CENTENNIAL HYMN.

BY JOHN G. WHITTIER,

MUSIC BY JOHN E. PAINE OF MASSACHUSETTS,

Sung by One Thousand Voices of the Centennial Choral Society,
at the Opening of the Centennial Exposition, May 10, 1876.
Our fathers' God! from out whose hand
The centuries fall like grains of sand,
We meet to-day, united, free,
And loyal to our land and Thee,
To thank Thee for the era done,
And trust Thee for the opening one.

Here, where of old, by Thy design,
The fathers spake that word of Thine,
Whose echo is the glad refrain
Of rended bolt and falling chain,
To grace our festal time, from all
The zones of earth our guests we call.

Be with us while the new world greets
The old world thronging all its streets
Unvailing all the triumphs won
By art or toil beneath the sun;
And unto common good ordain
This rivalship of hand and brain.

Thou, who hast here in concord furled
The war flags of a gathered world,
Beneath our Western skies fulfill
The Orient's mission of good will,

And, freighted with love's Golden Fleece,
Send back the Argonauts of peace.

SPEECH

OF

HON. THOS. W. FERRY, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED

STATES,

DELIVERED AT PHILADELPHIA, JULY 4TH, 1876.

CITIZENS OF OUR CENTENNIAL:-The regretful absence of the President of the United States casts on me the honor of presiding on this eventful occasion. Much as I value the official distinction, I prize much more the fact that severally we hold, and successfully we maintain, the right to the prouder title of American citizen. It ranks all others. It makes office, office, unmakes officers and creates States. One hundred years ago, in yonder historic structure, heroic statesmen sat, and gravely chose between royal rule and popular sovereignty. Inspired with the spirit which animated the Roman sage on Mars' Hill, who declared that of one blood were made all hations of men, Continental sages echoed in Independence Hall their immortal declaration that all men are created free and equal. Appealing to the God of justice and of battle for the rectitude and firmness. of their purpose, they pledged their lives, their fortunes, antl their sacred honor to the abstract principle of the freedom and equality of the human race.

To-day, in this rounding hour of a century, appealing to the same God of justice and of peace, we praise Him for, and pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to maintain the spirit of that Declaration now made universal by the fundamental law of the land. We, the people of the United States, in this Centennial memorial, pay double tribute to the Most High-one of grateful acknowledgment of the fulfilled pledge of our fathers to overthrow royalism,-the other of joyful assurance of the fulfilling pledge of their sons to uphold republicanism. The great powers of the earth honor the spirit of American fidelity to the

cause of human freedom by the exhibition of their arts and by the presence of their titled peers to grace and dignify the world's homage paid to the centennial genius of American liberty.

Three millions of people grown to forty-three millions; and thirteen Colonies enlarged to a nation of thirty-seven States, with the thirty-eighth-the Centennial State-forsaking eight Territories, and on the threshold of the Union; abiding executive admission; these attest the forecast and majesty of the Declaration of 1776. It was nothing short of the utterance of the sovereignty of manhood and the worth of American citizenship. Its force is fast supplanting the assumption of the divine right of kings, by virtue of the supreme law of the nation that the people alone hold the sole power to rule. Nations succeed .each other in following the example of this republic, and the force of American institutions bids fair to bring about a general reversal of the source of political power. Whenever that period shall come, Great Britain, so magnanimous in presence on this auspicious era, will then, if not before, praise the events when American:Independence was won under Washington, and when Freedom and equality of races were achieved under Lincoln and Grant.

PRAYER

BY THE RT. REV. WM. BACON STEVENS, D.D., L.L.D.,

BISHOP OF PENNSYLVANIA,

USED AT THE GRAND CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION IN PHILADELPHIA,

JULY 4, 1876.

O Almighty and Eternal God, we come before Thee to praise Thy glorious name, and to give Thee most humble and hearty thanks, for the inestimable blessings which as a Nation we this day enjoy.

We devoutly recognize Thy Fatherly hand in the planting and nurturing of these colonies, in carrying them through the perils and trials of war; in establishing them in peace; and permitting us to celebrate this hundredth birthday of our Independence. We thank Thee, O God, that Thou didst inspire the hearts of Thy servants to lay here the foundations of peace and liberty; to proclaim here those principles which have wrought out for us such civil and religious blessings; and to set up here a Government which Thou hast crowned by Thy blessing, and guarded by Thy hand to this day.

The whole praise and glory of these great mercies we ascribe, O God, to Thee! "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be all the glory," for by Thee only, have we been led to take our present position among the nations of the earth. As Thou wast our Father's God, in times past, we beseech Thee to be our God, in all time to come. Thou hast safely brought us to the beginning of another century of national life, defend and bless us in the same, O God, with Thy mighty power. Give peace and prosperity in all our borders, unity and charity among all classes, and a true and hearty love of country to all our people. Keep far from us all things hurtful to the welfare of the nation, and give to us all things necessary for our true growth and progress.