Excerpt from Thanksgiving and Vows: A Sermon Preached on Thanksgiving Day, December 7, 1865, in the Upper Octorara Presbyterian Church, Pa As individuals, as a community, as a state we have received much from the hand of the Lord for which we should be thankful. Our first duty to-day, however, is, to stand up in our National Capacity and thank the Lord of Nations that he did not permit us to be torn into fragments, and scattered as poor despised wayfarers upon the face of the earth, without homes, without a country, without a government, without a name. We thank the Lord to-day, that we rise into the proud consciousness of the fact that we are an integral people, a nation, and have a government, purified and strengthened we fondly hope and pray, because of the fiery ordeal through which we have passed. 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.