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NPLUE.VCE C)J^' OUR NATiOKyVL STKl <.<;iJ-; ON 
 CHRISTIAN CIlARA(rrER. 
 
 / 
 
 S JE K M O N 
 
 DELIVEKKI) IN JUJKSONVILLK, JINK 14, 1863. 
 
 HEFOHi: THE 
 
 K)C1ETY OF IKQl IRY 
 
 Bv W. 8. RUSSELL, 
 
 PASTO)! OF TIIK VIKST I'll IMS!' t \ X ilUlKII. .1 ACK Si iN V I I.I, 
 
 .1 A CKSON V ILLE: 
 lOURNAl. BOOK AND JOB OFFICE PHIN'J 
 
 1863. 
 
INFLUENCE OF OUR NATIONAL STRUdGLK ON 
 CHRISTIAN CUARACTER. 
 
 SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED IN JACKSONVILLE, JUNE 14. 1863, 
 
 BEFORE THB 
 
 SOCIETY OF INQUIRY 
 
 OIF ILI^IJSrOIS 003LX.EaE. 
 
 By W. S. RUSSELL, 
 
 PASTOR OF THB EIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, JAOK>SONVILLE. 
 
 JACKSONVILLE 
 .TOTJt^NAt- BOOK AND JOB orVH'F. PUIVT. 
 
t< 
 
 w 
 
 \, 
 
V 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Jacksonvillp:, June 18th, 1863 
 Rov. W. S. Russell— 
 
 Di'or Sir : In behalf of many friends and the Society of Inquiry, 
 I would request a copy of the sermon you preached before our 
 Hociety on Sunday evening last, for publication. 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 WM. HENRY ATKINSON, Rec. Secy, 
 
 Mr. Wm. H. Atklnson — 
 
 Dear Si?' : My discourse is at the disposal of your Society. 
 Vou are welcome to make such use of it as you may think best. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 W. S. RUSSELL 
 
SERMON. 
 
 iKKLUEKCS OF OCR NATIONAL 8TRCGGLE ON 
 CHRISTIAN CHARACTKK. 
 
 ■•Po will I strotch out my hand upon them and make the 
 land doBolato — ami they shall know that I am the 
 Lord".— Kz. 6; 14. 
 
 A.s a nalioii we are now passing; tlirouj;h 
 one ot tho.se momentous crises which the 
 historian is in the liabit of seizing upon as a 
 prominent landmark on the wavi^iile of hu- 
 man progress, indicating the termination of 
 1)eriod.s and the beginning of new epochs. — 
 Ve are evidently in a transition stage of our 
 nation's hfe ; and are rapidly passing from 
 a phase of civilization, which we may already 
 call old, to one that shall be new in many 
 important particulars. The goodly fabric of 
 oar government has been swayed by the 
 litorra tillits foundation stcnes have appear- 
 ed, and it becomes apparent that the struc- 
 ture must be bound anew, with bolts of 
 iron, to its original foundation, with which, 
 in late years, it had been but too loosely 
 joined. Changes the most extraordinary, 
 whose nccompiishment had come to be re- 
 garded as impossible, have transpired with 
 marvelous celerity. Changes in sentiment, 
 heretofore but tardily brought about, (if 
 brought about at all), by years of patient in- 
 struction, are now taking place as by the flnsh 
 of intuition. Men wiio have stood ii|)posed to 
 one another on great questions now >-ee eye 
 to eye. What once was odious has become 
 respectable, and is rapidly advancitig to the 
 pinnacle of honor. The impracticable en- 
 thpsiast of yesterday is the hero of today. — 
 New modes of thought, new pi.'licics. new ad 
 jnini.strations of affairs, are taking place with 
 a rapidity that bewilders the mind for a mo 
 m&at, 80 quick are the changes in our con- 
 
 victions, under the pressure ot the thickly 
 accumulating evidences of the hour. Ail 
 this is becan.'^e we are living in an age of r*-- 
 sulis, and not of the quietly working antece- 
 dent processes Just as one standing at the 
 mor;ih of the Mississippi sees a volume of 
 water discharged, at its several issues, which 
 he did not see along the couise of the qui»t 
 stream. While the miner is bor-ng the rock, 
 and putting in the charge, acd laying the 
 train, his work is unobserved, but when the 
 blast explodes the whole country feels the 
 shock and sees the locks flying. We are liv- 
 ing in God's blasting time. We see the ef- 
 fects of former principles and policies, and 
 therefore have the best jneslns of e.slitnatinjf 
 their charr.cter. He who does not reverse 
 or modify his former views to-day is unwor- 
 thy to live in such an epoch; he is a mole 
 burrowing under the rubbish of e.xplodeU 
 ideas; he is a bat, hiden from the light, lov- 
 ing only the darkncs-^. In such a period of 
 transition, when our political economy, our 
 statesmanship, our literature, our moral sci- 
 ence, are all being mi'diliid, and in som*? 
 re.^pects essentially changed, will not the 
 church, will not christian character, feel 
 these agencies and yield to them? thall not 
 that gospel, whose exhauilless resources have 
 jToved sufficient for the dt-mands ofevfry 
 age, in all the varied revolutions ol iiuroan 
 society, again vindiculfl its inlimte capacity 
 by its ready adjustment to the new wants of 
 the generation now j/rowwig u|> under the 
 storm -cloud thai hangs over our land ? What 
 then, will be the character of the go.-pvl of 
 the future? This is ti»e (jue.>liou which I d*r- 
 sirff to consider to-night. Tiie jo»nf mm 
 of lh« »ocJ«l7 whloh I hftv« Ihe plcasor* of 
 
Jiddrpssiiig, are to be the beliavprs in, .nnd 
 most of them tie preachers of, tliis jTospel ; 1 
 desire, therefore, to lead their minds to some 
 of the lessons of these moiHeiilons times, os- 
 jiecitilly fis the)' indicate the elements to be 
 takei; into the christian character now form 
 ing, in ordfr to fit itfortlie scrvica of tiie Jjord 
 ( t)d of humanitj', in that, future upon the 
 threshold of which we now stand. By the 
 fospel of the future I do not mean a gospel 
 i'l T^hich the essential doctrines of the Bible 
 f' all be changed. No, not one of them. Bnt 
 (/hristianitv, with the plastic power of the 
 <'vcr-!iving spirit which pervades it, adjusts 
 itself to the vicissitudes ot humanity ; show-; 
 f ne of its many characteristics to each pas- 
 fiug age, and reveals anew phase ot its pow- 
 er as it is called forth by the necessities of 
 the new epoch. A ])articular class of its 
 Truths needs to be emphasized at one time ; 
 q'.iite a different class at another time. — 
 tJonsulting, then, the powerful infiuences 
 around us, as the guide of our judgnient, we 
 will endeavor to ascertain what results the 
 future promises us in the all -important sphere 
 i.f religion. 
 
