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 its Constitution, without the
hearty belief that this Union is a gift of God, to be ours only while we
continue fit to hold it, and to be fought for as for life itself (for a
large, free individual life for each one of us is involved in the great
life of the Union), without this deep, rock-rooted conviction in the
heart of the nation, we shall tend to lukewarmness--to an awful
indifference as to how this contest shall end; and begin to seek for
present peace at any price.
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