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The Hope of Maine.

THE HOPE OF MAINE.

A DISCOURSE

DElIVEEED THANKSGIVING DAY, NOV. 26, 1868.

WILLIAM H. FENN,
til
Pastor of the High Street Church, Portland, Me.

PORTLAND:
rUBLISHED BY HT O Y T & in O G G .
1868.

PXTBLISHEX) BY REQUEST.

B. THVRSTOIf AMD OO., PBINTBKg.

DISCOURSE.

ISAIAH 60: 15.
WHEKEAS XH0T7 HAST BEEK FORSAKEN AND HATED, SO THAT NO
MAN WENT THKOTJGH THEE, I WILL MAKE THEE AN ETEENAI. EX
CELLENCY, A JOT OF MANT GENEKATIONS.
Few spots upon the surface of the globe can be said to have
been more manifestly fitted up by the Creator, for a noble and
enduring Commonwealth, than this our favored abode. It
were easy, indeed, to select, on any side, sections of territory
where the sun seems to dwell in greater gladness all the round
year, and where the earth yields more spontaneous and abun
dant fruits. There are others, where the indomitable spirit of
man seems to have been engaged in a more hand to hand conflict
with the ruder powers of nature, and, therefore, to have wrought
all the greater miracles. Many, alas too many, sister States
there are, who, setting out with a more slender patrimony, have
put out their all to the exchangers, and have received their own
again with a usury ten-fold of ours. While we have been lan
guishing on the border, for want of capital and heart, they have
borrowed and begged and ventured mightily. By the most
daring confidence in themselves, they have compelled the confi
dence of others ; and so the stranger from abroad has been eager
to take his lot with them, while they disemboweled their mines,
tunneled their hills, put a bit in the mouth of every foaming
rivulet, and pushed their products to the busiest shores.

And yet, if we have fallen behind in the race of enterprise,
it has not been because we had nothing to do, or nothing to do
with. Still less could we cover ourselves with the plea, that
we were shut up to the simple pursuits of Agriculture, and so
ours was to be the unmurmuring fate of States, whose soil being
exhausted, their occupation was gone.
For rarely has there been a people, at whose beck more varied
opportunities stood waiting, into whose service the pent-up
spirits of mechanical power pleaded more audibly to be released
and enlisted ; seldom a State, whose foundation seemed to have
been more fixed, by God's decrees, Upon the basis of the most
complex life and the most manifold industry.
In respect of the combined results of production, manufac
ture, and distribution, whose possibilities are superior? Of
course we cannot, to-day, compete with Minnesota or California
in the raising of wheat ; for theirs is a virgin soil, and a more
equal climate. But it is by no means settled, that when the
bloom of the new States is gathered, — and it is in some cases
soon gone ; Ohio averages less wheat to the acre, to-day, than
Maine, — I say, it is by no means settled, that then the scientific
farmer, who is the Coming Man, must prefer such worn-out
fields to our own hills. The strong current of migration _/rom us
to the West, is, indeed, a signal proof of its temporary attraction.
But, settle against the East, as the balance of empire may, for
the present ; such preponderance could, in the course of time,
prove neither pernianent nor insuperable, did we only attach to
the development of an enlarged Commerce, all the importance
which our wonderful sea-board demands. Of Maine, peculiarly
and imperatively, is such development to be required. A glance
at the map will show you the unsurpassed character and extent
of our facilities.
Dr. Kohl, ia his learned work on the early discovery of
Maine, which is now being printed for our Historical Society,
recognizes four great gulfs which the sea has gnawed out upon
the eastern eoast of North America. The first, between Cape

