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-A^EST ESSA.Y. 
 
 -♦«-• 
 
 NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE 
 
 AT 
 
 THE COURT OF HEAVEN, 
 
 THE ONLY WAT TO 
 
 CLOSE THE WAR HONORABLY TO THE SOUTH 
 
 THE INFALLIBLE 
 
 SUCCESS OF THIS NEGOTIATION, ETC. 
 
 BY REV. JOHN P CAMPBELL, 
 
 AUTHOR OF A LATE WORK ENTITLED '(>LEA FOR CHRISTIAN 
 UNION," NOW A REFUGEE FROM ikSHVILLE, TENN 
 
 JACKSON, MIB 
 
 SOUTHWESTERN CONFEDERATE (ilNTINQ HOUSE. 
 
 1803. 
 

 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface, ...... 
 
 The War — Cause, etc., - 
 
 How the Belligerents stand hefore God, • 
 
 Reflections on Slavery, - 
 
 When shall Peace come, .... 
 
 How shall we place ourselves in an attitude to 
 obtain peace, - " - 
 
 Motives to Peace urged, - 
 
 Appeal to Ministers and Chnrches, - • * 
 
 A Prayer for our Country, etc., - 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 Brother Soldiers and Citizens of the Confederate States : 
 
 We have fought long and well for peace, but it seems as far off to- 
 day, as when we struck the first blow. We have had a long, expensive 
 and fruitless negotiation at the Courts of London and Paris. Now, let 
 us negotiate at the Codrt of Heaven. 
 
 President Davis will go; all his praying generals, commanders and 
 soldiers will go ; all our faithful chaplains and ministers of the goppel 
 will go ; all our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters will go ; thou- 
 sands of mourning widows, whose husbands have fallen on the field of 
 battle, with their hungry children, will go ; the wounded soldiers will 
 go, not to show their wounds as a plea, but to show the wounds of 
 their Lord and Savior. 
 
 The Court of St. James is a cold and heartless court. Not so the 
 Court of Heaven. Th«re is not only sympathy, but there is justice in 
 that Court. The humblest Christian, the least of all Saints, has 
 access and power at that Court. 
 
 Let us all go in the name of our great Advocate and Redeemer, who 
 sits at the right hand of the Court of Heaven, and let us lay our cause, 
 our country, our guilty souls, down at the foot of the Throne. There 
 let us lie, there let us plead saying, "Lord, I will not let thee go except 
 thou bless me." And Jacob's God, who, in answer to his prayer, 
 moved his angry brother's heart to terms of p^ace, will do the same 
 with our angry brethren. 
 
 To the soldiers and citizens of the Confederate States, no suggestions 
 could be more pleasing or more welcome, than such as might lead to a 
 speedy, permanent and honorable peace. 
 
 It is taken as granted that a people who have poured out their blood 
 like water, and their money and treasure without stint, would be will- 
 ing to do anything in their power to obtain so rich a boon as peace. 
 
 The following pages will show you how peace will come, and also 
 show that 'he agencies by which it will come, are honorable in the 
 highest degree, that they are certain and infallible, and that these 
 agencies are so completely in your power and under your control that you 
 will be responsible for the continuance of the war. 
 
 Can it be possible that the warm and generous people of the South 
 will assume such a fearful responsibility ? 
 
 The writer has had access to the hearts and sympathies, both of 
 soldiers and citizens, from ihe beginning of the war, an I has watched 
 with prayerful interest for the development of such a state of feeling 
 and preparation as might lead him to hope that the purposes of the 
 
war were about to be accomplished. He has been much discouraged 
 until recently. m 
 
 Cut off from the hope of foreign intervention by European govern- 
 ments, the beams of light and hope from the .Northwest, which were so 
 cheering a few months ago, are now obscured in darkness, are we not 
 more than ever prepared to look to the God of our Fathers as our sure 
 and only hope for help and deliverance? 
 
 The war cannot come to a close honorably to us until we acknowledge 
 God in a proper manner, and honor Him with an acceptable service. 
 This He calls us to do, by the fearful calamities now upon us. To this 
 He calls us by His holy word. If we hear and obey His warning and 
 His pleading voice, " We shall eat the good of the land, but if we refuse 
 and rebel we shall be devoured with the sword, ior the mouth of the 
 Lord hath spoken it." — Isaiah 1:20. 
 
 What shall we do ? Shall we go on to sacrifice our sons and our 
 brothers in this cruel and wasting war ? Or shall we all lay our souls 
 and our country down at the Cross of Christ as a freewill offering to 
 God? 
 
 The following pages are prepared and offered with a view to aid you 
 in this choice, and to impress the solemn conviction that we can have 
 no peace until we make peace with God. May God accept aud sanctify 
 this feeble offering to help and deliver our people from the thraldom of 
 sin, and to hasten the coming of peace. And to His most holy name 
 be all the glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 JOHN P. CAMPBELL. 
 
THE WAR; ITS CAUSE, ETC. 
 
 No question, at this moment, involves so deep an interest in the 
 Southern heart as the one we here propose briefly and solemnly 
 to consider. 
 
 The answer is not less, but if possible, even more important. 
 The desire for the maintenance of peace, which we sought without 
 war, by honorable negotiation and earnest entreaty, was scorned 
 by the North. We thought that a peaceful separation would be 
 infinitely better, both for them and ourselves, than the bitter 
 criminations and recriminations, which grew, and would necessarily 
 continue to grow, out of the antagonisms of our social, commercial 
 and political interests. 
 
 The North seemed to think differently, and boasted that they 
 had the right and the power to make the South think and act with 
 them. 
 
 They stopped not to ask whether they had a right to invade 
 sovereign States, whether they had a right to proscribe and coerce 
 a free people in the enjoyment of constitutionaf liberty — rights 
 guaranteed to them by solemn contract in the Federal Union. 
 They stopped not to ask whether their war upon African slavery 
 was founded upon the laws enacted by the # ir forefathers, autho- 
 rized by the teachings of the Bible, and corroborated by the facts 
 of history and the example of civilized nations, in the past ages of 
 the world ; or whether it was not instigated and set forward, by a 
 wicked jealousy of the growing wealth, prosperity and happiness 
 of the South. Inflated suddenly with the pride of party triumph, 
 and boastful of their vast superiority in men and means, they 
 adopted at once the false and despotic theory, that " might is 
 right." Hence, war was precipitated upon the South like a clap 
 of thunder in a clear sky. 
 
