, 1877-12-01

it is as many thousands. Then the
United States bad so little credit
even among its friends that it requi-
red hundreds of dollars to buy a
pair of shoes. Now our country
stands nobly foremost among the
nations, leading them all in lines of
telegraph and railroads, and in a
thousand other particulars indica-
tive of national prosperity and hap
piness. Such, in the way that God
deals with nations, will ever be our
onward progress in population,
wealth and greatness, while wise
and good men are entrusted with the
administration of the Government.
4. The past year has been a memora-
BILE year on account of the great bless
ings which Providence has bestowed
upon our country.
| The speaker here mentioned the bles
! sings specified in the. Presidents proc
lamation. and then referred to the spe-
cial advantages and prospects of WASH
iDgton Territory. expressing his faith
that when it shall take its place as star
in the galaxy of the Union, it will shine
with brightness that will know no
dimness while tins shall last.
5. Christianity is the greatest bles.
sing in our nation.
If Christianity is anything it is every
thing to the world. AS prime factor
in national prosperity and happiness it
must not be ignored. On the lonely Isle
of st. Helena. Napoleon said to Count
de Montholen: Il know men, and l
tell you Jesus Christ is not a man.
Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagns and
myself founded empires; but upon what
did we rest the creations of our genius'
Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an
empire upon love, and at this hour mill
lions of men would die for him; and
his kingdom is extending over the
whole world" What contrast is this
prediction, compared with the idle boast
of Voltaire! This latter said: 1T took
twelve men to found the Christian re-
ligion, but I will show the world that
one man can destroy it." To-day
Christianity is stronger in the world
than ever.
Upon Bible truth and morals our gov
ernment and all its benefcent institu>
! tions rest. Christianity has founded
schools, academies and colleges. 1t has
nodded public opinion, and long since
dashed away persecution for opinion 8
sake; banished duelling, prepared the
minds of the people for uprooting hu-
man slavery, and to-day has such a
hold on the public. that no form of corr
ruption or bribery can stand the light
of day.
One hundred years ago there we're no
Sunday schools. and but one minister
to every 2,400 of the population. To-
day there are Sunday schools by the
thousands. and one minister to every
700 of the people. The country is
abounding in churches. Bible societies
and temperance organizations. 1t is to
be hoped that light from all these will
be SO localized upon the messureless
evils of Sabbath desecration and intem>
perapce that these too may be driven
from the land.
We cannot prosper without the bles-
sing of God upon our country. We
can do without railroads. 1t matters
little who Is President, or which party
controls Congress, or how many cents
make dollar; but it does matter ev>
erything what character we have as a
people. righteousness exalteth ma
ton; but sin is a reproach to any peo-
pie. The lesson needs to be deeply
engraven on the American heart that
what is morally wrong can never be
politically right" As nations have no
existence in the future world, they are
rewarded or punished, as nations, in
this world.
If ignorance, vice and infidelity are
permitted to rule our nation, or if we
become proud. self-willed and corrupt;
or live to indulge our passions or pre>
judices-''if different localities and diff
ferent interests contend for special ad-
vantages, forgetting tire equal rights of
their neighbors and brethren,--' -'all the
lessons of history must be false, and all
the teachings of experience vain, if a
sure and speedy retribution does not
overtake us. and our decline and decay
tell to coming ages a story of ruin as
marvellous as that of our past progress
and present prosperity" God is in
history. Jerusalem, Greece. Rome,
France and Spain may teach US WIS.,
dom. When public simplicity. purity
and uprightness prevailed. they were
exalted; when pride and corruption
ruled. they went down. "If we SOW
the wind, we shall reap the whirl-
wind"
Our national motto inscribed on our
coin ~even on the smallest coin that
the humblest in the land may read, is.
"ln God we trust" If all are true to
that we shall indeed be that "happy
people whose God is the Lord"