The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-11-26

Thanksgiving Day. Religious services were held
in almost all the churches, but our space does moi
admit of reports from more than the following:
TRINITY CHURCH, nRoApwAY-Rer Geo LeaAin
Pastor.
ihfTgi"r & R kng let ny counsel be accepah: unt" thee
m g P G syTrnR y meTcH " poor poor II may be eaEhen
At the call of Governor assemble this morning
to return thanks to Almighty God the past tC
ask His blessing the ours is no solitary
aSsemblage; responsive a similar call tens of thous
auds coming from hills and valleys the houses
o the crowded city and from the rural village from the
snow clad fields of the north and from the savahnahs
the south We catch the inspiration of the scene ouI
prayers become fervent praises hearty and
ask why should such day be confined to q Staes Why
should it not be universal? Why the same day in
Canada, in England, in her Coonies9 All have the
cause for gratitude; might not all have the thanks
giving Gal The mention OF our various States suggests
condition nation We have indeed the greatest
cause for gratitude-no war; pestlence famine-ouI
abundant harvests have been gathered and people
like the tribes nf Israel assembling observe this
tonal feast But It's not the past arrests our at
tenton the future claims regard The clouds seem
to gather around political horizon most un
practiced detect the signs OF coming Storm
storm which will test the fasenings of our Union And
where shall look for aid To the approaching Con.
gress Alas that increase precpitate the crisis
There but one hand-it the same that has led ms
through the struggles of the Revoution-an Almighty
hand always ready to help those truly seek Its aid
This day meet thank God for the past especially
to invoke his protection for the future; and in
his repeated promises regard this day harbnger
of hope-the silver lining the dark cloud Nations
may be intended to draw closely Him whom
prone forget in the sunshine Of prosperity
National safety depends nations al gratitude this
proposition like principle Of science Ineligible only to
fewH No Profane and sacred history corroborate its
TRUTH and from the ruins of Tyre, Babylon Nineveb
Jerusalem rises the instructive warning that unless the
Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain
Belshazzar with his court profaneS the vessels God
house, and there starts from the wall the handwriting of
EuphrateS, the bOased defence of Babylon becomes
BabyonS ruin Titus, gazing at the demolished walls Of
Jerusalem, declared he never could have taken such
.IV 11ps
the barometer indicate the calm than does the
rise fall of gratitude portend national Drosretv or
calamity. What says the Jewish History? When
they forgot God-when they boasted that fheir
hand had gotten them this weath-then came
PhiliStine the Amorte, the Chadean, the SYRIAN and
when they turned to their offended Maker the armies Of
Phar0ah and Sennacherb scattered like cha before
the whrlwind Show me where they successful
and will show where they grateful And were they
defeated at hadeSh: They were unsrateful Kadesh
Their enemy was not the ASsyrian Roman but their
ngratitude To counteraot this prevalent sin God
ordained three easts at Jerusalem. Thher every Jew
must come with his male children over 49, There they
must approach Gods altar to present the THANKSGIVING
for those harvess which they had lately gathered in and
lest they should say that they could not leave their
houses farms and little unprotected for weeks
God assured them that while they came to thank Him
He would watch their homes and so it was no robber
entered their dwellings, fire consumed their Iahors no
blight destroyed their harvests They sought Gods favor
first and He took of them. And what caused their
erObOam with ten tribes separated from the rest
and knowing that there the closest connection he.
the national feasts and the national union he forbade
his people gong to Jerusalem, and
in Samara From that time Israels history short her
downfall most rapid. No good king ever sat upon her
throne and in few years the Assyran swept the peo-
away Judea was governed by good kings
tribes did partially remember God in their national
feasts; hence their existence prolonged many years
but dSregardng the warning of Gods prophets trusting
in the of Egypt instead of that Almighty hand which
had led them through every difficulty they too were car
ried capves to Babylon Such is the testimony Sacred
Writ, and is not prOane history equally explicit? Point
out any great national wrong, and certainly as effect
follows cause will punishment reach that nation Louis
Surnamed reVO Of tl,a
of Nantes in 1885, caused the Protesants seek refuge in
other kingdoms and although under Cond and Turenne
France seemed to have attained the highest pitch of mill
tay glory yet the latter part of this kings life was as
miserable its beginning splendid He was buried
with great magndcence but wherever the procession
passed. the people hissed and invoked the ova
corpse. He succeeded by his great grandson Louis
XIV who for 50 years thought nothing but selfish plea
sure The reign OF this odous monarch prepared the
French to hate the name of monarchy He sue
ceeded by Louis XVI during whose reign was the French
Revolution, with all its bloodshed and horrors. Louis
XIV laid the foundation of the great empire in fraud and
oppresSi0n; Louis Ky continued the building proiiga
cy; and under Louis XIV the social edice fell and
its fall Napoleon upon the ruins and at one time
extended his empire Of Europe but Won kTOw
his invasion ounohendng people and you know rapid
fall from AuSterlitZ to St Helena. AT time SDan was
the leading power in Europe. The discovery of a new
world poured countless riches into her treasury and ex
tended her dominion much ofthis continent
But with her she forgot humanity and by the ex
pusOn Of the Moors she inflicted herself loss from
which she has veed and by her treatment of
the Mexican and other American aborgnes she has
tailed their descendants civil with its attendant
anarchy In his history of Europe Alison well observes
"a right consideration of history uniformly demonstrates
that although incOnsderable deViaons from rectitude
may be overlooked unavoidable to humanity yet
outrageous SIN and lrreparable evil fail to bring
their authors condign punishment, in this world
individuals have souls to receive retrbuton in future
of existence but nations have no immortality and
that just retrbuton which, in the former case is often
postponed in appearance least world in the
latter brought down with unerrng certainty to the third
and fourth generation Our security then as n nation
does not depend fleets and armies our wide
spread territory or our increasing prosperity 1t is
rluht al uDtin
determines peoples destiny. And what influences are
those most efficient in forming that character? might
mention the influence of various churches |
might speak of that early religious training which
seeks to purify the fountain instead of turning the stream
but shall reserve the remainder of my sub
ect which is rarely alluded to in the pulpit but which
exercising most important influence upon every State
city, village, county and family of Union to
the Press the newspaper, which from the smallest
ginnnga luxury to the favored fewhas become indis
pensabe to millions and whose power in forming public
sentiment IS immeasuarabe. In l700 paper with
circulation Of 300 suced for America and was then
thought that 1.-THE time might when the country
would support one regious paper" Now in MARYLAND
and the District of Columbia there were by the census of
1850 Sc of various kinds and in the United States 4S9
To illustrate remotely the influence of this power sup
pose person of intelligence coming your family every
morning except Sunday He informs you of all that has
occurred in your city in your country in Europe dis
tant Asia He gathers the details of each inter.
