Five Sermons | Page 7

The century which has
passed is only our school of preparation. The voice of God's Providence
says: "Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward." We have
some problems peculiar to ourselves. Twenty-five years ago four
millions of slaves received American citizenship. The nation owes
them a debt of gratitude. During all the horrors of our civil war they
were the protectors of Southern women and children. Knowing the
failure of their masters would be the guarantee of the freedom, there
was not one act that master or slave might wish to blot. We ought not to
forget it, and God will not. To-day there are eight millions. They are
here to stay. They will not be disfranchised. Through them Africa can
be redeemed. They ought to be our fellow-citizens in the kingdom of
God. In a great crisis of missions the Holy Ghost sent Philip on a long
journey to preach Christ to one man of Ethiopia. The same blessed
Spirit of God calls us in the love of Christ to carry the Gospel in the
Church to the millions of colored citizens of the United States.
Brethren, the time is short. Since our last council nine of our noblest
bishops have died. Since I was consecrated, fifty-four bishops have
entered into the rest if the people of God. It is eventide. A little more
work, a few more toils and prayers, and we who have lived and loved
and worked together shall have a harvest in heaven.

II. SERMON AT THE FARIBAULT CELEBRATION OF THE
CENTENNIAL OF THE INAUGURATION OF GEORGE
WASHINGTON, 1789-1889.
"Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and
called the name of it Ebeneser, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us."-- 1 SAMUEL vii. 12.
No words are more fitting on this Centennial day. One hundred years
ago George Washington was inaugurated the first President of the
United States. Words are powerless to express the grateful thoughts
which swell patriot hearts. Save that people whom God led out of
Egypt with His pillar of fire and His pillar of cloud, I know of no nation
whose history is so full of the bounty of God. This country was settled
by Englishmen. They were bound by ties of affection to the mother

country. They were not rebels, they were loyal, God-fearing men. The
English crown had violated rights which were guaranteed to them by
the Magna Charta, which brave barons, headed by Bishop Stephen
Langton, had wrung from King John and which under God has made
English-speaking people the representatives of constitutional
government throughout the world. It was not until every plea for justice
had been spurned, their sacred rights trampled upon, and the warnings
of the wisest English statesmen unheeded, that the American colonies
resolved to be independent and free. On the 5th of September, 1774,
fifty-five delegates, from eleven colonies, met in Smith's tavern,
Philadelphia, and at the invitation of the carpenters of that city
adjourned to their hall. Questions arose as to the numerical influence of
the colonies. Patrick Henry voiced the sentiment of Congress, "I am not
a Virginian, I am an American." John Jay, who represented the
conservative element said, "We have not come to make a constitution;
the measure of arbitrary power is not full, it must run over before we
undertake to frame a government." It was proposed to open Congress
with prayer. Objections were made on account of the religious
differences of the delegates. Old Samuel Adams rose, with his long
white hair streaming on his shoulders (the same earnest Puritan who in
1768 had written to England, "We hope in God that no such
establishment as the Protestant Episcopate shall ever take place in
America,") and said, "Gentlemen, shall it be said that it is possible that
there can be any religious difference which will prevent men from
crying to that God who alone can save them? Puritan as I am, I move
that the Rev. Dr. Duche`, minister of Christ Church in the city, be
asked to open this Congress with prayer." John Adams, writhing to his
wife, said, "Never can I forget that scene. There were twenty Quakers
standing by my side and we were all bathed in tears. When Psalms for
the day were read, it seemed as if Heaven itself was pleading for the
oppressed: 'O Lord, fight thou against them that fight against me. Lord,
who is like unto Thee to defend the poor and needy. Avenge Thou my
cause, my Lord and my God.'" Although filled with indignation at the
blood which had been shed in Boston, Congress nevertheless issued an
appeal to the people of England: "You have been told that we are
impatient of government and desire independency. These are calumnies.
Permit