Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1823-09-04
H,figious.

VI G&I AAShSNANff - fehtSt AoSC~@NtsStr,
BELOVED BRErHRzv-We desire 20
return our sincere thanks TO The great
author Of our being, and the boustitul
bestower OF the manifold blessings and
comforts which we are in the habItsai
enjoyment OF, for the privilege and hap
2iness which we now possess In beng
permitted to assemble ourselves together
gain in an associated character, thai we
may set in order the things that may be
wanting in the Lords house If any there
be, and that we may also ENJOY the plea
sure of receiving communications from
the different branches, or sections, OF the
Lords terrestrial Zion, and unite our ar
dent supplica,ions to the throne of our
Heavenly Father, that he viii srac;ousiy
plese 10 communicate blessing both
TO your ID aad to our deliberations,
which rave for their object the extension
of the Redeemer's Kingdom, the esta-
blishment of religious concord and una
nifty, and the diffusion Of that knowledge
and truth by which alone ignorance and
error can ever be dispelled. May not
the friends and advocate. for the pros
rcrdy of the government Of the great
King in Zion, congratulate themselves
dear brethren, that they arc neither *
noraHt OF, nor entirely inattentive 10,
the signs of the ti'.:es ; and that these
signs lead us to disc over tue dawn of
brighter day breaking in upon the
moral and religious hemispheres OF the
world, Indicating that a glorious period
is Fastening on, according to prophetic
revelation, when nation shall be born
in a day; when the wa:chmen shall see
eve t, eve, anil truth and knowledge
shall eoTer the earth $s the waters co
yer the scar Hour fathers hailed the
suspicious morn If The reformation,
whichwas to deliver their po.terity from
I the msnacles Of superstition, in'olerable
Ignorance, big otry, prosecutions, tor
lures aai death. and TO let in the glo-
rious ri n ri light aal liberty, which Is
the preroaa.ire, beca;se tits the lie TT
mate birth right, of the children q God,
ought we moi equally TO hail tire happy
period which beholds US in the full fral-
lion and possession OF both civil and re-
lisions liberty; when each man may be
said To sit underhis own figtree and have
none to make him afraid when that
bles>e Book, whichis the fountain from
whence all religious truth flows, instead
of lis being kept locked up in 4 dead
language thatit might be secluded fron,
the ta- greater part of our fellow crea-
lures. whom the proud emissaries G!
Satan contemptuously called the vui-
gar, maxi ~ It a crime worthy Ct cruel
ties. prosecutions and death, that ii should
be found In any sach hands,-is now
brought forth FROM the gloomy recesses
of inonastic darkness, iito the light Of
dag; when the mould and the dust which
it bad contracted from d:suse and ne
elect fer a long series of ages, is now
yri1ed away, and rs enlightening and
soul refreshing contents, are translated
into almost every language under the
sun, and difused into almost every quar-
ter of tae hab;table globe when the
heralds of the cross are issuing forth
from almost every part of Europe aud
America. CARRYING the everlasting Gos-
pei along with them en,ighning the
minds of those who were sittirgin dark,
ness and the shadow Of death, instructing
the heather, and introducing a ray of
heavenly light into their benz GIFTED minds,
by which many ofthem have been indu-
ced to cast their idols to the bats and to
the moles, and to embrace that Saviour
who is now the Joy Of their hearts, and
the consolation of their souls: These
are ministers who are the out-called OF
tlre Lord men who are crucified to
the world, and the world to them; who
ioyfullv expose their lives to unhealthy
climates, and are heroically bearing up
under innHmerabe difficulties and dam
gers which beset them on every side,
and have reueunced without sigh, all
the endearments OF ciFh and socia. hle:
men, in short, who, like the great apostle
of the geRti,es, g.: count not their lives
dear unto themselves, so that they might
finish their course with JOY, and The min
istry which they hadFeceived ofthe Lyrd
Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace
of God" When we view al! these great
and wonderful things, dear brethren, in
tbe-~e viii not say, calm light of PHI
losopHy.-but in the enrapturing views
ofrrophedc faith, have we not abundant
reason to exclain, in the language ofDa-
vid, 20 that men world praise the Lord
for his goodness, and for his wonderful
works to the children of Hlcn'
But while we thus vie~ tEsSe blessed
events with the prospective eye Of