JOfSZ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • ■ I llll [||i 012 029 004 6 fk peRnuliffe* pH8.5 m E 458 .3 I Copy 1 a T II E VALLKY OF ACHOR A DOOR OF HOPE; GRAND ISSUES OF THE WAR. A DISCOURSE. DKUVERKD ON ) THANKSGIVING DAY, NOV. 26, 1863. HENRY CLAY FISH, D.D., 1* a * t o k or First Baptist Church. Newark, S . J . siiKI/noN <& CO., 335 BROADWAY. 1 8 6 8. '!' II E VALLEY OF ACHOR A DOOR OF EOPE; GRAND ISSUES OF THE WAR. A DISCOURSE. I1EI.1VERED ON TEIANKSGIVING DAY, NOV. 26, 1863. HENRY CLAY FISH, D.D., H I 7 Pastob of Pibst Baptist Church, Nbwabk, N. j. ?kto-j>vh: SHELDON & CO., 33S BROADWAY. 1 8 6 8 . E~4 5Z ■ 3 .F53 Ihrr' - — ■ tf«Bt» lies. Hlbfc. 860 Note. — This discourse was repeated Sabbath evening, Novem- ber 29th, in the presence of an audience numbering over two thousand persons, when a copy was requested for publication. DISCOURSE IIoska 2 : 15. "And I will give her the valley of Achor for a door of hope." The valley of Achor was some ten miles north of Jerusalem, and not far from Bethel, the place of Ja- cob's vision. It was called Achor from the word Achan or Aclt(i>\ which was applied to it from an incident in the travels of the Israelites, recorded in the seventh of Joshua. Here it was that Achan sinned in taking the Babylonish garment, and the shekels of silver and the wedge of gold among the spoils of the enemy, which were denominated accursed things — and for this impi- ety he was stoned with stones, and then burnt to ashes, after which the wrath of (rod was appeased. This valley was called Achar or Achor, from the name of this man, Achan. And the word Achan itself means troubleTj so that the valley was known for many gene- rations, as the v alle>j of trouhle. Hence the term came to be used to describe any position of special trial or trouble, lie who was in some terrible extremity, was spoken of as being m the vaUey of AcJ/<>/: And so it Mas that seven hundred years later than the. occurrence here referred to, we bear the prophet Hosea, in our text, using tliis same figurative expres- sion. He is announcing God's reconciliation with his ■i THE VALLEY OF ACHOB A DOOR OF HOPE; erring people, ami the mercies which Ik- would surely bestow, after the sore discipline for fcheirsins. " I will Bpeak comfortably unto her, and I will give her vine- yards from thence,and*A< valley of Achor for a door of hope, and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." The idea of the prophet is this: Israel found deliv- erance of «dd, in that very valley of trouble. There the fierce anger of God was turned away, and his smiles were vouchsafed, and her songs of rejoicing were heard. And now am I about to repeal the deliverance. Yon are brought low, but your very place of trouble, your vattt y of Achor, shall 1 >e a door of hope. " And I will give her the valley of Achor for a door of hope, and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth." And herein is ^n a law of the divine economy. It seems a principle from which God does not often' devi- ate, that the door of hope should be in the vallej of Achor:— thai seasons of trouble should precede* the richesl experience of his goodness. I Proceed with me while I endeavor, first, to es- TABLISB AM) DLLT7STRATE THIS PRINCIPLE. And to begin; do we not gather an intimation of such a divine plan in the work of creation? In its ori- ginal state, our earth was without form ami void, and darhness was upon Hie face of the deep. And the re- cord of its reconstruction, again ami again repeated, inns thus: "and the evening and the morning were lll( ' (particular) day." Historically, the evening, the night, came first. The day was composed of darkness and light, hut the darhness preceded the light. Who shall say ihat there was not, in this natural phenome- non} ;t hinl of tin- f.ict under consideration? And the mos1 extended and minute examination will show how OR, THE GRAND ISSUES OF THE WAR. g widely and profoundly this fact applies to the moral world. You may divide the past centuries into epochs, and write concerning them as of the original epochs of cre- ation, "and the evening and the morning were the (new) day." They will be seen to be made up of pe- riods of darkness and of light — the darkness, however, always going before and preparing for the light. The history of man really begins in his apostasy. It was but a -learn of sunshine that fell on his forehead in Paradise, when he was enveloped in the darkness and blindness of sin, the emerging from which really ma] his history. At this low point, after the fall, in the gulf of deep distress, the social life of man began to im- prove, and it has been making steady advances ever since. It was in this valley of troubl* that the coming Messiah