i^^^' 
 
 ''M\t good Iiaiut of our ^od upiiujj/' 
 
 THANKSGIVING SERMON, 
 
 •REACHED OX OCCASION OP 
 
 THE VICTORY OF MANASSAS, 
 
 July 21st, 1861, 
 
 PRESBYTEEIAN CHUECH, ^'OEFOLK, VA., 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. GEO. D. ARMSTRONG, D. D.* PASTOR. 
 
 NORFOLK, VA., 
 
 PUBLISHED BY J. D. GHISELIN, JR., 
 No. West Main Stueet. 
 
 is(n. 
 
SPECIAL NOTICE 
 
 Hnvinij clt'tcrniinod not to rosiime his busincsss with 
 the North, the undcrsitjned would announce to his frit-nds 
 and customers in Virginia and North Carolina, that it is 
 his purpose cither to t^o himself to Great Britain and the 
 continent, or, throutrh a special agent, to obtain from 
 thence (immediately on raising the blockade, which may 
 now confidently be looked for by the first of December 
 next,) a large and select assortment of 
 
 And would respectfully solicit the Orders of (ientlemcn. 
 Colleges. Literary Institutions, &c., pledging himself that 
 all such Orders shall be promptly executed on favorable 
 terms. 
 
 ^oohs. ^Inlosopbical Apparatus, Instruments, i^aps, «tc. 
 
 FOR COLLKIiKH, LITRRARV ASSOCIATIONS, ETC. 
 
 I 1*4; I'OK.TEXJ FREE OF 33 "U T TiT ! 
 
 Orders, however small, will bo carefully and faith- 
 fully executed.*. 
 
 J. D. GHISELIN, J UN. 
 
 Imporier and Bookseller. 
 
 No. 6 West Main SU, (uniler Atliintic Hotel,) 
 
 NORFOLK, VA. 
 
 AuorsT, 18(j]. 
 
"i;k poU hand of our ^ad upon us." 
 
 THANKSGIVING SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED OX OCCASION OF , 
 
 THE VICTORY OF MANASSAS, 
 
 July 21st, 1861, 
 
 PKESBYTERIAN CHUECH, NOEFOLK, YA., 
 
 EEV. GEO. D. ARMSTROXa, D. D., PASTOR. 
 
 NOEFOLK, VA., 
 
 PUBLISHED BY J. D. GHISELIN, JR., 
 No. 6 West Main Street. 
 
 1861. 
 
1^. IN.- 
 
 r 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 "The Lord is my strength and my song, and He is become my salvation : He is 
 my God, and I will prepare Him a habitation ; my father's God, and I will exalt 
 Him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name." — Exodus xv, 2, .1. 
 
 Oil receiving official intelligence of our recent victory at 
 Manassas, the Congress of these Confederate States unani- 
 mously 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That we recognize the Most High God, the King 
 of Kings and Lord of Lords, in the glorious victory with 
 which He has crowned our arms at Manassas, and that the 
 people of the Confederate States are invited, hy appro])riatc 
 services on the ensuing Sabbath, to offer up their united 
 thanksgiving and praise for this mighty deliverance." 
 
 In the first published official account of the first important 
 battle of this war, the battle of Bethel, Brigadier-General 
 Hill concludes with the words : " Our Heavenly Father has 
 wonderfully interposed to shield our heads in the day of bat- 
 tle. Unto His name be all the praise for our success." There 
 is a heartiness in the recognition of God's " good hand" in 
 these words, which make this dispatch unlike any other 
 official dispatch from a battle field I have ever read. 
 
 I have seen three private letters, from three of our soldiers, 
 written on the battle field at Manassas, in every one of which 
 there is the distinct recognition of God's good providence in 
 that battle, and this, though not one of the three is a professor 
 of religion. " Jt is with feelings of joy, and thanks to Al- 
 mighty God that I am still alive, I write you these lines," are 
 the wt)rds of one. "1 was kiiock(^d senseless, and they 
 trampled all over me before I was carried off the field : but I 
 am safe now, I thank God for that," are the words of another. 
 The third, who fainted fronn exhaustion near the close of the 
 battle, and recovered his consciousness to find himself in an 
 ambulance with the dead and wounded, writes : " God must 
 have watched over and protected me, for, surely, I was in the 
 very jaws of death." 
 
