{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19597/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19597","id":"gutenberg_19597","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19597","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - American","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Nationalism","Thanksgiving Day sermons"],"text":"Produced by Curtis Weyant, Diane Monico, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNATIONAL CHARACTER.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA\n\nTHANKSGIVING DISCOURSE,\n\nDELIVERED NOVEMBER 15TH, 1855,\n\nIN THE\n\nFranklin Street Presbyterian Church,\n\nBY THE PASTOR,\n\nREV. N. C. BURT.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBALTIMORE: PRINTED BY JOHN D. TOY.\n\n1855.\n\n\n\n\nBALTIMORE, _November_ 17, 1855.\n\nREV. N. C. BURT,\n\n_Pastor of Franklin Street Presbyterian Church_:\n\nDEAR SIR--We earnestly solicit a copy of the Discourse delivered by you on\nThanksgiving day, for publication.\n\nWith great respect, yours, &c.\n\nGEORGE S. GIBSON.\nR. K. HAWLEY.\nJ. HENRY STICKNEY.\nI. C. CANFIELD.\nHORACE W. TAYLOR.\nJOS. B. FENBY.\nS. PATTERSON.\nC. D. CULBERTSON.\nR. H. HUMPHREYS.\nHENRY D. HARVEY.\nDAVID FERGUSON.\nJOHN BIGHAM.\nE. S. ALLNUTT.\nCHAS. U. STOBIE.\nH. W. HAYDEN.\nHIRAM WOODS.\nGEO. W. UHLER.\nE. B. BABBITT.\nASHUR CLARKE.\nM. M. BIGHAM.\nWM. L. MCCORMICK.\nJNO. BARBER.\nALGERNON R. WOOD.\nALEXANDER CLOSE.\nJOHN R. COLE.\nM. SHAW.\nA. COULTER.\nJ. PERKINS FLEMING.\nJAMES V. D. STEWART.\nJOEL N. BLAKE.\nJ. HENRY GIESE.\nW. E. BARBER.\nROBERT BUSBY.\nJOHN S. MCKIM.\nJ. DEAN SMITH.\nDAVID S. COURTENAY.\nWM. R. SEEVERS.\nS. A. LEAKIN.\nPATRICK GIBSON.\nJ. P. POLK.\nWILLIAM WHITE.\nGEO. W. BRADFORD.\nEDWARD DUFFY.\nTHOS. H. QUINAN.\nSAMUEL W. BARBER.\nMATTHEW HORN.\nMORGAN COLEMAN.\nSTEPHEN WILLIAMS.\nJAMES WILSON, Howard-St.\nJ. H. PATTERSON.\nLANCASTER OULD.\nGEO. C. MORTON.\nGEO. ROSS VEAZEY.\nDANIEL HOLLIDAY.\nD. H. BLANCHARD.\nE. H. THOMSON.\nW. J. DICKEY.\nJOHN P. COULTER.\nALEX. E. BROWN.\nH. C. REED.\nCORNELIUS E. BEATTY.\nJOHN T. DICK.\nWM. H. BROWN.\nR. H. PENNINGTON.\nJOHN P. RICHARDSON.\nROBERT LESLIE.\n\n\n\n\nBALTIMORE, _November_ 25, 1855.\n\nGENTLEMEN--The request for a copy of my Thanksgiving Discourse, so\ngenerally made, I cannot refuse. The manuscript is herewith placed at your\ndisposal.\n\nVery truly yours,\n\nN. C. BURT.\n\n\nDR. G. S. GIBSON.\n\nR. K. HAWLEY, Esq.\n\nJ. HENRY STICKNEY, Esq. and others.\n\n\n\n\nDISCOURSE.\n\n\n     PSALM 33: 12.--BLESSED IS THE NATION WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD.\n\nWe have met to-day, at the call of the Governor of this Commonwealth,\nto render thanks to the Supreme Governor of the world for his mercies\ngranted us during the past year. Surely we have abundant cause for\nthanksgiving. In the present instance, our annual festival not only\ncalls us to recognize the common bounties of God's providence most\nrichly bestowed, but also affords a most suitable opportunity for\nrendering special offerings of gratitude for our happy exemption from\nthat pestilence, which, for months just past, lifted its frowning\nclouds in our near horizon, and committed its devastations on our very\nborders,--a pestilence which, if God had permitted it to march upon\nour City and to do a like deadly work amidst our population, would now\nbe exulting over as many slain victims from among us, as there are\npersons now assembled in all our Churches for this thanksgiving\nservice. Let us give hearty thanks for this distinguishing sparing\ngoodness.\n\nBeing called together by our civil authorities, and that to recognize\nthe hand of God over us as a people, the occasion is suitable for\nconsidering the general subject of NATIONAL CHARACTER, and in\nconnection with it, the duties and destinies of our own nation.\n\nWhat now, to begin at the beginning, is the proper idea of a nation?\nThe idea is a complex one, involving, to a greater or less extent, the\nideas of community of birth, community of language, occupation of the\nsame territory, citizenship under the same government.\n\nThe _word_ nation signifies a body of men descended from the same\nprogenitor,--those having community of birth. We may, from the sense\nof the word, call the Jews a nation, though using a diversity of\nlanguages, and though scattered over the earth, without distinct\nterritory or separate government.\n\nCommunity of language commonly follows upon community of birth. Yet\ncommunity of language does not of itself determine or secure\nnationality. The English and ourselves speak the same language, yet\nare distinct nations. The Swiss are one nation, yet speak some of them\nFrench, others German, others Italian.