was first revealed. And what a door of hope was there opened in those words, -The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." From that time forward, whenever darkness came on, it was bul the beginning of a new day, and each new day (like those in Genesis) was in advance of the day that pre- ceded it. The night was the period of gestation, of paration. Forms of civilization decayed, in long succession, but each worn-out form carried in its bosom elements which gave birth to a new and more per- fect form. Great and mighty institutions gave way to either time, or revolution, or foreign invasion, bul the rms of a new life were always existing in each de- caying institution, and the period of decline for one people or age was a period of purifying process or prep- aration for that age or people thai should succeed it. Thus Central India, the earliest of the historical na tions, began in obscurity, reached a high position, then declined. Bui even this our age is enriched by it- old G THE VALLEY OF ACIIOll A DOOR OF HOPE; Sanscrit tongue and many elements of its philosophy, Egypt emerged from darkness into light, and then its sun set ; but not until it had thrust forward into the Judaic and otlicr nations its real acquisitions, there to ive a higher development. The same may be said of Assyria, and each of the old Eastern nations. So of Greece and Rome in the West. From small be- ginnings, and through innumerable difficulties, they forced their way up to greatness; "but though their philosophy and theology had in them the seeds of death, and so decayed, yet how greatly, through their laws, and literature, and arts, have they contributed to prepare the world for its present condition. In how low a vale of trouble, too, did the Israelitish nation begin its career — in the bondage of Egypt and in the discipline of the wilderness. And though it vanished away, yet it was but to give room to the Christian civilization that was to follow. I might also point you to the old ancestral peoples of Europe, from -whom we and the several now powerful nations have sprung, and show how they struggled into being, and how, too, their death was our life. Read d'Aubigne^s last work and Alison's Europe, and behold the upturn- ing of the uationsthat ended in the greai Reformation. Follow the graphic pen of Macaulay, and behold the series of English revolutions, from the Long Parliament to tit!' settlement of William and Mary on the tin-one, and see how the Hill of Rights and other reforms were born. Ireland was in rebellion ; Scotland in rebellion ; powerful continental combinations were counter-working the liberties of England; the finances were in a deplorable condition ; the court and army were demoralized; vindictive parties were plotting the ruin of both church and state; and yet, out of OR, THE GRAND ISSUES OF THE WAR. 7 these ruinous complications arose British power in all its subsequent magnificence. And how true this was of the immediate founders of this republic, we all well know. They too passed through the Red Sea of suffering and the desert of trial, and then, and not before, came into their Canaan. And so all along the track of time have the valleys ofA.chor been turned into doors of hope. There is not a nation now advanced in the world's civilization, that has not won its place by long years of severe and perhaps ter- rific effort. And the same is true of the religious progress of the world. The wickedness of the antediluvians became great, and they were cut oft'; but the flood became a door of hope — a God-fearing people springing up in the land. The cities of the plain rioted in sensuality, and they were burned up; but their destruction ar- rested the general decay. The wars and tumults of Samuel's and David's time ushered in the meridian splendor of Solomon's reign. The rending of Israel into two parts hastened the extermination of idolatry. How terrible the night in which the old dispensation closed! — no voice of prophet breaking its gloom for four hundred years, and but here and there one "wait- ing for the consolation of Esrael." Upon that night arose the Star of Bethlehem! What an Achor, what a place of trouble, the land of Judea then ! What a door of hope, in David's Son, was there opened to a world! And a little later, what do we Bee? The heaviest troubles gathering npon the infant Chinch. Peter denies his Lord. Judas betrays him. The dis- ciples are bewildered, and scattered as sheep without a shepherd; for the --word has smitten thai Shepherd, and he is now dead, and Lurid ! What blackness of darkness! Not a streak of day! Inn. again, what do b THE VALLEY OF AC1IOR A DOOll OF HOPE; we see ? The clayeyseals <>f the tomb cracking and crumbling asunder. The