Year: 1879

hres and reconstructing the social
and religious life of the alien opera
tFes both i'll city and country, and in
spite of the priesthood and OF preiu-
dice, are reassertinS the faith and
the worship Of the fathers. Millions
to-day gather around the altars of
religion, both private and public.
around the hearthstoncs of home and
in the temples of worship, to give
thanks for all the blessings by which
we as nation are distinguished.


Ii we would comprehend all those
blessings within the compass of q
single word, that word is home.


From " My Fathers House, organ
lzed III Christian faith, and built upon
the foundations of right, as God in
his law has declared it, emenates all
that distinguishes the people of our
beloved country from the Arab, who
dwells in his tent, and from the Indi-
an, who inhabits his wigwam. To
this institution, we owe ali that ex-
ats us above the serf, that belongs
to the soil and is the property of its
owners; all that makes our condi-
ton better than that of the renters,
oppressed by feudal landlords and
impoverished by ecclesiastical exac-
ton. Upon the permanence and
perpetuity of our free, Protestant
homes depend the permanence and
perpetuity of all that we, as free
Christian nation, hold dear. As said
in the outset, if "My Fathers
House" be organized in righteous
ness and built on a permanent foun-
dation, it is an impregnable bullwork
against anarchy and all forms of


nisrule. When in one part OF the
land rebellion broke out in the in
terest OF that old abomination, hui
man slavery, and laid its hand upon
the throat of the nation, the homes
OF the free North, ,, from ocean to ocean,
swarmed like so many hives of vigi-
liant bees to fill the ranks of their
brave defenders. Within the sacred
inclosure of "My Fathers House."
which the hardy yeomanry from the
old Puritan stock have planted
everywhere in the free North, even
Oh these far off shore. the vestal fires
of freedom, brought over in the May
Foaoer, have never gone out, and SO
long as those fires continue to burn
in the homes and in the hearts OF
American families, our institutions,
religious, educational, commercial,
humanitarian. domestic, in fact
everything that makes us a free
prosperous and happy people, will
remaia intact. But when the sane
tity of home comes to be desecrated
and trodden under the foot of sac
riligious law defying heaven in
sulting infdelity, then may the
Goddess of Liberty enshroud herself
in the winding sheet of Fate, and the
sun of American glory set to rise no
moro.


While, then, we offer up our
thanksgiving for this inestimable
blessing, let us remember that it is
not an inalienable blessing, but is
the price of eternal vigilance. Let
us remember that purity of home is
the only condition of its perpetuity,
and the only guarantee of domestic
honor, of filial virtue and of public
morality. And let us unitedly pray
that God will remove far from us
the evil day when the leprous
denominations of the Mormon Proph-
ct, or the ibertinism of the COM
mune shall find quarter either in the
statutes of the Government or in the
public sentiments of the people.
More to be feared are they than tie
violence OF invading armies, or the
pestilence that wasteth at MONDAY.
And while we pray for the preserva-
ton and the purity of home, the
right arm of all our well-being, let
US not forget the thousands on this
coast who have. no home, no Fa-
theirs House" to which they can re-
pair, and onthis day of rejoicing, find
solace amid family congratulations
and parental hospitality. Alas,


alas! the thousands of boys far from
their home and all the restraints OF
childhood, who spend this day in the
haunts of dissipation, the willing


victims of thosejdestructive instru-
mentalities by which their ruin is
; made certain, what do those boys
need above every thing else for their
: salvation? The love, the welcome.


the sweet amenities of Christion
/ home. These they have not, and for
lack of these they are bourn hour by
| hour down the broad and perilous
: path of evil. How else could our
. Christianity find worthier expression
to-day than by Turing one or more
} of these homeless boys within the
' shelter of our own home and the
, kindly influence our Christian hos
3 pitality? What act of ours would
3 inspire SO deep gratitude in o dis
. tant mothers heart, or be cherished
, by the boy himself with q more hope
3 full spirit. cit is more blessed to
J give than to receive. Freely 70 have
received, freely give"