The Washington times., 1901-07-08
THE PATRIOTS HERITAGE.
Liberty and Union, One and Irsep-
arabic, Now and Forever.
independence Days Lesson Should
BE Development of Higher Love of
Country, Says DIR. Van Scbaick,
Rather Than Carnival of Noise.

more in accord with the beautiful tradf-
| tions and vital history of Independence
Day was advocated by the Rev. John
Van Schaick jr., of the Church of Our
Father in his sermon at the morning
! service yesterday. The Old Continentals
and Their Contribution to Religion was
! the subject of his DISCOURSE which dealt
with the services of the minute men and
! the patriots of 1TI6. whose sacrifices con-
| tributed to the nation the seed for its
| later greatness. AIr- Van Schaick deplOr-
ed the carelessness with which the great
est of all American holidays was now
| spent by many in a mere search for pleas
/ ure.
The text was II Corinthians 1875
q; In iourneyings often, in perils Of
waters. in perils of robbers. in perils by
mine own countrymen. in periIs By the
| heather. in perils in the city. in perils in
the wilderness. in perils in the sea. in per
| lis among false brethren. In WEAKNESS
and painfulness. in watchings often, in
| hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in
cold and naSedness.'
This is the Sunday which falls the
nearest to the Fourth of July" said the
speaker I'm one way or another we
have just celebrated the anniversary of
our country's birth. 1t has seemed to
me wise to choose for today a topic which
seeks to gather up the sheaves of thought
( which the week has just harvested.
ITO many thousands probably the day
! brought no sacred memory, no uplifting
| thought. 1t was spent by many on low
animal plane of indulgence or content
ment. 1t was passed by others in a wild
search for pleasure, amid smoke and
noise. Certainly our modern celebration
igzF+ t. fr,-
the inspiring thoughts connected with it.
l do not urge the return of the old-fash-
ioned Fourth, but serious modification
Of the new.
The celebration of a generation ago
with its bombast and :ts tinsel, its gilt
lace and its cooked hats, its spread-eagle
oratory and its vulgar ear-splitting noise
is passing away forever. Demagogues
used it to iniiame the ignorant; politicians
TO build their fences; liquor sellers to fill
their Golfers: while a whole host of ora
tors, lay and clerical, took it as an op-
pOrtunity to scream The American Ea-
gle and discharge a whole broadside of
their batteries upon an innocent and un-
offending people 1t will be good thing
for our country when all such occasions
pass on forever.
But there are connected with Inde-
pendence Day so many traditions that
are beautiful. so much history that is
vital, that every patriotic citizen owes it
TO his country to preserve these things
by commemOrating the day in the wisest
and best manner possible. on the Fourth
of July 1t is not necessary to go some
where, do something out of the ordinary
channel. hear expressed the thoughts of
other men. Let every man remember In
( dependence Day in his own manner but
in the one spirit, whether in public COM
memoration or in private reflection,
whether seated in Independence Hall,
where great deeds We're done, or in
our homes where, every day, great
deeds may take place. Let us make
the day memorable in our lives. Let US
recall the vaior and the virtues of our
fathers, read the familiar story of indie
pendence which does not grow old, meas
ure our lives by the achievements of those
days and see whether We may in truth
ard justice be called worthy children.
The Christian church can help here,
help itself and help society From In
dependence Day IL can gather material
, for services most uplifting and helpful.
1t can scatter broadcast what il gathers
all over the land.
Most emphatically / endorse the posi-
tion taken by the newspapers of this
city against sensationalism in the pulpit
/ join in their protest against the drag
gng OF art theories, politics. sociology,
etc. into the pulpit and making them
substitute for religion. But we must re-
member that sensatiOnalism is of the
spirit and not of the letter. Full OF the
most rabid sensationalisIp was sermon
/ heard once on Mary and Martha, while
breathing the most tender spirit OF re-
ligion was one based upon the Tiny Tim
of Charles Dickens.
Nowhere in the annals of the He
brews in the biographies of the apostles.
in the stories of the martyrs, is there
topic more sacred than that before us
this hour-the old Continentals in their
ragged regimentals fiBching not. Should
you ask me why / take a text from Paul
when / come to speak of the men of the
American Revolution, let me say that in
one sense Paul was a reVolutionist him
self and the spirit of revolution, the
spirit of courag geous heroism, is the same
in every age. Literally and accurately
the two verses l have quoted from Coriu-
thians describe the experiences of the
men and the women who lived and died
for American independence.
NO literature is so sacred, no char
acter is so lofty that it may not be used
to illustrate the great truths for Whicn
those men and women stood and the
manner in which they kept their faith.
From the highest to the lowest, from
Washington down to the humblest min
ute man, were they not in Journeylngs
Often2 When you recall that Christmas
night along the Delaware. when the wild
storm beat fiercely down upon our Ill
clad men. when jagged cakes or ice
threatened to crush the boats IN Whlch
they were crossing, were they not IN
.perils of waters? When you remember
the mercenaries of the Duke of Hesse.
men who came here to fight for money
and chain fellow human beings for the
sake of glory, take away liberty of 9TH
ers that they might enrich themselves.
can we not say that those they assailed
were in 'perils of rcbbersY
There was no blacker night for the
cause of liberty than when Benedict Ar
mold the hero of Valcour Island and
Quebec the man who saved the day at
Saratoga. and whose headlong valor had
enshrined him as a popular idol. proved
false TO the cause and tried to betray
our post at West Point. Then the great
realized those 'perils from their own
countrymen, from traitors like Charles
ee and Benedict Arnold. from the host
of Tories who spied on their movements
and labored day and night tc defeat their
cause In perils by the heather. Let
beautiful Jane McCrea lying cold and
dead in the fields about Saratoga; let our
own ancestors, your foretathers ana
mine with homes burned above their
heads, with kindred scalped and borne
away speak out of the past in Illustration
of this part OF the text In pertls in the
city Let New York, Philadelphia. Bos-
ton and Savannah rise in answer. In
periIs in the wilderness. let the host of
frontiersmen, the border warriors OF New
York and Pennsylvania. all the honored
dead of Oriskany and the Wyoming Val
ley, Hlumine this passage for us, with
the memory of their sacred blood
Paul Jones being dead, yet speaketh,
lin perils of the sea- The memory OF
that desperate fight, when the Bon
Homme Richard, lashed to her antagonist
swept the enemy from her decks. speaks
to us of that little band who laid the
foundations as ii were, of the American
B frFlif