sed them. This decisive act restored order. Ivan IV. immediately
devoted all his energies to preparing dwellings for the houseless poor
and in relieving their necessities. His whole soul seemed aroused to
promote the happiness of his subjects, both temporal and spiritual,
and all selfish considerations were apparently obliterated from his
mind. In order to consolidate, by the aids of religion, the happy
change effected in the government and in his own heart, the young
sovereign shut himself up for several days in solitude, and, in the
exercises of self-examination, fasting and prayer, made the entire
consecration of himself to his Maker. He then assembled the bishops in
one of the churches, and, in their presence, with touching words and
tearful eyes, made confession of his faults, implored divine
forgiveness, and then, with the calmness of a soul relieved of the
burden of sin, received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

With true nobility of soul, he wished his penitence to be as
conspicuous as his sins had been. He resolved to humble himself before
his Maker in the presence of all Russia, that his subjects universally
might understand the new principles which animated his heart, and the
new desires which would enlist his energies. Every city in the empire
received orders to send deputies to Moscow, chosen from all the ranks
of society, to attend to matters of the utmost importance to the
country. The Sabbath morning after their arrival, they were all
assembled, an immense multitude, in one of the public squares of the
city. The czar, accompanied by the clergy and the nobles, left the
palace of the Kremlin to meet the deputies. The solemnity of the
Sabbath hallowed the scene, and the people received their sovereign in
profound silence.

The metropolitan bishop first offered a prayer. Ivan IV. then,
standing on a platform, addressed the bishop in the following terms:

"Holy father! Your zeal for religion, your love for our country are
well known to me; aid me in my good intentions. I lost, while an
infant, my parents, and the nobles, who sought only their own
aggrandizement, neglected entirely my education, and have usurped, in
my name, wealth and power. They have enriched themselves by injustice,
and have crushed the poor without any one daring to check their
ambition. I was, as it were, both deaf and dumb in my deplorable
ignorance, for I heard not the lamentations of the poor, and my words
solaced them not in th