YALE UNIVERSITY LIBHARY

3 9002 05350

897

Cb% (

a^

T> T^

J iuA>>' ^^'

1.1

m

THE

REV. A. P. BUEL'S

Lt

pti|i|iMBg

DELIVERED AT THE HUNTINGTON STREET BAPTIST CHURCH,
NEW LO^'D0N, CONN., NOVEMBER 2StII, 1867.

NEW LONDON.
GILBEET E. POX, PKINTEK, CnBONIOLK OFPICE, FOOT OF THE PAHADE.
18G7.

THE

REV. A. P. BUEL'S

DELIVERED AT THE HUNTINGTON STREET BAPTIST CHURCH,
NEW LONDON, CONN., NOVEMBER 28tH, 1867.

^*' I^NEW LONDON.
OIUSEET E. FOX, PRINTEB, OHEONICIB OFFICE, FOOT OF THE PARADE.
1867.

ADDRESS.

I. SAM.DEI., VII. 12. — Then Samuel took a stone and set it bet\v(ten
Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying — hith
erto hath the Lord helped us.
When the Israelites were in route from Egypt to
Canaan, God commanded that an ark should be con
structed of shittim wood, which should contain a golden
pot that had in it manna, — also Aaron's rod that
budded, and the tables of the covenant that God gave
Moses in the mount ; and in this ark, sacred above
everything else belonging to the camp of Israel, the
Lord kindled and continued a living flame ; thus giving
a visible expression of his favor towards the people.
When they crossed the Jordan, the ark was borne over
and lodged about three miles west of the river, at a
place called Gilgal. It remained here for a length of
time unknown to us, and when removed it was taken
to Bhiloh. In subsequent time the Philistines opened
a warfare upon Israel, captured the ark, took it away
with them as a trophy of successful battle ; leaving of
the Isralites slain on the field aud in their tents full
thirtv thousand footmen.

The Philistines took the ark to AsLdod and placed
it in their heathen temple, beside theiridol God Dagon.
Instead of advantage, it proved a source of mischief to
them, for Dagon tumbled down before it, and the meu
of Ashdod were filled with amazemeut and trouble.
They called a convention of their sons, and it was de
termined to send the ark ot the Hebrews to .Ekron, —
they wanted to get rid of it. But the Ekronites were
afraid of it and raised a general out-cry, " They have
brought about the ark ot the God of Israel to us to slay
us aud our people." The fears and complaints of the
Ekronites caused it to be removed to Beth-shemesh,
and their curiositv to look into the ark, (a thing no He
brew would have dared do,) was punished with the
slaughter of more than fifty thousand men at the hand
of the Lord. Mortified at the mischief and the cause
of the mischief, the Philistines were now more than
ever concerned to dispossess themselves of the ark, and
it was at last sent back to the Israelites and left at he
house of Abinadab, the father of Eleazar, the priest.
Tho ark had long been absent from the house of
Israel, in the hands of their dreaded enemy, — but pro
tracted adversity often brings repentance ; and Israel
had by war and oppression been so reduced and ham-
bled that, in humiliation and sorrow, they turned to
God for parrlon of their sins and deliverance from the
power of the enemy. And the sight of the ark again
restored to them, inspired them with new devotion and

the tribes of Israel were glad again under the smiles of
Him who had long frowned upon them for their apos-
tacy. Again peace waved her banners,— again the
priest was at the altar, — the corn ripened in the valley,
— the fig tree did not cast its untimely fruit,— the in
crease of flocks returned, and the herds were lowing
on the hill- side.
The Philistines observing the happy state of afiairs
among the Hebrews, envied their prosperity, and came
out against them in battle. Once they have routed
them. When God is with his people the enemy that
assails them is only pointing the blades of war against
his own breast. They anticipated an easy prey, hut
the people M'ere loyal to God aud duty ; they were afraid
to violat". the constitution, — and Samuel their best and
last judge was bowed in prayer — and the heavens
opened — tbe thunders shook, and livid lightnings ran
along the ranks of the enemy. Overwhelmed with
fright and stunned with fear, it was apparent to them
they were fighting against other than men. " And the
men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the
Philistines, and smote them until they came under
Bethcar. "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up be
tween Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it
JSben-ezer, saying, hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
That place was a waj^-mark, where they paused to
gauge the depth of God's mercy, — that siojie- was a
monument to stand as a memorial of divine, help

