'», ^9^ j7 '-^K o C^/\ °» • 0^ :^ THE DIVINE GOODNESS ^ AS SEEN IN OUR NATIONAL HISTORY ^ iritf f ieto 0f 0ttr ftrils huIj (!0Mipti0«s. A DISCOURSE NOVEMBER 85th, 1852. BY CHA.LDN BURGESS. BUFFALO: A. M. CLAPP & CO....PRINTEKS, Office of the Morning- Express. 1853. N-^* •^ <; ^O.^ CORUESPONDENCE. Little Valley, Nov. 28th, 1853. Rkv. U. Burgess, Dear Sir : — Believing that the Discourse which we had the pleasure of hearing from you on Thanksgiving Day contains sentiments of great importance, and worthy of a wider diffusion than they had on that occasion, we therefore respect- fully sohcit a copy for publication. Respectfully Yours, C. S. SHEPARD, ALFRED AYRES, S. S. MARSH. Messrs. C. S. Shei'Ard, Alfred Ayres and S. S. Marsh. Gentlemen : — After this long delay, I comply with the request contained in your note, of Nov. 28th, for a copy of my discourse. It is not without diffidence that I consent to make public so hasty and imperfect a production, and I should hesitate the njore in doing so were it not for encouragement to that effect given soon after its, delivery. Hoping, however, that its jJublication may not be entirely useless, you will please accept my thanks for the respect and kind attention you have thus shown me. Truly Yours, C. BURGESS. J.ittlc Valley, February bth, 1853. '7 DISCOURSE. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy Great Good- ness, AND SHALL SING OF THY RIGHTEOUSNESS. Psa. Cxlv. 7. We are liere to-day at the call of our Chief Magis- trate to offer our thanksgivings to Almighty God for his abundant and varied mercies. We come in compliance with an usage long established, and every way of most appropriate and beneficent influence. We are not alone in this service. Thousands in our own noble state, and other thousands in many other states of this great con- federacy, are now gathered in their respective places of worship for a similar purpose. It is a beautiful sight — that of a great and free people thus voluntarily setting apart one day in the year for the public recognition of their dependence upon God, and the free, full utterance of their gratitude to Him for their many national and personal blessings. It is full of cheering and hopeful omens. That nation or in- dividual cannot be wholly destitute of what is lovely and of good import, in whom a spirit of thankfulness for mercies received still reigns ; but the heai*t, be it national or individual, that is insensible to blessings — that depreciates them, or that does not thi'ob with grate- ful acknowledgment to the Giver, fiirnislies fearful evi- dence that it is already far gone in depravity, and pre- pared to plunge to yet lower depths in crime. The gratitude to which nature and reason prompt us religion enjoins as a duty. We are not told in Scripture to num- ber or weigh our sorrows, but we are encouraged to count up our mercies and our joys. To keep the eye ever open to perceive, and the heart soft to feel the va- ried and countless mercies that hang in rich and ripened clusters all along our pathway through life, is a virtue eminently christian in its character. For its enforcement the Bible is full of precepts and examples. We are there told to " Offer unto God thanksgiving ;" to " Enter into his com*ts with praise ;" to " Be thankful unto him and bless his name ;" to " Utter abundantly the memoiy of his great goodness ;" and the Psalm fi'om which these last words are taken, is remarkable for this — that it con- tains nothing throughout but thanksgiving and praise. It is an employment therefore eminently scriptui'al and christian in which we now propose to engage youi* thoughts, for a few moments, while, in compliance with the suggestion of the text, we shall enumerate some of the blessings which distinguish us as a people. There is indeed a particular sense in which the words could be applied to the Jew as they can be to no other nation. They were a peculiar, a chosen people. Through them the Messiah was to come. For their defence or deliver- ance God had interfered with visible agency — with mighty signs, and portents, and miracles. But though " He hath not dealt so with any nation " as He did with them — and hence they of all others are most specially called upon to " Utter abundantly the memory of His great goodness " — yet these words apply, we think, to us as a nation with great, with signal force. Let us with this view briefly recount some of the most promi- nent instances of God's " great goodness " to us. I. — god's goodness to us appears in the ciecumstances OF OUR national ORIGIN. Our origin is not, like that of most other nations, lost in a fabulous antiquity. We are able to point to the precise time of our national birth — to name the people whence we sprung — to trace the causes, whether more near or more remote, that brought us to this land, and finally developed our existence as a separate and inde- pendent nation. Our origin, too, does not, like that of many other nations, point us back to a paternity of mit- laws — to schemes of criminal adventure — to scenes of successful but unjust and bloody invasion. We cannot indeed lay claim to entire exemption from all these cir- cumstances of humiliation, but we do claim that any such scenes that may have stained the records of our early history are to be regarded rather as the unavoidable Goncomitamis than as the impelling fw^ce which drew our fathers to this land. Our origin may be described in one word— it was a religious origin. Other nations have grown up from the fortunes of war — from schemes and adventures for wordly gain — fi-om the union even of out- laws and freebooters ; but ours is the rare felicity to pointx to a nobler original — to point to religion as the presiding genius — the forming hand in our early histo- ry. It was to secure the rights of conscience, freedom to worship God unfettered by ecclesiastical tyranny, that our Pilgrim Fathers fled to this broad land. They were men deeply imbued with a religious spirit. They were actuated and controlled by the principles of the bible. They were men of faith and pi'ayer. They wei-e men of sterling integrity and inflexible purpose. They had learned to fear God and to fear nothing else ; and it is with equal truth and beauty that the gifted Mrs. Hemans describes their object in the following lines : — What sought they thus afar ? Bright jewels of the mine ? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war ? They sought a faith's pure shrine ! " God had sifted three kingdoms " that He might pro- cure the choicest grain, and had reserved the land which He would plant until the fittest and most favorable sea- son had arrived. Long ages of oppi'ession had made ready " a people prepared of the Lord," and here was, "A land all fresh and new" open for their reception. It had been concealed from civilized man till the pilgrims should sigh for deliverance and be ready for its occu- pancy. Here "The stately forests, the towering moun- tains, the majestic rivers, the mighty lakes, had from the creation towered and rolled and tossed themselves, stern and significant emblems of liberty." Here the howl of the wild beast, and the shrill scream or melodious song of birds, were mingled in wild dissonance with the rude speech or cries of savage man, the wandering lord of the soil, whose rough nature was in fit keeping with the wildness of the scene. From no part of this broad continent had there as yet arisen to the Creator any other form of praise than that mute expression which incessantly flows from the adorned landscape or the animal tribes, joyful in their freedom, except the blind homage of an idolatrous or aboriginal worship. But purer incense and a more acceptable sacrifice were yet to ascend from christian hearts along our gigantic rivers and from our wooded hills and expansive plains. When "The fullness of time had come" God called for His chosen band of faithful, pious souls, nurtured in the school of suffering, and thus prepared to prize above all things else freedom from religious tyranny, and they came Not as the conqueror co&es, They the true-hearted came ; Not with the roll of the stirring drums Aud the trumpet that sings of fame. Not as the flyiug come, In silence and in fear; They shook the depths of the desert's gloom With their hymns of lofty clieer. Amid tKe storm they sang ; Aud the stars heard aud the sea ! And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang To the anthem of the free. It was thus there came to our shores, the Puritan Pil- grims — men in whose veins ran the brisk Anglo-Saxon blood, aud in whose heart- the love of christian truth lay deep imbedded, and intertwined with firm pm'poses for civil and religious freedom. Here they erected temples for the pure and spiritual worshi]^ of God. Here they planted schools and colleges. Here they called up with slow and painful toil the appliances and comforts of civ- ilized life. The ancient forests fled before them, and scenes of beauty and culture smiled around. Here, in place of the howling wolf was heard the voice of praise and prayer ; and the various simple but sublime vu'tues of the christian character found an illustration in the life of many an obscm'e yet heroic soul. Throughout all the different colonies the Pilgrims established forms of government into which they infused the spirit of liberty. They had experienced evils enough from the encroach- ment of kingly prerogative uj^on the inalienable rights of men, to teach them to guard with sedulous care the young genius of freedom. They had a stern work to do, and their training had gi\'en them a stern and lofty character. They were fitted for heroic and daring deeds ^ 8 as well as strong social attachments. By such men it was that the foundation and pillars of our institutions were laid ; and whatever is benign or lovely in the as- pect or workings of these institutions now, may be as- cribed to the wise direction — the right and proper start thus given them. That we had such am. origin — that our