The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-12-03
A THANKSGIVING PRAYER

The following, which is cut from a "Down East
paper, is not more irreverent than Burns Holm
WWie's Prcyer, which is among our classic poetry
and not half much so as some of the prayers
actually offered up by the negrophilist ministers
of the North:
We thank Thee, sovereign Dsposer of all
events, that thou didst put it into the hearts of
our fathers in these free States, to sell away their
black slaves to Southern brethren, by rea
| son whereof their descendants, having sha-
ken off that accursed thing to others, are now
! delivered from that "sum and essence of all vii
lainies, and so are elevated in virtue, and intel
ligence, and in all the christian graces, far above
| the rest of the world, but especially above
| those-our Southern friends who purchased slaves
of our fathers We thank Thee that Thou didst
| prosper, these our fathers, and that Thou hast
allowed them and US, not only to retain the mo
ney we so received, but that Thou hast large
" added thereto. We thank Thee that Thou
hast put humility in our hearts, that while we
OF these free States are wonderful people, armed
| against delusion by iutelligence-guarded
against temptation by virtuous principles
defrauding no man-taking advantage of the
hireling-giving unto every man that which is just
and equal, and protecting and providing for those
VINO have grown grey in our service, are yet
not greatly given to vain, glorious boastng. If
we differ from other men by being better than
they, and especially from those who hold in bon
dage their fellow men, including the slaves they
purchased of our fathers, we would not be unduy
pulled up thereby, remembering that we ourselves
slave produces either to crafty palates or to
make profit out of the same. And we thank Thee
that, having permitted our fathers to sell away
their slaves Thou hast put it into the hearts of us
their descendants to set our faces like flint against
this bloody system of oppression which Thy holy
word never provides for, but constantly reproves
and condemns; and that although in Thy inscruta-
Bile purposes, Thou ddst permit us, at former pc.
riod in our history nation, to enter into po-
Gtical compact whereby we agreed to this evil
thing OF slavery and thus made ourselves
chiefly responsible tor its present existence
Thou hast in these later days enabled us
to atone for that heinous sin by enacting
personal liberty laws, and Withholding our as.
sent to that unhoIy compact, into which Thou
knowest, Lord We never would have entered,
but that we were sorely temp pted thereto by hope
of much gain. And we thank Thee, that Thou hast
not only thus imp lanted in breasts this love for
the slave, but that Thou, who seest all hearts well
knowest that We love also the master, whom we
have never pursued with taunts and revilings. |
And we thank Thee, Sovereign Ruler of the world, !
with whom the issues of lie, that into what
ever depths of woe this great and prosperous ma
ton may peradventure be plunged by our viola,
tion OF the compact which holds it together Thou !
wilt not esteem responsible therefor, but in con-
sideration of the great love we bear to the negro
and of the great good we intend to bestow upon
him, Thou wilt pardon and esteem as Of small ac-
count, the overturning of the government under
which We live.