 These facts, and others of similar import, which I might 
 
mention did it seem necessar}', show llnit the impression is 
 wide-spread, if not universal, among our people that God. even 
 the God of our fathers, is with us in the contest in which wo 
 are engai^ed. The wide extent of sucli an impression as this, 
 thougJi not conclusive, is strong presumptive proof that it is 
 founded in truth ; and what I purpose on the present occa- 
 sion is — 
 
 To ])lace a statement of the Christian Doctrine of Divine 
 Providence, and certain facts in the history of this second 
 "war of independence" side hy side; that we may see just 
 what foundation there is for this impression ; and, consequent- 
 ly, what call there is upon us to render thanksgiviiig to God 
 to-day. If it is right that we should repeat Moses' song of 
 thanksgiving, of which the text forms a ])art, let us sing that 
 song " with the heart and with the understanding." 
 
 In fultilinent of this design, I remark — 
 
 1. The Scriptures teach us that God does exercise a provi- 
 dential control over the seasons, rendering them ]M-o))itious or 
 adverse to the designs of men. 
 
 To this, as a doctrine universally believed among the 
 heathen, as well as taught in Scripture, Paul appeals in his 
 words: "Nevertheless lie (i. e. God) left not Himself without 
 witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, 
 and fi-uitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." 
 Acts xiv, 17. 
 
 At the time this present contest first began to appear to us 
 all inevitable, our necessities as a people seemed to require 
 peculiarities in the season almost impossible of fulfilment. 
 Abuiulant crops, especiall}'' of grain, were necessary, and, to 
 secure these, there must be " rain from heaven." Defences 
 were to be erected, an army was to be gathered, and equipped, 
 and disciplined, and brought into the tield ; and, for this end, 
 we needed fair weather; more especially, in view of the fact 
 that many of our troops must be put into the field without a 
 proper supply of tents to shelter them there. 
 
 How wonderfully God's "good hand has been upon us" in 
 this matter appears in the result. This year, we have not had 
 the constant succession of rains which we are accustomed to 
 speak of as " the long, wet season in May," and yet God has 
 " given us rain fi-om heaven" e/iough to secure us what is ad- 
 mitted on all hands to be the most abundant grain crop ever 
 gathered in the Southern States. Our barns are full. Wo 
 have enough and to spare. And we have had so much fair 
 wealher that our defences have progressed with sufficient 
 raj)i(lity to secure all important points against the attacks 
 of tlic invader. And we have been enabled to gather, and 
 disci|iline, and bring into the field a military force which has 
 given to tlie largest and best equii)ped army that has ever been 
 gathered in this Western world a defeat, of which an eye-wit- 
 
ness, and one competent to express an opinion, says : "History 
 records no such defeat for the past century — no rout so utter 
 and complete as that of tlie federal forces at Manassas." (Mr. 
 Eussell, as reported in the "Baltimore Exchange.") 
 
 Surely, for this season, so strangely propitious to us, we 
 should render thanksgiving to God to-da3^ 
 
 I]. The Scriptures teach us that Crod does exercise a provi- 
 dential control over all that immediately concerns the preser- 
 vation, or cutting short of human life : It is His hand that 
 guides, and His power that controls 'Hhe destruction that 
 wasteth at noon-day" as well as " the pestilence that walkcth 
 in darkness." 
 
 " Thou (God) turnest man to destruction j and sayest, Ee- 
 turn yo children of men." Ps. xc, 8. " Are not two sparrows 
 sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the 
 ground without your father. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of 
 more value than many sparrows." Matt, x, 29, 31. 
 
 From the battle Held of Bethel. Brigadier-General Hill 
 wrote: "Our Heavenly Father has wonderfully interposed to 
 shield our heads in the day of battle." In that battle, in 
 which some thirteen hundred of our men were opposed to four 
 or five thousand of the enemy, during a battle of several houi's, 
 Ave lost not one killed, but one mortally wounded (Wyatt died 
 after the battle was over), and seven or eight slightly wound- 
 ed, whilst the enem^^ lost so many that they have never been 
 willing to publish the official account of their loss, but, judging 
 from what I have heard and read from persons in the battle, 
 and in the neighborhood for several da^'s after the battle, I 
 should say not less than live hundred in killed and wounded — 
 probabl}' more. 
 