fathers were prepared by a long course of painful but salutary discipline, through a series of tedious yeai*s, that they might lay wisely and firmly the foundation of a fi'ee and stable government, a government that should be the permanent defence and delight of a great and prosperous people — is it not a marked instance of the Divine Goodness to us, and a matter that calls for pro- found thankftdness to the Father of om* mercies. Oh ! let us from the depth of om* hearts thank God to-day that we had such an origin, and let us endeavo;' to prove by our lives that we are not unworthy such an oiigin. n. — god's goodness to us as a nation is manifest feom OUE PRESENT CIRCU]VISTANCES AND CONDITION. There are several particulai's under this head, to each of which we wish to call attention as fm'nishing cause of thankfulness. 1. — The territory we ocawpy. It is a point, we suppose, established beyond question that the territoiy covered by the United States is infe- rior to none other on the globe. Other nations, it is time, may boast of particulai* advantages, and whilst, in some respects, they may excel some parts of our country, yet it may be justly said, that the advantages Bxefew which are not to be found equalled, if not surpassed, in some part of om* extensive domain. We are able to point to every desu'able variety of soil and climate, from the loveliest of Italian skies, to the stern and invigorating 9 ivinters of the north ; while in our lofty raountaliii ranges, in our numerous and mighty rivers, in our vast expansive lakes, in the majesty and splendid verdure of our forests, in the grandeur of our cataracts, in the abun dance of our mineral and commercial resources, in the picturesque beauty of our scenery in general, and in our many natural advantages for national defence — in nearly if not quite all these, we are confessedly not only with- out a superior, but without an equal. 2. — Our politiGol iiistitfwtions are an evidence of God's great goodness to us, and a ground of thankfulness. The constitution under which we live, though, of course, not free from that imperfection which attaches to all things human, is nevertheless believed to be the freest and best of any known to man. Upon it have been reared institutions which are far in advance of those elsewhere enjoyed — institutions that have become the star of hope to oj^pressed nations, and that have im- pelled us on in a career of unprecedented prosperity. They have been tried by almost every fiery ordeal, and yet stand trustworthy and safe. Who then that has a christian heart, a patriotic heart, an American heart, with- in him, does not find it beating high with impulses of gra- titude and joy as he beholds these institutions passing through trial after trial, and crisis after crisis, unharmed and strong, giving evidence of their safety and stability ? It is at once matter of surprise and thankfulness, that 80 large a people, so separate in interests and in geo- graphical position, so diverse in origin and sentiments, can live together as on£ great nation ; that the Cavalier and the Puritan, the Catholic and the Protestant, the Slaveholder and the Abolitionist, the plodding German, the gay and volatile Frenchman, the jealous and sombre 10 Spaniard, the witty and irascible Irishman, the sly and effeminate Italian, the staid sons of Scotland, the haughty Englishman, the Russian, the Dane, the Hungarian, the Swede, the Norwegian, the Swiss, the Austrian, the Prussian, the Pole — men from almost every country and every stripe of political and religious sentiment — should feel the assimilating, vitalizing force of our institutions, and live together in harmony. Yet, notwithstanding their va- rying civil and religious affinities, all these discordant ele- ments do feel the benign influence of our government, and become insensibly leagued in its support with strong feelings of patriotic attachment. Through the influence of our institutions light is springing up in other lands. " Europe has been sown with Americcm ideas," and the eye of the oppressed everywhere beams with new hope as it turns toward our favored clime. Every ill-starred adventurer in po- litical reform ; all the broken in heart, and fortune and hope, find here a welcome and peaceful home. In fine, all men share equally and freely in our political privi- leges, save that one luckless and pitiable race, who, though inheriting from the Creator the same nature and rights as ourselves, has alas been found — " guilty of a skin Not colored like our own." 3. — The general diffusion of the means of ednjication among all classes of our people is another evidence of God's great goodoiess to us, mvl a matter that calls for our grateful rememhranvce. If we would rightly estimate the value of this nation- al blessing, we must compare ourselves with those coun- tries where the masses are left uneducated. We must also remember that intellio-ence and virtue are the chief 11 supports of freedom, and that free institutions to