The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-30
ROOSEVELT TALKS In CHURCH
4DDRESA 81 THE DEDICATION
or 4 II THEFtN EDIFTCE.
II Is Important, He Sa,s for the People
Of This Nation IN Remember Their
Rights. bur II Is sen More Important
for Them 10 Remember Their Duties.

n1EHiSGTnS, dfn- " Inc prlnCpal
address At the Luther Place Memorial
Church this morning vas delivered 10y
President Roosevelt The regular morning
ser,ioe to-day marked the rededication If
the church editice which was partly de
stroyed by fire last February il ia one of
the oldest churches Of Washington, and IL
situated on Thomas Circle 1T the junction Of
Vermont avenue and Fourteenth street
The Rev DR. j. c. Butler, pastor Of the
church Is m years old. An evening service
was also held to-day and the congregation
was addressed by Senator Nelson Of Mime
sofa and United States Treasurer Roberts.
II vas not generally known that President
Roosevelt would attend the morning SER
vice. but the church was crowded TO the
doors and many persons were turned away.
Mr. Roosevelt spoke as follows:
@DH BUTLER: II is a great pleasure TO
meet with you this morning and say
word Of greeting on the occasion of the re-
dedication Of this church,. coming as 1t
does almost simultaneously with tho entry
Of our pastor into his cightieth year.
From the standpoint from which 1
am obliged continuously to look al matters.
there is peculiar function 10 be played by
the great Lutheran Church in the United
STATES Of America This is a Church which
had It's rise to power. and, until II emigrated
10 this side Of the water, had always had
it, fullest development in the two great
races of northern and northern middle
Europe the German and the Scandinavian.
The lutheran Church cam7 to the territory
which is now the United States very shortly
after the first permanent settlements were
made within our limits, for when the ear
hest settlers came 20 dwell around the
mouth Of the Delaware they brought the
Lutheran worship with them, and 80 with
the earliest German settlers who came 10
Pennsylvania and afterward 10 New York
and tho mountainous region in the western
par Of Virginia and the Stltes south Of It,
From that day TO this the history OF the
growth and population of this nation has
consisted largely. in one respect mainly,
of he arrival of successive waves Of new
corners to our shores; and the prime duty
az those already in the land is to see that
their own progress and development are
shared by these newcomers
~ Is d serious and dangerous thing
for ?nv man TO tear loose from the soil,
from the region in which he and his fore
bears have tax II root and 10 bo trans.
all possible aid in that new land ana the
aid can be rendered lin most effectively
., by those who can appeal to him on the
ground Of spiritual unship. Therefore
the Lutheran Church can do most in help
ing upward and onward so many OF the
newcomers 10 our shores; and it seems
20 mo that it should be. l am
,emn,e1 to shy. wellaigh the prime
- IL hat iry,,,,i-
grant. especially the immigrant of Lutheran
faith from the Old World. whether he come
from Scandinavia or Germany, or whether
he belonged TO one OF the Lutheran coun-
tries of Finland. or Hungary or Austria,
may not be suffered to drift Off with no
friendly hand extended % him out OF all
the Church communion. away from all the
influences that tend toward safeguarding
and uplifting him. and that he fad ready
nj hand in this country those eager 70 bring
him into fellowship with the existing bodies
The Lutheran Church in this country
il Of very great power now numerically
and through the intelligence and thrift Of
It's members but it viii grow steadily TO
1TAu greater power. L Is destined to be
one of tho two or three greatest and most
important national Churches in the United
States one Of tho two or three Churches
most distnctively American, most dlB-
tinctively among the forces that are to tell
FOR making this great country even greater
in the future. Therefore peculiar load
Of responsibility rests upon the members Of
This Church.
1T is an important thing for the TslUlc Of
this nation to remember their rights. but
II Is an even more important thing for
them 10 remember their duties. In the
last analysis the work of statesmeu and
soldiers, the work Of the public men shall
10 for nothing il it il not based upon the
spirit of Christianity. working in the mil
lions Of homes throuEhou. this country,
80 that iharr may be that social, thai spirit
nal ihei Woral foundation without which
no country can over rise 10 permanent
greatness. For material well being, ma
ieral prosperity success in arta. In letters,
Ere' Industrial triumphs all of them and
Hil NJ tho structure raised thereon viii be
n, eranrscent "a a dream if it does not rest
on ne righteousness that eSalteth na-
tion
let mr. congratulate Won and congratu-
late an 90 Ms that we live in land and
o Time when VIZ accept II as natural
that 'hern should 10 IN interdenomina-
Hono service ~ Thanksgiving, such cere-
mons "a is 10 take place this afternoon. in
which the pastors Of other churches join
n congratulate themselves ard YOU upon
tho rebuilding Of this church One Of the
constant problems Of life il 70 try TO culti-
va'e breadth without shallowness, just as
ve oant 20 try to cultivate depth without
narrovness n seems 20 me that thanks
giving with the combined enrnestness, the
lilaliy Of the great body Of the pastors who
fcr our good fortune. we're in the various
churches OF this country. can be accepted
- n a peculiar measure typifying the
American spirit in religious thought that
i'r oar good fortune these men have been
nlo TO combine fervor in doing the Lords
York with charity toward their brotEren
who do il WITH cortain differences in the
non-essontials
The forces 81 evil are strong and mighty
IN tbs century and in this country, "a they
are in other countries, as they have been
In all tbe past centuries and the people
Who sincerely wish 10 do the lords work
wal find ample opDortunity for all their