And elsewhere:
"The time had 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 individual eminently fitted for the intended work [Henry VII.]‥"[1]
And again:
"As if to mark this epoch of history with greater distinctness, it was closed by the death of George III., the Great and the Good, who had been raised up as the grand instrument of its accomplishment."[2]
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 Main de l'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 malheurs," "Les Prussiens et les fléaux 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, Machiavelism, diabolical wisdom, was vanquished and confounded by Divine Justice in the person and government of Napoleon III.
"The advanced Revolution, full of fervor and headlong audacity, was vanquished and confounded by Divine Justice in the persons and successive governments 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 Revolution, which, though twice laid low, still is ever springing up again, ever aggressive.
"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.
