Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-12-01
THE M. E. UNION MEETING.
Sermon Delivered at Fourth Street NJ. e
Church by Rev. Hardness.

sermon Delivered at Fourth Street NJ. e.
Church by Rev. Hardness.
The Methodist congregations Of the
city assembled in union meeting at the
Fourth street M E. church yesterday
morning, the congregation being very
large one. The sermon was by Rev.
w. ]. Hardness, Phi. D., pastor of the
Chapline street NJ E. church, who
took his text from Psalm XXX. 1:
Thou hast lifted me up
In the course of his discourse the
speaker said:
Thanksgiving Day is peculiarly an
American institution. It's observance
is sanctioned by the proclamation of
our chief executive and ratified by the
governors of the States and territories
and should be observed not only as
national holiday, but as day of graft
tude unto Him who has so wonderful
1y blessed us as a nation.
There have been seven golden ages
In the worlds life which artists have
delighted to paint and poets to sing and
historians to make mmortal-Egypt
under the Ptolemies; Palestine under
Solomon; Athens under Pericles; Rome
under Augustus; France under Louis
XIV; Italy under Leo X. and England
under Elizabeth, each great, glorious
period full of renown, full OF honor, and
full of noble deeds; but to an enlight-
ened mind of the nineteenth century
there appears a better age and a bet
ter land under the free republic Of
America. 1t is land with no king,
nor subject, no master nor slave, but a
Over us reigns no Francis II, of Naples;
nor Louis XIV, of France; nor Philip
l., of Spain; nor Bloody Mary, Of Eng
land, but the Lord Almighty who is
our Father and our Friend, our King
and Brother. No Roman arenaAno Col
lisium agony, no Bartholomew massa-
ere, nor inquisitorial fire darkens our
vision, but in tranquility and trium-
phant hope we rejoice in a home Of
priceless personal liberty, of exalted So
cial perogatives, Of universal political
equality and absolute, joyous, unre-
stricted religious freedom, If one ma
ton above another has right to rem
der thanks to God for his special
watchful care, that nation is our own.
DR.. Strong says take five Of the six
first-class powers of Europe-Great
Britain and Ireland, France, Germany,
Austria, Italy, then add Spain, Portu-
gal, Switzerland, Denmark and Greece.
Let someone greater than Napoleon
weld them into one mighty empire and
you could lay it all down in the United
States west of the Hudson, once. and
again, and again-three times.
Raphael and Angelo caught the spir-
it of the age and in their inmost being
they felt the impulse of coming refor-
AlotAOh anu ~ OSACSSs LII SSIlpLuiC anu
painting they reproduced and embodied
their thoughts. Their very souls sug-
gested unlimited power, boundless Wis
ions and possibilities of eternal devel-
opment. Infinite stretches of thought
are wrapped up in every soul and we
as nation have not been behind the
times, though for many years we have
been absorbing the beauties Of the mas
tiers; now we have become productive
and the world has recognized the fact
that we have originally even in art
Such names as Sargent, Abbey, Frank
Millet and Mary Cassalt fill us with
pride. AS painters these artists de-
serve the distinction they have gained
in the chief art centers OF the world,
and from the only judges whose opin-
ions is final, as to technical excellence.
There is nothing that we are proud
er Of than the American press. It's
agencies and methods ransack the
whole universe for the latest informa-
ton of every kind and the result is a
continuous daily record that falls short
of being history only in the sense of
lacking the perspective that sometimes
helps and sometimes binders a proper
estimate. From this source large ma
iority of people derive all their knowl-
edge and scope and meaning of civil
ization. 1t is practically their only
literature for the purposes of instruc-
ton and reflection, and they are in
fuenced by it more than by any ether
one thing or by all things in shaping
their views and sentiments. 1t puts
different people in that close and regu-
lar communication which is almost