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THANKSGIVING SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED IN THE NATIONAL PALACE, CITY OF MEXICO, ON 
 SUNDAY, OCTOBER THIRD, A. D, 1847, 
 
 OX THE OCCASION OF A PUBLIC THANKSGIVING FOR THE VICTORIES 
 ACHIEVED BY THE ARMY OF TUB UNITED STATES, IN THE BASIN OF 
 MEXICO, UNDER COMMAND OF 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT: 
 
 CONSUMMATED BY THE CAPTURE OF THE CAPITAL. 
 
 BY THE REV. JOHN McCARTY, CHAPLAIN u. e. A. 
 
 A 
 
 Only fear tlie Lor.l, and serve Him with all your heart; for consider how great thing* 
 He hath done for you'." lit Samuel, ISJA Chap., Zith verse. 
 
 (PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF MANY OFFICERS OF THE ARMY.) 
 
 MEXICO, OCTOBER, 1817. 
 
 Printed at the office of the t! American Star," Mexico. 
 
SancfohUbw 
 
 Bare? oft 
 
 A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 
 
 " Only fear the Lord, ami gewe Him with all your heart ; for consider how great thin;* 
 He hath done for you." lit Samuel, 2Wi Chap., l'2th vena. 
 
 My Brethren of the Army : Our Gcncral-in-ehief, having 
 in an order, prompted by Christian duty and feeling, and 
 highly proper and becoming in an official point of view, 
 called upon his "brethren in arms, to return both in public 
 and private worship, thanks and gratitude to God, for the 
 signal triumphs, which they have recently achieved for their 
 country" and assembled as we now are thus publicly to 
 acknowledge the favoring Providence of the "Lord of Hosts," 
 and to render to His Holy Name, our praiso and thanksgiving 
 for the same ; whih is our reasonable and bounden duty 
 let us my brethren of the army, consider with some attention 
 the nature and greatness of the blessings for which our 
 gratitude is called forth. 
 
 Although it has been questioned still it can be shown to 
 be the duty of a Christian people, and more so of the army 
 of a Christian land, to offer thanksgiving to the great Ruler 
 of Nations, for the victories by which He has crowned their 
 
 arms as well as for all other blessings of His Providence 
 
 and if so, who will measure the amount of gratitude due Him 
 from our country and its army, for the uniform and great 
 successes, which have attended our arms at large, from the 
 first battle to the last and more especially of this portion of 
 our forces, from our landing at Vera Cruz, to the termination 
 of the campaign by our victorious entry into this capital of the 
 nation ? 
 
 \Var- though a great calamity attended with much that 
 
is to be deplored and involving a terrible responsibility on 
 the governments who are parties to it is still in the actual 
 condition of mankind, necessary and right, at least on one 
 side as the means of national defence and preservation of 
 preventing the repetition of national wrongs, by their 
 punishment of redressing injuries inflicted and obtaining 
 rights withheld When, therefore, a people succeed in a 
 war, waged by the government for these ends, they have 
 cause of thanksgiving to the great Disposer of events, from 
 whom that success has proceeded For victory in war is not 
 only amongst the greatest of national deliverances and 
 blessings, considered in itself but it is the ^only means of 
 gaining the object contended for, and procuring an honorable 
 and advantageous pea ce the true end of victory. 
 
 It should however be borne in mind, that the responsibility 
 of the war, as before observed that is to say, the determina 
 tion of its necessity and righteousness, rests not on those 
 who serve in the army, but on the constituted authorities of 
 the country, whose orders it is the soldiers duty to obey and 
 execute He should to be sure, in his private capacity, desire 
 and pray, that he may never be called to do battle, but in a 
 righteous cause righteous on the part of his government 
 Still as a general rule it is his duty, to submit to the official 
 determination of the authority of the couutry, over him and 
 with courage and might to prosecute, in his station, the war 
 it has declared or sanctioned And without reference to the 
 origin of this war, it is unquestionably our duty as officers 
 and soldiers, vigorously to wage it, in order to obtain the 
 ends for which it exists and to conquer a just and honorable 
 peace, as its happy conclusion. In the prosecution of this 
 war waged, as it has been, with the most scrupulons regard, 
 on our part, to the laws of warfare recognized by the 
 civilized and Christian nations valor on the part of the 
 soldier, whether in command or in the ranks, is due to his 
 country and on the other hand, his achievements should be 
 
celebrated, and his services rewarded by appropriate 
 distinctions for he not only renders the most important service 
 to his country, but in doing so, braves the greatest dangers 
 and perils his dearest possession life itself. 
 
