.w& 649 W56 opy 1 THANKSGIVING SERMON IB3T / Rev. JOSEPH R. WHEELER, Pastor of the Meth. Epis. Church, ^ULIEIKZ.A.ILTIDIEaZ^ VA. Delivered November 29, 1866. PRINTED AT THE "VIRGINIA STATE JOURNAL" JOB OFFICE, ALEXANDRIA, VA. ■Id 5* THANKSGIVING SER "The children of Issachar, which were tnen that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do. — 1 Chronicles 12: 32. This is high commendation which the sacred historian bestows upon these men, who had joined themselves to David in order to strengthen the kingdom under him. The value of such men is incalculable to any people in which they are found, and it is not the least among the subjects for thanks- giving, that the great Ruler of nations raises up from time to time 'those who are capable of directing the affairs of State. In our country, where free institutions are found in their most perfect forms, every man is responsible for the condition of the country. It may be admitted that the leaders directly control; but, since the leaders derive their positions from, and are sustained in their positions by the people, the assertion is incontrovertible that the people are directly responsible for the conduct of the leaders, by which the condition of the country is superinduced. Recognizing our responsibility to God in this matter, as well as all others, it becomes us as Christians to un- derstand the times, that we may intelligently meet our obliga- tions, and be clear when we are judged. And I think we shall render unto God a more acceptable sacrifice of praise if in our days of national thanksgiving, we join to our gratitude for mer- cies past, a sincere effort to learn what he would yet have us to do, that we may go forth to labor in accordance with the will of God. Our view of duty determines our Mctian^rnd it is of the firs! importance that we see our duty as based on moral and religious grounds. We propose on this day of national grati- tude to enquire what is our duty as a Church in relation to the times. In this enquiry, we shall be greatly assisted by ascer- taining the relation of the Church to the world. This will be absolutely accessary, because latterly some latitude have most shamefully misrepresented that relation, and have by their teachings given prevalence and power to a hen y which has led many into an error which is but little less than infidelity. As far as we are able to form an opinion, we think that those alliances by which the Church is made a pari of the State find no warrant in the Sacred Scriptures. Nowhere is it recog- nized in tin; New Testament that the Church shall be a part of the machinery of the government. Her mission is much higher and more grand than this. While she may not form a pari she must pervade every department, and by Divine influences ele- vate and purify. Her free and untrammeled working depends upon her being kept separate from and independent of the State. The first important truth to which we call a ion in this enquiry, is that the Church is the only represen • God has in the world. It is not to be supposed that in as important a province as this world forms in the Empire of God, that He would leave himself without some representation. Something which shall declare His sovreignty, and which shall teach His laws. If he were to be thus unrepresented, the. world would be abandoned of its Creator, and He would have no authority over it. Where do we find but in the Church the living power which thus testi- fies of the great Governor ? Where any ion which shows His care over the intelligent beings He has placed here? Or where any declaration that He desires their well-being ? has, therefore, or i the Church to bear witness of Him, and sent her forth on her mission, ! lim the Truth, and defend it. She is to urge God's claim upon men. and hoL to their responsibility to Him, in every act of their life. She is to insisl upon the application of God's law to every subject, and every question that presents itself to man for his action- Her authority is to arraign everything ai the bar of Truth, and there to try them. Xations and their rulers, with I :' ; '- princi- ples and practices, b r the same relation to her as the individ- ual conduct of the private citizen. And wherever she see* sin or error, she mast denounce it, or be recreant to her high \\ ardship. She must so represent God, that men in all their relations, associations and conduct, shall feel that in every and all of their acts they are directly amenable to the Great Jeho- vah! If the Church docs not do this, what agency or ins tion on earth docs do it ? Again ; God has commit led (he gospel of Jesus Christ to the Church. She is charged with the spread and the final triumph of the religion of Jesus over all the earth. This gospei is (lie only remedial system for the evils of the world. Whatever evil there is in the world, ii has been occa- sioned by sin, and with the removal of sin the evils svil] dis- appear. The various forms of suffering from oppression, ci uelty, inhumanity and selfishness, must all yield vvhe i aen sh actuated by the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. U is a glory which shines with a divine lustre around the history of the Christian Church, that her course has been one of so much benificence to mankind. We point with unhesitating confidence to this feature of her history, and challenge co tradiction. Wherever she has