The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-25
AN ABLE SERMON
ON TRUE PATRIOTISM
Discourse by Rev. S. c. Simpkins. Of the
Peckyille Methodist Church.
THOUGHTS FOR MEMORIAL DAY
The Early Forms Of Government and
Causes of Dccay..Thc Effects Of
FrivOlity..L Liberty the Inspiration
OfProgress..Threatening Evils Of
Today.


Among the most stirring Memorial
Day sermons delivered yesterday was
a discourse upon True PATRIOTISM, de-
livered by kev. $. c. Simpkins OF tne
Peckville Methodist Episcopal church.
owing to previous arrangements le-
garding the publication of sermons TO-
day it is impossible to give the sermon
i'm full, but every patriotic and CHRISTIAN
reader will appreciate the extracts
from the able discourse as given below:
Proverbs, xiv. "a. True Patriotism.
When earth's population began TO multi
ply men formed communities Tor ihe pur-
pose of self-government and seif-protec-
ton and in becoming subjected to the con
dition of these societies thus estabiisneu,
they were compelled to surrender certain
Individual liberties which belonged 10
them in natural state, and the inulViuuai
was taught 10 respect his neighbors rights
in order that his own rights might prop.
erly be respected also. The first form oil
government We have any record OF IN
either sacred or pronfane history was
tribal. Men banded themselves To-
either sacred or profane history was
under some mighty CHIEF. Their troes
frequently married with each other anu
the weaker was compelled 10 succufnb 10
the stronger until, as a result of the con-
quests of some of the tribes, mighty empires
arose. This was government eStaDiisneu
by might and not by right. Enemihacy
and luxury are enemies to the stability OF
government. Ancient Syria fell before
the mighty armies of the Medes ana fer-
slams, who finally became weak from thelr
indulgences in luXuries. They IN tutn
were struck down by the unconquerable
hosts of Alexander the Great who sighed
for more worlds to conquer, ana then uleu
Of drunken debauch. The early success OF
Rome was in the days OF her sterling NOR
ality. Later on. with the world nt her feet.
Ia, II Inv
and luxurious living and corrupt as well.
and when she was weakened the Huns ana
the Goths swept down upon her from inc
north and she was as easily overcome MS
in times past her own victories had peeh
achieved.
1T HOLDS GOOD TODAY.
The same holds good todaynO nation
can survive sybaritic methods of livins.
The decologue is the basis OF all just laws
and the nation that makes just laws ana
whose magistrates rule in the interests oil
the people, with no thought OF their own
interest, IL the nation that Will endure.
How many nations now existing nave
within themselves the elements of their
own ruin. Look at Europe. where the
divine right of kings to rule is held. Rus
sia is ground down under the iron heel u
an autocrat, whisper OF criticism NJ
fecting the methods Of the tyrant and the
subject finds himself in the chain-gang
marching to the mines OF Siberia. This Is
head of the church; wonderful achieves
ments, large passions, and great men do
not make "a great nation. There has been
much narroWnesS, provincialism anu vul>
garity in some of the braggart shouts
over our own national attainments, COM
ing from demagosues who had as little
knowledge of what humanity had accom-
plished In the milleniums of It's pilgrimage
from savagery to civilization as 1t had
discriminat tion to appreciate the con!ri-
buttons to the work which had been made
by the fragment of Europe stranded for
a brief century on these remote shores
But when there Is Il genuine love OF coun-
try, how ever rude its expression, We can
pardon some things. AS that master mind
Webster, has said: The spirit or liberty
and the faults of the spread-eagle orator
are yenial compared with the cynical, un-
patriotic indifference that sees no halloYed
ground at Bunker Hill. Norristown or
Valley Forge; who does not feel the patri-
otic blood leap in his veins when he walks
over the blood-drenched soil OF Spotsyl-
van!a, Charlottesville and Gettysburg,
who sees no greatness to revere In Wash
ington, Lincoln. Grant, Sherman or
Sheridan; who sees no object worthy OF
deathless love in the Constitution Of the
United States and in the Union which so
such men in this country, but If We would
rightly measure our national attainments
and the rapid process We are making, we
must apply to them moral and not a
LIBERTY THE INSPIRATION.
Liberty Is the inspiration and source Of
art, science, poetry, philosophy and hero
ism. But what is liberty? There are men
who conceive liberty to be merely the abb
sence of restraint removal of oppression
and unguided impulse, and, what Is still
worse, TO unbriddled passions. What u
cry We hear coming from this class for
what they call personal liberty. On the
nf pa 70 hn
greatest step even taken by the human
race for personal liberty. And the thir-
tieth day of May is one of the greatest
days known TO the American people. As
the sun peeps up from behind the eastern
hills next Saturday morning. announcing
the dawn, Old Glory will be flung to The
| breeze. Fathers and mothers. young men
and maidens will gather; old Moosc Noun
will vbrate with the beautiful strains of
| Sherman's March to the Sea as we wend
our way up yonder mountain side to the
| beautiful Prospect cemetery, where deli
| cate fingers will scatter flowers on the
little mound of earth, where sleep all
| that remains Of the noble, brave and true
| And as we do so our minds will revert to
| the thousands upon thousands whose
bones lay bleeching on the fields of the
| sunny south, wher. no one but the great
| hand of nature will decorate their graves
| and the only choir is the little warbing
| songster In some nearby tree. This we do
| in commemoration of the sacrifice made
| and the noble deeds they did years ago to
save our Union.
But let us remember, my friends, that
| this Is but the mere symbol of the i'm
moratal fame. The reality is in magnify,
| ing. purifying and glorifying the great
prize which they bought with their blood.
| The truest and best way to honor the
sacred memory of our dead heroes and to
respect our living heroes is to ennoble the
public life of the nation for which they
| fought and bled and which many died
| to save, always remembering that any
and every act or thought that lowers the
| standard or degrades the character of that
nation is a Dissertation of their sacred
ashes and an outrage to their sacred
memory.
THE SABBATH QUESTION