The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1895-12-06

history, the first American president
was in secular history. A thousand
other men excelled him in different
things, but he exselled them all in
roundness and completeness of charac-
ter. The world never saw his like,
and probably never will see his like
again. because there probably never
will be such an exigency. He was let
down Divine interpretation. He was
from God direct.
/ do not know how many can read
the history of those times without al
hitting the contest was decided by the
upper forces. Then, in 1861, when our
civil war opened, many at the North
and at the South pronounced 1t nation
al suicide. 1t was not courage against
cowardice, it was not wealth against
poverty, ii was not large states against
small states. 1t was heroism against
heroism, ii was the resources of many
generations against the resources OF
generations, 1t was the prayer of the
North against the prayer of the South,
IL 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-c of the United States
forces was a man who had been great
in battle, but old age had come, with
many infrmities, and he had a right
to quietude. He could not mount
horse and he rode on the battlefield in
a carriage, asking the driver not to jolt
il too much. During the most OF the
four years of the contest, on the South
ern side, was a man in mid-life, who
had in his veins the blood Of many
generations of warriors, himself one OF
the heroes OF the Cherubusco and Cerro
Gordo, Contreras and Chapultepec. AS
the years passed on and the scroll OF
carnage unrolled there came out from
both sides q heroism and q strength
and a determination that the world had
never seen marshaled. And what but
determination could come when Philip
Sheridan and Stonewall Jackson met
and Nathaniel Lyon and Sydney john
son rode in from the North and South,
and Grant and Lee, the two thunder
bolts of battle, clashed? Yet, we are a
nation, and yet we are at peace. Earth
" courage did not decide the conflict.
The upper forces of the text. They tell
us there was a battle fought above the
clouds on Lookout mountain; but there
was something higher than that.
Again the horses and chariots OF God
came TO the rescue of the nation in 1876
at the close of the presidential election
| famous for ferocity. A darker cloud
yet settled down upon this nation. The
result of the election was in dispute,
and revolution, not between two or
three sections, but revolution in every
town and village and city OF the United
| States seemed imminent. The pros
pect was that New York would throttle
New York, and New Orleans would grip
New Orleans, and Boston, Boston, and
Savannah, Savannah, and Washington,
Washington. Some said Mr.. Tilden was
elected; others said Mr.. Hayes was
elected; and how near we came to uni
versal massacre, some OF us guessed.
but only God knew. l ascribe our es-
cane not to the honesty and righteous
ness of Infatuated politicians, but l as
cribe Il to the upper forces of the text.
Chariots Of mercy rolled in, and though
the wheels were not heard, and the
fash was not seen, yet all through the
mountains of the North and the South
and the East and the West. though the
hoofs did not clatter, the cavalry OF
God galloped by. / tell you God is the
friend of this nation. In the awful ex-
element at the massacre OF Lincoln
when there was a prospect that great
err slaughter would open upon this ma
ton. God hushed the tempest. In the
awful excitement at the time OF Gar
fields assassination, God put his foot
ON the neck of the cyclone. To prove
God is on the side of this nation argue
from the last eight or nine great ma
tional harvests, and from the national
health Of the last quarter of century
epidemics very exceptional. and from
the great revivals Of religion, and from
the spreading OF the Church of God
and from the continent blossoming with
asylums and reformatory institutions
| ana from lHt lLOthl1deAOA NAiNh ~ OAAA-
ises that this whole land is to be Q
paradise where God rhall walk.
I am encouraged more than / can
tell you as l see the regiments wheeling
down the sky. and my jeremiads turn
into doxologies, and that which was the
Good Friday of the nations crucifixior
becomes the Easter morn of its res
direction. OF course, God works
through human instrumentalities. and
this national betterment is TO come
among other things through scrutin
lied ballot box. BY the law of registra
ton it is almost impossible now Il
have illegal voting. There was time
you and l remember il very we'll
when droves of vagabonds wan
dered up and down on cleo
ton day and from poll t'
poll. and voted here, and voted there
and voted everywhere, and there wa
no challenge; or, II there were, l
amounted to nothing, because nothing
could so suddenly be proved upon thu
vagabonds. Now, in every well-organ
lied neighborhood, every voter Il