\n\nOccupation of the same territory is not essential to nationality. Not\nonly may a nation be scattered,--its parts dwelling in several\nlands,--as in the case of the Jews, but a nation may migrate in a body\nand preserve its national character in transit, or it may have no\nfixed territorial abode whatever. The Tartars and the Arabs are\nnations ever in motion, and held but the most loosely by any tenure of\nsoil.\n\nAnd even citizenship under the same government, does not of itself\nexhaust the idea of a nation. Russia may be said to include many\nnations under her sway.\n\nYet the ideas of race, language, country and government, all enter\ninto, and with greater or less distinctness, and to a greater or less\nextent, constitute the general idea of a nation. The French have in\ngeneral the same origin: they speak the same language: they possess a\ndefinite territory: they live under one government. They are of Gallic\norigin: we call their language French: their home is France: they are\nthe subjects of Napoleon.\n\nThese several ideas of a nation do not, however, seem to be equally\nessential. It is in the idea of Government, the idea of the State, in\nwhich an associated body of men rises to view as a personality, and as\na sovereign power, clothed with divine privileges and prerogatives,\nsubsisting for high moral ends, dispensing justice amongst its own\ncitizens in the name of God, and treating with other States as\nresponsible persons like itself, with whom it dwells as in a family of\nnations to possess the earth;--it is in this idea that the ideas of\ncommunity of origin and of language, and occupation of the same\nterritory, merge themselves as subordinate or accidental, and that our\nview of a nation is most satisfactory and complete.\n\nThe functions of supreme government are rarely exercised over a very\nsmall body of men. And nations need to be of some magnitude to\nrealize the benefits of national existence. A nation, just in virtue\nof its national constitution, is in a measure separated from the rest\nof mankind. It has an existence by itself. It ought, then, to have a\ncompleteness in itself. It should be made up of so many and such\nvariety of parts, that these parts in their inter-action, may produce\na sufficient life. Its classes of citizens and their occupations,\nshould be so diversified and numerous, that in the mutual dependence\nand support, the highest possible benefit may result. _Size_ has to do\nmaterially with the idea of a nation. This, indeed, makes all the\ndifference between a family and a nation, if only sovereign\nprerogatives be conceded to the family, as was done in patriarchal\ntimes. It is in the life of the State rather than that of the family,\nthat we have civilization. The very word civilization implies\nthis--_civis_, being a citizen, and _civitas_, a State.\n\nThe importance of national relations may be seen in the consideration\nof the nature of history. What is history? Is it a collection of the\nbiographies of individual men? We do not, as a fact, give to such\ncollection the name of history. History has been called \"the biography\nof society.\" But of society founded upon what basis, working by what\nagencies, involving what interests, proposing what ends? Not surely\nvoluntary associations, formed for the promotion of the arts, or\ncommerce, or philosophy, or benevolent undertakings. Such associations\nare too limited in the numbers which belong to them, too narrow and\npartial in the ends they propose and the means they use, to justify us\nin calling their biography history. We must find a society which, as\nnearly as possible, shall comprehend in its members the entire human\nrace, command in its workings all human energies, involve in its\nconsideration all human interests; the biography of such a society we\nmay call history. Such a society we find in the State. And it is\nbecause the whole human race is gathered into nations; it is because\nthe State proposes as its true object the highest good of all its\ncitizens; and especially is it because the State as a sovereign power,\nnot only holds the persons and property of its citizens at its\ndisposal, but deals with its citizens and with all mankind as moral\nbeings, and as itself a moral person responsible to God,--being a\nsovereign only as his minister;--it is because of all this, that we\ngive the name history to the biography of nations rather than to that\nof any other society. And the idea of history generally accepted is\nthis,--it is a record of the changes which come over the aspect and\nfortunes of nations, in their self-development and their mutual\nintercourse.[A]\n\nThe highest truth of history is unquestionably the Providence of God.\nNow, it gives us a most impressive view of the importance of national\nrelations, when we consider the Bible representation of nations as the\ngreat agents of God's Providence. The Assyrian nation sent against the\npeople of Israel is \"the rod of his anger\" and \"the staff of his\nindignation.