USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > A discourse delivered in the Leacock Presbyterian Church, Lancaster County, Pa., on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1854 > Part 3
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For the better accommodation of the whole congregation, a new church building was erected, in the year 1840, in the village of Paradise, two miles to the south of this ehureh, on the Philadel- phia and Laneaster turnpike. Both churches are under the same board of trustees, and public worship is held alternately in the old and new church. The new church building was eom- menced in the spring of 1840, and was dedicated the following November, at which time Rev. Alfred Nevin, then pastor of Cedar Grove Church, now of the Second Presbyterian Church of Laneaster, preached the dedieation sermon. The building com- mittee were James P. M'Ilvaine, Robert M'Ilvaine, Philip Foster, Joseph S. Lefevre, and John C. Lefevre.
As no sessional records were kept prior to Mr. Barr's con- nection with the church, it is impossible to ascertain the time of the election and ordination of elders before that time. The first elder of whom we have any record was Henry Slaymaker, whose father emigrated from Germany, 1710. He was the commissioner to prosecute the call for Mr. Woodhull, 1769, and also the com- missioner from Leacock to oppose the dismission of Mr. Wood- hull, in 1779. He was the father of Henry Slaymaker, Jr., also
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elder of Leacock, and of Amos Slaymaker, afterwards elder of Pequa, and grandfather of Henry F. Slaymaker, now one of the elders of Bellevue. He lived on the place now owned and occupied by Mr. Peter J. Eckert, and died, September 25th, 1785, aged 51 years ; and was buried at Leacock. Associated with him as an elder was Col. James Mercer ; they were also associated together in the service of the Colonies, in the war of the Revolution, as well as in the affairs of the church. Col. Mercer lived and died on the place adjoining the farms of Henry and George L. Eckert, and was buried at Leacock. There is no record of the time of his death. The elders, as far as we have been able to ascertain, during the time of Mr. Semple's pastorate, were the following : John Craig, Esq., who lived and died on the place now owned by Moore Connell, Esq. ; buried at Leacock. Henry Slaymaker, Jr., son of Henry Slaymaker, before re- ferred to ; he died at Lancaster, and was buried there, in the Presbyterian graveyard. Daniel Slaymaker, lived and died on the place now occupied by Wm. Eckert ; buried at Lcacock. George M'Ilvaine, for forty years an elder, and often a repre- sentative to the Presbytery of Newcastle, and frequently to the General Assembly ; died September 16th, 1807, aged 65 years. Hc lived on the place now in possession of Thomas M'Ilvaine and the heirs of George D. M'Ilvaine (who died September 28th, 1849); buried at Leacock. John Slaymaker, lived and died on the place now in possession of John Slaymaker. Wm. Slay- maker, lived on the place now in the possession of his grandson, Nathaniel E. Slaymaker, Esq. He dicd February 20th, 1826, aged 65 years ; buried at Leacock. Robert M'Ilvaine, lived and died on the property now in possession of his son Robert. He was born, June 6th, 1759, and died, March 17th, 1825, aged 65 years ; buried at Leacock. James Whitehill, lived and died at Strasburg ; buried at Leacock. Wm. M'Causland, lived and died on the property now in possession of Daniel M'Killeps. He died November, 1821, aged 65 years, and was buried at Leacock. George Duffield, son of Rev. George Duffield, D.D., of Pine Street, Philadelphia, and father of Rev. George Duffield, of Detroit. Died and was buried at New London Crossroads. Dr. Wm. B.
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Duffield (father of the late Dr. Samuel Duffield, who lived and died at Salisbury, February 24th, 1853), removed to Philadelphia, and was for several years an elder in Pine Street Church, died in Phila- delphia, and was buried in Pine Street graveyard. Samuel Slay- maker, died in Lancaster, and was most probably buried there. Captain John Slaymaker, who is still living, at the advanced age of 83, and in the possession of his faculties to a remarkable de- gree. Nathaniel Watson, lived on the place still in possession of his heirs. He died, September 7th, 1818, in the 43d year of his age; buried at Leacock. In addition to these we may men- tion Mr. Amos Slaymaker. He was an elder of Pequa ; but for many years before his death he attended Leacock altogether, and officiated as an elder, and was very frequently sent as the commissioner to the Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly. He died at the residence of his son, H. F. Slaymaker, Esq., at Salisbury, June, 1837, aged 83 ; buried at Leacock.
