I confess that I am not likely to see the Hand of God very much in most human events. Where some can clearly see Divine handiwork, I do not, perhaps because, in the words of Saint Paul, I “see as in a glass, darkly.” However, even I find it hard not to look at the events on the Fourth of July one hundred and sixty years ago, with the retreat of Lee from Gettysburg and the surrender of Vicksburg and not suspect that God was saying something through his human instrumentalities.
As the news spread, there was rejoicing in the North and sorrow in the South, underlining the fundamental tragedy of our war without an enemy. Fortunately both North and South were unaware that the War still had close to two years to run with the heaviest casualties occurring in 1864.
