his throne; with an army of upwards of a million men, roused to the highest pitch of fanaticism by his proclamations, and neither badly disciplined nor officered; with a fleet, which, though by no means able to cope with the united fleets of England and France, was strong enough erewhile to domineer in the Euxine, if not in the Baltic; with a territory whose frontier was almost like a fortified camp, and still more strongly fortified by the severity of its winters, with which even the mighty genius of the first Napoleon could not successfully contend; thus situated he felt secure, and nerved himself by force to drive back the armies that beleagured his strongholds, and by fraud to circumvent his enemies, to break through that network of diplomacy tightening around him and eventually to gain the glittering prize, which so long had been the object of his ambition. Silently and stealthily the last enemy enters the gates of his palace, and almost without note of warning, pierces him through with his dart. And the telegraph which a day or two before had told us of the mustering of his forces, of the marshalling of his hosts, now announces to the world that NICHOLAS IS DEAD.

Few indeed, will fail to recognise this solemn event, as an illustration of the fact, that there is a providence in the affairs of men. All but the obdurate and prejudiced will acknowledge that there has been a higher and mightier hand than man's in it—a hand at which tyrants may tremble, but which the oppressed may trust-a hand not to be controlled by human wisdom, nor resisted by human power. There are those who will adopt this conclusion, only if they cannot see the secondary causes by which it has been brought about. They should remember, however, that secondary, are not efficient causes; and that a true philosophy will discover the finger of God as much in those events, which can be traced up to the combined operations of nicely adjusted laws, as in those whose origin is more unaccountable and mysterious. If on the one hand, it were proved, as is asserted, that the late Emperor died of congestion of the lungs, or, if on the other hand, as is only suspected, it was made plain that he perished at the hand of the assassin, the half-learned man will be apt to laugh at the faith of the peasant, who ascribes the despot's death solely to the agency of God. Of the two, the latter is by far the more philosophical, for he contemplates an efficient agent, while the former, at least on one of the suppositions, goes no further than the mere instrument. "I call", says Sir Thomas Browne, "the effects of nature the works of God, whose hand and instrument she only is; and therefore to ascribe his actions unto her is to devolve the honour of the principal agent upon the instrument, which if with reason we may do, then let our hammers rise up, and boast that they built our houses, and our pen receive the honour of our writings.*" From the mental and moral constitution, which God has given him man is the efficient cause of many events; but out of the apparently tangled woof of human contingency, God takes care, in his own omniscience and power, to evolve results which prove that "he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; that none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?" If men will not voluntarily choose God as the sovereign of their inner life, he will whether *Religo imedici sec. 16.

they choose it or not, irresistibly assert his sovereignty over their inner life, and compel them to answer some useful end under his moral government. All through their probationary course leaving their mental and moral constitution intact, and their free moral agency inviolate, he will yet make the highest and haughtiest of his creatures bend to his decisions, and yield to his power. "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord shall be exalted." It needs not that there should be special interpositions without physical causes, except in the attestation of a divine revelation, or some kindred object, in order to accomplish the divine purposes. The original constitution of all things is so perfect, the various parts of the machinery of moral government are so exquisitely adjusted, the blending and interblending of causes and effects are so perfectly foreknown, that the subsequent interference by God with the arrangements and interpositions which he hath instituted, is not needed for the effectuation of his ends. It is this wonderful dealing with the fortuities of life, this overruling of the machinations of even wicked men, for the furtherance of the high ends of divine rule, this calm but irresistible crushing of the proudest schemes of human ambtion, this triumphant evolution of high and widespread good from the wrath, and the rage, and the insane struggles of cruel men,—and all without miracle, that constitutes the highest miracle of divine Providence, makes man most deeply feel his dependence, and lays the widest basis for abiding and abounding confidence in the reign of God, "He maketh the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain."

