PEAYEEFUL SYMPATHY INVOKED FOR I ( I ; AMERICA. A SERMON PREACHED AT CROSS STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON, ENGLAND, ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21st, 1862. BY THE Rev. ALFRED C. THOMAS. WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN, 606 Chestnut Street. 186:^. '^^^'m^'m^^fmm^tmii^^mimm^^immm^mim^ww^Km ^^p^wwwa ^rm^0^>^m^t Class ^ y^^'? - PRAYERFUL SYMPATHY INVOKED FOR AMERICA. A SERMON PREACHED AT CROSS STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON, ENGLAND, ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2Ist, 1862. BY THE Rev. ALFRED C. THOMAS. }pl)*ilai^l|3l)ia: WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN, 606 Chestnut Street. 1863. SEEM ON. "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah. Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners : the Lord fulfil all thy petitions. Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen : but we are risen, and stand upright. Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call." — Psalm xx. There are four theories respecting the occasion of writing this Psalm: First, That it was composed in reference to the Syro-Ammonitic war, as related in 2 Sam. x. Secondly, That it was prepared for the special encouragement of the king during the rebellion under Absalom, as recorded in 2 Sam. xv, — xviii. Thirdly, That it has no special national reference, but was composed by David to teach the people, with their king, how to deport themselves towards God and each other in all times of national distress, and especially in time of war. Fourthly, That while it has this national culture and guidance in view, it looks forward to the dis- tresses of God's church in all ages -while contending 4 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. against evil, and aiming at the ultimate triumph of the Redeemer's kingdom. It is not of special consequence in regard to the object for which this Psalm is chosen, to determine which of these theories is best supported by internal evidence. Before dismissing the question, I would offer one remark: there is no necessary incongruity between the first two opinions and those which fol- low. The Psalm may have been composed in regard either to the war with Ammon and Syria, or to the insurrection and rebellion under Absalom, and yet be intended for general instruction during any time of national distress, and especially useful during a time of war; and though it might have had such a specific origin, it may also have a prophetic bearing upon the spiritual conflict of Christ's kingdom with the kingdom of this world, for nothing is more com- mon in the Psalms than for the sacred writer to look from the temporal to the spiritual, from the national to the universal. Let it not perplex you, that while David is said to be the author of this Psalm, he is also the subject to whom it refers. David wrote it, but in the name of the people of Israel, and for use in their temple service, and in the character of the "sweet singer of Israel." I like the idea, suggested by Tholuck, of dividing the Psalm into three parts, as follows: The first five verses sung by the Levites in the temple service in the name of the whole congregation of the Lord, and containing a prayer for the king, as the Lord's anointed, a prayer breathing devoutest confidence in SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 5 God's protection, and in the righteousness of the cause they plead for. The 6th, 7th, and 8th verses sung by the king in response to the prayer so affec- tionately offered by the people, and declaring un- bounded confidence in God. Such confidence as amounts to the present realization of the blessings sought. The 9th verse, sung by the Levites, con- taining a prayer for the king, and expressing the assurance of being heard: "Save, Lord, the king. He (Jehovah) will hear us when we call." My brethren, it is with a deeply solemn feeling that I call your attention to this most suggestive and beautiful prayer, and for a truly solemn object. I want you to imbibe the very soul of this prayer, and for an object not dissimilar to that for which it was originally written and used. I want to excite your deepest sympathy, and stir up your most pleading prayers, for a nation in distress, a nation the nearest to us of all the nations in the world, in all the ele- ments of blood, language, religion, literature, gov- ernment, and commerce. I want your most prayer- ful sympathy for America. It is now nearly twelve months since I ventured to intrude this subject into the solemnities of our Sabbath worship — during the Trent affair. I do it now, as I did then, without any misgiving as to the rightness of doing it. On the contrary, I do it with the full persuasion that as a Christian and Christian minister, I ought to seek, as far as I can, to form in your minds right senti- ments on such an occasion of profound interest as that of the war in America. 6 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. The " London Emancipation Society" has issued a circular to all ministers of religion in this coun- try, urging upon them a special remembrance of the negro race of America in their religious services on the first day of January, 1863. This circular is based on the Proclamation of the President, an- nouncing liberty to all the Slave States in rebellion, on and after the first day of January 1863. I had purposed addressing you on this subject before my attention was called to the circular. I am confirmed in my purpose by it. On that day we can and will pray for our oppressed fellow-crea- tures; but I prefer, if possible, exciting your prayers beforehand, and showing our sympathy while the thing is proposed, and not accomplished. I would be among those who would cheer on that people and government in a noble and most