December, 3d, 1826, the following elders were elected, viz. : Moore Connell, Esq., James Johnson, David Sterling, and Dr. Nathaniel W. Sample, son of the former pastor of this church. Mr. Johnson, a man of great Christian liberality and devoted piety, died in 1838. Mr. Sterling, another very valuable member of session, removed from the bounds of the congregation, in the year 1839, into Cumberland County, where he died.
The session at the present time consists of Captain John Slay- maker, Dr. N. W. Sample, and Moore Connell, Esq. In con- nection with these should be mentioned the name of Mr. James Buyers. He was for many years a most valued and useful member and elder of Pequa Church. The last few years of his life, he resided at Soudersburg, within the bounds of this congregation, and connected himself with this church. He officiated as an elder from the time he removed to Soudersburg, until his death, which took place March 30th, 1852. He was buried in the graveyard connected with the new building in Paradise. His Christian life was a most beautiful and instructive one, and few men ever secured more entirely the confidence of the whole com- munity.
The present session are a link connecting the present genera- tion with the past. One of the number has already passed the
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boundary of fourscore years; and the remaining two have reached their threescore years and ten. Soon must they be gathered to their fathers. God grant that they may come to their graves " in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season." " And now, also, when old and grayheaded, O God, forsake them not, until they have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come."
The ancestors of these elders were from the north of Ireland, and Germany, and settled very early on the soil that is still, with few exceptions, in possession of their descendants.
Your present pastor first united himself with the Presbyterian Church of Florida, Orange County, New York, of which Rev. Charles Cummins, D.D., was pastor. He had just completed a medical course, and was at the time engaged in practice in con- nection with Dr. Samuel S. Seward, father of the Hon. Wm. H. Seward, formerly Governor of New York, and now of the United States Senate.
Immediately on his connection with the church, he relinquished the practice of medicine, and entered La Fayette College, Eas- ton, then under the Presidency of Rev. George Junkin, D.D., where he spent his freshman year ; at the close of this, he entered Union College, Schenectady, New York, and graduated in 1837. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Newcastle, and ordained and installed by the same presbytery over the Church of Bellevue, Lancaster County, May, 1839. The Rev. Alexan- der Morrison, of Coatsville, presided, Rev. Alfred Hamilton, of Fagg's Manor, preached the sermon, Rev. W. W. Latta, of Waynesburg, gave the Charge to the pastor, and Rev. John H. Symmes, of Columbia, gave the Charge to the congregation. Up to that time the Church of Bellevue, which was organized in 1832, had been supplied in part by presbytery. When Leacock became vacant by the resignation of Mr. Barr, the pastor of Bellevue was invited to supply this pulpit for six months, in connec- tion with Bellevue, preaching every alternate Sabbath at Lea- cock and Bellevue. This he did, commencing with the first Sabbath of May, 1846. At a meeting of Leacock congregation, held in September following, a call in due form was made out for half his time (Bellevue to relinquish half in favor of Lea-
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cock), and the call, moderated by Rev. John Wallace, of Pequa, and signed by the following persons, N. W. Sample, John Slay- maker, John Steele, John C. Lefevre, Thomas Woods, J. P. M'Il- vaine, Moore Connell, Philip Foster, Nathaniel E. Slaymaker, was presented to presbytery, at Pcqua, in September, through the commissioners from Leacock, Dr. N. W. Sample and Thomas S. Woods, and he having accepted the call, Novem- ber 4th, 1846, was the time appointed for his installation. On that day the installation services were performed in the church in Paradise. Rev. T. M. Boggs, of Marietta, presided ; Rev. Roger Owen, of Columbia, preached from Philippians 2: 16; Rev. S. M'Nair, of Middle Octorara, gave the Charge to the pas- tor, and Rev. John Wallace, of Pequa, the Charge to the people.
