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A NATION'S a B E N BTZ E R.

ADISCOURSE ^\

DELIVERED IN THE BROAD ST. METHODIST CHURCH, '

RICHINlONr), VIRGINIA,

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1362

THE DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING,

APPOINTED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDBRATZ STATES.

BY REY. D. S. DOGGETT, D. D.

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL REQUEST.

RICHMOND, YA. :

ENQUIKER BOOK AND JOB PRESS

1862.

CeilRESPONDENCE

Sept. 19, 1862.

* Richmond, Sept

Rev. Dr. Doggktt,

Dear Sir : Having heard witli unfeigned pleasure, the
very admiraMe and able discourse which you delivered on
Thursday, the ISth instant, the day designated in the Presi-
dent's proclamation for thanksgiving and prayer, the under-
signed would most respectfully ask the favor of you to fur-
nish them a manuscript copy of said discourse, with a view
to its publication.

Very respectfully, yours,
J. W. MooRc, David Clopton,

John P. Rai.ls, F. B. Sexton.

Thomas Meneks.

IIo.N. J. W. MooRK, David Clopton, John P. Ralls, F. B.
Sexton and Thomas Meneks :

Gentlemen : In compliance with your request, I herewith
place, at your disposal, a manuscript copy of the discourse
delivered on the 18th ultimo, which you heard, and which
you were pleased to solicit for publication. ^ly delay in
furnishing the enclosed manuscript has been occasioned by
a variety of causes which it is needless to mention. Nor
am I satisfied with my effort to reproduce what, to so great
an extent, was delivered extempore. While I have endea-
vored to preserve its original tenor, I have deviated, as you
will perceive, not unfreijuently, into new forms of expres-
sion, and have also employed a greater degree of condensation
than I did in the pulpit. I ho])e, however, you will be able
readily to recognize its general identity in the following
pages, and that your kindness will not be abused by a peru-
sal of them.

With high regards, I am, gentlemen.

Your obedient servant,

D. S. DOGGETT.

Richmond, Va., Oct. 3, 1862.

33 6iD4>)f

A NATION'S EBENEZER.

j^ sjbr,m:on.

Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shcn,
and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, hitherto hath the Lord
helped us. — I. Samuel, 7 : 12.

We have assembled, to-daj, to perform an act in exact
analogy, and almost identical with that which is celebrated
in the language of our text. Both scenes are commemora-
tive ; both are memorials of great victories ; both signalize
the special interposition of Divine Providence. When
ancient nations engaged in war, they consulted their ora-
cles, oftered sacrifices, and invoked their deities. W^hen they
were successful, they not only honored their heroes, hut de-
posited their trophies in the temples of their gods. We have
a brighter example to follow, this morning, than the mis-
guided devotions of ancient pagans, and more hallowing re-
collections to cherish than ever clustered around their cost-
liest oblations. In the clear light of the world's meridian,
and in the very centre of its Avondering gaze, we meet, as a
nation, in Christian temples, to present our homage to the
living and the true God, and to erect, on the wayside of our
strange and eventful history, a national Ebenezer ; to in-
scribe upon its lofty column and to transmit to posterity the
highest and the holiest of all our convictions; *' Hitherto
hath the Lord helped us."

To preserve the consistency, and to sustain, as far as pos-
sible, the propriety of our subject, we shall attempt,

I. To delineate the remarkable analoirue which the text

3';'C331

4 anation'sebenezer.

records ; to analyze the example whicli it so graphically
recounts.

1 . D uring the incumbency of Eli and his sons, in the priest-
hood, corruption had diffused its virus through the whole
body of the people. An universal relaxation in religion and
morals ensued; the Ark itself, the mystic symbol and the
sacred repository of their faith, had been captured; and .for
twenty years, the nation had groaned under the exacting
tyranny of a barbarous race. At length, as if self-moved,
a healthful reaction manifested itself in the public mind ;
a spirit of reformation seemed instinctively to circulate
amongst the community and to express itself, at least, in
lamentations over their wretched servility. Samuel, the
sole representative amongst them, of a once pure and influ-
ential order of men, perceived, with patriotic emotions, the
auspicious symptom, and determined to improve it. He
summoned a convocation of the tribes at a little town by the
name of Mizpeh ; a name perpetuated by the event. The
people met in obedience to the summons, at the time and
place appointed, and celebrated the occasion by acts of hu-
miliation and prayer before God. Samuel appeared amongst
them in his official character.

