Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1851-12-23
Thanksgiving Day Sermon h.

ii DuJ Dci MVHs
The recurrence Of a day set apar
for t be acknowledgment of tie di
vine benefcence BY thanksgiving anc
praise, affords favorable oppoF Ftuni
Ity for the discussion of aacrec
themes, in their relations to th e SO.
cial and political : w ell-being df oul
country. The subject is a wild : one
Though often discussed, it has never
been exhausted. No man has yet
fully Estimated the value and ihpor-
tance Of the Bible and the Sabbath,
to the intelligence, peace, ana order
of families, to individual and ma ational
independence, freedom M, security, or
der, and prosperity. No man has
yet told the world hoW much the mil
lions of this Confederacy are In debt
ed to the Bible and the Sabbath for
the rich inheritance they. have re-
ceived from their fathers.
The Rev. Mr.. WadsworthI of
Philadelphia, illustrat ted a part of
this great subject, in his discoul Sc to
the people of his charge, on Thd dnks-
giving Day. His textwas
,HupPy i. The People whose God 5 The
Lord" Psalm 14a: Is.
After few pertinent remarks on
the Psalm and the. national aspect
given, this year, to our ancestral and
pilgrim festival, he observed that
"the themealike of David's cons sider-
alton and of ours to-day, is our Pc
culiar blessedness as having the
TRUE Con FOR OUR GoD. And the
simple form of the present discourse
will be-zke Necessity Of -EUaagelic-
al LsauencBs Bs to osu Per1saseat Nd
tiOnat Pros perty.''
lie then proceeds to show that
the agencies on which infdelity re-
lies, are utterly inadequate to cur
national emergencies j. that the gov
ernment has no self-preserving power
that the government is not to be
found in the Halls Of Congress, in the
President, or Heads Of Departments,
or Officers Of the Army and Navy.
These are but temporary agencies,
created by election s-and that the
government lies ba ok of them all, IN
the hands Of the PEOPLE. He then
shows that general education and in
telligence afford lid sure safeguards
to our national pros perity. He then
remarks
Nor, be it obserV ed once more. is
there any stronger reason to trust
great lasVs Of rrogrdss, or movements
Of ouI race towards social and polit-
lcal perfection, which many men are
the guarantee of our nation
al prosperity. Alb, those old forms
Of despotic govern ments, say they
are relics Of ruder age, never to be
tolerated again by refined and
loftier civilization. But for all this,
most demonstrable is the fact, that
apart from Christia nifty, there is no
such onward tendency Of our race
toward a single principle that is
praiseworthy. Nay, further than
this goes the fact, that with all the
SAVIOR of godliness that is abroad in
the midst of US, even now our social
and civil progress is exceedingly
questionable. In S pine things, with
out doubt, there is On onward move
ment. There is at any rate, vast
physical progress. We travel faster
than our forefathe RS; We multiply
books faster; we live in houses more
luxuriantly furnishd ID; we worship In
temples of a costlief decoration. The
old Puntan's hbrarE y was Bible and
Psalm Book, Four r maes an hour
was the average of bis horses power.
He lived ina log house, on boiled
corn and bacon, and worshipped his
God in the aisles Of the wilderness.
These things, confes ssedly, We do bet
ter. Physically, We are on the
march to periection and in another
generation for aught ! know, may
chain the red Eght4ings In harness,
and live on ambrobia, like the old
demi-gods. But yet in all this, we
find not the Indication Of progressive
AS specimen of the
fine creature, man, the old Puritan
lowered above all late specimens,
Is Mount Blanc among mole-hills.
And verify, if therf be no true social
which involves not the idea
1f the perfection df the indiwdaal
man in all the great features and ell /
sments of manhood where, after all,
pray, find you tile data for this
laot,...: Ila,+ o,r lafn,y canial