Year: 1863

4


is Just so much done in behalf of the South


and how men of principle who love their coul


Try and are in favor of the prosecution of Ii


war, can resist the Administration, is somethiD


which cannot understand.


But aside from these views with regard t


the danger of division at the North, there j


another view which has often filed us wit


dismay. 1t is in reference TO our future on th


suppOsition of our success. Suppose we shoul'


succeed, as we believe we shall, and shoul,


subdue the South, how are we TO be a unite'


people This is to me dark mystery, an en-


igma 1 cannot solve. There is such bitter


ness of feeling on both sides, especially on thC


part Of the South for years she has sedulous


y educated her people to hate and despise the


North, and this war has tended of course tC


increase and strengthen this feeling and how


we can ever come together again amicably and


live together as brethren, is more than can


tell. And yet we must be ore people. God
never designed there should be two great na-
tions on this continent, for be has so planted
the hills and furrowed out the valleys and gui.
ded the rivers in their courses, that these hills
and valleys and rivers bind us together as with
bonds of iron and make US geographically
one. And if this were not true, we could not
remain or at least for any length of time, two
independent nations, without endless jealousies,
rivalries and contentious. But would we con.
tinue two nations?


The very idea of secession is, that each
State is sovereign ard independent, and if we
should yield 10 this idea, as we would do if
the South should conquer US, or if in the spir-
it of compromise we should foolishly and mad
ly acknowledge their independence, then in
stead of the one strong and powerful nation we
have all been taught to love and honor,
and which has been so much respected abroad,
or instead of two Independent sovereignties-
the rivals OF each other in the march of prog
ress-we would have thirty-four or more seper-
ate and petty kingdoms and it requires no
poets fancy or prophetic pencil to conceive or
sketch the shame and ruin and woe that would
seize the whole, disappointing the noblest hopes
of humanity, a sorrow to the world and a
prey TO every tyrant that should choose to no.
tice US. We must conquer the South or the
South will conquer US, at all events ruin US.


Such are the circumstances in which we are
placed as a nation. We are in the midst of
trouble, and our only real hope is in God. -
This is the idea 1 wish to impress upon your
minds to-day, and have selected for my text:
Ps., 42:5. Why art thou cast down, oh my
soul, and why art thou disquieted in me?-
Hope thou in God for shall yet praise him
for the help Of his countenance.


These words so applicable to the individual
in the midst of suffering and distress are equal
Iy applicable to a nation bowed down under
grevious Affections, and think they have
special applicability and appropriateness when
used in reference to ourselves. We must look
to God for help, for vain is the help of man. -
With God nothing is impossible, he has the
hearts of all 10 his hands and can turn them as
The rivers Of water are turned. We are prone
to put our hope and trust somewhere else than
in God, and this has been especially the sin of
our nation. Before the war began, we had
such confidence in our Constitution and form
of Government, that we never dreamed of dis
ruption or overthrow. It is true many in the
old world predicted that we would have trou-
ble, that revolutions would sweep over and des-
olate us as they had other nations as great and
as powerful as we, and that we would even per-
ish as a nation as did Greece and Rome, but
such predictions we laughed to scorn. We fond
Iy believed that the Alleghanies or Rocky
yea, even the globe itself would
sooner be wrested from its firm foundation and
be overthrown, than that the Constitution and
liberties of our country should be destroyed,
and yet these have been imperilled, and God is
teaching US the lesson most emphatically, we
must put our trust In him.


After the war had really begun, we put our
trust in our superior numbers, wealth and great
resources at the North. When the call was
first made for $4,000 men, we thought the
number unnecessarily great, and argued with
much plausibility, that united as we were in
interest and sympathy and feeling, we could
easily put down the rebellion with a smaller
force, and restore peace and Union to our di-
vided community. We said there must be a
great many Union men in the South, they are
not all so lost to reason and common sense,
and so carried away with the madness of an
idea, as to suppose their cause should succeed.
But how signally were our expectations thwar-
ted, our anticipations disappointed The
South has shown herself as united and as fully
as the North, and has called to her
support resources of which we were total
The war has already cost us thou
sands of precious lives and millions Of treas
ure, and God only knows when it will end.


Then we put our trust in our Rulers and
Generals, and in a most extravagant way ex-
tolled their virtues and high abilities. No one
can deny that our President has proved him
self to be wise, honest, and judicious man,
one we can all respect and honor, still we find
he is not in all respects great man. He is
not one Of those master-spirits that sometimes
appear in the midst of revolutions or great
crisises of the worlds history, who are born
+" to ride in the wbirlwind and direct the
storm" He is not Washington nor Jack
son.


Then our hope was in our military men J;
first in Scott-the gallant soldier, the skillful
general, the hero of many battle. We fond
" imagined that with him at our head to de-
wise our plans and direct our movements, we
surely would succeed. His very name, we
thought, will strike terror to the foe; and then
his long experience in military life, his ac-
kuOwleged skill, his acquaintance with the
enemys country as well as our own, and his
knowledge of the army, no wonder we expect
ed great things from him but though that
name indeed was tower of strength, we soon
found we were relying on that only. The
weight of years and lifetime's arduous duty


in the service of his country pressed heavily
on that noble form, and though the heart was
as true and loyal as ever, the body was shat
tered and the mind weakened, and the brave
old soldier could not bear up under the pressure


of these new and weigbty responsibilities, so,


much to his own, and our sorrow as well, he


was obliged to give way TO others. Then our


hope fastened itself upon the gallant Lyon,


but only for little while; no sooner had our


expectations begun to be realized than they


we're dashed to the ground, for he died early