2. The object of this general convention was, in accor-
dance with the original summons, exclusively religious. It
was merely a reformatory measure adopted by the prophet.
No other provision was consequently made, than was neces-
sary to accomplish its pious design. The rulers of the
Philistines, however, regarded it in a very different light.
Their suspicions were aroused. It was, in their estimation,
a political gathering to concoct plans for an insurrection.
They determined, at once, to crush it, and marched imme-
diately with armed forces to attack and demolish the rebel-
lious encampment. Terror-stricken at the approach of their
enemies, especially unprepared as they were for self-defence,
no alternative suggested itself but an appeal to Samuel to
cry to God without cessation in their behalf; fully persuaded,
that in such an emergency, h: alone could effect their de-

A nation's ebenezer.

liver^i'oe. The patriot-prophet gladly accepted the invita-
tion, offered a sacrifice, and interceded for his countrymen.
It was an awful hour ; an hour big with results ; with anni-
hilation or a miracle !

3. While Samuel was occupied in these solemn exercises,
the Philistines drew up in line of battle. Suddenly, so to
speak, a concealed battery, from heaven, opened its dread
artillery upon the impious invaders, and swept with destruc-
tion their serried ranks ; for '' the Lord thundered with a
great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discom-
fitted them." Smitten with a panic, they broke and fled,
scattering their c.piJnmcnts in the track of their flicrht
Emboldened by so wonderful a rescue, the Israelites, seizing
the abandoned arms, started in pursuit, and chased the fu-
gitives within their own confines. The enemy were thorough-
ly routed. The victory was complete.

4. So miraculous an event could not be allowed to pass
from memory. When the conquerors returned, and were
re-assembled, a simple but imposing ceremony commemora-
ted the great occasion. Neither artist nor chisel were present
to impart expression, or to add polish to marble or to granite.
The inspired actor extemporized a memorial. Selecting a
rude stone from the adjacent field, and in the presence and
silence of the worshipping assembly, he set it up and con-
secrated it as a monument of the ever memorable victory
which God had wrought, tliat day, in Israel. Rude as it
was, it caught, embodied, and stereotyped a grand idea ; a
fundamental principle, as well as an illustrious fact. It
would remind the present generation ; it would teach future
generations, when passing that way, how the God of their
fathers had defeated their enemies, and fulfilled his cove-
nant. And as names are something more than sounds, es-
pecially such descriptive epithets, as were common to the
Hebrew vocabulary, he solemnized the ceremony by confer-
ing upon the stone the significant title of '' Ebenezer;" the
stone of help ; the stone which recalled the interposition of
God at the battle of Mizpeh.

3^orj.'ii

6 anation'sebenezer.

Having, tlius far, reviewed the instructive example re-
counted in our text, we proceed,

II. To inquire into the existence of a corresponding ob-
ligation upon ourselves ; the obligation of raising a national
Ebenezer to the God of battles.

It behooves us, first of all, to ascertain the grounds upon
which this obligation rests ; to search for them ; to satisfy
ourselves that we do not act from a blind impulse, however
sincere; that, upon reflection, we shall approve of our con-
duct when the exultation of the hour shall have subsided.
Let us investigate the question whether, in reality. Divine
Providence has put forth his hand in our recent national
struggles.

All our inquiries, mathematical or philosophical, must
commence with some acknowledged fact ; some admitted pro-
position, in order to render our conclusions certain. Hap-
pily we enjoy this advantage to day. Within the period re-
ferred to in these services, our efforts, as a nation, have been
crowned with undoubted success ; with success the most re-
markable ; with success the most marvellous in the annals
of war. Within three months, the enemy has been driven
from every battle-field, and the whole character of the war
has been reversed. He is now on the defensive ; we, after
a rapid and brilliant succession of victories, are on the ag-
gressive.