 The South, without preparation, without a navy, with limited 
 means and few men, compared with the North, was driven to the 
 necessity of choosing subjugation, degradation and slavery on the 
 one hand, or resistance on the other. Liberal as she had been 
 for years, in concessions, to the North, magnanimous in her for- 
 bearance under their wrongs and aggressions, loyal as she had 
 always been to the Constitution, and devdled as she was to the 
 Union, she could not now hesitate one moment as to the choice of 
 the two evils. She resisted, and she will resist to the death. And 
 truly may we all say, " If it had not been the Lord, who was on 
 
8 
 
 our side, when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us 
 up quickly, when their wrath was kindled against us. Then the 
 waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul. 
 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the 
 Lord, who hath not given us a prey to their teeth. Our soul is 
 escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is 
 broken and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, 
 who made heaven and earth." — David. May the day soon come 
 wl • n the last part of this Psalm will apply to us as the first does 
 nov. 
 
 The first great battle at Manassas, astonished Europe, con- 
 founded the North, and even intoxicated the South, so that, for a 
 time, it diverted our trust in God, which was followed by many 
 ferious disasters. No philosopher can show a reason, aside from 
 the protecting Providence of God, why our enemy, with such a 
 navy, such immense armies and with such zeal and mad determi- 
 nation, could not have crushed out the rebellion in one year or even 
 in "ninety days," as they said. 
 
 II. HOW THE BELLIGERENTS STAND IN RELATION TO GOD AND 
 
 EACH OTHER. 
 
 » 
 
 Religiously, both parties stand guilty before God, and deserve 
 a thousand times more of punishment than this war has inflicted. 
 Jointly, they had received more and greater blessings at the hands 
 of God, than any nation has ever received in the same period of 
 time. 
 
 But, the religious defection of the South, though great, is not to 
 be compared with that of the North. Abolitionism, a most gross 
 and palpable heresy, found its origin and growth in the hot bed of 
 Puritanic bigotry and fanaticism in New England. 
 
 Driven to the wall for an argument to meet the plain teachings 
 of the Bible and the Constitution of the United States on the 
 subject of slavery, they appealed to a " higher law " — reason and 
 conscience — thus ignoring the divine authority of the one and the 
 legal authority of the other, they opened the floodgates of infidelity 
 upon their whole population. 
 
 From this Pandora's box sprang up in quick succession and 
 rapid growth,Mormonism, Universalism, FreeLoveism, Mesmerism, 
 Fanny Wrightism and down right, open mouthed, black-hearted 
 infidelity, spreading their blighting influence in most of the cities, 
 schools and colleges of New England. " If the foundations (the 
 Bible) be destroyed, what shall the righteous do ?" From Boston 
 — the boasted Athens of America — came forth the my riad pages of 
 
9 
 
 licentious and infidel literature, like the locusts of Egypt, wither- 
 ing and blackening all that was green and lovely, with which they 
 come in contact. 
 
 True, we have many filthy debauches, spewing drunkards, vile 
 blasphemers, Sabbath breakers and mammon worshippers in the 
 South, but we have yet to see the first infidel or obscene book 
 issued from a Southern press. 
 
 Our people acknowledge God's rightful authority, but they do 
 not honor him. They profess to believe the Bible, but alas ! they 
 do not practice its pure and excellent morality. So that, practi- 
 cally, we have but little the advantage of Northern sinners. 
 
 Politically, however, we claim to stand justified before God, 
 and before oiv invaders from the North. 
 
 We cling as firmly to the principles of the Constitution of our 
 forefathers as they did, and we are resolved that " sink or swim, 
 survive or perish," we will hold to these principles to the last. 
 
 Had our invaders stood by us in maintaining these principles, 
 there would have been no split nor war between us. We sought 
 no advantage of the North, we asked no change, no infraction of 
 the Union or the Constitution. Appealing to the searcher of all 
 hearts, we asked not one dollar of their money, not one inch of 
 their soil, not one drop of their blood. 
 
 The Constitution was violated and consequently the Union was 
 practically dissolved, before we attempted to set up* a provisional 
 government for the Confederate States. The declaration of war 
 by President Lincoln was unconstitutional, as confessed by the 
 best statesmen in the North. Almost every step of the Wash- 
 ington administration, in regard to the war, has been without 
 authority of law. Thus showing, that the violations of the Con- 
 stitution before the separation and before the declaration of war, 
 only indicated what they had predetermined to accomplish — the 
 subjugation of the South, and the abolition of African slavery. 
 
 III. REFLECTIONS ON AFRICAN SLAVERY. 
 
 This war is destined to throw a flood of light on this subject. 
 The attention of the whole civilized world is now being turned to 
 its investigation. The war upon the South has proven itself to be 
 a war upon African slavery. If the South succeeds in maintaining 
 her independence, as we believe she will, it will demonstrate to 
 all the world, that African slavery is authorized by the Word of 
 God — that it is the normal and best condition of that unhappy 
 race, and that, regulated by the laws of religion and humanity, as 
 
10 
 
 it is in the Confederate States, it confers the highest elevation of 
 physical, moral and religious character, that people has enjoyed 
 for three thousand years. In fact, no other means has ever suc- 
 ceeded in any permanent improvement of their character, condition 
 or happiness. All experience, for 3000 years, has proven that no 
 direct means, however well applied, has met with any permanent 
 success in elevating their character or improving their happiness. 
 Rome and Greece, in the palmy days of their wealth and pros- 
 perity, prompted by the noble impulses of pity and benevolence, 
 for down trodden and enslaved Africa, raised a commission of the 
 best men of that age, and sent them with immense sum* of money, 
 together with all necessary appliances of civilization^>into the heart 
 of Africa, and after years of toil and expenditure, so utterly failed, 
 that they abandoned the enterprise as hopeless. Slavery, in con- 
 tact with civilization and Christianity, is the slow, indirect, but 
 the only sure means of enlightening, christianizing and saving the 
 African race. We have, then, the corroborating facts of experi- 
 ence, history and the Bible to prove the justice and humanity of 
 African slavery. 
 
