The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-11-27
AN ELOQUENT SERMON.
blessed ls tho Nation whose God
is tho Lord" tho Text,
OF DR.. CUNNINGHAMS DISCOURSE
at the Union Services at Rev. DR..
NTcCiurc's Church Yesterday Fore.
ncon-.-othcr Thanksgiving Services
at the =. +. Church.

Union Thanksgiving services were
held yesterday morning-iu tho United
Presbyterian church. The church was
crowded with members oi the congre-
cations oi the dilleren. Presbyterian
churches. Rev. DR.. D. A. Cunningham
delivered the sermon. taking as his
text Psalm 3S:l2:' blessed is the Ma
tion-whosc God is tho Lord" He said:
Mysubjcct is, "The Blcsscdness OF the
Nation Whose God is the Lord"
The people OF Israel were happy in
the worship OF the only true God. 1t
was the blessedncss OF the chosen ma
| tion TO have received 4 revelation from
jehovah. While others bowed before
their idols, these chosen people were
elevated by 4 spiritual religion, which
introduced them TO the invisible God.
aud led them to trust III him. All who
coniidc in tho Lord arc blessed in tho
largest and deepest sense. and mono can
reverse the blessing. 1t was true in
ancient times; it Is true in tho last de-
cadc Of the Nineteenth century, Fresh
conviction OF our individual RESPONSE
bility to the nation has been developed
| in these recent years, with the new and
joyous consciousness that we have
common, and hGnccforth indissoluble,
national life. In spite OF divisions now
healed, and soon TO be forgotten, we
| realize, with. devout thanksgiving to
God, that, as Il people, we are ono in
| memory. ono in affection, one i'll q glor-
ious destiny. Our countrymeR travel
ing in Europe, whether they come from
tho North or South, East or West,
think and speak OF themselves Us
Americans, rather than citizens OF any
particular state This is Il hopeful sign.
There is small island called Attu, tho
last OF the Aleution group, part OF
our Alaskan purchase from Russia,
which is as lar from San Fran
cisco as San Francisco is from
Boston. This island contains q
hundred inhabitants. would have
even these citizens fully realize that
| they are Americans, ior would have
national spirit that would warm the
penetrate the mountains OF the Rio
Grando on tho south; even as the na-
tional spirit and consciousness OF Eng.
lishmen go with them to the gates OF
Lucknow and Delhi on the east, the
pasture lands OF Now Zealand and Aus.
tralia in the southern seas, and where,
the hunter follows the stag over the
snowy Wilderness OF Hudson's bay.
With 4 profound sense OF our national
| ity.thcrc comes 4 fuller realization OF
our responsibilities. Clearly enough
that is one OF the purposes that God
has in ireighting us nationally and in
dividually with q Thanksgiving instinct.
BY running through our souls theaplow-
Share OF remembered mercics and cher,
ished events OF the past. it crumbles
| the stiiTened soil, and s.irs the deep
| productive juices. The national con-
sciousncss is aroused, tho national
pulse strengthened and Quickened. 1t
means more to-day TO bc an American
than it did n century ago. We arc
trebly drawn upon by tho great divine
presence, in whose kingly hand our ma
tlonal dcstinies are held; by the wide
and generous past. from whose liberal
supplies OF wisdom, prowess and sacri-
fees our national life has been IRON the
beginning nourished; by the long fu-
turc, towards whose shorcless waters
tho treasures drawn from the past,
augmented, VIC hope, in the pres
cnt, to be added to, we pray
God, in every succeeding age. shall
still move with 4 current ever qucter
and broader, when We arc an influence
only, and our past years but an impal-
pable memory.
We are held then, first, under Di-
vine inspiration. BLESSED is the ma
tion whose God is the Lord" Tho
dceps OF tho general consciousness have
been touched and stirred in our his
tory, and wherever they are so
awakened you will find that conscious
ness, religious. A man may keep his
religion good ways in, but it is there
when you get at il. And large events
and thrilling memories, and vast his
toric con"ulsions bring it to the sur
face rs
EARTHQUAKES WILL SHAKE HIDDEN
| GRANITE
ont OIL the top, There is good deal of
religion in many an America citizen.
You may havo 10 bore through Il pretty
thick crust OF dollars, and another deep
stratum OF soli-concoit, before you
reach it; but it is there, and when you
reach it; it is genuine metal and
stamped with the image and super
scription OF Jesus OF Nazareth. America
in its antcccdents, America in its his.
tory, America in its laws and in its
consciousness. Is not only religious, but
it is largely Christian. And We cannot,
as Il people, bo moved boyonda certain
point, whether in tho direction Of 10Y
or oi sorrow, OF despair or OF cxulta-
ton, before there will begin to whisper
itself forth from the popular heart tho
longing OF tho old worshipping He.
brew, Let US 60 into tho house OF tho
Lord.n
And this divinencss overhead puts n
newstamp on citizenship. We havcnevor
touched tho final meaning OF ctzen-
ship, till we have gotten to its divine
meaning. You can tramplo all over n
mountain in the log, but you never will
have suspicion Of It's mountainous
grandeur and its predcstlned. glory, till
you have seen it uncovered 10 the
hoavens, with floods OF sunshine DASH
ing in noiseless breakers upon its mas.
sirc slopes. So a citizen has not como
to tho limit OF his opportunities and
powers, till in his character as a citizen
ho feels Sod and all tho heavens above
him. And yon and ! havenot comet to
tho end OF our possibilities as citizens
OF the United States, till with hearts full
OF worship and patriotism both, wo can
each say, Praise God, am IN Amer.
lean In tho Lord"