The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1862-07-30
/, THE GATE CITY.


PROyBAENcR M HuMAH AFFAIRS
We are Of the number of those vht
believe that Providsncs ssperviees tef
restil affairs. We believe that men-
thai Governments@lth at nations arl h
struments in His hands for the working
out of tbs great scheme Of human destiny
We believe that oil great events--syent
that shape the fate OF peoples---haye Their
origin in Onnipotent purpsse' We be
heve that what we call history il litti,
else than tnd,ces Of Divine planning, hi
vine wrath or Divine love.
And God never trihos. He never
works without An end or purpose ne
never experiments - never undertaAes
doubtful enterprises. We may not see
the drift Of disinsly-ordained evenSe-
our bleared eyes may fail to Penetnte 4he
mYstery-tbincs may look dark and q Ia
otto; but . benefcrnt method peryodsa All
Nothing is created-nothing is ordered
in vain.
The finger of Providence is especially
visible in the hiatory Of our own belUvSd
country. 1t would seem as though it
had been, from the beginning, under the
especial tutelage Of Heaven. In its dis
covefy-in its settlement--in the char
acter Of the men who moulded It's Infancy
and informed its youth--in the circum-
stances under which il was brought forth
in the direction which its civilization
took--in the influence which it began to
exert over Christendom-in the trials
which 1T Encountered end overcame-in
its. axuberani but hayward life-is mani
fest-so manifest that he who runs may
read-that God has il in His keeping and
reserves it for great destiny. Depend
upon it. all the care and work--alf the
benihcsnce and blessings that have been
soiav.sAfys bestowed upon it, hsvef moi
been beAto<ed Ia ivSin. This marvellous
product Of natioaal development--this
eager, active. cratic but generous life
is not 10 b Quenohsd thus early and Mt
tefHs 6teh husbandry has mot been BE-
slowed upon this teeming soil without a
purpsse- The love thss fhss 30 richly
blessed it for eighty years, is not to be-
converted thus suddenly into implacable
hate. Hl9 E4rf mr.
We prefer rather to believe that our
nation is simply passing through one Of
those Disciplinary crisis to which all great
ness. individual and national, has ever
been subjected. We believe the FIRE that
misses and roars around its vitals is not
one Of destruction, but of purifcation.-|
We believe the metal OF our national man
hood Is being tempered in the furnace
IS being tried for future use and ends
The trial will be severe; the agony Of the
cruclble will be intense; the precious sub
stahce, pnrged and divorced lreat d1oss.
WAL trlupPhapuy endure to the last. 4
Let US then dismiss from our minds the
mourniul dllusion that orr country has
reached the limits Of its greatness, and is
rushing On to ruin. Let us rather take
courage, and believe that its future u In
the keeping Of One who "doeth all things
weai." Let Us strive manfully to do our
part in the great crisis, pursuaded that
God will do His. lie, us look upon our
Affections rather as sent upon a. to teach
and to chaslcn than to persscute and de-
stroy. There is One greater than any
earthly poteptNs nt Che helm. who viii
guide our noble ship into port in His own
good time. Fear not the breakers--fear
not the wrath Of the stsrm,--IAlban
Eve. journal. zEAH#