 Before entering upon this inquiry, however, 
 it is well to admit that the [iroduct of this era 
 of change will not be one of unmixed good. 
 New and startling forms of evil will also ap- 
 jiear. Hideous shapes of sin have always 
 iollowed in the fiery track of war. Respect 
 for human life will be lowered, and murder 
 will be a more frequent crime ; the rights f f 
 private property will not be as sacrr-d as they 
 Imve been ; quarrels, violence, blasj)hemy 
 and drunkenness will abound. For Satan 
 always works with new energy when God ex- 
 ercises his power in a special manner; and 
 alarming demonstrations of wickedness may 
 ever suggest to the God-fearing man this 
 compensating thouirht, that Satan is alirmed 
 for the security of his kingdom, because he 
 perceives the coming of the Lord of Hosts in 
 special visitation. The seeming triumphs (jf 
 the prince of darkness are, therefore, really 
 fvidences of jiis weakness ; unwilling pro|)h 
 ecies, like Bahiam's. of the supremacy of the 
 Lord God Aln)i;.'hiv. And, in such times, when 
 .■in is more cubreaking and demonstrative 
 than usual, the boundary line between the 
 church andilie world appears more distinctly ; 
 the church is purer and suffers loss from 
 Treachery within iiercamp: the wolf casts oft" 
 his sheep's ch thing and is known as a wolf, 
 und therclorf is not so successful in getting 
 within the ii)' i 
 
 The .'•enteiice which I have read as a text 
 .» an utiorance cif the Old Testament con- 
 stantly recurrinir afier ibc narration of some 
 war, famine, pcolllence or other form ol afTlic- 
 
 fion sent upon the people. It is placed at 
 the close of such narrations for the purpose 
 of pointing out at once the design and re- 
 sult of the aflliction — "And they shall know 
 that I am the IjOKD.'' The Sovereign Ruler 
 of the world thus explains his acts to us, so 
 that we may understand, as often as such af- 
 flictive events transpire, his purpose in send- 
 ing them, and in faith anticipate their bless- 
 ed effect. He expressly states that he used 
 Assyria as the rod of his anger with which to 
 punish his people for their sins, and that they 
 might know that he was the Lord. And when 
 we say that God is now usingr the South as 
 his rod of chastisement to beat our sins out 
 of us — for like the fool we mu.st needs be 
 brayed in ihe mortar before our foolishness 
 would depart from us — and that he employs 
 the North as his instrument of punishment 
 for the South*— for our .sins being mutual we 
 are each the scourge of the other — when we 
 thus speak, I repeat, we base our judgment 
 upon the sure word of God and use the modes 
 of speech common to it; we interpret his de- 
 sign in this case from many analogous cases 
 in the Bible, and are fully warranted in say- 
 ing that Ihe result will be the same in thi.s 
 instance as so often before, the people "shall 
 know that I am the Loud." 
 
 L We are in transition from atheism to 
 faith. By atheis^m I do not mean that bold 
 denial of the divine existence which prevail- 
 ed in the last century in all parts of the civ- 
 ilized world. Falsehood has not of late led 
 his hosts to the battle against Truth in so 
 open and defiant a manner. Had lie have 
 done so the danger would have been less. 
 But in a guise flattering to man's intelli- 
 gence, in sympathy with the inventive, ex- 
 plo:ing spirit of the age, and having so 
 much of truth .as to secure introduction into 
 the very bo.som of the church, did the infi- 
 delity of the era just past present itself Nat- 
 tnjAi.TSM has been the system of thought sap- 
 ping the foundation of our holy religion. Wo 
 have been living in a period of unusual activ- 
 ity in the discovery of the laws of nature and 
 their practical uss. The subtlest elements hav* 
 been harnessed to do work for man. It has 
 been an age of machinery. Science has madft 
 rapid strides and lifted the vail from many 
 of nature's mysteries. 'J'he efl'ectofall this 
 has been the deification of law, and to en- 
 </age the mind in natural, secondary causes. 
 Hence a vast, tangled mass of machinery, 
 law.s, proximate causes, arose between man 
 and God, on.souring the face of the Divine 
 Being. It was the common fashion, when an 
 event was to be accounted for, to say that 
 such and such instrumental causes brought 
 is about, and lie was deemed a singular, uu 
 
fashionable man wlio should say bluntly, after 
 the manner of the nld Bible, "God did it." 
 To explain evnry lliing was pheasant and 
 flattering to human wifidom ; lo rcterently 
 recognize the divine proscnee in the trans- 
 actions of the world was huniilialinp. And as 
 is usual where there(is undue assumption of 
 wisdom, tliere was great superficiality. '^Ihe 
 past has not been a profound age. It did not 
 push its investigations so thoroughly and rad- 
 ically as to reach the primal cause of all 
 phenomena and the source of all principles, 
 li stopped short of this and was satisfied with 
 finding a reason for things, not stoptiing to 
 inquire whether or not it. was the ultimate, 
 fundamental reason. It has been an age that 
 did not realize the authority of principles ; 
 it shrunk from those who insisted on follow 
 ing principles to their legitimate results ; it 
 detested all radicals and radicalism — which, 
 in its true sense, simply means, fidelity lo 
 principle. Its type is the swarm of busy in- 
 sects rippling the surface of the summer 
 stream, not the native fish that goes down to 
 the cool depths below. This spirit of infideli- 
 ty showed its extremest effects in the hands 
 of those teachers who insisted on a system 
 of physical and moral or spiritual laws so un- 
 alterable as to preclude the possibility of a 
 miracle, which is the result of supernatural 
 interference, and so all-sufficient and inher- 
 ent in man as to prevent the necessity of the 
 regeneration of his h.eart by power beyond 
 his own, and the interposition of a Savior 
 from the sides. They sought to put God in 
 irons and those irons, by a strange iucon- 
 fii.stency, they made to be the laws and prin- 
 ciples which originated in his own divine 
 will and intelligence. The leader of this 
 school was Theodore Parker. Next we have 
 hadjpantheists, identifying God and nature ; 
 fio that there remains no power above nature. 
 Then there is a large class who accept the 
 crudities of phrenology as their philosophy 
 of man. Organization explains human ac- 
 tion. Transgressions of God's law are rather 
 the misfortunes of organization than the vi- 
 olation of the \>!11 of a holy God. The foun- 
 dation of duty is weakened, and duty be- 
 comes mere prudence oi skill in judging how 
 to act. There is, also, the intelligent denom 
 ination of Unitarians, the whole drift of 
 whose teaching is against the supernatural 
 system of faith inculcated in the New Testa- 
 ment. According to them self-culture is what 
 man needs, not regeneration by the power of 
 the Spirit of God. Development will remedy 
 all his defects, not salvation through the sac- 
 rifice of an Infinite Redeemer, in whon. 
 dwelt all the fullness of the godhead bodily. 
 And I have been familiar with this godless 
 
