CHAPTER XVIII. Battle of Lexington--Officers Chosen--A Year of Discussion--Declaration of Independence--Spirit of English Nobility--Defeat of American Forces--Success at Trenton and Princeton--Sufferings at Valley Forge--Washington's Prayer--Burgoyne's Campaign--Arrival of La Fayette--Arnold's Treason--Andre's Death--Siege of Yorktown--Close of the War--Treaty of Peace--Army Disbanded--Washington Resigns his Commission--Constitutional Convention--Washington Elected President--His Death--His Tomb. CHAPTER XIX. Influence of La Fayette--Despotism in France--The Bastile--Corruption of the Church--Commencement of the Revolution--The Marseillaise--Its Wonderful Influence--Reign of Terror--Napoleon Bonaparte--His Wonderful Career--Jewish Sanhedrim--Fall of Napoleon--His Death--Progress of Liberty. CHAPTER XX. The Genius of the Age--European Wars--American Tranquil--Declaration of War--Divisions of North America--United States--Canada--Mexico--American Common Schools--Their Influence--Progress of Invention--First Steamboat--First Locomotive--Electric Telegraph--Improvements in Printing--Spiritual Darkness--The Kingdom of God--Wants of the Present Age--Joseph Smith--His Tragic Death--Conclusion. {9} THE HAND OF PROVIDENCE. CHAPTER I. THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND APOSTASY OF THE EARLY CHURCH. INJUSTICE OF ROMAN GOVERNORS--NERO EMPEROR--VESPASIAN AND TITUS SENT TO JUDEA--FORTIFICATIONS OF JERUSALEM--TITUS OFFERS TERMS OF PEACE--HORRORS OF THE SIEGE--WOMEN DEVOUR THEIR OWN CHILDREN--TEMPLE BURNED--CITY DESTROYED--DISPERSION OF THE JEWS--UNIVERSAL APOSTASY--PRIESTHOOD NO MORE--IDEAS OF GOD PERVERTED--WORSHIP CORRUPTED WITH HEATHEN RITES--PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS--EMPEROR CONSTANTINE--RISE OF MONASTIC ORDER. According to the best records that have come down to us, the last book of the New Testament (commonly called the Apocalypse of St. John) was written about sixty years after the ascension of our Savior. At that time the gospel of Jesus Christ had been preached in all the principal cities and countries of the known world. Numerous branches of the primitive church had been planted in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. In the meantime the awful doom which the Savior predicted against Jerusalem had been literally fulfilled. Shortly after the crucifixion and ascension of the Savior, Judea became the theatre of many cruelties and oppressions arising from contentions between the Jewish priests, the depredations of numerous bands of robbers, which infested the country; but more than all from the injustice and avarice of the Roman governors. {10} The last of these governors was Gessius Floras, whom Josephus represents as a monster in wickedness and cruelty, and whom the Jews regarded rather as a bloody executioner, sent to torture, than as a magistrate to govern them. [Image: Jerusalem.]