be perpetuated must be written, not on the statute-book simply, but on the minds and hearts of our citizens. There is scarcely another country where the means of information are at the same time so ample and accessi- ble to every individual as they are in our own. England, it is true, may boast of older, more extensive and richly endowed seats of learning ; but they are not accessible to the masses of her population, while our cheaper and hence more accessible institutions are even in advcmoe of hers in proj^ortion to our age as a nation. We have reason therefore, without any boasting or vain glory, to point with joy and with laudable pride to our various means of intellectual culture. The stores of knowledge treasured up, as in so many fountains, in our colleges and seminaries of learning, are distributed through our academies and common schools, being still further aided by the press, until the means of mental improvement are brought within the reach of all. There is not a man, woman or child in our republic, with that single unfoi-tunate exception, the slave., who need remain unblessed with soifue of the shinings of the sun of science. Besides, there are motives to inspire the mind with a desire for knowledge and honorable fame, springing out of our position as a free people, that are not to be found in any other nation. No individual is here shut out by his obscurity or povei-ty from run- ning the race and winning the prize, even the highest to be found in the walks of literature or the offices of state. In the very face of foreign jealousy our young country has won for herself an enviable reputation by her lite- rary productions. Our authors and scholars have ga- thered laurels along almost every path of literary am- bition, and at no period of our history has the effort 12 been greater or so great as now to secure the univei-sal dissemination of all kinds of knowledge. Strenuous ex- ertions have recently been made, and with considerable success, to render the rudiments of a sound education as free to all as the air they breathe. We are bound to thank God therefore, to day, that science, long shut up in courts and cloisters, now walks forth along every lane of life, and sheds her light on every poor man's cottage. We thank Him that He has sent her forth from her seclusion to share and lighten the toils of the husbandman. We thank Him, that in the field and in the shop, in om* kitchens and on our seas, science is present, cheering all the sons and daugh- ters of toil, ever pointing them to some new improve- ment — some way of shortening their tasks, that they may have the more time to spend in her instructive company. 4. — We ought especially to " Utter tlie 'memory of God's great goodniess " to us in our 7'eligious blessings. We stand before the world in the attitude of a chris- tian people. We enjoy the knowledge of a Saviour, and the light of Divine Revelation shines fall upon our path. God is still acknowledged in our national councils as our ruler. We enjoy in its fullest measure religious liberty. The rights of conscience, for wliich our fathers struggled, remain unimpared. The largest toleration is given to every shade of religious sentiment. We have here no pampered hierarchy to which all must bow or feel the weight of the national arm. The most formidable of spiritual despots loses the power to persecute the mo- ment he touches our shores. In short we still hold to that cardinal principle of our revolutionary ancestors, " A Church wrrnouT a Bishop, awd a State without a King." 13 The custom, in pursuance of which we have come up to this house to day, gives us a pleasing evidence of the strong hold which religion has upon the convictions of the people. Though it is lamentably not so here, yet in many parts of our country a large portion of the population is this day assembled in their places of wor- ship ; business is suspended, and towns and villages wear the aspect of a sabbath. Now we regard this as a token for good. So long as the nation is thankful for its blesssings, and acknowledges the hand of God in them, we need not wholly despair of its contmued pros- perity. It is true, that in a survey of the religious state of our country, there is much to pain a christian heart. There is almost every form of fanaticism and religious error. Infidelity, assuming various artful disguises, mar- shals her hosts, now under this, now under that fair- sounding name, and waxes confident of success. There is a degree of restiveness under religious restraint — a recklessness about th€ nicer points of moral obligation — a decided distaste at things and ways, however good and sound, simply because they are old — a strange pre- valence of wild and crazy notions upon religious ques- tions, which, to say the least, looks ominous of evil. But then there is, on the other hand, a powerful reli- gious sentiment abroad counteracting these dangerous tendencies. A theoretical belief in the truth of the christian system seems to be