God has showered down upon us many blessings; he has given to us a pleasant land, a goodly heritage, and has caused our cup to run over. He has given us an open Bible, Sabbath, Sanctuaries; all the means of grace. Perhaps no people has been more highly favored; and we ought to have been a people overflowing with gratitude to God, the giver. But this has not been the case with us. To too great an extent we have forgotten God, and in our prosperity we have said, I shall never be moved. The signal deliverances which our army and our country received drew forth expressions of thankfulness to God, and professions of gratitude for the special divine interposition which we had experienced. But it must be admitted that this has been followed, if not accompanied, with a boastful self-relying spirit, which is the very opposite of that spirit which prompts true gratitude. Our true condition is just this; we are not only frail, ignorant, helpless creatures, but we are sinful creatures, and as such deserve not, and have not, any claim upon the favorable notice of God. God might in justice deliver us up to the power of our enemies, and, employ them as agents, with all their malice, in chastising us for our sins. He might in justice send pestilence and famine throughout our land. But he has not thus dealt with us. Not because we have not deserved all these things, but because of his unmerited mercy. We may then say with the prophet, “It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” This ought to be the sentiment of our hearts; and in view of God's undeserved deliverances and benefits, and of civil and religious blessings, even in the midst of revolution, we should be humble in the very dust before God, and gratitude should fill our souls. But we have failed to do this, our humility has been a feigned humility, and we have to a great extent forgotten the hand that has been holding, leading, defending, and feeding us. This is ingratitude. God is now chastising us for our sins, and by the disasters with which our army has recently met, he is saying to us, “there is an accursed thing in the midst of thee: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.” Let us get low before God to-day, let us, not feignedly, but truly, confess our sins, and do it with the firm resolve that, by his grace assisting us, we will forsake sin, and cleave unto the Lord. “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.”

And let us be careful to cherish that gratitude which ought ever to accompany a sense of our dependence and sinfulness, and of God's goodness manifested towards us.

About a year ago fears were entertained that the cause of our Confederacy might suffer much from a scarceness of bread. Supplies from abroad were completely cut off: the blockade was upon us. Indeed our enemy made his boast that he would soon starve us out. Consequently the public journals all over the land, at an early day, exhorted and urged our people to give special attention to the cultivation of corn and other grains and vegetables, necessary for food both for man and beast. The timely advice was heeded, labor to an unusual extent was put forth in this direction, and many prayers were offered up for a fruitful season. God answered these prayers, and blessed the husbandman with an overflowing harvest; so that according to the general estimate, a sufficiency was produced last year to feed our Confederacy for two years. Thus God turned the counsel of our enemies into foolishness, and quieted the fears of our people.

In view then of our circumstances, of our fears of the marked blessing of God, and of that gratitude that ought to fill our hearts, there was a special obligation resting upon us to garner every bushel of corn, and sacredly use it in feeding our people while engaged in the sacred work of defending our homes, securing our rights, and expelling the invader from our soil. But instead of this, to our utter astonishment and mortification, as soon as the harvest is gathered, we see, all over the land, a thousand distilleries in full blast, converting that which was given to sustain and strengthen our people into something worse than a deadly poison. No sooner than our prayers are answered, God's bounty received, and our fears of starvation dissipated, than we turn round and destroy the bounty, and in that destruction produce that which wherever it goes secures imbecility, distress and death. Whether the making of whiskey is right or wrong in itself considered is a question which I will not stop to consider, as that is not the point now before me; but I do assert, that, in our present peculiar condition, our people could not adopt a more suicidal course, or more efficiently aid our enemies, than by converting the bread that God has given us into whiskey, and thereby securing a famine. When our corn is converted into ardent spirits its nutritious properties are forever destroyed, and these properties cannot be brought back, although the salvation of our country might hang suspended upon the attempt.

If Joseph, and the people of Egypt, had destroyed the surplus corn of that country during the seven years of plenty, famine and extinction must have been the inevitable result in the years of scarceness that immediately followed. And although they might have had their store houses filled to overflowing with spirituous liquors of the choicest quality, yet they could derive no relief or nourishment from these. They could not be a substitute for corn. So when the year of scarceness comes to us we will not be able to subsist long upon our corn converted into whiskey, however abundant it may be. And what will we do? We cannot procure our supplies from abroad, for the enemy is besieging us, and we surely cannot have the impudence to go and seek relief from God, after grossly insulting him by deliberately destroying the bread with which he had so liberally furnished us. We should look at this insult now, and with shame and contrition confess it before God, and forsake it. It is an accursed thing in the midst of us, and we cannot stand before our enemies, until we remove this accursed thing from among us.

