Year: 1865

| SOiNo ohu ttOuDlesi ludl IL DtlOuBcu eAClu
siVely to no one section of country Or party
of people, but pervaded and still pervades,
more Or less, the heart of every citizen.


Yes, we may we'll thank the Lord that,
having the apparent cause of our dissensions
removed, we may now deliberately come to
the real cause ITSELF to the root of the mat.
ter, and may strive for the removal of that,
so that We may truly become that great and
powerful nation-great and powerful, not
only in physical ability and the things OF
this world, but also in goodness and truth,
mercy and kindness-which the Providence
OF God designs us yet to become, so that our
Union may be not only natural, but spiritual,
and full, perfect and complete.


And while we may SO well thank the Lord
for all that He has latterly done to lead us to
the present promising state of things, so we
may also thank Him for the conspicuous
traces of His finger in every movement con-
cerning us, ever since the trying hour when
the May Flower left the shores of England
treighted with that little band of noble souls,
leaving home and friends for an unknown
world, to avoid oppression and enjoy the
rights of conscience in freedom of spirit;
souls SO well worthy to be the ancestry of
the most free and virtuous, powerful and
independent nation of the earth. Under all
the trials through which the descendants of
these Pilgrim Fathers have passed, and the
inhuman efforts Of Great Britain to reduce
them to servitude, that Heaven born priAci-
pie of Human Rights has still lived, and
it glows as fresh in living hearts to-day, as
in the illustrious souls that landed on the
Rock of Plymouth. And for this, shall we
not, from the depth of our soul, offer unto
God thanksgiving, and pay our VOWS to the
Most High? 1t is because of the true virtue
and rhianthropic patriotism with which the
Lord could constantly inspire the majority
of this people, that He has never allowed
that conscious spirit of manly freedom and
independence to be crushed.


Even while we were colonies and COM
paratiyely feeble, suffering under oppressive
taxation, severe duties and unjust imposi-
tions of every kind, the sanguine hold of
this spirit of heavenly justice upon the hearts
of the people was constantly showing itself
in great emphasis and marked decision at
every move. We see it blazing forth when
the British Government required the use of
stamps, costing not less than n shilling and
so on upwards, upon every note of hand,
receipt or paper, of any kind, used in bust
ness With what spirit of decisive indig-
nation, on the day the stamp law was to take
effect, did they toll the bells and lower their
flags to half-mast, and resolved that they
would neither purchase nor wear the goods
of Great Britain. So great and decided was
this spirit of resistance, that Parliament
repealed the odious act, under the spirited
speeches of Pitt and Burke, in which Pitt
said, 81 rejoice that America has resisted
If they had submitted, they would have
voluntarily become slaves They have been
driven to madness by injustice. My opinion
is, the stamp act should be repealed, abso-
lutely, totally, Immediately" Thus did the
spirit of the Lord, through the glowing souls
of Colonial freemen, reach the cold injustice
of British selfishness, and awaken in her
statesmen feelings of righteousness. And
we should this day offer unto God thanks
giving, and pay our VOWS to the Most High,
for thus preserving in our ancestors, to be
transmitted to us, the true spirit of American
| freedom.


And so when Great Britain ordered the
use of "Search Warrants, " to see if the peo-
pie had goods in their private houses upon
which duties had not been paid, we then,
too, see the same spirit of protective justice
in open resistance, on the ground of ille-
gality. And so profound was the feeling,
and clear the injustice, that the heart OF
James Otis, the Advocate General of the
Crown, was so fired with the spirit OF phil
anthropy, that he resigned his office and
took sides with the people, in spirited
speeches. And John Adams said of him,
"0tis was flame of fire. He carried away
all before him." And well he might be this,
for he imbibed the spirit of freedom and JUS
tice, burning fresh from the bosoms where
God had enkindled and sustained it, becom,
ing warmer and stronger by prosecutions
For all this merciful protection of American
patriotism and true humanity, we should
forget not to offer under God thanksgiving


This same spirit, rising higher and higher
may be seen working in the bosoms of tn,
tifty-dve unfinching delegates to the Cont
mental Congress of 1774, where, for elo
quence, Patrick Henry was unrivaled, but


"for solid information and sound Judgment,
said Patrick Henry, "Washington was un
questionably the greatest man of them all ;


We see the uniting and consolidating infiu
ence of this spirit of justice and freedom o


souls against all overbearing impositions, il


Patrick Henry's speech of surprising elo


quence, in which he said, "the distinction


between Virginians, New Yorkers, Penn
sylYanians and New Englanders are no more


am not a ViTginian, but an American" /"
And the same spirit among the people ma.
be seen in the American Association
which they then formed, pledging them
selves not to trade with Great Britain, no
with those engaged in the slave trade, no
r to use British goods or tea. With this spiri
they Indignantly poured the cargo of tie
into the Atlantic.


And the great wisdom, strength, powe
/ and resoluteAess of this spirit may be seen
the influence which the papers they issue
t had, not only upon Great Britain, but upo
4 the political world at home and abroad
D Among these ever memorable papers emit
: mating from the Colonial Congress of 177I


at Philadelphia, in which the spirit and til
l argument of unyielding justice and the tru
G rights of men were most conspicuously an
|, irrefutably set forth, were the petition I