| | | | || || || lºº A Sºlº ON. | | | | | | | | | || U L tº E 153,4- - - Nºg THREE LESSONS FOR THIS WAR, FROM AN ANCIENT CHRONICLE. A SERMON, P. R. E. A. C. H. E. D. B. E. E. O. R. E. T. Iſ E. P. R. E. S. B. Y. T E R I. A. N. CHURCHES OF UN A DILLA, ST 00 KBRIDGE, A. N. D. P. LA IN E L E L D, MIC III G. A. N., On Sabbath, July 24, 1864, BY REV. WM. J. NUTTING, PASTOR OF THO-E CHURCHES. PUBLIHSED BY BEQUEST. A N N A R B O R. C. G. CLARK, J.R., BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, C O U 1-1 E. R. O. E. E. I. C. E. 1864. +5.3.4- - - Mºg º * * * 12 - 3 -º-º-º: THREE LESSONS FOR THIS WAR. JUDGES xx. 26–28.-Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days, saying.)shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Bert- jamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for to: morrow I will deliver them into thine hand 1 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”—(II. TIM 3: 16.) I have read this narrative, and chosen this text, as one especially adapted to us as a nation now. There had been great folly, astounding crime, wrought in Israel. The tribe in which it took place, refused to give up the guilty ones to punishment at the just demand of the nation. They thus refused to submit to the right- ful authority of law and of the general government. Nay, more. They plant- ed themselves upon the lofty ground of injured pride, and infringed prerogative- “Their State was being, (or to be) invaded by an armed force!" Their “peculiar institution,” the sacred inherited right of many years, perhaps, was “tampered with,” and threatened with destruction! And so, not only do they wink at the crime and refuse to give up the criminals, but they even identify themselves with them, and prepare to defend them by every means in their power. And thus a bloody war breaks out between two parts of the same nation; on the one side, wanton crime, followed by open rebellion in its de- fence; on the other side, a firm purpose to maintain rightful authority, and to punish and wipe out the horrid crime, the cause of all the mischief The parallel need not be carried out. When, nearly three years ago, a Professor, at the seminary where I was studying, read and discoursed from this same chapter, to show that, even though unsuccessful twice orthrice, the North should prevail, few could have thought the parallel should ever prove 4. so nearly exact. The war was then but just begun, and most were anticipa- ting an easy victory, within a year at farthest; yet, in the strange Provi- dence of God, I stand here to-day, to speak from the same words, made ten- fold more striking by the experience of the three years between! It shall be our purpose, to-day, to see what lessons are contained in this history for us, of warning, of reproof, of correction, or of instruction in right- eousness. Many persons have a constitutional horror of what they term “preaching politics.” And, by “politics” they mean every question relating to the state of the country, which is discussed in Congress, in Legislature, in the daily papers, in the bar room, or on the stump. Now, many questions there discus- sed, the minister of God need never, ought never to touch upon in the pulpit. He has a higher, more sacred trust. But there are other questions sometimes discussed there, upon which it is not only his right, but his duty to preach. The mere fact that politicians have taken them up, cannot possibly forbid them to his use. His commission rests on far higher ground than the mere taste or convenience of men! He must speak continually in the “fear of God,” and not in the “fear of man,” for before Him, alone, must he stand or fall. As the minister of God he is to declare all the oracles of God; of every subject contained in this sacred book it is his privilege to speak. His province is the whole field of true morals and religion! Whenever politics, or trade, or fashion, of any kind, enter that field, he is not, like a craven, to retire, (as many seem to expect) and content himself with the mere husks of Bible History- sketches of Moses, or David, or Paul-or with the dry bones of speculative theology, such as the mysteries of the divine government, or of man's moral nature—while corrupt, unprincipled men are running riot like swine, tread- ing down, defiling, and seeking to destroy the precious, practical truths of the gospel. No! He is to stand up manfully for that gospel in whose defence he is set —welcoming with the warm right hand of fellowship every defender of the truth, under whatever name he may come, and battling earnestly every foe, whether open or disguised. This is the broad platform of every minister of God; not party, nor politics, nor sectarianism, but truth, God's eternal train given for the salvation of men. Wo to him who, through fear or favor, abandons any part of this glorious platform, who “shuns to declare the whole counsel