 In all the attacks which have been made upon our batteries 
 about Norfolk, on the south si.de of James' river, including the 
 several attacks ujjon Sewell's Point, Pig's Point and Haj-'s 
 Neck, together with the firing from the Quaker City upon 
 private houses, and at our cavalry on the bay shore, and the 
 firing from the great rifle cannon at Fortress Calhoun, not one 
 of our men, thus far, has been killed or seriously wounded. 
 How man}' of the enemy have been killed I know not, but, 
 taking their own published statements of their own case, they 
 can sliow no such recoi-d as ours. 
 
 From the recent battle at Manassas, in which those best in- 
 formed on the subject estimate the force activelj'' engaged on 
 our side at fifteen thousand, whilst the invading force actively 
 engaged amounted to thirt^^-fivc thousand, we have not yet 
 learned definitely the number killed and wounded on either 
 side; but, after having seen several private letters from per- 
 sons in the battle, and conversed with some who have returned 
 from the battle field in the last few days, as well as read care- 
 fully the published accounts of the engagement, I do not hesi- 
 
tate to express the opinion that where our loss is numbered by 
 hundreds, tlie loss of the eneni}- will be numbered by thou- 
 sands. 
 
 And sueh has Iteon, in ^^eneral, the result in the battles of 
 this war; with ihe single e.x'ception of the reverse to our arms 
 in the onj^a<i;ement at Laurel Hill — a reverse inconsiderable in 
 its oonsequences, since the enemj' has not been able to cross 
 the mountains; a reverse to be remembered only because of the 
 death of the i:;:illant (icn. (larnett and a few of his brave com- 
 panions in arms who met death at his side. 
 
 Compare this with the histoiy of the brilliant camjiaign of 
 Napoleon 111, in Italy, the summer before the last — and I 
 select this campaii^n because the same ditlerences characterize 
 the parties enga_i|;ed, which are sometimes cited to exjdain the 
 unequal loss in the present conflict: — the French, from natural 
 disposition and previous habits of life, were better soldiers than 
 the Austrians, and they certain I3' were led on b}' better com- 
 manders. Thej'^ conquered : and 3'et, in the decisive battles 
 of Magenta and Solferino, the loss of the French was almost as 
 great as that of the Austrians. 
 
 Why is our case so difterent? I can give no explanation of 
 the fact but that contained in the words of General llill : " Our 
 Heavenly Father has wonderfully interposed to shield our 
 heads in the day of battle." To Him let us render the thank.s- 
 giving due to-day. 
 
 Hi. "The right man in the right place." such as the great 
 and good AYashinglon, in the days which tricMl our fathers, is to 
 be regarded as a gift of God to a peo])le. 
 
 " God is judge; He putteth down one and setteth up another." 
 Ps. Ixxv, 7. " By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 
 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the 
 earth." Prov. viii, 15, 16. Of Cyrus, God says, by the mouth 
 of Isaiah, " For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine 
 elect, I have even called thee bj* thy name; I have summoned 
 thee, though thou hast not known me." Isai. xlv, 4. 
 
 Do I not express the thoughts of 3'our hearts, my hearers, 
 when I say, surel}', " God's good hantl has been upon us" in 
 giving to us the men who to-day guide our councils and lead 
 our armies '( 
 
 The leaders ol' our armies, b}' their admii-abie generalslii]i, 
 have already secured the enthusiastic confidence of their troops 
 and made for themselves a name in histor}-. 
 
 The members of our Confederate Congress have exliil>ited a 
 statesmanship and a j)ure and lofty patriotism which, in all 
 coming time, will associate their memory with that of the 
 fathers of our first revolution. Who of us is there that would 
 not be shocked — I do not say, surprised ; but shocked — at the 
 bare proposition to appoint among them a Committee, such as 
 has recently been appointed in the Federal Congress, to inves- 
 
tigate alleged abuses of power and peculations upon the treas- 
 • my, and frauds b}^ members of their own body and others in 
 power ? 
 