\" Said God to his ancient people, \"I will bring a nation\non you from far, O house of Israel.\" God of old sent his prophets to\nthis nation and that; Elijah to Israel, Jeremiah to Judah, Jonah to\nAssyria.\n\nMoreover, the Bible recognizes the importance of national relations in\nthe position it assigns to nations in the historic and prophetic\ndevelopment of the plan for man's redemption. Before the advent of our\nSaviour, God was in covenant with a nation. To conserve the true\nreligion amidst the corruptions which a second time were coming over\nthe whole earth, God took Abraham and his family into special\nrelations to himself. Yet God did not see fit to keep these special\nrelations confined to a single family in successive generations. It\nentered directly into his plan, to make of this chosen family a\nnation, to set them in a land of their own, to give them a government\nof their own, to place them amidst the other nations of the earth. The\ninfluence of a nation was required to prepare the world for the coming\nof Messiah. So also in prophecy. Whatever may be thought of the beasts\nof the Revelation, with their heads and horns, the beasts of Daniel\nare distinctly stated to be \"Kingdoms upon Earth.\" They are States and\nEmpires. It is, moreover, a kingdom which the Lord God will set up\nupon earth, which, as a little stone cut out of the mountain, shall\nsmite and break and crush the kingdoms of earth, and itself occupy\ntheir place. \"The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and\npossess the kingdom for ever.\"\n\nWith this consideration of the idea of a nation, and of the importance\nof national relations, let us now, turning and beholding the race of\nmen dwelling together in a family of nations, ask more particularly\nafter their duties and destinies.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI. The State has a religious character. Nations derive their existence\nas such from God. The State is of divine institution. It enjoys and\nexercises divine prerogatives. It is hence under duty to God; it has\nherein a religious character.\n\nI do not propose to argue the question of the nature of civil\ngovernment. I will not undertake to show that the theory of a social\ncompact--the theory that all just powers of government are derived\nfrom the people, who voluntarily yield them up and consent to their\nexercise--that this theory is false. Enough for me--enough for you, I\npresume,--that it is unscriptural and infidel. Enough for us that the\nScriptures say, \"The powers that be are ordained of God,\" and the\ncivil ruler is \"the minister of God.\" I do not deny,--the Scriptures\ndo not deny--the distinction between things _civil_ and things\n_religious_. The Christian does not demand that the State shall be a\ntheocracy. The State and the Church has each its appropriate end and\nsphere. The prime end of the State is the dispensing of justice, the\nprotecting of its citizens, and the securing by agriculture and\ncommerce and the arts, and by the intelligence and virtue of its\ncitizens, of the general welfare. The prime end of the Church, so far\nas man is concerned, is the promotion of his spiritual and eternal\ngood, through the agency of the Scriptures of revealed truth. The\nsphere of the one is the affairs of this life,--that of the other, the\naffairs of the life to come. Yet the State and the Church are not\nwholly separated and absolutely independent; and neither is\nindependent of God.\n\nAgain: Man in his entirety, is a religious being, and must carry his\nreligion with him into all his relations. He is a religious citizen;\nso that not only is government instituted by God and to be\nadministered in his name, and is therefore religious, but being\nadministered by men and upon men, who themselves are under\nresponsibility to God, it is therefore again religious.\n\nAnd again: Although the prime end of the State be the promotion of\nman's temporal welfare, and that of the Church, the promotion of his\nspiritual welfare, and although the prime sphere of the State be the\nthings of the present life, and that of the Church those of the life\nto come, yet things temporal and things spiritual, and the things of\nthe present life and those of the life to come, have most intimate and\nimportant connections. The spiritual welfare tells upon the temporal,\nand the life to come is but the issue and result of the present life.\nHere, once more, is the State seen to have a religious character. All\nthis admits of abundant proof and illustration.\n\nThe State, then, has a character directly religious, due to its origin\nand nature, as instituted by God for doing his ministry with men.