The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-01-29
The Worth of the Union,

! uS dllQ eAtTaCl WI
copy from the last weeks Montpelier Free
man ::
We have received sermon, delivered las
Thanksgiving Day, at New Britain, Ct., by
Rev. c. L. Goodell, formerly of St. Johns
bury, on the value of the Union. His text
was Deut. 26: 19.-"And to make thee high
above all the nations which he hath made, in
praise, and in name, and in honor, that thou
mayest be holy people unto the Lord thy
God, as he hath spoken" We make the
following extract, as giving an idea of this
excellent sermon-excellent alike in thought
and expression--teaching the eternal truths,
which we believe the pulpit everywhere
ought now to inculcate; truths working
themselves out in the great struggle between
Gods freedom and mans despotism, in our
war for national existence. The preacher
said:
|. The moral value Of our Federal Union
may be seen from its geographical position.
and It's combination of the great historic
force Of civilization.
God has established here fresh and indie
pendent center of Christian influence. When
Columbus first discovered this continent, he
regarded it as simply new way to the old
world; the new, in his judgment, was to be
only a tributary to the old. So thought all
the nations of Europe. They refused to be-
lieve that God had purposes which reached
beyond them, and that he could remove his
candlestick from Europe to America. as he
had already from Asia to Europe. spain re-
gard.d the new world as vast gold mine
for her material aggrandizement. England
looked upon it as a dependency, ,ministering to
her love Of wealth and power. Until awak-
ened by the thunder OF Saratoga and York
town, she never admitted there was anything
absurd in continents being governed by a
little island, three thousand miles away
But God is wiser than man. 1t was not des-
tined tnat America should be Europe over
again, and nothing more. This continent
did not come upon the arena of modern histo-
ry, to giveEngl land cotton plantation. Ireland
poiatoe field France a glove market
Austria throne for its hungry princes, and
Africa gigantic Slave-pen. The new world
was ordained in the providence of God, to
have its new government, its new man. and
It's new and important mission among the
nations of the earth. Civilization never re-
peats itself-its watchword in onward. =
There has been but one Jerusalem-but one
Athens and Rome. 1t were not possible. even
if it were desirable, to build another Eng
land, or France, on this side of the Atlantic.
Every great emigration results in a dstinc-
tive civilization, unlike that in which it had
its origin. Greece received emigration and
arts from Egypt; it was new and living pow
er. Rome was also coloGized By the Greeks.
but Rome differed from Athens as much as
Athens from Thebes. England was penpled
by tae Teutonic stock; England. however. is
not copy, but an original. with character
and mission of its own. No more is Amer
lea the counterpart of Europe from which il
sprung; it is new creation. breathing d.
vine life, and raised up for especial service.
This nation was not designed to be, cannot
be, like anything which history has produced
in the old world Providence does net go
backward. You cannot nail to-day into the
coffin of yesterday, neither can you bind the
spirit CT American liberty with the shackles
of past centuries, nor cramp its expanding
powers into the old forms Of decaying des-
potlsms. 1t must develop Itself according to
It's own law, and adjust its institutions dc-
cordIng to its own wants and necessities
We have already regarded ourselves as al
outlaylng province of the old world too long
Our political independence has Indeed heen
achieved, but We need a second emancipa-
tion and this war is securing it. When
England and France turned away from us.
we whimpered at first like an overgrown
child-but we shall be led thereby to assert
an independent manhood. The sooner We
think our own thoughts, and 90 our own
ways, accepting the destiny assigned to US,
and labor in the freshness and vigor of new
" created life, the better for Us. Henceforth
We shall no more look over the sea for our
precepts and examples, but upward to Him
who has thss far led Us, and inward to our
field of labor. And it it interesting to see
how God, who anticipates the direction of
the great movements OF civilization, and
raises up nations purposely fitted to stand at
the centers OF influence as instruments for
the accomplishment of His purposes, has
given to this nation geographical position,
and territorial greatness and wealth as
much surprising all other nations as its civ
il institutions are in advance of the age
lime has proved that Europe, which was
thought to be the center, is only a way sta
ton on the march of civilization to the new
world. Our nation occupies an area as large
as a dozen European dynasties. The whole
of Great Britain might be easily submerged
in our northen lakes, and In all the physical
resoulces which constitute great natio: :nand
put in control of the keys of world wide
power it never has had, anu never can have
! an equal. To give single iliustration-a
committee recently reported in the Parlia.
ment Of Great Britain, that by extending the
Grand Trunk railway to the Pacific, England
might reach China and her dependencies in
the east, nineteen days sooner than by the
present route; and the prediction was ven-
| tured, that soon the vast Commerce between
India and Western Europe, would pass
! through America, in this way increasing its
population, and magnifying its prospective
! Importance hundred fold. Thus God has
placed US as light at the conjunction of the
great streams of influence. The worlds
highways meet and cross here, and for gen.
erations to come, those who occupy these
seats of privilege will be called upon to per-
form the work of free and enlightened
Christian nation. What Germany was to
the cause Of pure religion in the sixteenth
century-what English liberty was to Chlis
tian civilization in the seventeenth centur,
that, and more, the Federal Union now i:
to the world. And what is this but ths
measure of the moral worth of our iDstitu
tons' God may not love US, nor care t.
save US for ourselves; but for the sake of ou
nd tho 0roat f,tpro 81,