West-Jersey pioneer., 1869-12-10
For the West Jersey Pioneer.
GOD THE RULER OF NATIONS.
wAR-HIs INSTRUMENT.
BY REV. W. W. SPEAR, DID.

| mourning Ill tle ulStOly VI 0iiO "oAiA -
more dependent upon the power of God,
than the issue of war while no events SO
effect the course of time as s'the decisive
| battles of the world This is a most i'm
portant, though mysterious, part Of the Di-
vine government of our fallen race. War
| is an instrument which God has ever em-
! Moved for the punishment of his people.
| The God of nations is the God of armies,
/, y1ie Lord of hosts is His name, tbs He that
! says to the sword, s'sword go thro' the
| land" Tis he that ssets all men, every one
against his neighbor," and SO confounds
the speech of the abel-builders, that they
| are scattered abroad upon the face of the
earth" Military pride and self-confidence
| may say, that ''God is on the side of strong
| battalions" but history shows that He is
often if not generally on the side of weak
ones. ''The race is not always to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong, ,"-cold and
| heat, rain and storm, determine more bat
Ties than courage and strategy. Sickness
in the camp cripples and crushes more ar
mise than defeat in the field. Not only the
turning wave from the pursuing foe, but on
three distinguished occasions i'll the Revola-
tion, our patriot bands were saved in like
manner from certain destruction, by sud
den rise IN the waters that separated them
| from their enemies. Many beleaguered
host has been constrained to say with an
cient Israel, s'we have no might against this
great company, neither know we what to
do, but our eyes are upon Thee y and has
heard the Spirit of the Lord replying, ''be
not afraid or dismayed, by reason OF this
great multitude ; for the battle is not yours,
but God's.'' Washington often acknow-
lodged, that all the probabilities were
against the success of his plans He did
were inadequate, and he did not look for
| success, unless as he said, Providence IA
yored him and when it did, he truly as
well as cordially said with the Psalmist,
s'Not unto us o /! Lord, but unto Thy name
give the praise III
| On the contrary. history shows how impo-
! tent is man, when he attempts to contrayene
| the purpose and withstand the power Of
/ God Napoleon himself was constrained
to confess, that some superior power de-
| feated his plans. He said, 81 could have
defeated armies, but / could not conquer
+, the flames and the frost. was forced to
Weld to fate.'' How much better and wiser
it had been for him to have acknowledged
| the Almighty and irresistible might of Him,
at whose pleasure and whose word the
proud conqueror of Wagram, and Auster-
litz, became the helpless fugitive of Moscow
and Waterloo.
| But not moro wonderful OF clearly provi-.
dental was the overthrow of his power,
than was the revival of his dynasty, which
some enlightened students of prophecy an
nounced as certain long before it came to
pass, and while yet it seemed the most i'm
probable of all human events, for every
crowned head in Europe expressly declared
and solemnly covenanted that no one of the
name and lineage Of Napoleon should ever
occupy throne on the continent yet after
the lapse of only single generation one
who bears perhaps only his name, but who
certainly shares the blood of that admired
but unfortunate woman, whom Napoleon
repudiated, because through her he had no
hope of perpetuating his dynasty, because
the very first of European monarchs, with
a power in some respects far greater, in
others not much less, than his reputed uncle
and step-grandfather was possessed And
! not Louis Napoleon alone, but several other
crowned heads of Europe are the children's
children Of Josephine. AS if God would
show to the world in this remarkable in
stance, both His power to frustrate the wis
dom of the wise, and His jealousy for the
honor of that institution of marriage, which
Napoleon for selfish purposes presumed to
set aside.
We need not therefore have any scruple
or doubtfulness, in ascribing public events
to God. For even if it be true, that God
never interposes, without worthy occasion
for doing so, we may assert, that there is
nothing on earth so worthy of Divine inter-
position, as the revolutions of States and
Empires. If we are told, that the age of
miracles is past we are not on that account
to believe that God has ceased to take cog
hzance of the things that are done on
earth, or to interpose for the protection of
lis servants and the avenging of His, enc
nnes, Even now events are continually oc-
curing, which afford evidence to all who
have eyes to see, that ''there still is God
who judgeth in the earth" The fate of ma
tlons and sometimes of individuals shows
that sentence against an evil work, may be
executed as speedily now, as in the days of
Old True, God is a sovereign, and chooses
His own times and ways of accomplishing
his purposes. He does not ALWAYS make a
just cause to prosper for season He per-
mits wrong, and robbery, treachery and de-
celt' conspiracy, and rebellion to prevail {;
pue IN the end He usually makes truth and
righteousness to flourish out of the earth,
i ana 1aith and patience to triumph, and con-
s'l'.iiis all men to say, ssverily, there is a
0oo tnat Judgeth in the earth Men often
J, marx what they call 'spoetic Justice it is
iooning less than Divine retribution+ Some
re- ise'ii, tuOPoOSAi - ~
2 ee1'on and exten sion of an enormous
evli, are made to work out its certain ana
J speedy annihilation. The sword in mo-
!. J. ment cuts the knot which century OF leg
, lslatlon and philanthropy could not untie'
ana opens military road, through a dense
forest Or deep morass of national sin and
iniquity.
Alfson says 1T is in periods Of appa-
, rent disaster, during the suffering Of whole
generations, that the greatest improvements
on human character have been effected and
: foundation laid for those changes which
ultimately prove most beneficial to the spe-
cles. The wars of the Heptarchy, the Nor
: = man conquest, the contest Of the Roses, tne
q Great Rebellion, are apparently the most esa