Florida and Cape Hatteras ; the second, between Cape Hat-
teras and Cape Cod ; the third, between Cape Cod and Nova
Scotia ; the fourth, the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Maine is located
in the third, called the Gulf of Maine. On this gulf we have a
sea-line direct, from Quoddy Head to Kittery Point, of 210
miles, with deep water carried almost to the shores, and a mean
tide of ten feet over the whole, making the St. Croix, Penob
scot, and Kennebec navigable for large vessels, as high as their
lowest falls. The actual coast, following the curved lines for
five hundred and ninety-three miles, is indented into unnum
bered harbors and inlets, " as favorable for ships as any in the
known world, on account of the depth of water, ease of access,
and completeness of shelter."
Extraordinary, now, as are such facilities, in their natural
effect upon the growth of a people, these of ours assume an un
wonted, and almost prophetic significance, by their providential
relation to the great lines of trade around the globe. The cur
rents of the sea fight for us, as do the stars, pointing hither first,
of convenience, the mariner from British shores. It is for us to
weld this northern belt of America to the ocean, by new lines of
railroad, so to constitute this very harbor a link, in the great
chain of international commerce, which can never be broken.
At present, our only direct connection with the West is by the
Grand Trunk Railway, which, for six months in the year, makes
of Portland a governing point for the European trade, receiv
ing the products of an arc eight hundred miles distant, and
despatching them by separate lines of steamers to Liverpool,
London, and Glasgow.
And yet, it is these intermitted foreign connections chiefly,
which, since 1844, have augmented the imports at Portland,
from $500,000 to more than $16,000,000 the last fiscal year,*
* Tlie imports at Portland, for the last fiscal year, of comraod-
ities consumed aud paying duty in the United States, were $3,281,773
The imports, in transit for British Provinces, were  12,725,300
$16,007,072

6

and have multiplied the taxable valuation of the city more
than six times.
Let such commercial advantages be grasped, in all their
magnitude, by our citizens ; let these precious opportunities be
improved and multiplied, as by the immediate opening of lines
to Ogdensburg and Rutland; let there be a weekly line of
steamers to England, from this port, — and with what Western
city would you exchange prospects ?
You might concede to the West her cheaper and more pro
ductive lands, as her essential characteristic, and the basis of her
attraction. You might admit that it is impossible for your
young men to save from labor, before they are twenty-five years
of age, enough to purchase a farm, which will give bread to
themselves and family for life. But you need to exercise no
jealousy of such natural advantages; you could afford to en
hance them, provided you make yourselves the carriers and
exchangers of their products. The West cannot grow faster
than you, if you make haste to become their reservoir of distri
bution; export for them their grain, and bring back to them
the fabrics and silks which they require. The railroads and
shippers, together with the brokers and middle-men, receive
to-day, from the foreign consumer, double the amount of money
received by the original producer. In such a calculation, I
forbear to touch upon higher and moral considerations, such
as the superior breadth of culture which you would have, over
and above your pecuniary gains ; the culture which character
izes an older people, who live by commerce, who deal in whole
sale trade, are elevated by the daily sight of the sea, and
expanded through a more palpable intercourse with the nations
beyond it.
But a qualification, weightier even than the commercial one,
is to come. Our highest hope, materially speaking, is from our
River system. Maine might slight her fields or her coast, and
yet receive little detriment, if she would only do justice to her
incomparable rivers. In respect of water-power, we are pecul-

iarly favored, and, therefore, owe peculiar gratitude to God,
Remarkable as is our sea-front, it is no way more remarkable
than our Lake privilege. Norway has almost as numerous and
capacious harbors as Maine ; the western coast of Patagonia
is scarcely behind us, has indeed a conformation which geo
graphical experts liken to our own. But there are few, if any,
sections of the earth's surface which approach Maine, except
remotely, in capacity for manufactures. Probably there is no
equal amount of territory anywhere, in which is gathered up
and made ready so vast a volume of force, or where there is so
admirable a conjunction of physical characteristics, as it were,
expressly accommodated for the constant employment of these
powers. You are aware, that the three essential elements which fit a
stream for manufactures are volume, a sufficient fall to impart
momentum, and constancy of supply. Now we have three
great rivers, and many smaller ones, which, with their countless
tributaries, have a volume sufficient to carry three times all
the power employed, in 1856, in Great Britain, in the manufac
ture of cotton, wool, silk, flax, and worsted.
There are, of course, some rivers elsewhere, which alone equal
all of ours together in volume, but which are useless, for want
of the other qualifications. The Amazon, and the Ganges, for
example, which fall from the prodigious altitude of the Andes,
and Himalayas, near these mountains have a torrent's velocity,
but, coming out on the low country, are so sluggish and so wide
spread, as to be almost unfit for manufacturing. Whereas, the
preeminent adaptation of our streams for work is discovered
precisely in the more evenly distributed fall, and uniform supply.
This is owing to the physical configuration and geological
structure of the State. Beginning with the White Mountain
chain, and stretching off more than two hundred miles north
east, across the Umbagog Lakes, to the great Moosehead Lake,
you have, as it were, a great back, or ridge of land, descending,
it is true, several hundred feet from the White Mountain level ;