difficult enter- prise, because I believe it is in the direction of truth and justice. I would not merely stand among those who will cheer its fulfilment, as thousands will, who now jeer at the projectors, and cast all obstacles in their way. I can submit to be thought mistaken in the views I shall advance, and I hope, willingly, receive correction of them; but I would not be unmanly in concealing them, because they happen not to be popular, and we cannot advance success in support of them. Allow me first to lay before you the occasion which calls for our prayerful sympathy as a christian people. First, I invoke your prayerful sympathy for a people in the pangs of civil war. SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 7 A nation at war with another nation is a just object of sympathy to all good men, provided there is any ground that justifies its recourse to the sword. There are few greater evils than war; but I think there are some, and we shall all probably agree in regarding slavery as one of the evils which can afflict a people greater even than war. But a nation rent by civil war is of all the most pitiable under the dire sway of the sword, because passing through the severest ordeal to which a nation can be subjected — an ordeal of fire and blood. The ravages committed by war are painful under every circumstance, but those committed by civil war are committed on its own citizens. The blood shed in war is awful to contemplate at any time, but that shed in civil war is the blood of its own sons. The treasure wasted in war is always an enormous sacrifice^ but that wasted in civil war is the precious fruit of the thought and toil of its own citizens alone. The animosity enkindled by war is dreadful to think of; but what is it when sown between brethren of the same blood, language, and religion, living upon the same soil"? In civil war, the national stability endangered is wholly its own ; the national progress checked, all its own; the national energies crippled, mainly its own. There is not even the s-mall and unenviable gratification of injuring another and rival nation. Even the triumphs of the sword awaken only a saddened joy, for they are only the triumphs of brethren against brethren. And even the restoration of peace is a pleasure, chastened by 8 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. the fact that it is procured by the humiliation of our brother. If we have read the history of our civil wars, we ought to be able to comprehend what they are suffering now, and extend to them our most prayerful sympathy in this, their first baptism of blood. Secondly. I would awaken your prayerful sympathy for a people contending for an established Govern- ment. Civil government is a divine institution, and when it is founded on right principles, and carried out with due regard for the liberty and security of the subject, consistent with the maintenance of its authority, is one of the best blessings confeiTed upon a people. Good government is so inestimable a benefaction to a free people, that to guard it against menace or overthrow is one of their simplest obliga- tions. To submit to all and every attack made upon its principles and authority without repudiation and resistance — armed resistance if necessary — is coward- ice, and shows it is either a good above their appre- ciation, or too bad to arouse them in its defence. Such a government, if bad, deserves to be swept away, for a government exists for the good of a people, and not a people for the good of a govern- ment; and if so good, the people who are too degraded to appreciate it, deserve to be threatened with the overthrow of it, to arouse them to due con- cern. When a government ceases to be rooted in the affections of a people — when it ceases to guard and consolidate their liberties — when it has lost the power, morally and physically, to maintain its legiti- SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 9 mate authority — then its removal is a good; but to aim at the overthrow of a government not charge- able with any of these failures, can scarcely, in any instance, be other than the greatest national crime, for it plans the overthrow of the greatest national good. To understand the attempt now making in Amer- ica to overthrow national government, a few facts not commonly acknowledged in this country need to be recalled to mind. It is commonly alleged that secession is an inherent right of every State com- posing the Union. This is based on the fallacy of the assumption, that the Union is simply a confede- racy of sovereign States — States which retain their sovereignty, though in the Union — States which entered that confederacy at their pleasure, and can go out at their pleasure, and commit no more wrong in the one case than the other. This is not the fact ; States are sovereign only in their own territorial jurisdiction, but not sovereign at all in regard to matters of national legislation. Nor is the Union a Union simply of States, but of the ichole American people. The Union rose at the voice of the national will, and can be modified or destroyed only by the concurrence of that national will, or, which is the same thing, by the free consent of three-fourths of the whole manhood of the country. Its Constitution is drawn up in the name of the people, not of the States, and begins, ''We, the people, ^c, not ''We, the States." The greatest minds of that country hold secession 10 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. to be morally and legally wrong. Permit a few quotations. President Jackson said, " To say that a State can separate at will from the Union, is to say that the United States is not a nation." Henry Clay said, " The submission which I owe the Union is absolute, that which I owe my native State is relative" Washington, in his Farewell Address, said