of himself with his human form of existence. His incarnation became a permanent and free act on his part from the moment he became conscious who he was. All his acts of obedience and of love, even his death, were an absolute self-sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. "All the fullness of the Godhead" dwelleth in him bodily. This fullness of the Godhead was the altar upon which his humanity was sacrified, and which gave it eternal efficacy. From the heights of heaven to which the crucified but risen God-man had ascended he poured upon his infant Church that miracle of the divine Spirit and sanctification which he had first consummated in himself, and thus prepared them-and if we, too, receive that miracle of the divine Spirit and sanctification into our entire being, will prepare us-for that exaltation and position of glory which he himself now occupies. He, as the God-man, as the ideal and highest type of being, wants to make us representatives of it here; and though we, who are true believers, are already the sons of God, "it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is " (1 John iii, 2). O, glorious destiny! Though our way may lead us through a Gethsemane and a Golgotha, it will end on Mount Olivet and in an ascension into the mansions of bliss and glory prepared for us by the God-man, Jesus Christ.

M. J. levamer

ART. VI.-SIGNIFICANCE OF SAN JACINTO.*

GOD is in human affairs more than we think. The episodes of our American history furnish many illustrations of the fact. Our Declaration of Independence, as we now see, was an epochal event, touching in its remoter results all human affairs. In the light of evolution San Jacinto will come to be regarded as one of the great factors in our American development. As a man passes on in life he attains a point from which he easily sees the turning point of his career. Contemplated thus, the battle of San Jacinto must even now be looked upon as one of the greatest turning points of our national development. It brought to us an area larger than that of the original Union, and the prestige it added to the country cannot be computed.

Be

The preludes of this battle make up a stirring and romantic train of events. In 1824 Mexico, having thrown off her foreign Spanish yoke, as Cuba is now endeavoring to do, adopted a federal constitution similar to that of the United States. fore this event took place many adventurous Americans had been in northern and eastern Texas and had seen the land. They were pleased with its loveliness. Its skies were like the glorious skies of Italy, and its prairies spread out to form an Eden on the grandest scale. Traffic had already been opened by traders at Natchez, on the Mississippi. The advantages of this were soon seen, and a tide of immigration set in. In the first decade of the present century there was an American military expedition-of a voluntary character-which went forth to help Mexico in her revolt from Spain. They went as far as San Antonio, five hundred miles west of the Mississippi. By the passing and repassing that was thus established eastern Texas soon became well known in American circles. Following this train of events a most sagacious and farseeing man, Moses Austin, appears upon the scene. He concluded a treaty

*The author of this article has had the advantage of going over the ground be describes while tarrying as an invalid in Harrisburg, Tex., in 1886 and ministering to the little church there. He also made a careful examination of the site of the battle, resting under the mossgrown oak where General Houston slept the night before the battle. He also occupied the same room in the old hotel at Harrisburg in which Santa Anna was held a prisoner. Under such influences he was led to give the history of this stirring episode a new and thorough examination. He thinks the United States should secure these grounds and dedicate them to freedom, and adorn them with a monument to one of her greatest men, General Sam Houston.-EDITOR.

with the governor of the province by which he secured the right of settling three hundred American families in the country. He soon died, but his son immediately took his place, a man equally wise, and secured another contract to settle another colony of three hundred nearer the Gulf. This settlement was made on the Brazos in 1821. Austin rode twelve hundred miles

on horseback to the city of Mexico to secure this additional grant, after the independence of Mexico had been secured. This colony increased with great rapidity. After achieving her independence Mexico held out large inducements to citizens of the United States to settle in the Texan province, promising the same rights which she extended to her own citizens. This gave a new impetus to immigration. Settlements sprang up on her fertile plains and great river bottoms, and towns and cities began to appear in the wilderness. News of Austin's success and of these overtures of Mexico reached our Northern States, and won many an adventurous spirit. Additional colonies were formed, who pressed their way to the newly discovered Eden. To the American citizen of to-day it is almost impossible to picture the stirring scenes of this episode.

