EMBARKED FOR ENGLAND, 319 



vileges which America enjoys, different opinions 

 will of course prevail. The grand experiment, 

 however, which the people of the United States 

 are making, in their national system of govern- 

 ment, is still progressing after the trial of more 

 than half a century. And the United States of 

 America present themselves as the country, 

 which, next to Britain, has the most ample re- 

 sources to spread the knowledge of divine truth 

 over different countries, and which in its rapidly 

 increasing greatness, will find aids and supplies 

 larger than has yet been possessed by any 

 empire for benefiting mankind. Even now, in 

 the infancy of their origin, it is said, that " their 

 vessels touch upon every coast, their inhabitants 

 sojourn in every country, and even without their 

 intentional efforts, religion grows with their 

 growth, and strengthens with their strength ; 

 they carry their altars with them into the wil- 

 derness, and through them civilization and 

 Christianity will flow on with an ever-enlarging 

 stream, till they cover the shores of the Pacific. 

 Even then the ocean will not terminate their 

 progress, but rather open out a passage to the 

 shores of Eastern Asia, till both the Old and 

 the New world are united and flourish beneath 

 the same acts, and the same religion." 



In August, I embarked on board the Silas, 



