State Thanksgiving During the Rebellion

10 THANKSGIVING SEBMON. ture. “God will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to naught the understanding of the prudent.’" Let not the wise glory in their wisdom! Neither let the mighty man glory in his MIGHT. The boastful remark has been often repeated, that this fearful contest must be decided by the superiority of numbers and physical force. It would seem so: I hope in God it will prove so. A disciplined army of600,000, weekly augmented by such large accessions, would seem to give little hope to the rebellion, but rather justify the American people in strong anticipations of victory. Nor are such anticipations to be discouraged or frowned upon so long as they are modified by humble reverence of the Deity, and a chastened dependence upon his providence. Human dependence and human activity stand abreast in all the arrangements of the divine government. God has his own way of working, but it is well-nigh uniformly through human instrumentality. In repelling the invasions of this rebellion, our common sense and common Christianity teach us to make a due estimate of our numbers. “What king,” says the Sa­

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