Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1869-11-19
THANKSGIVING DAY.

thOrities as a season of thanksgiving and praise
to Almighty God for his bOunties and blessings
during the past year, was generally observed as
a holiday in this city, and good order prevailed
throughout the day. Sabbath-like quiet pre-
vailed IN our streets, and the weather being
delightfully."- calm and pleasant, large numbers
of our citizens attended the various churches,
where special religious services were held.
Thanksgiving Day I'm the Churches.
METROPOLITAN N. L. CHURCH.
The Metropolitan NJ. L. Church was yester-
day morning crowded to overfowing to hear the
Thanksgiving sermon Of the pastor, Rev. j. p.
Newman, and in the audience there were many
prominent personages, including the President
and Mrs. Grant, Mr.. Dent, the venerable father
of Mrs. Grant, Chief Justice Chase, Judge
Clifford, Senator Morton and wife, and judges
Cartier and Fisher. His text was the 10Th
verse OF the 1f1th Psalm-"He hath not dealt
so with any nation" The speaker commenced
by stating that in compliance with the request
of one man forty millions of people, from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Gulf
to the Lakes, and from Florida to Alaska
were gathered to offer thanks to the Ruler of
Nations. 1t was a sublime spectacle, these mil
lions voluntarily creating the calm of an Ordi-
nary Sabbath. The practice of recognizing a
divinity in national affairs has existed in all
nations, even pagan countries invoke the aid of
their deities. The text presents the ideas that
men are dependent upon God for all blessings;
that in bestowing blessings God makes DIS
ings call for recognition and thankfulness.
While other nations may have cause for thank
fulness, we have especial reasons for gratitude.
We should be thankful for our position (geo-
graphically being peculiarly favorable one, our
latitude embracing the most valuable part of
the globe, removed alike from the extremes of
the frigid and torrid zones, and being within
the range which secures all the benefits of a
temperate climate. 1t has the warmth of the
South with the cold of the North, preventing
thereby the eiieminacy of the people, while il
fhQ Inv md nnt nntG M
North and South. In this zone was Palestine,
that gave a Saviour to the race; Greece, that
gave letters to mankind, and. Rome, that gave
law to the world; Italy, that gave Michael An
gelo and Raphael, the divine, to art; Spain, that
sent out a discoverer to the New World; Ger
many, that gave Luther to the church and Gut
tenburg to science and literature; and Russia,
France and England exist as first-class powers;
and although we are on the opposite side OF the
globe, We are within this magical zone of power.
Then allusiOn was eloquently made to the mar
wells of our varied climate and soils, furnishing
food, farms and money to all the families of the
earth, sustained by remarkable array Of facts
piness of our people. After comparing our con-
ditiOn with that of other nations, he said that
God had granted us an era of peace; a confidence
and security everywhere prevails; all feel there
Is cain, self-reliant, adequate power at the
head of the Government. Federal authority
was now as much respected in Louisiana as in
New York or Ohio. The national debt gave
appreciable signs of diminutiOn, and there are
those now i'm their majority that would see the
last dollar hquidated. If within nine months
there has been reduction of $40 600 900, if there
has been an increase of internal revenue tax of
SIC, 600 600 in six months over the corresponding
SIX months OF last year, and II there has been a
reduction of So 600, 600 in the same time, what
hopes may We not indulge. Let results, not
words, be the whitening rebuke of calumny, and
the proof of wise. prudent, and honest admin
istration Of the government. The Doctor then
spoke of the happiness and diffusion OF wealth
among the whole people of the land, and
of the intelligence derived from the schools,
books and journals of the day; that the man
who did not take daily paper was cOnsid-
course under the control of Providence, and
there have been great cycles Of history. which
although unnOticed, have been carrying Oh the
purposes of God. This idea he traced through
both sacred and profane history, referring to the
Jewish nation, to Rome, to Greece, and other
countries, and showing that MahOmmed and
with the plan of Divine Providence. We should
be thankful for our free institutions, and thank
ful for the manner in which the transactions of
Providence carried themselves into the fOrma-
ton Of our government. America began where
other nations left of. Her settlers were refined
and religious, and brought with them the aggre-
CATION OF the civilization and moral progress of
centuries. One OF the last attempts to prevent
the purposes of Providence was III individual
ism, by placing power in the hands of Kings and
Queens, and the issuing, through them, OF com
was a protest against this individualism AMI in
favor OF the rights of man as in the mass. He
mentioned other causes of thankfuIness, and in
quired how the blessings OF the land could be
maintained, and, in response, said by religious
education. Not by education itself, however,
for history had established that there was finally
no conservative power i'm mere knowledge, and
Lord Bacon had said that in all knowledge there
seemed TO be some malignity. Virtue and relig-
ion should be combined with education, and
these, with the equality of our laws and rights
and adhe rance to the principles OF the fathers,
would secure the perpetuity OF our institutions.
Foreigners may come, Romanists, heathens,
the best blood Of the nations of Europe-but our
liberties must be restrained and regulated.
They must come and cease to be strangers, and
blend with our institutions without setting up
their peculiarlties. The HindOO may even set up
his idol, but he must not offend the decencies of
life, nor the morals Of the nation, by the cree
ton Of funeral piles and burning victims. The
Romanist may come, but he must not attempt
to enforce the syllabus Of the Pope which
strikes at the liberty OF the press, the freedom of
worship, and the fundamental ideas of American
freedom upon the peOple-they need not be re-
PEELED, but they cannot bend our institutions.
The common schools must be protected and pre-
served, and Sunday schools must be maintained.
held, American ideas and American liberty
must rule the nation. By adhering to these
things the Government will be preserved. The
Japhet-Ham finding his way to where the sun
and climate darkened his countenance and
affected his hair, Shem to a milder and different
climate, and Japhet to one still different when he
was bleached to wliite the original color in WHICH
God made man being the native olive. These
branches of the family Of man have wandered
and may be traced in all the history of the
world. On the western hemisphere they are
cOncentrating-the descendants Of Japhet are
here the controlling force and i'm numbers; the
descendants of Ham are here in millions, and
from them the wrongs Of time have been lifted;
and Shem is coming on the western slope of our
country. The time will arrive when all history
will concentrate on this continent, where trim
ity OF men united in a common brotherhood, as
in the beginning, will meet here-Ham in the
centre. Japhet on the right, and Shem on the
left-and. looking up to the trinity Of persons i'm
the Godhead-a trune deity-will claim HIM as
a common father. In the course of his sermon he
stated that, notwithstanding cavlings, the Adj
ministratiOn of the Government was speaking
by results-aaswering objections, not in words,
but by the quetness and efficiency OF its doings.
Hatreds engendered by the recent strife
are dying Oat, fraternal feelings
being rekindlsd, and the wounds of the
past are being healed. The Administration
would be marked with special favor if il would
place its hands upon the evil of MormOn;sm, not
because of the Mormon bible, but because of
practices and teachings which outrage the de-
cency and common sentiments OF the nation.
Purity in Office and office holders is being
acted, and il only remains for the nation 10 be
true to itx principles, to God, to common chris
tianity in all its departments, legislative, ju-
dcial and executive, and the stars on their ban
ner will glow with universal brightness, and its
colOrs rise higher; nor would Ii be folded again
until, like scroll, il wOnld disappear in the final
confiagration of the world.
holfy;p0 I'm affaufioy, Iia cnn0rnoa-