The Fast day.
We have never known as universal a suspension of business in our city on any day, either Sunday or week day, as on Friday last. In a walk from one end of the city to the other, we did not observe a single store open. A general seriousness was visible upon the faces of the whole people. The religious exercises in all the Churches were of an unusually solemn character. Most of the sermons delivered were of extraordinary power. We have already given sketches of these sermons, the tone and character of which may well awaken the attention of those persons in the North who imagine that the South is not in earnest, and that the present is but a passing storm.--These divines, who speak out thus boldly, and call upon the God of Battles in a strain that reminds us of what we have read of the old Revolutionary Pulpit, are among the ablest, soundest and most respected of the Southern clergy, and have been hitherto the strongest advocates of the Union in the Southern States. When we hear such men as these, exclaiming with one of their number: ‘"Horrible as war is, there is one alternative which is worse, a surrender of inalienable rights and privileges. All honor to the patriot who goes to the field to defend his fireside, his rights and liberties,"--with another, "Should the arbitrament of battle be forced upon us, I would glory in lifting my voice at the head of Virginia's columns in a triumphant song of Zion, for the safety of our families and our homes, "’ and when we find another, in the very Church where Patrick Henry thundered forth his war cry, " Give me Liberty, or give me Death," alluding in a tone that thrilled the nerves of every auditor to that inspiring utterance of a true Virginia Patriot and Freeman, we may well conclude that the enlightened public sentiment of the South is aroused, and that the people are determined, in the language of one of the most eloquent of our clergy, "to do or Die." Let the North awake to these manifestations before it is too late, and restore to the South the identical Government, in spirit and in letter, that is guaranteed to them in the Constitutional compact, or the days of the Union are ended.