There can be no doubt, in the mind of any one, who takes a glimpse at the places of general concourse, that intemperance is on the increase in our land. Let any one visit our court-yards and depots, or take a seat in our cars, and he will see the evidence around him that we are becoming an intemperate people. View our citizens as they assemble to consult respecting our common safety and defence, and how many are there entirely disqualified by intoxicating drink for calm deliberation? Witness our soldiers as they pass to the scenes of deadly strife, or return on furlough to their homes, and how many of them seem to think it an absolute necessity to be armed with the bottle or the jug, and boldly draw from it until they are completely drunk! And are these things to continue? Is it so, that the more the enemy presses upon us, and our dangers increase, we will seek relief and comfort from the intoxicating bowl? Intemperance is a great sin in the sight of God, and it is especially so in those who profess to put their trust in him. Is it not an insult offered to God to ask or to expect him to bless and co-operate with drunken soldiers, and intemperate commanders! God's displeasure must rest upon such a practice. “No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.” “Wo to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet.” Now if these things be so, ought there not to be great searching of heart to see if this be not that “accursed thing in the midst of us” which displeases God, and causes us to flee before our enemies? The sin of Achan brought the displeasure of God and defeat to the entire camp of Israel. And one drunken commander or soldier may bring down the displeasure of God and secure the defeat of our entire army.

If there ever was a time in the history of our country when virtue, temperance, calm determined resolve, and wise deliberate counsel, ought to be exercised, this is that time. The grog shops throughout the land ought to be closed, the distillery fires extinguished, and our people from the highest to the lowest practice true temperance. We might then expect God to go forth with our arms. But let intemperance continue and increase, and the result must be increasingly disastrous.

Intemperance and profaneness are near of kin. They often go hand in hand. Profaneness is a habit inexcusable, in past days regarded as impolite, and is certainly highly displeasing to God. It is a disregard of the authority of God, and an irreverent use of the sacred titles of the Ruler of the Universe. It tramples under foot a plain command: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” The teaching of Christ is very plain on this point. “Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne; Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool; neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

It is an excuse that will not be valid at the court of heaven, that we have become so accustomed to swearing that we do not know often when we take God's name in vain. This only enhances our guilt, and it exhibits the dreadful wickedness of sin in leading us to disobey God until we can do it without a thought. But does any one doubt that profaneness prevails in our land? This doubt may be soon dissipated. Take your seat, if you please, in a large popular hotel in one of our cities. The large promiscuous croud are all strangers to you. You are amazed to find that oaths are belched forth on the right hand and on the left. You fix your eye upon one whose dress and general bearing is that of the true gentleman. Your instictive thought is, surely here is one who will not swear. He soon enters into conversation. He becomes a little excited; and presently you are satisfied that you have been somewhat deceived, for he too employs the dialect of hell. He intersperses freely his assertions and conversation with oaths. But this practice is not confined to the promiscuous croud, but prevails all over the land, and has found its way, to an alarming extent, into our army. Our soldiers swear; and may I not in truth say, that many of our officers are profane.

In view of these things, and in the knowledge of these things, must not the solemn question arise in the serious reflecting mind, how can God go with our army, and crown their efforts with victory, while that army, professing to trust in him, curse and blaspheme his holy name?

It would have produced amazement in heaven and earth too, if God had blessed, defended, and crowned with victory Joshua and the hosts of Israel, while they were disobeying him, and taking his name in vain.

So we may not be astonished at the recent defeats of our army, When we remember the holiness of God, and the veracity of God, and that he has declared that he “will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” The prospects before us are gloomy. Not simply because we have a powerful malignant enemy with which to contend. This is but a small part of my fear or dread, for it is easy for God to save by many or by few. But it is because we have offended God by our sins. Profaneness stalks abroad. Even our boys and servants are rapidly coming up to the stature of perfect men in profanity. They too can swear. God declares by his prophet Jeremiah, “Because of swearing the land mourneth.” Is not this an accursed thing in the midst of us, a fatal moral disease all over the land, securing the displeasure of God, and by his judgments causing the land to mourn? And may it not be true that we cannot stand before our enemies until we are purged of this daring sin? Let us with humility confess it, let us morn over it, and let us forsake it that we may find mercy. And if my voice could reach the ear of all our beloved soldiers, I would earnestly and affectionately say to them, soldiers, if you would have the blessing of God, if you would be shielded by God's power in the day of battle, and if you would be able to stand victorious before your enemies, revere God, obey his commandments, fear an oath. You then have God with you, and you can sing as the saints have ever delighted to sing, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”