The Newtown bee., 1890-06-27
A MEMORIAL SERMON.
Preached in Huntington, Conn.,, May 25, 1890
 by Rev A. J. Park.

call by this service the memory of the brave heroes whose bones are resting in their graves, those heroes who, in and for the establishment of the rest, peace and permanency of the nation, offered their lives. Now in this service, perhaps fore us, as center thought, than the carrying up of Joseph's bones and their burial in Shechem.
 I think we may see in the settlement of the Israelites as nation in Canaan, a type, yea the seal and true germ of all civil and religious liberty that has found place in any of the governments of the world since. It will fully pay any one wno aspires after true patriotism to study carefully their model government, with it's written constitution, with liberty pre- scribed by certain laws, preventing indi- vidual license and lawlessness and which also protect the individual rights of all.
 A Mir Straus says: "At this early pe- riod in the history of mankind, 1900 years before the Christian era, centuries before Greece and Rome had obtained foot hold in history, 300 years before Homer sang and 1000 years before Plato dream ed of his ideal Republic: when Western Europe wgs an untrodden wilderness, the children of Israel, just emerged from centuries of bondage, not only recogniz- ed the guiding principles of civil and re- ligious liberty, that ''all men are created equal" that God and the laws are the commonwealth under written consttu- tion, ''government of and for the peo- ple.''
 Now that this is ;i true conception of their government, in the human sense at least, can be easily demonstrated by the study of the book of Judges. Theirs was doubtless the first written constitution of any government in the world granting equal rights and privileges to all the cit izens of the nation. Our own declaration of independence and our esta blished con- stitutional rights are in a great measure modelled after those of ancient Israel Bearing, then, these facts in mind, we are prepared to study the thoughts con- corning the carrying up of Joseph's bones and their interment in Shechem.
 Note first, Joseph was true benefact or of his people Israel; he lives and dies for their welfare and safety. Nothing 1T sc fa ch h E., f1, his people more fully than the directions he left them on his dying bed. After ; long life spent in full reliance upon Goo and in the active service of his kindred he had such implicit faith in Gods prom ise to visit and deliver his people that hi main thought was, how could he bes make even his dead body serve his peo pie and glorify God. Thus a long life 0 service did not entirely satisfy him, s' long as there was aught he could do t' enable him to train his kindred to trus ill the promises of Jehovah.
 do not think it was merely, or main | ly, a wish to be buried with his ancest ors, or in the promised land that cause, him to give the special directions for car rying up his bones at their exodus. Thi wish could have been accomplished a the time of his death and been attende with all the pomp and dignity worth Egypt's prime minister and with lon: retinue of distinguished mourners, if h. had demanded that it should be so. 1 was not this; he believed that God woul
 visit his people and bring them up to il herit the rich land promised to their fa thers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Blu the time might be long; their faith migh
 be sorely tried, ere Gods set time to fa
 yor them should come; so he would leav them the evidence of his faith in con
 manding that his body should be em
 balmed and kept in Egypt till the tim
 of their exodus came. Therefore he lai
 it as dying command and charge upo
 their generations to bear hence his It
 mains and inter them when God shoul
 give them rest in the promised land. No'
 there was nothing he could do or sa
 that would so keep the coming exodu
 in their minds, as to leave his bones Ill
 buried and waiting to be carried henC
 by them, when they went to possess the inheritance i'll Canaan.
 | Perhaps there is nothing that can mol Ivividly impress on our minds the valr
 and cost of these glorious privileges {
 civil and religious liberty than once year to stand by the graves of those h'
 roes who offered their lives to secul
 these blessings for us. This simple d,
 of strewing flowers on their graves mus
 if truly appreciated, help us understan the value of the great trust which,
 Gods good providence, has been commi ted to our hands that we might transm
 it to our children. While it helps us r
 alize these privileges that we enjoy, lmust also impress upon us our respons
 bility, under God, to maintain and tran nit these birthright privileges to comiI
 generations. Memorial services shoul ], therefore, stir us up to more noble ma hood, to initiate the self denial, self sa
 rifice and the endurance in the cause
 righteousness; yea the faith in God tn many of those had whose graves shall decorated on the anniversary day a
 pointed by the nation for that purpos
 As Josepll's bones, lying there in EgyI would constantly remind them of hi and of Gods promise to visit and deliy : them, so our services at the graves ! our nations heroes should remind us
 their courage in going to defend the f homes and their country's honor and
 how God, through them, has preserv e to us our national privileges.