8
but even at that remove, qijite llOO fbet above the sea. From
this ridge the whole State slopes away toward the south and
south-east, so gradually and so decidedly as to diffuse water-falls,
at all points, from the crest even to the lip of the sea. Says
Mr. Walter Wells, in his valuable hydrographic report, to which
I am indebted for many hints, " Lake Itasca, at the head of the
Mississippi River, is but a very few feet higher above tide-level
than Rangely Lake," and yet, remember, the waters of Itasca
run 2200 miles before they reach the sea; while Rangely Lake
cannot be, by the river, 150 miles from our coast. " Lake Supe
rior, 1800 miles from the sea, by the course of the river, is ele
vated only two-thirds as much as our Moosehead Lake," and
yet Moosehead Lake is more than ten times nearer the ocean.
«Our rivers, therefore, fall from a height which, in consideration
of the proximity of the ocean, is quite remarkable."
Not the steep descents alone, however, nor the abrupt rapids,
constitute the chief value of our water privilege It is the rela
tive function which our laJces have long been known by engi
neers to bear to our rivers^ which adds, to other distinguishing
features, the crowning character of the whole. These lakes,
which overspread the State to an unusual number and extent,
are the natural head-waters of the rivers, and springs of supply.
As basins, they are exhaustless in their sources, because fed from
the high lands about them, through deep bogs and forests which
will never be tilled, the land being good for nothing but lum
ber. Now the mean head of ten feet raised by dams upon
these lakes, would guarantee to us a constant use of at least one
million horse-powers through the entire year, and with little
waste. The banks, within which these rivers flow, are peculiarly
water-tight, owing to the ledginess of their channels, and the
hardness of the rocks which compose the adjacent strata.
This characteristic constitutes no inconsiderable ground of
preference among rivers. The Nile, owing to the porous
and sandy quality of the soil about its course, from a point
1400 miles above its mouth, begins to dry up and diminish

9

in volume. Whereas the Androsoog^n, for example, confined
to a continuous granite flume, keeps expanding more and more,
until it is lost in the waters of the Kennebec.
Granite, for dams and underpinning, is easily obtained almost
in the immediate vicinity of our streams. Mills can thus be
planted upon the solid rock, and on each of these rivers there
"could be constructed an unbroken series of water powers from
mouth to fountain-head; each darn ponding the water back to
the privilege next above, and so on, until nearly all the descent
is turned to use."
Such a magnificent fund of industry and wealth, laid at our
feet by the Giver of every good and perfect gift, is, on this our
annual jubilee, enough, of itself, to excite with grateful pride
the heart of every patriot son of Maine.
Were these resources only being understood and developed,
in any degree adequate to their importance, no one of all her
sisters in the circle of the States could show an ampler dowry.
The State of Massachusetts has made herself rich, we are told,
through her manufacturing corporations. She stops the
dashing Merriraac, as by the "giant stairs" at Lowell and Law
rence, she goes to the sea, and coins the motion of her train
into solid treasure. But how many such cities, over and over
again, could the impetuous Androscoggin build and employ at her
far more frequent rapids. The power at Lowell is 9,000 horse
powers ; Lewiston, 10,666. The power at either city upon
the Merrimac is already driven, practically, at its maximum ;
whereas, at Lewiston, our engineers tell us, the power of the
Androscoggin could be trebled, and yet the reservoir of the
Umbagog chain alone, be by no means exhausted. Multiply the
superior facilities ofthe Androscoggin River, now, by four several
representative rivers, and you see that the manufacturing capa
bilities of Massachusetts are but a bagatelle to ours. Do not
such facilities clamor for attention ? What account are we to
give for this neglect of talents, and this most foolish waste of
privilege?

