State Thanksgiving During the Rebellion

12 THANKSGIVING SERMON. vaunting champion of the Philistines. When Israel trembled before the hosts of Syria, and cast themselves at the foot of God’s throne, a sweeping pestilence destroyed 185,000 of their enemies in a single night. A blasting storm scattered the naval power of Spain on the very eve of her anticipated glorying in England’s downfall. When Louis XIV. entered the Low Countries with an army that threatened to bear down all opposition, a few undisciplined troops, with the Prince of Orange at their head, opened the channels for the ocean to inundate their island city, and their proud foe was disheartened. When Leopold of Austria marched against the cantons of Switzerland with an army of20,000 men, the patriotic Swiss, with an army of 1400, and with the loss of fourteen men, either killed or dispersed the whole Austrian forces. Frederick the Great of Prussia, in the terrible campaign of 1757, with an army of 260,000 men, stood against the combined powers of France, Austria, Russia, and Sweden, who brought into the field an army of 700,000. England, during the war of the Revolution, counted on her armies and her navy to overthrow this American republic ; but there were causes above her boasted

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