THE DIFFICULTY BEYOND HUMAN WISDOM.

But with all these apprehensions, the wisdom of no man in Church or State was equal to grapple with the subject. Slavery had so interwoven its power with every element of our politics, had so completely subsidized every department of the Government, that the nation stood appalled at the threatening danger, while no one could see our way out of the labyrinth of difficulties by which we were environed. Slavery had become a universal theme for discussion; its character, bearings, dangers, extortions; but no one could solve the problems it presented. It had become the pons asinorum in politics and religion, for statesmen, philosophers, divines. We quite agree with Dr. Palmer, in his Thanksgiving Discourse in New Orleans:

It is not too much to say, that if the South should, at this moment, surrender every slave, the wisdom of the entire world, united in solemn council, could not solve the question of their disposal.

This is a sentiment to which probably, at the time it was announced, the mass of his countrymen would have subscribed. But God can easily do what man cannot, and that too through man's reluctant agency; bringing to mind another truth in the same discourse:

Baffled as our wisdom may now be, in finding a solution of this intricate social problem, it would, nevertheless, be the height of arrogance

right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact." Those declaimers who deem Mr. Lincoln or Mr. Seward awfully guilty for uttering "that hideous sentiment," should vent their wrath upon Mr. Jefferson, and other statesmen of our early history. We can excuse some stump orators for their ignorance; but it is a sign that the schoolmaster ought to be abroad, when the Legislature of Jefferson's own State can commit the blunder of ascribing this saying to Mr. Lincoln as its author. The Richmond Enquirer of July 4, 1864, publishes an Address from the Legisla ture of Virginia to the people of that State, in which this sentence occurs: "Mr. Lincoln was the author of that hideous sentiment, that the States of the Union could not remain part Free and part Slave States-that they must be wholly Free or wholly Slave."

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to proncunce what changes may or may not occur in the distant future. In the grand march of events, Providence may work out a solution undiscoverable by us. * * *If this question should ever arise, the gen

eration to whom it is remitted will doubtless have the wisdom to meet it, and Providence will furnish the lights in which it is to be resolved.

How little did the eloquent divine think, when he was uttering this pregnant sentence, so profoundly true, and its realization not reserved for "the distant future," but apparently so near at hand, that he was but as Balaam before the hosts of Israel, with a blessing on his lips instead of a curse, and that, as God's unwilling Prophet, he was to bear so distinguished a part in unravelling the mysteries of His inscrutable providence, and in "working out a solution" which had so long "baffled the wisdom of the entire world."

HOPES DASHED AND RAISED AGAIN.

When the rebellion occurred, as we have said, the hopes of many regarding our national destiny died within them. They verily believed we were now to be dashed in pieces as a potter's vessel, and to be blotted out and known no more as a great people. They looked upon the war as the scourge of God for our great iniquities, and so far undoubtedly they were right; for war is always a judgment for sin. But it began early to be believed that God's ultimate design was our purification and preservation, and that to this end He would in His own way terminate the institution which had been seized upon as the occasion of our strife, and that when this were accomplished the nation would emerge from this furnace, and be prepared for a higher career than were otherwise possible. How this was to be done, by whom, when, and where a beginning was to be made, were problems involved in darkness; but as events have been developed, as the necessities of the war have

arisen, as time has rolled on, as the reverses and successes of our arms have alternated,‚—even though "the end is not yet," we think it is not rashly interpreting God's purposes to say, that in His providence slavery will be removed from the land entirely, as the result of that very treason and rebellion, darkly concocted and persistently pursued, for the express purpose of its more firm and expanded establishment. If our Saviour spoke the truth when He said, "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword," then, as slavery unsheathed the sword to war upon lawful authority, we believe it will perish by the war made in the Government's defence.

And yet, we freely admit that the result may be quite different from this. Secret things belong to God only. Slavery may be yet longer preserved, to be a scourge to the nation. What scheming politicians may plot, what timid statesmen may yield, what the people may be willing to concede for the sake of ending the war, and what God's real plans may be, to be reached through all these schemings and plottings and concessions, we presume not to know; and still, our faith is strong in the ultimate result stated, that slavery will, as a consequence of the rebellion, be removed, to curse the land no more.

ent.

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PROVIDENCE FROM A SOUTHERN STAND-POINT.