To what cause are these victories to be ascribed ? Human
agencies have entered largely into the campaign. They
have been vigorously applied, and have, perhaps, accom-
plished all that such agencies can accomplish. Nor will
a grateful and admiring country be slow to award to
them their full meed of praise. But are our successes
due exclusively to military preparations, to the skill-
ful combinations of commanding generals, and to the heroic
energy and self-sacrifice of our citizen soldiery ? Can we,
ought we to account for them on this hypothesis alone ? Do
we not discover another element in them ? Is it a fond de-
lusion, a superstitious caprice into which we have fallen ?

A nation's ebenezer.

Must we arrogate the whole honor to ourselves ? Must not
God receive his rightful tribute at our hands ? To all these
questions wc reply ;

1. That the spontaneous and universal sentiment evinced
in the hour of our successes, indicates the interposition of
God. Great force of truth must be attached to the unso-
phisticated convictions of a whole people frankly avowed.
The presumption is al rays in favor of the reality of those
convictions. There is a time when human nature speaks its
genuine language; when the voice of truth bursts, as it were,
instinctively from the bosoms of men, and proclaims, by a
species of natural revelation, from the oracle of an awakened
consciousness, its testimony to the grandest of all doctrines.
It was so in the moment of our recent triumphs. When
they were yet fresh in our memories, the whole country re-
sounded with the praise of God. Not only the preacher in
his sermon, and the christian at his prayers, but those un-
accustomed to the exercises of piety, felt and acknowledged
the hand of God. If contrary opinions were entertained,
they were suppressed amidst the almost unanimous ut-
terai^ccs of a better faith. Now, I maintain, that this spon-
taneous sentiment of the people indicates the fact of an ac-
tual exhibition of Divine power in our successes ; that it
was a trustworthy exponent of the principle asserted in our
text : ^' Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

2. The part which God may rationally be presumed to
take in all righteous wars, justifies the same conclusion.
From our knowledge of his perfections, as the Ruler of the
universe, and of his relations to the creatures of his hand,
it is reasonable to infer that he cannot be, like the Olympian
Jove, an idle spectator of such events as involve the inte-?
rests of whole nations, and as are fraught with issues the
most tremendous both present and prospective. Wars af-
fect the destinies of mankind and the progress of society.
Wars change the current of history. Wars are related to
the propagation of the gospel; Wars have the characteris-
tics of a retributive administration. Wars are disciplina-

A nation's ebenezer.

ry in their results. Now. if our ideas of God are cor-
rect, he must not only feel an infinite concern in what so
deeply agitates the human race, but he must interfere. lie
must approve, he must take sides with the right, though
many of the instrumentalities employed may not be accept-
able to him. He will not suffer public justice and-integrity
to struggle unaided in a never ceasing whirl of conflict with
the elements of iniquity. It cannot be a matter of indifference
to him, whether the right or the wrong shall triumph in his
own government. He must put forth his own prerogative to
support the one and to arrest the other, by such methods as
are agreeable to his will. In the bloody tragedies through
which we have just passed, and from which we have so sig-
nally emerged, God has looked down from his throne upon
us with paternal solicitude, and according to the rectitude of
our cause, we are constrained to conclude that his al-
mighty hand has wrought our deliverance, and to exclaim
with equal piety and truth, *' Hitherto hath the Lord helped

us."

3. Another consideration favorable to our position, is the
reliance of a people in their national struggles, upon God,
and not upon themselves, in connection with their succes-
ses. When, in the sincerity of their purposes, and the con-
sciousness of their dependence, they have appealed to him
and supplicated his aid, and have more than realized their
expectations ; if the relation of cause and effect be not ab-
solutely apparent, that of antecedent and result cannot be
mistaken. Never, perhaps, in the course of national vicis-
situdes, was there on so large a scale, such implicit a reli-
ance upon Divine Providence ; so general an invocation of
the Divine blessing, as there was, from one end of this Con-
federacy to the other, immediately preceding and during
the enactment of those tragic scenes, the conclusion of
which we this day commemorate. Trust inspired the
national heart ; prayer poured forth, at a thousand altars,
from national lips, that the God of armies would arise in
bis majesty and espouse the cause of an injured country.

anation'sebenezer. "9

In these affecting exhibitions, victory perclied upon our
banners. Who can doubt whetlier she descended from
heaven, in merciful condescension to our petitions; and
whether, *' Hitherto hath the Lord helped us V

