en, some great miracle wrought, we should get into
the habit of recognising the power and wisdom of God. The Israelites
were fed in the desert by miracle, and rebelled against God whilst they
ate the food miraculously given to them. The wonder--the perfection of
the Divine operation is this, that without disturbing in our little
individual history any of the common affairs which arise in every-day
life, without working any miracle at all, and whilst to the eyes of men
all things continue as they were from the beginning, whilst there is
nothing observable in the method, He works all things together for the
good of them that love Him, combining opposing forces and blending
together the elements of life and of death in one grand atmosphere of
benediction for the welfare of the righteous, and all this without
disturbing the ordinary course of cause and effect. The power of God
impresses itself not merely through the lower links of the chain of
providence--cause and effect, but upon the higher part of that chain
which sends down its influence, its intelligence, its all-wise
benevolence, to work out the welfare of those that are the objects of his
love.

So it is with nations. You will see public events rising up in
connection with ordinary causes, but we ought to acknowledge the great
First-cause. The principles of divine government which operated in the
old time are now as surely in operation as they were then. They are not
antiquated: they are not at all supplanted; they operate in the same way,
to the same ends; they operate to national and personal benefit, to
national and personal reproof, or, in the neglect of such admonition, to
national and personal punishment, showing us that God's government is now
the government which it was in the ancient days, and that though we see
no miracles in our day God is as much in the midst of unthinking
multitudes as when men were startled by the visible interposition of his
Almighty power.

Let us look, then, at the state of things about us now. Is there not
sufficient cause in this land to lead us to humble ourselves, to improve
the admonition of our God; that we should prepare to meet Him, in the
only way in which we can meet Him to our profit, by our personal
submission to a greater extent; and if we love our country, that we
should put ourselves into a position to bring the nation out of any state
of rebellion against God, to lead it back to a more perfect
reconciliation