\nHence, its laws should be founded on the highest views of the divine\nwill ascertainable. It should enact that alone to be crime which God\npronounces to be sin. And again, the State has a character indirectly\nreligious, in view of the fact, that it is administered by and upon\nthose who are under religious obligations, and in view of the fact\nthat religion has material connection with that public welfare which\nit is the design and duty of the State to promote. The State must, on\nthe one hand, respect the conscience of its citizens, leaving them\nfree in religious opinions and practices; and yet, on the other hand,\nit must seek to promote the interests of true religion, with whose\nprosperity the public welfare is vitally connected.\n\nIt belongs to our government, my hearers, to conform its legislation\nto the principles of the Bible, and to impose its penalties for\nviolated law, on the authority and with the sanction of the God of the\nBible: and it belongs to our government, while indulging the largest\nand most liberal toleration of religious opinions and practices, still\nto seek the diffusion and establishment of Christianity throughout the\nlength and breadth of our land. It is right that our government\nenforces, to a good degree, the observance of the Christian Sabbath.\nIt is demanded that such observance be enforced in still larger\ndegree. Our government, if it be bound to afford an education to the\nchildren of its citizens at all, is bound to give them a Christian\neducation. The Bible should be in all our Public Schools. Chaplains\nshould be provided for all State institutions, as they are for the\nArmy and Navy.\n\nI know, indeed, that these views, when fully expressed, are not\ngenerally conceded. Many seem to think that government has no proper\nconnection with religion. The cry of Church and State--of the invasion\nof religious rights--is raised against these views.[B] But not only\nhas government a necessary connection with religion, but what may\nseem still more objectionable, the freest government must have\nreference, in its laws and institutions, to some _form_ of religion,\nas that held by the great body of its citizens: and it is a mistake,\nas egregious as it is frequent, which supposes that because our\nFederal Constitution prescribes no religion as that of this country,\nand unites the government to no Church, our country is therefore as\nmuch Pagan or Infidel as it is Christian. The Constitution and the\nlegislation of our country presuppose and take for granted, if they do\nnot distinctly affirm, that Bible Christianity is the religion of this\ncountry. And they must do so, in order that this be a free government,\nsince the great body of our people are believers in this religion. The\nPresident of the United States, standing in the portico of the\nCapitol, before the face of heaven and in view of the assembled\npeople, swears upon the Bible to support the Constitution. The great\nfunctions of government cease to be exercised among us when the\nmorning of the Christian Sabbath dawns. The Executive closes his\nmansion, Congress vacates its halls, the judge comes down from his\nbench;--all pause and wait through the day of which the God of the\nBible and the Lord our Saviour has said--it is mine. How solemn the\ntestimony, and how frequently recurring, that this is a Christian\nnation.\n\nAnd whose rights are invaded by this observance of the Christian\nreligion? The Jew's? Why he can observe his Sabbath on Saturday, and\nthe law will protect him in the observance. None shall molest or make\nhim afraid. The infidel's? It may be that he is put to inconvenience.\nHe cannot have his cause tried in Court; he cannot lay his petition\nbefore Congress or the Executive; he may not be able to procure his\nletters from the Post Office: but is this an invasion of his rights?\nWho has the right to compel the judge to violate the Sabbath by trying\nhis cause, or the mail-carrier or post master by delivering his\nletters? Would not the non-observance of the Sabbath by the government\noperate at once to close the doors of office against four-fifths of\nour conscientious citizens? For the very reason, then, that the body\nof our people are Christians, our government does and must, as a free\ngovernment, respect the Christian religion; and furthermore, because\nthis religion is, as we know, the true religion of God, and its\ninfluence most happy in sustaining a free government, the State is\nbound not simply coldly to protect it in common with all forms of\nreligion, but warmly to foster it as its own chosen religion.\n\nIt would not be well longer to dwell on this topic. It may only be\nadded that while the understanding of this subject is of the very\nfirst consequence to us as a nation, there is no subject of general\ninterest which seems to be so little understood.