October 6th, 1848, James Cooper, originally from Ireland, deceased, and by will left $200 for the benefit of this church. During the winter following important improvements were made in the interior of the church, contributing materially to its ap- pearance and comfort, whilst at the same time the seats where so many generations sat and listened to the words of life, and the pulpit from which the gospel has been proclaimed for a cen- tury, have been retained. The church, as improved, was opencd for public worship the fourth Sabbath of May, 1849, on which occasion a sermon was preached by Rev. Wm. Timlow, of New York, father of the pastor, and followed by the administration of the Lord's Supper.
During the eight years that your pastor has had charge of the united churches, there have been added to the communion of Leacock, 87, and Bellevuc, 53; the two, 140, averaging a little more than 17 for each year. Number of families in the two, 140; members, 250; Sabbath schools, 3; scholars, over 200. The deaths averaged 20 each year, the highest number any one year being 49. Both this congregation and Bellevue have suf- fered very much in the loss of valued and useful members. One young man, a member of this church, is now under the care of presbytery, and pursuing his studies preparatory to the ministry, and two or three others, it is confidently expected, will devote themselves to the same work.
The present Board of Trustees are, N. W. Sample, John C.
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Lefevre, Philip Foster, James P. M'Ilvaine, Geo. D. M'Ilvaine, Geo. L. Eckert, Henry Eckert, Thos. S. Woods, and Nath'l E. Slaymaker.
II. This history, so imperfectly sketched, may, among other things, suggest the following, as matter of devout Thanksgiving, to-day, and as reasons why we should not forget " Jerusalem," our Jerusalem.
1. And surely we can never be too grateful to God, or cherish too profound a regard for the services of such men as those who first settled this land, and founded this and kindred churches.
They were men who held to the great and cardinal truth, that God alone is Lord of the conscience ; that every man has an inherent right to worship God according to what he judges to be demanded by his word, and that no man, or set of men, have any right to interfere with the formation of his opinions, or the exercise of his worship. This opinion was held by the Puritans, by the Presbyterians from Ireland and Scotland, by the Hugue- nots, by the Quakers, by the exiles from Holland, Germany, and Switzerland. There was likewise a large infusion of the Pres- byterian element, in all these first settlements. Many of the Eng- lish Puritans were Presbyterians, and so were the Dutch from Holland, and a large proportion of those from Germany, and all the French Protestants, and the Scotch, and Irish. In the first organization of this government, then, this element entered largely, and to those men, under God, are we indebted for that rich inheritance. Not of land and gold and silver merely, but that richer inheritance, our Jerusalem, and our Zion, which God has so walled around, that to-day no enemy can, and no enemy dare molest the tribes of all the house of Israel, as they go up to the temple of the Lord, to offer their thanksgiving and praise.
How different might have been, yea, would have been, the condition of this land, and our Protestant Church, had colonies from Spain first landed at Plymouth, and a colony from Italy at New York, and one from Austria at Philadelphia, and settled this valley, and spread over this state.
These colonists brought with them the great charter of free-
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dom, the Bible, and to that are we indebted to-day for what we are, and for what we enjoy. Driven as they were from their homes, forced to leave behind them their kindred, their earthly treasures, their homes, and all they held dear on earth, yet they held fast to the Bible ; they brought it with them over the ocean, they carried it with them into the forest. It was their guide and comfort, in those dark hours, and days, and years of wander- ing, and trial, and suffering. They carried it with them into their schools, academies, churches, and when they laid the foun- dation of their government, they taught it to their children, and when called to die, they could bequeath to those children no richer legacy than the unmutilated word of God; and they de- sired no richer blessing than that God would bless the lads, and their last dying prayer was, that it might comfort the children, and guide the children, as it had comforted and guided the fathers.
There is now in possession of a member of this church, Mr. John C. Lefevre, a Huguenot Bible, brought over from the Palatinate in Germany, by one of his Huguenot ancestry, the history of which may be the history of thousands of other Bibles ; a history, too, which if written might reveal a depth of human depravity on the one hand, and of Christian faith and steadfastness on the other, that would astonish the world. That Bible was printed in 1608, nearly 250 years ago. It was originally in possession of Isaac Lefevre, who was born in 1669, in France, of Huguenot parents, and at the age of sixteen, was driven by persecution from France, and took refuge in the Palatinate. After twenty years' residence there, he was again forced to flee from the bloody Papal persecutors, and came to this land, and finally to this county, and settled, in 1708, within what is now the bounds of this congregation, with which his descendants this day unite in their public thanksgiving.