to his' fellow-citizens, " Be, before all, children of the same confederation, American citizens, rather than the citizens of such or such a State. Let the Federal Constitution be your ark of safety." Daniel AYebster said, " I maintain that the Constitution of the United States is not a league, a confederation, a contract between the people of different States acting in their sovereign character, but a Government, properly so called, based on the adoption of the people. No State has the power to dissolve these relations." One would think this might have been sufficiently well known in England to have kept many from falling into such a mistake, who have lent their influence to propagate it. We may understand the plea thus put forward by looking nearer home. What would be thought of the opinion that any county of England had a right to secede from its submission to national authority and government, because it had some fault, real or fancied, to allege against that government ■? Just suppose that when the corn laws were abolished, the agricultural dis- tricts of England, fancying themselves aggrieved, that national legislation, so long in their supposed SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 11 favor, was turning against them, and in favor of the manufacturing interests of the country, had risen and proclaimed themselves separated from the nation, and no longer subject to the authority of the constitution and sovereign. Who would maintain their right to do that? What would be thought if Scotland, or Ireland, or Wales, were to proclaim their independence of England? Would these preachers of the right of secession preach it at home? W^hen the Sepoy mutiny rose, and disputed our authority in India, who in England justified their right to secession? And yet they had become a conquered race, and their country had become the property of strangers by force of arms, not done by peaceful and voluntary union. The case of America in the present struggle is as nearly as possible paral- lel to these illustrations. The Government of that country has been for many years in succession in the hands of the Slaveocracy ; they have had everything in their own way; they have during these years raised slavery from the position of a tolerated, apolo- gized thing, to be the dominant idea in legislation, and in all the relations of the Government to the people, and to other nations; from that party has come all the gross insults to England ; instigated by hatred of our conduct to the slaves within our dominions, containing, as it did, so keen a reproof to them, madly bent upon forging new legislative, fetters for the same race in their country; from that party came the "Fugitive Slave Law," and the repeal of the " Missouri Compromise." 12 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. President Lincoln was elected by a party whose guiding principle was the non-extension of slavery into any of the Territories of the country not yet become States of the Union. That party, while acting on this constitutional principle, held all existing laws of the Union sacred, and asserted its determination to stand by the Constitution. At once the South — the long dominant South, the- long petted South — like a spoiled child, peevishly turned round and said, " I won't stay in the Union," " I'll go away," " I'll set up on my own account." " If I am beaten, though fairly beaten, I won't submit." And without submitting its grievance (if it had any) to the whole country, and without attempting to show that it had been wronged, or that the Consti- tion had been violated, either by the party electing or the man elected, or the principles avowed in the election, away it went, like a wilful but resolute child, that could no longer have its own way, and proclaimed a Confederacy after its own heart, a Con- federacy whose corner-stone is perpetual slavery of the negro race, the renewal of the African slave trade, and the extension of slavery into as many of the Territories as it could command, thus destroying all hope of freedom to the colored race, and blotting the fair Union out of existence. If that be a just cause for secession, then any minority in a state, or country, or province, or parish, or church, or society, has an equal right of secession, when it cannot rule the majority, and bend every thing to its own will. SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 13 This defeated minority, accustomed at home to irresponsible power, began this fratricidal war. At their door lies the guilt of having unsheathed this sword, upon them is the blood of the thousands that have fallen in this conflict between freedom and slavery, between good government and anarchy. I have no alternative, therefore, in the presence of these indisputable facts, but to designate this war, so begun, and continued, as the most causeless^ and therefore as the most uicked, the world has ever seen. Can I do otherwise, then, than regard the defence of that Government on the part of the loyal States as the most necessary and righteous any people could be engaged in. If a government violates not the constitution it has sworn to maintain, then all loyal citizens are bound to defend it, even with their largest treasure and their most priceless blood. The loyal States regard their Government and Constitu- tion as the noblest the world has ever seen, or any nation ever enjoyed. I offer no opinion on this; but it is due to this conviction, that they defend both, if needful, even to the sacrifice of their life. Do not suppose, brethren, I am, in my sympathy with the cause of good government in America, for- getful of -the curse and miseries entailed by war. I have no words to express my abhorrence of its un- reasonableness and wickedness, but I am far less able to express my abhorrence of the unmitigated wickedness of