against the power of an old and dreaded enemy ; and if
in after years the descendants of Jacob should lose
impressions of this special providence, this rough stone
standing on the plain between Mizpeh and Shen would
witness against their forgetfulnesa, and serve to revive
memory of what they had suffered, how Samuel prayed,
and how deliverance came in the dark and dismal day.
And since men are so liable to forget what they
should remember, it has been the habit of God's people
in all times to single out something that shall serve the
mind as a chrouicle of their experience, mercy, joy
and deliverance.
When Jacob was on his journey from Beersheba to
Ilarau, and God appeared to him in the slumbers of
tho night and gave him celestial visions, — the first
labor to which his hands were given in the morning,
was to raise a stone ou the spot where he had slept, —
on that spot where the angels appeared to him, — that
in i!he coming years of his pilgrimage he might never
forget how the earth of man and the heaven of the
angels are connected.
When the Israelites went down from the edge of
Moab into the parted waters of the Jordan, Joshua
commanded that one man from each of the twelve
tribes should pick up, and take along with him a stone,
to be lodged on the further side of the river as a me
morial of that divided flood, — while Joshua set up
twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place

where the feet of the priests which bore the ark ofthe'
Lord stood; "and there they are unto this day."
And I apprehend it was in view of the happy serv
ice of some palpable, enduring memorial that Christ
instituted and commanded to be perpetuated among
believers to the end of time, the use of bread aud
wine denominated "The Lord's Supper."
Our memories may serve us well in respect to the
ordinary incidents of life — the marked and outstanding
events of commercial, domestic, and individual expe
rience ; but in the over-spreading concerns of worldly
interests, in the hurry and haste of toil and business,
we are so exposed to for getfalness of God and his good
ness to us, that not only as ordinary pensioners upon
his bounty, but as Christians, we need something
rising up above the common level of events to remind
us of the debt of gratitude under which we live, and
through the channels of what Providence our hourly
and yearly mercies flow. Wisely, then, did our fore
fathers- inaugurate the custom which has called us
together to-day.
This is a Thanksgiving-Day — a day designated out
of the three hundred and sixty -five of the year, by
our Chief Executive and the Governors of the several
States of this Confederacy as a fit time for the people
to pause in their pursuits, assemble in their accus
tomed places of worship, and in the most public man
ner express their gratitude to Almighty God for the

6
prolongation of life, — for the return of seed-time and
harvest, — for the peace that surrounds our firesides
and overspreads our borders, — and the continuance to
us of those institutions and common liberties in the
midst of which we were bora.
The history of the custom which we regard to-day,
as Nevv-Englanders, reaches far enough back to be
almost lost among the shadowy events peculiar to the
early settlement of the country. There were many
things, I opine, of interest among the first settlers of
this country, especially in the New Enland colonies,
which are about the same as lost to us, because of the
scattered condition of the early settlers, the absence of
the printing-press ; and the demand of manual labor
for bread was such that the mind did not pause to re
cord on paper or parchment many of the incidents of
the times, which, had they been penned, would now be
read with delighted curiosity and zest. Considering
the exactitude and precision of the men of those
times, it is a wonder their records are so few. We are
fortunate, however, in having one brief record, now
more than two hundred and thirty-six years old, of
the first New England Thanksgiving :
It had been a sorry time with the people of Massa
chusetts and Plymouth colonies. Famine had sent
her legions through inland vallies, and al! along
the wintry coast ; pestilence had climbed up into many
a window ; disease had made fearful ravages among