But it is not our purpose to canvass this subject at presWe shall consider it at some length in a succeeding chapter, when we come to speak directly of God's providential designs in the rebellion. Our object now is to look at providence from a Southern stand-point; to note some remarkable things in Southern literature upon this theme, which the rebellion and the war have developed.

The leaders of the rebellion have from the first claimed for their cause a high character for righteousness, and they

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have exhibited in its behalf much religious zeal and devotion. They have always claimed that God was on their side, and that the initiatory and subsequent steps of the movement were undertaken by His direction. When recounting their military successes (and they have claimed a victory on nearly every battle-field), it is wonderful to note how their journals, especially the religious, have ever found in current events striking evidences of God's favoring providence.*

We should suppose that at least religious men, before making such a wholesale appropriation, would wait to see the outcome; for God often gives temporary or apparent success, where the final upshot is an utter overthrow. But so elated have they been at present results, that they have often predicted certain triumph; and they have frequently so put the case as to be willing that their cause should be judged by the determination of the contest. Here again they are ethically at fault, for success is not necessarily a criterion of merit, nor does virtue always conquer; and yet, without admitting the principle, we are almost willing to rest the present case on that issue. We are doubtful, however, whether, with all their boastings, they will so readily abide the judgment which the result may furnish. Already, as the contest progresses, we see signs of misgiving, and less confidence expressed in the favor of God than formerly. What the bearing of this may be, even

In the winter of 1861-2, after the campaign of the first season of the war was over, an "Address to the People of Georgia" was issued, signed by Howell Cobb, R. Toombs, M. J. Crawford, and Thomas R. R. Cobb, in order further "to fire the Southern heart." This passage on providence will illustrate what we have said above: "We have faith in God and faith in you. He is blind to every indication of providence who has not seen an Almighty hand controlling the events of the past year. The wind, the wave, the cloud, the mist, the sunshine, and the storm, have all ministered to our necessities, and frequently succored us in our distresses. We deem it unnecessary to recount the numerous instances which have called forth our gratitude. We would join you in thanksgiving and praise. If God be for us, who can be against us? We have no fears of the result-the final issue."

as modifying their ethics, no one can foretell. That they need a modification, not merely upon current events of the war, but upon matters which underlie the whole structure of human life, is easily made apparent.*

The providence of God has been so much dwelt upon by them in their public journals, debates, and discourses, and especially by the clergy, that it becomes a fruitful theme for meditation, as furnishing a marked feature in the moral phases of the contest.

IT UPSETS THEIR THEOLOGY.

One of the most noted things about the views of the clergy among the rebel leaders, is seen in this,-that while their devotion to treason, in the interest of slavery, has blinded them to the demands of duty to their country, the same devotion has unsettled the foundations of some of the prime articles of their religious faith. Their elaborate

No one familiar with the early events of the war, can forget how the rebels exulted that the fleet sent to Charleston, at the time the last effort was made to provision Fort Sumter, was dispersed by a storm, so that it could not enter the harbor. This gave the rebels an opportunity to complete their plans, and to capture that fortress without opposition from the fleet. Its dispersion, they said, was “no accident," but the very "finger of God was in it," and a sign of His favor to them. We accept the doctrine; God “was in it," but possibly for a different purpose than they supposed. And so they have exulted almost ever since. Observe, however, one among many signs which have occurred more recently, where serious disappointments are laid to the account of "accident," and where hope in “Providence" is waning. Remarking upon the "invasion" of Maryland and the threatening of Washington in July last, the Richmond Enquirer says: "It is said that a lucky accident alone saved Washington. Canby's Corps, from New Orleans, arrived at Fortress Monroe on Saturday night, the very day on which the battle of Monocacy was fought, and which revealed to the enemy the magnitude of the danger that threatened Washington. Ordered by telegraph to that city, it arrived there on Monday in time to prevent the capture of the city, and to hold the defences until the arrival of additional corps from Petersburg had rendered the storming of the works useless. The accidental arrival of Canby saved the city. Had he passed up to Grant, or been delayed in his arrival one day longer, Washington would have been captured. However great the disappointment may be, yet much has already been and much more will be accomplished." No storm delayed Canby "one day longer." God "was in it." The Richmond Examiner thus refers to the same inva