[C]\n\nNations of necessity have a religious character. The civil government\nis of God's ordination, and does God's ministry. The civil government\nis administered by and upon men who are religious beings, who cannot\nunder any circumstances divest themselves of their religious\ncharacter. The prevalence of true religion amongst its citizens, is of\nthe highest advantage to the State.\n\nEvery nation has its God or its gods. \"Blessed is the nation whose God\nis the Lord.\" Blessed is America so long as a pure, scriptural\nChristianity stimulates and governs its public life.\n\nIt may be mentioned, but need not be discussed as a distinct topic,\nalthough its full consideration would greatly enforce the views just\npresented, that, as a matter of fact, God does regard nations as\nresponsible persons, and does hold them in strict account to himself.\nThe highest truth of universal history being the universal and\ncomprehending providence of God, and the great factors of history\nbeing the nations of mankind, and the personal and responsible\ncharacter of nations continuing only in this life and obtaining God's\nfull judgment of mercy or wrath during the time of their present\ncontinuance, the historic page, recording the majestic movements of\nempires in their rise and fall, becomes unspeakably sublime as the\nrecord of the Almighty's manifested character, smiling and blessing in\ntheir righteous prosperity, and frowning and overthrowing in their\nguilty doom.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nII. But let us pass to another view of nations. The race of men we\nbehold in a family of nations. We may consider the relations of these\nnations one to another.\n\nI use the word _family_ in reference to nations, to indicate at once,\nat the outset, and as fully as possible, their true relations. Nations\nare most closely and most tenderly related. Their relation is one of\nblood, and their one parent is God. \"He hath made of one blood all\nnations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath\ndetermined the times before appointed and the bounds of their\nhabitation.\" Each nation has a certain completeness in itself, yet it\nis but a partial completeness. Nations are still connected. They are\ndependent on one another. They are under obligations to one another.\nThey are alike and together bound to the same God. They are a\nbrotherhood before God their common Father. Patriotism has its limits,\nand philanthropy, its appropriate and transcendent sphere.\n\nSee the physical dependence of nations. Does not every nation on the\nface of the earth contribute to the conveniences and comforts and\nluxuries, not to say the necessities of our every-day life? And do we\nnot, as a nation, contribute something for the physical well-being of\nevery nation in turn? What mean these thousand ships, at all times and\nin all directions traversing the main? Are they not all hastening on\nthe wings of the wind, with their precious burdens, to do the\nministries of nations one toward another? All commerce is significant,\nfirst of all, of national interdependence.\n\nThis mutual dependence in things physical is, however, but an image of\na higher dependence. What is civilization? Is it the culture of the\nnational life? Yet how is national life cultivated? Is it by\nself-effort only, put forth from a stimulus self-begotten? Or is not\ncivilization, like the education of the individual, in some measure\ndependent on the efforts of others? Must there not be an outward\ncontact, and a stimulus provoked by such contact? Turn a child into\nthe woods, and let him grow up to manhood without the society or the\nsight of his fellow-men. Where is his self-culture? He is a wild man\nof the woods; he is a barbarian. So nations need the stimulus which\ncomes from a contact with their fellow nations; and that, not only\nthat they may advance in civilization, but even that they may save\nthemselves from going down into barbarism. See China, the largest\nempire of men, yet separated from its neighbors by a stone wall. See\nHindostan, insulated by surrounding seas and mountains, and destitute\nof commerce for many hundred years. See Africa, secluded from all the\nworld by its miasmatic regions and its fever-bound coasts. What\nstereotyped character! What stagnant life! What hopeless barbarism!\nInterchange of thought among the nations,--communication of the\nproducts of art and literature, and of the discoveries of\nscience;--this is requisite for the welfare of nations.\n\nIt would easily follow from this mutual dependence of nations, even if\nit did not come to us in a more direct way, that the intercommunion of\nnations should be guided and governed by religious principles, and for\nthe end of highest mutual spiritual benefit. Nay, the statement may be\nmade thus, in reference to us who know what true religion is, and who\nare bound to go according to the light we possess, and not according\nto the darkness of others,--that the intercommunion of nations should\nbe conducted on Christian principles, and for the end of the diffusion\nand establishment of the Gospel of Christ.