of God,” as he honestly believes it! And wol a thousand times won to that ministry, that church, and that nation whose pulpit is controlled or intimidated by politicians. It too proverbially corrupt to be entrusted with the affairs of the nation, how shall they govern the house of God! The Lord's ministers of old were sent to preach, not merely to individuals and to families, but to the nation, and the nation's sins. And ministers now are just as assuredly set as watchmen upon the walls, and if they see the sword of danger coming and warm not the people, 5 surely the blood of that people shall be required at their hands' Ministers are of themselves, it is true, but frail, fallible men like others, and it is likely they sometimes honestly err in allowing themselves to be drawn away into mere party issues; but it is certain that captious, ungodly men far oftener err in attempting to stand in God's place to them, in dictating to them what they shall and shall not utter. If religion is anything, it is everything; if there is a God, He must be supreme, and Hisambassadors in reality second to none upon earth, though outwardly the most humble of men. The First Lesson we may learn from the subject before usis. I. That the want of speedy success is no sign that a cause is not right. God called the children of Israel to shake off the chain of Egyptian bondage, and go forth to a rich land which He should give them for an inherit- ance. To effect this. He terribly plagued their oppressors, and overwhelmed their proud host in the Red Sea; He himself led them on continually, a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night; supplied them with water from the rock, and with bread from heaven; preserved their clothing from wear and decay through all the years of their journey; and gave them the victory over hosts of enemies far mightier than they. And yet, when in the very sight of the promised land, they were not permitted to enter, but were turned back to wander and to dwell for forty long years in the wilderness; until, when at last they did enter the long expected Canaan, of all the adults who started from Egypt, only two remained alive, Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. Their mighty leaders themselves, had perished, and the bones of the other hundreds of thousands lay bleaching upon the weary, winding, course through all the wilderness. And yet it had been God's immutable pur- pose from eternity, that the wicked tribes of Canaan should be destroyed, and Israel, his chosen people, should possess the beautiful land. So also in the narrative before us. The tribe of Benjamin had clearly com- mitted themselves to a grievous wrong, not merely against hospitality and humanity, but against the laws of Israel's supreme Ruler, God. The Eleven Tribes were plainly in the exercise of their right and duty, in enforcing those laws and maintaining their just authority as a nation. And yet, with all the advantage of conscious right and infinitely superior numbers on their side, God suffered them to be easily defeated by the mere handful of their enemios, day after day. And it was not until the insolent rebels had slain almost double their own number, and caused their brethren much bitter humiliation and weep- ing, that right and justice were allowed to triumph. Our own fathers rose in righteous, indignant resistance to a tyranny, the little finger of whose hand was already laid upon them. Solemnly and earnest- ly they pledged together their fortunes, their sacred honor, and their lives in the presence of Him whose blessing and aid they invoked in His own precious C cause of truth and freedom. Undisciplined as they were, they buckled on their rude and scanty armor, and faithfully, and patiently, and valiantly, often rag- ged and barefoot, and bleeding, they fought forman's inalienable right-liberty dearer than life. And yet there was powerful, deadly treasonin their midst;-afire in the rear, -burning the homes,and wounding the back of those whº were away manfully struggling against oppression I Men grown rich and powerful, pam- pered by the tyrant Wrong, were loth to give it up. The hired, ruthless hordes of the enemy over-ran the country, outraging, burning, and destroying, almost without resistance. They seized and occupied in proud defiance our principal cities, and their fleets rode at anchor, unmolested, in our finest har- bors. And, worst of all, one of the patriot Generals, to whom was committed a most important trust, sold himself and tried to sell his country for British gold Amid such struggles, and such discouragements, the feeble, scattered col- onies were forced to wait seven long, dark, dreary years, before the bright morn- ing of final success dawned upon them. Yet what cause was ever undertaken more humbly and prayerfully, what commander-in-chief has the world ever known, so resplendent in all that marks