Page:Address to an emigrant.djvu/3

 brought forth fruit abundantly. Thus in nature and providence Jehovah works "all things according to the counsel of his own will."

Allow me, then, to congratulate you on your present position. You are not an exile for conscience' sake, or for liberty; you are not compelled to leave your homes, as many good men have been compelled to do, in quest of a spot where you can worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the dictates of your conscience. The lines, in this respect, have fallen to you in pleasant places, and you have had a goodly heritage. Your blessings have been greater than the blessings of your forefathers.

It is a matter of great thankfulness that you are not urged to flee from your country, as many have fled, to elude the vigilance of justice; and that you are not in the position of many unhappy persons, who, having violated the laws under which we live, have forfeited their personal liberty, and are reluctantly conveyed to a penal colony, there to reap the wretched reward of their deeds. Humiliating as the fact is, our exemption from these and from similar degradations is to be traced to the restraining or renewing grace of God. "Who maketh thee to differ from another, and what hast thou that thou hast not received?" Review, then, all the way by which you have been led; think of the innumerable mercies with which your lives have been crowned, and pray fervently that the goodness of the Most High may lead you to repentance, and fill your heart with adoring gratitude to him.

The present moment is one that calls for impartial self-examination. You have long resided in a country distinguished by its abundant religious privileges, and as you are about to leave it for ever, it becomes you to inquire, what