The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-09-11
ECHOES FROM LABOR DAY
SERMON BY REV. N J. SOULRES, aT CONG. CHURCH, WEST HAVEN.

Roosevelt, in Effort to Secure Peace
 Much NobIer Than Heroes of War
 Japanese 1IObs Tribute to Spirit Oi
 Christ-Modern Socialists vs. the
 Pilgrim Fathers-Making Labor Day
 Legal Holiday Shows Spirit of
 Country Toward LabOr-HeIp Every
 body, for ChrIst's Sake.
 In the First Congregational church of West Haven yesterday, Rev. N. J. Squires delivered an eloquent sermon' his text being Ex. 2O:9: "six days shalt thou labor;" and John 5:17: "My Father worketh even until now, and work. .' The sermon follows:
 "It has been we'll observed that the fourth commandment enjoins work for The week with the same devine sane tion that it enjoins rest for the sap bath.
 If the man who works on the Sab bath breaks the commandment what does the man break who will not Work the rest of the week? The idler rich and loafer poor would seem to be alike nt A. good distance from the kingdom of obedience.
 "The fact is that the devine law IS on the side of labor, and has been ever since the morning of that day when the first man had to dress and Keep ule garden. + x... ~
 "When our Lord said, My Father worketh even until now, he must nave made reference to that ceaseless actlV- aty discoyerable in both the natural and the moral world.
 we speak of the stability of nature ,--it is only a phrase-rlothing IS stable ceaseless change is the law of the uni verse Mountains are reared only to De disintegrated and leveled. down again. Frost and sunshine, storm and calm through them all the ceaseless work goes on.. h..
 '"rhe soil that bears our crops and supports the life of the world is little more than disintegrated rocks and de- rayed and decaying vegetable mold.
 'The work of God is written on the face of every rock, on the petal Of eV- cry flower, on every blade of grass.
 '.The forces of nature are bue the ex- alfbition of that devine energy that con- trols and guides everything.
 'clAll stars, ali suns, all systems are held to their appointed ways by the same almighty will that lifts the tiniest flower and supports the sparrows wing. t'tOur whole solar system,' says a celebrated modern astronomer, includ- ing the sun with all it's planets, is on a (shall we say pathless0 journey through space-toward the constella- Hion Lyra. When, where and how, if ever, did this Journey begln? When, where and how, if ever, will it end? This he calls the greatest of the un- solved problems of astronomy. Where the stars come from and where they are going is for us unsolvable.
 God knows. He created them. His will upholds them. His power guides them. He floods space with light, ev- cry ray of which darts off from the sun with the incredible speed of 18O,0OO miles per second, and yet, after a flight of g., 900 miles falls upon the earth with such gentleness that it does not jar the pollen on the petal of the lily, or disturb the dust on the butterfly s wing. y ~',, ".
 ''But in the moral world, not less than in the natural, does God magnify power and display his ceaseless activ- ities. Not to go too far afield, shall we not wonder at the unfolding of human history-the incessant struggles of man kind for better and higher things-the utter refusal to be content with the lowest, and continual aspirations for the highest? Not that all races or all men aspire, but many do--most do-the race does, and does it in obedience to an impulse that lies innbedded in its nature. It is the Power working for righteousness in the world. God is ir this world, and he is in it for good pur- poses, and he inspires men to do good and true and noble things.
 ; Here are two nations that for the past eighteen months have been try ing, to destroy each other by starva. tion, by shooting, stalbbing, blowing each other to pieces, in any and every way sanctioned by the usages of war Eight hundred and forty thousand Rus %sians have been met by 100000 Japan. ese.
 ''The destruction of life and property has been simply normous-192,000 Rus sians and 154,000 Japanese have beer killed and wounded. The brutal pas. ssions of men would say fight on, fight to the bitter end. There were Russians who wanted to fight, there were Jap anese who wanted to fight, and there were plenty of spectators who wanted ito see them.
 ,y "Who will say it was not far nobler thing for President Roosevelt to en. courage peace and to put forth the mos insistent efforts to secure it, and, un' der the efforts of God, succeeded?
 'The world has not been slow in per ceiving what moral victory has beer achieved, and there is not a ruler among all the nations who does moi envy the noble part which out presi. dent has taken.
 Tt is a moral victory greater thar any that could be achieved Iby force ot arms, and victory the greatness ot which does not appear in its fullness Generations hence will see it's magnifi. cent proportions.
 ''It places new emphasis on the mora