stone receding. The sleeper awaking. The news spreading. The enemies con- Pounded. The Messiahship admitted. The Saviour going up in clouds. The J I < > 1 \ Spirit coming down in torrents of power. Banners of the Cross unfurled. The nations permeated with the Gospel. Oh ! what an Achor, the place of crucifixion ! Oh! what a door of hope! Remember, too, how Zion languished in the middle ages, and how this depression was succeeded by I he glorious Reformation. Observe in all this, how true it is that seasons of trouble usually precede and prepare the way for the richest experience of God's goodness; not because these depressions in themselves originate the better state, (for this the)" could not do,) Imt because God overrules evils, and out of them educes good; and be- cause vigor is the child only of struggle. We consider this law, then, a. clearly established one. "Not fust the bright, and after that the dark ; lint first the dark, and after that the bright ; First the thick cloud, ami then the rainbow's arc; First the dark grave, and then the resurrection light. '"Tis first the night— stern night of storm and war, Long night of heavy clouds and vailed skies; Then the fair sparkle of the morning Star, That bids the saint awake and day arise.'' IT. I proceed now to apply this law to on: PRESENT NATIONAL CONDITION. I ask you to observe, for our instruction and en- couragement, that the Valley of Achor where Ave now are, is becoming to us a door of hope. I shall speak of only two particulars. 1. In this vale of difficulty and sorrow, we arc /■<■ ering "in- Jn.st manhood. "dr. Beecher Baid, with truth, in one of those ad- OR, THE GRAND ISSUES OF THE WAB. dresses of his in England, which have ;it the same time reflected honor upon himself and so benefited our country's cause as to lay us under a Lasting debl <>f gratitude, that the most valuable possession of a people was its manhood. We might Lose our harvests, <>ur houses, almost any possession, and recover them; but our manliness gone, all was gone. The first and highest quality of true manhood is more easily appre- ciated than denned. It is that something which the old Romans called VlE, (whence our rirfiir.) The Apostle Peter refers to it as one of the Christian -•races: "Add to your faith virtue" — not (as here meant) that outward conformity to God's law which makes an upright life; hut rather manly vigor, a cour- ageous tone of mind — -manliness, true manhood. We might call it force of character, boldness, firmness in whatever duty requires. Isaac Taylor paraphrases it as "nianly energy, or the constancy and courage of manly vigor." Dr. Schauffier, speaking of the Crimean cane paign, says the soldiers held on and took Sevastopol not by science, but by pluck; and that what we needed to take the strongholds of heathenism was • Christian pluck. General Havelock spoke of British pluck. Sir "Walter Scott speaks of a " want of pluck" as a sad defect in a man. The same idea is in the triplet : "Could'st thou not watch one hour? then sloop eno That sleep may hasten manhood, and sustain The faint, pale spirit with some muscul This "manhood" or "muscular stuff" or -pluck," is the virtue commended by Peter, and the precise quality to which I refer. It is a fine trait, which everyone admires. We see ii in Daniel, and the three worthies, whose answer to threats was : " We are not carefiil to answer thee, ( ) King, in this matter." And in Paul 10 THE VALLEY OF A.CHOB A DOOR OF nOPE ; and Silas, who would sooner listen to the clanking of their own chains than to the voice of seduction. And in the Huguenots and Scotch Covenanters, whose heroic daring in the right flashes out like brillianl orbs in ex- tended darkness. And in Savonarola, the Italian monk, who, when excommunicated by the Pope for his fidelity, weiii to the stake, saying: "Irom the Pope I appeal to the heavenly Pope, Christ Jesus." And in Luther, who, before the Court of the German empire, looked up calmly when his sentence was read, and replied: "Then God be my helper; for I can redact nothing." In such cases there was lofty courage from principle. There was a supreme regard for the right, and a determination to pursue it at all hazards. Now certainly this is the first and chief ingredient in true manhood. Indeed, without it men are not men. Without it, a nation is no nation. Sir William Jones's answer to the question, "What constitutes a state?" hits the case exactly: " Not high-raised battlement or labored mound ; Thick wall or moated gate ; Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ; Not hays and broad-armed ports, Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; Not starred and span-led courts, Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. No : . ', w'l mini men, With powers as Car above dull brutes endued In forest, brake, or den, As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude • .Men who th< ir duties know, But know their rights, and knowing ',. jj, • Prevent the long-aimed blow, And crush the tyrant while tiny rend the chain: '/'//• v constitute a state." This trail especially the people of these States were fasl losing. It was far -one. Like an individual, a nation has a perception which it may sophisticate a OR, THE GRAND rSSUBS OF THE WAR. 11 conscience which it may Biippress, a Belf-respeci which it may forfeit, a soul, a life, which it may lose. And it may pass out insensibly, oozing away imperceptibly. So it was with us. We had almost reached the point where we were ready to sell our birthright for a mess of pottage. We were engrossed in material pursuits. What we were after was to suck fatness out of OUT broad, deep soil, and our mechanic arts, and our world- wide commerce, and our positions of trust and honor, open to all, high or low, learned or illiterate, good or bad. The sacrifice of conscience and other high qualities, to gain these ends, we were not slow to make A gigantic power had reared itself upon the chains of un- righteousness, end was holding out in one hand gold and in the other office; and if these were to he perma- nently proffered and enjoyed, there must be homage, acquiescence. Mythology tells us that in the ancient days of Rome a chasm opened in the midst of the city, and stn were broken up, palaces toppled in the yawning gulf, and dwellings were swallowed in the ruin. The sages met and in council decided that by the offering of the most valuable things they possessed, the angrj gods would be appeased and Rome be saved. So " the people assembled, patrician and plebeian, nobleman and slave, bringing all precious jewels, rich garments, and whatever was most rare and costly, and casl fchem into the chasm : but still it opened insatiate, and fche fissures spread, and destruction seemed sure. Bui while still the terror-stricken multitude thronged the streets, there came to them, armed as one who goes to battle, riding a- one who rides to victory, the noblest of their pj cian sons, the very flower of their chivalry, and as the wondering crowd swayed and parted to make way, lie 12 THE VALLEY OF ACHOE A DOOR OF LI OPE • exclaimed: 'Manhood is the most valuable thing Rome possesses!' For an instant horse and rider hang in mid air, then down— crashing-^are lost, and the dreadful abyss closes up." And so would Ofe'ftlse god be appeased with nothing short of Manhood! And the "sages" advised the offering, and were quick to give the example. Hordes of politicians mighl be Been marked and ticketed, "For sale to the highest bid- der." Merchants and mechanics could not safely have opinions of their own, lest their customers should be offended, so they parted with them. Greed and selfish- ness were fast gaining ascendency over all ranks and classes. Love of freedom, love of country, the fear of God, honor, integrity, honesty, benevolence, the public good— these were overborne and forgotten in the mad pursuit of money or popularity. Gain dragged even the ark of God in its ox-cart, and made the very minis- isters of the sanctuary the echoes of them that hired them. And so the iron ear of our national Juggernaut rolled on, over the Bible, the Sabbath, the sanctuary, and eternal right and mercy and justice, until there was danger of such a general demoralization of the soul <»i* the nation, as should change us from the God- fearing, conscience-animated, sound-hearted people that our fathers were, into a race of moral pigmies, whose creed should be, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow lie." Already from this cause had we become the scorn of the civilized world. -They are rot (en before they are ripe," Baid a British reviewer of us, more in sorrow than in anger. And the good De Gasparin, who has bo ably written in our behalf, admits that for many years we -had been rapidly degenerating in the whole tone of our national life." !i is alarming to think how far this had gone. Our OR, THE GRAND [SSUES OF THE WAR. 13 halls of legislation were the arena of braggarts and bullies and political hucksters and selfish squabbles, where great measures were scarcely discussed, and great minds felt themselves degraded. Not a few wen- tired even of our form of government, and began to think that Republicanism was a failure. A high authority declares that lie knew there were thousands, if not millions, who would have welcomed an Empe- ror of France or of Russia, if they could have been assured of stability in their business matters; and I suppose it to be a fact that at