Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-10
FIGHTING CHRISTIANS.
Rev. DR.. Sutherland Tells the Union Veterans
1t Is Right TO Bartle-The Fight for
TlhrfsafouFer


Rev. DR.. Sutherland Tells the Union Veterans
1t Is Right TO Bartle-The Fight for
Christianity.
The Rev. DR.. Sutherland, pastor of the Sec
ond Presbyterian Church, preached an inter
esting sermon, on the duties man owes to both
Church and State, last evening. The services
were especially for the members of the Union
Veteran Legion, which organization attended
the church in a body.
He took for his text the twenty-first verse Of
the twenty-second chapter of Matthew:
''Render therefore unto Ceser the things which
are C@ser's and unto God the things which are
Gods
In beginning the sermon he dwelt for a short
time on the combination effected by the Phari-
sees and Herodians in order to entrap and de-
stroy Christ The Pharisees, chafing under
Roman rule. desired to do away with the
Savior, as did also the Herodians, who were
loyal to Rome. Both sects desired to see Christ
destroyed, and in order to entrap Him asked
the question: 'Is it lawful to pay tribute to
Caesar or not?" Should He answer Affirmative
ly the Pharisees would charge Him with dis
loyalty to the people. Should He answer
negatively, the Herodians would charge Him
with being a traitor to Caesars Government
But Christ was not to be entrapped, hence
His answer: Render. therefore, unto C8ser
the things which are CaseI's and unto God the
things which are Gods"
Commonwealth of grace the State is the Com
monwealth of Justice. The Christian owes
allegiance to both. The Christian is interested
in public affairs, or should be, because they are
intimately connected with the free exercise of
his duties to God and man. Everything con-
spires to make Christian love his country
to be patriot in the best sense of the word.
Love of home is the foundation of patriotism,
but it does not rest there. Patriotism is
moral, and therefore freely chosen course of
conduct 1t involves devotion to the Constitu-
ton, to the institutions and the manners and
customs of the nation to which we belong.
1t is not fear nor force, nor self interests that
bind States and peoples together: All these
are, or ought to be, secondary motives. 1t is
true that they do influence men, but where
they are supreme there is not and cannot be
true patriotism. We ought to have an intelli-
gent love for the State. 1t could not come
from the fact that the State provides Offices for
so many people. This used to be regarded as
the Ohio idea 1t is barely possible that there
may be little of Pennsylvania in it, too,
although l should not like to venture an
opinion as to that
Another error to be guarded against is indif-
ference to public affairs so long as one can
make money. There are those who value their
country chiefly because of the opportunities il
affords for making money. Their loyalty has
simply money basis. Under the purest sys-
TEN of government, the longing for place and
ambition for power are apt to stifle the voice of
conscience. even with the thoughtful and sin
cere. The trouble is that human pride and hu.
man ambition decline to sacrifice the individu-
al. A little moro of the patriotism of the pat
tern of Jesus of Nazareth would reform
our Congress and Legislature, and puri-
fly our divorce courts and restrict
our liquor traffic and sweep away our ostenta-
tious luxury and do more for the safety and
honor of our country than could be done by
any other force. What shall be said then of
those self-styled leaders or initiative reformers,
who in their several fields of activity exhibi.
qualities at once selfish. sordid and corrupt,
who in politics. in the club, in trade. in society,
in the hall of legislation, and even in the
schemes of benevolence, are evidently active
only the deeper to hide some scheme, are gov
erned by motives unworthT of Christian man.
hood and true patriotism.
We want men whom the lust of office does
not kill. Men whom the spoils of Office cannot
buy. Men who possess opinions and will.
Men who have honor. Men who will not lie.
Now, having these convictions about patriot
ism, esteem it a privilege to welcome to this
service tonight you, the members of the Union
Veteran Legion, whose patriotism was sealed
by service in behalf OF your country. Yours
was a voluntary service, and on that account
all the more deserving OF recognition and ap-
probation.
do not think the time has come in the his.
tory of the world when force can be laid aside.
The law of force, whether as applied in the
household, in he school, in the community or
in the nation, cannot as yet be wholly dispensed
with.
There may be worse evils than war the opin-
ions of our sentimentalists to the contrary not
withstanding. You cannot read history or
study events without seeing that the sword has
had place in the march of freedom and in the
progress Of the race. What Christian men
ought to see is that the cause is good; that war
is the only alternative; that, having exhausted
all the pleas of reason, all the entreaties of
persuasion, all the appeals of pathos nothing is
to be done but to fight the enemy with his own
weapons.
AS Christians we must not delude ourselves
into the notion that we are only called to the
calm of the Sabbath, and the security of the
sanctuary and the delights of the meadow and
the summer holiday of the verdant woods
filled with the sweet music of birds. We are
liable to be called to battle, to loss, to die far
away from home on the battlefield in the hos
pital, OF on the line of march. And rightly ac-
cepted obedience to such call means heroism
on earth and coronation in heaven. 1t is "ren-
dering unto Caesar the things which are
CRsar's,"