in a duplicity not unlike that which stripped us three years ago of half our defences, kept up an appearance of friendship till the English fleet filled the channel, and then joined the invader, when the resources of the government had been loosened and spent in a long period of security, and the commander-in-chief was a youth of but twenty-two years; when, to help the parallel, several of the United Dutch States seceded,—with treason in camp and council and border cities. Then, writes one of the historians, Holland waged her war against these odds with daily meetings for prayer; her believing and adoring people fled to the temples of God; it was for their nationality and for their faith they were to fight; and as they prayed, their heroic hearts grew stouter and stouter. A tide of remarkable ebb kept the French and English from landing, and then a tempest swept them seaward; the patriots, who added vigor and ammunition and gold to their prayers, prepared their force, and pursued, and routed them; infatuation was sent into the French king's brain; and while one of the brave Dutch commanders was saying, in his great faith, "The weaker we are, the surer am I of victory, for my confidence is not in man, but in Almighty God," lo! the Almighty God scattered his enemies, and, with less than a year's conflict, the Republic was safe.

Remember, once more, an example of answered prayer for a people, nearer home, and in the history of our own Fathers. In the year 1746, the people of Boston, alarmed at the prospect of an armed French invasion upon their colony by sea, in forty vessels from Nova Scotia, kept a day of fasting and prayer. When they were assembled in their places of worship, after a morning which had been "perfectly clear and calm," a sudden gust of wind arose, and shook the buildings. That storm wrecked the fleet on the coast of the eastern provinces; the principal commander, the Duke d'Anville, took his own life in mortification; thousands perished; and the expedition failed forever. "It shall come to pass," saith thy God, "that while they are yet speaking, I will hear."

Righteous as our cause is, we have not been a righteous people. Official bribery, corrupt legislation, partisan politics, a besotted lust for promotion, luxury, and display, irreverence towards God's Sabbaths and sanctuaries, and a headstrong self-will,-these are but parts of the black cloud of our transgressions provoking the just judgments that are abroad in the land. Would that the supplications of the prostrate nation might be as the prayer of one repenting heart, that the God of our fathers would return, and spare and forgive us; make men to be of one mind in this house of their inheritance;

and yet cause it to be Emmanuel's land, loyal to the Great King, with the law and liberty and love of Christ blessing its borders, with one faith, and one baptism, and with the glory of the Lord both risen and abiding upon it!

THE PRESIDENT'S HYMN.

FOR THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING, Nov. 26, 1863.

GIVE thanks, all ye people, give thanks to the Lord, Alleluias of freedom, let Freemen accord;

Let the East, and the West, North and South roll along, Sea, mountain and prairie, One thanksgiving song.

Chorus after each verse.

Give thanks, all ye people, give thanks to the LORD,
Alleluias of freedom, let Freemen accord.

For the sunshine and rainfall, enriching again

Our acres in myriads, with treasures of grain;

For the Earth still unloading her store-house of wealth, For the Skies beaming vigor, the Winds breathing health: Give thanks

For the Nation's wide table, o'erflowingly spread, Where the many have feasted, and all men have been fed, With no bondage, their God-given rights to enthral,

But Liberty guarded by Justice for all:

Give thanks

In the realms of the Anvil, the Loom, and the Plow, Whose the mines and the fields, to Him gratefully vow: His the flocks and the herds, sing ye hill-sides and vales; On His Ocean domains chant His Name with the gales. Give thanks

Of commerce and traffic, ye princes, behold
Your riches from Him Whose the silver and gold:
Happier children of Labor, true lords of the soil,

Bless the Great Master-Workman, who blesseth your toil.
Give thanks-

Brave men of our forces, Life-guard of our coasts,
To your Leader be loyal, Jehovah of Hosts:

Glow the Stripes and the Stars aye with victory bright,
Reflecting his glory,-He crowneth the Right.

Give thanks

Nor shall ye through our borders, ye stricken of heart,
Only wailing your dead, in the joy have no part:
God's solace be yours, and for you there shall flow
All that honor and sympathy's gifts can bestow.
Give thanks-

The Domes of Messiah-there, ye worshipping throngs, Solemn litanies mingle with jubilant songs;