slavery. It is a choice of the two greatest evils that any nation could be cursed with, and had the Northern States and the Government 14 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. chosen slavery rather than war, the toleration of anarchy, rather than the defence of constitutional government, instead of deserving the sympathy and prayers of all Christian people, they would have deserved the contempt of mankind, and they would have had it, not only in this generation, but also in generations yet unborn. Thirdly. I would bespeak your prayerful sym- pathy in behalf of a people suffering the chastise- ment of Heaven for conniving at, and abetting, the greatest crime against humanity, and the greatest sin against God. It is admitted by most i\.merican Christians, that this war is a retributive judgment on account of their national ingratitude, haughti- ness, and wickedness in the sight of God, and above all, for their grievous sins against God and humanity, not only by their complicity with slavery, but also in numerous ways besides. I am concerned now only with the part they have taken in regard to slavery. The American Government is based upon the manhood of its subjects. Their equality before the law, and their inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as set forth by their fathers in the declaration of independence. Slavery was an entail of this country to America at that time, when, of the thirteen States that composed the Union, there was but one really free from slavery, (Massa- chusetts.) It was then a tolerated thing, to be re- moved in time. A cancer to be rooted out. An excrescence upon the fair form of the Constitution to be cut off. Instead of that being done, through SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 15 cupidity and lust of irresponsible power, from re- garding it as a tolerated evil, which the fathers did, the sons became, first its timid defenders, on the ground of insufficient labour, then on the ground of inferiority of race, and then on the profitableness of their toil, and then on the blasphemous pretence of having biblical authority for this accursed thing. Having reached this summit, they demand for it prior influence in all national legislation, and the whole people, North and South, allowed this mon- strous evil, " the sum of all the villanies," as Wesley termed it, to grow in insolence, in barbarity, in des- potic usurpation of free speech, within the Slave States, and in brutal violence when that freedom of speech was directed against it, even in the free States, and in the halls of legislation, until the crown of its wickedness was reared in a "Fugitive Slave Law," and the free States became the " man traps and spring guns" of the South. In this way a practical lie has been more and more given to the fundamental article of their Constitution. But the cross of Christ confirms the fundamental law of the Constitution, by acknowledging the equality of human souls before God. That nation is professedly Christian. Its slavery has given a practical lie to its religion as well as to its Constitution. Can we wonder that God is angry'? That a nation so exact in material, intellectual, and reli- gious blessings, should be severely chastised by Almighty God for its practical infidelity'? And whence comes the chastisement '? By the very 16 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. hands that have been foremost in piling up this huge sin in the face of heaven. The Slaveocracy are the sword by .which God is chastising these free States and free Churches for their complicity with "the sum of all the villanies." You see that God is contending with them in even the reverses that have attended their efforts to subdue this most formidable rebellion. It must then be admitted that this people are suffering the just displeasure of Almighty God. But on that very ground, I plead their claims to our prayers and sympathy. The whole nation is under the hand of God. That hand is heavy upon them. Will you cast stones at them now] Is this the time to turn our backs upon them '? Shall we do nothing but rake up and cast in their teeth all their past offences'? Is this English, manly, brotherly, christian 1 Shame on those who can do nothing but take pleasure in the misfortune, the judgments, that have befallen a nation so near to us, a nation that, but as yesterday, "went forth from our loins." I will not dishonor our common Christianity by asking if you can give one pulsation of sympathy to these revolted States — States whose guilty Confede- ration proclaimed slavery for its corner-stone, and blasphemously applies to it words made sacred to every christian heart by their reference to the Re- deemer of men. Vice-President Stephens says of it, " Its foundations are laid, the corner-stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery is subordination to the SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 17 superior race, — is his natural and normal condi- tion, — the stone which was rejected by the first builders, is become the chief stone of the corner in our new edifice." I cannot but think our prayerful sympathy should flow all the more readily, from the fact that we too are suffering along with them, that we are not wholly free from the guilty thing that has precipi- tated, this conflict; we have restricted ourselves to the produce of slave toil; though waraed, we have gone blindly on, and now their chastisements extend to us. Shall I plead in vain for a nation under the hand of God, when I plead with those who are pass- ing through the furnace too, though, in mercy to us, not heated as for them \ If you sympathize not in their defence of established government, surely you will not withhold either sympathy or prayer for them as smitten by the hand of God. "If one member sufi"er, all the members