 style oflhinkinR in thin form "Mftn hn« fi»^ 
 senses ;" exclaims the llippnnt philof!oph»ir, 
 'nothing can reach his mind oxct'jil it pv* 
 through one of these five doors. How l.i^'i 
 can the Spirit of (jod, whicliiH not nn nlijtet 
 of any of the senses, exercise a direct iritla- 
 ence upon his heart to regenerate him ? Im 
 possiblo!" Certainly it is impoHsible, 1 r«H 
 pond, if you have more faith in a material 
 philosophy than in God's Word. But this 
 spirit of unbelief is not confined to nnevan 
 geli(;:)l denominations, but has iiisinunltd 
 itself into the minds of many religiouB peo 
 pie and their teachers, belonging lo cvnngf 1' 
 ical churches. With them there has been » 
 flagging faith — a faith trying to prop itself 
 upon sight — which prevented a hearty recog 
 nition of the ever-present God In support of 
 this serious charge 1 will hert cite the testi- 
 mony of a distinguished preacher and nnthf.r 
 of our country. Writing in 185M he snyp 
 "We see that the more direct arguments and 
 appeals of religion are losing their power 
 over the public mind and conscience. Thi,<i i« 
 true especially of the young, who pass into 
 life under the combined action of so many 
 causes, conspiring to induce a distrust t'f 
 whatever is supernatural in religion. Per- 
 sons farther on in life are out of the reach of 
 these now influences, and, unless their alti'u- 
 tion is specially called to the fact, have little 
 suspicion of what is going on in the mind of 
 the rising classes of the worid,— more and 
 more saturated every day with this in.'idions 
 form of unbelief. * * Like an atm(«!phere, 
 it begins to envelop the common mind of 
 the world. * * Indeed there is notbine 
 more common than to hear arguments a<l- 
 vanced and illustrations offered, by the mo.-i 
 evangelical preachers, that have no force <>r 
 meaning, save wiiat they get from the cur- 
 rent naturalism of the day. We have even 
 heard a distinguished and carefully orthor- 
 dox preacher deliver a discour.se, the vpry 
 doctrine of which was inevitable, unqualifud 
 naturalism. Logically taken and carried 
 out to its proper result, (Christianity could 
 have had no ground of standing left, — so lit 
 tie did the preacher himself understand the 
 true scope of his doctrine, or the miscbifl 
 tiiat was beginning to infect liis fonorptlons 
 of the christian truth." As an illustration 
 of this last remark of the aat.hor, I rcratm- 
 ber reading an article latfly from a populur 
 tastcrn preacher, in which religions fasting 
 was taught to be nothing more than th'^ natn- 
 ral expression of grief : that i.^, that a mun 
 fasted naturally when in Korn.w bt-ca^ise lif 
 had noapprtite ; and, therefore, thesioinacii's 
 sickened rejection of fwod dictated the prv>p- 
 er time of fasting ! Every ctui«tlan kncws 
 
8 
 
 'vsl th"r<^ IS no rol.jrion in thiri view, fcxcej)t 
 ve iW3iiine the ^rouiui of ihe naturalist and 
 .i.lmit that re!i>:ion is simp!y tho foliowinif 
 
 • (uiM'tlift natural laws ot our minds and hod- 
 ivA — wiiich course, the liible tf-aclips, would 
 lii.nii as in phrdition inste.-id oi in glory ; ''for 
 rn'^ <'urnjii fnnd natural] mind is enmity a- 
 {;aii:si Ood ; for it is not suhji'ctto the lav/ of 
 </od. neither indeed can be." In this pre- 
 
 ■ lilin^ tendency of modern ihoujjlit to a re- 
 gion ofnaltireis found the secret of that 
 •..-v hud polite .service of God which is so 
 -pular. A religion whose gospel leaves out 
 .':•• doctrines — which is liKe a man with the 
 ;,<»ne.s extracted from his body, soft, pliable. 
 and readily accommodated to any position, 
 ;iui Tcsiiiii7i(j nothinor, oir.rcuwhtg nothinnr. 
 1 hi> gospel of our degenerate days is rather 
 " art of proprieties — a Chesterfield in cleri 
 .; dress — than the word of life for the dead. 
 ' has too much regard for the refined sen- 
 .I)ilitie8 of polite society to preach of hell as 
 Weil ns of heaven, of God as a consuming 
 lire as well as one who is plenteous in raer- 
 ty ; to insist on man's deep depravity and 
 call him to his knees to plead for heaven's 
 forgiveness. It soothes and flatters and send.'? 
 I'.s hearers away on the best of terms with 
 '..;m.selves, — not, as they should go, trem 
 '•.'.itr ujidcr conviction of sin. and seeing no 
 ny ot escape but the sin-^ atonement of 
 i'.risi. It discards the toiling pilgrim of Bun- 
 an's dream, ns type of the true Christian 
 life, and adopts instead the conception of 
 .fome modern satirist, in which the slough 
 '>f Despond is filled up, ail unpleasant places, 
 l.ke Dof.btiiiL' castle and the dungeon of Gi 
 ttnt Despair, fitted up pl«a.santly lor the trav- 
 . i. rs acc(»mmodation and refreshment, 
 111. J a railroad profes.><es to transfer the fins 
 sengtrs from the Cily of Destruction to the 
 
 ♦ Mestiul gates. 
 
 All the various |)ha.«<t9 of this .skeptical 
 
 .vjiril, which I have er.umcratod, have their 
 
 I . mmoii source in a weakened fiiilh in the 
 
 1 resei.ce of God in the hearts and affairs of 
 
 !'n!n. 'i'he ttndency has been to exalt the 
 
 ■ v^-erand visiiile agencies, and to depreciate 
 
 ...f higher an.l sjiirilual. Tl.tro has been a 
 
 i.sposilion 'v rt'gaid proving mm, who be- 
 
 •nc in !in invisible power, a.M deficient in 
 
 •iicttciil wisdom. In ihistlien^ was a depart- 
 
 . n from the modes of(honf,'hl pecuHar t.j 
 
 ! .•Scriptures In them the thinking of the 
 
 it.vu of iiinpiraiion is the infallible example 
 
 • /t l.-jw our tbii, king should proccfd. They 
 
 r»oo<<< >Rt-d an iii: igl.i. into causes clearer lii.'in 
 
 ;.al of any philo^.ll li.-r— an insight that lan 
 
 « ! along ii.<- cha-ti « ; pecnrdjM-y causes up 
 
 I.; <i«id the irinial Cai'se. For instance, lia 
 
 s .h child bickvntd ai;d diod. Its sickness 
 
 was the matnfest cause of its d.ath; butdoes 
 the inspired writer give this merely pro.xi- 
 mate cause as the final rea.son of its death ? 
 No, but while he says tliat it was sick, he 
 startles us with the sentence, "God struck th« 
 child."' When a wicked king suddenly dies 
 ot a loatlisome disea.-c, the Spirit of Truth 
 leads the historian to account for it thus : 
 "The angel of tlie Lord smote liim because 
 he gave not God the glory." When, wara a- 
 rose and Israel was captive, the record is, 
 "The Lord sold them into the band of their 
 enemies, because they did evil in his sigiu." 
 And when Israel prevails in battle the caus« 
 of victory is thus stated, "The Lord discom- 
 fited Sisera with the edge of the sword, 
 
