_CLOUDED BUT NOT LOST!_
"_Clouds and darkness are round about Him._"
--PSALM xcvii.
When Lincoln had been assassinated, and word of the tragedy came to New
York, "the people were in a state of mind which urges to violence." A man
appeared on the balcony of one of the newspaper offices, waving a small
flag, and a clear voice rang through the air: "Fellow-citizens! Clouds and
darkness are round about Him! His pavilion is dark waters, and thick
clouds of the skies! Justice and judgment are the habitation of His
throne! Fellow-citizens, God reigns!" It was the voice of General
Garfield.
That voice proclaimed the divine sovereignty, even when the heavens were
black with the menace of destruction. Lincoln had been assassinated, but
God lived! Human confusion does not annihilate His throne. God liveth!
"The firm foundation standeth sure." This is the only rock to stand upon
when the clouds have gathered, and the waters are out, and the great deeps
are broken up. God's sceptre does not fall from His grasp, nor is snatched
by alien hands. The throne abideth. Joy will rise from the apparent chaos
as springs are unsealed by the earthquake. He will bring fortune out of
misfortune; the darkness shall be the hiding-place of His grace.