National Republican., 1883-11-30
DIR. LODGES THANKSGIVING.


John Calvin, thank my God upon every
remembrance of you W
DIR. LODGES THANKSGIVING.
HIS SERMON AT THE STREET BAPTIST
CHURCH UNION SERVICES.
Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness,
and Thy paths drop tatness. Psalms Ice. IL.
1t is fitting thing that whole country
should with gladncss respond to the call to
devote one day in each year to special thanks
giving to tho author of all mercios. Among
all the blessings enjoyed at the hand of God.
the preservation of our lives calls for special
thankfulness. Tho year is dying; the shivcr-
ing earth waits for its white covorlet; flowers,
those sweet children of tho heart, so xiously
watched, so carefully tended, arc dead or
dying, and painful sense of bereavement
pervadcs our being as we note their grave
instead of their grace and beauty. Much
life mas turned TO death since tho spring
came tripping into tho year, but we live
20 Lord. Thou didst water our spring our
summer was fruitful, our autumn is golden"
All Europe to-day is like slumbcring
volcano, awaiting the supreme moment when
discomfort with governmental administration
and the ills of misrulo in tho form of oppres-
sion, tyranny, and repression of the popular
demand for enlarged and natural privileges
shall PROSTATE already tottering crowns and
principalities.
England, though far in advance of other
nations, still preserves the causes of unrest
and agitation. AT her feet lies Ireland-poor,
miserable, humiliated, outraged Ireland
sullen, wrathful nursing vengeance, and
of blood only by the gaping throats
of monster cannon which wait
to voice in thunder tones the veto
of the conqueror, and the million sharpened
bayonets threatening to pierce the nations
heart Nihilism drives the prince from his
capital, and makes of him fugitive and
crowned prisoner, and neither penal servi-
tude nor the gallows can still the tempest
tones in which the popular demand for re-
form is spoken. Bombs and giant powder,
conspiracy in the very palace and among
high and trusted officials, revolutionary pub
locations, and secret unions, bound by awful
oaths, tell and repeat the depth and violence
of the resistance against the denial of the
right of the people to rule. The attempts
in other lands to attain to the ideal
of republican form of government has
been SO barren of good results as to be almost
travesty upon American republicanism,
after which all have tried to pattern. No
earthly government can be perfect. Measures
instituted with the best wishes often prove
disastrous to the end the legislation sought.
Appointments are made to ruling positions
through corrupt motives. God permits the
exercise of power to wicked rulers. His pur-
pose is wise. Injustice will inevitably be
perpetrated and go unpunished. There will
be, even in republics, times when "folly is
set in great dignity" and when are seen
servants upon horses, and princes
walking as servants upon EARTH" Our land
| is still the city of refuge for the oppressed.
Here must the nation come if they
would see freedom, civil and religious. Here
every man is absolutely free. Free to live.
| A n. .s.t.k
| enjoy the elegance and luxury wealth pro-
vides. On the rugged mountain side he
may cultivate his little patch and dwell n
sovereign in the humblest hut Free to
breathe; free to eat bread salted with honest
sweat; free to look the shining sun and all
Gods grand creation in the face and say
| am a man! Free as a citizen, he has a
voice in the administration of the govern
ment under which he lives, and by his elo-
quence Of speech, or by the silent ballot, in
| fluences the country's destiny. A far greater
blessing is religious liberty. Separation OF
church and state is only O part of the
more general question of religious liberty
Toleration, even like that of the Maryland
| colony, is q vastly different thing from lib
erty. 1t is the boast and glory of Americans
that to the influence of this country is due
the freedom which all the nations of the
earth enjoy. On this soil the battle was
fought and won. The second band in the
| crown OF goodness IS the domestic relation
and the sacred rights of home. God might
have ordained a mode of life in which the
solemn obligations, the sweet amenities, ant
the unspeakable blessings of the Christian
home should have had no place
The benefits of science, the progres;
in enlightenment in moral culture
intellectual advancement, and the splendid
victories of religion must then have remained
secrets in the eternal mind as possibilitie
under a different ordination. In the broad
view union between one man and ono wo-
man insures the carrying out of the will o
God in the multiplication of the race. Blu
even more important than this is the happi
ness of the married pair and the welfare o
their offspring. From this all civil societ,
originates come last to speak of the bright
est band in the crown, redemption, ,surmOuntet
by the costliest jewell of them all-immor
tality. There is less need of extended re
mark here, because the glorious them,
breathes and palpitates through every gospe
sermon. When the darkness of an eterna
doom sat on every human soul, and hope Ia.
entombed in the depths of transgression
morning burst upon ruined world at tn
rising of the sun of righteousness. When W
were without strength in our dread exigenc!
Christ died. Who can tell Alright the joyfu
story? o., God, We wait to praise Thee
Thou hast crowned all our years with TIL
goodness, and Thy paths have dropped fat
| ltNag