 My brethren we have cause of gratitude to God, in the 
 reflection that we belong through his providential appointments 
 to a brave as well as a free race and that He has inspired 
 our commanders with wisdom and military skill, to combine 
 these elements of individual power, in the achievement of 
 exploits, which as they are the proper subject of our own 
 wonder we may modestly deem, will be that of our country's 
 admiration But that we may be truly influenced by 
 gratitude, we must believe, what we acknowledge in the 
 thanksgiving of the church, that " as the Sovereign Comman 
 der of all the world," He is indeed "the only giver of all 
 victory" and that not unto us not unto us but to the 
 Lord belongs the praise And assuredly, if the hand of the 
 Almighty Disposer, is ever to be recognized in the affairs of 
 the world, it would seem that it must be, in such signal and 
 important events, as those we are now called upon to 
 consider, and be thankful for And all but the utterly 
 irreligious will own His favoring Providence, manifestly 
 displayed in our behalf not, indeed,that we infer from success, 
 his approval of the cause of our country, or that he has taken 
 our side, because we are better or more deserving than our oppo 
 nent no for often does He in his inscrutable wisdom permit 
 the apparent wrong to succeed, and the right to be defeated 
 Such an inference is not involved in our thanksgivings, 
 which have a distinct and all-sufficient object in our individual 
 deliverance from great and imminent danger from "the arrow 
 that flieth by day" from "the pestilence that walketh in 
 darkness" and from "the destruction that wasteth at 
 noon-day" that while "a thousand have fallen at our side, 
 and ten thousand at our right hand" He, in his mercy, hath 
 not permitted this sudden death to "come nigh us" We find 
 
a further object in the benefits conferred by these repeated 
 victories on our army and country, and the more unmerited 
 are our blessings, the warmer should be our gratitude. 
 
 In considering, how great things the " Good Lord hath 
 done for us" we must regard the uniformity of our success 
 What is true of the whole war, is especially so, of this entire 
 campaign, from the landing of our army at Vera Cruz, up to 
 the capture of this city We have succeeded in all we have 
 undertaken never engaged in fight, but to conquer never 
 attacked, but to defeat our enemy ; All difficulties, however 
 great, have been overcome all opposition, however formi 
 dable, borne down No place of defence, so strong by nature 
 or by the art of fortification, has been able to resist our 
 assault; And more remarkable still, the peculiarities of the 
 climate and seasons have not presented their anticipated 
 obstacles and the very elements have been made to minister 
 to our aid the " fortune of war" (so called) has been 
 uninterruptedly with us crowning with eminent success all 
 our plans andbattles, and consummating the campaign incur 
 possession of this capital of Mexico Say then, ye oppugners 
 of Providence ye advocates of blind chance, can aught but 
 the admission of a purpose in the mind of the great Disposer 
 of events, who holds the very winds in his fist, account for 
 euch marvellous uniformity ? 
 
 Then, further, to see the hand o God in all this, let us 
 consider that in all our principal battles, we have been greatly 
 outnumbered by the enemy, who nevertheless instead of 
 making attack, has awaited it from us, and that too in 
 positions selected and fortified, so as greatly to increase his 
 power of resistance yet all in vain. Well might our foe 
 be astonished at our daring with such diminutive forces, to 
 penetrate so far into the interior of a country, inhabited 
 by at least seven millions of people at our venturing to 
 march so far from the sea-board, thereby encountering the 
 great difficulty of keeping open our communications with the 
 
