14 THANKSGIVING SERMON. may not disappoint the warrior’s anticipations, make his face gather paleness, and turn his proud hopes into humiliation and despair. We honor his martial spirit, but we would rebuke his arrogance and pride. We admire his tranquil courage amid convulsive agonies and slaughtered corpses, and yet we say,“ Let not the mighty man glory in his might.” Once more: neither let the rich man glory in his riches. That“ money is the sinews of war” is a maxim as old as the days of Dryden. That nation is infatuated who, in this, as well as in every other view, does not “ count the cost” of its battles. Most cheerfully have our loyal states, our moneyed institutions, and our rich men poured forth their treasures for the suppression of this rebellion; and most gladly do poorer men, so far from regarding the legal demands of the government an uncalled-for exaction, yield it the support of their hard-earned stipend. This is right, and just as it should be. Yet when I hear the remark often repeated that the nation is sure to come off victorious which has the longest purse, and listen to it clothed in “great swelling words of vanity,” I confess to some misgivings as to the result of this vain boasting. I am afraid God will frown upon us.
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