 Of our President I will sa}' nothing but to remind you of 
 what recently occurred at Manassas. When, after many hours 
 of hard fighting, Davis appeared upon the field, it is said that 
 " men who lay there wounded, bleeding and exhausted, waved 
 their caps as they lay, and cheered him as he passed; and 
 where their ranks had been broken, and the men were some- 
 what scattered, when they saw the President of the South in 
 their midst, they shouted, they would follow him to the death, 
 and rallied once more for the last and successful onslaught." 
 Call to mind now the character of our army, made up, as it is, 
 from all classes of our conununit}- — our fathers — our husbands — 
 our sons — our brothers — the very flower of our Southern people 
 — and I can conceive of no more emphatic declaration than this, 
 that, in the judgment of the people, our President is " the right 
 man in the right place." 
 
 A few months ago, when the storm which has now broken 
 upon us began to gather thick and dark o'er our heads, many 
 of us exclaimed — O, for such men to guide our councils as the 
 fathers of our first revolution — O, for another Washington. 
 God has been better to us than our fears: — And for our rulers, 
 let us render thanksgiving to Him to-day. 
 
 IV. Courage, such as lies at the foundation of patriotism, as 
 well as Christian heroism, the Scriptures teach us. is a gift of 
 God. 
 
 "Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 
 Through God we shall do valiantUj; for he it is that shall tread 
 down our enemies." Ps. Ix, 11, 12. "Blessed be the Lord my 
 strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and m}' fingers to 
 fight. My goodness and my fortress ; my high tower and my 
 deliverer; my shield, and He in wiiom 1 trust." Ps. cxliv, 1,2. 
 " And now Lord, behold their threatenings : and grant unto 
 thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy words." 
 Acts iv, 29. 
 
 Attempting an analysis of human courage, with an eye to 
 its immediate origin, I would say — 
 
 1. There is courage (understanding the word in its common, 
 comprehensive acceptation) which is the immediate result of 
 peculiarities of mental and physical constitution. Insensibility 
 
 ^^ to sudden oriiviug impressions of any kind, strong nerves and 
 unbroken bodil}^ health, enable some men to encounter danger 
 unmoved. Such men, we say, are naturally bold. 
 
 Couragd of this kind, though not courage of the highest tyi^e. 
 is yet something to be thankful for : and is as evidently the 
 gift of God, as is the unbroken bodil}' health upon which, in 
 part, it depends. 
 
 2. There is also a courage which has its immediate origin 
 
8 
 
 in the strong working of evil passions in the breast of man)» 
 such as lust, avarice, revenge. And the Scriptures teach us 
 that an influence " from beneath" often mingles itself with the 
 evil passions of the wicked heart in giving to such courage 
 unwonted vigor. Such is the courage which sometimes renders 
 the midnight robber, tlie assassin, tiie pirate, uttcrh- insensible 
 to danger. 
 
 The influence "from beneath'' which mingles with man's evil 
 passions in giving vigor to such courage as this, is exerted 
 through the agency oi" lying suggestions as to the value and 
 possibility ol" obtaining the thing coveted, and constitutes what, 
 in Scripture, is termed a temptation of the devil, llence it is 
 that the men who exliil)it most of this courage are to be found 
 among the vicious and abandoned. Would you enlist them for 
 an army '{ (Jo to the dram shops and other sinks of iniquity 
 in our large cities and inscribe upon the banner under which 
 you would muster them, some such motto as " booty and 
 beauty." 
 
 Such courage as this is often desperate, it is generally cruel, 
 it is alwa^'s uncertain. Men inspired with it may sometimes 
 fight a bloody battle — the}' are ahva^'S liable to causeless panic 
 and sudden rout. 
 
 3. There is a courage, which is courage of a higher type 
 than eitiier of these. It has its immediate origin in the better 
 passions of the human soul, such as indignation at wrong, ad- 
 miration of justice, love of country, love of kindred, love of 
 truth, love of God, all invigorated by conscience — that master 
 power in the human soul. 
 
 In courage such as tliis there is often mingled, with the better 
 passions of the soul, the Scriptures teach us. an influence from 
 above, causing this courage to take on the form of " more than 
 mortal heroism :" an influence exerted, when God's service is 
 concerned, through the agency of revealed truth, and -lience 
 often and truly spoken of as the influence of (,'hristian faith. 
 Such is the courage whicli has sometimes enabled feeble woman 
 to brave the terrors of the rack, and even to sing a song of 
 trium2)h whilst burning at the stake. Such is the courage of 
 the true patriot and Christian warrior, often frail in body and 
 timid in natural disposition, yet, on the battle field, kee2)ing 
 even pace with him of iron neiwe, ready " to do or die." 
 