spreading and deepening. We have the heavenly lessons of the gospel taught with much of their primitive faithfulness and purity in nearly every part of our country ; and though we would that all should hear the gospel and practice its teachings, yet we feel bound to thank God that there is scarcely any religious community destitute of smne whose lives 14 furnish beautiful illustrations of gospel doctrine, whose faith is seen in their works. Besides, if a moral act is to be valued in proportion to the intelligence with which it is performed, pei'haps our religious character never was higher than now ; for as the entire tendency of the age is against a mere blind submission to authority, it has the effect to produce an intelligemi faitli. There is thus greater likelihood that wherever faith exists at all now, it rests upon evidence, upon sincere conviction of the truths in question. Hence there is probably more of intelligent faith and intelligent obedience, in reference to the great points of christian truth and duty, than at any preceding period. We have occasion therefore, on the whole, to be thank- ful in view of our religious state. We thank God that the ordinances and institutions of the gospel are so gene- rally enjoyed, and that the Di\T[ne Spirit so frequently descends to revive and comfort the hearts of chiistains and extend the triumph of the cross. We thank God that so many children and youth are trained up in sab- bath schools and pious families to, a high standard of virtue, and that many of them expeiience the renewing power of divine grace. We thank God that there goes out every Sabbath fi'om our sanctuaries an influ- ence adapted to purify and elevate our nature — that the religion of Christ is receiving such general homage from science, and is taking such strong hold upon the intel- lectual might of the world ; in fine, that the indications are so numerous which foretoken the speedy approach of the universal triumph of Christianity. 5. — -I name in the fifth place, as an instance of the Divine goodness to us and a cause of thankfulness, a point that has perhaps attracted less attention than it 15 deserves, namely : — Tliat (rod lia-s- given to us rnanf/ great and wise men. Amidst the heat and vituperation engendered by our frequent party strifes, we are apt, I imagine, to form er- roneous views in this respect. It is by looking at this subject in the calm light of history, and comparing our selves with other nations, that we are able to come to a truer judgment. In this view let our brief annals be compared with the long records of other countries, and how stands the account ? Other nations have not been wanting in men gifted with high genius and splen- did capacities for every station of life; but what names are they that stand conspicuous on the record ? With few exceptions they are the names of men who, though endowed with great powers, possessed charactei's black- ened by enormous crimes. We read of monarchs who, infamous in their lives, descended from their thrones to unwept and unhonored graves, and the nation felt re- lieved not distressed at their death. We read of great scholars and orators, but how often were they the tools of despots — the loathsome minions of a corrupt court. Here and there indeed the eye rests upon a name of true renown, a character of high and almost spotless integrity, but such an instance generally stands like an obelisk in the desert, difficult to account for, singular and grand. Now look at our own bi'ief annals. Mainly they pre- sent a pleasing contrast. Call up to your view that il- lustrious galaxy of heroes and patriots, who watched over om* young nation's birth, and nursed it into life. They were men genei-ally of strong minds, of pure morals, incorruptible integrity, and some of them of genuine christain character. They were men loved in their lives, over their graves a nation wept undis- sembled tears, and their memory still remains fragrant. 16 Every page of our subsequent history shines with bright and pure names. Patriots are here in freedom's battle slain ; Priests, whose long lives were closed without a stain : Bards, worthy Him who breathed the poet's mind ; Founders of art that dignify maakind ; And lovers of our race, whose labors gave Their names a memory that defies the grave. Statesmen, theologians, jurists, physicians, orators,- poets, artists, have flourished here, whose names would do honor to any age or nation. Is it not a cause of na- tional rejoicing and thankfulness, that we have been favored with such a bright array of gigantic intellects, swayed by benevolent and patriotic hearts — men, that after having blessed their country in their lives were borne away by death as a rich tribute to the land of spirits. That so much of goodness, of mtellect and of virtue could be taken from us and the nation still pm*- sue a prosperous career, should move our voices and our hearts to grateful acknowledgment. We cannot conclude this topic without adverting to our