places whence our reinforcements and supplies were to be 
 drawn; and how greatly must that astonishment have been 
 increased, when they saw UP, with forces so apparently 
 inadequate to the object, abandon that very communication, 
 those reinforcements and supplies, and with a hardihood, 
 which can only Snd a parallel in the army of Cortez, trust to 
 our stout hearts and strong arms in forcing our subsistence 
 from themselves. It only remained that their emotions should 
 amount to the wonder which now possesses them, when in 
 despite of all these disadvantages added to our deficiency in 
 heavy artillery (since supplied from their own superabun 
 dance at Contreras and Churubusco,) we forced our way into 
 the very heart of a country so capable of defence by passes and 
 defiles that it seemed to bid defiance to all skill a'nd numbers ! 
 Yet such is the fact; and " when " (in the words of the order 
 before referred to,) " the very limited numbers who have 
 performed those brilliant deeds, shall have become known, the 
 world will be astonished and our own countrymen filled with 
 joy and admiration. " 
 
 Again, we have cause to thank the Lord that our operations 
 have been conducted under a commander who has felt and 
 avowed his responsibility to God, for the lives of the men 
 committed to his charge ; who not seduced by the vulgar 
 reputation of fighting bloody battles, has sought and gained 
 victory by the application of his own generalship baffling the 
 councils of the enemy by superior talent, availing himself of 
 every advantage which keen military sagacity could discover, 
 and saving as far as possible the lives of his soldiery, while 
 winning the numerous victories, in which they have been 
 perilled. Accordingly, it is cause of grateful joy that with but 
 one exception our loss has been small in comparison with 
 that of the enemy, and with the advantages gained. 
 
 But while we award praise, high and merited to the 
 generalship and heroic courage displayed in the achievements 
 of our army, let us not forget that it was God who not only 
 
bestowed these abilities, but by his assieting hand, crowned 
 the employment of them with success. The history of war, 
 in which so much is ascribed to the " fortune of war, " 
 verifies the saying of the wise man, that " the race is not to 
 the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but time and chance 
 happeneth to all; " teaching us it is not in human wisdom or 
 might to ensure victory, but " time and chance, " by which 
 is meant, the unseen hand of the Almighty, by interposing 
 circumstances, prosperous or adverse, gives success where 
 often it could not have been expected, and produces defeat 
 where frequently it could not have been looked for. And_this 
 i wisely so ordered that men in the enterprises of war, as in 
 other things, may feel their dependence on God for success, 
 and so be led to implore his aid, and render him grateful 
 thanks, as we would now do, for the victories they ascribe to 
 his goodness. To feel this more, by a reference to particu 
 lars, let us but suppose the weather, in the rainy season, 
 when we entered into this basin of Mexico, had been as wet 
 as it proved unusually dry, that the rain had fallen in torrents 
 and flooded this low country as is the common case, how 
 could we have traversed this valley at all, much less with 
 our artillery and baggage ? What but disaster in every form 
 could have resulted ? Had our army, indeed, through one of 
 the many mischances that might have happened, in our 
 circumstances, sustained a single defeat or even met a reverse 
 we might have feared it would so have encouraged the 
 Mexicans, so have roused and united their efforts, that the 
 result of the campaign would have been far different aye, 
 even as disastrous as it has been successful. And the few of us 
 who might have survived, would now have been deploring 
 our failures and defeats, instead of rejoicing in our victories. 
 But God be praised, who has seen fit to order it otherwise, who 
 has permitted no adversity to come nigh us, who has favored 
 us greatly, crowning us with complete success. 
 
 We should ajso consider the results of our battles and 
 
9 
 
 victories, that the numerous army we have contended with has 
 not only been defeated, but captured or dispersed, and the 
 enemy's government almost without organization, de 
 prived of the means of equipping and furnishing an other 
 army. Our foe, then, as a consequence, is at this time, to say 
 the least, incapable of a further prosecution of the war with 
 any vigor or effect; and now that we are safe in the heart of the 
 country and in the capital of the nation we may thank God, in 
 the hope that there is well nigh an end to fighting and the 
 horrors of war ; and in the anticipation that a campaign so 
 entirely successful, will probably result in what is so much to 
 be desired for us and this people, in a just and honorable 
 peace, we may hope soon to change our notes of praise into 
 thanksgiving for the latter. 
 