10
Our city and State have been aroused, of late, to undertake
grand projects of commercial enterprise ; and with the highest
wisdom. For Maine, no less than for Russia or ancient Rome,
are roads, civilization, and empire. The whole of our continent
is being scanned and surveyed and prepared for the simulta
neous opening of the most marvellous system of communica
tions round the globe. It is imperatively demanded of us,
therefore, by virtue of our geographical position, to make our
stand-point good, and to set, from the first, toward these gates,
a portion of this wonderful current of wealth. And yet, after
all, so far as the State of Maine is concerned, directly and at
large, what is all the increment of hope, which these fair heralds
of commerce bring, compared with that offered by your rolling
rivers, — avast host of powers, — an army of men millions strong,
sauntering idly by your door, begging work and finding none ?
In the city of Providence, a single horse-power, with room,
rents for $100 a year. Suppose your million horse-power,
utilized to even one-third of that annual valuation, and how
trivial look the profits of the $20,000,000 represented in exports
and imports at Portland, last year. Take your own multiplier
for the commerce which you anticipate, through your new rail
road and steamship projects, and what is it even then, compared
with your fund of mechanical treasure ?
At the best, also, the establishment of such international lines
of trade will build up Portland chiefly ; the State only indi
rectly, through the improvement of a corner of it. Consider,
on the other hand, the broader and more equal development
which must arise from the manufacturing towns, which wait to
be erected along all our streams. Think of the wealth which
is to be embodied in these several centres of industry, — a
wealth not represented in the market value of their water-
power, — manufactured products, at least $500,000,000 annually ;
a probable population of two millions, with their buildings,
private and public, their schools and churches. Lowell, with
nine thousand horse-power, has a population of nearly forty

11

thousand. Consider how, around these several towns, the adja
cent lands will be opened and fertilized to feed them ; remember,
above all, the permanence of these improvements, and tell me
if our Legislature could not afford thousands annually, to adver
tise such resources, and so compel men of capital, out of self-
defense, to immigrate hither, and call out our undeveloped
resources ?
And this leads me to say, in ithe second place, that, as a
community, we have double cause of rejoicing to-day, in the
high character of the growing men of Maine for foresight,
worth, and energy. A new life plainly beats within the bosom
of the Commonwealth, as, with a greater consciousness of her
possibilities, she stretches herself out to lengthen her cords and
strengthen her stakes. In the Legislature at Augusta, as well
as in our municipalities, we feel the impulse of this general re
vival. Indeed, it is high time to awake from the system which
we had been pursuing. Until within a quarter of a century,
the State policy toward foreign capital has been one of indis
criminate jealousy, if not of open prohibition. To the fathers
here, associated wealth, to an extent exceeding, perhaps, the
control of a stage-coach line or a strong saw-mill privilege,
was an overgrown monster, unfriendly to their institutions, and
therefore to be avoided. Corporations were aristocratic, and
had no souls. The social evils, attending manufactures on a
large scale, in their judgment poisoned, perhaps outweighed, all
the tempting benefits of their introduction. They would grant
no charter without " the double liability clause,'' in which every
member of the corporation, who owned one share at $100, and,
by reason of the failure of the company, lost it, was liable for
another $100 from his private means, to pay the debts of the
company. It was not strange, therefore, either that capital turned
toward Massachusetts, whose protective policy welcomed it
with open arms, or that, where the stream was too inviting to be
forsaken, mills were erected upon the opposite side of it, just
out of the State, as at Great Falls.

12

To hew down the wilderness, or establish internal improve
ments, the pioneers had no means of their own. And to think
of assistance from the General Government, in the grinding of
axes for this end, would be ruinous Whig heresy, and the enter^
ing wedge of a dangerous precedent. In short, theirs was the
happy ideal of Goldsmith's Deserted Village, —
" States of native strength possesst,
Though very poor, may still he very blest."
The leaders of the last generation having, accordingly, im
bibed such sentiments, were only all the more inveterately set
against the centralizing tendency of moneyed corporations, by
the issue of the United States Bank troubles, under General
Jackson. Almost immediately upon this, supervened the wide
spread commercial revulsion of 1837. The collapse of the
land speculation, hereabouts, prostrated every thing, and there
was no ability left, if any heart, to inaugurate extensive move
ments. The statesmen, who shaped the policy of Maine until
within twenty years, unquestionably, therefore, committed grave
errors, and dearly has the State suffered and smarted for it.
Perhaps it would be presumptuous in us to say, that we should
have done better. with their prejudices and limited experience.
We have revived the facts, therefore, not to point an indictment
of incompetency against them, but to show the additional light,
which an entire generation has thrown upon the subject, by the
moral of its success; so, by the comparative statistics of 1837
and 1867, to exhibit the wisdom and necessity of some of the
changes recently set in progress.
Shortly after the universal paralysis of affairs in 1887, men of
high aims and large intelligence began to dream of a recovering
of the Commonwealth. From 1842 to 1848, not a little was
done toward the Grand Trunk Railway. It was not till 1857,
however, that the " double liability clause " was repealed, and
cities and towns were allowed to exempt new corporate enter
prises firom t^^tjon for ten years. And not before 1867 did