4. The inequality in the contest between us and our ene-
mies demonstrates the interposition of God. War, with
equal advantages on each side, is, humanly speaking, a game
of chances, in which unexpected results may surprise either
of the parties. It is a game so complicated in its elements,
that uncertainties and misgivings are inseparable from its
operations. Even in such a case, success on the side of
justice must be ascribed to supernatural agency, rather than
to the influence of natural causes, how potential soever
they may have been. Wlien, however, the decided majority
of human and natural advantages are arrayed against the
right, and display all their intensity to defeat it, and arc
utterly abortive, natural causes are then counteracted,
human calculations, so confidently believed, are outwitted,
and the issue proves that an extraneous power has decided
the contest. In a word, that God has overruled the boasted ar-
rangements of man, that he might vindicate the supremacy
of his moral government. Was ever a contest more un-
equal in all natural means of success, than that into
which the Confederate States have been plunged ? Did ever
an enemy confide in human appliances with higher certainty,
or with more plausibility, as if he were solving a problem
which admitted of no other conclusion than in his fiivor ?
And yet, his processes have disappointed him, and the solu-
tion has inured to the feebler side. Who but God, so to
speak, has conducted the argument ? Who, but he, has
proven that ** the race is not to the swift, neither the battle
to the strong ?" ** Verily, there is a reward for the righteous ;
verily, there is a God that judgeth in the earth'' f

0. The completeness of the success which has attended
our arms, is a proof of the interposition of God. If our suc-
cess itself, under the conditions of the war, proves that
fact, how much more does the definitive character o? the sue-

10 A nation's EBENEZER,

cess prove it ? I do not assume that our victories have been^
virtually decisive of the entire contest. But so far as they
bave progressed, they have been complete in themselves.
They have been decided and effectual victories. If the enemy
bas not been entirely captured or annihilated, as may have
been desired, no uncertainty now rests upon the public mind
as to the immediate and, as we trust, the permanent results-
of those victories. His purposes have been thwarted, hi»
plans have been crushed, his army has been disorganized,,
and the whole line of his movements has receded from prox-
imity to our Capital to the fortifications of his own, and is
still receding towards the banks of the Ohio; so that a radi-
cal change has been wrought in the character and complexion
oi the war. Thus far, our success has been complete, and
the unanimous sense of relief and hope corresponds with it.
The burden of apprehension is rolled from our shoulders,
and the buoyancy of our feelings has returned to its wonted
channels. It is in this definite issue, that we have reason to
recognize the hand of God. The work of man is imperfect,
and the hand of man would have left that issue doubtful.
God has set his seal upon it. The path of his Providence
has been a path of light ; and we may assert, with perfect
confidence : '' Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

6. The ends which have been attained by these
yictories illustrate the hand of God in them. They are'
ends worthy of God, worthy of a virtuous people, and honora-
ble to humanity. There is nothing in them that implicates
the moral character, or stains the national escutcheon of the-
Southern States ; nothing of which they have cause to be
ashamed, or by which they can be reproached by enlight-
ened nations, or by the awards of succeeding generations.
What are these ends ? Are they rapine, oppression,
tyranny, licentiousness, anarchy, irreligion ? No ! They
are all sublime. They are the rights that pertain to all
freemen ; the rights asserted, by our forefathers, m
the immortal Declaration of Independence ; the rights of
self-government, self-proiection, and of conscience ; rights-

ANATIONS'SEBENEZER. 11

incorporated in the original charter of our liberties ; rights
guaranteed by God to human civilization ; rights >denied to
us by a spurious and a fanatical Administration. These
are the ends for which we are yet fighting, and which
have been triumphantly maintained in our recent successes.
It is these which add lustre to our victories ; which embel-
lish our arms. These ends are the gifts of God, and we
may repeat with heightened adoration, to day, *^ Hitherto
the Lord hath helped us."

7. The word of God, taken in this connection, establishes
the truth of his interposition. For this purpose, we shall
call your attention to the selection of a few quotations:
** The Lord your God is he that goeth with you to fight for
you, against your enemies, to save you. The Lord hath
driven out from before you great nations and strong ; but
as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto
this day. It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth
down the people under me, and that bringeth me forth from
mine enemies ; thou, also, hast lifted me upon on high above
them that rose up against me ; thou hast delivered me frOm
the violent man. Thou hast girded me with strength unto-
the battle ; thou hast subdued under me those that rose up
against me. It is he who giveth salvation unto kings ; who-
delivereth his servant from the hurtful sword. And what
shall I say more ? for the time would fail me to tell of Gide-
on, and of Barak, and of Sampson, and of Jephthae ; of
David also, and of Samuel, and of the prophets ; who-
through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched
the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of
weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned
to flight the armies of the aliens."