true greatness and goodness, and what nation ever rose so rapidly in wealth and numbers and general prosperity —all tokens of the Divine approval and blessing. These instances, (and they might be indefinitely multiplied) abundantly show that a righteous cause is not always at once successful. Man's short-sighted wisdom too often judges causes by their immediate results. If not soon successful, he suspects the cause as wrong, or would aban- don it as, at least, not expedient or practicable. Schemes giving the most brilliant present prospect, meet with the most favor in his eyes; while those requiring patient, severe, long-continued industry and waiting, are too often thrown aside, though their results may be infinitely more precious and lasting. But not so the Almighty! His policy is of a totally different nature. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,saith the Lord. For, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”—(Isa, 55: sp.) How infinitely more vast, comprehensive, and far reaching must be the views of the Eternal One, who sitteth upon the highest heavens, scanning the vast universethan those of the mere worm of a day that crawls upon the earth! And while, to the eye of ignorant, impatient littleman, many of His great providen- cesseem slow and almost never ending, how vast, how majestic, and how thorough are they in their results. For “the Lord is not slack concerning His promises as some men count it to be slackness.”—(II. Peter, 8: 9.) He always fulfils them in the very best time, and in the very best way to secure their perfect accomplishment, as all men will seein eternity, if not before. He might cause the wheat or the earnto spring from the ground, perfected and ripe in a single day, if Hechose. But no. Through many long days and 7 nights of sunshine, and cloud, and rain, and dew, and wind, they grow, pa- tiently, and silently,and imperceptibly to their destined maturity. So, many men think that, if there is a God of right and truth, He might, and should, give suc- cess to every righteous cause, without such terrible expense of toil and suffer- ing. The same God of nature is the God of nations and of grace, and among them too. He does everything in His own time and way, and not in man's. The “Stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall grind all upon whom it shall fall to powder,” infallibly and surely, but not always at once. “Though the mills of God grind slowly, Yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience. He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all.” He who inhabits etermity has no need of haste in any of His works. With Him “a thousand years are as one day, and one day is as a thousand years.” His work will surely come about in His own appointed time, " though it tarry wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”—Heb. 2, 13. So that delay in any good cause, the painful delay of the terrible war now upon us, is, in itself, no cause for discouragement. Nor is it any reason for distrusting the cause in which it is being waged, if we are otherwise fully sa- tisfied it is right. It is no cause for despondency, though it may be a cause for deep humiliation, and careful self-examination. It is rather cause why, as a nation, we shall encourage and strengthen ourselves, as did the Elever, Tribes for the second day's battle with Ephrººm. If there are the same reasons for believing our cause just that there were when it was undertaken, every new delay and defeat should only lead to a more hearty devotion of our resources to the cause, and to a more determined courage. Meanwhile we may rest as- sured that God has wise and good reasons for suffering the delay, which we shall sometime know. As the Second Lesson we may learn from this narrative, let us now consider, II. What are some of the reasons why god does not give immediate victory to the right? - It is not likely that we can know all the reasons of Jehovah's perfect plans concerning us now, nor ever in this world. But some of them we may, and must, clearly see even now; they are so patent that “he who runs may read,” if only he does not wilfully run blindfold (a) In the first place then, God often puts ºff the victory ºf right and truth, that the enormous nature of sºn may be more fully shown by ſº terrible fruits. As Paul says of his own personal experience, “But sin that might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good."