13

the Legislature amend its constitution, by repealing the pro
vision which "prohibits the State from loaning its credit in any
ease whatever, and from the contraction of any debt exceed
ing, at any one time, $800,000, except for war purposes." By
these, and kindred reliefs, the onerous Clogs have been taken
from the swift feet of trade, and already we begin to "run and
not be weary." Undoubtedly, the accelerated progress of the
State depends upon a variety of considerations, besides the
single one of its enlarged public policy. Not least among these,
are the marvellous inventions, by which mechanical power has
been utilized, at least to a degree unknown to our fathers.
Nevertheless, a partial estimate of the oppressiveness of our
State burdens will not unfairly appear, from the instantaneous
rebound upon their removal.
In January, 1837, our railroad system consisted of eleven
miles. To-day, there are 577^ miles in operation.
In 1837, the amount of capital invested in manufactures was
$560,000.* Capital Invested. Value of Products.
In 1850, $14,599,152  In 1850, $24,661,050,
" 1860, 22,044,020,  " 1860, 38,193,234,
" 1868, 40,000,000, July 1st  " 1868, 81,287,695,
The population of the. State, in 1830, was 399,995; in 1860,
628,279; and estimated, perhaps somewhat excessively, in 1868,
67'3,l77. The valuation of Portland, in 1844, was $5,000,000 ; in 1868,
$28,000,000. The real and personal property of Maine, in 1850, was $100,-
()b0,0bb ; in 1860, $165,000,000,— about $262 to each inhabitant ;
in 1868, $344,000,000, — on a gold basis, about $500 to each
inhabitant. * These figures have been most generously put at my service by Hon.
John A. Poor, in the manuscript of his forthboming report, prepared upon
a requisition from the Governor of Maine.

14
Maine is now without an obstacle in her pathway, at least
from the Legislature. The most enthusiastic adherent of pro
gress could desire nothing more liberal than the recent provis
ions. Accordingly we find, that whereas the laying of 577^
miles of railroad has been distributed through thirty years,
there are, while I speak, at least 314^ miles of new enterprises
rapidly advancing to completion, at a cost of $9,250,000. Such
roads are, for example, the European and North American, 110
miles ; Knox and Lincoln, 46^ miles ; Bangor and Dover, 40
miles ; Belfast and Newport, 38 miles ; Somerset, Portland and
Rochester, etc., etc.
Besides these, are additional enterprises in contemplation; for
example, the Portland and Ogdensburg, 48 miles ; Portland and
Rutland, 38 miles ; International, from Milford to Princeton, 65
miles, etc., etc.
There are some features, undoubtedly, in the new license
granted for the building of railroads, the necessity of whose
adoption we all regret.* But are we, therefore, to turn back ?
Our Fathers saw Maine outrun by Massachusetts, and were
wont to say, "What of it? We are not building up a separate
and independent government here. Many of our young men
will go away, and some will return. At any rate, we share,
indirectly, in their prosperity under the General Government.
That is our fate ; we must submit to it."
So do not say the men of faith and vigor now. Experiments
have often to be tried, and that in the face of threatening evils.
Let us have faith in ourselves, and go forward.
Such, I believe, is the sentiment of the leading men of Maine
to-day; and happy are we in the possession of men, and that in
places of authority, who seem to have " come to the kingdom
for such a time as this."
It has been the good fortune of New England, in the last few
* I refer to the danger of sUQh a reaction ou the part of our towns, as may
necessitate a change in our Constitution, and force a transfer of their sub
scriptions for stock, in the form of a general debt, upon the State.

15

years,"that the grand issues of the war brought up, by necessity,
into the higher stations of responsibility, many gallant men,
who have ever been as sanguine in hope for the Republic as
they were staunch in Christian principle ; men like Buckingham
and Andrew and Howard ; men on whom the people leaned,
who enjoyed also the confidence of our churches, and, stranger
thing still in our political history, who deserved it. By the side
of such, as every way their peer, may I not mention the repre
sentative leader of Maine to-day, in these her material pros
pects, as in all that is good among us, that brave soldier and
humble Christian, General Joshua L. Chamberlain.
Thoroughly aroused, however, as we may be to our material
interests, confidently as Maine may look for the support of her
sons, let her not forget, at least on such a day as this, that our
last dependence for temporal or eternal hopes is only on the
Lord our God. Let us lift our hearts, therefore, with one accord
to his throne, as we make mention together, lastly, of the tokens
of our improved Religious Estate. This is the loudest note in
all our thanksgiving, the only earnest of a safe future.
Among such happy indications, let me beg you to observe the
marked welfare of our Christian churches ; and I say Christian
churches, not because I am so uncharitable as to imagine that
they have a monopoly of good influence, but because it is only
the distinctively Christian churches which magnify membership,
and therefore issue statedly official statistics. Indeed, I am not
unwilling to believe that there are men, out of the pale of any
visible church among us, who fear God and work righteousness,
and must also be borne in mind. Nevertheless, so far as the
condition of our so-called Orthodox churches may be regarded
as a tolerable exponent of our Christian progress, the evidence
is at hand.
The first Congregational church in Maine was organized in
York, 1672. In 1772, there were thirty-one churches. In 1800,
seventy-five churches. In 1820, 141 churches.

