Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1855-12-06
NASHVILLE PATRIOT.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1866.


for the people of this great commonwealth TO
humble themselves before Almighty Goo 10
gratitude and praise for the mercies and boun-
ties of his providence. A year of unexampled
thrift and health and happiness, is now closing
upon us, and kaleidoscope of happy memories
floats before the mind, as we pause to reflect
upon the parental vigils with which tie God
who feedeth the young ravens when they
cry hath seemed to guard the progress of an
infant people, and conducted them to so glo-
rous goal Of national grandeur and great
ness The manifestations Of the power Of
God" said the great statesman Of New Eng
land, " like mis- mercies, are pew every morn
ing and fresh every moment" How wonder
fpl is that power exenplfed in founding
our own mighty empire-how infinite is thai
mercy as illustrated ia its history! The in
stincts Of our holy religion, built up the Ameri-
can republic Without it there Is 70 such
thing as national greatness. The sublime idea
that there is God, was fixed as solar light
in the firlnaInent of this western hemisphere,
b. few poor pilgrims who fled from the
odiura heoy0gicum of the old world and pene-
trated the tangled copsewood Of New England,
to inaugura,e a faiths pure shrine"
What sought they thus afar'
Bright je~es-bright jewels Of the mine,
The wealth Of worlds. the spoils Of war
They sought faiths pure shrin,l
Ayei call it holy ground
The s1ot where Il they trod;
They have left un>tained what there Thy found
Freedom 20 worship God"
The same grand idea so austerely cherished
by that little band of exiles, amid the perils
and privations of their forest home, was trans
United as a sacred heirloom from sire to son,
until in after years it Illuminated he dreadful
night-march of glorious revolution. On the
eve of the battle strife and even when the
matches were lighted to give voice to the
dread artillery, the Great WAsHINGToN was
not ashamed to be seen upon his knees in his
tent. imploring the blessings of Heaven upon
the better cause Aud when that noble band
of patriot statesmen inet in conclave-to star
tie world suuberng in shaclles, by pro-
claiming that all were born free and equal,
and yet again afterward, to devise orr admit
rable system of government-the same gori-
Gus sentiment hung like halo about them,
=
concert and courage of thai God, who " ma
keith men to be of one mind in an house"
Aud thus the holy sentiment OF religion was
the " star in the east y which shOne upon the
birth of American freedom-has grown with
Its growth-wsxed strong with its strength
eugrafing itself upon our system of poIity-
become part aud parcel Of our common law,
l. i
nounced in our high Judicial tribunals Where
it is, mankind is elevated in the scale of moral
and intellectual being-where it is not, whole
nations degenerate into chaotic darkness.
''Rosseau," said the first Napoleon, twas
bad man, lie produced the French revolution"
Ii was Rosseau who wrote down the bible,
that holy book so beautiful in its ethics-so
rich in It's promises-so momentous in lis mis-
sion. II was he, who had engraved upon the
arches OF the Partisan cemeteries-that dread
shbboleth of the reign of terror" death Is
an eternal sleep aud the bible is a fable" 1t
was the mission of Napoleon to renstate the
Bible, and thus to redffuse throughout France
the tide of prosperity and progress. Wei
might Robert Hall exclain, when lie heard of
the disastrous battle of Waterloo, 81 felt az if
the clock of time had been turned back six
centuries when Napoleon was Frustrated"
Napoleon saw that religion was inseparabIe
from the very instincts OF the human soul
that the bible was the true bulwark OF law,
order and rational government; and looking
60 the glory of France, he devoted the ener-
gies of his mighty mind, to inculcate in the
hearts Of her people reverence for its sub
lime doctrines If such were the necess ties
of the consulate aud the empire, where might
was right, what are the necessities Of this
great republic, where the life,tlood of the gov
eminent, is the consent OF the governed lie
little knows of the character of our government,
who does not recognize the religion Of the
bible, rs better than standing army, IN pre-
serving the integrity-the sabity-the SYM
metry of this glorious Union.
Let this day, then, be consecrated to Al
mighty God Let the solemn church-bells toll
midday curiew TO all Secular pursuits-and
the aiSles and arches of our beautiful temples
echo with the jubilant chant Of praise and
thanksgiving to that holy being, who hath
built us up, and made Us what we are, the
freest and happest reople on the habtable
globe.