In all human things action and reaction seem to be a law as certain as the ebb and flow of the tides. The influx of life from the United States excited the jealousy of Mexico. She saw that these immigrants were animated with the ideas of liberty and love for the institutions of their native land, and that their power might soon become so great as to imperil her eastern frontier. Accordingly she forbade all further immigration. She also established military posts in the settlements of the colonies, where severest cruelties were practiced upon the population she had invited into her borders. In the meantime the Mexican government, with its new federal constitution, had been overthrown by Santa Anna, who became dictator and then emperor. In the midst of these rapidly transpiring events the colonists, who were far removed from the scenes of strife, remained quiet and peaceable, and adhered to the government established in 1824, under the auspices of which they had come into the country. But Mexico, under Santa Anna, made her policy more stringent. Armed vessels appeared and blockaded the ports of the Gulf, while Santa Anna, with eight thousand troops, appeared in the interior at

San Antonio. Against this pompous and ferocious leader the Texan Americans, without strength or troops or money resources, and far from home, were left to contend as best they could for the rights which the constitution of 1824 guaranteed them. The Mexican army was commanded to arrest the state authorities and to disarm the inhabitants, allowing only one gun to every five hundred of the colonists. They were also to reduce the province to unconditional surrender. But their arms were their private property, brought with them to the country, their only means of defense against the savages around them, and their only resource for procuring game. The demand was therefore resisted with the characteristic pluck of the American. Hostilities commenced at once, and for two months the struggle was swift, terrific, and of vast importance, not only to the struggling colonies, but to the United States.

At this juncture, and as if providentially, a new character appears upon the scene, whose deeds were to add one more name to the list of Americans that have achieved immortal fame. General Sam Houston, says Mr. Blaine, had a history as romantic as an ancient crusader. He was a native of Virginia, a representative in Congress from Tennessee, and governor of that State before he was thirty-five. He was the intimate and trusted friend of Jackson. Having resigned the governorship on account of domestic trouble, he fled from civilized life, joined the Indians of the Western plains, roved with them for years, adopted their habits, and was made the chief of a tribe. Returning to associate with white men, he emigrated to Texas. He was yet in the morning of life and in the full vigor of manhood. He had watched the struggle in Texas from the beginning. He left his wigwam, and was soon found at the seat of the Austin colony. He pressed on thence to San Antonio, gaining in his journey of five hundred miles a full idea of the sitnation of affairs, and forming a good judgment of the soil and resources of the country. "This great land," he wrote to Jackson, "will soon be in the hands of England or America." After taking well his reckonings he espoused the cause of the struggling colonies, and they espoused him and made him their commander.

The two great characters now in the drama are Santa Anna and General Houston. The scene is two hundred and fifty

miles of territory, mostly plains and prairies, stretching eastward from San Antonio toward the Gulf and the city of New Orleans, two hundred and fifty miles still farther to the eastward. The first onset was made in an attempt to capture from the colonists a little four-pounder. One of the Mexican generals marched seventy miles east of San Antonio to capture this weapon, which they knew would be effective if once turned on them. He marched back again without his gun; but blood was shed, and a point was gained in that the Mexican had fired the first shot. The general was pursued back to his headquarters, and for the first time in her history San Antonio was invested by American Texan soldiery. There were only eight hundred of them, but they were cheered by the news that others were coming and by the further news that Goliad had been captured. Austin was in command, and Houston soon joined him. While these things were transpiring a provisional government had been created and Mexicans asked to unite with the colonists on the basis of the constitution of 1824. Houston was active in bringing all this about. He was still clothed in the costume of the Indian, which led Jackson to exclaim, "Thank God, there is one man in Texas that was made by the Almighty, and not by the tailor!" It was a critical moment. Money and friends were both to be raised, and right quickly. While grave deliberations were going on among the leaders a skirmish ensued, in which one hundred of them sustained themselves in a gallant action against five hundred Mexicans. Then one brave spirit proposed to lead an attack upon the place, and it was done. The Alimo surrendered. It was afterward found that only one hundred and seventy-five Americans were in the fray, while eleven hundred Mexicans folded their arms and marched out of the citadel. Afterward this brave but insignificant band, commanded by Captain Travis, an intrepid spirit, were left to hold the fort. Houston saw clearly that the Alimo could not be held by such a force, and ordered Travis to blow it up and fall back on Gonzales, where he might form a line of defense. On his way out Houston had left a few United States regulars at Goliad, who had to depend wholly on cattle for sustenance. We shall hear of these further on. Houston in the meantime had become the subject of jealousy and treachery. But events are moving too rapidly for effective