\n\nBlessed is the nation whose God being the Lord, who, as the\nfirst-born, and fullest-grown, and highest-favored, in the Lord's\nfamily of nations, becomes the loving instructor and helper of the\nyounger brethren.\n\nLooking this day upon the brotherhood of nations, we behold one sight\nwhich might excite our joyful hope, were it not for another closely\nconnected with it, which must excite our astonishment and sorrow. We\nbehold, on the one hand, the nations of the earth brought into close\nproximity and to the possibility of easy friendship, by the many\nphysical improvements of the age. These improvements, as we see, are\nmade and first used by enlightened and Christian nations,--and we are\nencouraged to ask, shall not these improvements be the channels and\nvehicles for conveying to all nations the influences of the gospel? In\nthis bringing of the ends of the earth together, by those whose great\nglory is their possession of the knowledge of God's salvation, shall\nnot \"all the ends of the earth,\" through their agency, speedily be\nbrought \"to see the salvation of God?\" But alas! The ardency of our\nhopes is quenched, when we behold this day the most enlightened and\npowerful and happy of the whole brotherhood of nations, whose great\ntie is that of natural and Christian love, and whose great duty is to\nstrengthen the cords of love amongst all their brotherhood,--when we\nbehold these nations, submitting themselves to the demon of national\nhatred and revenge, employing the agencies which should convey the\ngospel of peace to all mankind, in transporting the munitions of war,\nand then putting forth all their skill and energies in planning and\nexecuting, with the aids of the most matured science, and by means of\nthe most ingenious and mighty enginery, the devilish work of national\ndesolation and destruction.\n\nCan we, my hearers, conceive of a higher and more horrid contradiction\nof the whole spirit of our religion than a national war? And can there\nbe anything more discouraging to him who hopes for the speedy\ndiffusion of the Gospel amidst the nations, than the contemplation of\nthe present war,--a war not only waged by nations the most Christian,\nbut a war involving no principle and devoid of all glory,--a war\nstamped in its every feature, and chargeable at its every step, with\nthe attribute and the crime of murder.\n\nO when shall war be recognized in its brutality and fiendishness and\nhellish horrors? When shall patriotism separate itself from a proud\nambition and a cruel revenge, and become the loving handmaid of a pure\nphilanthropy? When shall Christian nations become capable of a\nChristian transaction? Must \"the sword devour forever?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIII. We may not omit on such an occasion, and with such a subject\nbefore us, to speak of the destiny of our own nation.\n\nIt would seem from many considerations often presented, that God\nintends great things for us as a nation. The time and circumstances of\nthe original settlement of our country, and the character of the\noriginal settlers, is regarded as one indication of promise. How long\nGod kept this continent concealed from the view of the civilized\nworld! And, when it was discovered, how long he kept back the nations\nfrom its successful settlement! Not until the Protestant Reformation\nhad wrought its great results, and nations were prepared for the work\nunder its tuition, did God begin to people this country;--and even\nthen, it was a \"winnowed seed\" which he planted here. Men tried in the\nfires of persecution, and strong in the love of God and the desire of\nliberty, laid the foundations of our republic. Is not this peculiar\nbeginning prophetic of a glorious consummation?\n\nOur past experience and present condition seem to confirm the tokens\nof our auspicious beginning. Colonial dependence has given way to\nNational independence. Thirteen States have increased to thirty-one.\nThree millions of people have increased to thirty. Immense forests\nhave been subdued, and the soil yields supplies for the famishing of\nother lands. Great manufactories crowd our rivers and darken our\ntowns. Our commerce whitens every sea and swarms in every port. Our\npeople are intelligent, and virtuous, and happy beyond all example.\nOur government is strong and efficient. What is needed to make our\ndestiny glorious, but just to go on in the way that we have come?