Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-11-26

THE bricks are fallen down. but we will build
with hewn stones; the syeainOles have been cut
down, but we will change them into cedars.n-
ISAIAH 9: 10
The president this year unites with the gov
ernors of many Of the states in giving a ma
tional sanction to the secular Sabbath of the
Purtans. 1t is the browning of year of sac
rifces more than compensated by triumphs,
and is worthy 10 be welcomed with the out
pouring of all grateful hearts. If the pro-
phet himself could now look down from that
higher light in which he is rejoicing, and APP
ply his inspired didlectics to our strife of dis
pensations, he would have scarcely less cause
Tor prophetic joy and exalted thanksgiving
'To the dear & cd who loveth US
Who made and loyeth all,
than when he foresaw the true Christ coming,
and foretold his own peoples redemption
Providence is no respecter of times or peo-
pies, and to those who work for right and duty
and justice and truth, it comes as near, this
late November morning, as it ever came to
seer or prophet in the ancient days. Now, as
then, there is preparation to be made for the
new dlspeDsation just beginning to streak the
east with fair morning light; and now, as
then, there is grateful and bene6cent work
waiting for those who are worthy of the re-
ward of faithful service to country and man
kind.
When any of the four pillars Of govern
ment are mainly shaken or weakened-which
are Religion, Justice, Counsel, and Treasure,
men have need to pray for fair wealth
err, says Lord Bacon. SO, two or three
years ago, when the champions of slavery,
which was at once an offence against religion,
an outrage upon justice, u corrupter of
craftsmanship and common robber and
plunderer of the nation, rose against the
government, and on its exposed side pulled
down all its strong muniments and de-
fences, there was darkness enough to discour-
age the liveliest faith. There followed a
long period in which there was little but dis
appointment and defeat. The easily depress-
ed filled the air with forebodings of disaster,
and the most hopeful looked into the future
with trembling and apprehension. But with
those who have once had convictions of pub
lie duty, and have learned how to distinguish
between what ought to be and what is, de-
feat somehow transforms itself into victory
for it clothes them with the armor of new
purposes, and quekens their dead con,ic-
tons into resolute and earnest life. So it
has been. If the destroyers had been willing
the old edttice should stand though there were
rotten stones in its foundations, and startling
assures in its walls, it would have stood still,
waiting for a generation more courageous
than ours to undertake the task of rebuild.
ing it. They would have done it in due time
The success of things wrong in themselves
is transitory, and bears no fruit. The til
umph of justice, delayed sometimes by the III
Nudity and short-sghtedness of men, is lnevl-
table and haa-- :-----'-@----
Our text is running into a sermon-a lay
sermon. But to-day, if ever it is allowed to
secularize the preachers office, and see if
possible what bearing public events have upon
public duties. Onr acts our angels are. Our
valors are our best gods. 1t is what men DO
that concerns the public welfare, and antici-
pates the perfectng or the undoing of both So
ciety and the state. Out of our early reverses
and misfortunes, then continues the preach
er-came the resolute patriotism and hardy
fOrtitude which has brought this nation almost
to the morning of its new birth. The period
of adversely, said Ell Hafiz to the Knight of the
Leopard, is like the period of the former and
the latter rain-cold, comfortless, unfriendly
to man and to animal but from that hour
have their growth the flower and the fruit, the
date, the rose; and the pomegranate. The
crisis is past. Who is the man that does not
look forward now with deep and devout
thanksgiving? There must be war still: but
the dangeris over. Praise and glory and hon.
or will be the need of those whose brave
hands plucked for US the flower of safety from
the nettle of deadly danger Proud work
for this generation and for all time, to prepare
the way for rebuilding the shaken and shat
tered pillars of the old system: where the
bricks were thrown down to rebuild with hewn
stones; where the sycamores were DESTROYED
to replant with forests Of statelier cedars
There is redemption for this people-even
as for the people Of Israel. 1t is not held at
price too high for them to pay. The exact
amount has been fixed and apportioned by
those on whom the responsibility of securing
it rests. To those who will devote their per.
sonal strength and vigor to accomplish the
work, the state and the nation open their
treasures, and public opinion opens its heart
with as generous and lavish a hand. One VIC
torious march over the DISCOURAGED and al
most helpless field of rebellion, one or two
seasons of defence and guard service on the
border and the frontiers. and one successfp,
battle at each point where the strength of the
rebellion is now mainly gathered, will scatter
all the threatened calamities that have hung
over the country for the last three years and
open the way for ga more perfect union"
better country even than that upon which the
partial skies have been raining down blessings
for nearly century
MASSACHUSETTS TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
On Tuesday, addresses were delivered by
Hon Emory Washrurn of Cambridge, Hon.
u D Boutwell, Of Groton, and Messrs. Alcott
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