 Cotton is opening the channels of commerce between the nations 
 of the world, is making the world rich, and is therefore the great 
 agent of civilization. God has given the negro a climate and a 
 constitution adapted to the culture of cotton ; has by His Word 
 and Providence assigned him and his descendants, forever, to a 
 state of servitude to Shem and Japheth and their descendants. 
 Pursuant to this decree of divine Providence, the descendants of 
 Canaan are this day in a state of servitude to the descendants of 
 Japheth in the Confederate States. 
 
 In the culture of cotton they have done more indirectly, to 
 promote the great interests of commerce, civilization and religion, 
 than all Africa has done in 8000 years. They are at this time, a 
 thousand times more elevated, useful and happy, where they are not 
 interrupted by the false sympathies of the abolition heresy, than 
 the ignorant and enslaved negroes of their native land. 
 
 What a sin, then, what a burning shame it is, that abolitionism 
 should seek to overthrow this great agency (the culture of cotton) 
 for the promotion of the commerce, manufactures and civilization 
 of the world ! What a sin against God and humanity, that it 
 should seek to throw the negro off from the bosom of the church, 
 and even from the means of civilization, where, without conserva, 
 tor, master or guide, he must soon relapse into a state of barbarism 
 and die in shame and vice ! Look at the fruits of this same false 
 sympathy in the degraded, vicious and starving condition of the 
 
11 
 
 emancipated negroes of the West India Islands ! Would not 
 England have done a thousand times more for her own commerce 
 and the commerce of the world, by maintaining a well regulated 
 system of slavery in those Islands, at the same time, promoted the 
 temporal ami spiritual well-being of those negroes, and saved them 
 from the barbarism into which they are now sinking so rapidly and 
 hopelessly? She sees and confesses the fatal blunder now, but 
 alas ! too late to apply an adequate remedy. The abolition of 
 slavery in the Confederate States would accomplish one of two 
 great evils, and perhaps both in part. First — the indiscriminate 
 slaughter of the negroes as a matter of self-defense on the part of 
 the whites. Second — the hopeless ruin and degradation of those 
 that might escape to the North, or be sent to separate colonies 
 abroad. We might add a third, but minor evil — the utter ruin of 
 the cotton interests of the South. 
 
 The Confederate States have, from the beginning, enacted laws 
 providing for the protection, kind treatment, and religious instruc- 
 tion of their negroes. These laws are wisely adapted to the cir- 
 cumstances of the negro, and in strict conformity to the teachings 
 of Christ and His Apostles, relative to the duties of masters and 
 slaves. But, we are sorry to say, that two circumstances have 
 operated to hinder the due and regular enforcement of these laws. 
 First — the officious intermeddling of abolitionists with our slaves, 
 rendered the enforcement of the law more difficult, and the duties 
 of masters more delicate. Second — in some instances our slaves 
 have fallen into the hands of bad masters ; men, having no religi- 
 ous or moral principles, men, ignorant of the character and capaci- 
 ties of the negro ; men mean and selfish enough to starve and work 
 their poor negroes to death, and then steal the dime that might lay 
 upon his closed eyes in his coffin. It is just that we say we have 
 but few of this class, and most of them came from abolitiondom. 
 
 Let alone in peace, we would soon be able to correct most of 
 these evils. But shall we abolish the relation of master and slave, 
 because the duties of that relation are violated by a few unprin- 
 cipled men ? For the same reason we might abolish the marriage 
 relation, the parental relation, or any authorized by the law of 
 God. 
 
 Abolition sympathy for the negro is blind, negative at best — 
 having no definite object or definable good in view. Southern 
 sympathy is positive, having a definable and real good in veiw. 
 
 But we must hasten to the consideration of the main question 
 of our little volume. 
 
12 
 
 IV. THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION — "WHEN SHALL PEACB COME ? 
 
 The day, month or year, in which peace shall come no man can 
 tell. 
 
 Sin is certainly the cause of the war, and whether the North or 
 the South was tne chief instrument in bringing it upon us, we 
 dare not say, nor is it important to the great issue of the struggle 
 that we should know. We know and feel deeply that the war is 
 upon us, that it is God's minister of wrath to execute vengeance 
 upon rhe wickedness of the two nations. Some will have it that 
 God stirred up the North to bring war upon the South for their 
 sins. Others will have it that God stirred up the South to separate 
 from the North, instigating the war, to punish the North for their 
 sins. Be this as it may, it is our duty to place ourselves in a 
 condition to obtain an honorable peace. There is an attitude 
 before God, in which, if we place ourselves, the war will cease at 
 once. It is our duty to place ourselves in that attitude at the 
 earliest possible moment. 
 
 Do you ask what that attitude is? "We answer, it is one in 
 which it may be truly said of us as a nation, that we are an humble, 
 penitent, trusting, law-abiding, God-loving and God-serving people. 
 " God is jealous of His name, and will not give, nor allow us to 
 give, His glory to another." We have bowed down with blind 
 devotion to the idol mammon ; we have run wild with mad worship 
 after our party leaders, and even now, we trust and idolize our 
 military leaders, more than we honor and trust in God. We have 
 bo corrupted the ballot box, and so abused the elective franchise, 
 that selfish and wicked men are elevated to the holy places of 
 trust and power. " When the wicked rule, the people mourn." — 
 Solomon. 
 
