Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-07-21
THE NATION IN PERIL.
Discourse Delivered In the Salem
Street Church, Worcester, Sunday July
20, BY Rev. Merrill Richardson.

angel of the LOrd, curse ne bitterly the iHhGb-
itaats thereof; because they came not to the
helf Of the Lord against the mighty"
Jabin King of Canaan came with a mighty
host against the ISraelites. They were in the
very beginning of their national existence.
Their history is before us; marvellous page
in the Book of GOD. Then, back there in the
morning of nations, -while the pyramids
were building, earlier than Greece,-or 1000
years before Rome was marked out for a city,
how could they see their great destiny?
What young nation ever knows its future?
Enough for them, then, that Abraham's God
told them to possess and hold the land. They
were to keep his laws, choose their own ru-
ers, stand by each other in peril, enjoy equal
rights and become Il peculiar people. Enc
mics were thick around them. But in keep
ing Gods commands, they should be estab-
lished in the land. War came. All were
called for defence. The danger was iminent;
some remained neutral. Part Of the state of
Reuben abode among their sheep-folds, to
hear the bleating of the focks The state of
Gilead excused themselves on account of
distance. Dan remained in his ships to save
his commerce. Asher had marts OF trade on
the coast and did not want to leave his bust
ness. As if flocks and commerce and trade
would be left if Jabin conquered. Other
states took the field, fought valantly and
won the battle. Then came rejOicings. A
song of victory was composed, sung then and
for 1900 years, as the inspired poetry of the
nation 1t cXtolled the yalor of the faithful
and equally condemned the fathless! How
the delnquents, Reuben and Dan and Gilead
and Nerox and Asher must have felt, as that
song rolled and sweled along the valleys, and
echoed among the hills of Palestine Yet
the nation was saved, and glory be to God!
My hearers, stronger and deadlier foe
has attacked our youthful republic The hand
Of God, in giving this western land to our
fathers for their freedom and for ours, is as
manifest as it was to Israel. He led them
from oppression; disciplined them by hard
ships and persecution; planted them in this
land of promise; united them as much as
the tribes of Israel were united, against the
enemy, and ordained for them and their de-
scendants the institutions of freedom. May
we not believe He holds in store for us-for
the countless millions that shall be born in
this, our large Paestine,-a destiny common
surate with our beginning?
But how? How will he preserve to us this
inheritance, repel the foe, deliver the land,
and establish his people! l answer, as lie
did Israel, by calling all the loyal to his help
against the mighty, and sending his angel to
curse, in bitter, biting words, the indifferent,
the cowardly, the sordid, and the disloyal.
This is the sentiment of the text, and |
proceed to apply it to our present condition.
In doing so we will consider-frst, the inter
ests at stake; second, the means of deliver
ance; and third, the glory that will follow.
l. The interests in jeopardy.
We say, and president, and cabinet, and
congress now say, our country is in peril
Would that l could put into that phrase
tythe of its true meaning. Country! 1t is Il
term of endearment to all men. Greenlander
and Turk, and the rowing savage, speak with
emotion sof their own, their native land p
The Hebrew must hang his harp upon the will
low when his country was in ruins. Sir Wal
ter Scott must weep in foreign land, at
sight of Scotia's heather. Next to kindred,
God has planted in man this love of the land
of his birth. No arctic region is so cold, nor
tropical island so hot; no mountain home so
bleak, nor valley so noxious with fevers, that
it is not priced beyond price, by those who
were Graded in it.
''Breathes there man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said
This is my own-my native land!n
The wandering manner, whose eye explores
me Wealthlest isles the most encha nting shores
views not realm so beautiful and fair
Nor breathes the fragrance of a purer air.
In every CLINE the magnet of his soul,
Touched by remembrance, trembleS to that pole y
Can this sentiment be less strong in us? 1t
is not our magnificent expanse of territory,
only, that enters into the meaning of the word,
nor do its exhaustless resources fill out the
meaning. We associate with one country
that which no measure can reach, or figures
define. There is a moral grandeur surpass-
ing the material. Since its discovery. Di-
ylnty has been shaping its destiny, holding it
for race that should be disciplined God is
IN history; and one who reads the early at
temptS to possess this land will see His ruling
hand IN reserving this northern zone of con-
tlnent Tor nation Of mentor men who know,
and knowing, dared maintain, their rights
we were born to an inheritance surprising
" rich III all that makes life great And it
mad It's price. 1t cost centuries of struggle TO
transmit to us our birthright of freedom! and
is 1t not worth the price? Intelligence free
as the air; privilege of thought on any subject
and OF pursuit and action; schools free to all
the rich, the great, the scholarly, constantly
rising from the lowest ranks; social position
secured by all that law can do a career OMEN
ed to every kind and order of talent; industry
sure OF its reward; enterprise, of success
homesteads without money, for all who will
till the soil; equality secured, labor encour-
aged, homes made sacred these are some of
the items of our birthright. They give a
glory to our natural scenery; sky, mountains,
and lake, woodland, meadow; and stream,
borrow thousand tints OF beauty TRANSPORTED
to the soul by means of these most precious
gifts OF God!
God decreed this freedom. His providence,
in its majestic success OF ages, has been press
ing to its consummation. 1t had eliminated
in meridian splendor, when we We're born
Personally, we have not known the oppress-
or's bonds. We have to look into the dun
geons of Europe, star chambers, and courts
OF high commission, the inquisitions, the Bias
tiles, and the battle fields of the past, to find
the price paid, that we, the people, to-day
might inhabit such country. These blessings
are now in peril
The demon of oppression, long FESTIVE and
gathering strength for years, has sworn our
charter shall "be trampledi in the mire!" Ahd
he has armed for the conflict and shown his
power! He means what he says, and has
meant it from the first. He hates the very
world that has given such historical grandeur
to our declaration. Artful as deadly, cum
ming as malignant, with the prestige of thirty
years supremacy in the councils of the nation,
he believed the time had coIhe SO long had
he been preparing the nation for the blow
Of his own southern section he was sure.
From the north he was morally certain Of eff
cient help.
Pulpit, press, and party, trade, fashion, and
wealth, secret cliques and golden circles, and
courts called Of justice, all were doing him
service! lie had canvassed Europe, he had
communed with England's spirit OF cast, and
subsidized the press, and was iubilant with
hope Cotton was his potent spell with which