The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-04
SERMON TO THE FOOT GUARD
PREACHED AT CHURCH OF THE
 REDEEMER LAST NIGHT
By Rev. Watson l.. Phillips. ID. D., Chaplain of the Company The Com- mand Presentin Fatigue Untform--An
 Able Discourse Listened to by U Large

l mana Present In Fatigue Uniform I
 Able Discourse Listened to by a Larg, | Congregation.
 The Second company, Governors | Foot Guard, attended divine servict
 last evening at the Church of the Re deemer, where the pastor, Rev. Watson
 l.. Phillips, D. D., chaplain of the com
 pany, preached a special sermon, IT
 the pulpit pr. Phillips wore his chap.
 lain's uniform.
 l The company assembled at the Foot | Guard armory at ' o'clock In fatigue
 uniform and marched to the church. 4 large congregation was present, filling | the church. Dr. Phillips preached from | the text Psalms 119:117, Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe, and shall have respect unto Thy statutes continually
 Rev. Dr. Phillips discourse was as fol- | lows:
 Since we last met to worship together hideous anarchy has lifted it's red hand and struck down our chief magistrate.
 The startled nation felt its own heart
 pierced by the stroke, and the civilized
 world put on the symbols of woe The
 deed was not, as we first feared, the
 result of a dark and widespread con-
 spiracy through which hatred of the
 existing order was expressing itself,
 but it was the result of vicious teach
 ings on the platform and in the press,
 which, working in a. feeble and diseased
 mind, inflamed the hateful passions
 which wrought the mischief
 Thoughtful and patriotic men have
 been anxiously asking, what does it
 mean? And we have all been moved
 to inquire with new feeling of soloci-
 tude in what may we trust? What are the final safeguards of free state?
 Where may we look for protection and salvation? The text is one of the an- swers, and the old, vital truth 1t teaches gives us the thought for this hour. Our safety Is in that relation to God and that sympathy with His ideals which makes certain the divine upholding.' This suggestion is regarded old-fash- toned and outdated in some quarters to- day, but 1t is the clear and constant teaching of the past Acknowledgement of dependence upon God has character ized the peoples and the men that have most truly and most widely to human welfare.
 This Is the burden of the text, depen- dence on God; the humble acknowledge ment of inability to keep His statutes or to go safely unless He upholds. That is concession which neither men nor nations are fond of making; and in these modern days there sometimes seems an especial disposition to regard such an acknowledgment as trifie un- to boast of our entire ability to care for ourselves and to deny our need of illumination and guidance. Our fathers realized their dependence on God, the necessity of sympathy with Gods ideals: they sought to embody His thoughts in their constitutions and In their personal living; they humbly asked His direction and support in all their affairs That made them strong and gave them wisdom, and we are reaping the glorious fruit of it in the institutions they established. The American theories of government, the American family life. the American .ype of manhood, the Yankee pluck and and power are what they ire; the republics influence upon the peoples of the earth Is what 1t has been md increasingly is, because the men of he past believed in God and honored | His statutes In their hearts and lives.
 But let us throw the light upon this | word dependence What is It's inner | meaning as we are now using 1t? It loes not mean what is affirmed when ye declare that in Him we live and nove and have our being; that back of . very good and perfect gift, back of \ he order of nature, back of fruitful easons, back of the blessings of day | md night, moveth God, the infinite Gre Ltor Preserver and Benefactor. That i s one of the essential truths of life which we ought never to overlay nor orget, but it is not the truth in whose acred presence we are standing to- light We mean the dependence men ecognize when they perceive the valid- ty and authority of His ideas in all the universe, accept them and live by them, vhen they appreciate the fact that to e defiant or indifferent in respect of ,ods precepts Is to be out of align 1ent with all the promises and princf- les on which mans hope and happi- ess are conditioned. That is the hon. ring God which gives us the right to xpect Him to uphold and prosper us ne relation between two is so close that either can exist without the other.
 The reference of the passage from .hich the text is taken is to men of ouble mind, men of a compromising oirit who are lukewarm in the defense r truth and right, trying to stand in'' the same time with God and the evil; posing as men of true hearts, pod citizens, endeavoring to maintain
 pleasant reputation for virtue and re- giousness, but at the same time keep lg in with the loose and destructive ,rces of society. This poet affirms that lere is only one way to avoid such a purse with it's attendant evils; to rec ynize the supremacy of Gods law and, 7 uncompromising obedience thereto,
 commit oneself unto God so that He ay uphold you and keep you true. The hole teaching Is that there can be no .fety in double -mindedness, in half ay measures either for the individual
 for the community. One must rec ,nize his dependence on God if he is
 be safe, for only then will he have respect for Gods statutes and ak in His ways This, then, is only lother of those instances which pound in the Scriptures where the ose connection between a right rela-