The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-11-26
Fourth Presbyterian Church.

The pastor OF this church, heV. ID.
Roberts, preached to a good congrega-
ton from the text:
Fear God. Honor the King.-I Peter
Chapter H., xvii.
We have assembled together to-day,
my brethren, in accordance with the
Recommendation Of the President OF the
United States, and, l trust, agreeably to
our own inclination, to render thanks
giving and prayer so the Sovereign
Ruler of the nations of the earth.
We have great reason togive thanks
and praise the Beneficent Creator, be
cause He has crowned the year with
His goodness. All the.products of the
earth-of the varied kinds of grain and
fruit are abundant throughout the land.
When we remember this good land
which the Lord God has given us,
land OF brooks and rivers Of water, Of
fountains, and depths that spring out Of
the valleys and hills; a land of wheat
and barley, of vines and fruit trees, a
land of oil and honey; land wherein
we cot bread without scarceness,
where we do not lack anything in it; a
land whose very mountains are iron
and lead and brass, and out of whose
hills we dig gold and silver and all the
precious metals, it is meet for us to give
thanks unto the Lord, and sing praises
unto the Most High God.
The inspired Apostle, in giving the
few great maxims by which they are to
be governed who are designated in q
peculiar sense the people of God, says:
Submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lords sake, whether it
be to the King as Supreme, or unto
Governors, as unto them that are sent
by him for the punishment of evil doors,
and for the praise Of them that do well,
for so it is the will Of God" This duty
of submission to all the ordinances Of
those who are in authority over us is q
most imperative and important one, and
follows as a nataral sequence that other
duty enjoined in tie text: Fear God. I"
Those who do fear God will likewise
honor the King; or, as in our country,
the rulers whom God has appointed,
and who are chosen by the people.
When the whole fabric Of our gov.
eminent was convulsed and shaken to
the foundations by civil war, this I'M
portant question often arose to the
thoughtful, intelligent citizen: What
is to be the probable condition and des-
tiny of our nation or our government
for the future2 Can it endure the
strife Of political parties, and the con-
fiict of the interests of the different sec
tons of the land7 Or will ours, like
all other democratic governments OF
past history, be destroyed and engulfed
amid the violence of civil war, strife,
and of sectional controversy The de-
struction of the republican states Of
Greece is often referred to as illustrative
of our future destiny. But mark the
fundamental difference. "The philoso-
pliers OF Greece" says Gibbon, de
duced their morals from the nature OF
man rather than from that of God.
Hence the wicked passions and prevail,
ing selfishness Of the human heart
caused the States to pass through the
regular stages Of anarchy, civil war and
despotism. On the contrary, the
founders OF our government deduced
their morals and their principles from
God, and introduced into the founda-
ton of our government q new element
AN element which found no place in
the ancient republics. That element
was Christianity.
Hence the obvious importance Of in
structing all classes of our population,
young and old, in these divine precepts
such as we find in the text. Fear
God" is the laconic and weighty pre-
cept of the apostle. This is forcible
mode of expressing our duty to. God
and it means that all the people are tc
| reverence, honor, and obey him. Reli
pion in its life and activity, is sometime:
described as the fear of God; again, as
the love Of God; and again, submission
to His will, and obedience to his com
mands. In no other country, among nc
| other people, are all the inhabitants
young and old, taught so faithfully tt
love, to fear, and to obey God. From
thirty thousand pulpits every Sabbath
day it is proclaimed to be the duty o
every citizen to fear God and keep hi
commandments. The people are alst
instructed in this second precept which
grows out Of the frst-Honor the King
While this had primary reference Il
the Roman Emperor, it has an universe