i6o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



And elsewhere : 



"The time liad now arrived when the Almighty Governor, after having 

 severely punished the whole nation, was intending to raise its drooping head 

 to give a more rapid impulse to its prosperity, and to cause it to stand forth 

 more prominently as an Exemplar State. For this end, He raised up an indi- 

 vidual eminently fitted for the intended work [Henry VII.].." ' 



And again : 



" As if to mark this epoch of history with greater distinctness, it was closed 

 by the death of George III., the Geeat and the Good, who had been raised up 

 as the grand instrument of its accomplishment." a 



The late catastrophes on the Continent are similarly explained by 

 a French writer who, like the English writer just quoted, professes to 

 have looked behind the veil of things ; and who tells us what have 

 been the intentions of God in castigating his chosen people, the French. 

 For it is to be observed in passing that, just as the evangelicals among 

 ourselves think we are divinely blessed because we have preserved the 

 purity of the faith, so it is obvious to the author of " La 3Iain de 

 F Homme et le Doigt de Dieu" as to other Frenchmen, that France is 

 hereafter still to be, as it has hitherto been, the leader of the world. 

 This writer, in chapters entitled " Causes providentielles de nos mal- 

 heurs," " Les Prussiens et les fieaux de Dieu," and " Justification de la 

 Providence," carries out his interpretations in ways we need not here 

 follow, and then closes his "Epilogue" with these sentences : 



" The moderate Revolution, characterized by ability, sagacity, Macbiavelism, 

 diabolical wisdom, was vanquished and confounded by Divine Justice in the per- 

 son and government of Napoleon III. 



" The advanced Revolution, full of fervor and headlong audacity, was van- 

 quished and confounded by Divine Justice in the persons and successive gov- 

 ernments of Gambetta, Felix Pyat, etc. 



" Human wisdom, now everywhere applauded and triumphant, personified 

 by M. Thiers, will quickly be vanquished and confounded by this same Revolu- 

 tion, which, though twice laid low, still is ever springing up again, ever aggres- 

 sive. 



" This is no prophecy : 'tis the foresight of Christian philosophy and faith. 



" Then will it be the opportunity of the Most High ; for God and his Son 

 must reign through His Gospel and through His Church. 



" Frenchmen and Christians ! Pray, work, suffer, and have confidence ! 

 "We are near to the end. "When all shall appear to be lost, then shall all be 

 truly saved. 



" If France could have known how to profit by the disasters she has suffered, 

 God would have bestowed on her His chiefest favors. But she is stiff-necked 

 in error and vice. Let us be assured that God will save her in spite of herself, 

 regenerating her by water and by fire. When man is powerless, then it is that 

 God's wisdom is displayed. But oh the tribulations, the anguish! Happy 



1 The " Theocratic Philosophy of English History," vol. i., p. 289. 

 * Ibid., vol. ii., p. 681. 



