The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1865-03-10

Welearn from the Scriptures that there
is one God, from, of and to whom are all
things. In other words, By Him were
all things created that are in Heaven and
that are on earth, visible and invisible
whether they be thrones or dominions.
principalities or powers; all things were
created by Him and for Him. No event
can possibly occur, from the launching
Of a planet into space, to the falling of a
sparrow to the earth, without being under
His especial guidance and control. 1t
needs but little reflection to infer that
everything is created for purpose, and
that nothing whatever is left to the do
minion of Chance. The purpose in ques-
ton, too, is moral purpose. The whole
universe, animate as we'll as inanimate,
is designed to answer some great moral
end, and the Scriptures tell us what it
is. 1t is to display, in as clear a light
as possible, the perfections of the Divine
nature.
Perfect goodness and immutable JUS
tice are among the attributes of the Di-
vinity. The blood Of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son Of God, who died to save
a world lying under condemnation from
utter destruction, vindicated the honor
of the broken law. This Saviour was
announced at the time of Adams fall
four thousand years before his appear
ance on earth. From the Scriptures we
learn that various means have been
adopted, at different times, to warn the
world that it lay under condemnation
for sin.
AS the universe was for great moral
purpose, to wit, the more perfect display
of the Divine attributes, every event
that occurs in it is to be viewed in con-
nection with this Holy Law, established
by the Creator himself.
Man is in state Of sin in this world,
and all he undergoes-s sickness, labor,
cold, hunger, thirst, death, everything
from which unhappiness proceeds-is
punishment for sin. They are rendered,
indeed, essentially necessary as means
of discipline, and of Christening the mind
and purging it of the passions destruc-
tive Of mans temporal happiness, and so
inimical to his eternal welfare. With
regard to aggregations Of Individuals
that is, communities and States, or ma.
tions,-there can be no doubt that they
aregoverned by the same external princi-
pies. Sin lies at the bottom of all the
sorrows of this world. Were there no sin
there would be no plague, famine or war
there would be no earthquakes or ships
wrecks; there would be no tornadoes or
tempests. In the present war, God is
assuredly Furnishing US for our trans
gressions. The doctrine is everywhere
announced in the Scriptures. There is,
indeed, none other more distinctly laid
down and the examples under the rule
are almost unlimited. We have sinned,
and We have sinned grievously, and it is
because we have so sinned that the
hand of the Lord is laid so heavily upon
us at this moment, and that reverses
and disasters have followed each other
with such startling rapidity of late.-
That no will continue to sustain reverses
and disasters until the whole people
shall have repented of their sins in sack
cloth and ashes We may be as well as
sured Of as we can be Of any truth con.
tainod in the writings of the Evangelists
It by no means follows that He favors
our enemies in opposition to US. Some
times-nay, very often,-when He de-
signs that an enterprise shall suc>
osed in tho end, He Furnishes