All these grounds of obligations to God enter into the
question of our recent victories, and demonstrate, that while
human instrumentalities have borne a conspicuous and an
honored part in them, it was the blessing of God that ren-
dered them successful. To make this, if possible, more ex-

• ' c.

12 A N A T I 0 N S E B E N E Z E R .

plicit, let US hastily advert to a few particulars. Recall
the vast, the inexhaustible resources of our enemy in the
men and the materials of war, compared with our own ; his
long, diligent and elaborate preparation in every branch of
the service, naval and military; his malignant and inexora-
ble determination of subjugation and destruction; the con-
summate arrogance of his expectations repeatedly avowed
in private and in public, on the platform and from the press,
by courier and by telegraph ; his threatening advances and
his formidable approaches into the interior of our territory,
and to the very precincts of our city ; the devastation which
blasted the course of his march ; the loss of property and
the fli'^ht of refugees; and then consider the recoil of his
forces, the terrible chastisement which he has received, the
humiliation which he has suffered, his expulsion from our bor-
ders, the progress of our arms, and the prospect of our
cause ; all within the last three months. Do not all these
facts show, without the shadow of a doubt, that "Hitherto
hath the Lord helped us ?"

Having examined, at sufficient length, the grounds of our
duty, on this occasion, it remains for us,

III. To contemplate the mode of its fulfilment. If God
has performed his part in these events, he must receive his
share of the honor. That honor consists ;

1. In cherishing, as a nation, the conviction of his inter-
position. This conviction has been produced with the force
of an intuition ; and for the time, it is God's memorial in
the hearts of the people ; an inscription of homage engra-
ven on the tablet of the national consciousness, upon which
he looks with approbation. It must not become effaced.
Neither lapse of time, nor the succession of events must
obliterate its traces. The tendency of our natures is to for-
get God when the miracles of his Providence have merged
into the tranquil current of habitual prosperity. Against
this tendency we must guard, and let the grateful recogni-
tion survive in all its original freshness : na}^ let it be ad-
mitted in the growing fullness of its import, and be culti-

anation'sebenezer. 13

vated and expanded amidst the garnered fruits of our future
iireatness.

2. God must be honored by the national lips. The glory
of our achievements should be ascribed to him. Our words
must coincide with the facts, and with our convictions. A
verbal acknowledgment of God is an essential part of his
praise, because it is the mode by which we evince our sin-
cerity; by which we convey toothers our, appreciation of
Divine Providence, strengthen the general impression of its
superintendence, and swell the a,ggregate amount of influ-
ence in behalf of the truth. To suppress our testimony,
in this respect, when recounting our victories ; to hesitate
to associate them with the name and the character of him by
whom- they have been wrought, is disloyalty to him and an
insult to his majesty. It is to withhold a part of the sac-
rifice demanded at our hands, and to incur the guilt of na-
tional ingratitude to the Benefactor whose aid, in the
moment of our peril, we supplicated and received. He is
*' a jealous God, and his glory will he not give to another !"
While, therefore, it will be our pleasure and our pride to
eulogize the heroic valor of the living and the dead, in this
war; while conversation shall incidentally repeat their fame,
and eloquence more formally pronounce their panegyric;
while poetry shall weave its garland, and song employ its
strains for them, let the national voice utter the memory of
Sovereign Goodness, and raise, through all the land, the
mighty anthem of his praise.