16

The Congregational churches of Maine had, in
Chwchea. Ministers. Metniers.
1828  130  78  7,685
1840  196  145  16,308
1850  220  178  lfi,826
1860  248  196  19,351
1868  241  196  20.099
The Baptist churches of Maine had, in
Churches. Ministers, Members.
1827  199  126  12,120
1828  209  128  13,037
1830  215  147  13,266
1840  261  181  20,490
1850  295  200  19,850
1860  278  182  21,380
1868  269  182  19,833
The Methodist churches of Maine had, in
1826  7,306 members  54 traveling preachers.
1834  15,493 members  115 traveling preachers.
1860  19,699 members  174 preachers.
1868  19,668 members  159 preachers.
The Free-will Baptist churches of Maine had, in
ChxjTches. Ministers. Members.
1861  295  243  14,792
1868  282  239  14,052
The Episcopal church in the Diocese of Maine had, in
Parishes, Communicants. S. S. Scholars. ContributiMu.
1842  6  400  471  not given.
1850  9  677  572  $2,450
1860  18  1,511  1,357  8,316
1867  19  1,527  1,366  14,527
In 1868, the Sabbath Schools and contributions were as
follows :
Congregational church  21,923 scholars  $ 41,549
Baptist church  17,010 scholars  19,151
Methodist church  20,554 scholars.  12,097
Episcopal church  1,366 scholars  14,527

17

In 1860, the Maine Missionary Society received a little short
of $10,000 ; in 1868, more than $14,000.
The rate of increase, in the comparison of remote periods, is
palpable and cheering. Between the years 1850 and 1860, such
was the draft, upon Maine in a peculiar degree, for Australia,
California, and Pike's Peak; and between the years 1860 and
1868, such has been the loss by war, and such the current
toward the Southern States and the country which is being
opened by the Pacific Railway, that the churches may be con
sidered as having done nobly in holding their own. Some of
them have even thriven and increased, as you will see by their
respective figures.
There can be no doubt, if our Congregational denomination
is a fair representative of the rest, that evangelical religion has
an ever-growing hold upon the State. Professors of religion
form a larger proportion of the population. In 1830, for ex
ample, the population of the State was 399,995 ;, the number of
Congregational members, in round numbers, 8,000, — about one
member in every fifty. In 1868, the population of the State
is (setting it high) 670,000 ; and membership 20,090, or one in
every thirty-three; which gives a decided ratio in our favor.
True, even with this showing, there is none occasion for boast
ing ; perhaps we ought rather to hide our heads in shame when
we see how slender such attainments are by the side of our
ideal, and how long deferred, at such a pace, the final victory.
Out of a population of 670,000 to-day, there are 75,059 nominal
believers in the five churches already mentioned, — Congrega-,
tional, Baptist, Methodist, Free-will Baptist, and Episcopalian.
Add to these the Catholics (in SadUer's Directory reported
loosely, " about 55,000 "), there cannot be in all more than 130,-
000 church members, which leaves a ratio of less than one
professor to every five inhabitants. Alas, how many there are,
even in the churches, who add sorely to these trying odds
against us, having perhaps but a name to live !
And yet, as mortifying as such a disclosure of the result of
2

