solation, and the sails of our commerce be rent on the seas, or the
hulks of our commerce rot at our wharves; it matters not that God has
been wonderfully gracious to us as a nation,--the more wonderful the
grace, the deeper the insult and crime of our despising it, and the
deeper our doom;--this, this is our manifest destiny.

And it is only as America teaches her children to fear God and do
their duty; it is only as our virtuous citizenship escape from the
chains of corrupt party and procure for themselves a fair
representation in the offices of government--exerting themselves for
the purification of corrupt men, rather than for the promotion of
their evil designs; it is, in a word, only as the power of our blessed
religion shall go out from the hearts of the truly pious in our land,
leavening the mass of the population and bringing them under its
sway;--it is only as we truly make the Lord our country's God, that we
can hope to be blessed, and can, with any just confidence, await our
country's future glory.

Need I, my hearers, deduce and enforce the exhortations of this
subject? Or do they not lie upon its surface, and do they not make
their own appeal to every patriot's and Christian's heart?

The God of nations, looking forth upon our happy land this day, may be
conceived as breathing the benevolent desire once expressed in behalf
of his ancient people, "O that there were such an heart in them, that
they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might
be well with them and with their children forever."

* * * * *

N. B. In the delivery of the foregoing discourse, the following
remarks were interjected near the commencement:

"Permit me to state to you my conviction, that desirable as
it is that days of religious observance be appointed by our
civil authorities, the regular appointment of annual
fast-days or thanksgivings, will not secure for any long
period a general and hearty observance. I should much prefer
the appointment by our civil authorities of a fast-day, in
view of any public calamity impending or experienced, or of
a day of thanksgiving, in view of deliverence or exemption
from such calamity. In such case we might hope that the day
would secure a suitable and profitable observance."

It is the writer's apprehension that days of special
religious observance occurring at regular intervals,