They can circulate the
speeches of their members of Congress that bear upon the subject, and
in many other ways they can secure to all a full understanding of the
present position of our country.
"Above all, it seems to be necessary and desirable that we should make
this subject a matter of earnest prayer. A conflict is now begun
between the forces of liberty and despotism throughout the whole
world. We who are Christians, and believe in the sure word of
prophecy, know that fearful convulsions and over-turnings are
predicted before the coming of Him who is to rule the earth in
righteousness. How important, then, in this crisis, that all who
believe in prayer should retreat beneath the shadow of the Almighty!
"It is a melancholy but unavoidable result of such great encounters of
principle that they tend to degenerate into sectional and personal
bitterness. It is this liability that forms one of the most solemn and
affecting features of the crisis now presented. We are on the eve of a
conflict which will try men's souls, and strain to the utmost the
bonds of brotherly union that bind this nation together.
"Let us, then, pray that in the agitation of this question between the
North and the South the war of principle may not become a mere
sectional conflict, degenerating into the encounter of physical force.
Let us raise our hearts to Him who has the power to restrain the wrath
of men, that He will avert the consequences that our sins as a nation
so justly deserve.
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