Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1870-07-14


diversity of interest and opinion, is going to
result in anarchy or disruption. The Great
Father has not made, signed. sealed and de-
livered His will, and given up this nation to
his quarrelling ehildlen. God is yet Sover-
ei,nl
Thes, .diseordant sounds, when we rightly
interpret them. are but indications and evil
dences of prosperity. The members of this
family are at work, some of them down in
the great laboratory Of the earth, discovering
for our use. gold and silver. coal and iron -
Some are up in the great library above our
heads, walking. for the honor of science and
spread of know ledge bare-browed among the
May la5yrinths of innumeraiIle creations
of God. Others are building schoolhouses,
organizing churches. in the jungles of India.
while others are driving the lion from his lair
at the head waters of the Nile, and in the
desert wilds of Ethiopia. Should sounds of
labor alarm us No. These are but SD many
pencil marks in the solution of the great
problem of free government. God. by the
instrumentality of great principles, is to-day
working among us. He went over America
with breaking pillow in the days of the rev.
oluton During these last few years He has
burned the grGbs in the fires of civil war, and
sowed broadcast. over the graves of oppres-
sion and the dust OF his workmen, the seeds
of purer. broader, nobler. national life. To-
day he is leading us by the hand-rapidly it
one will-tOward the utmost possibilities of
national attainment. Fellow Citizens, hold
ing firmly the hand that leads US, aud main
tanning inviolate the great truth, =" that all
men are created free and equal" we cannot
fall. We shall ere long occupy the grandest,
most honorable place in human history. I'M
der God. my countrymen, this is our Nan
ifcSt Destiny
We are here then. to- day. asserting the val.
ne and vitality of our form Of government,
and expressing, as we may. our hope of its
enduring life The spirit of our government
has gone abroad into every nation of the
earth. The Kingdoms, principalities ard
powers of Europe have long been stretching
toward us their fettered hands. To. day,
ia the streets of Naples and Rome,
the spirit of our institutions stirs with hope
the brave hearts of Garibaldi and his follow
ers, and is threatening with sure destruction,
the tyranny and priestcraft of Italy. On the
island of Cuba. among he hills of Spain,under
the sunny skies Of France, is heard the sweep
of that same supernatural blade that cut from
our hands aud hearts TO ever, the chains of
English oppression but sir, sanding as we
do within hearing of the terrible thunder
that shakes the skies of the old world, it does
not become us 90 boast of our power. or trhe
with our strength. We are warned, rather,
10 increase our securtiesand build yet might
Ter bulwarks. Not alone bulwarks of wood
aud stcne-not alone of fleets and navies-
not alone of parties and facti0ns-hut bull
warks of justice. of truth. OF honesty and in
tegrity, both towards g ID aud man
We have no time to pursue these thoughts
further, let us, my friends, for few moments
remember that We stand to-day, among three
hundred thousand unsettled graves and while
bending our ears toward these sacred spots,
Jet us heed the lessons of warning aud in
struction hey give. IL will be sad hour for
our country, when as a people we shall have
forgotten our soldiers, living or dead. when
We shall have ignored aud iepudiated the
debts we owe them, and have turned our backs
upon their honore.l dust.
The FIRST lessen, Mr.. President we learn
from the graves Is this: God will not perpet-
uate or protect a nation unless its laws are
just and equal. except its administration is
Ia consonance with divine command Do
unto others as you would that others do unto
YOU" When a nation. Expresses the weak
when it burdens The shoulders of the labor
ing class with heavy and unequal tax alton
When it builds palaces for the rich out of the
sw eat and tears of the common people, and
clothes in purple and fine linen the law-mak
ers of the and-when Christianity is sold
for thirty pieces of silver, and God is banish-
ed frora the councils OF the go, erument-then
the day Of its destruction is at hand. Look
at Thebes -Thebes. the pride and glory of
old Egypt! Look at Syria with its hum.
dred cities, and every city nation Balbec
with its magnificent temples; Nineveh with
its frowning ramparts Babylon with its
wonderful walls Tyre with its countless
fleets; Sidon with lis innumerable factories.
Where are they to-day There is not trace
of their ancient greatness remaining. Here
and there a ruin : everywhere the desolation
of the tombs. These cities aud kingdoms
were sinks of iniquity. God smote them and
they crumbled into desolatioH. Look at the
Assyrians, Chal!eans, Phenicians Persiams !?
All fallen Carthage that once conquered Al
rIca Greece with her twenty empires Rome
the mistress of the world. Where now are
these mighty natiens power, splendor, glo.
ny persisted. Carthage persisted because she
made gods of marble and brass. and slaves of
men. Greece persisted because she made Sci
ence an idol. aud prostituted religion. Rome
persisted because she TUNED God ont of her
councils and lived as if the eye of Cato, only,
was upon her.
Look now for moment at America But
a few years ago America sprang up out OF
the wilderness Ike a gem out of the sea-
But as yesterday few pilgrims landed on
pression-seeking refuge. and free and
quiet spot, where they could worship God -
La a few years grand empire has arisen, and
upon the scarcely rotted roots of our primi-
tive forest proud cities stand. growing like
flowers of spring. In very few wears, un-
der the smile OF God, this nation has sprung
from an unexplored. wilderness, sending the
pulsatons of its iife-tide to the utiermoss
parts of the world. Alas in the rnidst of
mercy, and blessing. and growth, we forget
the law of God. Like ancient Carthage we
made gods of gold, and slaves Of men. Like
Greece. we worshipped idols. and in some
measure, prostituted our rcligion-like Rome
deiied men and lived as if the eye of party
only was upon us
This was America ten years ago, in her
of these fallen cities and kingdoms, our own
lusts and expressions, hailed us from our
proud eminence anc sat us. robed in sack
cloth with ashes ON our heads. mourning in
the dust. Here we stand to-day, maidens.
orphans. bcrcaved parents, amorg our dead
Our valleys and mountain sides are vet damn.
with the blood ofour brothers and sons. Here
we stand among the graves of three hundred
thousand slain. aud learn lesson we woulI
not learn, while Gods arm protected and His
bow of mercy and bounty spanned us.
Let us not fail to learn the lesson that
righteousness exalteth a nation, and that sin
is reproach to any people"-that there can
be no permanent peace, without purity, no
stability except our foundations are the i'm
mutable principles of justice. These graves
hav. conSecrafel the soil of anr cauotrr TIL.