eshng event he attends each important meet
ing and tells you what said and done. In rain
and tempest in summer and winter does this person pay
your family his daily visit and not only brings you in
formation but gives his opinion question that
arises In time he becomes one of you, he is identified
with family and the character yourself
around have been moulded by this But
the newspaper does 1t brings you 100 different
articles, besides advertisements. 1t be read at
leisure Its information reaches children and by
servants. 1t forms the subject of and for up
wards days plies ceaseess visits to your home
instructive, entertaining and interesting to all Have
over-esmated the. force of this mighty engnty The
French Encyclopedias helped to produce the French
Revolution by means of pOndrnus books reaching the
learned few What increased influence the modern
press scattering its myriad thoughts daily among
the millions? How noble the ministry Of the Editor How
vast ms capacity Tor good or evil lie may enter the fam
lily daily, and diIuSe Cheerfulnes by his dfvers fled
the weary pilgrim to renewed exertions Young
in his downward career, and shield the hum
Bile and deienceess against the invasion of power We
have prayed for the President of the United States, and
for all in authority We shall pray for the Senate
and Representatives in Congress assembled and shall
forget those who make President and determine
Representatives. Before again assemble another
Thanksgiving day We shall have passed through 20
tcal conflict which now promises to be of much hitter
But trust that the influence of this day
will moderate extreme views and should be spared
meet again, may then look back on the past with in
creased gratitude and anticipate the future Of Re
public with renewed confidence in the protection of the
Almighty
GRACE cHUHcu-Rsc, DR.. A. Clereland Core Rector.
"Righeousness eXalteth nation bat sin is a reproach
any peOrir.'-PRov. XIV. "a
The morals of a people decide their destiny. As the
features Of take the form of his character and
bespea respect else excite pity and contempt so
external features of take shape their
habits of thought and action and heir corporate charac
is required accordingly. 1t is to say that
republics must depend upon popular Urtue, but the in
spred writer employs the good cid homey idea of obed
to Cod and version the sound word right
eOSneSS which COlerdge much prefers the feeble
word virtue So too the text speaks of rice but
Sih Nothing short of Gods law give moral grandeur
nation; and that which degrades it, among
| is transgreSsiou
There be force the choice of woras-''s
naton''-''any people" nation is well knit socia
fabric, and such fabric he developed only hy truti
comprehended and oheyed But 'peopler is any
class of men that cannot be made into State-becaus
they hear their reproach in the practical fact that the
sin makes every curse to his neighbor and all to
gcher hateful and hating another The Jews wer
| a nation; they are still a people Their sin tina
''they would not have this (CHRIsT) rule ove
| them"
They rejected 'Vhe Lord their righteousness" in
iuuitv became their ruin find that ceasipg to love
God they ceased love their ehbors Seditions cunl
them like plague and in that plague they persisted
Let not take the text and apply it nations
in the exploded fashion, so long popular Of showing how
wise We are and how foolish are all mankind hesides.
Let to glOrify experiments at thu
expense Of older nations that continue they been
Let rather demonstrate practically that are bette
than they, il do and let learn, by th
text the aborou process of achieving this grand
1t will be WELL however to learn of bygone history,
it is that nations and people have been such as the
morals have made them. whatever their original proms
before they ripe many States have grow,
proud which were never destined to be strong; Babel
have begun to rise only to bring down Gods vengeanc
in the destructive form of strife and confusion of tongues
science Of public prosperity.
1t is very easy to moralize on the vices of tn
nation at large: but must not put off persona
responsibilities. Where righteousness eXalts-wher
text strikes every mans conscience. What yoI
doing personally by your life and character to exalt you
country, and to ensure its prosperity? The responsibility
ofauy individual is very great for the condition o
nation of which he ispart ''Ten riphteousp Wou