New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-12-03
BY REV. DIR. w. n. LEAcooK,

set apart for the expression of nations thanks TO
the God and Father of our spirits, grows out Of tho
nature OF Gods blessings to men. Some of his
blessings are individual blessings and for them in.
dividuals should be thankful every day. Others
are national blessings, and for them the nation
should, at one and the same time, lift up its heart
and voice to God in praise. That time is this--we
of this State are, this day called upon to bless
%God for all his benefits.
4 But even our individual blessings require fixed
Sperod Of time for praise, because they are not
derstood felt to be blessings at the time they
given Gods dispensations are not always self.
evident merciea. We know they are mercies. For
God has nothing but mereies for his creatures
Ibis very chastisemcnts are mereies--mercies in
Disguise but they not understood by our hearts
at FIRST and therefore they seem hard and, SEEM
ing hard, the language Of hearts is the language
4 OF rebellion, not of praise. But time develops the
mercy in the dspensation. What once appeared
hard s now to be mcrcful in the good in which
it Issues and then hearts, penetrated by deep
Sense OF repentance for our rebellion, overflow
3sif gsi Aude TO God, and praise is extorted from
Our lips.
Now, this fact the fact that the mercyis not seen
IN the dispensatioH il occurs, is reason
FOR one the course of the year to be set apart
for the purpose of thanksgiving ~
PA Every day should be day of thanksgiving
and praise, because every day is itself bless
#sng and brings blessings with it; but the events
% every day are not understood; they require
&me TO be developed; the dspensation which
Seems hard to.days may, in the process of
Few months, be felt to be great mercy. Every
touch Of the artist has it's value, but the value
81 the touch not well be discovered till the
picture is completed; and every event Of Gods
proyidence has its rnercy-but the mercy may not
pc discovered till the event is deVeloped-and this
development requires time. @
Now, the Christian, aud the Christian heart alone,
knows every event Of Gods providence to be
mercy and he Is willing to praise God in advance
for the mercy, knowing that II he does not see it
&hen, he will see 1t soon but every heart is not
Christian heart-every heart, though believing
mn t5nn1u tiIa a t1,Hra
in the course Of each year day s wisely set apart
Tor reviewing the dispensations Of God in our being,
that we may see the benefits they calculated to
bring and assure our weak heart that we are not
in fatheress world, but in world in which no.
thing can occur without its use, and that use our
good.
The child thinks his fathers discipline hard, and
the lessons which he is required to learn useless
but when that child becomes a man, he then sees
that the discipline and lessons were both strong evil
dences Of love in his parent.
And thus it is with our hearts and God. Dspen-
4 Stations which seem hard in January, may prove
themselves in December to have been nothing but
mercies to our souls mercies, too, which deserved
lifetime Of praise. ...@
We have met then, to-day, to open the Book OF
Providence, and read there the events which have
occurred, and in which we have had share, during
the period that has elapsed since our last similar
/ meeting that in solemn assembly we might lift up
our hearts and voices to the Lord our God in
thanksgiving and praise. Some of the events may
4 not yet have developed themselves, but Others
have and those that have should teach that there
is mercy in those that have not, only We know it
not yet, and therefore that we should number them
among our blessings. Let us then pause, Look back
-. and consider \, 49, .,......s..,..
Psalms, and say: "BIess the Lord o nv soui /!
and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all
Rhine iniquties, who healeth all thy diseases, who
redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth
thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who
5satisieth thy mouth with good things"
of ug tn 10
Hted. Who has not cause to praise God for the for
HEyeness of his iniquitiesf Take this forgiveness
M the lowest and mostliinted sensein the sense of
simply ayerting from as the temporal consequences
8ef our errOrs-Who has not cause TO praise God III
this?
Who would not have lowered himself in the esti-
smaton of others-who would not have marred his
own prospects and diminished his own happiness
If the consequences of every nnadFised word and
act had been visited upon him? Who has not
cause to praise God for disease escaped. or for
sickness healed during the past year? Who can
tell how near be has heen even in the broad blaze
q OF noon, to that destruction from which the proyi
dss.yssse of God has rescued him? Which of Us,
even among those who have endured the heaviest
sorrows and shed the btterest tears, cannot dis
: cover, on comparing what we have experienced
s with what we have deserved, or even with what
we might have expected, will not find large
amount of loving kindness and OF tender mercies
forwhich he is a debtor to God? And if the mouth
ne not literally satisfied with good things, how can
8 NE tell that the things which we most desired
We're really good2 Who can tell that the love OF
q the creature which he is seeking, and with which
he Is yet unsatsfed may not deceive him, as IT has
81 deceived others Who can tell that the affuence
which he had accumulated, but which has been
snatched from his grasp, might not have destroyed
his soul if it had been retained? Who can tell that
the object of his secret am whatever it might have
beeH that was irrespective of God and from which
he now seems further off than he was twelve months
ago--that this might not have been the rock upon
which, if he had struck, he might have made ship
wreck at once and forever of faith and of a good
conscience? All real blessings, all blessings that
will bear to be tested by the result subjects Of
praise, though some may have approached US under
the lowering aspecto sorrow, and others under the
frown of disappointment; for who will
not testify-who, at least that knows himself anG
! examines the past-will not testify that the mos
untoward events have often proved most beneficial
in the result-thns adding another testimony to th.
glorious truth, that all things, at all times, ara
working together for good to them that love God
But this is a national day, and we must speak
national as well as Individual mercles; and VIC haYt
thsm, blessed be God, we have them to lift up ou
he&Etst to God in prayer.
We have been greatly blessed as a people. w
know nothing OF those evils which eomEoaiy tal
to the lot of nations, and therefore we feel not, a
we should, the blessings which surround US. War
pestilence and famine have been removed iron
- our borders; abundance has crowned our fields
prosperity has attended our commerce; and peac
has united MS with the nations abroad. And shDui
we not be thankful? But there is rising cloud il
our hemisphere-a cloud on summers eve
"a OF which we cannot tell, until it bursts whether
will bring the desolating tempest or the cool, re
freshing shower. But there is hand that direct
the storm and there is hand in that very clouC
i which has long forewarned US of its coming, an
prepared us with refuge. The agitation of til
slavery question, once thought an evil, God hG
made a blessing to us.
You and remember when the slavery questio
was first mooted in our national councils, W
dreaded the consequences and trembled at Ii
bare mention of the subject, we stood aghast b
fore our adversaries and why? Because we WEI
not as well informed on the subject of slavery
!. we are now; many of US doubted whether "
( could religiously hold our servant; there was
/ bond of union between.us and them but the Dor
property, and as all property is timid, negl
property, under the circumstances of our igno
4. ance, was cowardly, and therefore the nome
this property was invaded in discussion it made
towards and as a band of towards were fl
: imploring silence from our adversaries, and tn
our cowardice only gave them courage to NAL
their attacks more frequent, and more and mo
severe But the question has been siited to its We
= foundation, and we now feel ourselves safe,
now feel that as Christians we hold them, al
this feeling has dssipated cur cowardice and Civ
us an advantage over our adyerseres; we SIN