the settlers, and^not small was the number wTio had
died from severe exposure and starving want. So
great and general was the suftering among the people.
that a Public Fast was appointed for February 6th
J.C31. But on the day preceding the one designated
by authority as a day of fasting, humiliation and
prayer, the ship Lyons, from England, arrived at Bos
ton with twenty passengers and a large store of pro
visions. Reduced, as the people were, to the last
extreme of poverty and want, the arrival of this unex
pected supply was considered a God-send, and the
Public Fast which was to have been, was changed to a
general Thanksgiving.
So meagre is the record of events in those early
times that we are not prepared to say that the habit
of an annual Thanksgiving-Day from that time for
ward became regular ; but it is quite sure that in the
autumns of succeeding years, when the harvests were
gathered and the fruits of the year were husbanded,
whether great in abundance or small, it was the custom
of that good old stock of yeomanry to gather in some
public place and manner, and then and there acknowl
edge their dependence upon, and gratitude to, the
All-wise Father of us all, — imploring his forgiveness
for their errings and frailty, and praying that He
would maketheir descendants wise, virtuous, and good
more worthy of His mercies than the fathers had
been. And lir such high esteem was this custom in

8
the days of my boyhood that youthful sports were
positively forbidden by parents and guardians; and
one clause in each Governor's Proclamation, com
manded " that all work and servile labor on that day
is by law prohibited."
In later years the proclamations are worded differ
ently, but the custom of church-going is still con
tinued, meeting in their several houses of public worship
about eleven o'clock in the morning, returning to their
homes about half-past twelve ; and in the neighborhood
of three in the afternoon the family sits down to feast
on meats and the minglings of good things, the like of
which gladden not their eyes or stomach again through
out the entire year. I do not wonder at the venera-
ton of the day in New England when I consider the
cause of its introduction, when I think of the ten
dency to forgetfulness ; and then how much real joy
comes along with it ! In fact, this day in the New
England States stands first on the list for ample fes
tivities and joyous welcomes The children that .have
gone out from home into the shaded and shining world
of toil and hope, like full-fledged birds from the parent
nest, on the return of this day are seized with a new
and fresh love for the old spot, and pleasant place of
birth and childhood, and with children and grand
children, and great grand children, aunts, and uncles,
and cousins, they come trooping over the ridgy hills
and sweeping through the russet 90BB; where red

i^iMy^t

9
berries are shining in the sun, — the sumac, the bitter
sweet and alder, all fragrant with early memories and
the loves of "auld lang syne ;" where the sparrow
chirps her gladness, and the provident squirrel is get
ting in his winter's store, — they come to meet under
the old patriarchal roof and indulge in feastings and
greetings and gratulations, and catch the glow of
happy friendship that keeps the hand of kindness
open, and the heart of pleasant memories warm and
gushing. 0 happy day of other times ! — what gloom o'er-
spreads the banquet now ! At maay a feast the
father's form is wanting, and patient mother has
vacated the seat she filled so well. The chair of
Henry and Willie and Georgie is vacant, — the picture
on the wall is hung in crape, — suggestive ihat sorrow
. follows joy, atid that the place of home is at the other
end of life from where the cradle stood.
And thus this day, in this manner, is lifted up among
and above the other days of the year, — somewhat like
Samuel's stone, as a kind of monumental day, to re
mind the people of their relationship to each other.
And as the day is introduced with Divine worship^
it serves to tell all, the oldest and the youngest, of
the Fatherly care and lavishing goodness of the Lord
toward us.
And that we may go from this sanctuary on this
joyous morning with a fuller measure of gratitude in