been established the masses have felt her quickening power, and have risen redeemed and ennobled; nations have laid aside their oppressions, and assumed a mi! ler rule, while "man's inhumanity to man" has given place to brotherly kindness. We mean by the Church here, not any particular denomina- tion, but all who love our Lord Jesus Chris! in sincerity, and who make T J is glory their sole standard and motive. These all themselves having put on Christ, are now actively engaged, in the labor of bringing in the universal reign of righteousness. : iiis will be done when Christians of all classes hall impress upon the circle in which they move Iheii own purity and holi- ness. The statesman in the halls of legislation, and the collier in the black bowels of (he earth ; the ruler directing the affairs of state, and the farmer, and the merchant, and the artizan; the man out of doors, and the v oraan in uiet sphere of do- mestic life, shall each infuse into his and her department the spirit "which was also in J ssus." This, I think., gives lis a of the relation of the Church to the world for ■ this in : h Lbj ; ;: the scrutiny of a pulpit investigation, if is an e ' i • to p ss unnoticed. And let it be remembered al " ' I only political questions must not be alluded to, h nieiit and rulers must be inte lieto:!. /. evil could not threaten the life of a i gives political tonic- exemp P • Why are party prineipL n ' pa tyquesti _ forth as il sis of action for 1' ' ' of God? Are the actions of men i , '' ' tl y are of cal character? And bo 5 shall adopt a question upon which 1 , . > oy a theory upon which to stake a party tri pi they tl be wholly absolved from any sc " ' ■ of their theories — and as Ion, pi " theo- ries, has God nor , > no juri liction over them, nor any right to 1 ' ■!? We can very well understand why this error is broached. When men see that their party success depends u] on blinding others to the tiuth, their attempt is fust to muzzle the pulpit. And if the sacred desk utters its warning against the iniquity of such men, they throw up theii hands in well dissembled horror at the perversion of the sacred office. Satan charging God with perversion when the Devil is unmasked ! T/iit shall we cower before their outcry, and be intimidated !>;, :! eii cla- mor? No. li' politicians dare to sin, let them be as unscath- ingly rebuked as when any other sinner is repro d for gressions. The church should U\ to prevent sin in publii as well as in private, and of all ministers of God and congre- gations of ili> people in our land, none do erve more, if as much, from this nation than Flenr Ward Beecher and Plynn church. There is no truth more manifest than tin t thos< using this cry are either deceivers or deceived. It ha ■' thoi to its last resurrection when Stephen A. Don have that iniquitous bill which proposed the repeal o1 souri Compromise, passed. That compromise had rj sections, and the North abided by it for years to their <" vantage. The South was not in condition to avail the.] ; of any benefit or to suffer any loss from its exi \t as soon as the time came when a benefit n its violation, the South, with that n ! I sne ■ ' wh'ch is preeminently the spirt of secession, sought wry. Then, because three thousand ministers ente ed the'r ] against it, and from a religious stand point d ' m iniquity, this Senator calumniously chat id th ' iving their holy calling and contaminating themselves w.'tl of politics. Ah yes, he saw it was to aw; ken th : w e of the people against his pet scheme. It would nrou ' ; ! ligous convictions of the nation against the hobby upon winch he hoped to ride into the Presidential chair, and I them. He saw their right and truth and cord insry 6 their assertion. Eence it suited him to attack their act and eharge them with the degradation and perversion of their holy calling. As well might I have said that they left their holy calling and contaminated themselves with filthy revels of bar- rooms and brothels because they declared such places were in- famous and sinful. Was it not their place, as watchmen on the wails of Zion, to give the nation warning of the intend* d wrong? And was ii not rather proof of their fearless zeal in their sacred office that they dared to denounce sin, even when ^.}^\i in the Senate Chamber of the United Stales? If they had been si- lent, they would have been unfaithfnl to God who had placed them in their high trust., and would have proven themselves unworthy the cause they were set to defend. We might well enquire, had these men no rights or privi- leges as American citizens? Had they forfeited all their inte- rest in their nation except to be protected by it, because God had called them to the work of the ministry? Was patriotism, which prompts others to feel a lively interest in the affairs of government, a, virtue in a Senator and a crime in a- clergyman? We may well ask such questions as these in unfeigned amaze- ment, when we see how such demagogues would thrust aside holy men because they rebuke their sin. But its last resurrection was when our arms had been vic- torious and the rebellion crushed. Those who had made the heavens ring, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, with their political ravings, now that they did not dare to preach as they had just done, raised the old outcry, the Church must be free from politics, t was told of one