Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1918 — SERMON BY REV. FATHER DANIEL [ARTICLE]

SERMON BY REV. FATHER DANIEL

At the G. A. R. Mass at St. Augustine’s church, Sunday, April 28, 1918. “Greater love- than this, no man hath than that he give his life for his friends.” How pleasing to God; man bowing before the alter of God in patriotic service, '"commemorating the lives and deeds of these heroic men who were ready to lay' down their lives for the country. This public act of worship does more honor to our country than the greatest achievement of art, science, literature or commerce and is a more certain pledge of our country’s future happiness than vast standing armies and embattled fleets. For it proclaims the fact that a large portion of the people still recognize that above the power of armies and navies, that above the statesman’s skill and merchants’s zeal, there reigns a God of Hosts, and in His hands are the peace, prosperity and destiny of nations He has been present in every crisis of our country’s life. To Him have we turned for aid in the dark hours of war and trial, and to Him America raised her voice in a universal prayer of gratitude when He bJes:ed our armies with victory. To Him do we owe the verdant fertility of our plains, the vast stretch of forests, the clemency of our seasons, the hidden treasures of our lulls.

To Him do we owe the spirit of peace, calmness, fair play and religious reverence that mark the American character. To Him do we turn today, veteran soldiers of the civil war, in behalf of your departed comrades. The!y stepped forth with you in that hour when our country called for valiant sons .to shield her honor. Some in the rosy bloom of youth; others in prime buoyant manhood; they turned their backs on all that man holds dearest, home, loved ones and future prospects, and marched into the dim uncertainty of war, ready to lay down their lives for their country: They now rest after the struggle, their eyes'are closed in death, the earth enfolds them in her bosom, and their sturdy bodies slumber in the grave. Next month a grateful nation will go out to where they sleep and honor their remains, and over their silent bosoms lay the victor’s wreath and the darling flag they followed in the fight. But today we are doing still more for them. Here at the Alter of God from whence the loftiest and 'the most powerful prayer on earth ascends we are pleading for their souls, their great undaunted spirits that have risen from thedr ashes to live on in Eternity; » May the God of nations, whose instruments they were in the destiny of our country; may He, the Son of God from whom learned the supreme test of patriotism :“Greater love than this no man hath, that he iay down his life for those he loves.” May He who died on the cross and lifts His sacrificial hands at -this alter today; may He wash away their errors and transgressions, purify their souls from stain and requite the life they laid down for others with that greater life of heavenly bliss that has no end.

This is our message to them today, but they, too have a message for us. Down the years, from the example of their lives, it comes to us, that we love.,the land they fought for, that we too, bring to the-service of our country in peace and war, a devotion that knows no bounds, neither health, nor wealth, nor strength nor even life. " The heart that feels not the throb of the life of the country is perverted and denegerate. The true American loves his country with a love not only warm and ardent, not only selfsacrificing and heroic, hut with natural and divine, a love that is religious, sacred, superWe love America not only because her fields are fair and fertile and her mighty hills with boundless treasures stored, but because her gorgeous beauty and her countless wealth is the lavish gift of a tender provident Father. We love her Constitutions not only because they guarantee peace, justice and equal rights to all, but because they are based upon His law and were handed down by Him in this later age to cheer, to free, to save and to uplift the downtrodden and oppressed of the land.

We love her rulers and bow to their laws not only because they are wise, calm, just and true, but because they hold the authority to rule from the Almighty Father. Loyalty to them is loyalty to God. Respect for them is respect for God. Faith, faith in God alone will make us patriots in outward word iand work, and in innermost thoughts and affection of our souls. There never wa3 morality, there never was disinterested loyalty, there never was patriotism without faith in God and reverence for His law. The Creator of mankind has given His children the unalterable principles which make for peace, prosperity and happiness of the individual and the race. All that is good and lasting in our institutions is based upon these principles; whatever in our national life is opposed to them is wrong and must perish. Insane anarchy, that lifts its head against all law and order, harsh belated bigotry, thriving on fraternal hate, proud bloated greed, senous divorce, destroying homes and manhood, all these are bound to pensh, though apparently triumphant for a time, because they are in deadly conflict with the principles of justice,

purity and liberty that are as eternal as Cod and can never change or die. Let us bring this light of God’s law to guide us in private, public and in political life.. Love God and keep His law. He best loves his country who best loves his God. He best serves his country who best serves his God. Well for us beloved Veterans of the Civil War and congregated faithful if in these days of our dear country's new hour of trial and war when a most powerful enemy is striving to undo the work you so successfully accomplished through the blood of your comrades and your own heroic deeds, we take our refuge to au all provident God and abide by His holy laws. Our safest shield shall ever be, and our brighest hope of victory, that if God is with us no foe can prevail against us.