To mark and to ponder the ways of God in providence, is equally the dictate of reason and scripture. He who believes in the existence of God, in his interest in the human condition, in his superintendence of the affairs of the universe, must feel the importance of an intimate knowledge of the dealings of God with his creatures, which can only be gained, by a diligent and devout study of the history of the world. He is but a weak and unworthy student of the written revelation, who does not rise from it to the frequent and earnest contemplation of what God is doing in his providence, as a transcript of the same infinite and eternal mind. Antecedently we might expect that the works of man would not contain clearer traces of the distinctive characters of their authors, than do the operations of providence of a divine and omniscient agency. And he who refuses or neglects to consider God's doings, virtually pours contempt on God's sovereign and universal rule. How but in the history of the race, can he find the verification of those predictions which form such mighty bulwarks against the attacks of infidelity. In that history, who that reflects can fail to discover the finger of God. On every page does it not bear traces the clearest and strongest, of a divine superintendence and overruling, and of a breath, a unity, and an energy of purpose, which man can never display. The two books of providence and of the Scriptures are correlated. They beautifully harmonise, and serve to illustrate each other. One reveals to us the redemptive truth necessary to man's salvation; the other sets before us for our instruction God's will and righteous dealings with his creatures. They are equally; however, his works; and to neglect either of them would give the inquirer a very partial if not a disorted view

of the divine character.

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A disregard to the agency of God in the government of the world is frequently branded in scripture with the severest condemnation as a certain symptom of impiety, and a harbinger of ruin. "The ox knoweth his says Isaiah," and the ass his master's crib, but my people do not know, Israel doth not consider." And again, "Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflames them and the harp and the viol, the tabret, and pipe and wine are in their feasts; but they regard not the works of the Lord, neither consider the operations of his hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge." And if it be ungrateful and criminal to overlook the ordinary dealings of his providence; how much more so when his judgments are abroad upon the earth. It is to show an insensibility, and a practical atheism, unworthy of an intelligent creature, not to say, of a true Christian.

Let

Let this, then, be our answer to those who allege that Christians have nothing to do with the political, and social movements of the age. them study their bible a little more attentively, and enquire why it is that we have such a faithful, a minute, and a vivid record of the dispensations of providence with individuals and with communities, if not to impress our minds with the great fact that there is a God who reigns in the heavens, and who seeks to make every event subservient to one great and beneficent purpose-the moral culture, the spiritual growth, and the everlasting well-being of the entire species. And how much more impressively are we taught the fact and the method of divine rule by such a record, than if the truths had been communicated to us in an abstract and deatched form. For what have we the account of Abraham's call from his native land, of his journeyings from kingdom to kingdom under the guidance of a divine hand, if not to teach us the necessity of dependence upon God? Why have we so graphic a description of the wonderful evolutions in the history of Joseph, if not to convince us, that under the reign of God, truth, and virtue, though crushed for a season, will eventually triumph? Why has the inspired historian recorded the moral appliances by which Pharoah was surrounded, and his signal overthrow, when all failed to melt his obdurate heart, if not to teach mankind in all ages, that forbearance has its limits, that might cannot always lord it over right, and that, sooner or latter, the taskmaster and the tyrant will be overtaken and overwhelmed by a just retribution. And, not to mention other cases, what is the whole book of Daniel but a grand epic, illustrative of God's determination to involve every throne and every empire, which would hinder the progress of the race, and prevent the universal establishment of the reign of love, in an inevitable, if not a sudden destruction.

It is thus that Providence is at the present moment addressing all the nations of the earth; and it will be wise in us not to waste time in vain conjecture, in idle speculation, or in anxious foreboding, but to learn from the thrilling event, which is now being borne with lightning speed to the ends of the earth, the lessons which infinite wisdom would teach us, that our souls may be nerved for duty, and armed for suffering by unfaltering confidence in the supreme government of the universe. The question has to be de

cided whether Europe has to be bound to the chariot wheels of despotism, or advance in the path of freedom; whether the tide of civilisation and enlightenment has to be rolled back for centuries; whether all its treasures of literature and of free-thought shall be buried for ages, if not lost for ever. The antagonistic forces cannot exist together; there must be war between them, and one or other must prevail. Apparently by a trifle, the flames of war were kindled. The combat was deepening. The fond visions of a speedy settlement of the question were becoming more and more faint. The nations of Europe were preparing for a yet fiercer struggle. Behind those legions of armed men, there stood one, the avowed friend and representative of despotism, of herculean strength, and iron will, who declared that, rather than yield up one inch of his power, he would retire or be driven back to the confines of China, the original nursery of his race. Fired with the visions

