He other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just
God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's
faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both
could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The
Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses;
for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the
offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of
those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but
which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to
remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as
the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein
any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a
living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we
pray