who, on a Sabbath morning, in a church in the Valley of Virginia, in the year 1861, with the altar table below him, on which was spread the elements which were to be used as emblems of the broken body and shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, delivered such a partizan ha- rangue that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper had to be post- poned until the following day — a week day. It does seem strange that those who so recently used their pulpits as agen- cies in the interests of the Rebellion, should so suddenly be converted, and find bow dreadfully wrong it is even to pray for the nation they could not destroy. It would have hem well if their conversion had been a little more I liorougli and made tin ra see the sin of treason as well as the sin of pn i it. Who cannot see that lids is n mean and igi nbterfuge. It is simply — we can't preach and pray for oar side, and there ought not to be any preaching and praying on tin ' ct. I remember a story of a chicken and a horse Feeding at the same place. While the horse fed from the trough, tin chiek< n pick- ed up the grains that fell on the floor. The st; mping of (lie horse kept the chicken in constant alarm, and final!}' lie pro- posed to make this bargain with the horse. "If you will not tread on my toes, Mr. horse. I will not tread on yours." In the consciousness that their day has past, aial their cause can only he sustained by this popular outcry, they have not hesitated to adopt it, and bishops an;! elders and deacons unite in serving the devil and infidelity — and there are many timid and weak minded persons who are greatly alarmed. They fail to see the true principle, and to take their stand upon it, fearless of the consequences. These take the amount of cla- mor which is made, for weight of argument, and aie disposed to yield their conscience to it. This is a new feature in the history of the Church. We have indeed, learned another gospel if it is the prerogative of ungodly men and disappointed mal- contents to assign the Church her duty, and prescribe what she shall preach. We did not receive our commission from men, nor the truth from conventions, nor are we now to be frighten- ed hy clamorous error. I do not propose that any of us should become politicians. I should earnestly urge every man against being a, demagogue. As conscientious men we could not do so. Here is where we ougt to stand. We are set for the defense of the truth. We should have no political principles apart from our religious convic- tions. We ought to carry with us in all our political as well as other actions our sense of responsibility to God. We ought to entertain no opinions excepl such as we believe, after the. most patient prayer, are approved by the Gospel and its author. Our consciences, as instructed by the Word of Truth, must fully approve all our political principles, and then we shall not be afraid to meet them at the general judgment. Then can we enter the arena of political strife with every guarantee of suc- cess. Keeling that we are right, we have a host of strength in ■ourselves. One or two defeats are nothing. We are right and the right must triumph. We may then mingle in the contests of political life. We ought to enter the arena where political conflicts are fought. What ever the corruption of the men en- gaged in those struggles, that need not affect us any more than the corruptions of men in other spheres of action with whom we have to come in contact. We need not become corrupt, but we may and will purify. We carry our purity as Christians and holiness as servants of God with us, and become moral dis- infectants. If politics are to be separated from morality and religion,, then indeed would it be wrong for us to engage in po- litical affairs. They would be abandoned of God and good men. As Christians we ought to determine such shall not be the case, and struggle on faithfully and fearlessly for God and humanity. This is the method by which God will introduce the triumph of the Gospel. The whole political power of this world shall be possessed by those who are the people of God. This is no visionary idea, but the sober truth. God, as the great Ruler, does not intend that evil and sin shall forever rule on the earth. The clearest declarations of prophecy point to the time when "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and his Christ." The prophet Daniel declares : "The kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." This glorious result is not to burst upon the world suddenly, but will be brought in by the gradual 9 conquests which arc now being achieved by principles of the Gospel. It is indeed time that the affairs of our country were taken out of the hands of men who s:o to their inauguration into hiali ofliees intoxicated, or who ire professional gamblers and prize fighters. It is n burning shame upon us that wicked men, and men whose principles are abandoned of good, slum] ! make and execute the laws of a Christian nation; and (he only way in which we can correct it i-- by combining as religious men, and ex ertjOur influence as churches, to require that men who are entrusted with high pjfices shall be men of as mi cli uprightness and integrity as when we entrust them with our private busi- ness. We would not make gambler^ and drunkards our com- mercial agents, and yet wo make them Senators and