 before Barak," and, "God sulidued on that 
 day Jabin, the king ot Canaan, before tho 
 children of Israel.'' Again, when a human 
 soul is filled with the new joy of sins forgiv- 
 en, the Scripture manner of accounting for 
 it is. he "is born of the Spirit," "God hath 
 given him a new heart." Thus, as these men 
 of the Bible saw the world, it was presided 
 over by the living God, who directed and 
 controlled its affairs, indivixlual and national. 
 To them thewxjrid's history was a vast scroll 
 on which was written, in characters easily 
 read, the will of God ; written in events^ 
 deaths, calamities, prosperities, national 
 changes, individual changesof character and 
 action. They saw the world alive with God, 
 not as a heap of dead machinery. Tliey 
 walked as seeing the invisible One ; thev 
 lived and thought witli an abiding sense 
 ujion their minds of the reality of the super- 
 natural. Will the people of the present age 
 return to this sublime faith of the fathers ? 
 In to day's wi1derne,«s of .'^tiange events will 
 the voice of one be heard crying, Piepare ye 
 the way of the Lord ? I beiirve that it will 
 he so ; and that the severe chastisements 
 which the whole people feel will in a largo- 
 measure relea.se us from the cold naturalism 
 of the past and bring us nearer the warm 
 heart of God. 
 
 ] think it will be evident to many that thoi 
 people are being converted to the belief ttiaS 
 God governs the world in the interest of 
 righteousness. In those corrupt days of peace 
 the loving, tender spirit of the gospel was of- 
 ten perverted into a sickly, sentimental tol- 
 eration of crime, and the conviction of God's 
 even-handed justice was weakened or alto 
 gether doubted. The sovereignly of God, 
 exercised in unwavering faithfulness to jus 
 ticc and truth, was not felt as it should hav( 
 been. Now men begin to realize that there 
 is a ruler higher than Presidents, Congress 
 es. and popular majorities. "There is a Pro^ 
 idence!" men txcluim out of the furnaco 
 
lAfiAi oi iho Lord's hot di^pleaanro. 1 h*»_v 
 wondfir at tho depths of niihfdief in tbeir 
 kmttrts, of which bcforo they seemed ncit to be 
 iiwHre. VV e are now coming to believe thiit 
 (here ar« unseen forces which really decide the 
 destinies of nations. Great armies and heavy 
 (irdnonce do not insure victory. There arc 
 invisible sifrencies, which nogencrui can com- 
 mand, which arestronger tlmn rifled cannon 
 and nias.sive divisions. It is now apparent 
 that we CHnnot calculate victory out of su- 
 perior natural and artilicial resource.'^ ot war, 
 A swollen .stream, an untimely log, a storm 
 at sea, an unaccountable impression on the 
 mind of an army, a.s in a panic, have b.-.ffled 
 and defeated the strongest armies and wisest 
 generals. '1 he Lord orders these simple but 
 decisive agencies. No council of war can fore- 
 nee and estimate them in its phuis." The will 
 ot the Lord must be acknowledged to be su- 
 preme, for he alone is the arbiter of tlie issue 
 of battles. He has been bringing us to this 
 acknowledg^ment by forcible lessons. Go 
 back two years tliis montl.. 1 hear the sfendy 
 tramp of fifiy thousand feet, a.s they march 
 over the Long Bridge of the Potomac ; I 
 see the gleam in the moonligl t of fifty 
 thousand bayonets, and hear the low rumble 
 of battery after battery. How the heart of 
 the patriot swells with priiie as he beholds 
 that grand army I How sure the promise of 
 victory which it gives. But alas ! in a few 
 days the heart sickens at the sight of its 
 ranks torn, and manghd, and bruken, and 
 flying in wild disorder. Then we felt ti.al the 
 Lord God Onmif oteni reigned, and that the 
 battle was not to the strong. 'J'hus has it 
 been repeatedly. Our most splendid armies 
 have been defeated or pouied out their blood 
 to win barren victories. One leaJer afier an- 
 other, to whom we have looked for sue 
 ce8.s, has failed us and taught us that our 
 help was nrt in man. Thus the nation has 
 been brought Hi its knees. Millions of hearts 
 daily plead v/ith God for the interposition of 
 his power. Sincere prayer is a direct appeal 
 to God ; it ri.ses abiive instrumentalities, 
 confe.'^sing their insufficiency, atul is a resort 
 to that God who alone succes.sfuHy 'muster- 
 eth the host to battle.' Thi.^ ia curing our 
 naturalism. 
 
 Again from innumerable home--', scattered 
 from Maine to California, myi iads of secret 
 chords are stretching to bt-loved ones in the 
 army, and wifh what e,\c[ui>ite sensitiveness 
 do their heart-strings vibra'"-, pour ng a 
 plaintive strain into ihe'ear of Gnd. as, they 
 are swept by every breeze wa:ied fro:!' bat 
 tie fields. Mdthers. wives and si^^tt-rs brseige 
 the throne of God in behalf of ihdr noble 
 and brave ones whose places ui, iu/ine are 
 
 .^adiy vacant. Lipfi unuss-d t j ['ray now Rio»n 
 in ferven .."application ; lipj accuatomed to 
 prayer piead with a new earnestness, feeliu;; 
 in unwonted power the comfort and efficacy 
 of the prayrr of faith. But not only bav.j 
 the an.xieties and apprehensions of affection 
 driven thousands to the mercy scat, but tho 
 mo?t heartrending losses have already tul- 
 !en upon many, and the sad. new namen 
 'widow,' 'orphan' have been received a- 
 midst the baptism of tears. Scarcely a pajn r 
 is read but what contains a li.'^t of dead in 
 battle and hospital. In those fatal lists how 
 many tear-dimmed eyes read the names ot 
 home's best beloved, and the lirief word 
 'killed' or 'died' strikes the heart like a b'jl- 
 let from the foe. But these darkened bome.s 
 often behold a new light shining out of the 
 darkness, for the Lord Jesus reveals himself 
 in them and a fountain is opened the sweet- 
 ness of whose waters was unknown before 
 In these lo.sses the spirit of the Saviours 
 sacrifice is repeated. No man liveth or di- 
 eth unto himself; and when meti surrender 
 their lives for their country, they are re- 
 deemed from that sellishne.ss which h the 
 basest mark of our de[:ravity. And those who 
 mourn their loss find comfort in that spirit 
 of self-sacrifice which dictates that th.ey 
 should suffer tor the good of the race. Thusi 
 the Christ-like temper spreads. Those bonds 
 of .sordidness and self-seeking, ivhich bound 
 the spirits of many to earth and its low aims 
 and motives, are loosed, and their souls have 
 arisen into a higher sjihcre of feelings and 
 noble impulse.*. Patrioti-m, which leads to 
 the surrender of fathers, husbands, brothers, 
 property, and life itself to the cause of hu - 
 man progress, is lifting thousands of so^Is 
 into sympathy with the genius of Christiani- 
 ty And that blessed .system, whose central 
 object is tlie cross with its sinless, bleeding 
 sacrifice, will be better understood, by those 
 hearts which have been pierced through by 
 the noble sorrow of suffering in behalf of hu- 
 manity. 
 