 Among those who, throughout the protracted battle of Ma- 
 nassas, stood firm under the deadl}' storm hurled upon them 
 from musket and cannon and howitzer, were some personally' 
 known to me, whose heroism I can account for in no other 
 way than by tracing it to courage of this last mentioned kind; 
 and letters which 1 have seen from them, disclosing their 
 thoughts and feelings while the btittle raged, have served to 
 confirm this belii'f And here, in God's house to-day, I say, 
 thanks be to Cfod for much of that couraiie which enabled our 
 
fifteen thousand to turn back the thirty-five thousand of the 
 invading force. 
 
 y. God, in his providence, when men oppose themselves to 
 His righteous will, often so blinds their judgment and con-' 
 founds their counsels, that b}^ their own acts they precipitate 
 their overthrow. 
 
 Hence David, when sore pressed by those who. without 
 cause, were his enemies, prays: "O my God, make haste for 
 my help. Let them be confounded that are adversaries to my 
 soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonor who 
 seek my hurt." Ps. Ixxi, 12, 13. The general belief of God's 
 exercising His providence in this way is expressed in the oft- 
 qiioted Latin maxim, " Quem dots vult perdere, prius demental." 
 
 Does the history of the present contest give us reason to 
 believe that God's providence has been thus working for us ? 
 Six months ago the people of the Confederate States were a 
 thoroughly divided people. A large majorit}^ in Virginia — 
 and the same is true of the other border slave States — were 
 fixed in purpose to maintain the old Union. When in Febru- 
 ary last we elected a Convention, we elected to it Union men 
 by an aggregate majority of sixty thousand. 
 
 In the course of ninety days all is changed. With a unani- 
 mity such as was never witnessed in the time of our first revo- 
 lution, eleven States, embracing one-third of the population, 
 and covering nearly one-half the territory of the old Union, 
 declared themselves independent of that Union, and, confed- 
 erating together, pledged to each other "their lives, their 
 fortunes and their sacred honor," to maintain that indepen- 
 dence at every cost and at all hazards. • 
 
 The reality of this change President Lincoln and those who 
 sympathize Avith him have persistently denied — affirming that 
 the action of the several Confederate States is not a fair ex- 
 pi"©8sion of the sentiments of their people, but a result accom- 
 plished b}' an active and imperious minority; and thus have 
 the}^ endeavored to make this great mass movement of the 
 South to appear in the eyes of the Avorld a rebellion and not a 
 revolution, and to aflix to tliose engaged in it the stigma of 
 rebel and traitor. 
 
 The truth with respect to this matter must ultimately appear, 
 but it is of great importance to us that it may be made to ap- 
 pear speedil}'. in order that we may have that sympathy fi'om 
 all who love constitutional freedom throughout the world, to 
 which we are fairly entitled. As if smitten with bliudnees 
 from God, our very reviler Ikis been made to furnish the refu- 
 tation of his own charges, in his call for an army of 5U0,0UU 
 men and 400,000,000 dollars " to suppress the rebellion." A 
 rebellion in one section of a country, such as ours, Avhich re- 
 quires 500,0'iO men and 400,000,000 "dollars to be furnished by 
 another section for its suppression, is an absurdity such as the 
 
10 
 
 very schoolboy will laugh at when the excitement of the pres- 
 ent times shall have pass^ away — an absurdity too gross to 
 impose upon any foreign people whose S3'mpathy is worth the 
 having. 
 
 The causes of this great change in the sentiments of the 
 Southern people, and, consequently, in their position with 
 respect to the old Union, are brieflythese : 
 
 In God's ])rovidence wo have a dependent race among us, 
 sustaining ]>cculiar relations to the governing race. The char- 
 acter and position of this dependent race is such that its safety, 
 its very existence, as well as the well-being of ourselves and 
 children, i-eqnire that the absolute control of all matters con- 
 cerning it shall be left entirely in the hands of our Southern 
 peoj)lc. On the 4th of January, the day observed as a day of 
 fasting and prayer, upon recommendation of the late and the 
 last President of the old Union, I said to 3-ou 1 did not see 
 how we, as honest. Christian men, could answer to God for 
 our act, did we surrender one iota of this control ; and 1 said 
 this, not in arguing the question at issue with the North, but 
 as giving expression to your views and feelings respecting the 
 matter. 
 
