The Newtown bee., 1892-07-15
Our National Perils. My country 'tis ot thee, Sweet land of liberty,
 Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the Pilgrims pride, From every mountain side

essaTy to the development of character and this character has given New Eng land it's renown in the nation and world at large, even though it be regarded with
 pity to-day by western cities in whose es- tablishment it furnished initial brains and capital. New England was in the van of the Revolution at Lexington and Bun ker Hill and of the Rebellion in the bloody streets of Baltimore and, though she gave up her early maritime com merce for that more national enterprise which peopled the United States from the Western Reserve to the Pacific, she has diffused her spirit and influence in a score of younger commOnwealths. But greatness is not necessarily strength nor can wealth compare with character in as- suring perpetuity and lasting prosperity.
 New evils threaten the body polite and
 now, as before, the New England spirit,
 whether of New Hampshire or Michigan,
 Maine or Oregon, native or transplanted, will, we believe, not be found wanting in the day of trial and diversity.
 Millionaires multiply, sapping the viz or and integrity of community and church life by their prominent example of ex- travagance and disregard for simple jus tice. Trusts throttle competition, cor rupt Legislatures and the ballot box with bribes and drive their wheels of traffic and gain seven days week. Shall the people who disregard God and desecrate His day prosper? Not truly, nor for long, for the memories of our heritage flow from influences of church and school, from characters built by economy. in dustry and trust in God, not by the vices so easily following in the wake of sell ease. Men are more than millions, hearts simple. loyal, true better bulwarks than seacoast defences or Krupp cannon. It IS the effete monarchies whose weakness must be buttressed with police protect ion, standing armles and costly munit- ions of war.
 Another muttering cloud of evil DOT tent on our horizon is the saloon, entic-
  whose loss means not only privation for wives and children, but, too often, abuse and misery at which the heart revolts and which cries to Heaven for divine ven- geance. Plenty is never content with the wise restraints of self denial. The fuller it's barns and storehouses, the more brilliant must be it's equipage and palaces, the more it ministers to person al taste and appetite and Prosperity proves the severest test to which our poor Human Nature is subjected. Like the Methodist itinerant daring perils of persecution, of forest, prairie and flood to spread the glad tidings and reach the poor of the mines and on the outskirts of civilization, its thrifty members accumu- late wealth which builds as splendid tenn pies as those that first shut out the poor whose neglect stirred John Wesley's ten- der heart. So every fair city of our pros porous republic is thickly bestrewed with palaces of sin, with every device of gilt ter and show to attract and pander to those appetites which, Heaven knows, we are all too weak to resist with the most vigorous self denial and trust in God. Like Slavery before it, the Saloon invades the church of God with it's so- phistries and is too often tenant of those who profess to have devoted them selves and all they have to the service of the Most High God. Can We serve God and Mammon in such wise? Nay, verify, for either we will cling to the one or de- spise the other. No one of us can serve two Masters.
 How many of us are actively concern ed for the heather in Africa, whose situ- ation appeals to the imagination. calling for no personal service and for but little self denial, who are never found by the | bedside of poor suffering neighbor. We pay dollars to send some one to h. iia, but never exert ourselves personally | to get neglected children under good in fuences. To-day, as ever, the priest and l Levite pass by the wounded stranger as they go their selfish way to Jericho in the name of religion. Character is real | GYs uOt Stlduis O hCd1b dStdoSSsA INV for God and man and, in these material | lays of wealth and pleasure seeking, | when the commandments of Sinai and | persuasions of Calvary are too often eith- | er ignored, detied or their spirit peryert- ed, we need a revival of the spirit of our heritage, a spirit that will follow John Brown to the gallows, if need be, and | will not cringe and fawn upon wealth and tolerate and excuse its attendant vices. But
 God is good, His mercy brightens
 All the path in which we rove;
 Bliss He wakes and woe He lightens
 God is wisdom, God is love.
 We have entered our Canaan. after a wilderness wandering in the by ways of It is delightsome land, but ct us not, like the Israelites of old, for get our Rock, neglect Gods law and de- ,pise His day, lest, like them, our captiv ty to Justice surely follow. God is good ind may His mercies win us, that it be lot necessary for Him to visit us in judg nent for our sins.
 Is your blood poor? Take Beechamss.I ,ills.