Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-11-29
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ILLUSTRATORS OF PROVIDENCE.
BY REV. l.. y. ZABRISKIE, ID. ID.
From New York Observer.

From New York Observer.
No one believes in real God, unless he
believes in an actual governor, as we'll as
creator, of the worlds. The theory that God
tied himself hand and foot with his own
claws" virtually abdicating in their favor
as to many little gods, is the feeblest kind
of pantheism.. Even though it could be
shown (as is assumed by the whole corpse of
question-beggars) that he has never inter-
posed, and never will, for the temporary
arrest of any LAWN other words, changing
for the time the mode of his working, for
that is all which divine law can mean to any
one but an athcist-it were absurd to sup
pose that one, who is as omniscent as he is
omnipotent could not frame his plan of the
universe so as to include in the undisturbed
operation of his laws all which he desired to
bring about. Or if you please, he who had
evolved this universally france out of a
germinal cell could involve in that cell ev-
cry foreseen notwithstanding all that lies
within the narrow scope Of the human will,
and all that would enable him to guarantee
the answer Of believing and righteous pray
er. And ''every fOreseen event, " with God,
means everything whatsoever
We know at least that he has made pro-
visions for the interplay Of our Will-free,
and even tickle as it seems to be-Wlth his
own, and for the interposition of our most
sudden and random action into the working
out of his fixed purpose. This is one of
the most familiar facts Of observation, and
most notable lessons of history. The great
est events, the entire course of this world,
have turned upon the most trivial incl
dents-accidents we call them in our cur
rent speech. 1t has been wittily said that
if CleOpatra's nose had been the eighth OF
one inch longer, the AuguStan age OF Rome
would never have dawned there would
never, in fact, have been Roman world.
Chatham's gout, which mounted to his brain
during the critical juncture when the Tea
Duties bill was passed, may easily have
given us our Fourth Of July. kinglake
sgravely attributes the invasion of the Crimea
to the fact that the Duke of Newcastle read
his dispatch to Lord Ragland to the Cabinet
Immediately after they had dined (and
wined p together and were in comatose
state. Napoleon is said to have made his
fatal blunder in assuming the offensive at
Leipsic, while suffering from indigestion
arising from surfeit of mutton and onions
There is great reasons to suppose that his
nephew would neverhave allowed himsefto
be pushed into the German war, but for a
wasting disease which rendered him no
longer the cool, cIear-headed and self-poised
man of former years.
Let me append two or three illustrations
drawn from my recent reading in American
history. The political prestigeand ultimate
pre-eminence of Thomas Jefferson were
largely due to his authorship of, and cOnse-
quent Identification with, the Declaration Of
Independence. His writing of that docu-
ment arose from his being the Chairman OF
the committee, and his Craftsmanship was
an ''accdent" since the place would natu-
rally have been assigned to Richard Henry
Lee, who moved the appointment of a COM
mittee to draft such paper, but who was
The Louisiana Purchase" (Which secured
for us the continent from ocean to ocean,
"the largest transaction in real estate that
BILE by it's having been negotiated under 4
singular conjunction of circumstances, which
existed for that brief space of time, and nev-
er before or since. These were: the abso-
lutte and arbitrary power of the young Ma
poleon his pressing need just then of ready
money, and the large financial credit of the
United States at Amsterdam; the general
ignorance Of the extent or possibilities OF
the domain the willingness of Spain to
give up New Orleans, and the determination
of France that Great Britain should not
have it; the anxiety Of England to check
the growing empire of Napoleon, and the
desire of France to strengthen our Republic
as the only effective rival of England in the
new world. 1t was the sudden whim of a
single will, which then happened to be
France and President Gilman we'll says {:
''The mighty deeds of Napoleon's sword
have been undone but the stroke Of his
pen wrought a change which now, after
fD,,r ho r,ocSnl ic lio-
BILE to c0unterchange than the Mississippi is
to flow into the lakes" 1t is worth our
while to quote further his suggestive re-
marks. "rhe Missouri compromise, the an
nexation of Texas, the Northwestern boun-
Diary disputes, the acquisition Of California
and Of the Northern provinces Of Mexico,
the discovery of gold and silver, the Ncbras-
ka bill, the Mormon difficulty, the Indian
policy, the Alaska purchase, the Pacific
Railroad, the Isthmus Canal question, the
Chinese immigratiOn-WhOcan can say that any
of these controversies and events would ever
have come to the front, if Spain or Great
Britain had remained in control of that half
of our domain which lies beyond the Mis-
sissippi."
If a human will can have such shaping
of the worlds history and the destinies of
men, what may not the will of the Almighty
and all-Wise God effect" Who at least, shall
make the shallow denial of 4 special prOvi-
dcnce:
A suggestive illustration occurs in the life
of Alexander Hamilton, showing that it
was due to his own stubborn and arbitrary
will that Aaron Burr was elevated to prom
inence and Importance as his rival in New
York, and ultimately in national politics.
In the election of the first United States
Senator from New York, Hamilton named
Gen. Schuyler as one, with universal con-
sent. But instead of leaving the other Sen
ator to the choice Of the party, he insisted
on the election of Rufus King, q MasSachu-
sctts man, just come down into the State.
This act alicnated Il large element of the
Federalists, especially the powerful Living
ston family, who Immediately y took up the
brilliant and yet undetectcd Burr, and in
two years started him on a national career
by sending him to the United States Senate.
This was the beginning of HamiltOn'S many
complications and collusions in political life
with that bold, bad man, and ultimately Of
his death at his hands, involving, perhaps,
the fall of the Federal party.
These cases, it must not be overlooked,
also have their bearing upon the possible
efficacy Of prayer in influencing the course
of events. For if the expression Of one
mans desire to other men may alter the
whole history and map of the world, what
potentiality may there not be in the express
sion Of Il mans desire to God:
a great many lessons will doubtless be
drawn from the life of Luther, in this four
hundredth year Of his birth. But nothing
can be more striking and suggestive than
the lesson of Providence, whereby the Hour
and the Man were in such remarkable con-
junction at his nativity. l have not the
space now to point out any of the numerous
facts in demonstration of this. | only VEN
tllre to Use Il single incident for the purpose
of illustrating, in Il sort of allegOrical way,