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PROVIDENTIAL DESIGNS IN THE REBELLION. 303

CHAPTER IX.

PROVIDENTIAL DESIGNS IN THE REBELLION.

WE have given in the previous chapter the doctrine of Divine Providence, and the remarkable perversions which are made of it by writers interested in the cause of perpetuating human bondage by a wicked rebellion. We propose here to set forth what we regard as some among the true purposes of God, now in process of being wrought out, by the stupendous events which are occurring in this nation.

If we speak with confidence, it is only because our convictions are strong and our faith abiding. At the same time, we claim no infallibility, in judging of events, either present or future. We say here, once for all, that we only utter our opinions upon what we regard as God's designs. To them we are entitled. We allow others the enjoyment of theirs. We aim only to interpret rather than predict, and give merely our best judgment of some things which we think the present contest is likely to work out.

The true doctrine of providence, as entertained by the common consent of Christendom, embraces, among others, these elements: it includes all beings and all things; and through all, God is working out great purposes of ultimate good to the world and glory to Himself.

If these positions embody the truth, they may be applied to the rebellion now in progress, and to the efforts made for its suppression. God is controlling all agencies and events at work in the contest, and out of all He will bring

good to mankind and glory to Himself. No doubt great errors may be committed in attempting to interpret God's providence, so as certainly to declare, beforehand, what He specifically intends in a given event, or in a series or long course of events. We think that here Southern writers have deceived themselves, and have gone counter to one of the sound canons for interpreting God's will, whether referring to certain portions of His word or to His providence. It is a principle of prophecy, that rarely, if ever, is it so plain that it can fully be determined before its fulfilment. It is so with providence; we must wait for the issue, in most cases, before being able to comprehend fully the design. But as in certain prophecies there are way marks which may guide the sincere inquirer to an approximately true interpretation before their fulfilment, and lights which cast a glimmer of truth along the path he would travel, and thus he is profited in their study and enabled to enter the vestibule of the temple which is ultimately to be opened to the full view of all men; so in providence, the honest and devout student, aided by God's word and Spirit, may be able to indicate with some approach to truthfulness, some, at least, of the grand results which the providence of God, as illustrated by daily occurring and consecutive events, is designed to reach.

While we would guard against the folly of committing the same error into which Southern writers have fallen, there is a marked difference in the position they assume upon the grand designs of providence as applied to the present contest, and that which we propose to take, which may aid in their solution, even though we should occupy precisely the same ground with them, or they with us, in reference to the canon of interpretation to which we have adverted. The sum and essence of the "trust" which they regard as "providentially committed" to them, and

SLAVERY TO BE TERMINATED.

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the design of God contemplated in their secession,-to "conserve and perpetuate" human bondage,-we regard as monstrous and diabolical, and such an application as but little if any thing short of blasphemous. On the other hand, as regards this particular element in the case, we interpret God's providence as tending to just the contrary result, one of good,-of freedom and elevation to the negro race, instead of designed to render their bondage more secure, and their freedom and elevation utterly and forever hopeless.

As we differ in our interpretation, and as those who disagree with us claim as much ability to ascertain God's will as ourselves, we know of no better umpire to decide between us than this: for the present, the common judgment of Christendom; and at length, the final issue of the contest. There we most willingly leave it, and are willing to abide the issue.

SLAVERY TO BE TERMINATED.

This preliminary course of thought brings us to notice this point first, as among the designs of God in His providence. It is quite proper that it should have this place, as for the sake of perpetuating slavery the rebellion was undertaken, and as a means for its suppression the Government has decreed the destruction of slavery. The point now is to inquire, on which side of the contest the purposes of God are arrayed. This can only be determined, at the present historic point, from the principles which are involved, and from the events which have occurred and are now in process of being wrought out. In taking the position that God designs the termination of slavery in this land, as one result of the rebellion, we mean that He designs its termination forever; and in giving what we deem the evidences which support it, we

would construe them in proper subordination to the canon we have stated.

It is our opinion that the termination or the perpetuation of slavery, is by no means necessarily connected with the result of the war. In any event we believe the doom of slavery sealed.

If the Union shall be preserved in the complete triumph of the national arms, slavery will be ended. It needs no seer to declare the foregone conclusion of the American people upon this point. They will admit no compromise; it is beyond the reach of party jugglery; the great party of the people will say, and adhere to the saying, that on the reinstatement of the national authority over the territory of the entire Union, that element of our national life which has wrought such havoc, shall die the death. They will never permit the possibility of a repetition of so foul a treason in its name. Once in a thousand years,-or, once for all time,-is quite sufficient for such an issue within the bounds of the same uation. The memorials of the rebellion which the current age will embalm, and the materials out of which the future historian will elaborate the truth, will present a record in such hues of the deeds done for the sake of slavery, that the memory of them will be wrought too deeply into the soul of each successive generation to admit of its being possible that negro slavery can ever be reinstated within the domain of the Union. At least, this is our opinion.

MANNER OF ITS TERMINATION.

The precise manner in which the institution will be universally terminated, and its termination maintained, in the event of the preservation of our nationality, it is not material here to dwell upon, though we do not doubt the ultimate point which will be reached. It will be by an

MANNER OF ITS TERMINATION.

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amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Although that measure has been for the present defeated in the House of Representatives, and may not be passed till a new Congress shall be elected, or possibly may be even longer deferred, it cannot admit of doubt that when the people shall have determined on prohibiting the institution forever, the form and substance of the prohibition. will be embodied in the supreme organic law, the most sacred depository of the popular will.

In the mean time, and while waiting for this consummation, it may be accomplished in all the Rebel States by an Act of Congress; or it may occur simply under the Proclamation of the President already issued; or it may end through the measures which the civil power may take for receiving the revolted States to their proper standing in the Union. Whatever may be the course of the civil authorities, however, looking to that end, no measure which they may adopt, during the continuance of the war, will be effectual, except as backed up by military force; and it may be that while the war continues, no effective measures will be adopted, but such as are embraced within and may be carried out by the war power of the Executive; and even after the war shall have ended, in the complete success of the Union arms, and the civil authority shall have erected its barriers, we do not anticipate a ready acquiescence on the part of the entire Southern people to a parting with slavery. Whatever status may be given to the institution by the law,-even a prohibition of it forever, and that by the Constitution, and a requisition. that similar prohibitions shall be inserted in each State Constitution in the rebel dominions,-this may not of itself, for many years, be sufficient. A military force may be requisite, in many parts of the South, to maintain the Constitution and the laws. But if so, it will be furnished;

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