Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1869-12-23

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most graciOusly preserved 70 US by the
Father of mercies through another
circling year. BY the same divine
source of good the ills Of life have been
rendered tolerable, it's privileges en-
| joyable, society agreeable, and busi-
ness prosperous. The .frUitfatL9ess of
the year has been made to appear, in
many and large fields of waiving
| grain, vast fields of nutritious Yegeta-
bles, orchards ladened with their
golden fruits, increased by millions of
! bleeting fiOcks and loOing herds, and
the uncounted thousands fattened for
the slaughter, ,- /
Hence, is not the etime-honered prae-
tice of our Pilgrim Fathers, of making
annual gatherings for the avOwed pur-
pose of bringing 10 a greatful remem-
| beiance, Gods innumefable gifts In his
| benign providence, obviously just,
| highly commendable and worthy of
being perpetuated by this great, grow
ing and most favored nation to the
end of time?
Truly this is righteous practice,
both pleasing and profitable. Yea
we are compelled to place higher es-
timate upon every section of our COM
mon country, including village, town
and city that observes the day, and
pity those vicinities which do not.
The happiness of this Thanksgiving
Day is greatly intensified by being
permitted to meet so many fellOw-cit-
liens, who, in cheerful compliance
with the Proclamation of the Chief
Executive of this Heaven-favored ma
ton, and also of the Governor of this
fiOurishing State, have met from the
four points of the compass to pay di-
vine homage, while we devoutly hope
our services will be acceptable to God,
and a lasting blessing to all present.
And in order to guide the cOntem-
plations of the thoughtful, for part
of the present hour, the summit of
our aim will be, to direct your atten-
tiOn to what God has been graciOusly
pleased to do for us, and others (the
past year,, which is so beautifully eX-
pressed in the langUageOf the Psalm
ist-"ThOu crownest the year with
thy goodness. t
We will notice first, ''the year"
That division of time called gear is
marked by the revolution of our plan
net around her center of motion-the
sun-which is accomplished by a ceas-
less whirl of a diurnal motion, while
at the same time she sweeps through
space at the rate of more than a thou
sand miles per minute, sixty-eight
! thousand per hour, one million six
| hundred and thirty-tWO thousand per
day, and five hundred and ninety-siX
million and lightweight thousand per
annum; or, in round numbers, SiC
hundred million of miles! This is q
distance that would require man, on
foot, to travel, at the rate of thirty
miles every day, fifty-fOuT thousand
seven hundred and fifty-seven years
or, were there a Railroad track along
| the line of the earth's orbit. and
should the hopeful engineer start, run
ming his engine at the rate of five
hundred miles per day, he would have
! to travel for three thousand tlOO hun
dred and Sirty-SiT gears to complete
the round; and should passengers
wish to accompany him on a pleasure
excursion, paying three cents per mile,
the fare of each wOuldsOnly be the
| little sum of S18,000,0O0
Yet, God has most graciously taken
us with benign care on His World, all
this ample round, free of charge, in
single year. He has been the great
engineer of the world, running it as a
vast train, freighted with valuable life
and much treasure, with no waste of
time by stops or running off the track,
and has had no collision. Thus from
year to year He has tenderly borne us
round ''the circuit of the Heavens"
over the depths, immeasuTable, pro-
! found, as he had done for the genera
| finn1 Infnrn hn 81 n
years.
By the rapid fight of moments a
year is soon measured. Like as drops
make the rivulets, brooks and broad
rivers, which empty into the deep sea !;
so swift-winged moments make the
days, weeks, months, years, ages and
centuries, which will swell the deep
sea of time. Yet, hOary-headed time
is only fragment of what is aparen-
thasis of duration, a measurable part
of the infinite.
Time, like eternity, is an immaterial,
mysterious, (shall | say p )metl ing
which passes on in silence, unseen,
surrounding, touching, changing all
things which ever gives snnmistakable
evidence, when once and forever past,
by substantial events that have trans
pired, of having been present, and is
then Immediately embOsOmed in eter-
nifty. Though difficult for an expla-
nation, it is of infinite value, for on
its right use or abuse, have endless
consequences of veal or Woe 1t is so
valuable God has divided it up into
fragmentary moments, and prudently
deals out only one at once. The prop
er way to estimate its true value is the
effects which will follow it, with in
falliable certainty, effects which will
cling to us as tenaciOusly as our own
being, through all the interminable
future, consisting of divine approba-
ton or displeasure, producing JOY or
sorrow, pleasure or pain, in ourselves.
Momentus realities must follow it,
calculated to awaken deep reflection
in every sane mind.
But this is not all. Time is not only
valuable from what it is, and the inc
vitable effects that follow, but also,
by the pure enjoyment to be had by
those who stamp it with improvement
Jas it flies by using it Alright. AS ev-
4 cry busy bee finds fragrant flowers
from which to gather his honied store,
so they who will, can revel amid the
fragrant OdOrs Oftime, by cheerfully en-
gdging in the holy activities of this
life.
There are joys for us all now; the
right use of time will give them.
Then, fellow mortals, let us have
them.
Secondly. The events of the past
year. Events have transpired the past
year affecting individual interests of
the teeming millions of our world,
which, if written, would make more
volumes than the world now contains.
AS drops make the ocean, so individ-
uals compose the nation therefore,
national history is only the summing
up of personal items.
1t is probable thirty nine million
the past year, have died-a nation as
large as the U. Sand more than
that number have commenced life.
On the one hand, were we only to see
the new made graves, we would won
i der why cart n had nOt lOnU cipoo boay,