Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1861-10-17
Charles City, Iowa, October II, 1861.
Fast Day Sermon.

was observed by large portion o
the people of the Northern States. A
Boston paper informs us that thu
churches of that city were crowded
as they seldom are on the Sabbath
and the most earnest spirit prevailed
in the different congregations. The
electric response not unfreguently
made to patriotic appeals, transcend
ing the propricties of the sanctuary
denoted the popular excitement upol
topics involved in this great issue be-
fore the country. In many of the
churches in the Commonwealth the
morning service was succeeded by
prayer and conference meetings, which
continued until the afternoon exer
cises. There were thousands of re
ligious meetings throughout New
England in the evening, at which
President Lincoln's recommendation
was observed by "the offering of fer.
vent supplications to Almighty God
for the safety and welfare of these
States His blessings on their arms
and a speedy restoration of peace"
Among the many excellent sermons
preached on that day, which have
come to hand, VIC give below synop
sis of one preached in Boston by Rev
DR.. Eddy, Of the Harvard Stree,
Church, upon the text:
The Stork in the heavens knoweth her an
pointed time the turtle and the crane and
the swallow the time Of their coming, but m,
people know not the judgment of the Lord
Jeremiah viii Z.
This is a day Of national humilia.
tion. Our beloved country is filled
with anarchy and civil war, and tho
Christian people of America have
gone down on their knees to-day be.
fore the King of kings. We have just
entered the deep waters of national
sorrow. The bitter past is only the
blood red omen of the future, and moth
ing can be more fitting than public
humiliation. The proclamation of the
President asks US to do these things.
l. Recognize the hand of God in
this civi! war. The hand of man in
laundering movements, and ill-con.
trived plans, and the hand of Satan
in treason, blood-shed and fraud, arc
plainly seen. But can we see the
hand of God? Certainly we can. He
has been in all our history from
Plymouth Rock to Manassas Gap. He
is disciplining us, by fire and blood,
as He has disciplined England, to
make her good. He is affecting us to
purify us, and He will not stay Ills
hand until we are prepared for the
destiny to which He has called us.
We cannot explain the enthusiasm We
saw at the fall of Sumpter, nor the
Big Bethel affair, nor the sad defeats
at Bull Run and Lexington. without a
recognition of God, and His Provi-
dence. His help is worth more to us
than the loyalty Of the border States,
and we had better jeopardize the Mid,
die States, and divide the North, than
incur the displeasurc of Heaven.
2. We inquire for the crimes which
the President wishes US to confess
We are q proud, vain, cxtravagant
nation. We have profanity, Sabbath
breaking and gambling, public profit
gacy, enormous in extent and perfect
i'm detail. But these are not the sins
for which God is correcting us. Ris-
ing above all these is one colossal
form, one mammoth crime-darery, the
cause of all our troubles. The Consti.
tuition, as falsely interpreted by the
Supreme Court, is its corner stone
the Capitol is its altar thirty-three
States are its pillars, treason, fraud
anarchy, are it's developments. No
nation on earth has a crime like ours
"A pyramid of sin fonr million steps
high. While we confess this sin, we
should ask the President to use all
lawful means for its suppression.
Our magistrates sometimes ask us
to confess sins which they are sup.
porting. II the President would in.
quirc Of Sir Matthew Hale, Blackstone
or John Quincy Adams, he would
learn that in time of war, confisca.
tion and emancipation are lawful and
proper. We would guard all the
rights of the South, but seceders
rebels and traitors have forfeited all
claims on the Constitutions and the
Government. Slavery stands in the
way Of advance and success, and the
question has narrowed down to this
Are we willing to lose the Union in
a desire of negro bondage 2" "ShalI
we throw away the lives of our men
and squander our fortunes to keet
this Internal system intact?" This
war is a war Of slavery on the Gene
raj Government, on the Constitution
on the flag. Why should we hesitate
to overthrow it.? Why should We
deal with it as if it was blessing
too great to be disturbed
When the glorious production OF
Fremont went abroad, it carried Joy
to the Unionists, all through the loya
States. It was the first heavy blow
in the right direction. 1t has nov
reached England, and is being hailed
by our friends as an honorable omcl
Of the future. But the explanation O
the President will pursue it, to show
to the world that we are not yet u,
to our duty, not yet ready to fulfil
our mission.