Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-07-03

year tramp through the wilderness, 1t
is not so difficult for them to pray and
to worship God, but it Is difficult for
people to be true to God unless when
riches come and prosperity comes and
unlimited influence comes they have
nm especial grace given to them. 1t Is
difncultA to be true to God when the
mighty fortresses have been builded
at the mouth Of every harbor to keep
out the foreign foe and when the rat
tie Of the factory and the whistle Of
the steam engine and the blow of the
hammer and the rasp of the saw are
all playing an accompaniment to the
tune of national financial success.
Rcconsecrnte tho Nation.
As the American nation is a govern
rnent for the people and by the people,
| would have every one Of us this
Fourth Of July season reconsecrate our
nation to God by reconsecratng our
own personal lives to his divine serv-
ice. When the ambassador from Ger
many appears at the White House and
presents his official documents, he does
not come as the representative of the
German nation, but as the personal
representative of Emperor William
The ambassador of England represents
King Edward. The representative of
Italy represents King Victor Emman-
uel But when Americas ambassador
goes abroad he does not represent the
president or the secretary of state, but
he represents the people-the common
people of America. And as part Of the
common people of America we can
here and now begin to reconsecrate
our government to the Lord in its days
of prosperity by reconsecrating our
selves. O Lord our God, can any one
have a greater work to do in the evan
gelization of the world than we Amer.
leans if we will only consecrate our
lives to thy service?
| selected this text, THE field is the
world" for two reasons - first, be-
cause the FIVE words spoken by Jesus
Christ to his disciples exactly convey
the idea of the worldwide sweep Of
Americas future influence in the evan
gcization OF the two hemispheres. A
Christian nation has no more right to
close its doors and live for itself and
let the rest Of the people Of the world
suffer and die than an individual has
the right to lock and bar the doors Of
his own home and let his neighbors be
murdered in cold blood.
But the second reason why selected
this text is because it always has had
an Intense personal interest to me.
This was the first text which my ia
Their as theological student ever
preached upon. When my father was
a young man at New Brunswick semi
nary, he went to visit my uncle, who
was then a pastor at Eastha mpton, n.
Y. He went to visit in the same old
parsonage where the great Lyman
Beecher. the father Of Henry Ward
Beecher, used to live and where many
of the famous brothers and sisters Of
Henry Ward Beecher were born. And
while my father was visiting his brother
in-law the Rev stephen Mershon, the
village minister asked him to preach.
So he preached in the schoolhouse
there in the village of Easthampton
his first sermon. The schoolhouse Is
now used as barber shop. 1t Is not
| larger than the ordinary sized parlor
of an average city house. In that little
schoOlhouse the unknown theological
! student took for his text. The field is
the world" He little realized then
that there ever would come a time
when his gospel field would literally
be the world.
So may the Fourth Of July ever be
to all Americans sacred day. May it
be time when by rctrospection we
learn what pure and noble and conse-
Grated ancestral blood is flowing in
our veins. May it be time when
the American people bow their heads
to make an earnest. intense plea that
the present generation shall be as true
| to its gospel trust as our forefathers
were true to theirs. Then after we
have knelt in prayer, may we go forth
inspired by the Holy Spirit to do the
work which has been given us to do.
Then the brightest pages of American
history will be written AT the millen.
NAL dawn when the United States gov
ernmont's future mission, by the grace
of God, shall be glariously and rap.
turously finished.
TCopyrcht 1902 Louis Klonsch. n. VI