The national Republican., 1860-12-12


Unspoken thought returns,
While In the breast Of every guest
The love of Jesus burns.
Though far from distant States we come
From regions wide apart,
One only aim, one precious name,
Leads onward every heart.
That golden chain Of mystic power,
Descending from above,
Binds every heart with holy art
To Christ, the source Of love.
AA one in Christ! Oh, then to Him
The Joyous anthem raise
To Christ, our King, in triumph sing
Adoring songs Of praise.
Hail, Jesus, hail thou Prince Of Life,
Enthroned in glory now
Victorious Lord with one accord
Our souls before Thee bow.
An address of welcome was then delivered
by the Rev. Byron Sunderland, as follows:
Beloved Father, President, and
Brethren ofthe Convention:
In the name and behalf of the Christian peo-
pie Of Washington, and Of the ministers Of the
churches here, who have been identified with
this great movement, we welcome you to our
hearts and our homes, and extend to you our
Christian greetings and congratulations, upon
your safe arrival among US. We were glad
when we heard, from our beloved brethren who
represented us in the Convention at Philadel.
phia, that you had determined to hold the third
Convention in Washington, during the present
month. Immediately it was to us as a star of
hope, springing forth in the sky of the future,
and it has been during all this time shining
before US as the light Of our expectation.
We knew that when you should come you
xvou1d hrip0 with Won tho lnva ne Toonu nd tho
baptism Of his most gracious spirit; and we
longed to see you, to be cheered by your coun-
sells and your prayers, and to be warmed by
that sacred fire brought from so many affairs
throughout the land, which God has erected in
the Union Prayer Meetings Of the last few
years, kindling thereon a fame which we
hope may prove to be the deepening dawn of
the coming glorious millennial morning.
Oh, fathers and brethren in Christ our hearts
have yearned out after you, and do yearn for
all those of like precious faith, whose faces we
have never seen in all the world. And when
we have heard tidings, as from time to time we
have done, from some Of the more prominent
points, where the standard of our common Lord
was set up, when we have heard what great
things God had wrought for the glory OF his
name, we have lifted the tribute of our praise,
and gone on our way rejoicing. And now that
you have come, we hope to hear more news Of
the blessed Kingdom, and how it fares in our
Masters gracious realms.
Brethren, we are comparatively few and small
nothing so great in numbers and active power
for good, perhaps, as you are in the more pop.
ulous commercial and seaboard towns; but you
will find one thing among US, we trust, which
will delight your hearts you will find one of the
most perfect Christian unions, in our little band
Of love and sympathy and concord, which ex-
lists anywhere on the face of the earth. Our
congregations, indeed, are of the various titles
of Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Baptist,
and Presbyterian ORDERS but the heart and soul
of US is one, and the name which is with US high
above every other name is the ever-adorabe
name Of Jesus. Oh it is that name that shall
be lifted up longer than the sun and moon en-
dure.
In the Federal metropolis of this great EN-.
pire, God has cast our lot, where it often seems
that a maelstrom of social and political world
illness is surging and moving around us, and
where if it were not for the upholding power oi
God, his ark must be engulphed. .Wickedness,
we are sad to say, abounds on every hand, and
we are often u sde to feel that its power is re-
sistless and internal; yet it is the wickedness
common to an apostate race, and we would not
accuse human nature here of more than it bears
in other places of like manifold temptations.
Brethren, you have come among US at time
when the sky Of our country is overcast by the
most fearful clouds that have appeared during
the present century, and when that sky is hung
with portentous signals, when the mutterings Of
thunder and the vivid flashes of the lightning
when the masses Of the people are stirred with
excitements like the sea and the waves raging
with woful storms. On the bosom of these
convulsions rocks the lood.bought church Of
Christ. Four millions of adult protesting
Christians scattered through this land, and
thirty thousand evangelical ministers at theil
head, are involved in the dangers which i'm
pend; all our patriotism, philanthropy, and
religion, and all the light Of our great example
among the nations of the earth, and all the
fountains Of sacred and redeemng influence
which have been pouring their streams abroad
upon the face of the earth, all our Christian
charities and all our world wide missions
all this is now likely to be impaired or to
great extent destroyed. The winds and waves
Of political adversely have risen up around us
But our faith in Jesus is as firm as ever II,
may be slumbering for little space, while the ele
ments forbode a universal shipwreck. But still
our faith in him is firm we know he will no
suffer his most righteous cause to perish. w
cannot tell whether our political union will
survive the tempest; but this we know, tina
whatever else may founder, he will arise in hi
majesty, and by the word Of his power will saw
the ark of his covenant and the people of hi
care.
1t may be that to this end he has brough
into existence and continued these Unio
Prayer Meetings, as at this day-who can tel
but that this fundamentally is the very Esthe
that has come to the Kingdom for such tim