Excerpt from National Sins and National Judgments Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of dark ness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from National Sins: A Fast-Day Sermon; Preached in the Presbyterian Church, Columbia, S. C., Wednesday, November 21, 1860 In conformity with these principles, we recognize Chris tianity to-day as the religion of our Commonwealth. Our standard of right is that eternal law which God proclaimed from Sinai, and which Jesus expounded on the Mount. We recognize our responsibility to Jesus Christ. He is head over all things to the Church, and the nation that will not serve Him is doomed to perish. Before men we are a free and sovereign State; before God we are dependent subjects and one of the most cheering omens of the times is the heartiness with which this truth has been received. We are a Christian people, and a Christian Commonwealth. As on the one hand we are not Jews, Infidels or Turks, so on the other, we are not Presbyterians, Baptists, Episc0pa lians, or Methodists. Christianity, without distinction of sects, is the fountain of our national life. We accept the Bible as the great moral charter by which our laws must be measured and the Incarnate Redeemer as the Judge to whom we are responsible. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from National Sins; A Call to Repentance: A Sermon; Preached on the National Fast, August 3, 1849, in Cumberland Church, Charleston, S. C God's; there have not been wanting those who have descended into the arena of political strife, ard bv the introduction of questions of civil polity into ecclesiastical judicatories, have fomented bitterness and wrath; and some have even been found to desert the nobler offices of the pulpit to become political agitators Well might angels weep, if weep they can, over derelictions such as these, wondering that men whom God had called to sweep through loftiest regions of Gospel verities and preach salvation and eternal life to man, could rather choose to mingle in the din and tumult of earthly things. Well then does it become the Churches on this day to put on sackcloth and humble themselves In the dust, to make acknowledgment of their sins and implore the divine mercy. In the State as well 'as in the Church there have been sins to call down upon us the anger of God. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Nation's Sins and the Nation's Duty: A Sermon, Preached in the First Presbyterian Church, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on National Fast Day, April 30, 1863 The world so regards our mission. Religious liberty, of course, implies civil liberty. In fact, the true idea of government is to secure to man the rights of conscience. All his other rights are subordinate, or implied in the rights of conscience, properly understood. Our Pilgrim Fathers were driven from their native land and the graves of their ancestors by the hand of tyranny and oppression, and forced to seek a home in America, where they might enjoy "Freedom to worship God." This was their grand idea, and the grand object of their mission to the shores of America; and the design of the Government which they formed, was mainly to protect them in the enjoyment of this liberty. They regarded the Lord Jesus Christ as their King, and themselves as the rightful subjects of his mediatorial kingdom. According to a certain writer on this subject, "they undertook nothing which they did not ask him to prosper, and they accomplished nothing for which they did not give him the praise: they suffered nothing without carrying their sorrows to his throne, and they ate nothing which they did not ask him to bless." And when the time came, in the providence of God, for their separation from their mother country, these same immortal principles of liberty were embodied in their Declaration of Independence. Yes, the great experiment of self-government, according to the word of God, was to be made in America; and having formed our noble Constitution, the eyes of the world were turned to behold the results. The despots of the old world looked with alarm, lest the experiment might be successful; and their oppressed subjects looked, with anxious hearts, lest it might prove a failure! The experiment has not failed, however, although it is now being tested by a most fiery ordeal; but I have no doubt, we shall yet come out of the fire, a better and a happier people, with a freer and a purer Government. No, no; the great American experiment, notwithstanding our national sins, has not failed, and shall not fail, for God has a great work for us to do. We have not yet fulfilled our mission. We shall be, for ages hence, the asylum of the oppressed, and the hope of the downtrodden of other lands. The time is coming, when the foul blot of negro slavery shall be wiped from our national escutcheon, and when the air of America, to borrow the figure of Lord Mansfield, will be too pure for a slave, and when every man who breathes it shall be Free. The letters which our Divine Master has given us to inscribe upon the banners which he would have us unfurl to the nations of the earth, is, "Ye shall know (he truth, and the truth shall make you free." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.