Year: 1865




and the end which we had fondly


hoped to reach soon, seemed indefinite
ly postponed, there was great danger.


that the peace party would gain the


ascendancy and that thus all the sac,


rifices we had made would prove abor--


tive. But for this danger, too, God has


girded us with strength How grand


ly, through all the dark days that have


come upon us, has the nation hoped


against hope, and gathered its ener-
gies anew, to meet every new peril,


How nobly, has our President borne


himself under the immense responsible


ties that have rested upon him :. fol-


lowing, cautiously and slowly some


times, but surely, the path which the


highest wisdom and the truest sense


of right seemed to dictate. And then


what shall say of our armies, of their
patience in hardships, Of their deter
mined persistence in the work they
had undertaken, of their cheerfulness,
and courage, and faith in the final re-
suit? When many, out of the army,
were discouraged and hopeless, and
ready to hail dishonorable peace, our
soldiers, upon whom the privations and
hardships Of confusing the war must
chiefly fall, were true as steel to the
cause. Our Generals, too, how Won
derfulIy has God provided just the
men we need, men of skill and tire
less energy, who are discouraged by
no difficulties, and turned aside by no.
danger, men who have the conf
dence of the administration, the hearts
of the soldiers and the enthusiastic adj
miration of the people =! How nobly
have they hoped and trusted and
wrought, and earned the laurel
wreaths which a grateful nation will
place upon their heads 4!


Thus for all the dangers and periIs
that have come upon us, God has grid
ed the nation with strength There
have been dark days, in which only a
strong faith in God, and in the ulti-
mate triumph Of right, could inspire
us with hope but we have found that
to nation as to an individual that
trusts in God, the promise is fulfilled.
" as thy day, so shall thy strength be-"


And now the end seems near. The
light is breaking through the clouds.
The darkness and doubt that hung
over us are dissipated. and our hearts
are jubilant with hope and expectation
Instead of our fields trodden down and
our cities laid in ashes by an invading
foe, the rebel States have themselves
been trampled beneath our feet, and
their largest cities are now in our pos
session scorehed and blackend by the
flames that their own hands kindled.
Daily comes to us the news of our ar
mics, flushed with victory, gathering
around the broken and demoralizcd
hosts of slavery, and hemming them
in on every side, and We even have
the rumor that Lee with the greater
part of his army is captured 1t seems
certain, that the end cannot be far off.
The empire of which slavery was to
be the cornerstone is tottering to it's
fall. For this mighty system of op-
preston, the Judgment day has at last
come. The Judge rs set and the books
are opened. But while we rejoice i'll
the triumph of justice, let us not ex-
ult heartlessly over a fallen foe. As
we mourn over the thousands of our
own brave men untimcly fallen upon
the battlefield, and deeply sympathize
with the widows and orphans they
have left behind, so it is fit that WE
should think, with fearful eye and
sympathizing hearts, upon the thou
sands of desolate hearthstones at the
South. 1t is one of the greatest evils,
incident to war, that the innocent
must often suffer with the guilty.
Many, who are as innocent of all the
evils that have rent the nation as any
one of us can claim to be, arc mourn
ing the loss Of all they ever held dear
in life. And even to the many who
cannot be pronounced guiltless, we
may well extend the fraternal hand,
when theirs no longer grasps wea-
pom.


Let us then come before God to-day
with grateful hearts for the wonderful
way, in which he has thus far led our
nation, for the many deliverances he
has wrought, and the crowning mcr-
cies he is now sending us. Let us
gratefully and trustfully commend to
him our still bleeding, but exultant
nation, assured that he who has grid
ed us with strength for the battle,
and brought us thus far on our way,
through this Red Sea of blood, will
yet give us the pillar of cloud by day,
and of fire by night, until the fair Ca
naan of permanent and honorable
peace shall smile around us with it's
untold blessings.