 The word of God, the supreme authority of His government 
 over the world, our dependence upon. Him, and our accountability 
 to Him, are freely and fully recognized by the framers of the 
 Constitution of the Confederate States, by the laws of Congress, 
 and by the laws of each sovereign State, yet, by an enactment of 
 law by these same high authorities, the word of God is ignored, 
 the holy Sabbath is required to be violated by all persons con- 
 nected with the mail service. God must hate and punish a sin 
 bo gross, so full of hypocrisy and infidelity. By this wicked 
 enactment many pious and competent men, from a sense of moral 
 duty, feel themselves cut off from the mail service and the post- 
 office department. Railroad and steamboat companies and all the 
 people follow the example of the government, even the churches 
 
13 
 
 hardly least the example; hence we have become a Sabbath-breaking 
 nation. This God-defying wickedness, opens the flood-gates to all 
 the vices and immoralities which are spreading the malaria of 
 moral death over our whole nation, so that, we have become a 
 pestilent and hateful stench in the nostrils of Jehovah. 
 
 Our high officials blaspheme the name of Alimghty God (not 
 President Davis, thank God,) and their subordinates, even down to 
 the peasant and the slave, are proud if they can talk big and defy 
 God and profane His holy name like these great men. The rulers 
 of the earth have set themselves and taken counsel together against 
 the Lord and against His Anointed, (Christ,) saying, " let us break 
 their bands usunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sit- 
 teth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. 
 Then stall lie speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His 
 sore displeasure ; thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou 
 shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, there- 
 fore, 0, ye rulers, be instructed ye judges of the earth. Kiss the Son 
 lest He be angry, and ye perish f om the way, when His wrath is 
 kindled but a little." — Extract from the 2d Psalm. 
 
 " God does not afflict the children of men willingly. Judgement 
 is His. strange work" — His last work to reclaim and bring back 
 His disobedient children. For our sins He has " dashed us in 
 pieces, (two governments,) like a potter's vessel." 
 
 Peace and war, the rise and fall of nations, are under the control 
 and direction of the " Judge of all the earth, who will do right." 
 
 " At'what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and con- 
 cerning a kingdom ; to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy 
 it. If that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from 
 their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them." 
 " And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and con- 
 cerning a kingdom, to build up and to plant it, if it do evil in my 
 sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good 
 wherewith I said I would benefit them." — Jer. 18:7-10. 
 
 The above i ule is without the slighest variation in the conduct 
 of the Divine Administration of the affairs of heaven and earth. 
 Sometimes, as in the case of -the belligerent tribes of Israel and 
 Benjamin, both parties are chastised and humbled for their sins, 
 and find mercy at the hand of the Lord. In our case, if we repent 
 of our sins'— individual and national sins — modify our national and 
 State laws, so that they will not contravene the law of God — 
 provide that these laws are impartially and strictly enforced — " do 
 justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God, we shall then prove 
 that our repentance is true, and God will give us peace. 
 
 If the North shall do this before we do, then God will give them 
 peace, whatever may be the disadvantage and fate of the South. 
 
14 
 
 God will judge righteously between us and our enemies, and we 
 must be willing to submit to His righteous judgment. 
 
 V. HOW THEN SHALL WE PLACE OURSELVES IN AN ATTITUDE TO 
 OBTAIN PEACE WITH GOD AND PEACE WITH OUR ENEMIES ? 
 
 For if we have peace with God, " He will make even our ene- 
 mies to be at peace with us." 
 
 At one time, the nation of the Jews had so sinned and departed 
 from the worship of the true God, that the Bible Fays : (2d Chroni- 
 cles, 15th chap.) " Now Israel for a lcfng season hath been without 
 the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law; 
 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out. nor to 
 him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants 
 of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of 
 city, for God did vex them with all adversity."' A great army of 
 " one thousand thousand and three hundred mighty chariots of 
 war," came out against them. The army of Israel was about half 
 the number of their enemies, and they had no chariots of war. 
 
 What did they do under these trying circumstances ? They went 
 out against them in the name of the Lord (the only way to succeed 
 in battle,) and set the battle in array. " And Asa cried unto the 
 Lord his God, and said, Lord it is nothing with thee to help, whether 
 with many, or with them that have no power. Help us Lord, 
 our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name do we go against 
 this multitude. 0, Lord thou art our God, let not man prevail 
 against thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and 
 before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled ; they were overthrown that 
 they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before 
 the Lord and bc'fore His hosts." 
 
 " And the spirit of the Lord came upon Azariah, the son of Oded. 
 And he went out to meet Asa, as he returned in triumph to Jeru- 
 salem, and he said unto him, hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and 
 Benjamin, the Lord is with you, while ye be with ilim, and if ye 
 seek Him, He wMl be found of you, but if ye forsake Him, lie will 
 forsake you. Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be 
 weak, for your work shall be rewarded. And when Asa heard 
 these words he took courage and put away the abominations of all 
 the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had 
 taken from Mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord 
 that was before the porch of the Lord. And he gathered all Judah 
 and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and 
 Manasseh, and out of Simeon, for they fell, or came to him out of 
 Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was 
 
15 
 
 with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in 
 the third month in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And 
 they made a* great offering in that day, seven hundred oxen and 
 seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek 
 the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all 
 their soul." stipulating, " that whosoever would not seek the Lord 
 God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, 
 whether man or woman. And they swore unto the Lor<J with a 
 loud voice, and with shoutings, and with trumpets, and with cornets 
 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all 
 their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire ; and He was 
 found of them, and the Lord gave them rest round about." — See- 
 the 14th and 15th chapters of 2d Chronicles. 
 
 Any attempt to paraphrase or to embellish the above record, 
 given by the pen of inspiration, would be like an effort to enrich 
 the colors of the rainbow, or to add beauty to the tints of the rose. 
 We can only pray, with a full and earnest heart, that our people — 
 officials, soldiers and citizens — maybe able, by the grace of God, to 
 see its application and follow such a noble example. Then "God^ 
 would give us rest round about." Then individual and national 
 blessing and prosperity would make our hearts glad and our voices 
 shout for joy. Then "would all ntions say, the Lord hath done 
 great things for them. Then would we respond, "' the Lord has 
 done great" things, for us, whereof we are glad." 
 
