The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-07-03

The approach Of the anniversary Of
the signing of the Declaration Of Inde-
pendence resulted in patriotic sermons
being delivered from several Wheeling
pulplts yesterday, and all referred at
great length to the war with Spain and
its prosecution in the Philippines. "The
Divine Hand In History" with greater
reference to American history was
the topic on which Dr.. sooy dwelt last
night, at the Fourth Street N. E.
church. p
The days OF human history may have
been mans, said Or. sOoy in his OPEN
ing remarks, but the years and the
ages were christs. 1t was Him who
made cosmos out Of chaos. A divine
hand was shown on every side, and to
the speaker there was no beauty In
studying the history Of the past II the
divine was left out. It was impossible
to separate the power Of religion from
American history.
Christopher Columbus felt the same
zeal as the crusaders Of old. The same
spirit Inpelled the early English and
French discoveries. Sir Humphrey Gill
bert, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Pill
grim Fathers were shining examples
The Pilgrim Fathers planted proper
seed in Massachusetts,; It was a rellg-
lous movement behind Lord Baltimore
In colonlEIng Maryland; Christian phil
anthropy pertained to Georgia's birth,
and William Penn, the Quaker, was
characterized by religious spirit In his
a.. A.. -, ~ him II
was Benjamin Franklin who was the
author OF the resolutions calling for
the opening Of the sessions Of Congress
by prayer, and incidentally DR.. sooy
read extracts from Franklin's speech on
that occasion to controvert the asser-
ton that the great philosopher was an
infdel.
DR.. sooy held that this country was
dedicated to Jesus Christ Faith in
Him was shown In the coin Issued by
the government, In the articles Of the
original thirteen states, in ThanksgiV-
ing day, and in many other instances,
continued the speaker. He believed
this faith characterized the recent war
with Spain. A year ago he had stood
in the same pulpit and declared 1t was
a war for right and humanity and that
God was on the side Of American arms.
Branching out to discussion Of the
issues involved since the wars OUT
break, DR.. Sooy believed there was an
error In the declaration OF war as per-
tanning to Cuba, namely the clause
stipulatIng that the American forces
would withdraw when the island was
freed from Spanish rule. DR.. sooy
thought the stars and stripes should
float over Cuba forever more and he
therefore held that the error noted
should be corrected. He was in favor
Of retention Of the Philippines, al
though It was not a question Of which
nag should wave there so much as It
was q question whether these Islands
were to be left in ignorance and spirit
ual darkness.
National legislation, he concluded,
must be kept In conformity with divine
teachings. He believed the conscience
Of the nation was right when 1t came
to a test. The religious sentiment was
such that It would rather enthrone
than dethrone religion, although church
people regretted the failure of the eff
fort to abolish the canteen1 at the
army camps, and measures looking to-
wards stricter enforcement Of Sabbath
laws. There were traitors, Of course,
men who howled for liberty" when
they meant license, but every good clti.
zen was patriot, and thank God"
exclaimed DR.. Sooy, there are a lot OF
them" He concluded his sermon By
invoking Gods care Of the nation In
coming years.