 Still another influence may be mentioned 
 as calculated to reinvjgorate the religious 
 sentiment ot the country. We are being 
 brought more Irequently into the pretence cf 
 the dvinir. Thousands who. in one hour, aro 
 I exercising all the adiviiies of iicalthy life. 
 i the next are strewn at the gates of death. And 
 j disease, in the crowded hospital, with a .'<low- 
 ! er power, brin.rs to tiiogiave tens of thou* 
 sands. The sympathies of Chaplains, nurse.s 
 and friends are enlitted in these departing 
 soldiers, and they ff el, as do idl at the death- 
 bed, the eariie.-i desire of saying something 
 that will place before the dying peaceful vi.+- 
 ions of the future, and that will remedy lii» 
 
iO 
 
 fc-arfal distrcKS of an imprnitent man, when 
 trembliu;; on tbe borders of the ppiriuial 
 world. In siicb scenes it is that the saving 
 rt'Hources of the gospel are developed. No 
 theory of mere reformation, of Belt-culture, 
 or frradual development, will answer the 
 wants of men about to be ushered into the 
 pre.-ience of the just and holy God. An im- 
 '.nediate salvation is demanded by them. A 
 perfect righteousness, capable of instantane- 
 ous appropriation, they must have or perish. 
 A justification, which no man could work 
 out for himself, is that only which can bring 
 jieace to the guilty soul and gird it for the 
 triumph over death. The most solemn real 
 ities crowd around the deathbed : eternity 
 is near, heaven or hell, joy or woe, victory 
 or defeat. The Lord who is our righteous- 
 ness alone can determine which destiny 
 .s'iallopeii before the departing spirit. A sim- 
 file incident will illustrate this point. A 
 Chrifjlian laboring in the army writes from a 
 prominent military station in the east, "The 
 nurses in the hospitals are most of them 
 Unitarians ai)d Parkerites. One kind-hearted 
 good woman said to nie, 'Oh, Mr. — I'm glad 
 you have comedown to-day, for several seem 
 very anxious about their souls, and you 
 know / dont knoio what to say to them. 1 
 was brought up a Quaker, and my husband 
 is a Unitarian, so we went to Theodore Par- 
 ker's Church, and I don't know how to talk 
 to them.'' They needed the old gospel, and 
 a disciple of the gospel with its modern im- 
 provements, found herself dumb in the pres- 
 ence of a soul realizing its spiritual necessi 
 lies. So all human schemes are being swept 
 .-isiieby the stern hand of affliction and death. 
 Superhuman power to rescue is felt to be 
 needed when a frail mortal is struggling in 
 the jaws of the monster Death. 'J'iius the 
 religion of Christ is being restored to its 
 projier supremacy, and its graciou:, most 
 lieneficent provisions are being brought 
 home to needy souls. 
 
 In all these instances of the benelits ofour 
 <'ountry's afflictions we are but repealing in 
 our experience what was so frt-qnent in the 
 history of Israel. When they had been afflict- 
 ed eight, or ten, or twenty years by wars and 
 oppressions through neighboring hostile na- 
 tions, the accustomed record of the sacred 
 historian is, "^Acn they cried vntn the Lord." 
 These strokes of Jehovah's rod are bringing 
 us to his tept. And'as we como out of this 
 furnace, I do expect conlideutly f^ see our 
 christian character shine with new juid un- 
 wonted radiance, because purified from a 
 vain and deceitful philosophy, from self right 
 ♦.'ousness, conceit and human reli:\nce. And 
 the gospel of the future that such christians 
 
 I will manifest in their lives and h-Tvo preached 
 I in their pulpits, will be pervaded by the 
 j unction of^ the divine presence; will speak, 
 I with the power of genuine faith, ot God's 
 j providence and of the reality of his govern- 
 ment of this world. That gospel will choose 
 I its terms less from human science and more 
 from the inspired Word. It will speak les.s 
 of 'reformation,' 'culture,' and 'develop- 
 ment.' and more concerning regeneration, 
 holiness from the inworking Spirit, and sal- 
 vation through the grace of God and the 
 merits of Christ. It will be inspired by the 
 holy vigor of those men of faith whose a^ 
 ehievements surpass the triumphs of any of 
 earth's heroes. It will utter the name of 
 God not as an abstraction, but as the name 
 of the living father, who is ever present with 
 his children, and the throbbing of whose 
 heart of love may be felt by those who press 
 close to the divine bosom. That gospel will 
 win its way more by the 'foolishness of 
 preaching' than by the influence of worldly 
 wisdom. It will draw its resources ot strength 
 not from wealth, or numbers or earthly blan 
 dishments of any kind, but from God, and 
 its going forth will be "in demonstration of 
 the Spirit and of power." It will not be 
 hoodwinked by instrumentalities, so as not 
 to see the Lord's ngency lymg behind all 
 secondary causes, without which they are a 
 body of eyes and ears, and feet and hand.s, 
 deprived of the soul. This gospel will blaze 
 with the light and glow with tlie warmth of 
 the God who dwelleth between the cherubim, 
 and, as a form of more than earthly loveli- 
 ness, will lift her face to heaven, where the 
 throne is, and rcfl ct upon the world the glo- 
 ry of him who sitteth in the majesty of the 
 Highest. Thus will the word of God be full- 
 filled, ^' They shall know that lam. the Lord.' 
 I now invite your attention to a second 
 leading point in the discussion of this sub- 
 ject. We have reason to believe that 
 
 2. We are in transition from an age of 
 Casuistry to one of Conscience. The epoch 
 in our history which we are now leaving was 
 one in which the minds of men were greatly 
 perplexed by a question involving in itself 
 morals, religion, politics and commerce — a 
 most unfortunate and hazardous complication 
 of interests ; for where a question is so broad 
 and so complex as to comprehend these di- 
 verse elements, the worldly interests are al- 
 most surii to overshadow and becloud those 
 elements that are nporal, and involve their 
 decision in great peri]lexity. And in thi.s 
 case the result had been the tying of such an 
 involved Gordian knot upon the chariot of 
 our national |)rogress, that only the sword of 
 the Lord of Hosts could cut it. The slavery 
 