-(Rom. 7, 18.) So in 8 every struggle between good and evil in this world. The conflict always pro- duces more or less suffering and apparent misery; “sin works death by its opposition to that which is good.” And the superficial, the cowardly, and both the secretly and openly wicked, charge all the mischief upon the good, and would fain have it forbear its activity and let evil alone,' that the warfare may cease! But the Almighty withholds that aid which alone can give victory to the right, and permits the good to be baffled, until all, (except those who will never learn,) come to see and confess the true cause of all the evil done;—not the good which, of itself would produce only prosperity and peace,—but the insa- tiable monster Sin, in its struggles against extermination. Not the necessary knife which cuts the flesh, but the poison virus which has produced the swol- len, angry tumor. So it is now. Jehovah permits the carnage to go on until the men come to see that what they had winked at as trifling, venial sin, is in reality heaven- defying crime against His eternal, holy law: that what our fore-fathers care- lessly picked up, and put in their bosom, as a harmless frozen snake, has proved a deadly viper, striking at the very vitals of the nation; that the peculiar insti- tution which many of us had thought a mere matter of taste, a thing of dollars and cents, and of expediency merely—that this is, in reality, a deadly Upas tree, spreading its blighting curse over the whole nation, and sending its roots through the very foundations of our government. It must be uprooted, and yet its uprooting shakes the immense fabric to its lowest foundation. When, at the close of the second day's fight, Israel returned thirty thous- and less than on the first day's confident attack, and wept, and fasted, and offered sacrifices before the Lord, they doubtless felt the terrible guilt of Eph- raim's sin, which could lead to such boldness and desperation, far more than if they had at first humbled their brother, as they wished. So this nation, by repeated defeats, by the loss of billions of money and hundreds of thousands of lives, has at length come to realize, far more keenly than ever before, the enormous guilt of buying and selling the image of God, of hunting and returning the fugitive to his oppressor, (contrary to God's ex- press command); of State laws nullifying marriage, and legalizing wholesale adultery and amalgamation; of laws grinding the faces of the poor without wages—degrading man in every respect, to the level of the brutes, and send- ing priceless souls for whom Christ died, by thousands every year, to perdition for lack of knowledge and the free Gospel of salvation! Ayer and God has been teaching Congress, too, most thoroughly in those very halls where His authority was solately sneered at that there is a “ High- er Law;" that they, and all men, must fear and reverence and obey that holy, eternal, and immutable law, or feel its weight! This is the greatlesson the Almighty has been teaching every succeeding age, every generation, almost from the beginning of the world; and yet how 9 quickly each coming generation forgets it, and must be taught it anew for themselves. That God's law is supreme, active, living eternally, and must be obeyed; that no offence against it is trifling, or can be passed over and forgot- ten; that SIN is six, and no human customs or laws can change its nature take away its guilt, or avert its punishment; this, this is the great lesson God has taught every past age, the lesson. He repeats over and over in His holy word, and the lesson His faithful ministers are set to declare to all who will hearit every Sabbath. And yet men will not learn it, till God comes to their persons, their families, their nation, in afflictions that often leave little but life itself! (b) Again, God often defers success to a cause clearly righteous, because His people are not prepared and worthy to receive it. They often need humility, and more obedience themselves, and a purging from their own sins, else victory, if granted, would prove a curse, instead of a blessing. Israel, led from Egypt by God's own hand, was a stiff-necked and rebel- lious people, continually provoking His anger by their unbelief. So He brought, not them, but their children into the promised land. They, (not even excepting Moses, the favored of the Lord) were not worthy of the blessing, save only Caleb and Joshua. If the Eleven Tribes had humbled themselves before the Lord in penitent obedience the first day, instead of the third, He might then have given them the victory without the loss. But He saw that only delay and defeat could bring them to their proper place. “There was no king in those days, every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Doubt- less, then, among the mass of the nation, zealous as they thought themselves for God's law, there was much sin in the sight of God, similar if not equal to the sin of Benjamin. In the very chapter before this, we read of the grossest idolatry in the tribe of Dan, and a Levite officiating as priest to it. It is plain there was, at least, among Israel a spirit of selfishness of pride, and of self-conſidence which the Almighty could not favor. With “a beam in their own eye,” they were proceeding to “pull the mote out of their brother's eye,” with