The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-11-30

Ahoio is ouC one cIeW 10 the maze OF human MS
ory. This it is that saves us from charging God
with folly and stultifying own powers Of
1t is that God is working out.through
mis- kingdom on earth. the final glorifcation of
all who are willing to be saved.
And has not this world been prepared by the
hand of Omnipotence fitting theatre for this
majestic drama? The Turkish Pasha who saw
unmlstakable evidence of great first cause in
the fact that the rivers instead of flowing in
straight channels were made to curve as to
reach the great cities and afford their inhabi-
tants the benefits of water transportation" has
been set down as an illogical ienoramus,, as the
perpetrator of ridiculous non-sequitur. Laugh |
at him if you please. I shall defend himI
Though unconscious of it, perhaps. he is a better
reasoner than any of his critics. Go back to that
mind to which thousand years as one day |
is as thousand years; which knows no past. no |
future. no yesterday, no tomorrow, but lives in |
in one eternal now; which creates with equal
ease an atom. world. deathless soul; ask Him |
by whose determinate counsel and foreknow-
ledge Cause was married to Effect; all bounds
were made. all relations adjusted. which was
first, river or city? The souls ministered unto
by the patient. burden be airing flood. or that
food itself; is man the slave of nature nature
the servant of man? Did not he who made of
one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the
face of the earth"also determine their appointed
seasons and the bounds of their habitation?'
Did he not anticipate the march !of empire and
forecast the tides of emigration? Did he not
carve out the continents and point with the un
erring finger of providence to those spots of
earth that should be the gathering places of the
multitudes-the treasure houses of the nations.
round which the currents of social political and
commercial life should ceaselessly flow?
Codo
its channel with reference to the future needs OF
man. Man but avails himself of what God has
preparedto his hand: and his boasted !sagacity
is, at best but the searching out of the openings
of divine providence. History is replete with
illustrations. One out of the hundreds to be
seen in our own land and day one will suffice to
show our meaning.
Put back the shadow on the dial of time forty
seven years and go with me to the upper waters
of the great Mississippi river, where at the falls
of St, Anthony, she rushes down declivity of
fifty feet in a single mile. To the west stretch
boundless undulating plains the roaming place
| of the Indian and his prey. unencumbered as yet
| by the homes of the white man. Away to the
northeast is q domain large enough for nation.
covered with magnificent pine forests untouched
by the ak of civilization. dark and silent soli-
| tude. Such was this region when Abraham lived
fourished and fell but no change came to this
lonely spot, Winter came hushing the music
Minnehaha and the deeper roar of the greater
fall binding river and lakes with its icy chain.
Spring followed, bringing liberty to the glad wa
| ters and with it came the annual army of water
| fowls that screamed and chartered through their
| brief day, ere winging their flight toward the
| Arctic seas. Summer wove its bright carpet of
| flowers and spread it over the joyous earth. The
balmy winds and sparkling waters sung their
anthems of praise to the great Creator, but there
| were none to hear. With its marvellous beauty
of verdure. the richness of the soil and the ma
jesty of its cataracts,it was paradise. But with
out inhabitants. without civilization. it was sim
ply a deserted. trackless wilderness. Visit that
spot today and what do you see? Where forty
1.-TWO years ago the first white settler staked out
his claim and hailt his log cabin. behold city
of almost 100000 inhabitants; an accumulation OF
wealth amounting to one hundred million of
dollars; twenty-five mammoth Touring mills
the largest in the world. having a capacity of
thirty thousand barrels of -four day; that is +.
twelve hundred and fifty barrels hour. or
nearly twenty one minute. eighteen great saw
mills which manufacture three hundred million
feet of lumber annually; the focus for twenty
railroads, carrying from the city one hundred
and twenty car loads of freight yearly and bring
in, in the same time. the enormous quantity of
twenty million bushels of wheat. What is
the secret of this magic growth? God had stored
in the soil of those vast plains the elements
which make them the richest wheatlands of the
world and it was his decree that here SHOULD be
the sites for myriads of happy homes. Two
things were indispensable to the settler-lumber
and market. Vast forests lie to the northward
but to be available those giant pines must be
L., kat IS
away across half continent. His produce. too
bulky to ship. must be reduced to minimum Of
bulk nearer home. These conditions must be
met or he will seek home elsewhere and the
lands that can feed world must be given over
to perpetual desolation. What shall be donel
Man proposes, God disposes. The finger of prov
idence points to the Falls of St. Anthony with
their immense impetus of one hundred and thlr'
ty-five thousand horse power. Shrewd men
catch the thought. A canal is dug and provided
with sluices for the distribution OF the water
hundreds of water wheels furnish power for I'M
mense mills and Minneapolis springs. IN thirty
five years. from nothing to the greatest -four and
lumber manufacturing city of the world. Ii
|, solves the settlers problem by giving him ma
, terial to build his home and market for his
produces and Minnesota strides to the front
rank of the wheat producing states of the union,
and the twin Dakotas come with magic sW1ttnes
to the dignity and power of statehood.
, Who can doubt that this was one of the open
ings of providence. foreseen. pre- arranged; time
place. circumstances. persons. all concurrlng, all
ter-working to accomplish the designs Of God!
Oh let us believe that every feature OF this
SCARED but beautiful old world of ours is an OBJ
ject lesson from the hand of God. Let us be-
lieye, as one has beautifully said. that On the
world about us he has inscribed his thoughts, il
those marvellous hieroglyphs which sense and
science have been these many thousand years
seeking to understand. The universe itself is 6
great autograph of the Almighty" Of the crea-
tive word which spoke the world from naught
the poet sings
"The word were but blank. hollow sound.
Ifhe that spoke it were not speaking still;
If all the light and all the shades around
Were aught but issues of Almighty will.
So then believe that every bird that sings.
And every flower that stars the elastic sod.
And every thought the happy summer brings.
To the pure spirit is the word of God F"
Easy as it is to show how the providence Of
God serves to promote mans material well be
ing. yet we maintain that the wisdom of provi
dence finds it's widest scope in the moral world
, What event in history has done most to shape
the worlds thought; stamp it with the nobles
,
tiyy? Fearless of contradiction I answer. the
advent of the Son of Man. Long ages had prep
aration been going on; and the world. undream-
ing ofthe honor, was ready for its king! A
thousand coincident testimonies prove the time
to have been the most opportune that the world
had ever seen or was destined to see. Grecian
art and Roman conquest had. in large measure.
broken down the walls that separated nations.
and had given freedom of inter- communication
and worldwide language; and in every i'm
portant commercial center there was handful
of the Jewish seed ready to furnish free plat
form for speech, and the nucleus of a Christian
ngregation-the scattered altars Of Jehovah
upon which the new fires of gospel truth were
to be kindled and the lew and better sacrifices
of spiritual dispensation were to be offered
NO war or battles sound
Was heard the world around;
The idle spear and shield were high uphung
The hooked chariot hung
Unstained by hostile blood;
The trumpet spoke not to the armed throng
And kings sat still with awful eye
Al if they knew their sovereignLord was py. 1,
No point of time in all history could have
I L