10
our hearts, let us enunierate a few ot the general
blessings we enjoy :
1st, Creogra'phieally . — We had our birth, education,
and have received our notions of men and manners
and business, and most of us have grown up to man
hood — in the temperate zone. We live within those im
aginary lines that belt the earth where the greatest
minds in all time have shed their influence. Here
philosophers taught and poets sung — here steam has
been taught to work — water to earn its passage to the
sea — and /re been tamed down to an obedient servant
— and lightnings, that erst travelled around the world
uselessly, have been harnessed to take along with them
the wishes and messages of men. Here arts and sci
ences have had birth. Here and outgoing from here —
the temperate zone — are the products of mind's best
labor seen in humauizing institutions — the eff'ect of
equitable laws, the benevolent plans and libeial policy
of government. Little, indeed, have the Arctics done
for our race ; and the fiery, hot-blooded dwellers on the
meridian, in the tropics, in all time, have helped the
enterprises of our race but little more. The world's
centre of hope and work and discovery, that which
goes the farthest and does the most for the improve
ment of the human race is the Temperate Zone. The
superior advantages of such a lot cannot be estimated
without we betake ourselves to the freezing poles and
see what life is and how meagre are the arts and com-

11
forts of life there, or stand on the torrid line and see
how little man rises in doing and dignity above the
brutes that only eat and live and die.
And of all the kingdoms and people that have been
or are now found within the limits of the Temperate
Zone, observation of facts, I am sure, will prove that
none have in the past been so highly favored, and that
none now, tho whole world round, can equal in ordi
nary advantages, political rights, civil guarantees and
religious privileges, tho thirty-four millions cf free
people encompassed in the thirty-eight States of our
common confederacy. ,
So far as my reading will allow me to form an
opinion, I know of no government in all the va
ried governments of tbe earth, Patriarchal, Hier
archic, Monaiohic, or Democratic, that so much re
gards the inalienable rights of the toiling poor, (which
constitute the larger masses of all countries, cliiies
and times,) as the government of the United States,
The Constitution that ir over us all, or ought to be,
is for us all, — it asks homage of each and all alike
— it knows no tyrant-order, — it has no power but
what the people give ic. The lav.- of the land is but
the assent of the majority ; and one of the chief
glories of American citizecship is found in the
fact that here we bow to no king but God And
then, too, in religion there is no slavery to priestly
enactments, unless the subjects themselves volunteer

12
that slavery from choice. No mau and uo body of
men and no State regulation dare say to me, you shall
worship after our form. It is true there is a large
class in these American States over whom a priestly
policy tyranniz'-s, but the policy is exotic, it belongs
abroad and is un-American ; and he who grinds in this
toilsome mill is self harnessed, or bends himself down
for priestly hands to bind on him, soul and body, the
heavy j'oke.
All the enlightened parts of the world are apprized
of the fact that in America religious liberty is enjoyed ;
that men here arc left free to their own choice and
pretference in matters of religion ; that State law favors
no creed, no sect, as such ; and throughout the whole
domain over which the sta"S and stripes wave there is
no ecclesiastic [)ower, sanctioned by thc General or
State Govcnimeiits, allowed to impose an nnwilling
tax, or demand involuntary service or sacrifice I'rcm
the richest or tne pooi-L'st, the strongest or thc weakest,
the learned or the unlearned subject. L'tider tbe sanc
tion of no civil law, can a priest or bishdp, or presby.
tery, or confiirence, or Bapiist Board say to iho nasses
or iiidividuiti men, yc shall do this or that ; while tho
matter of choice in everything pertaining to faith, re-
igion, and worship, is loft free and untrammeled.
And yet, again, under tho auspices of the same
government, thousands and tens of thousands of lolig-
ioQS teachers are holding forth to thc masses on tLo