arrogance and dictatorial self-importance. Nor did they undertake the cause from wholly right motives. From the context, it would seem that their greatobject was to purge the honor and fair name of Israel from reproach, and to maintain the national supremacy over every tribe. “There was no such deed done nor seen,” said they, “from the day that the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt unto this day.” “[We] will do, when (we) come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.” These were by no means wrong or unworthy motives, but they were by no means fit to be the highestones. The will and glory of God, which should have been their highest motive, does not seem at first to have entered their thoughts. The other considerations, usurping the place of this, became merely 10 selfish. And so God teaches them by defeat, every day a new lesson. The first day they lost their boasting and self-confidence, and learned somewhat of humility. They wept before the Lord, and asked if it were His will they should fight with Benjamin-a thing they neglected to do at first. The second day's defeat added to their humility, obedience. They not only wept and fasted, but put away their sins, by offering sacrifices according to the law, and thus propitiated God's favor. Then the Lord promised them vic- tory, and the morrow saw the insolent, wicked tribe of Benjamin almost ex- terminated. So we at the North, as a nation, have our crying sins, hardly less heinous in the sight of God, perhaps, than the great sin of the South, for which we have so much oftener repented. And He is showing them to us by painfully protracting the war, which we expected to finish in a few months at most. When we entered the contest, we were proud and self-confident, forgetting the only source of strength in a righteous cause. “We could quickly bring the insolent rebels to terms and submission,” we said. The first year, if not the first battle, (fought professedly in God's cause, but in direct violation of His universal Fourth Command,) taught us a lesson ºf humility and caution. But we also commenced the war for ends, which, though not wrong, yet, alone, were purely selfish. We fought solely for maintaining rightful authority and for preserving the nation's life. It was our own cause, not God's cause, in which we were engaged. We wished it distinctly understood that slavery,the great moral evil which caused the war—the fire underneath, which was making the great political caldron boil so violently—slavery was in no way to be meddled with. That was God's cause, not ours. We would merely try to still the boiling water without touching the fire. And so President, and officers, and soldiers, and people for the most part, made every effort to let it alone. But the second year of the war taught the nation better than that; that the caldron would not stop boiling till the fire was put out. And so the nation was forced to fight for God's cause, whether it would or not, and war was openly declared against slavery, that accursed institution which has, alasi been more sacred in American eyes than the eternal Law of God Himself. We are learning terribly severe and bitterlessons, but necessary and profitable ones. God seems to be striking home to the heart of every family in our land, that He may bring them all in humble penitence and submission to His feet. Let this be the lesson of the present hour, of the approaching day God has moved our President to set apart for this purpose.” And when the North shall have put away all its national sins, and offered to God the only acceptable sacrifice, of broken, contrite, and believing hearts, we may expect and know that the *This discourse was preached with special reference to the Day of Na- tional Fasting and Prayer, (Aug 4th) 11 victory, so long and anxiously awaited, will quickly come. We need, we have needed all along, more prayer and humility, less boasting and selfish scheming. If covetousness be “idolatry,” as the bible declares, then I firmly believe the North is, in the sight of God, a nation of idolaters to-day. MAMMON's is the great altar before which we bow, andºn the severest judgments of Jeho- vah have been able to drive us thence. Not even the mortal struggle of their fatherland, nor the sacred, supreme demands of God's cause have been able to rouse its votaries from their base, disgusting worship. But men coolly spec- ulate on their bleeding country. While she is struggling for their lives and lib- erties they take advantage of her necessities, and heartlessly fill their swollen pockets from her impoverished coffers. They rob the brave soldier in a thou- sand ingenious ways, they coin money almost from the very heart's blood of their brethren who are giving up life for their sake; nay, a Union defeat, sacrificing to the country thousands of precious lives, does literally bring gold to the pockets of