recent losses as a nation. The all-devouring insati- able grave has of late made heavy demands upon us. The great and the mighty are fallen. Scarcely are the nation's teai'S dry upon the tomb of her patriot Clay ere another mighty column of state is stricken down — WEBSTER IS DEAD. The greatest mind of the nation, perhaps of the world, has recently gone from us to its final account. A feeling of sadness, not easily repressed, gathers upon the mind at the thought of the removal fi'om among us of such a majestic intel- lect, and such a patriotic heart. It is becoming that a nation should mourn ; and more than a nation has mourned. The civilized world unites in deploring his loss. It is a pleasant thought, that a mind so vast as 17 his bowed so reverently to the authority of the word of God. " It was too vast to do otherwise : it touched the Eternal on every side. There seemed always about him a consciousness of Divinity." Whatever difference of opinion may be entertained in reference to his politi- cal views or private character, (and certain obliquities in his conduct every christian must look upon with re- gret,) there can be no doubt as to this: — that Daniel Webster' was a full heliever in the truth of Christianity. He was not ashamed to pray. He read and reverenced the bible, owned himself a sinner, and trusted in Christ alone for salvation. When such an intellect as his yields its homage to " the truth as it is in Jesus," how ^w^vevnoij foolish as well as wicked appears the conduct of those who treat the gospel with scorn, and i*egard the instructions of the bible and the sanctuary as well enough perhaps for women and children and weak- minded persons, but altogether beneath men of their own lofty endowments. How fitting, how sublime those last words of our departed statesman — "i" still live? He does still live, and will live, while there is a heart that beats for the glory of our Union, or that can be stirred by the power of his eloquence. A great and a luminous orb, he has indeed sunk below the hoiizon, but he has filled the w^hole intellectual heavens with light, and " good omens cheer us from the bright track of his fiery car." How applicable to himself his own words spoken of the death of Adams and Jefferson — " A superior and commanding intellect, a truly great man, when heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a tem- porary flame, burning bi-ightly for a while and then ex- piring, giving place to returning darkness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat as well as I'adiant light, with power to enkindle the common mass of human mind, so 18 that when it glimmers in its own decay and finally goes out in death, no night follows, but it leaves the world all light, all on fire from the potent contact of its own spirit." His is one of the few — the immortal names that were not born to die. Let us be thankful to Him to whom " belong the shields of the earth," that He hath given our country such lights and defences. Let us be especially thank- ful that when our Webster was taken from us — that when, in his own words, his " eyes were turned to be- hold for the last time the sun in heaven" — he did not " see him shining on the broken and dishonored frag- ments of a once glorious union, on states dissevered, dis- cordant, belligerent ; but their last feeble and lingering glance beheld the gorgeous ensign of the republic still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, but every where spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that sentiment dear to every American heart — "Liberty xmy Union, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE AND INSEPARABLE." It were as easy as it would be pleasing to dwell upon many other points illustrative of the Divine goodness to us. To count up our blessings is always a grateful employment, but the time is too far spent to allow us even to name any more of that vast throng of mercies which call upon us for thankfulness. It is already too far gone to permit us to follow out our original design, and speak at much length of the perils and obligations that grow out of our position as a people. But it would be manifestly a very imperfect view, and one very lia- ble to have an injurious efiect upon us, should we look 19 only at our privileges and blessings, and leave entirely out of sight tlie duties which spring from them, and the evils that still threaten us. Every blessing imposes a duty — every blessing is liable also through abuse to be turned into an evil and a curse. This topic of our national duties, as also that of our national dangers, is exceedingly important, but the late- ness of the hour will restrict us to a very few words. One of the most obvious and imperative of the duties that grow out of our nationaL position, relates to the per- petuation of our institutions and their extension to all mankind. It is the plain duty of the American people to seek in all suitable ways the universal spread of civil liberty. This is a