The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-12-13

the cxhausting hunger. and the Ion
march, because 'sthe Lord opened tt
eyes of the young man; and he saw
and. behold, the mountains were fu
| of horses and chariots Of fire roun
| about Elisha" Washington himse
was miracle. What Joshua was in S,
cred history, the first American pres
dent was in secular history. A thor
| sand other men excelled him in differ
emit things, but he excelled them all j
roundness and completeness of char
acter. The world never saw his like
and probably never will see his Xix
again, because there probably neve
will be another such exigency. FL
was let down Divine interposition
He was from God direct.
I do not know how many can rea'
the history of those times without ad
hitting the contest was decided by TIN
upper forces. Then, in 1861, when on
civil war opened. many at the nortl
and at the south pronounced 1t ma
tional suicide. 1t was not courage
against cowardice, it was not wealth
against poverty, twas not large states
against small states. 1t was hero
ism against heroism, it was the re
sources of many generations against
the resources of generations, it was
the prayer of the north against the
prayer of the south, it was one-half OF
the nation in armed wrath, meeting
the other half of the nation in armed
indignation. What could come but
DETERMINATION?
At the opening of the war the COM
mander-in- chief of the United States
forces was man who had been great
in battle, but old age had come, with
many infirmities. and he had right
to quietude. He could not mount
q horse, and he rode on the
in a carriage, asking
the driver not to jolt it too
much. During the most of the four
years of the contest, on the south
,rn side, was man in midlife,
who had in his veins the blood of
many generatsons of warriors, himself
me of the heroes of Cherubusco and
Jerro Gordo, Contreras and Chapulte-
zee. As the years passed on and the
croll of carnage unrolled there came
ut from both sides a heroism, and
strength, and a determination
hat the world had never seen
1arshaled. And what but exter-
could come when Philip
meridian and Stonewall Jackson met,
nd Nathaniel Lyon and Sydney
rode in from north and
outh, and Grant and Lee, the two
nunderbolts of battle, clashed! Yet
re are a nation, and yet we are at
eace. Earthly scourge did not excite
he conflict. The upper forces of the
ext. They tell us there was a battle
ought above the clouds on Lookout
fountain; but there was something
igher than that.
Again, the horses and chariots of
cd came to the rescue of the nation
l 1876, at the close of presidential |
lection famous for ferocity. A darker
oud yet settled down upon this |
alton. The result of the election |
as in dispute, and revolution. not be-
veen two or three sections, but revo-
tion in every town and village and |
ty of the United States seemed I'M
inent. The prospect was that !
ew York would throttle New
ork, and New Orleans would |
lip New Orleans, and Boston,
oston, and Savannah, Savan-
LII, and Washington. Washington.
,me said Mr.. Tilden was elected;
hers said Mr.. Hayes was elected; and
wv near we came to universal massa-
e some of us guessed; but God only
new. l ascribe our escape not to the
onesty and Righteousness of infuri-
ed politicians, but ascribe it to the
,per forces of the text. Chariots of
Grey rolled in, and, though the
heels were not heard and the
lsh was not seen, yet all through
e mountains of the north and the
nth and the east and the west,
ough the hoofs did not clatter, the
valry of God galloped by. l tell you
ID is the friend of this nation. In
e awful excitement at the massacre
Lincoln, when there was prospect
at greater slaughter would open
ION the nation, God hushed the
mpest In the awful excitement at
e time of Garfeld's assassination
I'd put His foot on the neck of the
clone. To prove God is on the side of
is nation, I argue from the last eight
nine great national harvests, and
I'm the national health of the last
arter of century, epidemics very
ceptional, and from the great re-
rails of religion and from the spread.
: of the Church of God. and from the
ntinent blossoming with asylums and
institutions, and from an
enization which promises tnHt this
lole land is to be paradise, where