Represen- tatives. It is to me a s mrcc of devout thanksgiving that I belong to a Church that has dared to arraign political evils and denounce (hem. I rejoice that the grand honors of the nation rest on her brow for having enrty tin own herself into the bat- tle for human liberty ; and when called to vindicate her adhe- rence to the cause of free lorn she sent 100,000 of her sons to the altar of liberty, to be sacrificed, if need be, to God in the cause of humanity and truth. When the history of the Churches is written in the coming age, it will be a star of the first magnitude in the crown of those Churches which have distinguished themselves in the great struggle through which our country has just passed. And the friends, at that time. >u those Churches which, prior to the Rebellion, or which, during the terrible war, were silent and unpronounced, or which sympathized with oppression will won- der in shame at the unchristi i conduct of their fathers. In asserting this relation which the Church bears to the world, and the duty which devolves on those who compose her member- ship, we have taken our stand on the highest morality of the Gospel, as well as insisted on the ; : lity that be- comes an heir of lie aven. 10 There is but one important question at this day. Upon this every other (urns. All Nation;,] and local politics hinges upon it. That question is THE NEGRO! There is a general unwillingness here to lake up this ques- tion; a very decided dislike to entertain it ; and that, too, on account of but one objection. If we say we object because of his color, we make fin objection against God, under whose pro- vidence he is made a black man. 'Ibis I think no Christian man can entertain. If we say it is because of our education, hard- ly any would be willing to allow (.hat. Then he would assert that prejudice not principle governs him — for prejudice alone has been instilled by our Southern education. The real and only cause is that it is unpopular, and public .sentiment here is so much opposed to any human and religious examination of the questions affecting the negro, that as soon as they are intro- duced, many are provoked to anger, and we yield to the clamor made by them. But this is unwise. THE ISSUE HAS TO COME. It may be delayed, but it cannot be prevented from coming. The abolition of slavery had to come. God never intended it should last forever. If the South had abolished it when she had her wealth in lands and treasure, it would have been vastly better; but they of the South refused to abolish it. But Abolition had to come, and when they refused to allow it to come in a peaceable manner, it came with all the horrors and desolations of a frightful war. If w r e refuse to consider this question, it will only gather strength, and at last we shall be obliged to consider it under circumstances more unfavorable than the present. There are special reasons why we, as Christians, should now take hold of the issues involved. As a work of benevolence, it recommends itself to our sympathy and charity. Is there a people anywhere in a more pitiable condition than he is among us. Just look over the land. Four millions of human beings now in poverty, ignorance and degradation. They have no homes, no money, no land, no stock. They have never been 11 accustomed to take care of themselves. The} are improvident and short-sighted as the result of their .slave life; and now thrown out of all their former usages and habits without any preparation for their present state. They are exposed to vice and immorality, and their ignorance and destitution render them extremely liable to crime. They are in this condition here in a Christian laud, whose religion is love to God and man. It is saidjit would have been better for them to remain slaves. Well, grant that. We ask, are they responsible for their freedom? Did they emancipate themselves? Was it not thrust upon them by the dominant race? And certainly it is worse than cruel now to deny any and all assistance to them because they are in a condition which they did not seek and could not avoid. Their freedom was by the providence el' God, and that providence which set them free demands of us that we do our duty to them as to freemen. We must consider the questions growing out of the present state of the negro, and do our duty to him or be recreant to our obligation to follow every path that. Providence opens. If from the hands of the Christian people they do not find help, where will they go to get it. They have no friends elsewhere. Many newspapers play the part of scavengers in gathering up every item that is unfavorable to them and send- ing them round the circle of their readers. The animus of the Southern people is shown in the riot in this town one year ago; in New Orleans, in Memphis, and in breaking up the religious assemblies as at Shipley's woods in Maryland. When did you ever hear of a native man, south of the Potomac, aiding in building school houses for them, and when others do they burnt them down. They destroy their churches. They rob their teachers, and what is worse, they so foully traduce the charac- ter of those teachers as that they are objects of public odium. Such treatment they only recei\ e from the dominant race in the South. God will not look indifferently on this, nor will he sanction us who sit by in apathy and witness it. If we do not vindicate these