3. It IS the duty of a people, so eminently distinguished
as we have been, to establish amongst us the permanent
worship of God; to honor his sabbaths, to revere his name,
to frequent his altars, and to diffuse the religion of the Bible
amongst all orders of society, by precept and example. Ilis
worship is a memorial to him. It is security to us. The
'' Bible," said Chillingworth, '' is the religion of Protest-
ants." It is more. It is not only the ark of their testi-
mony; it is the ark of their safety, and the bulwark of their
liberties. Without its sanctions, armies, navies, victories,

14 A nation's ebenezer.

constitutions and laws, will be as unsubstantial as tbe phan-
toms of a dream, and as fruitless of ultimate good as the
convulsions of an earthquake. If France^ in the wild de-
lirium of her revolution, abolished the Bible, and closed the
churches in order to inaugurate the experiment of a govern-
ment without God ; let her dismal catastrophe warn the
Southern Confederacy to reinstate the Bible to its pUce, and
to constitute every church a Shiloh for the gathering of the
people.

4. To honor God aright, a nation must inculcate upon the
succeeding generation, the recognition of his Providence.
It was made imperative upon the Israelites, thus to transmit
the remembrance of their deliverance. The obligation upon
us is precisely the same. Parents must rehearse it to their
children. Scenes like those through which we have passed,
will become the glowing narratives of after times. Sires
will repeat them with enthusiasm, and inquisitive childhood
will listen with wonder. Let tradition perform its office, by
imparting, with its lessons, the recognition of God. But
history has also a sacred duty to discharge, in recording
the events of this war. It will be incomplete, by whomso-
ever written, if it omit a chapter on the Providence of God,
and the invocation of it by the people. God, it is true, is
in all history, because he is in the facts of history. Yet,
it has become customary for history to ignore God, as if he
had nothing to do with its affairs, and if it were impertinent
to introduce his name in the annals of men. The pride of
the human heart is intolerant of God, and historians are
too obsequious to its dictates. They collect and arrange
their materials ; they philosophize upon them. But their
philosopy knows not God. The true philosophy of history
is Divine Providence, and history is the real exponent of
events only as it illustrates the interposition of Providence.
Those who undertake the task of committing to posterity
the record of our times, will be guilty of a startling derelic-
tion, if the manifest and acknowledged hand of God be dis-
carded from their pages. Faithful history will, therefore,

A nation's EBENEZER. 15

•erect its Ebenezer, and inscribe upon its volume, " Hitherto
hath the Lord helped us."

5. God is honored by national oblations. *-To do good
and to communicate forget not, for Avith such sacrifices,
•God is well pleased," is a Christian maxim, binding, not
only upon individuals, but upon communities. It devolves
upon them, as an expression of their gratitude, to present
their offerings at his altar. Nor need we be at a loss to
•discover the character of the required oblations. They are
those acts and measures of public utility and beneficence
which every nation has it in its power to execute. Such is
the perfect benevolence of the Ruler of the universe, that
his glory i» enhanced and his goodness is requited by every
plan which promotes the virtue and the happiness of his
creatures. We repay his kindness, by displaying our own.
It is a debt, therefore, which a nation owes to God, to employ
its resources in alleviating the sufferings and improving th«
-condition of humanity, especially within its own limits;
to furnish relief to the poor, asylums to the wretched, and
oducation to the ignorant; not only to secure the rights, but
to exalt the happiness of its citizens. Upon us, in the very
progress of our arms, is thrown an immense responsibility
of this kind. The ravages of war have left behind them
the wreck of many a fortune, the desolation of many a fam-
ily, and the mutilation of many a soldier, to excite our sen-
sibilities and to invoke our aid. The magnitude of the ca-
lamity appeals to the national heart, and its redress demands
nothing less than a natural response. In rendering that
redress, we shall glorify God ; we shall honor ourselves. A
people and individuals reach the pinnacle of their perfection,
and are clothed with their highest attributes, when they re-
semble God in the tenderness of their sympathies and the
munificence of their charities.

"No radiant pearl which crested fortune wears ;
No gem that twinkling hangs from beauty's ears,
Not the bright stars whicli night's blue arch adorns,
Nor rising sun that gilds the vernal morn,
Shine with such lustre as the tear that breaks
Foi others^ woe down virtue's manly cheeks."

}C A nation's EBENEZER^

With the discussion of the subject I have done. I have
taken advantage of vou by its length, but my apology is
found in the occasion itself. I will detain you only a few
minutes longer, with some concluding reflections.