sufl'er with it." Fourthly. I would bespeak your prayerful sym- pathy for a people and Government treading in the path of truth and justice. Let me impress on your minds that the present Government was called to power for the express purpose of putting a stop to the extension of slavery. Mr. Lincoln was nomi- nated for the Presidential chair, and elected on this avowed principle, viz., « That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom— and we deny the authority of Congress, or a Territorial Legislation, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of 2 18 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. the United States." This principle the Govern- ment can maintain constitutionally, by declining to admit new Territories (and the territory referred to is nearly as large as Europe) as States into the Union with slavery in their Constitution ; but it has no power to interfere legislatively with slavery in existing slave States. This accounts for the fact, so loudly declaimed against in England, that the President and his Government did not pass a law abolishing slavery once and for ever; to say nothing of the fact that they could not have carried such a proposition through the legislature, they had no right to do it; they were without constitutional authority to do so; they would have given some justification to this rebellion. But what the Govern- ment could do legislatively, and as a military necessity, it has done. It has abolished slavery in the District of Colum- bia, the only district in which the Government has local authority. Compensation has been ofi'ered to the border States for the emancipation of their slaves. Slavery has been for ever excluded from the /Territories ; it can therefore have no possible extension, and non-extension is death to it. The Government has made a treaty with this country for the more effectual suppression of the African slave trade. It has carried out, for the first time, the law of the United States, which declares the importation of slaves to be piracy. It has formally recognised the Negro Republics of Hayti and Liberia. And the President, as holding the supreme military authority SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 19 of the Union, has issued a proclamation, declaring that on the first day of January 1863, all slaves in States then in rebellion against the Government, shall be absolutely free henceforth and for ever. And in his recent message to Congress, he recom- mends that the Constitution be so far amended by the requisite authorities, as to make compensation a legal tender to every State which shall at any time abolish slavery before January, A. d, 1900. These are unquestionable facts, and, under such adverse circumstances, facts that reflect the highest honour on the President and his administration. I know it is objected that the war was not under- taken on the part of the North for the abolition of slavery, but for the maintenance of the Union, that big idol of the nation. Supposing this to be all the truth, I would say, "most noble object!" If they cared not for its integrity, they would cease to be worthy of it. Again, it is objected, all this abolitionism is a necessity^ not a choice. Shall we condemn them for ■•' learning wisdom by the things which they suf- fered"] Are they prohibited from "learliing right- eousness, when the judgments of God are abroad in their land"? Could anything but war have revo- lutionized the opinion of that people on the subject of slavery? Shall we find fault that God has done in about eighteen months, by the sword, that which a lifetime of teaching and agitation could not have effected — that which, in fact, seemed closed against all teaching and all agitation? Shall we blame them 20 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. that they have opened their eyes when God was pouring a flood of light upon them — national sin'? Instead of reproaching them for tardiness, would it not be nobler to animate them in their most difficult undertakings by our prayers? Remember, too,. that they are not treading in the path of justice by words merely; deeds and suc- cesses follow their words. Is it nothing that, proba- bly, more than a quarter of a million out of the four millions of slaves have been already freed by Federal arms and chances of war "? Is it nothing that, probably, a thousand slaves per day are now regaining their freedom'? Is it not a glorious thing, that, whereas a year ago 800,000 square miles were included in rebeldom, nearly three-fourths have now been re- deemed by Federal arms^ Of the fifteen slave States, eleven cast in their lot with the South, and passed secession ordinances, two voted it down, while the remaining two did not even entertain it. And in the eleven, the ordinance of secession was never put to the vote of the people, with the exception of Vir- ginia; and there the ballot box was in charge of southern bayonets, and loyal citizens were prevented from voting. Notwithstanding that, Western Vir- ginia has separated from the rest of that State, and has been admitted into the Union ; and of the eleven seceded States, not one is now wholly under Confed- erate rule. The rebellion embraced seven millions of white people at the beginning; now, not more than two and a half millions acknowledge its sway: and yet men in this country daily ask, " What have SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 21 they donef It is a fact worth pondering, that, amid all the chances of war, every battle has, as yet, been fought on slave soil. The ground that has received the blood of the combatants is the same ground which has, for years past, with the blood of the slave, cried to heaven for retribution; while in the free States, beyond the passage of armed men hastening to the scene of conflict, you would not know there was