 That this exclusive control of our own institution and our 
 own people Avas intended to be secui'cd to us by the Constitu- 
 tion of the old Union; and that the slavcholding States were 
 intended to have an equal status and equal rights with the so- 
 calletf free States under that Constitution ; and, further, that 
 the Constitution fairly interpreted does secure these to us, no 
 honest man can deny. That they have been sought to be 
 wrested from us b^- a party at the North, controlled by men, 
 someintidel in sentiment, others fanatical in religion, and 
 others still unscrupulous in their pursuit of place and power, 
 is well known to the world. In such circumstances, our duty 
 to ourselves, as well as our duty to this dependent race, -re- 
 quired that we should demand certain alterations in the letter 
 of tln^Constitution — not alterations in its spirit and intent, 
 but amiji|ktions in its letter, such as would place its intent 
 beyond all question. On these jooints the people of the Con- 
 federate States have been of one mind from the beginning. 
 
 Most of us honestly believed that the North, when the 
 question was fairly pi-esented, would accede to our demands, 
 so evidently righteous in themselves; or, if not, would consent 
 to our peaceable separation from them. Others, as the result 
 proves, forming a juster estimate of the purposes and power 
 of the dominant party in the free States, did not synipatbize 
 with us in this belief, and hence the division which at first ap- 
 peared among us. Some of the Southern States took steps for 
 a peremptory withdrawal from the Union as soon as the ac- 
 cession to power of the llcpubliean party, by a purely sectional 
 
11 
 
 and a minority vote too, was rendered certain ; others refused 
 to take this step, and remained in the Union, making effort 
 after effort to secui-e their rights, but defeated in every one. 
 So unwilling were Ave to open our eyes to an unpleasant" truth 
 that, even after Congress adjourned, having refused every offer 
 of compromise, avc yet held last to the hope of an adjustment, 
 and were a divided people. 
 
 The attempt of the present federal administi'ation to rein- 
 force Forts Sumter and Pickens, and the call for an army of 
 seventy-five thousand men, to assemble in Washington, in 
 whose midst the South must meet the North and settle the 
 differences between them, made " the scales to fall" from all 
 eyes. In the light with which our heavens were ablaze when 
 yonder navy yard was abandoned in flames, even the dullest of 
 vision could read the inscription written with the finger of God 
 upon the old Union, " Tekkl, thou art weighed in the balances 
 and found wanting." 
 
 Thus, through tlie madness of the Washington government, 
 our divided people became at once thoroughlj^ united, and, as 
 the victory at Manassas has proved, united in time effectually 
 to secure the rights and liberties bequeathed to ns by our 
 fathers. 
 
 Had the federal administration pursued a wise, or even a 
 prudent course after the withdrawal of the eleven Confederate 
 States, some might have been found among us who, with 
 pro]Kn- constitutional guai'antees first obtained, would have 
 been willing to see the Union reconstructed — so great is the 
 influence of old associations over human opinions and human 
 conduct; and thus division, a second time, might have been 
 introduced into our ranUs. But now, when the mad acts of last 
 April have been followed b}' repeated infractions of the Consti- 
 tution on the part uf the executive, "such as," it has been truly 
 said, " would have cost any English king, during the last three 
 hundred years, liis head," and Congress, instead of impeaching 
 the perjured usurper, has set its seal of approbation thereto. 
 Now, when the purpose has been Openly avowed in^tho Federal 
 Senate Chamber to reduce these Southern States, and among 
 them, four of the original thirteen who fought the battles of 
 our first revolution, to the condition of territories, to be ruled 
 over b}' governors and judges sent from the North, and none is 
 found to rise and rebuke the foul treason — treason to constitu- 
 tional liberty — treason to humanity — treason to God. Now, 
 surely, no man can entertain tlie thought of reunion under the 
 proffer of constitutional guarantees from the North. Such con- 
 stitutional guarantees — what can they be but the dishonored 
 notes of the bankrupt, the deceitful promises of the' convicted 
 peijurer? Should a thought of trusting to them enter lor a 
 moment any mind, methinks our very dead would start up 
 
12 
 
 from their <rraves upon the bloody battle fields of Rich Moun- 
 tain and Manassas, and rebuke the foil}*. 
 
