Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-09-21
they have magnificent virtues.
Gods Providence

tne Lord slaves with the hired rszor of
Assyria the land OF JcG.ea I think INV.
ser OF the precision OF Gods nrovi-
uence- y razor swung the tenth mart
OF an inch out OF the right line means
either failure or laceratlon. but Gods
dealings never slip. and they do not
mss 10y the thoGSaudth part of an inch
the right direction. People talk rs
thouSn things i'm this world were M
loose ends Cholera sweeps across
MaSseiiieS and Madrid and Palermo.
ana we watch anXiouSly. WIN the eui-
temic sweep Europe ond America?
People say: That viii entirely depeud
ON whether the inoculation is a sue.
ceSSful experiment; that VIII depand
entirely on quarantine regulations: that
VIII depend on the early or late an.
pearance of frost: that endemic is
pitched into the world. and II poas
laundering across the continents. and
It is all gueSswork and all appal,inr
perhaps think perhaps that God
had something 10 DO with n and thai
his mercy may have in some way pro.
tected us. that lie may have done as
much FOR us as the quarantine and the
health oiDcers. IL was right and a ne
cessity that all caution should be used.
but there have come enough macaroui
from Italy and enough grapes from the
south &C France and enough rags from
tatterdemaliors and hidden In these
articles of transportation enough chol
cratic germs to have left by this time all
the cities mourning I'm the cemeteries
| thank all the doctors and quaran-
tines. but more than all and first of all
ana last OF all and all the time | thank
God. In all the 6.O00 years of the
worlds existence there has not one
thing merely happened So" God is
not an anarchist, but King. a Father.
When little Tad, the son of President
Lincoln. died. all America SympathiZed
with the sorrow In the White House.
He used to rush into the room where
the cabinet was In session and while
the most eminent men of the land
were discussing the questions OF na-
tional existence. But the child had no
care about those questions. Now. God
the Father and God the Son and God
the Holy Ghost are in perpetual session
In regard TO this world and kindred
worlds. Shall you. his child. rush in to
criticise or arraign or condemn the d.
vine government? No. The cabinet Of
the eternal three can govern and viii
govern in the wisest and best way. and
there never will be n mistake and. like
razor skillfully swung. shall cut that
which ought TO be avoided Precision
70 the very hairbrcadth. Earthly time
pieces may get out Of order and strike
wrong. saying Il is o'clock when il is
or > when it is ,. Gods clock is al
ways right. aad when 1t is IL strikes
l, and when it is IL il strikes IL. and
the second hand is as accurate as the
minute hand.
The Lords Hired EaxorS
Further. my text tell. us that God
sometimes shaves nations: I'm the
same day shall the Lord shave with a
razor that is bred With one sharp
sweep he went across Judpa. and down
went its pride and its power. I'm 1861
GCd shaved the American nation. We
had allowed TO grow Sabbath desecra-
ton and oppression and blasphemy and
fraud and impurity and all sorts Of tur-
pitudc. The south had its sins aud the
north its sins ard the cast It's sins aud
the west lis sins. We had been warned
again and again. and we did not heed.
Vt length the sword OF war cut from
the 50. Lawrence TO the gulf and from
Atlantic sCaboard 20 Pacific scahoard.
The pride OF the land. not the cow
ards. but the heroes on both sides
went down. And that which we took |
for the sword OF war was the Lords
razor. In 1862 again Il went across
the land: In 1863 again: In 1854 again. !
Then the sharp instrument was incascd
and put away.
Never in the history OF the ages was
any land moro thoroughly shaved than
during those four years OF civil combat.
and. my brethren. II we do not Quit
some OF Our individual and national
sins the Lord will again take ms I'm
hand. He has other razors within
reach besides war. Epldemics droughts.
deiuSes, plagues-grasshopp and To-
cust-or our overtowerlng success may
SO Tar excite the jealousy of other
lands that under some prc:cxt the
great nations may combine 10 put us
down. Our nation, so easily approach- |
ed on north and south and from both
oceans, might have on hand Mt once
more hostilities than were ever array- |
cd against any one power. / hope no
such combination against us shall ever
be formed, but l want TO show that rs
Assyria was the hired razor against Ju- |
dea ana Cyrus the hired razor against
Babylon and the Huns the hired razor
against the Goths there are now many |
razors that the Lord could hire II be- |
cause OF our national sins he should un. |
n - n In. -
was the razor with which the Lord !
shaved France. Japan was the razor
with which he shaved China and Amer. |
lea the razor with which he shaved ar |
rogant, oppressive and Bible hating |
spain. But nations are TO repent in n |
day. May n speedy and worldwide |
coming TO God hinder on both sides the |
sea all national calamity. But do not |
let us as nation either by unrighteous |
law 1T Washington or bad lives among |
ourselves defy the Almighty.
Divine Ciemency.
One would think that our national |
symbol of the eagle might sometimes |
suggest another eagle. that which an
cient Rome carried. In the talons of |
that eagle were clutched Mt one time |
Britain, France, Spain, Italy. Dalma- |
tia, Rhetia. Noricum. Pannonia, Moe |
STA. Dacia, Thrace. Macedonia. Greece. !
Asia Minor, Syria. Phenicia, Palestine. |
Egypt and all northern Africa and all |
the islands OF the Mediterranean-in- |
deed all the world that was worth hav-
Ing; l2O,O00,000 of people under the |
wings of that one eaglei Where is she |
now? Ask Gibbon. the historian. in his |
prose poem. the Decline and Fail OF |
rhe Roman Empire" Ask her gigantic !
ruins. bemoaning their sadness through |
the ages. the screech owl AT windows |
out OF which worldwide conquerors |
looked. Ask the day OF judgment. when |
her crowned debauchees, Commodus |
and PertlnaX and Caligula and Diocle- |