Civil War. There were persons whose every-day pursuits were greatly
deranged by the Civil War. It proved that the lesson was a lesson gladly
received. I have had letters from seamen who read it as they were lying
in our blockade squadrons off the mouths of Southern harbors. I have had
letters from men who read it soon after the Vicksburg campaign. And in
other ways I have had many illustrations of its having been of use in
what I have a right to call the darkest period of the Republic.

To-day we are not in the darkest period of the Republic.

This nation never wishes to make war. Our whole policy is a policy of
peace, and peace is the protection of the Christian civilization to
which we are pledged. It is always desirable to teach young men and
young women, and old men and old women, and all sorts of people, to
understand what the country is. It is a Being. The LORD, God of nations,
has called it into existence, and has placed it here with certain duties
in defence of the civilization of the world.

It was the intention of this parable, which describes the life of one
man who tried to separate himself from his country, to show how terrible
was his mistake.

It does not need now that a man should curse the United States, as
Philip Nolan did, or that he should say he hopes he may never hear her
name again, to make it desirable for him to consider the lessons which
are involved in the parable of his life. Any man is "without a country
who, by his sneers, or by looking backward, or by revealing his
country's secrets to her enemy, checks for one hour the movements which
lead to peace among the nations of the world, or weakens the arm of the
nation in her determination to secure justice between man and man, and