 Thus, throu<ijh "the u;o()d hand of (tod upon us," in making 
 mad our enemies, we stand this day a tliorou^hl}- united people, 
 "vvith none feeble of purpose in all our hosts ; and the foul as- 
 persion attempted to be ciat upon our fair fame in eallini; us 
 '■ covenant-breakers, traitors, rebels," recoils upon its authors. 
 For this let us thank (unl as we stand here in His house to-da}-. 
 
 VI. Men instinctively acknowledge (Jod's hand in events 
 which are out of the ortlinar}' course uf things, and beyond 
 human control, and Scripture history abundantly testifies to the 
 truth of this lieiief 
 
 In the late battle at Manassas, ought we not to regard the 
 arrival of (Jeneral Kirby Smith, willi his division, upon the 
 field, at the critical moment wlien the fortunes of the tlay 
 seemed hai\ging as "in an even balance," as a special j)rovi- 
 dence on our behalf? Had his division arrived at an earlier 
 hour, its accession must have proved of far less service than it 
 did. Had it arrived at a later hour, it would, in all probability, 
 have found our troops driven oH' the battle field, or else main- 
 taining their ground at a sacrifice of life which would have 
 made many a Southern home a house of mourning. -But, ari-iv- 
 ing at the critical moment, it dccideTl the fortunes of the day — 
 the battle was won — " the glorious victory" of Manassas was 
 ours. 
 
 The ai-rival of this division upon the field at Just the time at 
 which it did arrive, was determined, in part, by an accident to 
 the train which bore it, we are told. An accident differs fVoni a 
 providence in this, that it is an event, out of the ordinary course 
 of things, having no causal relation to the purposes of God; 
 whilst a providence is ofteii, also, an event out of the ordinary 
 course of things, but having its source in the purj)Oses of God. 
 Was it an accident, a blind chance, which determined the 
 arrival of that train just at the critical moment when the 
 fortunes of the day were to be decided ? Was it not rather 
 a special pr/)vidcncc of God, for which we should give Him 
 thanks to-day. 
 
 And this is not the only instance of the special providence of 
 God in our behalf in this war. At the very commencement of 
 active hostilities, an unexpected storm prinented tlie arrival of 
 the federal fieet sent to reinforce Fort Sumter, off Charleston 
 hai'bor, in time to accomplish the treacherous pui'pose of those 
 who sent it. From their own showing, it is evident that the 
 Washingtini Govei'nment had come under obligation to give 
 due ncitiee of any attempt on its part to reinforce Sumter, and 
 it is equally evident that it attempted to give that notice in 
 such a way that all practical advantage from its rece])tion 
 should be lost to us, with treacherous equivocation "to keep 
 the promise to the ear, but break it to the sense." 
 
13 
 
 Ought we not to acknowledge God's special providence in 
 this storm ? Is it not truth Avhich is expressed in the words : 
 
 " Sucb wonders never coine l\y chance, 
 
 Nor can the winds such blessings blow, 
 'Tis God, tho judge, doth one advance, 
 
 "lis God that lays another low." — Psnlm Ixsv. 
 
 God's special providence ought to be acknowledged, too, it 
 seems to me, in that sudden change' of Avind which took place 
 at the time our navy j'^ard was in flames, having been tirst fired 
 and then abandoned by orders from Wasliington. Fired at the 
 point at which it was, had tho wind continued to blow from the 
 same quarter from which it blew when tho torch was applied, 
 the vandal work of destruction had been complete ; the finest 
 navy j^ard in this western world, together with a part, at least, 
 of tiic City of Portsmouth had been laid in ruin«. But no sooner 
 have the federal incendiaries embarked than the wind shifts to 
 a different quarter, and the good service which what remains 
 of t!iat navy yard has done the cause of the Southern Confed- 
 eracy from that day to the present, bears witness to the worth 
 of the s})ecial providence of God manifested in the sudden shift- 
 ing of the wind which occurred just before day dawn on that, 
 to us, memorable Sabbath morning. Enough was burned to 
 furnish a beacon light to arouse our slumbering people from 
 one end of the Confederate States to the other. Enough was 
 saved to prove of a value to us, which the historian, when our 
 independence is secured and our own navy takes its place upon 
 the seas, alone can estimate. 
 