 We beg your attention to the following prophesy, recorded in 
 the 2d chapter of Joel, in which is found a graphic description of 
 the "northern army," its invasion of the South, the destruction and 
 dismay attending its progress, and of its being " removed far away 
 from you " by tlie hand of the Almighty. Surely if the troubles and 
 triumphs of the Confederate States have any place in ancient 
 prophesy, it is found h this chapter : " Blow ye the trumpet in 
 Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain ; let all the inhabi- 
 tants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is 
 nigh at hand. A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of darkness 
 and thick clouds, as the morning spread upon the mountains. A 
 great people and strong, [the North,] there hath not been ever the 
 like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many 
 generations, [glad of that.] A fire devoureth before them and 
 behind them aflame burnetii, [literally true]; the laud before them 
 [the South] is as the garden of Eden, and behind them a desolate 
 wilderness . yea, nothing shall escape them. The appearance of 
 them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen so shall 
 they run, [they have run.] Like the noise of chariots on the tops 
 of the mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that 
 devoureth stubble, as a strong people set in battle-array. Before- 
 
16 
 
 their face the people [of the South] shall be much pained, all faces 
 shall gather blackness. They shall run to and fro in Yhe city, they 
 shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses, they 
 shall enter in at the windows like a thief, [how true.] The earth 
 [the civil government] shall quake before them, the heavens 
 [churches] shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be dark, [to 
 the sorrow stricken,] and the stars [the brightest jewels of the land] 
 shall withdraw their shinning. And the Lord shall utter His 
 voice before His army, [the Lincoln army,] for His camp is very 
 great, for he is strong that executeth His word, [this great and 
 wicked camp or army is the Lord's, for the wicked is God's sword,] 
 *' for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can 
 abide it." 
 
 At the 12th verse the subject is changed, and another people i8 
 addressed. Let all the South hear what God would have them do 
 whilst invaded by the " northern army :" " Therefore also now, 
 saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with 
 fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning : And rend your 
 heart and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God, for 
 He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, 
 and repenteth Him of the evil. Blow the trumoet in Zion, [the 
 church,] sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly ; gather the people, 
 sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children 
 and those that suck the breast, let the bridegroom come forth out 
 of his chamber and the bride out of her closet, let the priests, the 
 ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and 
 let them say, spare thy people, 0, Lord, and give not thine heritage 
 to reproach, that the heathen [those acting as such] should rule 
 over them. Wherefore shou d they say among the people, whore 
 is their God ? Then will the Lord be jealous for his land [the 
 South] and pity his people. Yea, the Lord will answer and say 
 unto his people, behold, I will send you corn and wine and oil, and 
 ye shall be satisfied therewith, and I will no more make you a 
 reproach among the people, but 1 will remove far off from you the 
 northern army, and will drive them into a land barren and desolate, 
 with his face toward the east sea [the Atlantic] and his hinder part 
 toward the utmost sea, [the Pacific,] and his stink shall come up 
 and his ill-savour shall co e up [before all nations | because he hath 
 done great things." " Fear not, land, [invaded,] be glad and 
 rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Be glad then, ye chil- 
 dren of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for He hath given 
 you the former rain moderately, and lie will cause to rome down 
 for you the raki, the former rain and the latter rain in t'.e first 
 month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall 
 overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years 
 
17 
 
 tbat the locust has eaten, the canker worm, and the caterpillar 
 and the palmer worm — my great army — which I sent among you." 
 
 Hereit is shown again that the great Northern army, represented 
 by destroying insects, is God's army sent amonsrus, and that, upon 
 our returning' to the Lord and seeking ITim with the whole heart, 
 this destroying Northern army shall Vie removed tar away and the 
 desolations which they have made shall be restored. " And ye shall 
 eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your 
 God, that he hath dealt wondrously with you. and my people shall 
 never be ashamed. And ye shall Know thai I am in the midst of 
 Israel. ( the church] and that I am the Lord your God and none else." 
 
 Not only .-hall our land have peace and rejoice in the blessingSiQf 
 temporal prosperity, but behold what comes "afterward :" "And 
 it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all 
 flesh : and your sous and your daughters shall prophesy, your old 
 men shall dream dreams, your young men shall .- ie risions, and also 
 upou your servants [slaves] and upon your handmaids in those dav 
 will I pour out my spirit." 
 
 All these blessings will follow immediately after the nation u 
 covenant to return unto the Lord God of our lathers. The gref.t 
 religious reform proposed and clearly set forth by the word ol Goo, 
 involves no disparagement or saci ince, tli.ii is not strictly worthy 
 of a noble and free people. Nay, it contemplates our highest 
 physical, intellectual and moral improvement and happiness, We 
 hasten then to our application and appeal. 
 
 VI. MOTIVES To QBGE THE PEOPLE OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES 
 TO A PROtiPT AND EARLY C0MPL1 VN< EWITH THE.dONDITIONS OF 
 PEACE AS THEY ARE SET FORTH IN' THE BIBLE. 
 
 Can we ignobly consent to bow ' down our necks to receive the 
 galling yoke of a tyrant i'or. whose cupidity is only measured by 
 his hatred of us? Can we afford to email upon our children fo • 
 generations to come a degradation so humHiating, as to become 
 " hewers of wood and drawers of water ?" Can we submit to sul - 
 jugation, the confiscation of our " goodly heritage, " our homes, our 
 lands, our servants — all that is worth living for? Can we stand 
 and sec our President, his cabinet, our statesmen and our noble 
 leaders hung as traitors or banished forever from the land of their 
 fathers? Shall we be forced into a union with those who have 
 hated, and murdered, and robbed us ? A union with those for whose 
 political heresies, religious fanaticism, bigoted intolerance, ay, with 
 whose social, political and moral character we can neither feel nor 
 enjoy any affinity whatever ? 
 
 Brother soldiers, citizens and gallant leaders — hear it from an 
 
18 
 
 old man whose heart is with you, and who has labored and suffered 
 with you from tin 1 beginning of our troubles, hear it in filename of 
 the Lord — all thesehorrors and indignities must come upon us. unless 
 God, in mercy, deliver us from the power of our enemies. He 
 always has and always will deliver those and only those who honor 
 and trust Him. 
 