 Furthermore we have cause to thank God, with grateful 
 hearts,^ when we consider that never was there war, carried 
 into an enemy's country, with so little of suffering and injury 
 inflicted on the unarmed people. Never have the peaceful 
 inhabitants of a theatre of hostilities had BO little cause to 
 complain of the treatment received from invaders and 
 conquerors. Yes we may boast thanking the Lord that we 
 have sacked nu cities, robbed no towns, violated no women, 
 that we have never authorised any plunder of the people, and 
 that very few outrages of any sort have been committed by 
 our soldiery; and that instead of subsisting on the country 
 without making compensation, as we might have done, under 
 the laws of war, we have paid for all we have consumed and 
 that at the highest price. They have been better treated 
 by us than by their own armies ; indeed we have been rather 
 protectors than destroyers of the Mexican people. Although 
 we have contended with enemies often cruel, treacherous and 
 regardless of the usages of civilized warfare, yet we have 
 never retaliated the wrongs and cruelty we have received 
 from them. The hearts of our soldier?, that never failed 
 them through fear, did fail them through humanity and pity 
 
10 
 
 when under other influences they might have cut doWn the 
 defeated and unresisting. We have heard of no instance in 
 which quarters have been refused, and that to an enemy too, 
 \vho has often robbed and murdered our wounded. Yes, \\e 
 may thank God, with heartfelt satisfaction, that we were too 
 American; have had too much respect for the rights of 
 humanity, too much regard for our character, to come down 
 to the low level of a Mexican soldier's notions of humanity, 
 honor and civilization. And though here, we must not glory 
 in our courage and prowess, nor on this occasion exult in our 
 achievements; yet we may glory and exult [so that we be 
 humble before God] in our having most scrupulously observed 
 and upheld the laws which mitigate the horrors of war, and 
 prevent the soldier's valor from degenerating into personal 
 hatred and destructive ferocity. Estimating things in the light 
 of Divine truth, the glory of our superior generalship and 
 courage, of our splendid victories and wonderful success, is a 
 small thing when compared with the glory resulting from the 
 humanity, justice and generosity displayed in our warfare 
 with this people. 
 
 Such, however, is the character of war, that our song of 
 triumph and thanksgiving, must be mingled with notes of 
 woe, at the recollection of the brave men who have fallen or 
 suffered in achieving our success. While mourning for the 
 dead, we sympathise with the wounded; yet our pity and their 
 sufferings are relieved by the consciousness that their wounds 
 are honorable testimonials of their valor, and will be regarded 
 by their country as marks of distinction and praise. When 
 we recount our battles or rejoice in our triumphs, none but 
 have to lament the loss of some dear companion or esteemed 
 friend, who fought their last fight and to whom our victory 
 was their death. Still whilst we give the sigh of regret and the 
 tear of affection to their cherished memories, we feel relieved 
 and reconciled by the reflection that they fell in the discharge 
 of their duty, on the field of their glory, and have met the 
 
11 
 
 most appropriate and honored end of the soldier. Their 
 deeds and names will ever be associated with the history of 
 our exploits, in this memorable campaign and honored by our 
 nation's tribute of grief and praise ; and it will be said, in all 
 time to come, wherever their remains may repose 
 
 " That honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
 To deck Uie sod .l^tnolcU their cliy," 
 
 When we thank God for our victories, let us consider what 
 is due to the private soldiers, by whose courage, and in so 
 many cases, by whose lives and wounds, our success has been 
 achieved. And recollecting, how little they individually share 
 in the distinction and advantages of victory, let their officers 
 not only sympathise with them in their privations and 
 suffeiings, but be led to pay a scrupulous regard to their 
 rights and feelings to treat them in word and de6d with justice 
 and kindness, giving them every privilege and indulgence 
 consistent with subordination and the maintenance of 
 discipline; taking a lively interest in their welfare, exercising 
 their power over them and treating them, as under a change 
 of circumstances they would have their superiors do to 
 themselves. 
 
