The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-06
is THE LORD LEADING US.
Free-and-Easy Discussion of n Cur
rent Problem.

beQS Budget.
Since the kings have lost the divinity that
did hedge them round and governments de-
rive their just powers from the consent of
the governed it is we plain folks, apparent
~ uncalled of God, who are running things.
But If we have no special call as indi-
VidualS, may 1t not be that we have call
as a nation, and that the composite action
of 1OOOO,OOO freemen is more in keeping with
Gods purposes than the dreams and
schemes of any single-handed highlander
who feels that he has had a call? 1t is not
hard for us Americans to believe that We
are the chosen children of the Lord, and
that he is leading us on to grand and
lofty destiny. But we must remember that
he led the children Of Israel till ten of the
twelve tribes got lost and the other two
We're badly scattered. So while he may be
calling us on to determined destiny. he
is not laying any sidewalks or building
pontoon bridges, and lot of this servile
work is left for volunteers.
So even if the Lord is leading us we are
still in the push and have a good deal to
say about what route we shall take or how
fast we shall go. 1t may be that he wanted
US TO uplift the African, and knowing that
we We're too busy with our own affairs to go
abroad, brought the black man to our shores
in the capacity of a slave till the fountain
OF liberty should flow for the son of Ham:
True 1t is that the negro, with less travail
than that suffered by the Anglo-Saxon for
the same end. has attained the widest lib
erty the world affords We need not, there
fore. nor need he, go around complaining
of his past The friends he left behind him
in the fatherland would grab al the same
SAldHCS. Anu IlOQRn we 0dQ TO SnOOI IOr
four years at Pharaoh before he found out
what God wanted, and let my people co.
still that was testing time for the courage
and manhood of the Nation, and the future
is more securely in our keeping for what
we have endured
But if the Lord is leading us. why be
hasty and impatient? Give him a chance.
Still it is more accurate to say that he is
guiding We wander seemingly shep-
herdless in the crosspaths and byways, but
at last we get there just the same. Fear
not, little flock, for it is his good pleasure,
and though the road be rough and steep
he goes to the desert to find his sheep. Man
proposes and God disposes. In other words,
man has the initiative and God has the
referendum. And if ii is our duty to uplft
the world a way will be discovered or a
.fulcrum found somewhere in the fulness of
time for US to do it, be sure of that. And
whether you are a commanding general
with shoulder straps to show your author
ity, or a horse-sense private with hame
straps to hold your harness on, you're not
so many. so don't worry. If it is our duty
to carry modern civilization to Asia. we'll
get 1t there some sweet day. and all hell
can't keep 1t out. But don't get swelled up
over the Job. for as Cevera said to Montejo.
yours amt the only navy on the beach, If
God wants us TO join hands with England
or any other old country in the Pacific and
grit the earth with peace and plenty. it
will come about. and the earth will have a
grit with buckle on it. but this doesn't
mean that we may not make spectacular
fools of ourselves trying to do 1t some
wrong and shorthand way.