 Shall it be all in vain thai in the Ias1 two yeare one hundred 
 thousand of our noble sons and brothers have sacrificed their 
 precious lives upon the altar of their country ? Is it in vain that 
 Rachel weeps for her children and will not be comforted because 
 they are nut ? [s it all in vain that our officers and soldiers have 
 suffered such privations, sickness, wounds, hunger, imprisonment, 
 insult, nakedness and cold ? Can it be possible, my dear country- 
 men, that <>ur people shall pass through such a bftter baptism of 
 suffering- and Mood, and not come out of if, a purified, homogeneous, 
 free and happy nation? To these soul stirring questions you 
 answer no, never ! neve^ff never ! 1 J 
 
 We will Mow the trumpet in /ion ; we will sanctify a fast ; we 
 will call a solemn assembly ; Ave will confess our sins and throw 
 ourselves upon the mercy of the Lord God of our fathers. Yes. 
 we will enter into a solemn covenant before the Lord with all our 
 cburches— Catholic and Protestanl and with all our civil and 
 military officers, with all our soldiers and citizens, with their chil- 
 dren and servants, men and women, small and great ; and we will 
 say, LordjGod of ourfathers, our sins have risen like a dark and 
 thick cloud to separate between thee and our souls so rliat we are 
 not able able to look up. 0, have mercy upon us miserable sinners. 
 \Ve do, each and all of us, solemnly covenant with each other, 
 before the heart searching and rein trying God, that we will 
 heartily repent of and forsake our manifold and grievous sins and 
 transgressions, and that we will seek thee with all our heart and 
 all our soul, and that we will " serve thee in newness of life.'' 0, 
 that there were such a heart within US. 
 
 Why is God holding back our enemies from over-running us with 
 their overwhelming forces ? Is it not to give us time to repent, to 
 humble ourselves before Him, and to place ourselves in an attitude 
 of loyalty and submission; in which lie may give us peace? Why 
 has our beloved President called us together so often for humilia- 
 tion and prayer before God ? We know him as a faithful servant 
 of God, too' well, to believe that he did it as a mere formality. 
 Each c:ill of his upon our people has had more and more religious 
 and general attention. Let these calls of the President be still 
 more frequent and earnest, and let the response of the people of all 
 the States be more general, earnest and prayerful, until we all 
 come in the unity of the faith and the bond of peace. 
 
19 
 
 We have many pious generals leading' our armies in the field, 
 many praying officers an<l soldiers, many good men at home and 
 very many faithful praying women, These are hopeful indications 
 that God will not give us up to the sinkings of our enemies. But, 
 says some one, we have some officers and many heartless and 
 wicked extortioners, who are making money out of the war. They 
 do not wish it to stop, therefore Vy will not join us in a covenant 
 to seek and serve God, thai I ■ us peace. Let such 
 
 wicked men turn to 2d Ghron., i mdread, 
 
 " That whosoever would m to seeh the Lord 
 
 God of Israel should be put to men will Jind it to bo 
 
 " a fearful thing to fall into l3of the living God;" " They 
 
 shall be suddenly destroyed and th; remedy." God will 
 
 take their wealth and their i r,l i in a moment. 
 
 The motives we have pre ditions of peace, the 
 
 salvation of our country, address themselves to us inn very feel inl- 
 and solemn manner. But there is -iill a higher motive— the glory 
 of God, the honor and integrity of liis moral government. His 
 divine authority cannot be disregarded witlnmpunity. Loyalty to 
 Him and His service is the highest duly and the highest happiness 
 of man. Fidelity to him invohvs the higheal perfection of nunm 
 character and human governments. By all these high and holy 
 motives, by all the great interests of temporal and eternal salva- 
 tion, by the degradation and slavery threatened us on the one hand 
 in this life, and the eternal interests we sacrifice in the life to come, 
 we most solemnly, in tin 1 name of the God of our lathers, appeal to 
 all our civil and military Ieadejs, to all subordinate officer*, to all 
 our soldiers and citizens, to all heads of families, their children* 
 and servants, great and small, to take the warnings given from the 
 mouth of Jehovah, lest we perish. 
 
 We appeal to all ministers and churches — Catholic and Protes- 
 tant — and to all christian people of the Confederate States to 
 call solemn assemblies daily, yes daily, to read the word of God ; to 
 exhort and incite one another to humility, repentance and holy 
 trust in God, that he w r Ould.save us from our sins and deliver us 
 from the power of our enemies. He strong, fear not, for the Lord 
 your God "will help 3011 right early." Behold, " the Lord will 
 rend the heavens and come down in the midst of His people, and 
 the mountains [of trouble] shall flow down at 11 is presence, as 
 when the melting tire burnetii." " In the day thou seekestme with 
 the whole heart, I will be found of thee." " And it shall come to 
 pass that while they are yet speaking [in prayer] I will answer." 
 So quicklydoes God answer the prayer of faith. Infinitely more 
 ready to give than we can be to receive. 0, how great the joy in 
 heaven to see our whole nation in humiliation and prayer before 
 
20 
 
 God, sending up Bweet anthems of adoring love and praise to 
 Him " who doeth all things well.'' Let no one, great or small, fail 
 to take a part in this great national celebration and holy consecra- 
 tion to God. We need no intervention bul God's intervention. 
 He can divide the counsels of our enemies and set them against 
 th< mselves ; or, I fe can put a panic into their hearts and drive them 
 like chaff before the storm ; or, He can give them repentance for 
 their manifold sins against Grod. He can incline them to counsels 
 of peace and show them die great injustice and wrong they have 
 committed against us. He can reduce them to such straits in their 
 financial and- political matters, as thai they will be forced to with- 
 draw their troops from our soil, and acknowledge our indepen- 
 dence, lie ran •" make their way dark and slippery before, them.'' 
 and cause them to "fall into the snare they have set for us." But 
 if we continue incorrigible, He can add to the blockade of our 
 ports and rivers the more fearful blockade of the clouds of heaven, 
 withhold the latter rains and cut off ©ur bread. Hear it, my 
 countrymen, God will humble us at whatever sacrifice on our part. 
 
