriant shoot to grow. No more does he form to himself a heaven after death (according to the poet), in company with his faithful dog, behind the cloud-topped hill, to enjoy solitary quiet, far from the haunts of faithless men; but, better instructed by Christianity, he views his everlasting inheritance—"a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Instead of recounting to his offspring, round the blazing fire, the bloody exploits of their ancestors, and wars of savage death, showing barbarous exultation over every deed of human woe, methinks I hear him pouring forth his eulogies of praise, in memory of those who were the instruments of heaven in raising his tribes from darkness to light, in giving them the blessings of civilized life, and converting them from violence and blood to meekness and love.
Behold the whole continent highly cultivated and fertilized, full of cities, towns, and villages, beautiful and lovely beyond expression. I hear the praises of my great Creator sung upon the banks of those rivers unknown to song. Behold the delightful prospect! see the silver and gold of America employed in the service of the Lord of the whole earth! See slavery, with all its train of attendant evil, forever abolished! See a communication opened through the whole continent, from north to south, and from east to west, through a most fruitful country! Behold the glory of God extending, and the gospel spreading, through the whole land!