The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-01-06
Benediction.
At st. Paups.

William Tell Coy re-
quesD. ...................R ossin
BenedictiOn.
At st. PauPs.
At St PauPs church yesterday morn
ing, Rev. L. B. Ridgely spoke from the
text: "Arise, shine, for thy light is
come And the glory of the Lord is
risen upon thee"
After some brief Introductory re
marks, Mr.. Ridgely took up the sub
ject of statehood, saying:
They are divine exhortation to
every one who enjoys special privilege.
"Noblesse oblige," was the motto of
an old French house. Favors being
duties. Privilege confers obligations.
The motto recognizes the same divine
law
And so feel that this day may re-
peat to the people of this our new born
/ state. the same cry of exultation, cry
Of warning, cry of exhortation.
For there is danger that in the
clang of bells and the Shrek Of steam
whistles, the hustle of parades and the
merry making of the holiday we may
| forget the real meaning of this event.
! Danger, that when the noise is over,
children and men and women may go
back to old everyday life without re-
alizing that we have entered a new
era.
Political parasites indeed will not for
| get that they have new spoil to feed
! on. Keen business men will not forget
| that new avenues of investment are
! opened. Taxpayers will not fail to
realize that new expenses are incurred;
| but there is danger that the real privi-
lege and the real obligations of the
new statehood may be forgotten even
by these.
What are these privileges and these
| duties?
! Let us remember that the boy has
grown a man. The dependent terri
| tory has become the independent state
On the adult state. as on the adult
man. rests the privilege and duty of
/ governing himself and of supporting
himself.
And side by side with this, the duty
and the privilege of supporting and
loving the parent that has nourished
and trained him.
The territory. then. as 1t enters upon
statehood enters upon new relations
in two directions. within and without
New duties ait home and new duties to
the nation at large.
And first within. You will realize
that the state is left to make its own
| laws. to choose its own judges for in
terpreting them. and to appoint its
own officers for administering them.
The state is to manage It's own IL
nances. provide its own income and
direct its own expenditures.
The state is to direct It's own sys-
tenn of public education.
All this is simply the direction of it's
own internal life
But in addition. the state from this
day on takes it's place as a factor in
the national life. Our senators and re-
representatives. have voices and votes in
the nations Congress. They sit there,
mark you not merely to see that our
local interests are protected, God for
bid. They sit there as part of the
great nation, charged with the duty
of shaping legislation for the highest
interests of the whole nation. Not as
children nor as naked savages. to
scramble for coins and trinkess and
favors. and to see who will get the
most. but as men grown to wisdom.
crowned kings. and set over a nation
to rule and govern it. For Congress
is but the organ by which the sover-
e1gn people rules itself
That thought will show US the real
glory of these privileges. Age after
age the race has climbed from bar
barism, through Datriarchial govern
ment and tribal life to monarchy, TO
aristocracv in one form or other, and
last to that higher stage of develop
ment in which the people Is the mon
arch. It is the manhood of the race
this democracy-this rule of the peo-
pie. AS the glory of the child is that it
becomes the self-possessed, the self
,f,,,,r ie-
democracy that in it the race becomes
self-governlng.
And because this development is a.
part of Gods plan for the race,
glory evolved by him in humanity,
surely we may cry today to this new
state. to each new state as the privi-
lege comes. "Arise. Shine. The glory
of the Lord is risen upon thee"
But 1 hear dissenting voices. There
is no glory in it." some say. 1--WE did
not want statehood. We think Utah
is not ready for it. We feel that it is
a Vaccination of man. not a divine
providence that brings it upon us
now
Well answer. we must read the
providence of God in the events he
allows to come to pass. Our times are
in his hand. He brings events when
he deems best If he had willed other
wise. Vaccinations of men could not
have forced statehood And, ready or
unready. here it is. The dawn has
come, though perhaps you would have
preferred long night. The liberty is
thrust upon us. What shall we do
with it?
Two duties are clear. We are to
watch and to act in each one of these
new avenues of life.
To watch even more than to act,
say; because, remember, action can
come for us, the people. only at GER
tain times, usually at election times
But he only knows how to act at such
times who watches at all times
Eternal vigilance is the price of lib
erty.''
And so, men and women it is our
clear duty to study politics as we never
studied the subject before To study
the great principles of political life
and the special conditions of Utah and
of the United States, so that we may
see how the general principles are to
be applied.
To study how in our laws we en-
body a pure and high morality
How in education we may provide
for the children of this state train
ing. large. liberal. elevating and COM
plete.
To study how in finance we may en-
body honest methods for the state and
for the country, remembering that the |