the close of Mr. Buchanan's administration, the mind of the North was subsiding into the conviction that it was not worth while to try to interpose any check to the ruinous course of events. Even in Boston were men heard to say, "No coercion, no coercion;" and it now seems clear that Lad the South managed their cause wise- ly, they would either have gained a recognition or revolutionized the country. So far had our manhood departed ! How had the gold become dim, and the fine gold changed ! But just here, in this our valley of Achor, was opei I a k> door of hope." In the providence of God things took such shape that we were shut up to civilized war- fare. The issue was clear and simple. Our enemies declared that the country must consent to be severed in twain, (to bleed to death,) or the government must be overthrown and destroyed. The stars and stripes are shot from the flag-staff of a, national fort, and the flag of rebellion flaunts defiance in its stead. The live -pot that was left in the Northern heart, throbs- With the thunder of guns and the gleam of bay- onets the inward lire kindles; and firsl in one sec- tion, thru in another, and then in another, i- heard the 14 Till: VALLEY OF ACHOR A DOOli OF HOPE; cry : " In tlie name of our Grod we will set up our ban- ners ! " " Lay down the axe ; fling by the spade ; Leave in its track the toiling plough ; The rifle and the bayonet blade For anus like yours were fitter now; And let the hands that ply the pen Quit the light task, and learn to wield The horseman's crooked brand, and rein The charger on the battle-field. " Our country calls ; away ! away ! To where the blood-stream blots the green. Strike to defend the gentlest sway That Time in all its course has seen. See, from a thousand coverts — see ! Spring the armed foes that haunt her track ! They rush to smite her down, and we Must beat the banded traitors back !" The effect was electric. War is a great educator. Napoleon rightly said : " There are always ideas at the point of the bayonet." Florence Nightingale wrote to one of the British volunteer brigades : " One who lias seen more than any man what a horrible tiling war is, yet feels, more than any man, that the military spirit in a good cause — that of one's country — is the finest leaven which exists for the national spirit." And she -peaks of it as retempering a nation. There are multi- tudes who could never be rallied to the support of a government or any great cause, upon a question of right, who will yet he stirred by the bugle-blast of war; and once aroused they go on to a higher man- hood. The power to do and to suffer is developed in great national struggles. Men Learn the lessons of obedience to the "powers that be," and the subordi- nance of persona] advantage t<> the public good; fchej Learn to value those rights and privileges tor which they have poured out Mood and treasure; they learn to deny themselves, and to work for objects beyond them. OR, THE GRAND ISSUES OF THE WAR 15 selves. Patriotism is thereby inflamed and heconies henceforth an inspiration; for some must give them- selves to the country's service, some their Bons and husbands, brothers and fathers; some their property, some their time, and all their prayers. No trifling thing, indeed, is it, that these Btirring events are instilling such qualities into this people, and kindling in their bosoms the same noble fires that burned in their honored sires. The influence is already seen, and will be more and more apparent. Already our merchants, by their sacrifices, have raised their lives to a higher Level of dignity : already the most frivolous of our young women have gained a deeper and nobler sense of their own worth by their voluntary Labors for the soldiers: and altogether we are certainly a more manly people than we were three years ago. We are more patriotic. That flag of country, how much dearer ! It is more to us now than a piece of striped and dotted bunting — a great deal more! It brings tears to the eyes to look upon it ! A\ T ho feels not, ton. that he is more of a man, and is not prouder to b called an American t We stand more erect ! We have done with base obsequiousness ! We have more faith, too, and more patience, and a sterner sense of right. We are more thoughtful and intelligent. The national mind is jostled and set a-^oins;. How many persons take a daily or semi-weekly paper now that took none before, and study the map, and keep posted as to all that pa, and talk Learnedly about men and measures and places a thousand miles away, and read long addresses and fine-spun diplomatic letters. and have even a sharp eye to see whal England, and Prance, and Russia are doing ! Besides, we are much Less trammelled bj party. And