of conquest, which he had received as a heritage from Peter, called the great, and the infamous Catherine, he had attempted to lull to sleep the young Samson of European liberty, in the Delilah-lap of diplomacy, and thus to encircle him with a network of cords, which he could not easily break; and for a time, too well he suceeded. But at length the giant awoke and burst his bonds asunder. An attempt was made to drive him by force from the soil where so recently he had appeared. It was not the Sultan's armies or navy that the Czar dreaded, nor the increasing material prosperity of his empire, nor the development of its commerce, but the spread of Protestantism among certain classes of the Sultan's subjects, and the thirst for liberty that was beginning to show itself. The growth of these, he felt, would erect a more impassible barrier between him and the prize, which he was so eager to grasp, than Kalafat or Silistria, than the Danube or the Balkan, than Adrianople or the Castles of the Dardanelles. He would expedite the matter, and at once strike a heavy blow. That blow was parried, if not returned. Slowly and hesitatingly England and France embarked in the struggle, endeavouring to draw with them the central European powers, who have much to hope for from the Czar's help, in the event of a popular insurrection within their own territories, and yet much to dread from his ambition or revenge. The legions of the Western powers lingered in the Mediterranean, engaged in fruitless labour at Gallipoli, and when within fifty miles of the scene of strife, were thinned by cholera, the fruit of inaction. At last they embarked for the Crimea; for Sebastopol had to be taken. In vain however did the united forces of England and France, storm and carry the heights of Alma, in vain did they heroically resist, and drive back an overwhelming force of Russians at Inkerman; Sebastopol did not fall. Official incompetence, procrastination, and routine, doomed our brave soldiers to pine away and die in thousands, of sheer starvation and neglect, on the inhospitable shores of the Euxine. Thus passed away the first year of the war, and the first of the present month dawned upon Europe in sadness and gloom. The Czar had been foiled in his efforts but had not abandoned his purpose. Though he had gained nothing, the war had not inflicted upon him any material injury. By fraud or by force he still hoped to attain his end. He stood like some Alpine height, casting a dark shadow over the nations of Europe, and threatening them with still heavier calamities; and while he lived, there seemed little hope of peace, unless his power was broken, and some of his strongholds taken from him.

Many thought in their hearts, "Why is the disturber of the peace of Europe, permitted to live? Why is he not smitten down by a divine hand?" and by some the thought was expressed. Nor is it wonderful that such thoughts have arisen in the minds of persons, unaccustomed to mark and diligently to study the method of the divine moral government. They have been sources of trial to thoughtful men in all ages, and have carried some to the very confines of atheism. The slave looks at his taskmaster, and asks, "Have I not as much right to liberty as he; am I not a man; am I not as capable of joy and sorrow; by what right does he hold me as his slave; can God be just, or is there a God at all?" The patriot sees his country crushed under the heel of a relentless despot, and asks, "If God is the friend of liberty and of man, why does he not interpose to prevent the thraldom, and the suffering of so many of his creatures; why does he not burl the tyrant from his throne?" The virtuous man sees vice triumphant, and is tempted to ask, "Of what use is it that I avoid sin, that I live for God, and the welfare of my fellow-beings, that I make sacrifices for the good of my species; nothing comes to me, but obloquy, disappointment, and suffering; while many of the wicked of the earth scem to live amid the full sunshine of prosperity? "There are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most high? Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency." These difficulties all arise from overlooking the great facts that the immediate punishment of sin as a rule, would be altogether inconsistent with a probationary state; that by his goodness, and forbearance, and long suffering, God designs to lead man to repentance ;that he does not ueem it wise to take a course which would interfere with man's free moral agency; that in the main, the happiness of the wicked is only seeming, not real; that in the future world, will be meted out to them, their full measure of punishment; and that " one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

Still in some cases there is a deviation from the usual course of providence, when swift and terrible vengeance overtakes the transgressor in the present life; and there has often appeared an awful fitness between the manner of a tyrant's death and the mode of his life; or the period chosen for his overthrow has been likely to produce the deepest impression on society. The despot, whose chief business it is to crush, and bind, and degrade his fellow-creatures, who considers no sacrifice of human life too great to attain his selfish ends, whose infinite rage strews the earth with human frames, fills rivers with blood, turns fruitful valleys into deserts, scourges nations with famine and pestilence, makes the cities and the forest glades of many lands vocal with lamentation, and mourning, and woe, and multiplies widows and orphans, is suddenly cut off in the midst of his career, and when the conflict seems at its very crisis! What a loud and solemn lesson to the kings and princes of the carth! And thus it was