Morning journal and courier., 1881-11-26
Thanksgiving Discourse.

vice is to me privilege. Nothing IS more probable than that this is my last opportunl- ty of preaching a Thanksgiving sermon Therefore, having the opportunity, l make the attempt trusting that you will hear me with kind allowance for my failing strength" The reverend pastor at this point referred to Thanksgiving day" as formerly confined to New England, but now national day, one result of New England outgrowth and infiu- ence. The venerable usage" has. become ia characteristic of the American people" and Eve meet to-day not only as citizens of this old commonwealth, but as citizens also of that great union of commonwealths which we call the nation" The central thought of the discourse was here named " Gods deal ings with the great fellowship of States, espe- cially during the year now drawing to close.
 'As we turn our thoughts in that direction,
 one terrible fact seems to darken the whole
 field Of vision" The sermon proceeding
 paid grand tribute to the late President,
 ''his modest dignity in that high station (the
 chair of Washington and Lincoln), the states
 manlike way in which he entered on his
 work and at the same time the republican
 simplicity of the man and the Christian
 beauty of his domestic life. The East and the West, the North and the South were all hoping great things from the four years of his administration. The speaker referred in eloquent, pathetic words to the heroic struggle, the death of the President and the lamentations of sorrowing nation.
 .sGod moves in a mysterious way
 His wonders to perform"
 s.Do we not know that what we see is the dark side of the cloud and that beyond it
 there is the splendor of the sky? Nay, do
 we not already catch some glimpses of the ! sssilver lining" Do we not see the cloud breaking, it's edges tinged with gold and crim- ! son?
 1 A devout man believing in Gods fatherly
 care over him learns to say in view of re- membered disappointments and be-
 reavements "It was good for me to be affilct- ted," and so he can be tha nkful even for ! the discipline of sorrow. May not Gods care for the welfare of favored nation, not ! less than his loving providence over his in dividual children manifest itself sometimes | in visitations of calamity? In the light of
 this consideration let us think of how God | has been dealing with as a nation while
 the cloud was hanging over us.
 l First then, we have this to be thankful for
 in connection with that great natural sorrow, the call to prayer was not unheeded by the people. On the Sd day of July last that | Apostolic direction concerning public wor- | ship, '1 exhort that, first of all, supplica- tions, prayers intercessions and giving of | thanks be made for all men, for kings and
 for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godli-
 ness and honesty, "-was observed and it has | been observed ever since that day, as, I think | it had not been observed for long time previous. I have had occasion at intervals I'the fact Gas others have taken notice of it)
 that when our worship in this house on the | Lords day has been led by occasional preachers, instead of being led by pastor | in charge of the flock the prayers have not | always made mention of the men intrusted
 with authority in the State and in the Union Indeed, if mistake not, prayer for the gov- l ernment and the men who administer it, l prayer for the sovereign people, and for gov | ernors and others commissioned by the peo- ple and to provide for the common welfare,
 has been the exception rather than the rule | in our Lords day assemblies. I cannot but | think that 1t has been so elsewhere, and too generally throughout our country. In Protestant Episcopal congregations, prayer | for the President and for others in authority | is offered every Lords day through the year :; | prayer especially for Congress whenever | Congress is in session. The same sort of prayer is offered in churches of other names, if it so happens that the minister who con | ducts the worship is one whose ideas and
 ways are in some degree old-fashioned. But ] there seem to be some ministers, (and fear ' 4IoG
 the assembly on the Lords day in the Lords
 house is, first of all, 'an assembly for prayer | and still less aware that, of all prayer r-meet, \ ings, that meeting of the church and of all 1 who join with it in public worship ought to
 be the most solemn and most effective. Too often the thought seems to be that prayer and hymns GOT sometimes perhaps prayer | and music) are appropriate and helpful as ! accessories to the sermon, and that the peo- | pie come together as hearers only rather | than as worshipers.
 l But on that third day of July last, all over | the breadth of the continent, the feeling in l every congregation was that they had come | together first of alp for complications prayers intercessions" and that thay must | pray for the President of the United States The assassin's shot startled the nation as if | the apostolic direction about public worship | in Christian assemblies had been repeated \ in thunder, Thenceforward week after week.
 while the President fingered between life and | death-Sabbath after Sabbath, whether it | was the Christian Sabbath or the Jewish | prayer went up in his behalf from all assem- blies Whether the meeting place was ca | thedral or a cabin, it was felt to be 8 place Il for prayer, and the burthen of prayer was everywhere that one burthen of anxiety and
 sorrow which was on the hearts of the peo- pie.
 The shock, then, which went through the
 nation with the report of that murdering pistol was call to prayer, and the call was i not unheeded. If it is fact, as trust it is,
 that in our worshiping assemblies both min isters and people have been learning lesson | about what belongs to public worship, and | that henceforward the Sabbath prayer for the President of the United States and all others | in authority shall be as inseparable from the common prayer of all the churches as it is from the common prayer of Protestant Epis- copal congregations, shall we not be thankful l for the lesson, great as is the cost of it? I know there are those who silently or openly are asking, What is the use of such prayer? The thought is in some hearts, All that prayer brought back no answer; we prayed, and the whole nation prayed that the wounded President might live, but he is dead, and what was the use of all that prayer? What the use of prayer That is an old question, older than the book of Job. Long before any prayer gauge or prayer-test was thought of,
 
 Almighty that we should serve him, and what
 profit should we have if we pay to him?' I
 have known believing souls who, though they
 could not leave off praying, were perplexed
 by what seemed to them the ineficacy of
 their prayers They had prayed, and our
 Father who is in heaven had not given them
 what they desired and hoped for. Some
 such, perhaps, gre here to-day,-perplexed
 and beclouded with speculations about the efficacy of prayer. We prayed, they are say ing in their hearts, we prayed, and tens of thousands joined with us in. the prayer that
 the illustrious sufferer might live; but all that prayer remains unanswered, he is dead
 what profit had we But think, doubting soul, think What is prayer Is it dictation or supplcation? Does it command God what to do and what to refrain from doing, or does it bow down before him in the spirit of sub mission to his will? What is prayer but the cry of dependent and short-sighted creatures appealing to the infinite love and the infinite | wisdom of God? Is it your theory that ia I0cf