New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-04-29
PATRIOTISM IN THE PULPIT.
TRINITY CHURCH

REV. EISTOs.
TErT-Por Lord thy God bfngeth thee into good land
Of brooks Of water Of fountains and depth. that spring
Of valley. and hil, l.d Of rhea and bailey and vines, and
land thou s bread Whout scAIcenes thou
who.. h hou ns dir brass. When thou Last eaten AID
full then thou M bless the Lord Thy God for the good land
which be hath given thee Deuteronomy, viii, 7S 3 and TO-
The Rev. Dr. began by saying that these words de-
scribed the fertility wealth, and beauty Of the land Of
Palestine, but sht be adopted AZ equally true de-
scripiOn Of the richness and fertility Of our own
country. But Palestine was now wilderness-the
fruitful field was now deseIt-and the people peeled
and scattered q by-word and a reproach among the
nations. The very Land formerly 30 rch ia the pro-
ductiOns Of nature-Of milk and wine and oil-was
with salt, and barren desoatioD In the
very land where CLrst lived and died, Christi ms
were barely tolerated. The Cross paid tribute 10 the
Crescent and Christians were permitted by the follow
Of Mohammed 10 walk around, and wall and lament
the desolaon that has succeeded their former prosper
iy Voloey and other travellers had given the most
vivid and truthful descriptions of the present barren
and Cesoaron If the Holy Land Their accounts
confirm, the letter, the words OF Holy Scripture.
But Why the chaIgei Why has that Land, drstin-
guihed above all other lands for its beauty and feti
ily, become a land hideous and barreni What has
been the cause Moses tells in the following verse:
"1hey forgot the Lord their God In not keeping his
commandments and bis stqlutes IL was Min against
God that converted their land from richness aud beauty
to steriiy and desolaon. Sin shuts up the heavens
that they give raint congeas the very sap OF the
trees and blights and blas, with curse, the fair
fe of the earth. Physical blessings depend on moral
character.
l. This was shown from the curse threatened. That
ain Influenced the fertility OF the ground not an
unusual element; but provision OF general and uni
versa operation though entirely Ignored by scientific
writers. No works agriculture and he soil touched
on the connection between the fruifuness of a Land
and the moral character OF its inhabitants. The phi
losopker scorns 10 acknowledge the element. But God
ruled ia the natural a. well in the moral world, and
though statesmen aud philosophers ignored His laws,
there was AN ns, perable connection between the ply
eicnl and moral s1s OF the world. The separation
Of mans determining, no, Of Gods ordaining.
The writer who described it, wealth also described
ia desolation. "The children TO Of your chill
iren that shall rise no after You, and the stranger that
shall come from FIR land shall say, when they see
he plaques of that land and the sicknesses which the
Lord hath laid upon il; And that the whole land there
IF Is birthstone and sat and burning, that il is not
sown nor bearetb any grass groweh therein, like
he overthrow Of sOdom and Gomorrah, Adma and
lis WRATH For fertility we had bsrrenness-for |
wealth, Penury. Why such a change What was
be cause They forsOok the covenant of the LoId |
sod of their fathers. Was il sptcial--a miracle-an
xGepIion to tue general rulel Not Of all. Lie re- !