many Until men come universally to see and fear the hand of the Almighty in the events now upon us, we need not expect victory. All Israel could not take the little town of Ai, so long as there was an Achan in the camp, with his wedge of gold. But, alas it is to be feared that Wall Street is full of Achans, and many streets of lesser cities all over our land! Let the “accursed thing” be sought out, and put away, that the whole nation perish not for their sins.” Let the women, too, of our land,-the mothers, sisters, daughters, and sweet-hearts of our brave army, look to it if they are entirely without sin in this matter. While so many of them have nobly gone to stand by the couch of the wounded, sick, and dying, while so many more at home are plying busy feet and fingers to supply the suffering soldier's wants, how many, even among these last, are still the gay votaries of pleasure and costly fashion! How many even, have embarked in extravagances never known before, the fruits of the sufferings and blood of their brave defenders! Cannot, ought not, every daugh- ter of America to sacrifice every selfish pleasure, extravagance, at least, to that costly, glorious object for which their sons and brothers so freely sacrifice their lives? Where is the earnest, unselfish spirit of the women patriots of the Revolution? Surely, every woman's earnest sympathy and love, and courage are due to this sacred cause, such sympathy, and love, and courage as shown themselves by real, unshrinking sacrifice! The Lord sometimes uses even wicked men and nations as instruments of His vengeance upon others, and then Hegives the instruments themselves over to destruction, as worn out useless weapons. So He employed the kings of Assyria and Egypt, even against His chosen Israel, and then cut them of for their own wickedness and pride. But warriors for the right and truth, who make these their constant and highest aim, must be themselves conformed to His law. He carefully selects, 12 siſts out, His chosen soldiers, as in the case of Gideon's little band of three hundred, alone retained of thirty-two thousand. “They that are with Him are with Him, are called, and chosen, and faithful.” (Rev. 17: 14.) They must “purify themselves” of all known sin, that they may be “pure even as their Leader is purel” He will not wink at any open sin, or any covert, willful sin in them. Even if the sacred Ark of His eternal Testimony, on its glorious march, totters and seems ready to fall, he will have no unholy hands put forth to steady it, else. He will strike them dead, like Uzzah, on the spot! It is a fact worthy of note, how large a majority of those who began this war merely for expediency or selfish ends,-many of whom loved fighting merely for its own sake, have been killed or displaced, and how large and in- creasing a proportion of those now in the army are God-fearing men, fighting in His cause only from the highest principles. Such men. He will have to fight His battles, such a nation. He will have to serve Him; and God grant He do not find it necessary to continue this fearful slaughter much further be- fore Hebrings us all to this point! c. And finally; God often defers the righteous victory, That He may the more thoroughly destroy the wrong and its defenders, and give more glorious and permanent victory to the right. . hardens the heart of the wicked, (i.e. leaves them to harden them- selves) by temporary successin order to their more complete overthrow. If suf- ficiently humbled at first, they might submit before their punishment was com- plete, and thus the ends of justice be defeated. (So, we have now much reason to fear, it was with South Carolina, in the much lauded times of Andrew Jackson.) But He suffers victory to dazzle them till they become fairly blinded by it, and seem not to know when their doom is really approaching- With the same ap- parent confidence, and the same brazen face as ever, they rush on to the very brink of destruction, and plunge headlong into instant, overwhelming, and re- mediless ruin. - If Israel had been successful in their plan, of taking Gibeah the first day, or of defeating Benjamin the second day, doubtless they would have felt very well satisfied with their own prowess and moral standing, most of the tribe of Benjamin would have been spared, and the dark crime of Sodom might ere long have been repeated with tenfold aggravation. But, goaded to desperation by their own losses and the rebel's hardihood, and impressed more and more with a sense of their guilty deserts, Israel “wiped out" at once, both the tribe and their crime; the latter forever, while of the former, only six hundred re- mained, sadder and wiser men, a warning to all their descendants. If the first battle of Bull Run had been our victory, instead of defeat, and the Union army had taken Richmond them, an easy compromise would doubt- less have been made