The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1864-12-03

ton. To-day's Thanksgiving receives an especial
GLOW from our confident hope that the next breath
from the main Will tell of the reelection OF
Abraham Lincoln.
Our third general cause tor JOY to-day Is the
Pciy!ouS RsrlUing that America l. experiencing.
Strange it Is, and yet not strange, that war
with all It's Nominations when prosecuted right
eously, is 4 purifier and L religious blessing.
America is being taught, as never before. that
there is 4 God in heaven. The war Is having q
marked effect in staying the tide OF practical IN
fidelity which was so powerfully setting In. The
nation will emerge from this war many degrees
more religious than when II entered upon Il.
The practically irreligious are often heard u
acknowledge that Providence Is plainly over
ruling the Union cause. So marked is this, that
it is seen even in the reyerses and disasters.
\ theoretical and a practical education in reli-
gion is tfis baptism of blood. No more let
America be tainted with having developed the
infdel and licentious instincts alone of lawlesS
democracy Even a democratic government, IN
der the tutelage of Gods Providences, while it
retains all its individualized manhood, and indie
pendence, learns to carry itself reverently.
1t was at noon of December p, 1860, that
the flag brought from Fort Moultrie, during the
night Of the 25th, so unexpectedly 70 the nation,
was thrown to the breeze from Fort Sumter.
Major Anderson, with his gallant band Of sixty,
assemble round the flagstaff, and while he knelt
holding the cords by which the flag of the Union
ws.s 70 be hoisted, his officers and men stood I'M
covered, ana the cIld pam CdIIcu upon Itt -AIDl-
ter of Nations to bless their little band, their
cause, and their country. And Major Anderson
says - No event, no transaction OF any inter-
est or Importance to our cause, took place while
| was in Fort Sumter, without my looking TO
God in the morning of each day for his blessing
on u.s. Need we wonder that Major Anderson
was honored of Heaven to be the first patriot to
break the seals of the dread scroll Of war, as it
burst upon him on the 18th of April, 1861.
Again, when in February Mr.. Lincoln started
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chair at Washington, surrounded, as he well
knew, with assassin daggers, he said - \ duty
devolyes upon me which is perhaps greater than
that which has deyolved upon any other man
since the days of Washington. He never would
have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Prov
idence, upon which he at all times relied. | feel
that | cannot succeed without the same aid which
sustained him, and on the same ALMIGHTY Being
| place my reliance for support. | hope you my
friends will all pray that may receive that
Divine Assistance, without which | cannot sue
coed, but with which success is certain" With
tears in their eyes, many who stood about the
cars cried, I" We will pray for you - and till now
every loyal praying man and woman and child
has been praying for Abraham Lincoln, as no
Supreme Ruler was ever before prayed for and
all ON this round earth who love America have
been praying for her and praying patriotism
has saved a nation.
The prodigious efforts of the % Commissions
and the F~reedmen's Association, and the Amer
lean Missionary Association, which supply the
armies with religious influences as no armies ever
before were supplied, are but indices of the
religious life and growth Of which we speak.
The battlefield Of Gettysburg was quite strewn
with fragments Of Bibles and Prayer-bOoks.
And the fact that all the causes Of benevOlence,
and philanthropy, and education for home and
abroad, even TO the cause of Christian Missions
t. heather lands, have not only been sustained,
but increased. during this unparalleled war, is to
a thinking mind most singularly significant Of
this religious reviying.
4 national coin has at last been issued with
the motto God our trust ;" and did ever
armies move to battle more maiestically trustful
than when by thousands singing from Holmes
unrivalled army hymn:
God of all nations Sovereign Lord
In thy dread name We draw the sword,
That hls with light our stormy sky.
From treason's rent. from murders stain,
I'll. fort and field, till shore and sea,
Join our loud anthom, PRAISE TO THEE.
Under the discipline of war the united North
gladly responds 70 calls such as no President
before made u frequency, or kind to observe +,
days of praying and days of religious rejoicing.
\ yearly day OF Thanksgiving has at last become
a national institution. To-day, how glorious the
sight, through the lurid smoke, of II nation on
its knees.
Truly The Lord reigneth in America, let the
earth rejoice; let the multitudes of isles be glad
thereof"
From America, as we turn our eyes hurrIedly
over other nations. for occasions for Thanksgiv-
ing. the scene is deckered with light and shade.
In Christian Europe the principles of civil and
religious liberty are evidently on the gain. In
Old England, the mother-land of modern free
dom. ideas still progress. agitation grows more
fundamental, ana Christian life is evidently deep
ening. On the Continent. though blood has
flowed, and the iron heel Of power has crushed,
political legerdemain has successfully preserved
the celebrated Balance of Power. But railroads
multiply, and Bibles and Christians multiply,
and We have reason for numbering this with the
years of advance for the empire Of Goodwill 10
Man. Over the three undeveloped Continents,
the clouds Of false religions still rest DARK and
heavy but bright CLEANS of light are piercing
each year more deeply, and rain-bows of hope
gid many a shore. And we rejoice, for " The
Lord shall be King over all the earth"
And We have rejoicings also for our own
sunny isles. Though much has transpired over
which we grieve, we rejoice in the wonderful
providences by which the nation has been brought
to where we now find it, so far capable of appre-
ciating the principles of freedom, and of sustain
ing Christian institutions. We rejoice over
another year for proving ourselves true to the
enlarged Christian patriotism, brought from
America and learned from our Bibles, in endeav-
oring to be among the most faithful friends of
the Hawaiian Nation, and the most consistent
supporters of the Hawaiian Throne.
We rejoice that those who carry American
blood in our small but heterogeneous community,
are growing into increased harmony of thought
and feeling. 1t is a sign of hope for our island
and more absorbing interests. We shall readily
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