we have done with compromises, and abominate all half measures, and 16 THE VALLEY OP ACHOB A DOOR OF HOPE : have made up our minds to risk life, property, any thmgth&t is called for, and to see the end of this struggle, and to show to the world that "there is sap ia the old tree yet," — that the pilgrim stock has not wholly degenerated:— and to prove thai we do prize courage and manliness and unblenching devotion to country, and humanity, and God, higher than mate- rial prosperity or an inglorious peace; and that we do know what it is to act from a calm and resolute sense of duty, the prime essential of manhood. Is not this war, then, an educator? Is it not the alembic from which we are emerging with nobler ener- gies and a higher life? I, for one, can not doubt it. I believe that the returning soldiers will Lave gained valuable experience, and will make better men and better Christians. I verily believe, (and for this I bless God every day,) that the people generally are passing through that transformation which Tennyson describes in the career of one of his individuals. We shall — "wake to the higher aims, Of a land that has lost for a little her lust of gold And love of a peace that was full of wrongs and shames — Horrible, hateful, monstrous, not to be told. Though many a light shall darken, and many shall weep For those that are crushed in the trash of jarring claims. Vet Cod's just doom shall be wreaked on a giant liar ; And many a darkness into the light shall leap And shine in the sudden making of splendid names, And noble thought be freer under the sun, And the heart of the people beat with one desire." 2. In the valley of A.choTwe are recovering the jewel of the wo rltVs Fr< < dom. II- who supposes this war is to affect only this coun- try, has very narrow views of things. It is for al] time and for the whole race, 'flic Rappahannock is the river of the earth. Chattanooga is the fighting ground of (In- OR, THE GRAND ISSUES OF THE WAR. 17 world. Battles here arc the world's battles. We are contending for ideas which are essential to liberty any- where; and there is not an oppressed being on the globe — oppressed by any species of usurpation — that has not an interest in this conflict. We arc watched of kings and peasants. Our free institutions — free schools, cheap government, voluntary religion, open ballot-box, — were before shaking the monarchies of the old world, and all eyes are now turned hither to see whether we succeed or fail, as involving their own des- tiny : — the king his crown, the peasant his liberty. Is there a spot on the globe where men are practi- cally free and equal, where they fully enjoy their heav- en-given rights, except in this country? England comes nearest to it; but in Great Britain the people are rather for the government than the government for the people. Koyalty, aristocracy, nobility, hereditary wealth and position — these things are of great mo- ment there ; and unless one can lay claim to some of them, he stands a poor chance to rise. The English poor, the laboring classes, have few rights and privi- leges ; they are little above the serfs of Russia. It is considered that they are born to this condition, and the laws of the realm place the power of government prin- cipally in the hands of the land-owners and property. holders, and nobly descended. In this country we hold that every man is nobly born ; that liberty in the high- est sense is his birthright ; that the poorest is entitled to just the same protection, just the same advantages of all kinds, as the wealthiest. There are here no pri vileged classes. One class is of right, in every possible respect, just as "privileged" as another. These an fundamental ideas in the structure of this govern incut. 18 THE VALLEY OF ACnOR A DOOR OF HOPE; Now the oppressed of every realm know these are our peculiar ideas, and they yearn for their universality. They hope for the good time when they will be adopt- ed in their own countries, and many of them would gladly come here to have the advantage of them. And we have these ideas — mark it — as a sacred trust from God. We have no right to throw them away, nor to let them he wrested from us. We are the stewards of these gifts for earth 'r stay the soul as it soars away, Tn its glorious flight from its mouldering clay ''. The truth that liveth. the thoughts that go, The spirit ascending, all answer — No." And there are truths, there are thoughts in this strug- gle — and so it will succeed. I fappy day of the Nation's renovation ! O fellow- workers, I congratulate you upon its coming in our time ! I see it ! I see it ! The war successfully ended ; the bondman everywhere a freeman; the degraded white man everywhere educated