That Bible, that had been often buried in the garden to con- ceal it from the persecutor's eye-that Bible, that had been so often fastened under the bottom of their box-like chairs, and read when no danger threatened, by turning the chair upside down, and then on the approach of danger, using the chair as a seat, and so concealing the Bible-that Bible, so often read
:
A
1
F
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-
from the wilderness, cross the river, and receive their allotted inheritance in the promised land.
2d. It should be matter for grateful remembrance to-day, that for more than a hundred years, the same great and glorious truths have been preached in this place.
Everything around, during that long period, has greatly changed. Your fathers found this beautiful valley an unbroken forest. The red men-the Pequa and Conestoga Indians-wan- dered along the beautiful streams that still bear their names, and kindled their council-fires on the fields you now cultivate, and worshipped the great unknown Spirit, it may be, on the very spot where we this day worship that same, but known, revealed Spirit, in spirit and in truth. But they have all passed away, and their footpaths have become great public highways, and the scream of the engine and the rattling of trains are now heard, where then resounded the war-whoop and battle-cry.
Your fathers too, have passed away, and many and sad changes have you been called to witness and pass through; but the truth and word of God have remained unchanged. You listen to the same truth that was preached by Evans, Boyd, Alexander, Craighead, Smith, Woodhull, Semple, and Barr; the great truth of man's total alienation from God, his depravity of nature, total and irremedial by any human power, on the ground of the dis- obedience of one; his recovery and restoration to the favor of God, by his sovereign mercy and grace, on the ground of the one great offering and perfect obedience of another, even Christ, who was God manifest in the flesh, who justifies freely his own people, adopts them into his family, and progressively sanctifies them by the Holy Ghost, working in them that which is well-pleasing in the sight of God, employing and sanctifying means to that end, so that at the moment of death, they are made perfect in holi- ness, and do enter at once into glory, and are forever without fault before the throne of God. These will never change, "thou art the same." This we still hold to be God's truth for the sal- vation of men, " the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God." The longer we live, the more deep and firm are our convictions, that on nothing short of this can the soul
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rest for peace and security. This is the foundation which Jesus Christ has laid, and on which he has built his church, and on which every soul must build its hopes of heaven. Every other foundation will prove at last a refuge of lies, which the "hail shall sweep away," and a hiding-place which the " waters shall overflow." If we ever forget to hold up this great truth to this, or to any people, " then may our right hand forget her cunning, may our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth."
3d. Let us call up to grateful remembrance this day, the de- lightful truth, that those men, though dead, are living in the present generation.
Think of the sermons of an hundred years preached in this/ place ; the sermons of Smith, Woodhull, Semple, and Barr. They are gone, and yet they live among us. From the grave of Smith, at Pequa ; of Woodhull, at Freehold ; from Semple, at Leacock ; from Barr, at Whiteclay Creek, is going forth an influence which is felt in this house to-day ; they being dead, yet speak. How many are here to-day resting in good hope, because of the truth preached by Smith and Woodhull. You never heard them, you never saw them, and yet, under God, you may owe your salvation to them. Your fathers, or your fathers' fathers heard them and believed, and they taught you the same truths, and their exam- ple, and faith, and prayers, and efforts, accompanied by the Holy Ghost, impressed those truths savingly on your hearts. Never should you forget them or this place. There are those in heaven to-day, who will never forget them or this Jerusalem. If they did, their right hand would forget to strike the golden harps. If they did, their tongue would forget to sing the new song. The prayers offered in this house may yet remain to be answered on your behalf, or on behalf of your children. Venerated men ! men of God ! though ye are in heaven, yet are ye here also. Like Moses and Elias on Tabor, do ye not sometimes come down to commune with the children begotten by you in the gospel ?- children whom you never saw on earth, but children, because you faithfully sowed the good seed, which sprang up after many days.
