The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1865-06-15
National Fast.
A Sermon, preached BY Rev. hALsRnox
ot,he M. K, church, June 4, S65s

PSALMS 2; 11-Rejoice with Trembling
baart would not SO willingly have sacrificed
I;fe-the cause of stern, impartial JuStace:-
Under his mild and forgiving administration
there was likelihood that the punishment
of traitors would have been exceedingly |
orertIe if they were punished at all. But IN |
Permitting his death, at that particular
inncture Of affairs, and in that strange man
49, lid not Divine Providence intend to
,,roduce lust the result which has been pro-
6dnced-to check the growing tendency to-
wards undue Ieniency and mercy, and rouse
ND to life the dormant sense OF JOol1CE
in the heart of the nation ls not tins an
indication of the divine will, which our ma
ton now ought TO heed p? There Is, at least
a propriety here that we should draw near
to God in humiliation and prayer, and seek
for wisdom to direct US to right action III
this our great responsibility, SO great that
the ewes of the world are upon US, and our
actions must necessarily effect, for good or
Ill. the moral sense of the world.
The war is nov ended, and our victorious
veterans, with all their glory on them, have
already wheeled into order for their home
ward march They must be welcomed with
acclanations and doxoiogies. A national
jubilee should be appointed to commemo-
rate the joyful event of their return. But
even here we must not forget to 'reJolce
with trembling" We may we'll trembie
lest, in some instances, they should return,
not to peaceful industry, but to riotous indul-
gence and dissipation. BY Testing and pray
er,christians should seek to prepare whole
some and powerful moral influence to meet
these returning warriors, made reckless, as
many of them have doubtless been, by the
rough influences Of the camp and the field.
Some Of them who went away sinners, will
return converted men. To them war has
proved means of grace. But the peculiar
influences and excitelnents which have been
around them in the war, and which, by the
special blessing of God, have been turned
to their spiritual good, will not be around
them Lere. If they meet cold, and world
ly, and lifeless christianity at home, what
shall save them from relapsing into the
same, or worse spiritual state By prayer
and humiliation therefore we should seek to
be able to meet them on their return with
quickened vitality of faith aud love, that
their piety may not fail under their changed
circumstances of life.
Some of them will only bring back mutt
lated portions of themselves. Hands, feet
and limbs will have been left upon southern
fields. They Will be helpless, some to a
greater, some to less extent. Pensioners
upon the government, they will also be PEN
sioners, in an important sense, upon the
sympathy and kindness of friends at home.
Is that sympathy and kindness already
awaiting them ? or is there here work of
preparation for unselGsh charity to be done,
needing those spiritual influences which are
best gained by sincere fasting, humiliation
snd prayer? 0, what vast interests of socie-
ty and souls are now at stake The dangers
attending change from state of peace to
war, were great. The danger attending the
change from state of war to peace are also
great. Nobly we were enabled to meet the
first dangers may we meet the last not
less nobly. g.t. .
American slavery is no more The great
crime of the nation has been washed away
in blood Our reproach before mankind is
at length removed How had we for years
felt the power of this mighty evil? Now
maddened by it's insane intoxication, we
perpetrated deeds of wrong and outrage
which shocked the world. Now conscious
of the weight that was upon us, we groaned
and writhed like the giant beneath the in
cubus OF Aetna: Now paralyzed in its terrible
grasp, we drooled and driveIed in moral
idiOcy before the world. 1t has been our
weakness, our folly, our reproach, our crime;
and, but for God s right hand out-stretched
to save US, it would have been our utter
ruin ! But just when none but God could
have delivered us, he came in terrible mercy
to our rescue. We rejoice to-day in this
deliverance we rejoice with the four mill
lions of bondmen, now bondmen no more
But here too we must rejoice with trembling.
In the natural world the great law of the.
correlation and conservation of forces has
been discovered. Matter is never annihila-
ted. After every apparent destruction, it
reappears in some form, not an atom lost,
Force is never annihilated. Heat is chang
ed to motion, motion to force, force to pres
sure pressure to motion, motion to heat,
and so on in perpetual demonstrations but
humiliation is not there. In the moral
world similar law of conservation exists.
Moral force may be transmitted in almost
endless modes, but is never annihilated OPP
portunity is changed to obligation obliga-
ton obeyed is changed to action, action to
relief or improvement; relief and improve
ment to ability; ability to duty, and so on
III accordance with the principle ''to whom
much is given, of him will be much required
The bondmans release from the letters of
slavery, has become his opportunity
for self-improvement, and his duty to be
good and loyal citizen. Our deliverance
from the incubus and danger of slavery, has
become our obligation to care for the eman-
cipated slave. to teach him the lessons of
freedom, of self-respect, of industry, of
frugality, of morality, Of religion.
This sudden deliverance has imposed sud-
den obligation upon us. This great deliver
ance has made the obligation corresponding
ly great. Thus, circumstances, opportuni-
ties and responsibilities perpetually keep
pace with each other.
Never before were people so loudly call
ed upon as we are to wake up to the reality
and Importance of these laws of moral cor
relation. How signal has been our deliver
ance from a terrible evil How evidently
has the Almighty arm been made bare in
this event! How wonderful is now
our opportunity to do good to a long
abused race How eagerly the unfettered
bondmen is looking up to us to come up to
this opportunity and meet our plain obliga-
lions And how strangely the solemn fear
full demands ofduty are to-day mingled with
our Civilizations of joy Let us then rejoice
with trembling ;let us humble oursel YES
before God with fasting, and seek for the
needed aid to acquit ourselves faithfully on
this grand arena of action.
The great object of our war has been &C.
complished. The ruin, plotted for the ma
ton, has been averted. The salvation of
the Union has been secured! The causes of
of our national danger, in their one chief
form, have been removed. We publish to
the world, in 1866, new edition of
of American Republicanism. errors
expurgated, former mistakes corrected, for
mer imperfections renedied. We ask the
attention of mankind to this new work; for
We believe that the inspiration of the AL
MIGHTY has oiven If existence and that tho