The claims of temperance have likewise led to
an organized effort, and if the pious and gentle Mr. Laird were
permitted once again to visit the place, after a lapse of seven years,
he might fervently exclaim, in the language of the Gospel, "What hath
God wrought?"
CHAPTER XLII.
Revival of St. Mary's--Rejection of Mr. Van Buren as Minister to
England--Botany and Natural History of the North-west--Project of a new
expedition to find the Sources of the Mississippi--Algie
Society--Consolidation of the Agencies of St. Mary's and
Michilimackinack--Good effects of the American Home Missionary
Society--Organization of a new inland exploring expedition committed to
me--Its objects and composition of the corps of observers.
1832, _Jan. 31st_. I was now to spend a winter to aid a preacher in
promoting the diffusion and understanding of the detailed facts, which
all go to establish a great truth--a truth which was first brought to
the world's notice eighteen hundred and thirty-two years before, namely,
that God, who was incarnate in the Messiah, under the name of Jesus
Christ, offered himself a public sacrifice for human sins, amidst the
most striking and imposing circumstances of a Roman execution--a fact
which, in an age of extraordinary moral stolidity and ecclesiastical
delusion, was regarded as the behest of a mere human tribunal.
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