The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-11-27

.Ineptary ecstasy have been disappointed
4 disease four thousand years old can
not be healed in ali hour, or day or year.
But something has been gained, | think,
for the following reasons: One year ago,
there were some men in this place deal
ing out liquid death, who don't do 50
now. One year ago. there were some
Young men whose breath. when you met
them. told of the poisonous cup, who
don't meet you 20 now. one year ago
there were some men i'll this place vino
would go to the tar, who don't do 50
to-day, One year ago, there were Chris
tian men who would support agents OF
the Devil for positions of pubic trust
who don't do 50 to-day. Leaving cut Oh
the question the formation OF public
sentiment and the impressions made up
on the rising generation, there are sub
stantial reasons for believing that the
battle has not been in vain iii the Lord
For all this let us give thanks.
We give thanks to-day for the provi-
dence of God in American history. When
the flowers deck the earth, next spring,
il will be one hundred years since the
blood that flowed at Lexington baptized
a new life. the life Of civil and religious
liberty.
For awhile the spark of freedom fit
ted over the isles of classic Greece; for
a while il shone over the Nine-clad hills
of Italy. until Caesar crossed the Rubi-
con. and Rome was free no more" For
awhile Poland and Hungary struggled,
but struggled III death. France and
Spain are making the same struggle now.
But this child of liberty has, for one
hundred years, been blessed with peace
and plenty, with growth and wealth, as
no other people under heaven.
Do you ask what has the pulpit TO do
with these things! IL you could blot out
the prayers of the Pilgrims, on Plymouth
Rock, in 1920; if you could blot out the
prayers of Washington, in Valley Forge,
from the book of tie Eternal; if you
could forget that the highest rulers OF
our land call us, to-day, to give thanks
for national blessings, then you might
hush the voice of the pulpit, and fetter
its hands from holding forth the great
things that God hath done for US, where
of we are glad.
We have a mission as no people under
heaven. Our land is an anomaly of all
lands. We have all continents here. We
have the red man of America; we have
four millions from Africa; we have tens
or hundreds of thousands from every
nation of Europe; last of all, We have,
on the Pacific coast, an increasing host
from the untold millions of Asia. What
n vast field before U.S. Let us believe
that the hand of God is in all this. 1t
may be that God, who has given us to
believe that nation ''shall be born in a
day." designs that Africa's four millions
shall return to
"Where Afric's sunny fountains
Roll down their golden sand"
and, bearing with them the civilization
of Christianity, be, under God, the means
of ushering in that day when ethiopia
shall stretch forth her hands unto God. "
Perhaps the Chinese problem, which
already tells us of native Chinese preach
ers and Chinese sabbath schools on the
Pacific coast, will point to the redemp-
ton of Old Asia, once the cradle of the
human race, but now the Empire of
Superstition. The star of empire has
always Travelled like the sun in the
heavens-from the east to the west; like
the star of Bethlehem, which guided the
wise men of the east far to the west, so
the standard OF the cross has ever been
carried westward. 1t was born in West
ern Asia. For fifteen centuries its home
was in Europe. For two hundred years
its happiest home has been in America.
1t has already gore west to the Sand
wich Islands, and, ere long, it will reach
Old Asia
''To gid the spot that gave it birth"
Westward the star of empire takes Its way,
Tne first four acts already past;
The fifth shall close the drama of the day;
Times noblest offspring is its last"
But whether this fond hope of Chris
tianity and Philanthrophy be realized or
not, let us thank God for this goodIy
land, and trust that as His blessings have
been SO they may be. Laying our pat
riotism on the altar of our God, let us
trust that, notwithstanding all our foes
without, and foes within, that threaten
to sink our ship, when, for the last time
Tin the language of Americas greatest
orator. 'our eyes are turned to behold
the sun in the heavens, they may behold
the ensign of our land, still full high ad-
vanced, not a single star erased, not a
single stripe obscured from its escutch-
con-"
Truly can we say, as Israel's sweet
singer said, near three thousand years
ago, He hath not dealt so with any ma
ton" But when we remember how
little we thank Him. how like the noun
tains our national ingratitude rises;
when we call to mind our national sins;
when we think of the Sabbath train that
flaunts its speed in the face of God when
we think how often our Government
taxes vice, rather than restraints it; when
we think of the wide spread sins of bias
phemy, idleness, intemperance and pro-
family; of our greed for gain; of our
national failure to punish crime; what
Gods judgment in the past has been for
our sins, and what his Judgment may be
in the future, and how little the judg-
ments have been in proportion to our
sins, we can quote the rest of the 20th
verse of the 147th Psalm, and say not
merely "He hath not dealt with us as
any nation, but ''as for His judgments
we have not known them. Praise We the
Lord"
We give thanks to day to God as a
State. We bless God for peace and for
plenty. The song of the angels is our
song: ''On earth peace and good will to
men," The shock of arms has not in
vaded us. We bless God for plenty. The
pastures are clothed withflocks, and the
valleys are covered over with corn.
While vast portions of the Great West
are deSolated by famine, our granaries
are full. For all this let us give thanks
Let us approach God, then, to-day,
with devout gratitude to Him as individ-
uals, as citizens of this community, this
Commonwealth, and this land If our
hearts condemn us for ingratitude, let
us remember that God is greater than
our hearts, and that He can ''tune our
hearts to sing His praise. We can never |
repay Him for His goodness. Just as the |
awakened sinner when he comes to Je- |
sus, feels that he can do nothing
Nothing in my hand bring,
Simply to Thy cross I'll cling"
Just so in thanksgiving; when the
grateful King of Israel asks the question,
What shall / render unto God, for all
his benefits toward Inc 2 he says that he
can only do this: Il will take the cup of
and call upon the Lord. will
pay my vows unto the Lord in the pres
ence of all his people, in the midst of
thee, o Jerusalem."
And when we pay our vows, let US not
forget those vows. If David said, IF
ever / forget thee, o Jerusalem, let my
right hand forget her cunning and my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth"
As we descend this mount of privileges,
and mingle with the world, let us not
forget our God: but let US be so led by