 VII. TO OUR MINISTERS AND CHURCHES. 
 
 Beloved brethren, you are set as watchmen in Zion, " you watch 
 for souls for which you must account to God." •' When I bring the 
 sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their 
 coasts and set him for their watchman, if when he sceth the sword 
 come upon the land he blow the trumpet&nd warn the people, then 
 whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warn- 
 ing, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon 
 his own head. He that heard the sound of the trumpet and took not 
 warning his blood shall be upon him ; but he that taketh warning 
 shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman sec the sword come and 
 blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, if the sword 
 come and take away any person from among them, he is taken away 
 in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hands. 
 So then, 0, son of man, I have set thee as a watchman unto the 
 house of Israel, therefore, thou shaft hear the word at my mouth 
 and warn them from me." — Ez. Chap. 83. 
 
 God has sent the sword upon our land ; you are watchmen ; you 
 see the flower of our land falling under the sword ; the words of 
 warning are put into your mouth and you are required to sound 
 the trumpet of alarm. A sense of our feaiful responsibility 
 prompts the writer to send forth this humble tract as a messenger 
 of warning. 
 
 0, let us take our place in the dust and weep between the porch 
 
21 
 
 and the altar. Let us stand in the gates, in every highway and at 
 every altar and " cry aloud and spare not, lift up the voice like a 
 trumpet and show our people their transgressions and the house of 
 Jacob [the churches] their sins.'' Let us free ourselves from the 
 blood of our people. Let us so warn them thai we shall both sate 
 them and ourselves. This war has already obliterated political 
 party lines. God grant that it may obliterate parly spirit ami 
 denominational pride in our churches. Does it not become us to 
 inquire whether our church jealousies, conti and divisions 
 
 have not contributed much to bring our present troubles upon us? 
 The church is the light of the w< rid. If the light in her be dark- 
 ness, how great is thai darkness! - If the blind lead the blind 
 both shall fall into the ditch." The church has led the stale in the 
 matter of division and both lane fallen into the ditch. Now. let 
 the church lead the slat!' in pray it. hum ilia I ion and repentance before 
 God, that" He ma^ remove far au ay the Northern army.'" that all the 
 churches m:i\ be restored to a state of unity, love and peace. 
 " Then shall her light go forth as brightness, and her salvation as 
 a lamp that burnetii." "The watchmen in Zion shall see eye bo 
 eye, and all the people shall lift up the voice together and sing," — 
 together — not in separate, jealous rival parties hui as one flock, 
 one fold, one body, one family, one fraternal, loving brotherhood, 
 of whom it shall be said, "behold how these christians love one 
 another! - ' Then shall times of sweet refreshing come from the 
 presence of the Lord, and the church •shall arise and shine, her 
 light having- come and the glory of God having risen upon her." 
 Then shall the thrice repeated prayer of our blessed Saviour for 
 the '• perfect oneness" of all true believers find on answer and 
 fulfilment that shall constrain ''the world to believe," ami "to 
 know the truth of His doctrine." — See 17th chap, of .John. " I 
 pray for them that they may be one as we are. Neither pray I for 
 these alone, but for them also that shall believe on me through their 
 word, that they all may be one, as thou father art in Me, and I in 
 Thee, that they also may be one in us" ; that the world may believe 
 that Thou has sent me, and the glory which thou has given Me 1 have 
 given them, that they may be one even as we are one, 1 in them and 
 Thou in me. that they may be made perfect in one, and that the 
 world may know that Thou hast sent Me." 
 
 Dear brethren, all true christians " are baptized by one spirit into 
 one body," whether Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, and have all 
 been made to drink into one spirit. Can we not, therefore, make 
 all our distinctive names, our creeds of faith and our forms of dis- 
 cipline and our mode? o£ worship subordinate-to the vital and fun- 
 damental doctrine of christian unity ? We can by the grace of God. 
 
 Paul exhorts us that we shall " mark those who cause divisions 
 
and offences in the church, contrary to the doctrine which ye have 
 learned of Christ, and avoid them." — Rom. 16:17. Division in the 
 
 church is the chief offence and stumbling block to the world, the 
 bane of all true religion and an abomination in the sight of God. 
 [t makes the church weak and sickly and the devil bold and defiant. 
 "United «ve stand, divided we fall." It is suggested by many 
 excellent minister- of Christ and laymen in the different churches 
 that a convention of ministers and laymen from the different 
 churches in the Confederate State- be called to meet at Mont- 
 gomery, Ala... a! the earliesl day practicable, not to discuss the 
 points of difference, bn1 to seek the points Of agreement and har- 
 mony, with a view to see how many and how vital the points of 
 agreement arc compared with the few and very unimportant points 
 about which they differ. A second object of the convention 
 might be to adopt a few of those great doctrines of our holy 
 religion in which all true christians do agree. A third object might 
 be to make a solemn declaration to the world that the true church 
 of Jesus Christ is one and indivisible, wherever scattered over the 
 face of the earth. A fourth objeel might be to appoint a series of 
 union meetings for reading the scriptures, singing and prayer, to 
 continue several days in all the churches of the Confederate States 
 of America, with a view to obtain a fuller measure of that spiritual 
 baptism, by which alone wt can realize that ; ' we are all one body 
 in Christ.'' A fifth object mighl me to recQmmennd an exchange of 
 delegates in the higher or yearly ineetings of eclesiastical bodies to 
 promote the objects of a more p'erfect* unity of the church — the 
 body of Christ. A sixth objeel might be to memorialize our national 
 and State legislatures to so modify and change our national and 
 State laws as that they will not contravene the law of Cod. 
 
 My brethren and countrymen, we must set our hearts right with 
 God and right with one another, then Cod will set us right with 
 our enemies and with all the world, and " lie will give us rest 
 round about.'" So prays one of the least of all your brothers. 
 
A PRAYER FOR OUR COUNTRY AND FOR OUR ARMY. 
 
