Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1861-09-27
NATIONAL FAST.

Tomorrow is the day assigned By the Pres
ideut for humiliation, fasting and prayer
aud the Governor has fifty cxhorted the peo-
pie Of this State to recognize the hand Of
God in the present National calamity, and
deplore before Him our own and our ma
tional sins, which have provoked His right
eous judgments Let us invoke, with deep
coutrition His merciful interpositiou and
hum6ly beseoch Him to remove from the
nation bis chas euing rod for the Lord
will not cast off forever; but, though He
cause grief, yet will be have compassion ac-
cording to tine multitude Of his mercics. -
One Of the most popular Christian writers Of
the present age has said God is in histo-
~ :" in every movement Of nations, in every
revolution, in every war. We cannot do bet
Ter than to reproduce the passage as a prep
ara,ion auu incentive for the proper observ.
ance Of the National Fast
History must rye by that principle n lie which 81,
rJoHrr h. and that ts God he must he acknowledged
and ,r1rlln,d D.. bis ory and the course " events
mutt be- displayed as the annals Of The government u
ba,e descended into the lists TO which The rccitals of
our historians attracted have there seen the ac
tons ~ neu aud Ut u1uons developing themselves with
power and encouuteriug n hostile collision - have
hoard know what canEuor or arms ,--hut where
has uy att-upn h.cu directed 10 the usjasc Get of
ths Judge Fh' pirsidcs over the struggle.
And SCI there s. principle " movement cmaua'ing
from God huusrf n all the changes among nations -
G1 look, upon that wide stage on which the generations
81 men sucrcssivcS meet aud Struggle lie is there IL
is true an invisible God but the prnaner multitude
psrd before Him because he is "a God that hideih hiW-
,ct --ihoughuA spirits and such A. feel their need of
uc prinfiple n their being seek him with ihe more
eirncs'uess and not satisfied un hey ne rosAe
At his feef Aud their search is richly rewarded t"r'
from fhe nights which they obliged 10 climb TO
meet thir God-hc worlds history instead Of Offering,
the Ignorant crowd, confut,d ehans, appears
majestic temple which the invisible hand OF God
reefs and which rises to His glory above the rock OF
humanity.
great men. or la those mighty nations which arise -
come fur d. as were, from the dust OF the Garth ana
give impulse, new FORM or new destiny
u human affairs Shall we not acknowledge His hand
in thuse heroes who spring up among men at appointed
tucs who display activity and energy beyond me o.
duar limits Of human strengths and around whf m IN.
diWduals and nations gather, a. n 20 superior and
mysterious power3 WI, launched them into the rN-
panse " ages like comets Of vast eXten aud flaming
trains, appearing VI long intervals 90 sea ter among nc
supcfstiuus tribes Of men anticipate ms ut plenty auu
Jp,nr of ca'anlitirs and terror Who hut ,i"d hun
sefi Alexander Sould seek his Origin iu uc ab"d
Of Divinity Aud ia the most irrcgious age there Il
eminent glory but is in way other seek
ing 60 connect itself with the idea OF driue ntefposl
tion.
And those revolutions which, in their progress precp
itae dNnastics and nations TO the dust, those heaps
ruin which wc meet with ia the sands of the desert thos
majestic remains which the field Of human history offer
10 our reflection do they testify aloud the truu
that God istn History Gibbon. seated the ancen
Capitol and content plating It's noble ruins edge
the intervention Of superior destiny. He saw,-he fel
presence wherever his eye turned II met him tina
sh low Of mysterious power Te'appeafed nom behin'
eVtv ruin aud he conceived the project oi deplcunl
its operation in the Reorganization, The decline and To-
corruption OF that power of Rome which had enlave
the nations Shall not that mighty hand which this MAJ
Of admirable genius but who had not bowed the knee
Jesus Christ dscerued among the scattered Monument
of Romnus and OF Marcus Aufelus,-the bust OF -
ceru, and Nugh,-rTajans trophies, and F9mpey
homcs, De confessed by us as the hand Of our Sod
The history of Rome was enough to startI
the skeptcism of Gibbon; and no intelligen
man, sully none but one who utterly disbe
ieves in the existence Of a Supreme Being
will doubt that He is the Ruler Of the ma
tons, the King of kings. and the Lord {
lords. AT least, let all who are not so burie
in atheism, remember and honor the God {
our fathers. the author of our national ext:
tence, and the arbiter of its fate.