with treason, and the volcano of slavery re-capped for a few years, till its smouldering fires should break forth again with fury tenfold in- 13 creased, shattering this Republican Government into atoms never to be united. But God, in mercy to the nation, averted this "worst calamity, by permit- ting a lesser one—this long and bloody war. By this, slavery, (now the every- where-acknowledged cause of the war) has received its death-blow, Secession has been proved an impossibility, and the final victory of “UNIon AND LIBERTY " only a question of time, depending mainly upon how soon the victors comply with the necessary conditions! See how the wisdom and skill of Israel was increased upon the third day, after they had obtained the Lord's favour, and received His promise. Though now sure of success, yet in humble reliance upon God, they employ strategem, they take every precaution, and use every means, as much as if victory still depended on themselves alone. Who shall say this new wisdom was not di- rectly His gift? Certainly His promise must have given new confidence; and the highest hope does not prevent, but impels to the intelligent use of every possible means towards success. So shall it be with this nation when we are willing fully to test it by experience. It seems now that the North may yet need much further discipline, and that our enemies will madly persist till but a small remnant of them be left. The accursed institution has intoxicated and made them mad; and it may be that all who have upheld it shall yet perish with it. If so, they have persistently courted their own doom. But when the ends of justice are established, and right triumphant, no feelings of revenge must move the long suffering-North to any such rash oath as that of Israel towards Benjamin. (See Chap. 21: 1.) No bitter vow, as of perpetual hatred or alienation, must be either thought or spoken. For this is God's cause far more than ours after all. If He can for- give both them and us, surely we may forgive them! Let the nation, in all its parts, so act that it can always honestly offer the the petition, “Forgive us our trespasses as weforgive them that trespass against us!” for God knows we have need to offer it. Then, at length, shall liberty, and righteousness, and peace be established through all our borders, glorious and permanent, a peace permanent because built upon the eternal foundation of the Almighty's throne! The Third and last Lesson we may learnis, III. That the right will certainly triumph ºn the end. Time will not permit us to dwell upon this point-if indeed it needs any demonstration. It surely needs no other nor stronger argument than that of the poet: “For right is right, since God is God, And right the day must win, To doubt would be disloyalty, To faſter is to sin.” 14 If this were not so, there would be little encouragement for any one to do right rather than wrong in this world. It would show, too, that the Supreme Ruler of the Universe must be either a malevolent, or, at least, not a benevolent Being. Since, if he had the power to cause the right and good to triumph, and did not always use it, it must be either because He actually wished evil to His creatures, or because He was careless of their happiness. But not such has He shown himself in nature; not so has He shown Himself even in our moral world, so full of sin and suffering. He has so constituted the universe, that sin, from its very nature, being rebellion against Himself cannot permanently prosper. It is suicidal, self-destructive, and at last defeats the very ends it seeks. On the other hand, righteousness will and must prosper always, because it is obedience to His eternal law. It engages. His constant protection and blessing. This is especially true of nations, in this world. Good men, individuals, sometimes,indeed, seem to suffer outwardly most of their lives. It is for them a necessary, parental discipline, and their reward is beyond the grave. But na- tions, as nations have no hereafter. They are judged in this world, and receive their dues in this world. The righteous nation prospers, the wicked nation is always punished or cut off; at least it like our own, it has had full opportunity of knowing the truth. And, when one part of a nation cherishes, and deliber ately sets itself to defend a heaven-defying sin, and the other part as earnestly sets itself against the enormous wrong, there can be little doubt which portion shall finally prosper, and which shall be punished. That such is now the case in this nation, I need not stop to prove. The wrongs of Secession and Oppres- sion have been too ably shown to need farther discussion here to-day. Few now deny the evil or the sin, though some may oppose the mode of treating it. Such being the case, we need have no fears for the final result. There are, in God's Word, secres of promises like these for them: “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished” (Prov. 11: 21)—“The name of the wicked shall rot.” (Prov. 10: 1.) There are, in the same Word, thousands of promises like these for us (if we will indeed be God's people): “The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; he is their strength in the time of trouble.”