\n\nThen see the prospect which invites us on. Vast territories are still\nunoccupied. What shall prevent the flood of population from pouring\nwestward and overflowing these territories? Our internal resources\nhave only begun to be developed. What shall prevent their utmost and\nmagnificent development? The commerce of the Pacific waits to be ours.\nHow long till Pacific railroads shall bind our eastern and western\ncoasts together, and our country, standing in the midst of the earth\nand reaching out its arms on either hand, clasp the entire sphere in\nits embrace? Our country is in the dew of its rejoicing youth, and has\nbut the dimmest consciousness and dream of its own strength, and who\ncan predict the glory of its manhood, when in the fullest\nself-consciousness, it shall exert to the utmost its matured and\nmighty energies?\n\nThus are we accustomed to talk. Our destiny is manifest--our glory is\ninevitable. It is pleasant to talk thus, and it is unpleasant to talk\notherwise. Yet we ought to desire to see and know the truth.\nSelf-flattery is an odious folly. Is our destiny, then, manifest? Is\nour glory inevitable? Has God so conspicuously favored us that he\ncannot but continue to bless? Ah! It is our self-flattery and odious\nfolly to think so.\n\nWe need not look again to our history or our prospects, to gather\nevidences of a different destiny, although such evidences might not be\nwanting. Yes, we might find the evidences which, duly weighed, would\nmake us shudder in view of our possible or probable future. We might\ncome to think it very problematical whether our country has sufficient\nvital force to work into good American citizens the hordes of\ninfidels, paupers, criminals, cast upon our shores from the nations of\nthe old world;--whether our country has sufficient wisdom to guide its\nown vexed domestic questions to a proper and satisfactory issue, and\nto balance and regulate the rival and numberless interests of a\ncountry widening indefinitely in extent;--whether--but no, we do not\nneed thus to forecast the future to ascertain our probable destiny. We\nmay determine the question by the teaching of God's word. \"Blessed is\nthe nation whose God is the Lord.\" And blessed is that nation alone.\nHere is the solution of the question of our destiny. It is in making\nthe Lord the God of our country, that we are safe--that we are\nprosperous--that our glorious destiny becomes inevitable. Our destiny\nis left to ourselves. The means of its glory are placed in our hands.\nWe may use them or not, as we will.\n\nAnd now, I utter it to you, my hearers and fellow-citizens, as the\nsolemn testimony of the Lord our God, that so surely as ignorance and\nmoral corruption and lust of power, become generally prevalent, and\npopery and infidelity attain the supremacy among us, it matters not at\nall that we have had a ballot-box, and a free press, and free schools,\nand the whole circle of liberal institutions,--these will become but\nthe insignia of our shame; it matters not that we have had a boundless\nterritory, and a teeming soil, and mighty cities, and universal\ncommerce,--the grass will grow again on our prairies,--the red man\nreturn to his forsaken forests,--our cities become black with\ndesolation, and the sails of our commerce be rent on the seas, or the\nhulks of our commerce rot at our wharves; it matters not that God has\nbeen wonderfully gracious to us as a nation,--the more wonderful the\ngrace, the deeper the insult and crime of our despising it, and the\ndeeper our doom;--this, this is our manifest destiny.\n\nAnd it is only as America teaches her children to fear God and do\ntheir duty; it is only as our virtuous citizenship escape from the\nchains of corrupt party and procure for themselves a fair\nrepresentation in the offices of government--exerting themselves for\nthe purification of corrupt men, rather than for the promotion of\ntheir evil designs; it is, in a word, only as the power of our blessed\nreligion shall go out from the hearts of the truly pious in our land,\nleavening the mass of the population and bringing them under its\nsway;--it is only as we truly make the Lord our country's God, that we\ncan hope to be blessed, and can, with any just confidence, await our\ncountry's future glory.\n\nNeed I, my hearers, deduce and enforce the exhortations of this\nsubject? Or do they not lie upon its surface, and do they not make\ntheir own appeal to every patriot's and Christian's heart?\n\nThe God of nations, looking forth upon our happy land this day, may be\nconceived as breathing the benevolent desire once expressed in behalf\nof his ancient people, \"O that there were such an heart in them, that\nthey would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might\nbe well with them and with their children forever.