war at all. These are facts that tell the results that have followed a people treading in the path of truth and justice. Do they not excite your deepest interest? Shall not a people threading their way through a labyrinth of difficulties to estab- lish good government on firmer foundations than ever, and to give freedom to four millions of our fel- low men, have our prayers and sympathy'? Fifthly. I bespeak your prayerful sympathy for a God-fearing President, called to the most arduous duties of any man in the world at the present moment. It is said that he is not a man of genius, as though that disqualified him for our sympathy. If it were so, one would think him all the more an object of prayerful sympathy; but supposing he is not, — the world's greatest benefactors have not always possessed that coveted talent. It is not questioned that he is honest; a less scrupulous man might have achieved more, but he is too honest to gain success by unworthy means. Honesty will tell when "smartness" will be outwitted; beside this, honesty of purpose is a weapon that not one of his 22 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. opponents can employ to cope with him. It is not questioned that he is a man of God, a man who in this hour of fiery trial looks up to God, lives in the fear of God, and hangs upon God. It is not ques- tioned that his position is the most arduous any man holds in the world just now. He is at the head of all aifairs, civil and military, home and foreign. It is no easy thing so to rule as to keep at peace with so many nations, all interested in the conflict, and many desiring the severance of the Union he is sworn to maintain. The man is not to be envied who commands a people in their ^'rst haptism of blood, who is called to power in a national crisis, the like of which has not befallen any nation. He seems alive to the complicated difficulties and solemn responsibilities of his position. In his recent message there are these thoughtful words: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is so new, we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthral ourselves, and then we shall save our country. Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history; we of this Congress will be remem- bered in spite of ourselves; no personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down to honor or dishonor to the latest generation." Brethren, shall this man of God have none of our sympathy, none of our prayers'? God forbid. When King Radama the Second ascended the SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 23 throne of Madagascar, after the death of his cruel mother, a,nd all England knew of his sympathy with those Christian subjects that had been so relentlessly persecuted, who in England did not feel prayer- ful sympathy with this king in his new and trying position^ Who did not rejoice in the thought that the Lord's people would be free to worship God in the way they chose, that the Missionary of the Cross would soon enter the country and resume labors for twenty years suspended'? Who did not grieve at the plot aimed at his lifel Who did not pray for the life and spiritual enlightenment ef E-adama. AYill any one draw a parallel between the difficulties of iladama and Lincoln, between the power entrusted to them, or between the benefits they are seeking to confer upon their countries and upon mankind"? Great as are the blessings of reli- gious liberty to a people who have only escaped the crudest martyrdgm, who will compare them with the civil and religious freedom of four millions of people ] It is probable that the twenty years' mar- tyrdom of Madagascar have not consigned to un- timely death more than southern slavery has done in the same time. The demoralizing eifect of Mada- gascar persecution upon the persecutors, cannot be as great as slavery upon the slaveholding, slave sell- ing, slave whipping, and slave killing class of the South. Madagascar martyrdom does not dishonor the name of Jesus as American slavery. I do not forget the differences between Radama and Lincoln, but would ask if prayerful sympathy be given to the 24 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. one, who in this Christian England will withhold it from the other] I cannot but hope that in pleading for a people in the agonies of civil war ; a people contending for an established government ; a people suffering the right- eous chastisements of heaven; a people treading in the path of truth and justice; a president discharging the most momentous obligations in the fear of God — I shall not plead in vain. Indeed, I know already, that in many of your hearts they are continually remembered before God. • Having laid before you the occasions which call upon us imperatively for prayerful sympathy ; let me secondly^ — Draw your attention to. the prayer we should offer on their behalf That God would hear the prayers of this people, and their President, in this their hour of judgment and distress. Verse 1, "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble." We cannot doubt that this judgment of heaven has driven the Christian people of that country to their closets, and drawn them socially around the footstool of the heavenly grace. We are, in this country, suffering in their sufferings, and we bow ourselves humbly before God, confessing our sins, and imploripg God to remember us in mercy, and can we suppose that God's people are not in every part of that vast country entreating "the Lord to hear them in the day of trouble"] If we could sup- pose that they were not humble and prayerful, all the more should we pray for them, but as that is SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 25 inconceivable, let us pray with them, let us join our hands with theirs, and lift them up before God in humble importunate pleading, that ''in the midst of judgment he would remember mercy," that he would hear their people and their President in this day of trouble. Let us pray that the God of their fathers would defend them against their foes. Verse 1, "The name of the God of Jacob defend thee." When Israel prayed, they addressed God in a cha- racter suited to the petitions sought for at his hand; they had once been the seed of Jacob, they were now the Israel of God; but they recall what God had been to them so long ago, he was their father's God. " Their fathers had trusted in him and had not been confounded." To increase their faith in Divine protection, now on the eve of national peril, they recall the means which they always associated with " the God of Jacob." They pray that his "name would defend them." All that God ?