 When our saddened thoughts turn to the sorrowing 
 relatives of the lamented dead, who when the nation at laige 
 rejoice and triumph in the victories gained, must mourn their 
 sad bereavement; let us realise it as our duty not only to 
 sympathise in their affliction and to aid them to the utmost of 
 our ability,from our own means, but employ whatever influence 
 we may possess to direct our country's gratitude to make a 
 far more adequate provision for the families of those who by 
 the sacrifice of their lives have conferred such benefits on our 
 country; and thus to rescue our republic from the charge of 
 ingratitude and injustice, in neglecting to provide for those, by 
 whose husbands' and fathers' deaths in their country' s causu 
 they have baen made sorrowing widows and orphans. 
 
 Furthermore, in offering our thanksgiving each of us should 
 consider the goodness of his Heavenly Father, in his own 
 
12 
 
 preservation, not only from the violence of the enemy, but 
 from the hand of disease. When we reflect that so many 
 during this campaign have languished on beds of sickness 
 to how many their last those who have been preserved, 
 especially those who have been blessed with health, should 
 thank God with an unfeigned heart, for this the greatest of 
 temporal blessings, so indispensable to enjoyment and 
 usefulness; gratefully owning the preserving care of the Lord, 
 " in whose hands are the issues of life and death." And such 
 as have escaped the imminent perils of our battle fields, should 
 seriously consider their own wonderful preservation, while the 
 instruments of destruction flew thick about them and their 
 companions and fellow soldiers were falling on every side. 
 They should deeply consider and gratefully acknowledge, 
 not their good luck and fortunate escape, which is but the 
 religion of the atheist, but the sparing goodness of their 
 Great Preserver, owning in the words of Holy Writ, 4t God is 
 the Lord, by whom we escape death. " Yes, nay brethren, it 
 seems, that escape from the great dangers to which our officers 
 and soldiers have been generally exposed, would constrain the 
 most irreligious gratefully to unite with the warrior 
 Psalmist in the acknowledgement " the Lord hast covered our 
 heads, and made us stand in the day of battle, " and with him 
 to call upon their souls " to praise His Holy Name, who 
 feaveth our life from destruction and crowneth us with mercy 
 and loving kindness. " 
 
 In the next place, let us regard the end for which we should 
 now " consider the great things the Lord hath done for us, " 
 in these deliverances and victories. It is not to foster national 
 pride and vain glory, for these need rather to be restrained, but 
 that we may be led, according to our text, " to fear the Lord 
 and serve him with all our heart." We recount the victories 
 which by the help of the God of Battlei we have achieved, not 
 that we may sacrifice to our own valor and might, but be led 
 " to fear the Lord and depart from evil " " to fear Him and 
 
13 
 
 keep his commandments; " that a sense of his goodness 
 manifested in preserving our lives and crowning our arms 
 with success, may constrain us, to serve our Great Benefactor 
 " with all our fhearts." As in the thanksgiving for victory 
 we pray Him "to give us grace to improve the great mercy to 
 His glory, the advancement of his gospel, the honor of our 
 country, and as much as lieth in us, the good cf all mankind;" 
 w hilst we ascribe to Him all the glory, as our preserver and 
 the giver of victory, let us see that we " glorify Him in our 
 bodies and spirits, which are His " let us realize that he has 
 not preserved and brought us here to " revel in the Halls of 
 Montezumas, " but to serve Him and do our duty ; especially 
 by turning our success aud our consequent influence over this 
 people into the means of enlightening their religious ignorance 
 and raising them from the degradation to which they are 
 reduced. And this by extending the light and the blessings of 
 our purer faith; BO that by our Christian influence and example 
 and by the intercourse between us, thev may imbibe something 
 of our free spirit and throw o<ff\the shackles of military and 
 spiritual despotism. Believing that the Mexicans most need 
 for their improvement, a purer exhibition of the Gospel of 
 Chiist (which toleration and the light of the scriptures would 
 eventually give them,) may it he ours to secure by all proper 
 means the toleration of Protestants, so clearly their right and 
 which we know from experience in other countries would 
 exert an enlightening and purifying influence on the church 
 of this country, May we as Protestants keep in mind that 
 we have to recommend our profession of Christianity to them 
 by our example, and that we are accountable as far as we 
 have any influence, for the impression they receive of our 
 religion. Let neither the neglect of our religious worship nor 
 our vices strengthen the belief, sought to be impressed on 
 them, that we are not only heretics, but are not Christians, 
 and have no religion at all. Let them have no reason to 
 infer that what we regard 'as superstitious and idolatrous in 
 
14 
 
 them is at least as good, if not better, than our Protestant 
 irreligion. But let us show by our piety, humanity and 
 benevolence, and by our exemption from vice, the blessed 
 fruits of our more scriptural faith; our purer and more 
 edifying religious services. That witnessing our superiority 
 not only as soldiers, but as Christian men, they may honor 
 our land, not only as free, enlightened and prosperous, but as 
 blessed by superior means of Christian knowledge and piety, 
 which arc the foundations of all. 
 