11 
 
 question, in the earlier era of our history, was 
 not difficult toadjui:i;:;e. The men who were 
 willing to sign tliC'lr names, and pledge llieir 
 lives, fortunes and sacred honors to tlie sup- 
 port of these sentences, "All nion are crea- 
 ted equal, and are endowed by their Creator 
 with certain inalienable ri'^hts, amonpf which 
 are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," 
 — were not the men to hesitate in their ver 
 diet over that carcass of barbarism which had 
 been flung into the land, and which has since 
 filled the whole moral and political atmos- 
 phere with its villainous stench. But another 
 era succeeded in which slavery wasperceived 
 to be closely identified with the wealth and 
 supremacy of an influenti 1 class, and also 
 came to be a question having important re- 
 lations to politics: then its moral and relig- 
 ious aspects became all befogged, and the 
 era tjf casuistry, deceitful and ]ierpl(-xing, 
 succeeded that era of honest conscience which 
 came out of the batle^-smoke of the Revnlu- 
 tion. So many questions of expediency and 
 policy, so many arguments that appealed to 
 roan's love of gold, swarmed, like Egyptian 
 locusts, about this subject, that a pure and 
 conscientious judgment — God's inbreathing 
 into the soul — could not reach it. The su 
 premacy of conscience was denied. Legisla- 
 tures and Congresses, under the rule of sla 
 very, placed the laws of the land in such a 
 bhape as that loyalty to the God o\ conscience 
 could be proved to be disloyally to coun 
 try! And men, for simply following the 
 noblest, best and truest instincts of their 
 hearts, lay in prison for years, as tor some 
 great crime And I believe that therecanbe 
 no peace until these laws, which "'turn aside 
 the right of a man before theffice of the most 
 High and subvert a man in his cause," shall 
 be erased from State and national statute 
 hooks. For how can there be suppression of 
 treason to the government of a land, when 
 that land is itself guilty of treason to the gov- 
 ernment of God ? God curses us as a nation 
 with that of which we are guilty toward him. 
 Our state is guilty. A professor in an east- 
 ern college, writing concerning our odious 
 State laws against the blacks and those of a 
 neighboring state, exclaims, "It shall be more 
 tolerable in the day of judgment for South 
 (Carolina and Georgia than ior Indiana and 
 Illinois 1" But to return : in those days of 
 slavery'* domination, which I trust are past 
 forever, decisions which should have been 
 made by a simple intuition ofright, were 
 sought to be reached by the casuist's skill, 
 through a nice balancing of interests, of pol 
 icies, and by calculations of the probable good 
 or hurtful results of the decision. In such 
 tt labyrinth Right never failed to lose her way . 
 
 Tiie original foundationB of juplice, which arp 
 God's immutable principles, were covered 
 with the rubbi.<h of reason working in ibe in- 
 terest of selfi.shness and of owardicp. Ah the 
 soldiers of Titus dug up the foundation ptones 
 of the temple that they might get the gold, 
 which, in a molten state, had run into their 
 crevices, so our people, at the base behest of 
 Mammon, were deliberately at work trying 
 to upheave and toppli* over the foundation 
 principles of human r'ghls ; and to cover 
 their nefarious task they had secured the fler- 
 vices of the casuist, in pulpit and jiress, to 
 raise a cloud of sophisms and intricate quefi- 
 tions. Oh, the devil never spread his net so 
 skillfully, and made its cords so strong, .is he 
 did in this land. He had so bribed legisla- 
 tures and judges to do his devil's-work, as 
 that he had the written law on his si<le, and 
 the very eh^ct were deceived. Good men ap- 
 plied their minds to the solution of the great 
 question of the day, and found it .so involved 
 that they could do nothing but hold their 
 y)eace, and wait; butiheir silence fully scrr-- 
 ed the purpose of the evil one. They were 
 like men looking out of a mist, to whom ob- 
 jects look distorted and monstrous, which, if 
 ihey should ascend a higher point, would ap- 
 pear jilain and simjile. They were often un- 
 conscious to what an extent their minds were 
 warped by unworthy con>;iderations. which 
 were the real cau.se of their irresolution and 
 perplexity. But we must needs be charitable 
 towards them, foi we were all in the same 
 fo2. I well remember, when I was a youth 
 at college, in a slave State, how I heard the 
 professor of logic state that the position of 
 antf-slavery men was an "error of abstrac- 
 tion." Ah, thought I, that is a fiiie argu- 
 ment, and withall a weli-sounding phrase — 
 "error of abstraction." And I resolved to 
 try it against a bland, middle-aged philan 
 th'ropist, whom I ofien met. But the simple 
 old man parried this plausible argument, a? 
 he did every other, by merely saying', "As ye 
 v/ould that men should do to you, do ye also 
 to them likewise." Thus it was, in those de- 
 generate days, that a question which conld 
 have been easily .solved by looking at it from 
 the stand-point of simple right and justice, 
 was involved in doubt, and led men to the 
 wrong side or silenced them, by being asso- 
 ciated with considerations ol a sordid, self-in- 
 terested character, or by lieing based upon 
 theground of jitflicy rather than that of princi 
 pie. Young men. you wli e characters are now 
 forming, you may congratulate yourselves 
 that your schooling was no longer continued 
 in those fal.'^e, wicked times, of which I have 
 ju^t spoken. For they were times more 
 "perilous than even these of war— perilous to 
 
12 
 
 »h< soul, to inte.er-ty of character. It is 
 'iHu'Dtlesaowiii^f to ila- dftreiuTalin;^ influence 
 of those sliiimeful years of our history — most 
 disastrous thoujrh apparently the most pros- 
 perous — that we now heboid such alarmin>/ 
 r.urriiption in the sentiment of loyally amon<r 
 our people. To iitler treasonable sentiments 
 is to brincr t neself to the very ver<ife of the 
 greatest criminality. For treason involves 
 hII crimes, perjury, theft, rohl)ery, murder. — 
 It. strikes a l)low at that v hich re.strains from 
 ail crime, the jrovernment which executes 
 the law of the land. I;, therefore opens the 
 door for the incoming of every form of trans- 
 gression ; it tramples upon our safeguards 
 against the hi<;hwayman, the assassin, the 
 incendiary, the h.iir<r'er. He that speaks dis- 
 loyally of his jrovernment or its administra- 
 tors, is takii:!! the first step to every crime 
 that ever blackened the records of society. — 
 I{y persisting in the utterance of treasonable 
 languatfe the citizen casts himself out of the 
 pale of upriorht society, and becomes a sns- 
 piciou.s character, who may any day be found 
 among open criminals. For the thought is 
 father to the deed ; he that meditates murder 
 may soon be found in the actual commission 
 of the act. The secret thought of trea.«on 
 issues in the open act of murder, yea, in ten 
 thousand murders. For every aian shot by 
 ji rebel is murdered; every rebfl shot by a 
 loyal soldier is execniedio vindicate the ma- 
 jesty of law, urider the authority of him "who 
 is the minister of God, a rt.'venger to execute 
 wrath upon him that doeth evil '' I think 
 there are many who do not realize the ex- 
 ceeding guiltiness and danger of tbe grou d 
 upon which they stand wJien ihey talk* so 
 carelessly, of the Wovernment and of their ob- 
 ligation as citizens. Government is not a 
 social compact, to be annulled at the pleasure 
 of the parlies — that Si>ntiment belongs to the 
 atheism ufihe pa.^t. Government is an or- 
 dinance of God. Therefore the obligations 
 which it lays ujion us are of the most bind- 
 ing and .sacred character. Could such oMi 
 gallons be violated in word and deed as read 
 iiy a.s they now are, without the deepest cor- 
 ruption in the heart of the citizen? And 
 ojuld such corruption be there but by along. 
 dojiraved schooling, such as the people have 
 been subjected to in fiast years, during the 
 «upreraacy of the slave-power V Ah, it will 
 require more than the genius of a Juvenal 
 io truly portray the vices ot the degenerate 
 age of our liepublic. Yea, an inspired Jer- 
 emiah oidy could tear away the veil from the 
 repulsive fealurfs of that corrupt era. 
 
