the industrious, and the innocent. It is He, says the Psalmist,
who has made wars to cease in all the world, who has broken the bow and
snapped the spear in sunder, and burned the chariots in the fire; and so,
by the voice of fact, said to these kings and to their armies, if they
would but understand it, "Be still, and know that I am God"--that I, not
you, will be exalted among the nations--that I, not you, will be exalted
in the earth.

Such is the 46th Psalm, one of the noblest utterances of the whole Old
Testament. And is it not as true for us now, ay, for all nations and all
mankind now, as it was when it was uttered? Is not Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever? Have His words passed away? Did He say
in vain, "All power is given unto me in heaven and earth?" Did He say in
vain, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world?" I trust
not. I trust and I hope that you, or at least some here, believe that
Christ is ruling and guiding the world, the church, and every individual
soul who trusts in Him toward--

"One far off divine event,
To which the whole creation moves."

I hope you do have that trust, for your own sakes, for the sake of your
own happiness, your own sound peace of mind; for then, and then only, you
can afford to be hopeful concerning yourselves, your families, your
country, and the whole human race. It must be so. If you believe that
He who hung upon the cross for all mankind is your refuge and strength,
and the refuge and strength of all mankind, then, amid all the changes
and chances of this mortal life, you can afford to be still calm in
sudden calamity, patient in long afflictions; for you know that He is
God, He is the Lord, He is the Redeemer, He is the King. He knows best.
He must be right, whosoever else is wrong. Let Him do what seemeth Him
good.

Now I cannot but feel (what wiser and better men than I am feel more
deeply), that this old-fashioned faith in the living Christ is dying out
among us. That men do not believe as they used to do in the living Lord
and in His government, in that perpetual divine providence which the
Scriptures call "the kingdom of God." They have lost faith in Christ's
immediate and personal government of the world and its nations; and,
therefore, they are tempted more and more, either to try to misgovern the
world themselves, or to fancy that Christ has entrusted His government,
as to a