13
subject of faith in Christ, religion and worship,— thus
keeping the moral sense of the people awake, and
supplying the heart and conscience with new forces of
action, — encouraging the bad to become good, and the
good to be better. This truth, like morning light upon
the world, is poured forth and spread over the realm of
mind. Not a day but the work is proseented. Not a
day but light reveals the beauty of truth aiul tho shame
of evil. Not a day but the great people have pressing
on them a consciousness that right is right and xorong
is wrong. And though amid the clangor and din and
drowning sounds of toil and trade of this world's
noisy machinery, they hear — they cannot escape hear
ing — the beating and the roar of that ocean towards
which they are approaching every hour ; and for their
embarkmeiit upon its amazing scenes they are made to
feel the duty and importance of preparation. And
while God's servants are thus busy at their work, pro
tected by no special human enactments, the general
law of the land warrants and guards their safety, and
guarantees them against the dangers of abuse, or any
disposition in man or men to hamper their goings, or
padlock their lips.
Thus the poor have the gospel preached to them, the
ignorant are taught; and there is not a man in the
whole wide country but, if he will, can come to some
christian temple. For him the door is opened; for him
God's servants are speaking ; for him Christ a Saviour

14
is preached ; to him the story and triumphs of the' cross
are told. Nor is this all, — but under the protection of
tho benign laws of the State and country, the friends
of tho truth and lovers of the gospel are running
everywhere on the track of men ; thej' enter the pur
lieus of shame, districts and dens of degredation — the
haunts of debauciiery and dissipation, peculiar to our
over-crowded cities, — they coast our rivers and traverse
our canals, — thoy go down into our unsunned coUieriesi
where groups of squalid men, women and children, all
unlettered and covered with grime are tinling, and there
they tell o? Jesus and the way to Heaven ; thej^ climb
over the hills, and stretch their way across tho prairies.
It is not Schyler Colfax alone that flies across thc con
tinent in quest of material for an entertaining and in
structive lecture to t'lo people; the friends of Jesus
the publishers of the truth go, stopping at the hut
of the lumberman and the cabin of peasantry.
They follow after the jiionecr who has gone beyond
the bounds ot civilization and sought a home within
healing <>f the howl of tho panther, and in sight of tho
Indians wigwam, — and there to the hunter and hardy
ducller of thc wilderness, and the frontiers-man on
the edge of the desert, they point up to the sua
of righteousness that knows no setting; and such,
by prayer and entreaty, they urge to tho "fountain
tliiit has been opened for sin and uncleanness."
Nor do they fear d.-ingar or abuse in all this, for tho

taw of the land declares that every citizen of honest
pui'posG, diligent toil, and upright character, shall bo
protected. And then, again, under the patronizing eye of the
general government, the States, counties and towns
are opening schools, common schools, of varying
grades for the education of all, whether "to the
manor born," or thrown upon us in the way of immi
gration from countries foreign. Under a conviction
which modern experience has wrought, — that no
people can long remain free, happy and pros;-erou3
without education, — the system of free schools has been
inaugurated in nearly all the Northern, Eastern and
Western sections of our couutry; and that citizen has
only himself to blame, who grows up to man- or
womanhood iu dark ignorance. This has been the
result of many a hard-fought battle between the phi
lanthropist ou the one side, and the miniors of greed
aud avarice on the other.
For the maintenance of this order of things I am
. not unmindful of the fact that the school tax some.
times seems onerous and severe ; but let uo man for
get the good which this system has already wrought—
seen at the bar, on the bench, in the important offices
of trust, in the halls of science and pulpits of the land.
I insist, in a government like our own, the people
cannot afford to do without the common school. It
mast be the small school, house or the big prison ; thc