You are reaping blessings and enjoying favors to-day, the re-
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sult of your fathers' sacrifices and faith. God blessed them, and God has blessed you for their sakes. It is said by one who is now a most active and useful minister in another denomina- tion of Christians, that after the most careful and extensive inquiries, he has never been able to hear of a single descendant of the Huguenots coming to want. Just the testimony of David, uttered long since : "I have been young and now am old, yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread." And hence it is that you are called upon not to forget them, and not to forget this Jerusalem. To you it possesses a deeper interest by far than may at first sight be supposed. It may look just like other places, just as the Rock of Plymouth resembles many other rocks ; but to you it is a consecrated spot, consecrated by the events of an hundred years, by the sermons and prayers of holy men, by the oft sent baptism of the Holy Ghost, and by the promises made to the fathers, and yet to be fulfilled on behalf of their children. "If I forget thee, O Je- rusalem," should be the language of each and all, " let my right hand forget her cunning," &c.
4th. Let us not forget that Jerusalem is a common bond of union and sympathy. It was so to all the tribes of Israel. To it as a common centre they all repaired for a common, united purpose ; and even when exiles in a forcign land, Jerusalem was the common burden of their sympathy, their thoughts, and their prayers.
Here, to-day, in this place, is flowing the blood of the Puritan, the Scotch, the Irish, the Huguenot, the German, the Welsh. Starting as it were from different points, yet all converging to one common centre. Different families and tribes, yet of the house of Israel, with one common place of worship, one faith, one Lord, one baptism.
My fathers worshipped God in the land of the Puritans, yours in the land of the Huguenots, yours in Germany, or Scot- land, or Ireland. Here, we all, to-day, their children, commingle our services and our praises, one and the same church, and with one accord we lift up our voice of thanksgiving, for such fathers, and for that Providence that so kindly and wonderfully watched over them, and that finally led them to this western
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home, where they found rest at last, and where they sleep in peace. They were men of strong faith. They never despaired or doubted, even when the prospect seemed most dark; and though like Joseph in the dungeon, or like Israel in Babylon, bondmen or exiles, their confidence in God failed not ; for he had said, and it was enough, " Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands ; thy walls are continually before me." The sepulchres of the fathers tend not a little to cement this bond of union. It was so in the case of the captive Jews. "Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste?"
Forget not the place of your fathers' sepulchres. Yonder they lie, near the sanctuary they loved so well. What im- pressive lessons those sepulchres teach ! Go there, and learn the end of all men, thy end. Go there, and learn how death stains the pride of all glory. Those sepulchres are the fruit of the curse. Go there, and learn that your way to the skies is by the way of the grave, and then go learn of God, how the darkness of the sepulchre may be lit up ; how the victory may be gained over the last enemy ; how the grave may be made a blessing, the way of admission to the home and rest of the children of God. Those sepulchres silently, yet most impressively, teach many of the great truths taught in this sanctuary. They teach them by day and by night, year after year, to every passer-by, to every generation of worshippers in this sanctuary, as they come and go.
Your fathers sacrificed much to secure for themselves and for you a sanctuary, a home and rest for the soul whilst de- tained here below, and a place of sepulchre, a rest for the body, when the soul had no farther need of it. You owe them a debt of gratitude, which you can repay only by guarding most vigi- lantly all those great interests which they have intrusted to your keeping. If you fail to do this ; if you fail to come forward with a self-sacrificing spirit, a spirit deeply imbued with a love for the sanctuary of God, and the truth of God; if you fail to hand these down to those coming after you unimpaired; if you, Esau-like, de- spise your birthright, so that the God of your fathers come, and in
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wrath, and remove your candlestick out of its place, and leave you to spiritual desolation, so that the glory shall depart from this Zion,-then, "then may your right hand forget her cunning, then may your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, if you prefer not Jerusalem above your chief joy."
5th. Nor should we forget that God makes the wrath of man to praise him. We are indebted to the wrath of man for all that to- day we are called upon to offer up our public thanksgiving. How little did the enemies of God and his church and people think that they were helping to found a mighty government, and a place of rest and security for his church, in this western world, when they drove the Puritans and Huguenots and others to seek an asylum here. The settlement of this land is a history of the crimes of Europe, the darkest, bloodiest page in that history. They thought to quench the light, which the Holy Ghost had kindled in the hearts of his saints, in the darkness of prisons and mountain fastnesses, in blood and in the wilds of a savage land.