and ennobled; the diverse elements in the national composition fused and welded inseparably together; local jealousies and animosities at an end ; treason and traitors expelled from the country ; the heresy of state sovereignty and secession killed; loyalty and patriotism a life in the heart's core of every inhabitant ; the extremities of the country drawn into a closer relationship; its physical resources developed ; a school-house and church in every district; the people taking the highest type of civil- ization, — intelligent, God-fearing, liberty-loving, self- governed, and bound together in one tender and beau- tiful brotherhood ; our broad, unoccupied acres South and West furnishing homes to millions of exiles and strangers and fellow-countrymen ; our soldiers resuming the peaceful pursuits of industry, and infiltrating with their ideas and influence the territories whose rebellion they have subdued ; our mighty streams lined with thriv- ing , and the seas dotted all over with our white- winged fleets of commerce, and our example giving cheer and hope to each struggling nationality on the globe, and, in the end, sending a purer current through all the avenues of its rejuvenated life ! OR, THE GRAND ISSUES OF THE WAR. 23 Men and brethren, has not our Valley of Achor be- come a door of hope? Have we not something to be thankful for I Is it not meet thai we, like Israel, a1 length, in their valley of trouble, " Sing here, as in the days of our youth, as in the day thai we came up oul of* Egypt?" I am mindful of what has been endured. All have been incommoded. Some have suffered, sorely suffered. Multitudes have fallen, and multitudes are sick or maimed for life. Ay, this is the sad part of it! Graves have been opened in this valley. There are vacant chairs by festive boards to-day. And some of you have come up here with hearts pained with appre- hension, or breaking with grief from the death of father, or son, or husband, or brother, or lover. But I trust that even you will be able to kiss the rod, and say : "If, for the age to come, this hour Of trial hath vicarious power, And, blest by Thee, our present pain Be Liberty's eternal gain, Thy will be doru : "' and that we all will lose sight of our sorrows in our more numerous blessings. Let, then, thanksgiving ascend from every heart and every tongue. Let us bless God that he has afflicted us. Let us bless him for the war, if only by it these ends could be gained. Let us bless him that it did not come to an earlier and disastrous close, bu1 that it lasts so long as the sin-canker remain-. Let us bless him for so good a President: whose Love of liberty, coupled with a sacred regard for his oath; whose sin- gleness of purpose and sterling integrity ; whose quick common sense and wonderful foresight; whose care- fulness to advance and tenacity in holding a position 2-i THE VALLEY OF ACIIOR A DOOR OR nOPE ; once taken ; and whose skill in steering clear of fac- tions and uniting all classes in his support, bid fair to place the name of Abraham Lincoln beside that of George Washington. Let us bless God for the able civil and military leaders the crisis has produced. Let us bless him for our 1 nave soldiers, so prompt to hurl themselves into the deadly breach. Let us bless him for peace with foreign powers, and the tokens of its continuance. Let us bless him for our recent brilliant victories in the field, and the not less important vic- tories in freedom's behalf at the ballot-box. And, passing now from these causes of gladness, I call on you to praise him for the mercies of the year, of which we have all been recipients. Praise him for the bounties of his providence, from which all have been fed. Praise him for the health vouchsafed so generally to the people. Praise him for the success of all branch- es of industry, so that none have been compelled to be idle. Praise him for his beautiful light, and the rain- drops, and the pure air of heaven. Praise him for your quiet homes, and your social and religious enjoy- ments. Praise him for his Bible, and his Sabbath, and his dear Son, our Saviour ! Praise him that he for- giveth our sins and blotteth out all our iniquities. Praise him for all present good, and for all the precious ho]^es of good to come. Yea, praise him ! Praise him, for He is good, and his mercy endureth forever ! And let us all now stand up together and unite in our dox- ology of praise : " Praise God from whom all Mowings flow ; Praise him all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heavenly host ; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." LIBRARY OF CONGRESS [Hill II Nil III 012 029 004 6' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 012 029 004 6 Jfc penmalipe* pH8J