J6
thing balances itself; drive them out of one, you must
drive them into the other. It's the birch on the bad
boy's back now, or the halter on his neck by aud by.
Th3 poor constitute sd large a majority over the
rich, that the safety of tho rich depends on the educa
tion, and moral impressions that go along with educa
tion, iu the ranks of the [loor. The rich can and
always will take care of their own young, without the
general provisions of law. Lions never leave their
whelps to the care of other beasts. And owls would
not dare bring meat to the eagle's nest. Do yoci not
know the best men, up to whom tho world is looking
aud wlio strike the haaviest blows for justice, for hu
manity, for right, for the redemption of the poor to a
batter and happier lot, come from those who were once
in thc lowerranks themselves ? Back of wealth and its
]ii'ivilogL^s, back-of corporations and legislatures, there
is a mine of wealth in the deep stratum of young
miu 1, ill comn );i ranlcs, th it thc race needs the service
of. We have to hew oft" the rock to find the purest
q'lartz,— dig up th3 d irk mid and black sand fur dia-
moiicls that kings seek and mention in their legacies.
Every mau who pays a school tax to perpetuate the
system of common schools, let him remomber he 1.9
doing so much to help a generation that is coming
after him. If the scnool is not what it should be,
make it so. Life is short enough, but if a man can
live now so as to do good after he is dead, by the cf-

17
fe'cts of his example, the application of means, and the
over-reaching influence of his good deeds while here,
then life and privilege are stamped with a seal divine.
Every school house budt is another cord added to
the strength of the Republic; and it is no small matter
to start a poor boy upward, and tit him to serve his
country and his race , like Sherman from his shoe_
bench. Clay from his log-cabin school-house, Frank.
lin from the greasy surroundings of a candle-shop, or
Lincoln from his flat-bottomed boat on the Mississippi,
aud log-hut in western woods.
I once said, years ago, there can never be a civil war
iu America, but I overlooked the fact, or did not know,
how few and far apart school-houses were iu the South
With common schools, common throughout all the land,
the abolitionists and fire-eaters and all the extremists of
farthest North and South, could never have oj)ened the
iron gates of war upon this American people. Fish
ermen, in preparing their nets, have strung along the
line bits of cork or pieces of wood to keep them from
sinking. It would have been been better if the South.
had strung her school-houses nearer together.
You may say the South had churches — earnest gos
pel preachers. I tell you they needed the school-house
earlier than the church. The eagle is in an egg flrst.
The lion is horn blind. And the absence ofthe advan
tages -of a common school for all, men gifced with
power have stirred up the common and uninfarmed

18
mind, and carried them with the rush and blindness of
the avalanche into the horrors of civil war,
I shall not detain you with pictures of the field of car
nage while the shock of battle is on, or how the dead
and the dying and dismembered bodies, shattered and
unknown limbs, the wreck and devastations ofthe fight,
present themselves to the gaze of men, and over which
the clouds of hungry birds come hovering to the ban
quet, — how a thousand, yea, thrice ten thousand,
homes are engloomed and desolate for those who will
never come again, — how the desolations of war have
overthrown the prosperities and improvements of a
century, and disjointed the hopes of an entire genera
tion, — how whole hecatombs have been made of the
swathes of battle, from which tradition will take her
varicolored report, and a thousand years may hang
down the head and redden at the tale.
You anticipate ray saying something of the causes
we have for thankfulness, found in the tavoring Prov
idence that has attended us, over at least tho Northern
secdons of our country another year. With my eye
on this field, I cannot look without wonder, 1 cannot
comprehend the abundance we have in store, — gold
and silver in our treasuries never before equalled I — our
unparalleled garners of grain and unestimated supplies
of fruits of the orchard and products of the grou':d — ¦
enough for the wants of our many miUions, with a
large margin for exportation to those who hunger in

19
lands beyond the sea !
When I survey the bounty in contrast with the con
dition of other parts of the earth, I cannot withhold
the e.xcUimation, "Surely God has not dealt so with
any people."
Now turning to the future there are some things
piessing upon our notice of great moment :
1st. We should be glad that sectional animosities are
passing away ; the removing of the cause demands an
expression of thankfulness to God from every one.
No matter where we have stood in the past — what we
have thought or believed in— it ought to be a matter
of rejoicing with each and every one of us, that the
cause of our trouble, tho cause of the rebellion, the
cause of teas of thousands maimed and miserable for
life, the cause of three hundred, of our noble young
men wrapped and sleeping in the grave-clothes of a
soldier, has been swept from a place in this land of the
free to be restored to trouble us never again.
2d. There must be a free, untrammeled printing-
press everywhere, to give vent to the feelings of the
people, and pour light on all minds. Sectional boast
ings of national advantages or superior intellectual
attainments,must not be continued ; but whoever rises
and whatever post is highest, is so, not for selfish ends,
but the good of all. If Massachusetts or Connecticut
ascend, it is that they may act lever-like to raise the
rest. In a Republic like ours there ought to be noth-