u
Christian zeal may be, let us not be hasty to conclude ourselves
hopelessly worsted. The church in Maine is already beginning
to bestir herself from sleep, and to gird her for work. And
truly, as she rises to go up to her holy convocations, there is no
goodlier sight than she ; a noble body of Christian ministers^
and sterling laymen. We ground ourselves on God and his
immutable word. That word is our only infallible source of
doctrine and rule of practice. Following the usages of the
Pilgrims, we emphasize the independence of the local church,
and yet maintain a frequent and orderly intercommunion with
one another; we believe that one is our Master, even Christ,
and, therefore, discountenance all excess of government among
Christian brethren. We manifest a peculiar deference for lay
men. We make no conditions of church fellowship, which are
not essential constituents of Christian character. We love a-
simple form of worship ; exalt the doctrines of the Bible, and
eschew forms, so far as may be, in favor of the preaching of
spiritual truth.
These are the religious institutions of our Puritan ancestry;
and we gather around them, not only because of the veneration
for the Fathers, but because they are homogeneous with our
political character, and because when they fall, one prop of our
¦civil liberties will fall with them. I know it is said of us that
we " are rude, have no taste, and are overrun with fanaticism ;
that we are unordained, unconfirmed, unbaptized ; able to exhibit
no claims to a succession from the apostles, and destined soon
to sink back into the nothingness from which we so recently
emerged*" We are "missionary ground," they tell us. And
it; is true. But alas, our people long, not for the sickly glim
mer of candles, nor the lying pretense of a priest's absolution.
They long, "yea, even faint" for an honest gospel and a real sal
vation. Our clustering islands "wait," indeed, but least of all
for the mock authority of her upon whose skirts is the blood' of
the nations; they wait for "the law of Christ."
And this it is our aim to give them. We are bound to make

19

our spiritual heritage an ornament to our beloved common
wealth, and we are not justified in allowing it to become a com
mon poaching-ground for the depredations of any who greatly
prefer to draw from our preserves, rather than scour the wilder
ness for themselves.
The State has been "burnt over with isms," we hear. Yes
but the soil in the end is better for the burning; after the
" pine tree " shall come up the oak. Among these undistin
guished, but by no means undistinguishable isms, there is one
which is of God, and for which, therefore, we contend. It seeks
to restore the purity of the apostolic church, and therefore
it tries, " as with fire," the novelties that would disturb our
peace. Protestantism magnifies the merits of one only Medi
ator and Intercessor, even Jesus Christ, and has here turned all
along a deaf ear to the blauJishnieiits of a self-constituted
priesthood ; and this, I suppose, is the reason why it is called a
" failure." Look at these comparative statistics. If this be our
failure, may it go on increasing, and may we have a greater
failure than we have ever yet seen. If the new church which
is to be built upon our ruins, and therefore to be a success, is
not Protestant, we are glad to know it, and would be still more
glad to be apprised of its trite name.
The Protestant Church here, my brethren, has indeed not
done the half of what she ought to have done ; but she is still
sound at heart, still full of devotion and immortal energy.
She was right on the question of slavery years ago, she is right
to-day on the issues of temperance, the intemperate language of
some of our temperance men, to the contrary notwithstanding.
So is she now, on the absorbing question of the evangelizing of
her borders.
Never in the history of your observation was the Church here
characterized by more practical traits. She is greatly concerned
to-day, asking herself the most heart-searching questions, listen
ing for the voice of God in a docile spirit. She is inquiring
and discussing, how she can repair her errors and build up her

20

waste places, what is to be the work of her young men, how
best to organize missions, how to reach the poor and clothe the
naked, how to approach the unconverted, how to Christianize
the whole world within the present century. Right thankful
ought we to be, for this. But what is still better, the same
yearning sentiment of union seems more to actuate the various
Christian denominations. They begin to melt into one, in public
and private service for the Master. Prating less of union, they
cease to think of their differences. So they exalt Christ the
more, and become a unit against the common enemy of souls .
So may it ever be. So, hand in hand, may we soon win the
State to the Saviour, and make its every wilderness to blossom
like the rose.
Filled with such glorious anticipations, animated by such a
sacred ambition, the Church of Christ rightly identifies herself
with every grand and noble work among us. She allows no
man to divorce her from a strong national sympathy, and lets
slip no opportunity of prayer, or of service, by which she can
reach our hearts as individuals, or enlarge our usefulness as a
community, for time and for eternity.
Therefore, when the Chief Magistrate of the land calls us now
to the house of God, to her gates with joy we repair, to lead your
praise to Heaven for the solid and abiding peace which the Lord
seems to have vouchsafed at last to this divided nation, through
the election of Ulysses S. Grant. So when our excellent
Governor, also joined in the invitation to the place of prayer, the
followers of Christ come gladly, in obedience to a custom long
honored and observed by the men who settled in this region, to
thank God, that we are still alive ; that the heavens have not
refused their store, nor the earth its bounty ; that our burdens
have not crushed our faith, nor have our sorrows broken our
hearts ; that the kingdom of our Redeemer is coming among
us ;. that, though our fields were temporarily forsaken, by the
ypung and adventurous, for more inviting pursuits abroad, there
is already a hopeful counter-attraction unfolded at home ; and