>, and all that God is known by^ in his dealings with a peo- ple, are included in his name. They invoke not only their father's God, but all that in mercy he had been to them in past ages, before they had any na- tional existence, down to that hour; all this they would arouse in the heart of God for their defence against their foes. Can we forget that the people now passing through this fiery trial are the children of "the Pilgrim Fathers" — descendants of men who carried our virtues and our defects to that conti- nent? As we bow in prayer for them, shall we not 26 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. remember the God of Washington, the father of their nation? The God of Franklin, and of hosts of others, whose names are enshrined in the hearts of this afflicted people? Let the memory of these good men stir us up to pray that the God of their fathers would defend them against their foes. Let us pray that God would make them strong in all holy and righteous principles. Verse 2, "Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion." When Israel prayed this prayer, they must have felt their cause to be a righteous one, and religion to be the source of their true strength. They went to war with the consciousness that their cause was itself the cause of God, and they were engaged in his service, therefore they could look confidently to Zion— the seat of the divine presence among them — for help and strength. W^e are taught by this, that religion is the source of strength to every righteous cause. No cause is really and continuously strong that is not right, and no right cause is wholly strong that is not supported by God. The fullest strength of any cause is when its principles are right, and its upholders right-hearted men of God. Then God's strength will be communicated, owing to the recti- tude of the purposes, and owing to the dependence upon Himself of the men who form these purposes and carry them out. In this world, wrong prospers for a time more rapidly than right, and it is only through invisible strength that right can prevail. I do not doubt that the President, and many godly ^ SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 2T people in that nation, look upon the conflict they are engaged in as one which God has assigned them, and that they go into His presence for guidance, for spiritual strength, for right-heartedness toward him- self, and toward the cause entrusted to their hands. I think I see tokens of divine help already given to them, especially in this, that the President is going steadily forward in the path of justice to the slave, notwithstanding the adverse elections, and the mighty obstacles thrown in his way on every hand. Heartily and trustfully let us pray this prayer, "Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion." Let us pray that God would remember their religious zeal in the past, and show them tokens for good now, in their day of trial. Verse 3, "Remem- ber all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifices always." Israel, not only on going out to war, con- secrated themselves to God, and propitiated divine favor by sacrifice, but it was one of their most com- mon acts of worship — one of the ways in which they showed their regard for the divine will and zeal in the divine service; and they confidently now implore God's remembrance of their religious zeal. I do not for a moment say that this is all that is implied in this request. Doubtless they felt that with the most righteous cause, and with the best dispositions of mind, they needed the pleading of the Great Sacrifice for their forgiveness and acceptance. But certainly, with this sacrifice in 28 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. view*, they ask God to remember their former zeal in his service. No people have shown more zeal in religion than our brethren of America, both in their Home and Foreign Missions. In every principal hotel, and in every sleeping-room of that hotel, through all the States, their Bible Society has placed copies of the word of God. In every saloon, state-room, and cabin of their passenger steamers, that Society has done the same. Their colporteurs sell copies of the whole Bible for ten cents, and of the New Testament for five cents ; and are authorized, when there is no money to buy, that copies be given, so that every man, woman, and child throughout the country may have copies of God's word. That Society is printing now 11 copies per minute of working time, or 6,500 copies daily, mainly for distribution among the paroled and rebel prisoners — the sick in hospitals — the new levies, and the colored people. In August and Sep- tember, about 298,000 copies of the Scriptures, in whole or part, were issued. Can v*^e not pray for this people, "Remember all thy offerings'"? You know of their missions in Germany, France, Sweden, Turkey, China, East Indies, and Burmah, for you are wont to hear of their missions and missionary zeal at our monthly missionary prayer-meetings. The churches of America have been