THURSDAY, February 22. Hear the distant report of cannon in commemoration of the birth of George Washington, which is said to have occurred on the twenty-second day of February, 1732. It is presumable that those who find pleasure in public demonstrations of this sort are moved by what they regard as patriotic feelings and principles. Let their motives and enjoyments spring from what they may, they have a lawful right to celebrate the anniversary of his birth in any civil way they may choose. But I have a somewhat higher conception of true patriotism than can be represented by the firing of guns which give forth nothing but meaningless sound. I am glad, however, that these guns report harmless sound, and nothing more. If some public speakers would do the same, it might be better both for them and their hearers. My highest conception of patriotism is found in the man who loves the Lord his God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself. Out of these affections spring the subordinate love for one's country; love truly virtuous for one's companion and children, relatives and friends; and in its most comprehensive sense takes in the whole human family. Were this love universal, the word _patriotism_, in its specific sense, meaning such a love for one's country as makes its possessors ready and willing to take up arms in its defense, might be appropriately expunged from every national vocabulary. Perform the marriage ceremony of Isaac Brady and Leanna Hulvey, at John Hulvey's. SATURDAY, March 3. Night meeting at John Mongold's on Lost River. I speak from Luke 10:42. TEXT.--"But one thing is needful." Various interpretations have been given of this text. Having given it a good deal of thought myself, from the belief that a right understanding of the passage is all-important, I will endeavor to make clear to your minds what appears to me the Lord's meaning. All of you take time to-morrow to read the tenth chapter of Luke, and you may see many things I will not take time to notice to-night. "But one thing is needful." If one were to come to each of you privately to-night, and say to you: "I have plenty of this world's goods to give away, tell me what you need, and I will supply you," and remove all doubt from your mind of his meaning to do what he said, we might be surprised at the varied answers and statements that he would receive. Possibly--but I sincerely hope there are none such here to-night--some might say tobacco, or snuff, or whisky. There are, however, many things really needed for the support of life in this world, and it is a part of wisdom to know our real needs, and how best to supply them. Our Lord, on one occasion, referred to the two most general needs of people,--food and clothing,--in which he instructed them not to be forgetful of God in all their efforts to obtain these, for, said he, "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."