 Yet more remarkable does a special providence appear, as it 
 seems to me, in " the terror from God" which was the imme- 
 diate cause of the abandonment of our navy yard at the time 
 and in the circumstances in which it was abandoned. 
 
 I have been told by navy officers whose acquaintance with 
 such matters renders their judgment worthy of respect, that 
 after the federal reinforcements, canned up by the Pawnee, 
 had been added to the force already there, the yard might have 
 been successfully defended against an attack of ten tiiousand 
 men. It was abandoned, however, as I have been credibly 
 informed, under the belief (1st) that we had a battery of heavy 
 cannon just ready to be unmasked against it, from behind the 
 little piece of woods which shades the magazine at St. Helena, 
 and (l^d) that General Beauregard, with five thousand South- 
 ern troops had come to our aid. The reality of this battery, 
 seen by man after man from the foretop of the Cumberland, 
 must have been the clay banks thrown up at the brick-kilns 
 near St. Helena. So far were we from being in a condition 
 to furnish the armament for such a battery, our people, in their 
 extremity, were actually digging up the old rust-rotted cannons 
 
14 
 
 from the corners of our streets, to find sonu'thinn: with which 
 to defend themselves. The reality- of tlie arrival of tieneral 
 Beauregard with tive thousand Southern troops was the com- 
 ing of eii>;ht hundred volunteers from the neighboring cities of 
 Petersburg and Kichmond, to aid us in our time of need, 
 together with the noisy ])assagc of an engine with some empty 
 cars attached, up and down our railroad, throughout the night 
 of the liUth of April. So far wore we from being able to attack 
 the yard with a force of tivcTthousand men, I doubt whether we 
 could have raised an armed force of fifteen hundred, even afler 
 the volunteers from Petersburg and Richmond had arrived — 
 we had the men, but not the arms to give them to detend our- 
 selves against any attack which might be made upon us. 
 
 Compare, now, this portion of the history of the present war 
 with tlie inspired record of a special providence wrought of God 
 in the tlays of Hlisha. " And when they were come to the utter- 
 most ])artof the camp of Syria, behold there was no man there. 
 For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise 
 of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: 
 and the\' said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired 
 against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egypt- 
 ians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the 
 twilight" [the very hour at which our navy 3'ard was aban- 
 doned] "and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, 
 eventhe camp as it was." 2 Kings vii, 5, 7. 
 
 Surely we have occasion to acknowledge Gods special pi-ovi- 
 dence in this flight of the federal troops and ships-of-wai* from 
 our navy 3'ard, and to render Him thanks therefor to-day. 
 
 Such are some of the instances in which, evidently, "the good 
 hand of our God has been upon us" in this second war of inde- 
 pendence. As we remember them, shall we not say with 
 David: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is M'ithin me, 
 bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O mj^ soul, and forget 
 not all His benefits." Ps. ciii, 1, 2. 
 
 With a thought suggested by the name Manassas (or Ma- 
 nasseh), for I cannot regard it as mere accident that our two 
 important battle fields should bear the significant Scripture 
 names of Bethel and Manassas, I will close this discourse : " And 
 Joseph called the name of his first born Manasseli ; for God, said 
 he, hath made me forget all ray toil." Gen. xli, 51. As the 
 excellent Matthew Heni-y remarks, ''In the name he gave his 
 son, he owned the divine providence ^i ing this haj»py turn to 
 his affairs. We should ever bear our uHiictions when they are 
 present, as those that know not but Providence may so out- 
 %veigh them by after-comforts, as that we may even forget 
 them when they are passed." 
 
 The jiresent is a season of sore trial to us — sore trial, espe- 
 cially, in this — that munj' of those nearest and dearest to us are 
 
15 
 
 exposed to all the dangers of the camp and the battle field. We 
 blessed them as they went forth; we follow them with our 
 prayers now that they are absent from us. God, I believe, has 
 this day guided our thoughts pilgrims to Manassas, that here 
 our faith may learn to say, in glad anticipation of the future— 
 " God hath made me forget all my toil." 
 
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