"Let us come, then, into the temple of God today with thanksgiving upon our lips, and gratitude in our hearts. Let all come; the glad and the sorrowful, the prattling, frolicksome child, that knows nothing of grief, and those who have gone through the deepest waters of affliction. Let all come, and feel that we have a good land, though it be blackened by war, and moistened with blood and tears. The storm of war will not much longer, we trust, rage around us. When its angry clouds roll away, and its thunders cease, we shall look upon the sun of peace with warmer affection than we did in days that are passed.
. . .
Think of the inhospitable reception the first pilgrims met with; and listen, now, our land is calling, "Ho ye oppressed and down-trodden of every clime; come hither and find a home." Our fathers were met with the tomahawk, and scalping knife. Now the chiefs of our land meet the emigrant and say, "Behold the land is before you; go and select for yourselves. We have suffered, and toiled, and prayed. We have cut down the forest, and built cities, and established religion, and founded free institutions. We rejoice now that we have a good land. We have come through the wilderness to reach it. Our fathers have toiled, and fought, and bled for it. In support of it, they pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor."
Williams, Robert H. The Good Land. A Thanksgiving Sermon, Delivered November 24th, 1864, in the Presbyterian Church [Irish] of Frederick, by the Pastor Rev. Robert H. Williams. Frederick. Schley, Keefer, & Co. 1864. 20pp.
Complete, but disbound; once part of a larger sammelband and thus weakened. Text very good.