 liul the toraado, whose roar we hear to 
 d*y, is sweeping away the fog.s. We sowed 
 u the wind and wo are reaping the whirl 
 
 wind; but it is not wholly a destroying, puni- 
 tive power, but also a beneficent agency, 
 purif^ying tlie atmo.^ipherr. The moral bori" 
 zon has cleared up so rapidly in two years 
 tliatthereispromi.se soon of an unclouded 
 sky. The Almighty's hand has swept acrosB 
 the continent, a:.d theories, sojibisras, 
 and policies have been brushed away like 
 spider's webs from the morning meadow. — 
 War is a gr- at reformer: for proof of that 
 read the Old Testament. When preacbera 
 have done their utmost in pleading ; yea, in 
 days of old, when the prophets of God warned 
 and besought the people in vain, war was 
 successful in bringing them back to the Lord. 
 Afrer the scourge of war, "then they cried 
 unto the Lord. " In the first settlement of 
 Plymouth the Pilgrims erected a church of 
 round lt)gs, but made the roof flat and ran 
 the logs aijove it on the four sides to serfe as 
 a rampart, on top of which was mounted 
 their only cannon. So the building was at 
 once a church in which those men of faith 
 worshiped God, and a fort to defend t|iem 
 against the Indians — a type of the church 
 m.ilitant to which the descendants oi those 
 Pilgrim fathers have been veiy faithful. And, 
 indeed, the church that is not militant is a 
 church succumbent. Captain Sfandisb, look- 
 ing out of his window to llie brazen howitzer 
 mounted on the church, according to one of 
 our poets, thus eulogizes it : 
 
 '-A preaclier who speaks to the pnrp.iflo, 
 
 Steady, straiglit-ibiwuid and Btrong, with irresistible 
 
 logic, 
 Orthodox, fla.'^hing conviction light into the hearts of 
 
 tiie heatlieu." 
 
 Such is the preacher of to-day. That his ef- 
 fectiveness was not overrated by the gallant 
 Puritan Cajitain is abundantly evident to us 
 all. He has awakened tbe indifferent, 
 strengthened the wavering, fastened convic- 
 'ion ujjon the most skeptical, and turned men 
 from the advocacy of wrong to the enthu- 
 siastic support of right. He has let in such 
 a flood of light upon darkened minds that, 
 like Saul of Tarsus, the way which they once 
 persecuted they now preach. By this war 
 the eyesof the people are being rapidly opened 
 to the heinous character of the sin of 
 which they have been so tolerant. Few really 
 honest, disinterested seekers after truth re- 
 main uncimvinced or are on the road to con- 
 viction. The hideous features of the demon 
 slavery are more distinctly revealed every 
 day, so that all, except the wilfully bliucl, 
 may see his repulsiveness. The faithfulness 
 of that symbol in the ApocalypirC strikingly 
 appears now : The seer beholds a white 
 horse, and one sitting on him with a bow, a 
 crown upon his head, and he rides forth con- 
 quering and to conquer. A symbol of Chri;** 
 
13 
 
 \n his steadily progrcssinj^ conquest of the 
 world. Bui he is attended by one sitting 
 upon a red li rse, holdin<r a jrreat sword, 
 Hnd having power to take pence from the 
 earth : the personification ot War. Wrong 
 BO entrenches itself in this world sometimes, 
 and the subjects of sin so lean;ue themselves 
 togetlii-r, as that an efi'ectual barrier seems 
 to be opposed to the advance ofths henig-- 
 nant principles of the Savior. Then his at 
 tendant War lifts his sword, clits in sunder 
 the bands of wickedness, and hews a way 
 through the ranks of Falsehood for the march 
 of the all-conc|uering Redeemer. So it has 
 been in this land ; and we al really discover 
 (lod's intentions of mercy townrds us mi the 
 midst of the manifestatioais of his wrath. — 
 The present chastisement is gievious, but it 
 is even now yielding the p'ficeable fruit of 
 righteousness. It is evid-nt that that wisdom 
 which is from above, which is Jirst pure, 
 then PEACEAisLE, is guiding our affairs. And 
 what christian heart can desire peace, or be 
 lieve peace to be possible, before there is 
 purity ? 
 
 Do we, therefore, ha/.ard anything in pre- 
 dicting that the gospel of the future will be a 
 free gospel ? The shackles, it will lie found, 
 have not oidy been broken from the hands 
 and feet of (he poor slave, but also from the 
 gospel ; for it is ever true that Christ is fet- 
 tered in the person f;f his humblest follower. 
 And who dues not know that the Christ who 
 has gone about this land, informer yenrs, 
 was a chained and crippled (Mnist, having 
 the coward hand of worhlh- policy laid upon 
 his mouth whenever he would announce his 
 mission, "The Father halh sent me to preach 
 deliverance to the captives and to set at lib- 
 erty them that are bruised ?'" A chained 
 Bible is the oppressor's standard ; an open 
 Bible, let us trust, will be the emblem of the 
 emancipated itepubb'o.. In it great sins will 
 not be able soon again to put on garments 
 of light, so as to deceive the sai-.it.s. The 
 church will not speak softly and a})oioget,ic:il- 
 ly of ti-.e blessings of liberty and of the wrath 
 of God against the oppresstn-. as announced 
 in the Scriptures. It will not countenance 
 odious dislinciiuns of caste, such as are wor- 
 thy only of heathen Iiulia; Init with a hearty 
 benevolence will [ircach, "V/W are ojie in Christ, 
 whether bond or free." It will not wink at 
 the inhuman, blasphemous assumption, that 
 wife, husband, cliil(ir<'n, home, property, lib- 
 erty and life, are all very well for him who 
 lias a white skin, but oi no consequence to 
 him to whom his Creator gave a black one. 
 The church of the tVaure v.i'l have learned 
 not to call evil good. Its puipit will net fear 
 to rebuke sin, because it ia a great aiu, en- 
 
