The Penn's Grove record., 1904-04-29
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A DISCOURSE ENTITLED ULTIMATE
AMERICA"
A Patriotic Address by the Rev. j. A1exan-
der Jenkins, Pastor of Emmanuel Con-
gregational Church-This Country the
Spiritual Teacher of the Nations,

\ SoAuLLT HI
Spiritual Teacher of the Nations,
BROOKLYN, n. YIN Temple Israel the
Rev. j. Alexander Jenkins. pastor of I'm.
manuel Congregational Church, delivered
an address to a large audience on "Ulti-
mate America, the Spiritual Teacher of
the Nations" lie said among other things:
IL is a 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
evoIutionlst, when matter endowed with
life n perfected through countless gener-
atoms, has at last given to the mind of the
human being the instrument for the ele-
mentary exercises of its endless life. The
struggles of the ages are Justified in the soul.
The student Of history is perplexed as he
hears the %groanings and witnesses the ira
vailings of the nations through the centur-
les. and his natural and legitimate query,
as he beholds the rise and fall of nations,
Is, Where lies the goal of the peoples and
what Justihes the tolls and agonies of the
race! The answer to this inevitable cues
ton Is this: Almighty God is leading the
nations toward the goal of the highest life,
and the struggles of the ages find justifca-
ton IN the birth of the world-soul. And if
the fact that God breathed into mans nos
trils 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 will
breathe a soul into the nations should like
wise be deemed ample compensation for
the groupings and grapplings of the aspir-
ants Tor 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 a 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 a 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, unselfish solicitude for
a dependent people as has characterized
our country IN her dealings with a print
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 viii stay settled.
She will settle, and that for all time, the
question of the rights of inferior peoples,
the question as to the 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 a fact of solemn import that
our country is preparing for her yet larger
service through the slow, constant develop
ment 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
consciousness? Shall we look for it in the
institutions set apart as avowedly relig-
ious? No man has the right to scott at or
gained religion. Our schools, our churches,
oCr synagogues are, on the whole, true to
their mission. But the truly effective re-
lglous consciousness must be found 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-
sciousness in these places, no matter what
its 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 eioquence of the elect.
The religious spirit which makes for Amer
lean pTe-emlnence 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
concede that the press of the country fur
nishes an evidence of growing national
righteousness, but the fact remains, that in
the newspapers of our land there is a dis
tinct trend toward righteousness and god
illness.
The truthfulness and force of our pres
ent contention will seem to many hard to
reconcile with the well-known fact that in
the United States the avoWedly religious
journals are steadily losing ground. But
even this fact, rightly interpreted, is not
an evidence of national decay. The relig-
ious papers of to-day have a choice between
degeneration and evolution. The signs of
degeneration are stubborn adherence to de-
nominational ~shibboleths, fierce champion
ship of exhausted dogmas and growing i'm
patience with progressive Interpretation of
truth. The signs of evolution are the
throwing overheard of useless issues, and
the adoption of the leading features of the
great Secular" papers. The great relig-
ious papers of the country to-day are such
in name only. Were the contents of one
of these papers %rearranged and printed in
newspaper form it would pass as a e
paper, minus the newspapers up-to-date
freshness. In the secular press, or the
other hand, there is steady progress and
increasing vitality. The moral tone of the
American people is reflected in the new
journalism, and the fact that the citizens
of the republic desire righteousness is pat
ent to all who seek the underlying motives
of journalistic enterprise of the highest
type. And this fact is most significant
when we remember that these great agen-
cies of publicity, free discussion and edu-
cation have a direct bearing upon the shap-
ing of the ideals of the in1owing millions
of our population. The spirit of the
American journalism is communicated to
the Americanized representatives of these
foreign peoples, and they in turn give it
to their dependent fellows through the col
umns of their publications. We have no
right to assume that papers published in
foreign tongues stand for Old World an
archy; we should, the rather, heartily con-
eede the fact that these journals, printed
in Italian, German, Hebrew, Welsh and
other languages, constitute a great mis-
sionary agency for doing foundation work
in Americanism and altruism. Indeed, the
very fact that our citizens in the making
eagerly grasp these informing agencies is a
prophecy of great things to come. We
have here no isolated, lethargic, self-satis-
fed aggregation of human beings, but we
have millions of men who are being in
spired by the air of a free country and by
her institutions. The newspapers m the
hands of these men are as banners waving
encouragement to PARKWAY nations lying in
darkness and distress.
When we come to speak of the new
American politics we invite the ridicule of
those who see in American politics at its
best only a crude "shirt-sleeve diplomacy"