Page:The Relation of the Sunday-school System to our Christian Patriotism.pdf/26

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26
Dr. Bethune’s Discourse.

itself is dissolved, and the kingdom of the new Jerusalem made perfect, in which all its citizens shall be princes, the younger brethren of Him who sits on the right hand of the throne, the children of God himself. Neglect this duty, and there are evils percolating through the basis of our institutions, which shall turn it, however firm it now appears, into a quicksand, when down must go the republic, with the political hope of the world, and bury with it deep in eternal ruin the souls of the people. As you love your country, the safety of your children’s freedom, the salvation of your fellow sinners, and the honour of Him who alone can make us free, cherish the American Sunday-school Union, pray for it, give to it, and act in aid of it. Nor think you have done this, when you have opened schools for the children of Christian congregations. Go forth and gather the poor, the morally destitute, for whom the Sunday-school, like the gospel, was mainly intended. Nay, cease not until every child throughout our wide territory, from ocean to ocean, from the snow-capt mountain to the torrid plain, be invited to share with your own children the teachings of Jesus, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the hope of immortality. Amen.