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nN. B. In the delivery of the foregoing discourse, the following\nremarks were interjected near the commencement:\n\n     \"Permit me to state to you my conviction, that desirable as\n     it is that days of religious observance be appointed by our\n     civil authorities, the regular appointment of annual\n     fast-days or thanksgivings, will not secure for any long\n     period a general and hearty observance. I should much prefer\n     the appointment by our civil authorities of a fast-day, in\n     view of any public calamity impending or experienced, or of\n     a day of thanksgiving, in view of deliverence or exemption\n     from such calamity. In such case we might hope that the day\n     would secure a suitable and profitable observance.\"\n\n     It is the writer's apprehension that days of special\n     religious observance occurring at regular intervals, and\n     hence occurring, oftentimes, when there is no special\n     providential call for a religious service, and being\n     destitute of the binding obligation a divine appointment,\n     will degenerate into mere holidays; and in his opinion, the\n     providential call ought to guide our rulers in the\n     designation of times of special religious observance; so\n     that when we fast, we do so in direct view of special\n     calamity, and when we render thanks, we do so for special\n     mercies actually experienced. The thanksgiving of last year\n     occurred at a time of most trying financial embarrassment,\n     at the close of a season remarkable for its drought and\n     meagre harvests, and for the prevalence of disease and the\n     destruction of property by land and sea. Surely, God called\n     us then to humble ourselves and fast, rather than to rejoice\n     and give thanks, and a thanksgiving service was appropriate\n     only for the reason that God always deals with us better\n     than we deserve. We need the evident appropriateness of the\n     service to secure its continued and suitable observance. Who\n     does not remember the appointment by our national Executive,\n     some years since, of a day of national humiliation, when a\n     visitation of the cholera was threatened? And now solemn and\n     affecting the service of that day throughout the land! In\n     New England, the regular, annual thanksgiving preserves its\n     sacredness through customs and associations, which were\n     established in the very infancy of the country, and which\n     have grown up with it,--customs and associations, which\n     cannot elsewhere be created.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote A: See Dr. Arnold's \"Lectures on Modern History.\" The above\nstatement is correct, so long as we take a merely _natural_ view of\nmankind--so long as we view men merely in their _moral_ relations.\nViewing men by the light of revelation and in relations more strictly\n_religious_, Church-biography would still better deserve the name of\nhistory. But for some reason, these religious relations are not\ncommonly recognized in their importance. Like the historian, the moral\nphilosopher commonly ignores man's lapsed condition, and all the great\ntruths which distinguish supernatural religion. See Wardlaw's\n\"Christian Ethics.\"\n\nIt ought also to be observed that human governments, at the best, are\nobliged to leave many interests of their citizens uncared for, or to\nbe cared for by other agents than their own; also, that human\ngovernments are often corrupt and fail to discharge their proper\nfunctions. Hence, the historian needs the supplement of individual\nbiographies, and transactions of voluntary societies, and pictures of\ndomestic and social life, in order to a full representation of his\nsubject. Who would dispense with the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament\nhistory, or with Macaulay's picture of England in 1685 in his English\nhistory?]\n\n[Footnote B: See Congressional Reports--Col. E. M. Johnson on Sunday\nMails, and Mr. Petit on Chaplains to Congress. Of course, in\npractically meeting and adjusting the two claims upon the government,\nfirst to respect the conscience of its citizens, and secondly, to\npromote the interests of religion, great diversity of opinion may\nexist even among those who hold to the same principles. There is room\nfor a variety of prudential considerations. Yet the _principles_ above\nexpressed are discarded in the documents referred to, as they very\noften are elsewhere.]\n\n[Footnote C: A volume entitled \"The Position of Christianity in the\nUnited States,\" by Stephen Colwell, Esq. of Philadelphia, deserves the\nattentive and serious perusal of every American citizen.]","title":"National character : $b A Thanksgiving discourse: Delivered November 15th, 1855, in the Franklin Street Presbyterian Church","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":6273}