 trenched behind bags of gold and political in 
 terests. With a direct insight into right will 
 the people of that day judge. They who havQ 
 been schooled by the thrust of the bayonet, 
 the irlance of the swift descending sword, and 
 the bullet speeding straight to the mark, will 
 be impatient of the slow processes of tlie cas- 
 uist, atid having learned directness of thought 
 in so severe a school, will not suffer the sim- 
 ple principles ol common right and justice to 
 be obscured and perverted by the rcASoningi 
 of a bribed conscience. Young men of to- 
 day, with the ssd lessons of these bloody 
 years exerting their influence upon you, yoo 
 will have faith that it is better to do right 
 than to make inonev — belter to act always 
 from principle than to grow rich by sacrific- 
 ing it. It did seem for years pa«Jt that the 
 way of interest and self aggrandizement was 
 a secure and pleasant road ; and that the 
 strong might wring wealth out of the weak 
 with impunity. But that is now seen to have 
 been ruinously pernicious doctrine. It is 
 proved by Jehovah's own argument spoken 
 in the thunder-tones of the battle, that justice, 
 right and freedom are as immutable as the 
 character of God, and cannot be violated 
 without ovi-'rwhelming with the most destruc- 
 tive penalties the transgressor. Take a rep- 
 resentative fact, out ot the many daily occur 
 ring. A. regiment of colored soldiers march 
 in solid ranks, with proud step, to martial 
 music, through the broad avenues of the na- 
 tion's capital. In their course they sweep 
 past the Old Capitol prison, which is hill of 
 rebels suffering for their treason. The reb- 
 els groan, the soldiers drown the groan in 
 triumphant huzzahs. Look at it: the mas- 
 ter in prison, the slave marching by with the 
 statelv step c fa free soldier, a musket in his 
 hands, hastening on to the battle of libprty ? 
 When I behold that, I e.xclaim, with the 
 voice in the Apocalypse issuing from the 
 martyr's altar in heaven, "Even bo, Lord 
 God "Almighty, true and righteous are thy 
 judgments !'' 
 
 1 thus have endeavored to sum up the les- 
 sons ot the important era in which we live, 
 in their bearinjr upon Christian character, 
 under two b ading heads; first, the cresting 
 out of foreign elements from our religious 
 convictions and teachings, leading to a sim- 
 pler, more Scriptural faith; and, second, the 
 restoration of conscience to the exercise of 
 its proper authority in deciding the chnrch'.s 
 course of action tow-ird public questions. — 
 Whatever impulses to truth ar.d righteou.-*- 
 ness are given in this day of the nation's 
 iudgment, I believe may be cnmprthonded 
 in one of these fundaraei.lal points. To call 
 the heait of tl.o people back to the G<aJ 
 
14 
 
 •if tlieir fiitlii^rs , to eiiforco the truth, "they 
 tiiall know that I am the Lord," in religion 
 n:ui morals, promises to be the blessed result 
 of our trials. This result will appear in the 
 characicr of God's people; especially is this 
 true of the young christian who is uow lay- 
 lug the louiidalion of his future character. — 
 Theelements thatsho;:ld enter into the char- 
 acter of the sincere follower of Je.-sus, are 
 these : First, An invigorated faith in the spir- 
 itual iorces of the univer.se, that are under 
 the Lord's supremo control; forces that are 
 .superior to nature, becau.se in the hands of 
 the God of nature, and, indeed, completing 
 that system of which nature is put a part; for- 
 ces that are simply the uniform exercises of 
 God's will and intelligence, and that are the 
 true causes of all events. Joined with this 
 article of faith the belief that we enlist these 
 spiritual agencies on our side by a righteous 
 life and earnest prayer ; "for the eyes of the 
 Lord run to and fro throughout the whole 
 earth, to show himself s;rong in behalf of 
 them wlio.^e heart is perfect toward him." — 
 We should regard the man of prayer, not as 
 vfeak in practical matters, but as the strong- 
 est, most invincible of men, because calling 
 to his assistance those unseen powers which 
 determine the fate ot all conflicts, the rise 
 and fall of all monarchies and republics. — 
 Just as Luther, before entering V/orms, 
 ulone, prostrate upon the floor of his room, 
 crying unto God, was drawing reinforce- 
 ments from a source which made him, single 
 handed though he stood, stronger than the 
 united forces of the Pope and of King Charles, 
 the most powerful nionarcii of that age. — 
 Therefore, we must regard all efforts that 
 seek to exile God from our world, as one 
 present in our affairs, by the rea.sonings of 
 science and discoveries of nature's proce.'ises, 
 uot a.s wise and profound, which they pro- 
 fess to be, but as foolish and superficial. 
 
 Second, 'J'here should be a firmer faith in 
 God as the Sovereign superior to every oth- 
 er ; who governs the world according to his 
 own holy will, notwithstanding the rebellion 
 ot earthly rulers ; a Sovereign to whom our 
 
 first allegiance is due ; and let there be tfio 
 profound conviction that any conflict between 
 the laws of his administration and those of 
 an earthly nation, will inevitably, sooner or 
 later, bring disaster and shame upon that 
 nation; and hence it is the duty of every 
 christian to strenuously labor, by influencing 
 public affairs, to pi event such conflict. The 
 christian must never forget that he is also a 
 citizen. 
 
 'fhh'd, Let there be received into our char 
 acters a stern, unyielding opposition to sin ; 
 an opposition based upon princi|>le, and that 
 will not, therefore, change according as the 
 sin may be popular or unpopular, among the 
 rich or tlie poor, fashionable or unfashiona- 
 ble. David's injunction must be followed, 
 "Ye that loveihe Lord, hate evil.'' A sym- 
 metrical and reliable religious character 
 must include both of these elements. The 
 abhorrence 'of evil, which is illustrated in the 
 imprecatory Psalms and in Christ's rebuke of 
 the Pharisees, gives spirit and courage to 
 Christians, that they may storm the strong- 
 holds of iniquity, and at the same time fills 
 them with a heartier, more exalted love of the 
 pure and just God. 
 
 Fourth, Let there be a jealous regard for 
 the integrity of conscience. Let her decis- 
 ions be influenced by neither fear nor favor. 
 
 And, lastly, let a wider philanthropy ex- 
 pand the soul, regard le.-is of station, embrac- 
 ing in its arms all mankind. 
 
 Thus a character, viewed as a whole, should 
 and will, I believe, come forth from this fur- 
 nace, having the sLui'dy firmness, the burning 
 zeal, tiie uncompromising ficlelify, and the 
 fear ot God, which belonged to our Puritan 
 fathers. Thus, in the grand result, it will 
 appear, that not only our Piepublic has de» 
 veloped its military lesourccs and trained its 
 citizens to be soldiers, but that Christ baa 
 gathered and disci pi ijied an army, possessed 
 of those martial christian (jualities, which w.ll 
 fit it for tiiat final conflict, whose triumph is 
 to inaugurate the reign of Christ as Lord of 
 Lords aud King of Kings. 
 
 weo 
 

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