"
"Yes, but only with God's help," cried the king; "we need it above
all; without it we are lost."
"But God is with us," exclaimed Alexander, enthusiastically, "I know
it; I have gained this firm conviction ever since the great and
terrible days of Moscow and the Beresina. God sent me those days of
trial and terror that I might believe--and now I do believe. Until
then I was a man enthralled by worldly doubts, relying upon my own
strength, and rejoicing, not without vanity, in my earthly
greatness. I thought of God, I loved Him, but He did not fill my
whole soul--I pursued my own path, and diverted myself. But the
conflagration of Moscow illuminated my mind, and the judgment of the
Lord on the ice-fields filled my heart with a fervor of faith which
it had never felt until then. With the flames of the holy city the
hand of God wrote on the reddened sky, 'I am the Lord thy God!' With
the rivers of blood flowing from the grand army of the French, the
finger of the Lord wrote on the snow-fields, 'Thou shalt have no
other gods before me!' Since then there is a wonderful joy, an
indescribable humility, and an immovable faith in my heart--since
then I have become another man. To the deliverance of Europe from
utter ruin I owe my own soul's salvation." [Footnote: The emperor's
words.--Vide Eylert, "Frederick William III.," vol.
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