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Excerpt from The Union, the Constitution, Peace: A Thanksgiving Sermon Delivered in the Locust St. M. E. Church, Harrisburg, Pa It was in my sick chamber, when my soul seemed listening to "the swellings of Jordan," that the conscience within me inquired how, if my life were spared until to-day, should I perform my share of its duties? What should be the burden of my message to you? What lessons of the hour should I essay to teach? The answer, that after thoughtful hours of meditation and prayer, I gave to conscience, I will now utter in your hearing, humbly soliciting the Divine guidance; God's blessing upon that which I shall say that is truthful and wise, His forgiveness for all that in my ignorance I may speak unwisely. What are the grounds for the proclamation of this day, closing our places of business and opening our churches at the invitation of the Chief Magistrate of this free nationality! Why, to-day, are we here to fill the courts of God's sanctuary with praise and thanksgiving? Hear the answer of the Proclamation: "It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the Army and the Navy of the United States victories on land and on the sea, so signal and so effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confidence that the Union of these States will he maintained, their Constitution preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently restored." We are here, then, to praise God for "signal and effective victories on the land and on the sea." Victories that have cost "sacrifices of life, limb, health and liberty, incurred by brave, loyal and patriotic citizens. 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.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.