The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-06-07
THE HOME THE FOUNDATION.
Extract from the Memorial Sunday
Sermon by the ReY. J. ID, Sherburne
of MOntpelIer-Down with Divorce,
nm with the school,

HNtFaCI from inc NeuOElal Huuudy
Sermon by the ReY. J. ID, Sherburne
of mOntpelIer-DOwn with Divorce,
up with the school,
The flag is not assailed or trampled in
the dust, hut crafty foes are at work, in
sidious disease makes itself apparent in
the body polite, and ours is the conflict
and defence. If we use other weapons
and fight in other fields. we need be
none the less brave and vigilant than
were our men who took the sword and
wore the blue, Let us make reconnois
ance today, and see where our enemies
are entrenched, so that we may he able
to protect and keep sacred what was Sc
cured for us on other fields. In the first
place those institutions which really
have the making of our people IN hand
must be guarded, defended and protect
ed. Among these may be mentioned as
forever prominent, home, the school and
the church of God, In one section of
our country the family, with its pure
and sacred associations, was trampled
upon. Among the oppressed race it
was thing at the caprice of the master
and among the oppressors its holy obi
cations were often disregarded. 1t
would lack the warrant of fact if we
were to say that in this North land the
home was kept sacred; but this is true
that for large part among the earlier
people of this section the home was a
sacred institution, and l am bold to eX-
press the belief here and now that we
should never have been victorious in the
war for the Union if it had not been
that the best of all our men who entered
the conflict were men who had been
trained IN genuine homes, Many of
them left just such homes which they
had themselves helped to establish, and
evermOre, upon the weary march,In the
exposure of sleepless nights, upon the
sentry's lonely beat and in the roar and
carnage of conflict, one thought nerved
them and bore them up; the thought
was, our home, our wives and children
must be defended and our free institu-
lions saved and transmitted to them.
The thought of the Preside, and those
gathered there was the thought which
made our hosts unconquerable.
Since the war for the Union was end.
ed our homes have been insdiously as
sailed. the natural consequences of war
with its peculiar antagonisms to social
purity helped on the work; the Legisla-
lures. the Courts and sad to say, the
churches sometimes yielded to what
seemed to be a popular clamor, and we
multiplied causes for divorcesand homes |
broken up. All the sacred instincts of
home life trampled upon, it's holy Sc
crets brought and paraded in Court
room and public press. 1t requires no
psophet's eye to see that with home in
the hands of the enemy it will soon be
impossible to preserve the nation, even
If it were worth preserving. We may
devoutly hope and confidently affirm
that our beople are becoming aroused to
this peril. Public attention has been
aroused and we look confidently for
better things in these relations. We have
reason as people for devout thanks
giving that one branch of the great gen
eral church of Christ the truth of his
tory says three branches has all the
while rigidDy held to the sanctity of the
marriage covenant. 1t will be joyful
omen for us when all the churches shall
take their places alongside of the Catho
lie church on this question, The great
question is Shall Gods ideal home con-
tInue? This is one field upon which our
generation must fight for the national
life, 1t is ours to make our homes what
they ought to be, place where mutual
affection reigns, where woman is honor
ed, where manhood is nourished and de.
veloped where God the author of the
home is daily honored. Give us strong,
pure, cultured, Cody homes and tn ma
ton will stand.
Another institution is the school, Our
fathers put the schoolhouse close beside
the church in Puritan New England,
and hence New England thought and
influence has become omnipotent In our
nation. 1t may be very doubtful if we
should have had our civil war if all the
people of the South had enjoyed the
school privileges of the North, and Ger
tainly no force from the South could
ever have invaded and overcome the in
telligenCe of the North. The power to
think is the power which makes any
people dominant. A free government
stand where ignorance prevails
among the masses. We owe it to our
children and to our land. redeemed by
so great price, that the bt st and broad.
est and most symmetrical culture which
can be secured shall be available to all:
schools thrilled and pulsating with the
warm currents of the busy life of the
present era; schools that have their
front windows looking out on the grand
future which is possible to this free
Christian land schools that shall turn
out men, not machines; schools that
shall care for the whole man. leaving no
part uncultured. We shall not have
such schools and the teaching which
only such schools can give unless we
contend for them and sacrifice for them
The present is critical juncture with
US. Multltudes reared under other forms
Of government are constantly coming to
our shores. They bring families, soon
to be among our citizens. Some way
they must be trained in mind and
brought to understand our institutions,
or we shall have dangerous element
among US which we cannot control. No
coast defences are half as valuable to US
as the strong, cultivated, patriotic men
and women who have been developed
in our schools. The school is with us
the grand arsenal for our defensive
All that our nation has thus
far cost will have been squandered if
the free school goes.