Discourse on the National Crisis

18 how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire; * * * So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature: and it is set on fire of hell. * * * Therewith bless we God, even the Father: and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.” These are the words of the good Saint James. Another danger besides passion, uncharitableness, profanity, personal exasperation, thirst for revenge, and general demoralization, to which we as Christians are liable now, is arrogance. We of the North are the strongest—in men, in money, in ships— and have no doubt of the result. But it is not for man to know the times or the seasons. We must remember that the Bible tells us the battle is not always to the strong. We must remember that in the Revolution the battle was not to the strong. Very strength is sometimes an element of weakness. This should all teach us the lesson^bf humility. Beware, then, of the sin of arrogance. In these great difficulties the right is never all on one side, nor the wrong all on the other. We have been arrogant as a nation —North, South, East and West. As a nation we lack reverence ; reverence for age—reverence for authority—reverence for experience—reverence for old and tried landmarks—reverence, alas ! for God. And we should remember that while man heaps together many means to accomplish one end—God in his profusion of power brings out one means to accomplish many ends; and that these difficulties may be at once a means of settling the great question, and in addition a means of punishment unto us all— North and South—for our public and private sins. Lastly. Let us as Christians remember our duty of complete submission to the will of God. Let us not be rebellious against Him, the Governor of all. We are, at his summons, to suffer for the benefit of the future, for our children, for mankind. In this war the mother will be called to yield her son to the field, the wife will be called to yield her husband, the gray-haired widow may be called to yield the stay—the prop of her old age. And

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