 Devotion to God and good will to this people, who are 
 equally with ourselves, his children, are enforced by a grateful 
 sense of our personal deliverances from sickners and the 
 perils of battle, and it becomes us, in acKnowledging his 
 preserving goodness "to show forth his praise, not only 
 with our lips, but in our lives by giving up ourselves to His 
 service and by wahdng before him in holiness and 
 righteousness, all our ddys." Let us dedicate the lives he 
 has spared us, to his service, improving our lengthened day 
 of grace, by being better prepared for death, to which we 
 arc always exposed. When we render thanicsgiving to 
 God, let us recollect that this is a vain oblation in those 
 who continue to abuse his blessings, disregard his au 
 thority and neglect his reasonable service. Offering 
 our thanKs as members of the army may \\e be re 
 minded of the duty of abstaining from the vices to which 
 military men are most tempted and addicted, imitating the 
 Centurions, whose piety is recorded in the New Testament 
 one of whom, Cornelius, was the first fruits of the gospel 
 among the Gentiles; and thus keeping in mind what their 
 good examples were designed to teach us, that the soldier's 
 life, so far from excusing allowed wickedness or irreligion, is 
 perfectly compatible with Christian piety. Let us remember 
 and act under the conviction, that religion is aliKc binding on 
 us in every station and in every place, and that no where, and 
 under no circumstances,can we be'absolved from its obligation 
 
15 
 
 to lead a goodly, righteous and sober life. To none is 
 ohristian piety more indfcpensaUe than to those who serve 
 in the army, and no where are its restraints, motives and 
 ordinances, more needed, than in this country, where we 
 are exposed to many temptations to vice and irrcligion. 
 Standing before God, this day, as those who have been- 
 mercifully spared and greatly blessed, let each and everyone 
 resolve hereafter to. guard against yielding to passion or pride, 
 to violence or hatred; and to cultivate the mild, humble and 
 benevolent virtues, which becomes us as gentlemen as well as 
 Christians. Putting away the vices of profanity, licentiousness 
 and intemperance, let us be men of chastity, sobriety 
 and reverence for sacred things. Remembering it is as true of 
 an army as of a country that " righteousness exalteth a 
 nation, but sin is a reproach to any people; " may gratitude to 
 God, for all his benefits, restrain us from profane swearing and 
 execrations in our conversations, which not only tend to 
 destroy all reverence 'for the Deity and holy things, but are 
 expressly forbidden in his commandments, and are in express 
 violation of the laws of the army. These vices, therefore, are 
 as contrary to our duty as soldiers as they are inconsistant 
 with our religion. 
 
 Then let us conclude by praying God, that as soon as we 
 shall have finished our tour of duty in this land, and a just, and 
 as we may hope, a lasting peace shall have been made between 
 our United States and those of Mexico, we may leave 
 it and its influences so unfavorable to our piety and virtue, but 
 leave it in good will towards its people, wishing them toleration, 
 a purer form of religion, better and more stable government. 
 And returning to our Own country, let us be more thankful 
 to God from what we have here seen, for having cast our 
 lot in a land of civil and religious freedom, and for having 
 given us so goodly a heritage. Here let us determine that 
 when again restored to our dear homes and to those we lore, 
 we will show forth our gratitude to the "Giver of every good 
 
1C 
 
 wnd perfect gift," by being as entirely devoted to his 
 service, and zealous for good works, as become! h those 
 *' to whom much hath been given and of whom much will be 
 required ; " and employ our lives and influence to make our 
 people as eminent for Christian holiness and virtue, as they 
 have been " highly favored of the Lord. "