our almost exclusive coadjutors in diffusing the gospel among the heathen; and no greater hindrance could arise to the conversion of the world, than for that land to be kept in constant internal feud. And no greater SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 29 dishonor can men of the world charge upon the gospel than the continuance of American slavery. Can we not go to God with this Christian people upon our hearts, and pray that he would inter- pose for the stay of bloodshed, the abolition of slavery, and restoration of an established govern- ment all over that land'? Can we not use for them the prayer that Nehemiah did for himself when, lay- ing before God what he had done for His truth, he said, "Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for the offices thereof"'? Let us remember, in order that our prayers for them may be strengthened, that "God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have showed toward his name." Let us pray that God would carry their true and righteous purposes to complete fulfilment; verse 4, " Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsels." Israel felt the greatest confidence in the moral integrity of the heart and purposes of their king, or they could not have prayed thus for him. The desires of the king's heart, and counsels of his will referred to, are those which bore upon this war. They are going out to defend their government and country from a most unprovoked attack, whether we regard that as coming from Ammon and Syria, or from Absalom's revolt. In this exigency they wholly trust their king; they confide in his moral goodness and his wisdom. Now this people trust their President, not with the 30 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. national unanimity that Israel did their king. Good men of all parties confide in the moral integrity of their President, and they believe in the righteous- ness of their cause. Moreover, there is a growing conviction among christian men that the struggle is now narrowed to the question of slavery, and that their honor as a nation and as a christian people, is engaged " to put away the accursed thing from their midst." I doubt not they can pray this prayer, " the Lord grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel;" and may not we pray this prayer, laying aside all jealousies, whether we regard their purpose to restore the Union or abolish slavery for ever, "the Lord fulfil thy counsel"] Let us pray that the President may put a courage- ous trust in God, while using all means for the just and speedy issue of this war; verses, 6, 7, 8, "Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses : but we will remember the name of the Lord our God, They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright." This must have been a grand sight, to see the king rise, touched with the aftectionate pleadings of his people, and with his heart filled with confidence in God, and the certainty of his divine interposition, burst forth in this impressive strain, "Now know I," not ''I hope,'' "I trust,'' but "I know." The good man may commit his way to the Lord, and know beforehand with certainty that God will give him SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 31 the desires of his heart. "Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye have them, and ye shall receive them." This is a simple faith in God, antedating their victory; enjoying through God's mercy the sense of complete triumph even before the conflict. What christian heart does not wish and pray that the President might have such unquestioning faith in God as David had, and that this confidence was inspired by the same causes'? If he knew that in addition to the prayers of all good men in that country, he was also sustained by the prayers of all the churches in this, one could hope that he would thus joyously trust in God. I cannot bring my mind to believe in the ultimate disruption of the Union, any more than I can cherish a wish that it may be shattered. Nor can I for a moment question that slavery is doomed on that continent. It surely is not the purpose of God that one of the fairest regions of the earth should be cursed much longer with "the sum of all the villanies." Confiding in the divine goodness and justice, let us pray that both President and people may go on with a divine courage, filled every day with a divine strength, until their foes "are brought down and fallen, and they themselves are risen and stand upright." Finally — Let our prayers be reiterated, and trust- fully repose in God that he will hear and answer, as verses 5 and 9, "We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners ; the Lord fulfil all thy petitions." " Save, Lord, the 32 SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. king, He (Jehovah) will hear us when we call." If we would succeed in any service for God, we must not weary praying for it. If we would be blessed or bless others, we must be often at the mercy-seat, our prayer waxing more fervent, more trustful. God allows and sets value upon the importunity of his waiting people. " If the vision tarry, wait for it." Unexpected disasters may await the cause of truth and justice, before the final hour of triumph comes. Long perpetrated wrongs are not easily lightened; great national reformations, especially when depend- ing on the arbitrament of the sword, are often driven back like the rising tide from the shore, but gather force from every recession, and make its final advance a complete victory. Our faith may be sorely tested before we can turn our prayer into praise. But with- out fervent prayer, we shall never have the right to rejoice in God's salvation. Now give your prayers, christian brethren, now reiterate your prayer, "Now lay hold of God's strength, that you may prevail with him." Now say, ">Say