unfortunate people, God will punish us and raise 12 up ; ; better generation in our stead, who will. If (here ever was a work for Christian charity, it is to be found here; and I doubt that a more acceptable thanksgiving could bo rendered tinto God, than by prayerfully enquiring "what wilt Thou have me to do" in this matter, and then offer our vows to faithfully do our whole duty. Another reason why we should consider these questions is, the restoration of our country depends upon our settling them in the right way. That only is the right way which elevates them from their present degraded condition, and gives them the rights and privileges of men and human beings. When the war was over, wo rejoiced with a great joy. We thought it a time worthy of a special thanksgiving, that peace had dawned upon our land. As wo thought over the past, and realized that the din and horror of battle had passed away; that no more would wo sec armies of weary, worn, foot-sore men filing past to lay down (heir life on the field. of battle; that wo would not hear the roar of the cannon, and the rattling of the musketry, when every sound of discharging guns either sent an immortal soul into eternity, or laid a human body in agony, wounded on the field ; that now again the arts of peace would revive; that sectional hate would pass away, and brotherly love again unite us. Wo thought that having been relieved of the great burden that had kept us back in our career of prosperity, all sections would set to work to repair the shattered fortunes, and recover the ravages which war had made, and predicted that our future would be one of speedy recu;: oration. As we thought and felt thus, our hearts swelled with gladness. But how different to-day the condition from our anticipations ! More unkimlnees prevails than at the outbreak or the close of the war, and all the political elements of the land are in threatening commotion. The reason is obvious. We are unwilling to fin- ish the work which God has assigned us. To leave them as they now are is inhuman, and God's controversy with us will continue until we shall be willing to work for them that they may be qualified for iho new position in which they are now. 13 We ought to encourage them in their educational enterprises. We should regard those of our own race who have come amongst us to teach them as men and women who are engaged in as noble a work as those who go to Africa as missionaries. We should encourage them in learning the various branches of bus- iness which will make them self-sustaining. We must awaken their manhood. We must secure to them all the privileges of citizens and the rights of freemen. They must have the right of suffrage, and the whole code of law must be revised and so amended as to give them equality before the law with every other race in the country. The most general sentiment on the subject is : ''you ought not to allude to these subjects, because they will only exaspe- rate and awaken animosity." Who will be exasperated? Why the very men who for four years tried to destroy the govern- ment. Men and women who do not care lor you, but hate you because you are not of their party. What favor have they shown you? What have you to expect from them ? Have they not ostracized you socially, ecclesiastically, commercially and politically? Do not they make every offensive demonstration of their opinions ? 1 think it strange, when people see how they are scorned because they maintain their principles, that they should still attempt concesssions for reconciliation. By concession we abandon the light. By temporizing and attempt- ing to hold on to principle, and yet not declare it. we fail. Po- licy will do no longer. It fails to secure the favor of our ene- mies and brings the contempt of our friends ; we do not silence the one nor obtain the support of the other; but stand in a pitiable plight — disowned of both. We must do that which is right, fearlessly and fully. Whether it exasperates or pleases is nothing to us. We are not called as people of God to take care of consequences, but to do faithful service to God. If in declaring and maintaining the right, we awaken wrath, and un- sheath the sword, it will be found that when the sword is 15 sheathed again, and the storm hushed, that the truth will have triumphed. We are not to be turned aside from the work by any amount of opprobrium that may be heaped upon us. We may be met with the well-worn cry of "negro equality." Well, what of that. Does the charge prove the fact? There is no equality in the sense in which this is intended among the whites — and it is hardly necessary to require civil law to re- strain persons of duTerent races and colors from an equality which does not exist among people of the same color and race. If we act as Christian men and women in these matters, in view of our obligations to God — not as politicians, but "as shew- ing mercy to the poor " — God will take care of our future, and our children will inherit from us a land richer in temporal and spiritual blessings than any the sun has ever shone on, and our returning days of national thanksgivings will resound with the songs of the happy multitudes who shall " enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise." LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1 013 764 577 4 r v \ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 764 577 4