—“And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them because they trust in him” (Ps as: 39, 40)—"Surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him (Eccl. 8: 12)—“Happy is that people whose God is the Lord!” (Ps. 144: 15) But the great, the greatest advantage, after all, that Israel had over Benja- min, was that the ark of the Lord was in their midst, and not with Benjamin. We have seen that vastly superior numbers availed them nothing without his favor. So Religion is now the great, the only hope of our nation. It is not our greater numbers that shall give us the victory. The oft-quoted saying 15 of Napoleon, that “God is on the side of the heavy battalions,” if taken with- out limit, is purely atheistical. It ignores a God of battles altogether, and makes victory depend solely on man. Such a saying is unworthy the lips or ears of Christian America. God might easily give our enemies success if they pleased Him. No! it is the simple fact that God is with us, and not with our enemies, that insures us the victory. If there is a God, who rules among na- tions as well as in Heaven (which few Americans have now the hardihood to deny), surely His help must be invaluable America is, of all nations on the earth, God's modern Israel–a people having no king but God, and professing to be governed by his laws. He led this nation out from an Egyptian bond- age, planted it on this virgin continent, and fostered it as He has done no other nation now existing. And, as the last and surest proof of His special love. He is now giving us the necessary, purifying, loving Father's discipline of this war! But to secure His aid, even in this most righteous cause, this nation must heartily submit itself to the discipline of His army, must repent of and put away its sins, and must be sure that it is fighting chiefly for the triumph of His cause, and not merely for its own 1 To this end, let “all the people” (as did Israel) come up to the house of God, and humble themselves there, on the approaching day of fasting and prayer. And let every family, and every individual in the land, not cease to do it daily at home, until God shall stay His avenging hand and lift again upon us the light of his countenancel Above all, let us strive to get rid of our selfishness, which, most of all, prevents our hearty recognition of God, and de- votion to his service. How often are our ears pained by remarks like these, even from our soldiers: “I am willing to fight for the Government, but I won't fight for the abolition of slavery; I won't fight for the cursed nigger tº As if this American Government, imperfect and corrupt at best, was worth more, and more binding in its claims, than God's holy, universal, eter. nal government! As if present expediency was more worthy than the claims of eternal truth and justice! Surely, the man who can utter such words is intensely selfish, though he may call himself a patriot; he cares more for the present ease and comfort of himself and his children, than he does for his Al- mighty Creator and King, and the honor of His holy cause ! If so many are ready to sacrifice their lives for comparatively selfish ends, and the rebels theirs for the Devil's cause, should those who fear and trust God be less cour- ageous? If this war was ever right and necessary, it is so still, and it must be carried through! Life is nothing to principle, God's eternal truth. He will take care of those who die fighting in His cause. “He that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it.” War is the fruit of sin, a horrid thing at best; but there is one thing in the sight of God even worse than than that, and that is, sin upheld and fostered by a Christian nation! If every fighting man at the North should be sacrificed, eternal truth must be maintained. God will main- 16 tain it, if we do not; by our annihilation, if not by our aid. Brute courage has already, for the most part, given up this war; Christian principle is now fighting its battles. Let every man be firm and true to the right, at all haz- ards; ready to go whenever duty shall call him! The morning is already breaking; the victory draws night God says to this nation— *Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed! I—I am thy God, and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand!” Be true to thyself then, and to thy proud calling, 0 nation of nations, most honored and blest! Jehovah shall guide thee and keep thee from falling, And, after fierce conflict, give glorious rest! "ge up! for to-morrow I will deliver them into thine handſ” N.