The Newtown bee., 1905-09-01
the foundation faith of our grandsires
THEY BELIEVED IN GOD.

been written on his tombstone woul
have read thus: Born IN discourage
ment, he grew up in detection, ma
tured in depression and died in dis
gust. We must not harshly CRITICS.
any one before we recognize the fac
that every one is a product Of th
: times in which he lives and of the con
Puritan, before he set his foot on Ply
mouth Rock, had just thrown off tn,
tyranny of prelate, Church and State
He has swung far away from all earth
~ sovereignty, and as always happens
IN such cases, he swung to the othel
extreme of the pedulum and founc
himself emphasizing alone the SOW
ereignty of God. No wonder he be
lieved in the God of the Old Tesla
ment, the God who tbundered his
mandates from Sinaiand overcame the
prophets of Baal with the descent OF
flame. In this soft age when it is often
inquired whether it really makes any
difference in what a man believes, it is
we'll to go back to those who solidly
believed in a God of law. | do not
think that the theology of the Pill
grim rang out no musical tone Of love,
or that amid the smoke of the flaming
mount the cry was lost that rose from
bitter Calvary.
Those who sought on these shores
"a faiths pure shine came here as the
growth of POO years of changes that
were wrought on European soil.
There had been the movement called
the Renaissance, springing out Of the
invention of the printing-press and
there had been the movement called
the Reformation, the product of the
translation of the Bible Into the
speech of the common people. These
two lines of life converging upon the
Puritan developed growth that could
not flourish in fetid atmosphere. A
new land was necessary where the tree
of civil and religious liberty could
flourish and throw out it's spreading
shade, and that land was here; and
here it took form in what has ever
been know as the New England con-
science. Do you ask me by what
phrases | would characterize the Puri-
tan ideals? They are these: The Puri-
tan believed in the stern righteousness
of just God. EIe believed in convic-
tions of duty from which he would not
swerve hair S breadth; he believed in
the overrule of God in all things, max
ing good and bad, devil and saint, bend
to His sovereign will; he had vision
which gave him glimpses into the un-
seen and opened up the bourne be-
yond the corridors Of Time; he was an
optimist who never let go his hope
that the worst would swing round at
last to that which works for the best. |
He held tenaciously to the ultimate |
of the right.
l have already said much about our
Puritan forefathers; you might almost
THERE WERE PURITAN FOREMOTHERs,
TOO.
The fathers have been feted and
|
las been said as is their due for their
wives, their better halls. 1t was the
mother who when she was placed
where there was no sound of the Sab
oath bell gathered her children about
Ter and taught them the Westminster
She made the old Psalms
If David ring as the war songs of old.
She read the Old Testament stories to
he troop at her knee until those
came out of the past and
ived before the eye. There was Eli
ah, who with his mantle SmOte the
waters back; there was Moses whose
ace Shone as he talked with God;
here was David, who charmed the
lard Saul with the music Of bis harp;
here was Samuel who was left in the
emple as child; there was Hezekiah,
he good king, to satisfy whose wish
he shadow went back on the dial, and
Ill these famous men became as famil-
ar to the Puritan child as the play
mates with whom he sported before
lis mothers door. You cannot under
tand what the Puritan has done for
'ur national life until you understand /
he part that religion played in their
common life. The Westinghouse was
lext to their home, or even above '
heir home. The Sabbath was as
binding in it's obligations as the laws
n the tables of stone, for it was in
hese laws. The Bible was their wade {
necum, the compass by which they {
alled their craft and the lantern by
which they guided their way.
All through our cOuntrY's history Y
he line of their influence runs clearly
lown. We see it in the struggle of '76
when in the darkest days at Valley =
Forge Washington was seen at mid
light on his knees IN prayer. We see
t when our Continental Congress
opened as Benjamin Franklin, almost
he last of the great men Of the early /
lays to recognize Gad's control in hui {
nan affairs, advocated seeking the
blessing of God. We see it in our
sreat Declaration of Independence {
which reads: "And for the support of
his declaration, with firm reliance on
he protection of Divine Providence,
We pledge ourselves, our lives and our
sacred honor" May the leaven Of their
rust in God go on with US as peren-
hal force to the end of our days. A
striking characteristic, too, of the Puri-
IAN was that he could endure. [ tell
you this soft aye in which we live has