sacred trust. In it consists our true glory and national distinction. The blood of our fathers and the wants of an oppressed world unite in demanding its extension. Let every citizen then do what he can by an active, cultivated mind, and a virtuous life, to feed the fountain of liberty at home, so that streams issuing from it may soon fertilize and make glad the waste places of the earth. Another important duty of ours has relation to that constantly increasing crowd of strangers and foreign- ers which every day brings to our shores. Here phi- lanthropy and policy unite in dictating the same course — vigilance and hi/ndness. To be attentive and hospita- ble to the stranger was a duty enjoined upon the Jew by the law of Moses. It was enforced by the consider- ation that their fathers had been strangers in the land of Egypt. The same consideration enjoins it upon us. Our Fathers were, like them, oppressed, exiled ; like them they dwelt as sojourners, and fled for freedom to worship their God. We are hence under peculiar obli- gations to keep open an asylum for the victims of civil 20 and religious tyranny throughout the world. Some of them come among us with principles and prejudices op- posed to our government. Many of them cherish reli- gious opinions most hostile to the spread of liberty, civil or religious. The influx upon us of so much darkness and error cannot but be attended with great danger. There is however but one course of safety^ — -we must treat them as friends and brothers. In obedience to the mild and j)eaceful genius of Christianity, we must seek gradually to open their minds to the truth that our country's prosperity grows out of its institutions, and that its institutions gi'ow out of the bible, freely dif- fused and read by all classes of our citizens. Let them be gradually won to good principles and good works, by seeiuo^ our own. Many other duties arising from our position and pri- vileges must be passed without notice — the promotion of temperance— the guarding and purifying of the foun- tains of education — the cultivation of peace — the allevi- ation of the poor — the overthrow of oppression; but they are all included in the grand central duty of main- taining and spreading a pure Christianity. Let then the sanctuary of God rise in all our neighborhoods and be filled with attentive listeners. Let the unperverted truths of the gospel be taught in all our churches, and its heavenly lessons received to our hearts and illustra- ted in our lives. It is thus only that that mighty troop of evils, which prevail among us and are incessantly me- nacing us with national degeneracy and ruin, can be overcome and destroyed. For, while enumerating our blessings and duties, let us not be blind to our sins and dangers. Each blessing may by abuse be made to bear the ripened fi'uit of sin and peril. And there are many things in our present condition that look full of terror. 21 Our very prosperity as a people has produced in us, in an alarming degree, a forgetfulness of our dependence upon God. Our miracles of invention, our many advantages over other nations, have swelled our hearts with boast- ing and with pride, as if by our own arm, and "our own power," we had "gotten this strength," The same feel- ing is to be found among us, to some extent, as actuated the citizens of ancient Rome, when, after surveying the vast riches and the gorgeous temples of that imperial city, its arts, the valor of its troops, its resources, enrich- ed by the spoils of all other nations, they cried out in the height of their exultation and pride — Tiie Eteenal City ! The Eternal City ! And yet, where now is that city which its proud inhabitants fancied eternal ? Where are those other cities of ancient power and magnificence on which the sun of empire has successively shone and passed away ? The traveler can find nothing of them but ruins — ruins which tell him that " a kingdom's dust is beneath his feet." And why fell they ? Because they abused their privileges — because they were unfaithful to their trust. The same fate awaits us unless we profit by their example. Let us not be deceived into the notion that we are secure —that "our mountain stands strong" and safe from all assault. If, flushed with our success, and trusting to our own strength, we forget our depend- ence on God — if, in our hurried chase after mammon, we neglect the interests of education and religion, God will cast us off, and we shall be added to the number of those "countries whose national decline has kept pace with their religions." Though we have now, apparently, a bright future be- fore us, let us remember that God is not dependent upon us to accomplish his purpose. If we should prove false to our trust, if we should be hurled from our liigh 22 eminence, if "all our hilk should blaze with the beacon lights of war and all our valleys should blush with the blood of brothers," still God would have infinite resour- ces at his disposal, and He can, at any moment, blot