Instead of this, they scattered abroad their choicest seed, that has sprung up in every part of this land, yielding most amazing results. They inflicted an injury upon themselves, more disas- trous and wide-spread than can ever be known here. In extin- guishing those lights they left themselves in deep darkness, growing deeper and more appalling every year ; and more than all, they invoked the judgments of God, which have already been poured out upon them in some measure, but which ere long will be wrung out in awful fury, and without mixture.
How vain to fight against God! What folly to oppose his church ! He encircles that nation, and that church, and that people that trust in him, with a wall of defence as impregnable as heaven itself. Let a nation be true to God, loyal to his government, obe- dient to his laws, let purity and piety and true religion shed its hallowed influence over the halls of Congress, and over all in authority, and so down over all the families of the land, and no power from without could ever even shake it, for it would be founded upon a rock.
But let a nation forget God ; let its rulers become profligate, sensual, wicked, and unscrupulous ; let intemperance abound, and the Sabbath be desecrated, and the sanctuary be neglected ; let
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every sacred compact be sundered, let the rights of the feeble be trampled upon, let the Bible be banished from our schools, let education and religion be hewn apart, and then that nation is doomed to fall, fall by its own hand, and no earthly wisdom or power could stay the avenging stroke. "For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish, yea those nations shall be utterly wasted." So has perished every nation that cast off God, and the doom of every nation that will not honor him is sealed.
There are men who would sunder apart this mighty confede- racy, for which such sacrifices have been made, and on which so many hopes are resting. There are men at the North and at the South, at the East and at the West, who would rejoice to do this. As well hew apart the strong, living, vigorous man, and expect him to live. Our fathers were imperfect men, and they founded an imperfect government. But where shall we look for a better ? Give to those men the power, and let them accomplish their desires, and what then ? What will they give us in its place ? Well may we ask what! Yes, what ? Yonder bright luminary has dark spots on its disk. Give to those men the power, and they would tear it from the heavens because of those spots. Its light and glory they would overlook, and bring their glasses to spy out every shadow and every spot. But what would they give us in exchange for yonder sun ? Would we consent to accept of their tapers or gas-fixtures even, instead of this sun, what a light it would be for the world ! and then, alas! for the heat, and life warming and supporting influence. How soon would all nature sicken, and struggle, and die ! We would as soon give to these men the task of refitting up the world with another light in exchange for that of the sun, as in- trust to them the work of tearing down this government and building up one in its place. We should expect them to succeed as well with the one as with the other. We would as soon ex- pect a better sun at their hands as a better government. From such men may God in mercy deliver us. Men who would reform everything but themselves, and who need reformation most of all. Men who despair of gaining a name by building up, and so, like
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Herostratus, who fired the temple of Diana, that he might get a name, these men would cast about firebrands, in the hope of gaining a name by the destruction of this glorious edifice, the labor of many years and of many generations.
And now, as we have been reviewing the events of an hundred . years, how pertinent the inquiry, where shall we be at the close of an hundred years ? What changes will come over this church, over this congregation, over this land, over the world, during the century yet to come. Changes and events will be crowded into the next century, more sudden, more startling, more momentous, than the world has ever witnessed. Not one who worshipped in this house in 1754, one hundred years ago, now lives. There is not one to tell us how this church then ap- peared, who were the worshippers, and what was the aspect of things then. In 1954, one hundred years hence, not one now here will then be living to tell to that generation, who to-day oc- cupied this pulpit, who were the worshippers in this house, and what is now transpiring over the land, and over the world. This pulpit and these seats will be occupied by another pastor and other worshippers, and we shall all be changed.
Where shall we be then ? Numbered with the dead. But where shall we be ? We shall all be living, busy, active, in another world. Where shall we have our homes then, and what shall be our employments ? Shall our home be at last in the upper Jerusalem, to which all the exiles of God's spiritual Jerusalem have already or shall "return and come to Zion, with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads."
God grant that this honor, and glory, and blessedness, may be in reserve for us all; and then, when the generations of the past, the exiles from other lands, now in heaven, who overcame by the blood of the Lamb, shall meet their children and children's children, to the third and fourth generation of those who have worshipped in this sanctuary, will there go up from be- fore the throne a song of thanksgiving and adoring gratitude and praise, of which our thanksgiving on earth to-day is but the feeblest, faintest echo.
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