1. Let us observe the pleasing contrast which we witnesS'
between the services of this day and those which we performed,,
as a nation, a few months ago. Then, smitten with reverses,
we fled to the throne of grace. At the summons of our Chief
Magistrate, we publicly prostrated ourselves before God in
humiliation and prayer ; then we were clothed in sackcloth and
lay down in ashes; then a dark cloud, with its murky
folds, settled upon our sky, and the voice of lamenta-
tion and confession ascended to the Lord of Ho^ts. I well
remember that period of depression and apprehension, when
our arrogant and exulting foe seemed to be at the point of
grasping his coveted prize. Soldier after soldier, fort after
fort, and city after city, fell into his hands. Our own wa&
ijivested with frowning batteries and bristling bayonets, and
its capitulation predicted with prophetic confidence. It was
lu: hour of gloom ; and -one might have recalled, with apt-
ness, the thrilling stanza which recorded the catas-trophe of
I'oland:

'MIope, for a season, bade the world fayewell,
And Freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fcll.'^

To-day, the scene is changed. Another summons, from
tlic same official source, brings us together again at the
footstool of God , not to weep, but to laugh ; not to lament,
but to give thanks ; not to practice a fast, but to hold a fes-
tival ; to put on *• beauty for ashes, the oil of jo-y for mourn-
ing, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."
Lito the object of these exercises we all enter. Gladness-
fills our hearts, cheerfulness animates our countenances,,
and songs of deliverance are ready to burst from our lips.
The lowering storm has, for a season, passed away ; the
cloud, charged with thunder, has rolled oft', and the long ob-
scured sun shines with unwonted splendor upon the dwellinga
of a rejoicing population.

.ANATIONSEBENEZER. 17

2. Our pleasures, to-day, though rich and hallowed, are
not unmingled .with sentiments of a different character;
sentiments well calculated to temper and subdue the tone of
our exultation. Our work, on the one hand, is not yet ac-
complished, and, on the other, it is full of painful recollec-
tions. Our victories have been purchased at a high price,
and have entailed unutterable anguish on countless families.
Many an aged matron bewails the loss of a favorite son, and
the grey hairs of many a venerable sire will go down with
sorrow to the grave. The heart of many a widow has been
broken with grief, and many an orphan has been thrown
upon the cold charities of the world. Many a brave man
has moistened the soil with his blood, and slept his last sleep
upon the field of battle, and left his bones to bleach and to
moulder under the suns of summer and the frosts of winter.
How truthful, how touching are the poet's words with re-
spect to the encounter of armies in the shock of war :

•' Few, few shall part where many meet, ^

The snow shdl be their winding sheet.
And every turf beneath their feet
Shall be a soldier's sepulchre."

Thus has it been with us on many a hard fought field. 1 do
not recall these melancholy incidents to impair your enjoy-
ments, but to impart to them sobriety and moderation. The
most gorgeous phenomenon in nature, whether in heaven
or on earth, is the rainbow, as its grand arch reposes on the
darkened bosom of the retiring cloud. It is produced by
the refraction of the sun's light through falling drops of
rain ; so, through our tears, the Providence of God is seen
in a milder, but not a less resplendent light.

3. Wc have encouragement to look with confidence to the
future, trusting that he who hath helped us " hitherto,"
will continue to help us until this great contest shall have
ended. Let us not suspend, let us not transfer our faith
from Divine to human agency. Let the mercies of our past
history augment the hopes of that which is to come. Let
no flush of triumph, no repose from fear, flatter us, for a

2

18 A nation's EBENEZER.

moment, into self-confidence. Let us avoid the error into
which the grand victory of last year betrayed us. The
drama of our present campaign is, we have reason to hope,
hastening to its close. It comprises three acts, with shifting
scenes. Two have passed. One transpired on the banks
of the Chickahorainy, with all its paraphranalia of horror
and of blood. Another, on the twice memorable plains of
Manassas, on which the shout of the conqueror has as often
resounded. The third is now preparing. Its machinery is
concealed. We desire to penetrate the veil, but we cannot.
Let us await the issue with patience and fortitude. The
curtain will presently rise. Let us hope, in God, that it will,
ere long, reveal the transcendent climax of all our victories ;
the enemy brought to terms ; the country delivered from op-
pression ; industry restored to its accustomed channels ;
prosperity tilling the land with abundance ; a happy people ;
and a God enthroned in the temple of our liberties ! And
unto Him shall be ascribed all majesty and might, dominion
and power, forever and ever. Amen.