us from the map of nations, and set up, in our place, some other people who will be faithful to its trust. Let us " humble ourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God " as we think of our national sins that seem like so many forked points to invite upon us the lightnings of Divine wrath ; the sin of intemperance — the sin of licentiousness — the sin of Sabbath desecration — of an inordinate love of money — of profanity — of general forgetfulness of God and of his sanctuary — above all, the sin of slavery, Human nature's foulest blot While we are peacefully gathered in this house to-day offering our thanksgiving to God for His blessings, there are more than three millions of immortal men, women and children, that are chained and tasked and visited with stripes, that mercy, with a bleeding heart, weeps, when she sees inflicted on a beast. OH, LIVES THERE A GOD OF ETERNAL JUSTICE, AND SHALL HE NOT VISIT A NA- TION FOR THIS! Slavery I — this it is that fills the future of our career with such dark signs and portents. This, more than all other causes, threatens us with national ruin ; for more than all other causes it tends to alienate the different sections of our people, the one from the other. The history of all past republics teaches us that if we fall, it will be by our own vices and dissensions. If we con- tinue united, no power from without may hope to harm us. Destruction, if it come , must come from a suicidal 23 hand. Yes, the last, the dying struggle of our country, if it come at all, must needs be embittered with the poignant reflection that she has, herself, plucked down ruin upon her own head. " So the struck Eagle stretched upon the plain, No more above yon rolling clouds to soar again, Viewed his own feather on the poisoned dart. And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart. Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel, He nursed the pinion that impelled the steel, While the same plumage that had warmed his nest, Drank the last life-drop from his bleeding breast." The Gospel of Chiist, wrought into the heart and ac- tuating the life of this nation, is the only antidote to our various national perils. With it we are safe, without it we are undone. " If left to bow the knee to reason in. stead of revelation, to burn unhallowed incense before the idols which the madness of our speculation has set up," and to do what we can, by enslaving them, to reduce our fellow men to a level with the brute, then we may bid "farewell, a long farewell, to all that has given happiness to our homes and dignity to our State." We say, therefore, let any other evil befall us rather than that the Bible should cease to be read and the sanctuary of God to be visited by our people. Yes, " come barrenness into our soil ; come discord into our councils ; come treason into our camps ; come wreck into our navies ;" come fire and famine and plague, any other, or all other evils combined, rather than that the Gospel should cease to exeii; its hallowed and restraining influ- ence over us. Let us, therefore, having turned our thoughts to-day for a few moments to the contemplation of some of the many blessings and duties and perils which distinguish us as a people, go from this house resolved, as christians and as patriots, to do what we can to preserve pm'e and 24 strong the influences of virtue and, religion among us. Let us thank God that we had a i^eligious origin^ and let us strive to show ourselves not unworthy such an origin ; let us thank God for our liherty^ and seek to extend that liberty ; let us thank God for our means of education, oiur religious privileges^ our great and good men. Let us also thank God for our individual blessings- let us thank Him for our health, for our homes, for our harvests " filling our hearts with food and gladness;" and while we rejoice in these our mercies, let us not forget the poor — let us show hospitality to the exile and the strans'er — let us be earnest and incessant in our efforts for the promotion of true religion ; and let us, with an enlightened and stimulated zeal, labor and pray for the comino; of that time, when not a foot of our soil shall be trodden by a fettered step, or a stroke of its labor be performed by an unwilling hand. Then may we hope for our country's safety. " Then shall our flag float triumphantly in mid-heaven while there is a breath of air to fan the surface of the earth, and our country shall be the home of a great and happy people, until the sun becomes blood, and the stars fall, the elements melt, and the earth is burned in the last fires." H 19 89 i ^9- \i» '0.7* A <^ >;'«i>^*' /•.'>f' "i^ -,, ^:,^?;5'.''^''"f"3 the Bookkeeper pro< ^ aV « >*V • • * ^^ %*» Neutrahzrna Agent: Magnesium Oxide *0 a'p' e"""* ^^ n^ .«•'•- ^ Treatment Bate: "* um uxiae .% ^.. *^* «-^<- \. .. ^° .-y*!^', ^.. -,*ft JAN iaqfl ^>" .^°"<^. JBBKKEEPFq PREbbHUAIION lECHNOLOGIES LP 1 1 r Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Twp,. PA 16066 (412)779-2111