Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-06-01

10 their emancipation from the restraints imposed
by considerations OF virtue and piety. In time
OF storm aud impending wreck portion Of the
ships crew shall be seen TO put a calm and simple
trust IN Divine Providence. while another por
Ton may bolake themselves 70 the pantry of the
steward and the whisky casks The difference in
the resorts proves a radical difference IN moral
character. revealed IN is foil development by the
hour Of calamity.
And 80, in a time Of civil war, A. Prot Smith
remarks. the moral quality Of mens souls isited
by the fires through which they are called 10 pass.
In some the elements OF goodness are melted
away BY the fervent heats OF the ordeal. leaving
little but = residuum OF dtoss and baser metal.
In others the elements Of goodness are annealed
into more ethereal temper and fused into a
greater tenacity of composition The military
causes OF decentralization are indeed many and
obvious. and Il is precisely in proportion a they
overcome cor are themselves overcome that they
reveal the stamp of the character. aud bring It's
tendencies into higher relief IL j. in reference
10 these causes OF decentralization that one OF our
religious contemporaries, the New \ ork Church
Journal. holds the following language:
That wars are productive Of unmitgated evil
Is what no reasonable man will assert. They are
the most salient features in the history of a ma
ton They are the points at which the whole
nation Is made 20 feel more intensely, 90 suffer
any other points in the national existence They
tend TO draw men out OF themselves. and out OF
the sordid and narrow round OF daily life and
the toll for daily bread, and make them feel the
greater and nObler life of the nation as a whole.
They call forth splendid acts of daring. of self.
sacrifice. of deyotion'to the interests of others.
They k'nde the beacon lights 10 which sue
ceeding ages look back and which grow brighter
and brighter with the lapse of time as other events
of I.a
away steadily into the dark night of compare.
tive oblivion They enter into the cratory, the
poetry, the school books the politics the daily
struggles OF the times that come after, and thus
become great educating power in forming the
national mind and character. All this, and much
more, might be said, and truly said; and all de.
vout minds will comfort themselves with these
meditations, aud render renewed thanks to Al
mighty God for the wonderful goodness and
mercy by which He-and none but He-cau
bring much good out of what is in its own
nature evil, and which, without the controlling
Providence of God, would be only evil, and
that continually.
"But all this-much of il lying in the distant
! future-wil not and ought not to blind the eve:
OF wise men now to the vast and manifold evil:
which war brings in its train, and civil wal
above all others: for as these evils come in oul
day, they are for Us To meet, and for Us TO do
what we can 10 counterfeit; ana therefore We
/ must needs look them fairly in the face like men
and know clearly what we are about. There cal
be no true wisdom in cropping after such thing:
in the dark, and stumbling on in silence, or blind
folded, when we might just as well open our eye
and look all round the field, calmly and cooly
in broad daylight.
There is every probability that, before th'
war is over, between two and three millions o
the male population of this country, in the fowe
of their life and strength will have seen more OF
less of military service (reckoning the Southern
States as part of the Union, and taking into ac-
count their armies also and after the experience,
of arms will have returned TO the pursuits o
peaceful life. to say nothing OF the hundreds o
thousands who will by that time have fallen oil
the battle field, or will have died in prisons, il
hospitals, or from the effect of exposures ant
hardships in actual service. What is the eiiec
of war upon the characters of all these men
Some indeed may learn the lesson of obedience
to authority, which they never knew before
Some may be sobered with the familiarity wit
death Some may have been rescued. by tn
dangers and hardships of the camps, from tn
more perilous dangers of luxury, vice and crime
at home But that the trade of war is--moral
and religiously- benefit To the mass of thos
who are engaged in it, who will venture TO as
sertl'