20
ing in the way of a free intercommunication, inter
mingling ofthe people, the results of invention aud
trade — all which tends to the advantage and strengthen
ing and improvement of all, — the wide West bringing
its young vigor east, and the East reflecting itself back
in the course of the sun upon the West. The sturdy
sons of the North carrying their cool prudence and
ripe thought from the granite hills and mountains, to
the wide and warm plains of tho South, and that in
the absence of all local prejudice and anti-dernocratic
law. The sooner, and the more general tlie habit bo-
comes of talking, and thinking, and fooling the coun.
try North and South, East and West, is but one, and
that ours, the belter will it be. We want one capitol^
one constitution, aud one flag, and we want no more
for tho laud that is chafed by the washing of the two
oceans, bounded by noi'thcrn lakes and the southern
gulf. Never, no never, let ther.! be another breath
spent in talking of a country too great, or the feasi
bility of di\'ision. It is not too wide to cultivate, not
too wide for God to protect. Let all the rivers run as
God has given them channels, and we will call thein
American. Let the mountains rise, and the hills swell
where God laid down their deep foundations, and we
will call them ours. Lat the forests shrink away to
make room tor advancing civilization, towns and vil
lages and cities, and all the people in the dignity of an
ever impiroving aud intelligent manhood, stand up in

21
tho eyes of the nations and say, "We are Americans,"
united aud strong in a common brotherhood aud free
as the eagle emblazoned on our banner."
Jjct the way to preferment stand open to all according
to merit and ability. Let the school house door be
bolted to none, the seminary and college invite each
and all that are hungry for knowledge; and then ma
jorities cannot long be wrong, for judgment and justice
will assert their place and right of power among the
people. Naver have I been so hopeful of my country as at
thj present hour. We have passed the rock where
je.-ilous monarchs and their minions said the American
Republic would split. We have had revolt and rebel
lion, and the country is triumphant — not a stripe torn
from the old flag, not one star blotted out.
In conclusion, — as we go to our homes, let gratitude
.fill our hearts for the great and constant mercies of God
to us; — that we have a Saviour as good as we need^
better than we deserve, and who will at last bring the
peniteut and pure iu heart to heaven above, when we
fail below.
Let kindness and liberality prevail toward one an
other. Let Churches be supported. Let Sabbath-
Schools multiply. Let every man, woman and child
be taught somewhere, in some way, the duty he owes
himself, his neighbor, his country and his God ; then
State recriminations will cease — the safety of the bal-

22
lot-box will be secure, aud the controlling majorities o
our thirty-eight Republican States will not bo widely
wrong. Let the people, let all the people North and llouth.
East aud West, cleave to the Bible and the faith of tho
Bible as did our fathers— i/^en will trade and commerce
prosper — theyi will our level plains and winding valleys
and rolling prairies and sloping hill-sides on each re
turning j-ear supply abundant harvests. And in th^
beautiful language of Scripture, " Our sons will be as
plants grown up in their youth, and our daughters a^
corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace.
Our garners will bo full, including all manner ot stores.
Onr sheep will bring forth by thousands and tens o
thousands. Onr oxen will be strong to labor, and thcro
will bo no breaking in or going out, or complaining in
,oiir streets.
Happy is that people that is in such a case. Yea,
hap[iy is that people whose God is the Lord.

v.ji

*f «,
.i'4*
:-n'^ pijt^. riif / ^vS ...