The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1898-08-13
| BELIEVE IN ALMIGHTY GOD.

in st. James Episcopal church, by
the rector, Rev. Quincy Ewing;
and its peculiar appropriateness,
as well as its originality, strength,
and beauty of diction, impressed it
with great force upon his hearers.
THE TINES is glad to publish it,
in compliance with the request of
many who desire that the pub
lie generally should have an op-
portunity of reading it:
The action of d United States
naval officer, after the battle of
July 3rd, in calling his men to-
gether, for the purpose, ashe said,
of making public acknowledge
ment of his belief in Almighty
God, has been widely and extern
sively commented upon by the
press of the country, and by the
pulpit. The tone of all comments
has been, of course, and very prop
erly, one of commendatlon of
the officer. But in some quarters,
the praise showered upon Capt.
Phillip, of the Texas, has been
called forth, apparently, by the
wrong thing; that is, by the fact
of his believing in Almighty God,
rather than by the manly and
reverent and impressive way in
which he made profession of his
belief. Some people, to Judge by
their expressions, seem to have
been of the opinion, that COM
manders of battleships couldn't
believe in God, or didn't, until
Capt. Phillip convinced them to
the contrary; thus revealing a
very dense ignorance OF the spirit
of the age in which they live
The Captain of the Texas deserves
praise, it seems to me, praise uni
versal for what he did, and his
way of doing it. | believe that
every man who heard his profes-
sion of belief, and joined HIM IN a
silent prayer Of thanks to Almigh-
tty God, was made 4 hst.er and
q stronger masn . sr from that moment:
| believe that his manly act will
be a help, an inspiration to thou
sands, wherever it is known.
Would that our generation could
witness more such acts on the part
of brave and honest meh, Tiers
is abpndapce-ap oyer-abunrdance
of long faced professional piety
in the world; we need more Of the
i. pnprofessloAal sort, with 9 mascn:
Ilne back oone in 1.-THE sort that
can pray on the deck Of a battle
b ship, with its scars of o battle
fought and won, We need many
, such acts to get the notion out ol
mems heads, that that tA ha rpe reehlSglofu: hlglEf y:
in any sense en- of thPre term, e n, is to b
to, a certain extent, weak apf
efeminate; is ta suffer g som6 de-
gree q loss of masculine backbone
That notion, of course, should
' have died long since out OF th'
: brains Of all Americans who re
! , member George w..1.~.;, ..-+..-z.yr, an,
IRobt. E. Lee, and Stonewall Jack
\ son. But it hasn't; it has bee'
Il growing for long time IN IN
, minds of men, ana 'hins
that have taken a long tlm'
/ to grow in the human brain take
long time to die out of it; ana 50
say all praise to Capt Phillip + to
as what be did on the deck OF IN
battleship, Texas, after the battI
- II,
u of July 3rd, His act was one Q
rich service to the true cause {
religion.
But | don't propose to join any
body in being surprised OF
shoerwlng praises upon the gallal
Captain of the Texas, on accoul
Of what he said he believed In
were to him and his brother on
GERS a grave injustice. For fro
! INV point of view, it were equiv
lent to the cofession on my Pal
that | had once considered all u
officers of the American navy nj
{ class fools and ignoramuses' ana
n. should hate to think that l n
nd ever entertained such an unpatrl
90 tic and absurd idea. 1t is scarce
IL II necessary to say that Atheism
"a one of the dead isms In the re''ii
90 of knowledge and Intelligent
W If there is one of the worlds he
20, est thinkers, today, who would
N. willing to declare himself
'tv ~ Atheist. to arise among his fellc