Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1856-07-17
W IA
. - A PRAYER


We find in pthes Beacon the following
Prayer ofereabysbe RegsHlp:/ Woody, at
the recent commemeTaIier ST the Fourth in
Leonardtown:
Vouchsafe, 0 Merciful Father to look
down with an eye of tendrness upon this as
sembly-not regarding so much our indi-
vldual errors, as our universal confidence in
Thy power, and firm reliance upon Thy in
Unite goodness:
We have here assembled before Thee, O
Heavenly Father, to commemorate, in union
with all true American hearts, the glorious
anniversary of our national independence,
and to pray Thee to consolidate and perpct-
uate our religious and civil liberty In
pursuit of these inestimable blessings, colo
ny followed colony from the mother coun-
try, where they had been denied both, to
try their fortunes in the wilderness of A
merica. Amongst these pioneers of Free
dom, guaranteed by the government at
home, as Star succeeds Star, dispelling the
darkness of night, our own Colony of Mary
land, dearest to our hearts, like the Morn
ing Star, shedding clearer light upon the
pathway of freedom, added new hope to the
oppressed emigrant and lovers of liberty
every where, that the brigh Sun of Univer-
sal Freedom would, ere long, rise, upon
this vast Continent, to difiuse light and
gladness to all mankind.
In the inscrutable ways of Thy Provi-
dence, this hope is being realized. Pledges
to the various colonies touching religious
and civil rights were broken, and a just
Declaration of Independence followed; and
liberty now finds most powerful alliance,
both for defence and progress of liberal prin-
ciples, in the former Colonies and eonfede-
rAted United States.
Unlike the Israelites who were separated
from all whose religion and civil policy diff
fcred from their own--unlike ancient and
modern nations of the Old World, who
maintained, as necessary, some national re-
Mgion, and unlike any of the early Colonies
of America, which were, in letter and in
spirit, more or less tolerant and more less
exclusive, we, the posterity of '76, have
been so trained and tutored by Thy Divine
Providence and inspiration, in the new
school Of modern and American civilization,
that here, under the outrageous Tree Of
American Freedom, the ''Lion and the
Lamb" may quietly lie down together, and
every element of foreign discord be forgot
ten in our great and glorious Union
But if, for time, like Thy fayorite
children of Israel, some of us may have for
gotten the Evolutionary lessons of their poll
teal faith and the virtues of our fathers,
grant, O Lord, that this days commemora-
ton throughout the Union, of the choicest
blessings of Heaven, may revive our politi-
cal faith, increase our confidence in their
wise institutes, and infuse spirit of patri
otto self denial and Christian Compromise
ITO the end, that this great and growing and
happy country may never cease to be the
Model Republic, the land of the free, the
home Of the brave" and the North Star of
hope to the tempest-tost exile from every
;tyrant land.
Let not the sins of our countrymen, who
may not, for time, recognize their duties to
God and to Caesar, or fairly prize their own
superior condition under the Star-Spangled
Banner, involve this Great Nation now and
forever, in the awful penalty of ingratitude to
Thee, Our Prorident Father in Heaven, in
gratitude to our Revolutionary Fathers Of
'76, and ingratitude to the advocates and
defenders. of constitutional liberty through
out the world But, on the contrary, if we
have forfeited by our sins against so boun-
tiful providence in Cur favor, in prefer
ence to all other nations, amongst whom
we may count thousands of unfortunates, to
whose martyred fathers in our cause we owe
an everlasting debt of gratitude our
timely reflection, suggested by the happy
remembrance of past blessing, move us to
salutary repentance for our sins and may
we thus continue to enjoy, in perpetual
peace and security, individual and national
happiness, known only to us who have
shared bountifully the fruits of the Ameri-
can revolution, at one common board, laid
by our Pater Patrie-W ashington and other
compatriot fathers.
Grant, O grant, Heavenly Father, we
may not prove false to ourselves or to Thee,
and justly forfeit their precious legacy; and
as an earnest of our success in preserving
our liberties, civil and religious, we here
and throughout the Union, relying upon
Thy continued providence and protection,
pledge this day to maintain, as our fathers
did in 1776 to achieve, our Independence,
our lives, our fortune and our sacred honor.
Amen.
At the Abolition Kansas Convention, re-
Gently held in Buffalo, at which Ex-Gover-
nor Reeder presided, Gerritt Smith gave
81 500 per month, during the war, Chat
is during the time the agitators hope to
keep up a disturbance in Kansas,) and
handed in check for the first instalment
These people seem determined to have a