acter of our institutions, and the extent
of region which they cover. The brighter the sunshine, the darker the
shadow; the higher the good to be enjoyed, the darker, more deplorable
is the evil which is the inverse and opposite of that good. Hence, with
a knowledge of this prevalent fact of fallen human nature, and also of
the fact that nations are but individuals repeated--one might almost
have foreseen that if institutions, more free and enlightened than had
ever before blessed a people, were to arise upon any region of the
globe--something proportionately hideous and repulsive in the other
direction would be seen to start up alongside of them, and seek their
destruction.

Is this so strange then? It is only in agreement with the great truth,
that the best men endure the strongest temptations. He who was sinless
endured and overcame what no mere mortal could have borne for an
instant. So the highest truths have ever encountered the most violent
opposition. The most salutary reforms have had to struggle the hardest
to obtain a footing; in a word, the higher and holier the heaven from
whence blessings descend to earth, the deeper and more malignant is the
hell that rises in opposition. With the truly-sought aid of Him,
however, who alone has all power in heaven, earth, and hell, victory is
certain to be achieved in national no less than in individual trials.

But in both national and individual difficulties it is indispensable, in
order that courage may not waver, that hope may not falter--it is
indispensable that there should be, as already urged, a clear
intellectual comprehension of the full nature of the good thing for
which battle is waged. The brilliant vision of attainable good must be
preserved undimmed--ever present in sharp and radiant outline to the
mental eye; and so its lustre may also fall in a flood of searching
light on the evil which is battled against, clearly revealing all its
hideousness.

A clear understanding by the people at large, of what that is in which
the value of the Union consists, is only next in importance to the Union
itself; since the preservation of the Union hangs upon the nation's
appreciation of its value. Then only can we be intensely, ardently
zealous; full of courage and motive force; full of hope and
determination that it shall be preserved at whatever cost of life or
treasure. But without the deep conviction of the untold blessings that
lie yet undeveloped in the Union and