21

that this is owing'to the discovery, among us, of inexhaustible
resources for wealth, which have too long lain imperfectly
known, and therefore, to our disgrace, inadequately developed.
The Church has felt the pinch of poverty among these hills, and
has shared your despondency and darkness ; but she has felt, also,
the joy of her service, and awaits the spiritual quickening of her
Lord's promises. It is peculiarly fit, therefore, that she should
turn, and be to-day the prophet of her Redeemer to the State,
and comfort her with these wonderful words of the text,
originally applied to herself, " Whereas thou hast been forsaken
and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee
an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations."
There is a great majesty in the general observance of this
our New England jubilee, and a great hope of regeneration
through the hallowed memories which it stirs. As I think
of it, the day itself, in its approach and commencement, by the
scenes which usually usher and attend it, presents an appear
ance in no small degree imposing, affecting, and even morally
subhme. The usually crowded marts of business are shut, and
deserted ; the ordinary avocations of secular life are laid aside ;
while with a stillness, like that of the Sabbath, through the
former part of the day, our fellow-citizens engage in public acts
of praise. As we walked along these beautiful streets just now,
and looked up at these consecrated edifices, we saw the solid
men of the city silently gather and bow before Heaven ; as
we observe their faces, and listen to the joyful song which they
utter, we cannot but exclaim, God's goodness is acknowledged
and returned by this people!
And yet we are led to form equally bright hopes of civil
promise to us all, when we think how, at the mention of this
festival, all our eyes and feet, if possible, turn toward that
other sanctuary of our earliest reverence. On these troubled
shores, what safer harbor is there for our restless and tossed
souls than the dear arms which first sheltered us ? Who does
not love to yield to the drawings of these irresistible cords ?

J ,

oil, the ties of hoiae ! how ma;ny a prodigal does it lure back to
its warm fireside to-day ?
Peculiarly touching to me, in connection with the wide out
look we have indulged ttis morning, are the happy reunions of
the day, and the simple customs of the country Thanksgiving.
I can see it all, as it transpires ; tlie meeting at the depot yes
terday; the old horse, and! the rusty harness; the crowded
wagon, and the rough road ; the faces at the window as they
mount the hill, and the mother's greeting. What mingled
dreams last night, as hundreds of children laid their heads in
the old familiar place, and what strange wakings in the presence
of those early companions, the picture with the urn and the
willow, and the quaint paper on the wall! I think ofthe wide-
ranging queries at the morning meal, the visits to the well, the
barn, the pantry, the attic. How the faces of the past start up
at every turn, and the sudden tears for the missed and gone !
And now all who can well go are off for the meeting-house.
Already Dobbin is in the horse-shed, and the men are shaking
hands all round, before the door. The country choir, the par-
sOh, the sermon, a few last words with cherished friends ; and
homeward again they rattle at a lively gait.
Well, deaf friends, let us all, who can, go home. Call in
the boys, gather once more around the groaning table those
who still remain. Let us be cheerful, and comfort the hearts
of the old folks. And as so many of the sons of Maine to
day revisit the places of their birth, God grant that the soil of
these broad counties, and the gloi"y of these hills, may seem
dearer and more sacred, in their eyes, than ever. As through
the thrift of many of her adoptecl sons, the State is being re
vived to hope of a bright future, let at least many of the
children who were nurtured here, and therefore owe her most,
turn again to rebuild the waste places, and lay the foundations
of the new. Let us all set about this holy work. Let us re
move all possible obsliructions, and stimulate all proper growti.
Let us make ndore of the old homesteads, and' trim the lamps

23

of memory. Let us plant fresh trees in the abandoned orchards,
repair the old academy, put into the old pulpit, once more, a
settled ministry, and upon the old meeting-house, a lively coat
of paint. So may we begin to answer our own prayers in part,
and to show, that the truest gratitude to Heaven, for its favors
past, is a higher consciousness of duties to come. So may God
save us, and ours ; and so let us all pray, May God save the
State of Maine.

9002 08866 0072

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