myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter, and if I can learn what it is, I will do it."

LETTER TO REV. ALEXANDER REED, FEB. 22, 1863.

"Whatever shall be, sincerely and in God's name, devised for the good of the soldiers and seamen in their hard spheres of duty, can scarcely fail to be blessed; and whatever shall tend to turn our thoughts from the unreasoning and uncharitable passions, prejudices and jealousies incident to a great national trouble such as ours, and to fix them on the vast and longenduring consequences, for weal or woe, which are to result from the struggle, and especially to strengthen our reliance on the Supreme Being for the final triumph

"The President announces to the country that news from the Army of the Potomac, up to 10 P. M. of the 3d, is such as to cover that army with the highest honor; to promise a success to the cause of the Union; and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen; and that for this he especially desires that on this day He whose will, not ours, should ever be done, be everywhere remembered with the profoundest gratitude."

THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION, OCT.

3, 1863.

"No human council hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked

out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.-It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently acknowledged, as with one heart and voice, by the whole American people."

TO A CLERGYMAN WHO SAID: "I HOPE THE LORD IS ON OUR SIDE."

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"I am not at all concerned about that, for I know the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."

TO REV. J. T. DURYEA, OF NEW YORK. "If it were not for my firm belief in an over-ruling Providence, it would be difficult for me, in the

midst of such complications of affairs, to keep my reason in its seat. But I am confident that the Almighty has his plans and will work them out; and whether we see it or not, they will be the wisest and best for us."

LETTER TO MR. A. G. HODGES, FRANKFORT, KY., APRIL 4, 1864.

"In telling this tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events controlled me. Now, at the end of the three years' struggle, the nation's condition is not what either party or any man devised or expected.

"God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God wills now the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North as well as you of the

South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God."

TO A COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1864.

"It may fairly be said that the Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted than the rest, is, by its greater numbers, the most important of all. It is no fault in others that the Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospitals, and more prayers to Heaven, than any other. God bless the Methodist Church! Bless all the churches, and blessed be God, who in this Our great trial giveth us the churches."