Religion plays an important part in the making of any nation. The
spirit of faith and the spirit of patriotism seem to have a genuine
affinity for each other. The national hope of Israel was born in the
heart of a man whose name has been handed down as that of the father
of the faithful. It was finally realized under the leadership of a man
chosen of God as the mouthpiece through which the law was given. Long
before nationality was an achieved fact, the love of God and the hope
of a country were intermingled in the hearts of the sons of Jacob. This
is probably a chief reason for the deathlessness of the race.
Through the fabric of American history, the Christian religion is woven
like a golden thread. Many things have contributed to the glory of our
past, but nothing else has contributed quite so much as has this fact.
Many things enter into the making of our hope for the future, but this
is the most important among them all.
The Pilgrims came seeking a spiritual refuge. It was on bent knees that
they first greeted the country which they had chosen for their home.
Their memory is perpetuated by a monument which stands near the place
where they landed. It carries five symbolic figures, representative of
Pilgrim qualities. It is appropriate that the central one among them is
the figure of Faith. It was in the spirit of faith that they laid the
foundations of American life in their section of the country.
What was true of the northern settlements was true of the southern ones
as well. Practically everything that was a part of the old Jamestown
settlement is gone. It is significant that one of the most abiding of the
old landmarks at Jamestown was the ruins of an old church in which the
colonists first lifted their voices in the praise of God.
Among the American people, the church and state have always been
organically separate, but they have always been spiritually united. The
state has guaranteed protection to the church. In return, the church has
given moral and spiritual support to the state.
The state can well afford to maintain such an attitude. It has no other
bulwark so strong as is the church. The perpetuity of the state depends
most largely upon the very things for which the Christian religion stands.
Among them are virtue, loyalty, and fraternity.
Statesmanship is a necessity in the activities of a nation, but it is not
the fundamental necessity. Diplomatic shrewdness may often be helpful, but
it is not a foundation upon which rests the existence of any country. Rich
economic development, splendid cities, cultured citizenship—all these are
things that enter into the highest grade of national life, but they are
not the fundamental requirements of existence and strength. The hardy
virtues that make good men are the foundation stones upon which any sound
national life must be built.
This is true because it is from the people that the national life flows.
It does not come from executive offices, legislative chambers, nor
judicial tribunals. These are only instrumentalities in the carrying on
of its affairs. Its essence depends upon the people who make the state.
It roots in the places where they live and work. It is never any better
nor any worse than they are. It is tempered to the home life, the
industrial life, and the social life of the land. It is as good as human
virtue makes it, or as bad as the lack of human virtue leaves it. It is,
therefore, more largely dependent upon Christian agencies than upon any
other one influence.
Without the Christian church, the land would never have had these
qualities that make life sound and strong. Deprived of the Christian
church, it would soon cease to have them. With their departure, the
sanctity would die out of family relations, the spirit of mutual
helpfulness would perish from community life, and citizenship would be
deprived of the attitude of loyalty to flag, country, and law. While
these virtues are maintained, the state stands strong and firm. When
they decay, the state goes to pieces as a barrel falls to staves when
the supporting hoops are removed.
This is sufficient to indicate that the state can hardly place too high
a value upon the church, and that it cannot place too high a value upon
the faith for which the church stands. A few words should be now said to
the point that since the church and the faith have served the country so
well in years gone by, they cannot afford to miss the present supreme
opportunity to serve it.
America is passing through a great transition stage. No one can say just
what the outcome is to be, but every one recognizes the presence of a
national ferment which is certain to result in something positive in the
not distant future. There is probably small ground for alarm. Ours is a
nation of thoughtful people. Whatever they do in the end will be tempered
with wise judgment. As it has been in other days, they will choose the
wise course, and we shall only find ourselves better situated than before.
The fact stands, however, that we are now in a transition period. The
whole world is entering into a new period in its existence.
It is desirable that this new period shall be really an evolution of the
old. The best of the past should survive, having added to it the best
thought and talent the new age can furnish. Those revolutionary minds who
think the new order will be some sudden substitution for an old one
wrecked by the hand of annihilating violence are in the hopeless
minority. Sound judgment will prevail, but a change is on the way. In
fact it is already partially realized.
In such a time of social unrest and upheaval as this, it is easier than
at other times to make blunders. Other lands have felt this fever before
ours, and some of them at that time wrote pages into their history which
they have spent all the years since wishing they could erase. Just now
the popular mind needs in an unusual degree the steadying influence of a
great faith. The Christian faith is sufficiently conservative to be
careful, and sufficiently progressive to be fearless in the face of
vision. It is, therefore, supremely adapted to meet the needs of
the times.
The Christian Gospel is the great solvent of modern problems. The problems
of the age are ethical and social. Fundamental to ethical and social
problems are spiritual conditions. The Christian Gospel is an ethical and
social message based on spiritual principles.
The Gospel should, therefore, be spread to-day with such an earnestness as
its prophets have never known before. From pulpit, in Bible school, and by
means of printed page, it should be given the freest possible course to
the minds of men. It should certainly be made a more common topic of
everyday conversation. Let no one think it is unwelcome. The human race
realizes its present situation, and it is anxious to hear about anything
that holds out any hope or promise. The world is strangely Gospel hungry
at the present time. It is impatient of substitutes, but anxious for the
real article.
In years past the forces of the Kingdom have been an incalculable support
to the government. The church has carried the interests of the nation to
the throne of grace. When necessary it has given men to defend the flag.
The Bible and the flag have advanced together. It is safe to assume that
in the present time the nation will find all the old-time help in the
church and in the religion for which it stands.