Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-07-23
REMARKS OF
ELDER J. R. FIR AME,
Az the Celebration of Fourth Of July,
in Miilersburg.

MY FELLOW CoUSTRYMEN -
Allow me to congratulate you on our pleasant,
and, trust, profitable meeting, on this memora.
BILE occasion feel myself peculiarly honored in
having the privilege of addressing SO large, re.
spectacle, and so intelligent an assemblage of
American citizens. This is a position to which
am unaccustomed but there Is nothing incom.
iu;ible with my profession and mission to con.
tribute my mite to endcavor to revive in our
hearts the sacred memories, scenes and incidents
of that sangunary and momentous Revolution
wh;cn, under Divine Providence, gave to us our
inestimabe civil and religious liberties. 81 am
man. and feel a concern in everything that relates
TO mankind" was the generous sentiment of Ro.
man poet A minister does not ignore his man
hood: but he remembers that there is time and
place for everything under the sun The pulpit
should be sacred and inviolate to the doctrine of
Jesus Christ and Him crucifed. 1t is an impro.
per place to impose upon your hearers, who may
honestly differ with you in your political notions
Neither will embrace this great occasion to
discuss the peculiarities of any party; unless the
principles of the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution be peculiar. | will leave this
to statesmen and politicians. | intend my re
marks to be characterized by immutable truth;
and truth is always pre- .eminently conservative
This day, fellow citizens, is the S7th anniver
sary of our Nations Independence immor.
tai Declaration of which you have attentivey
listened to- This Declaration contains the great
principles which were subsequently embodied in.
TO the Constitution. 1t stands related to the Con
stitutiou rs the Sermon on the Mount does to
Christianity. We have first the development of
great principles I; then, the orgauic structure
Everything connected with its history is enshrn
ed in the hearts and memories of the American
people The Hall in which the Convention held
its sessions; the Bell which tolled the separation
from the mother country, and even the marble
step from which it was first read, are all sacred.
Jy preserved in the city Of Brotherly Love,
well remember the emotions of patriotism which
1 felt in gazing upon these illustrious relics
On that Bell are inscribed the significant and
prophetic words; Proclaim liberty throughout
the land, to all the inha bitants thereof"
But it was much easier for the thirteen Colo
pies to make this Declaration of Independence
than to achieve it. This required seven long
years of toll, sacrifice, blood and treasure. But
they we're liberty loving people; and to achieve
this they had "pledged their lives, their fortunes,
richest of legacies-tlis ancestral heritage-shall
we the sons of our sacred sires do less1 Heaven
forbid it
When we reflect, too, that this heritage was
achieved by the toll, blood and treasure of our
common country, both North and South, should
it not have forbidden fraternal strife and blood
Should not the memory of our Revolutionary
sires, and of what their struggles cost, have uni
ted us in one common brotherhood, having com
mon interests and n common glorious destiny2-
Have auy lost their love for the greatest, the
frcest, the tappiest country the sun ever shone
upon-the richest legacy ever bequeathed a
people2 This comparatively young Government,
is Justly the admiration of the civilized world
the home and asylum for the down rodden and
oppressed of ali nations. Think of country
which extends more than 5000 miles in length
and 5000 in breadth, and contains more than
3O,OOO,O00 Of people Think of its commerce
lis noble rivers. its towering mountains Like
IL hal
perches upon the Alleghenies and dips one wing
into the Atlantic and the other into the mighty
Pacific Think of the enterprise. the civiliza-
tion. the teeming millions of the Great West
the geographical centre of the Union!
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said.
This is my own--ny native land
Whose heart hath ne er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned,
From wandering on foreign strandi
If such there breathe, go, mark him well!
For him no minstrel's raptures swell.
High though his titles, proud his name;
Boundless his wealth a wish can claim
Despite those titles, power and pelf,
The wretch, concentered all in sell,
Living shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying. shall SO down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung! !"
You have heard the justifable reasons for the
separation and independence. They aimed mo-
at this at FIRST but after petition and even sup
plication for redress OF grievances had Jailed
they resorted to means of self detense--the hrs
law of nature and reason. For mutual protec
tion and selfdefense, the thirteen Independent
Colonies entered into Articles of Confederation
the year after Independence was declared, which
held them together till 1883; but this proving
inadequate, q convention of delegates from th'
States formed the Constitution, which is revi
Of tho papta nd confederation,
saws one, "a stupendous monument OF wisdom
and virtue" No single individual constructed o
composed the Constitution of the United States
1t is monument of greatness and power tina
may be taken 70. the concentration of the expe
riencc, wisdom and virtue Of all the patents
charters and forms of government among TIN
colonies from the days Of Carver and Smith Il
the period ofils adoption in l7S9 The Consti
tuition itself is an instrument of concession AM
compromise. With diversties of interests ant
views no Union of sovereign States could ever
have been formed without these. The Allwis
Reing who presides over and directs the destinie
of nations raised up and endowed the tounder
of our Government with wisdom to found 1t upon
the inalienable rights of man which has secured
more than eighty years of unparalleled peace and
prosperity An instrument SO wisely administer
ed which has secured to us these benign bless
ines for SO long period, if adhered to, will no
only restore but perpetuate them to our children
Children who will rise up and call US blessed =
unborn genera It ons How fearful the responsi
bility which rests on us! live should become 81
degenerate as to raise the parricidal hand
strike down the work of our fathers and adop
the reasonable sentiment, endorsed by some, tina
the Constitution is "a COVENANT WITH Deaf
AND A LEAGUE WITH HE'LL" silent be our tor
gues and palsied be our hands, whether they b
North, or whether they be South. Frown upo
the falsehood, and repudiate it as you would tn
venom of a traitor.
Rather let mothers and fathers teach Oh
great principles of American liberty to the
Children as divine principles taken from the
BILE. These great principles assert mans capac
" for self government this Is the great card
nal principle lying at the foundation of our gov
ernment Before the formation of the Unite
States, the capacity of free people to cover
themselves was an experiment which some OF th
founders OF the Republic even trembled to cor
template. But IL has been verified and demon
strated to the modification and humiliation {
the supporters Of monarchies and despotisms
the OId World Monarchists and despots ar
now rejoicing at our fratricidal strife. men
her of the British Parliament sad when some {
the States seeded, I" Let the Republican bubo
burst"
Gloat as they may over the sad and deporabl
picture of fraternal strife, carnage and destru'
ton, do not despair. Wo will come out OF tn
ordeal wiser and better people; while the etc
nal and immutable principles that " all men ar