and sacrifice of multitudes of unknown men lifted to a great stature in
the view of all generations by knowing no limit to their manly
willingness to serve. In armies thus marshaled from the ranks of free
men you will see, as it were, a nation embattled, the leaders and the
led, and may know, if you will, how little except in form its action
differs in days of peace from its action in days of war.

May we break camp now and be at ease? Are the forces that fight for the
Nation dispersed, disbanded, gone to their homes forgetful of the common
cause? Are our forces disorganized, without constituted leaders and the
might of men consciously united because we contend, not with armies, but
with principalities and powers and wickedness in high places? Are we
content to lie still? Does our union mean sympathy, our peace
contentment, our vigor right action, our maturity self-comprehension and
a clear confidence in choosing what we shall do? War fitted us for
action, and action never ceases.

I have been chosen the leader of the Nation. I cannot justify the choice
by any qualities of my own, but so it has come about, and here I stand.
Whom do I command? The ghostly hosts who fought upon these battlefields
long ago and are gone? These gallant gentlemen stricken in years whose
fighting days, are over, their glory won? What are the orders for them,
and who rallies them? I have in my mind another host, whom these set
free of civil strife in order that they might work out in days of peace
and settled order the life of a great Nation. That host is the people
themselves, the great and the small, without class or difference of kind
or race or origin; and undivided in interest, if we have but the vision
to guide and direct them and order their lives aright in what we do. Our
constitutions are their articles of enlistment. The orders of the day
are the laws upon our statute books. What we strive for is their