The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-05-06
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A DISCOURSE ENTITLED g ULTIMATE
rr AMERICA.
patriotic Address by the Rev. j. AIexan-
der Jenkins, Pastor of Emmanuel Com
gregational Church--This Country the
Spiritual Teacher of the Nations.

sfegational Church-This Country the
Spiritual Teacher of the Nations.
BROOKLYN, N. Yin Temple Israel the
Rev. }. Alexander jenkins, pastor of I'm.
manuel Congregational Church, delivered
an address to large audience on "Ulti-
mate America the Spiritual Teacher of
the Nations" He said among other things
1t IS commonplace of the newer think
| ing that the evolutionary process culmin-
ates In the soul of man, the whole mighty
movement being satisfactorily explained,
according to the thinking Of the theistic
| eVolutlonlst, when matter endowed with
life and perfected through countless eener-
| atoms, has at last given to the mind of the
human being the instrument for the ele-
mentary eXel cises Of it's endless life. The
struggles OF the ages are justifedin the soul.
The student of history is perplexed as he
hears the groanings and witnesses the ira
valllngs OF the nations through the centur-
les, and his natural and legitimate query,
as ne beholds the rise and fall of nations
49, Where lies the goal of the peoples and
what justifes the tolls and agonies of the
race. The answer to this inevitable ques-
ton is this: Almighty God is leading the
nations toward the goal of the highest life,
and the struggles of the ages find iust;fca-
ton in the birth of the world-soul And if
the fact that God breathed into mans nos
trlls the breath of life, so that he became
a, living soul is sufficient recompense for
the bloody brute battles of the worlds
gray dawn, the thought that He viii
breathe soul into the nations should like
wise be deemed ample compensation for
the groupings and grapplings of the aspir-
ants for national permanency and suprem-
acy.
The American colonists were not the
first men to fight for independence, but the
motives that produced the Declaration of
Independence made their fight epoch
marking as no other fight had ever been.
Other nations had given up slavery, but
no nation was ever before called upon to
furnish so awful proof of sincerity of
motive IN striking the shackles from the
limbs of the enslaved. Other nations have
had to deal with the problem of undesir-
able aliens, but no nation ever felt as feels
America the imperativeness of course of
action based upon righteousness and JUS
tlce. Other nations have seized the terri
tory OF the weak and helpless, but none
has felt such deep, unselfsh solicitude for
a dependent people as has characterized
our country in her dealings with a primi-
tive people committed to her care as the
outcome OF her intervention in the inter
ests Of humanity. Other nations have had
to effect adjustments between employer
and employe, but no nation has ever been
called upon to effect such an adjustment
when the conditions presented revealed SO
clearly the fact that a great principle of
universal importance is involved The set
Element of the labor problem" in demo
cratic America means the settlement for the
world, for here the employer of the high
est type meets the worker of the highest
type, and the final result will be in keep
ing with the character of the contestants.
SO we are learning the lesson of deliber-
ateness; and one of the most promising
signs OF the times is the tendency to deal
with great questions cautiously and calmly
The result of this course will be that what
the new America settles will stay settled
She will settle, and that for all time, the
question OF the rights of inferior peoples,
the question as to tae character of the edu-
cation most to be desired, the question of
the relation of employer to employed.
America is to-day solving the accumulated
problems of the ages. And God is willing
that she should have time to complete her
task.
In view of what has been said, it will
strike us as fact of sc 'emn import that
our country is preparing for her yet larger
service through the slow, constant develop
meht Of her religious consciousness. The
existence and growth of this consciousness
the superficial observer of our life and in
situations might feel inclined to deny.
Nevertheless, we are convinced that this
most necessary condition for present and
future leadership exists.
Where shall we seek for this religious
Shall we look for it in the
institutions set apart as avowedly relc- |
lous? No man has the right to scott at or
gained religion Our schools, our churches, |
our synagogues are, on the whole true to |
their mission. But the truly effective re-
hgous consciousness must be jund in
other places as well-in the editorial sane
tum, in the political gathering. in the mart
and the busy street. Let us find this con-
seriousness in these places. no matter what
It's form, and we shall have as good a guar
antee of the divine favor as though we had
gazed upon overlooking houses of worship
and listened to the eloquence of the elect.
Inc religious spirit which makes for Amer
can pre-eminence may be discerned in
many phases of the national life, but it is
strikingly evident in the new press, the
new politics and the new social ideal.
There are many, doubtless, who would not
,oncede that the press of the country fur
llshes an evidence of growing national
righteousness, but the fact remains, that in
he newspapers of our land there is a dis
,lnct trend toward Righteousness and god
mess.
The truthfulness and force of our pres
mt contention will seem to many hard to
econcile with the well-known fact that in
he United States the avowedly religious
ournals are steadily losing ground. But
ven this fact, rightly interpreted, is not
n evidence of national decay. The relig-
ous papers of to-day have choice between
regeneration and evolution. The signs of
regeneration are stubborn adherence to de-
ominational shibboleths, fierce champion
hip of exhausted dogmas and growing i'm
atience with progressive Interpretation of
ruth. The signs of evolution are the
hrowing overheard of useless issues, and
he adoption of the leading features of the
reat secular papers. The great relig-
BUS papers of the country to-day are such
4 name only. Were the contents of one
crn.l i IL