 Almighty and Most Merciful Father, the Author of all good gifts and 
 graces, the Great Fountain of being am! of blesi We desire to come to 
 
 Thy mercy seat, confessing our greaf and manifold sins and transgressions 
 before Thee, and'suppl mating Thy forgiving mercyiri the name of our Lord 
 and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have nothing to bring but the burden of our 
 sin ami guilt. We have nothing to plead as the ground of our pardon and 
 acceptance before Thee, hut the ireeioue mediation and atonement of Thy 
 well-beloved Sun. We rejoice to know thai Thou art ever well pleased with 
 Him ; that Thou always hearesl rlim, and that for His Bake Thou canst be 
 just and the Justifier of him that believeth, however unworthy. We do 
 believe in Him. for there is salvation in rlim and no other, and in His holy 
 name we ask Thy blessing upon our fathers, husbands. Bona and brothers 
 who have gone to meel and drive back the invaders of our country and our 
 homes. We pray, 0, Heavenly Father, that Thou wilt shield their heads 
 in the day of battle : that Thou wilt save and defend them from the diseases 
 and vices incident to camp life: that they having an intelligent, deep and 
 abiding conviction of their cause, may go forth to battle in the name of the 
 Lord of Hosts, the God of Armies. < I, "teach their hands to war." give 
 them skill in the use of the arms and munitions of war. nerve their arms 
 with the might of Jehovah, in whose name they go, ami give to them those 
 greatqualitiesof firmness, wisdom and indomitable coarage, which shall strike 
 terror into the ranks ot their enemies and drive them back the way whence 
 they came. 0, Thou Great Searcher of all 'hearts. Thou k no west we love 
 peace, and that we Bought to maintain and preserve it by every means in our 
 power, consistent with duty and honor. Hut Thou hast a controversy with 
 us for sins, which we would humbly and penitently confess before Thee, and 
 for these most greivous and manifold sins. Thou bast sent this terrible 
 calamity upon us. Humbled and chastened by it. we would pray our 
 Heavenly Father to "remove far away from us the northern army," and. 
 give us peace. Above all we do pray that thou wilt give us, as a people, a 
 heart to appreciate peace as the grft of <!od. 
 
 And do Thou so enlighten the understandings ami dispose the hearts of 
 our civil and military rulers, that they may all seek to honor and please 
 Thee. May our national and State legislatures seek at the earliest moment 
 to remove from their statute books every enactment inimical to the law of 
 God. May our officers and ministers of justice so administer the law as 
 that the rights ot person ami property shall be protected, the guilty punish ed_ 
 and order and harmony restored to society. And may all our people, in the 
 army and at home, have grace in th?ir hearts to live a quiet am' peaceable 
 lite in all godliness and honesty. < >, may they all come out of this bitter 
 baptism ot suffering and blood, a pure, united and happy people. Father 
 of all mercies it is thy glory to forgive. <f sanctify to us these heavy 
 calamities, so that in the end we may all thank God for them, ami for the 
 grace that enabled us to improve them. 
 
 Giver of all good jrifts, 0, give us grace, that with true hearts we may 
 enter into covenant with God and with each other, as families, communities, 
 States and as a Nation, that we will put away all our abominable iniquities 
 and sinful practices, and will seek and serve the Lord, God of our Fathers 
 with all our heart. Then witli glad hearts we will praise Thee; then shall 
 
/ • 24 
 
 our children grow up in the nurture and knowledge of the true God ; then 
 shall our schools and colleges become the nur3enes ol virtue, science and 
 true religion: then shall our churches be tilled with convert? to the faith of 
 ■si cd- our ministers .-hall shout from the walls of Zion, afid all our 
 people sine for joy thai the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. 0, then we 
 shall see and say, " lie doeth all things well." 
 
 Almighty God, this great work is tjjol too much foi Thee to do. 0, then, 
 for thine own glory, for the joy ol heaven and earth, for the salvation Of our 
 nation, display thy soul-saving, sin-destroying power. <). rend the heavens 
 and come down, that these mountains of trouble and sin may How down at 
 thy ; as when the melting tire burneth. If Thou bul touch the 
 
 heart ol Stone, it shall melt into penitence, love and praise. W Thou shed 
 hut one ray of light into the dark sou! of the profane swearer, he will pray. 
 Even the chiel ol' sinners would rejoice to behold the wonders of thy love 
 and power. 
 
 [ndulgent Father, (iod of Lo?e.4et Thy sinning, hut repentant, children 
 plead with Thee, for Thou art our only help and hope. Our enemies are 
 too many and too mighty for us, hut if Thou -wilt go forth with our h 
 "one shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand Jo flight." 
 Thou canst 6ave by many or by few. Weknow^ 0, (iod, that Thou wilt judge 
 righteously between us ami our enemies. < >, give us hearts tosubtnitto Thy 
 right) nent. 
 
 We pray, 0, God, for our enemies, that they he able to see wherein they 
 they have sinned against Thee, and repent and find mercy. Let them see 
 the evil of those political and religious heresies which have incited them to 
 bring on us this terrible war. 0, incline them to counsels of peace, and may 
 they return to their own hon.es hy the way which they came. < >, God, Thou 
 canst touch their hearts and ihey.wiil relent. lint, 0, our God, if they will 
 still persist in their mad scheme.- to coerce and subjugate us, do Thou trus- 
 trate their wicked schemed, dispense, as Thou hast done, their naval fleets 
 upon our waters, drive their panic stricken thousands that have come upon 
 our soil, divide their wicked counsels that they may prey upon one another. 
 Through !<ar an 1 a sense of guilt, thou canst make their hearts as weak as 
 water. Thou canst " make their way dark and Blippery before them.' I '. 
 God, our country, our prayer, our hearts are all before Thee, do with us, 
 our country and our enemies, as shall be most lor thy glory and our good. 
 
 And now, holy Father, we cast this bumble publication upon the troubled 
 waters. May its plain and truthful suggestions find a, generous response 
 from the heart.- ol soldiers and citizens. .May it do something to save the 
 effusion of bipod and much to hasten the coming of peace. And to Thy 
 most holy name he all theglory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 JOHN P. CAMPBELL.