The Delta independent., 1906-12-07

lotted to a Thanksgiving sermon. or
address, in reviewing the past years
prosperity and the many things worthy
of national thanksgiving.
This is proper and profitable because
our Heavenly father "Maketh the OUT
goings of the morning and evening to
rejoice
Thou crownest the year with thy
goodness and thy paths drop fatness. :"
There are other lines of thought that
can consistently be followed on this
occasion that are of great Importance
to American citizens. Many loyal
Americans are anxiously asking.
"WATCHMAN WHAT OF THE
NIGHT" They do not ask this qucs-
ton as alarmists. Neither are they
seeking after something sensational,
but are loyalty seeking after the best
interests of this great republic.
We are accustomed to saying that
"Give me liberty or give me death, !"
originated with Patrick Henry. Did it!
Yes and no. Yes, in the way he ex-
pressed himself. No, in the originality
of Solomon's words, Wherefore /
praised the dead which are already dead
more than the living which are yet
alive"-Eccl. Az
Like everything that is loyal and true,
Patrick Henry's words that thrill thru
America now and fire our hearts with
Tpflta
The Bible inspired the heroes of the
American Revolution, as it had inspired
the Hugnenots; the Scotch. the Hol-
landers of the Netherlands and the
Puritan fathers. Liberty and the Bible
are inseperable. Had there been no
Bible there would have been no Amer
ican republic.
Bible truths fired the hearts of the
Lollards in England. the followers OF
Luther IN Germany, knoN's followers
in Scotland, the Hugnenots of France.
Zwingli's friends in Switzerland, Crom-
well and his "Ironsides. the Wal
denses and the Albigenses of the Alps.
Nothing could stand before Cromwell's
psaim-singing soldiers. The Bible lit
up the painless sea when the Pilgrim
Fathers turned the prov of their vessel
toward practically unknown shore,
and was their staff and comfort during
all their dangers and hardships after
their feet pressed the soil of new
world
Show me man who loves the Bible
and | will show you a liberty man
and only as we are true to God can we
be true to our country.
That which caused liberty loving men
like Prince William of Orange and a
host of loyal men, to court death rather
than be robbed of their rights. came
from the pure and hallowed pages of
Gods word. Queen Victoria. when
asked the source of England's great
ness, pointed to the open Bible. and so
should we when telling of the source
Of Americas greatness. While words
are inadequate to picture the sufferings
of the little flock of Bible-loving and
liberty-loving men and women who
passed such terrible winter on the
bleak and rocky Atlantic shore after
they left the Mayflower, we know that
their faith in Gcd sustained them.
Let the scoffer in this free land go
hide his head for shame, if there is still
a spark of manhood left in him and let
Christ-loving and liberty-loving men
and women look up and rejoice that this
land was not settled by men-fearing.
slave-shackled and disloyal infidels.
So long as the spirit of liberty actu-
ates men this country will be free and
Gods name will be honored.
Samples of nation-making without a
knowledge of the true God are numer-
Gus, but where are these nations? Let
history speak. Where is the power of
Babylonia? Assyria and Egypt? "De-
parted is written in the sky to which
they superstitiously looked. Behold
Great Britain with her open Bible and
see nation on whose possessions the
sun never sets, and wherever you find
her subjects you find them loyal to the
crown. With justifable pride we look
nearer home and find what we consider
the best and highest form of a God
honoring, Christian, liberty loving gov
ernment.
Great Britian's history helps make
her great, "the dead which are already
dead" who loved the right and frowned
upon that which was wrong still speaks
to her sons. Let the shrill blast of the
war trumpet sound and how the deeds